Early the next morning, I was awakened by the clamour outside. Several imperial censors in official robes, leading a group of officers, were aggressively blocking the entrance to the Duke's estate. They held an imperial edict in their hands, claiming they wanted to enter the estate to search for and verify evidence of the Duke forcibly seizing a common woman.
"Lady Consort, the emperor has decreed that we investigate and uncover the truth. We ask that the lady come out and speak with us."
The Duke was still in the palace and had not returned. This was clearly a ploy to lure the tiger away from its mountain. They wanted to take advantage of the Duke's absence to take me away directly for interrogation. Once inside the court of state ceremonies, the Su family would have plenty of ways to make me voluntarily admit to being forced by the Duke.
I smoothed my clothes and slowly walked to the entrance of the estate under everyone's gaze.
"My lords, does the imperial decree state that I am to be taken away?"
The imperial censor froze for a moment, clearly not expecting that someone of my maidservant background would face such a formidable display without kneeling or panicking. Clearing his throat, he said they were merely taking me back for questioning.
I smiled slightly. I gestured for the steward to bring out the evidence we had copied earlier and display it publicly to the surrounding onlookers.
"These are the account books of the Su family embezzling the estate's assets, as well as the debt slips Fu Jingyun accumulated outside. Lord Su wants to save his son and did not hesitate to falsely accuse the Duke. If you, my lords, wish to investigate, why not start by investigating these?"
The onlookers began to whisper and point fingers, and the censor's face turned very ugly. He wanted to have me taken away by force, but the steward stepped forward with the guards to block them.
As the two sides stood in a tense standoff, a troop of the imperial guard suddenly appeared at the corner of the street. I recognised the general leading them. He was a close friend of the Duke. He dismounted from his horse and swept a cold glance over the imperial censors.
Although the censors were temporarily turned away, I knew peace had not returned to the estate.
Su Rongrong was confined to the side courtyard, and by right, all her contact with the outside world had been cut off. Yet recently, she had become unusually quiet.
Taking two trusted older maids, I slipped into the side courtyard under the cover of night. The lights in the room were on. Su Rongrong was sitting by the window, holding a letter and reading it. Yuanru stood beside her, looking somewhat flustered. Seeing me push the door open and enter, Su Rongrong instinctively tried to hide the letter in her sleeve.
"Young mistress, still working hard at this late hour. It seems the discipline in this side courtyard is still too lax."
I signalled the maids to go forward and search her. Su Rongrong struggled to resist, but she was pinned down firmly. The letter was retrieved. The handwriting on it looked very familiar. It belonged to Fu Jingyun.
The letter said he had already contacted the Su family's old units outside the city. As long as Su Rongrong could cooperate by creating chaos inside the estate, they would strike together from within and without.
"Wanning, you can't stop this. The Su family has not fallen yet, and Jingyun will return to kill you."
Looking at the contents of the letter, a chill ran through my heart. It turned out Fu Jingyun had not gone to the manor for his exile at all, but was hiding outside the city planning a rebellion.
I turned my head to look at Yuanru and noticed that her soles were stained with yellow clay that did not belong to the side courtyard. It seemed there were still informants for the Su family inside this estate, helping them pass messages every day.
"Take Yuanru away and lock her in the woodshed for interrogation. Since the young mistress loves to write letters so much, let her write to her heart's content. Only, these letters must be sent by me."
I walked out of the side courtyard holding the letter, a plan already formed in my mind. Since they wanted to coordinate from inside and out, I would put on a good show for them. I had the steward secretly deploy more guards. I deliberately created the illusion that the guard was lax at the estate.
In the dead of night, the Duke's estate was eerily quiet. I sat in the main room without lighting any lamps. The steward rushed in to report that there was movement near the back gate.
Draped in my cloak, I followed the steward to the wall of the back garden. Several dark figures were climbing over using ropes. Their movements were light and agile, clearly those of trained fighters. I did not order our men to strike immediately, but rather watched them climb into the courtyard and creep toward the main room. The leader of the group had a build that closely resembled Fu Jingyun's.
"Move faster. Capture that wench, and the Duke will surely hesitate to act against us."
He really did return. Standing in the shadows, I watched him push open the door to the main room. The moment he rushed toward the bed, torches suddenly flared up in the room. Dozens of guards armed with crossbows stepped out from behind the screen, surrounding him completely.
Fu Jingyun was stunned as he stared at the empty bed. He whipped his head around and saw me standing at the doorway. His eyes were filled with hatred, but even more so with fear. Seeing that the tables had turned, the men he brought tried to flee, only to be rounded up by the guards lying in wait in the courtyard.
"Young master, where do you plan to run this time?"
Fu Jingyun collapsed onto the ground, the blade slipping from his hand. He probably never imagined that the plan he had painstakingly devised was nothing more than walking into a trap in my eyes. But I did not kill him. The Duke had instructed that Fu Jingyun was still useful as the best witness to testify to the Su family's treason.
Just then, the sound of war drums suddenly echoed from within the city. The steward's face paled as he noted it came from the direction of the South Gate. Hearing the drums, Fu Jingyun burst into wild laughter, claiming that Lord Su had already led his forces to attack the city.