Chapter 161

Jiu Yue hurriedly chased after, closely following behind Gu Jiu Ling; if she really got into a conflict with the people from Seek Spring Pavilion, she could also protect her master.

Unexpectedly, Gu Jiu Ling walked out of the warm pavilion's door, hadn't walked a few steps before she suddenly stopped, her whole body freezing in place.

Jiu Yue followed so closely she almost bumped into her, hastily managing to stop her steps.

"Master?"

Gu Jiu Ling lowered her head, seeming to rack her brains, and kept murmuring softly: "Not right! This matter…… not right at all!"

Jiu Yue also calmed down at this moment, hurriedly lowering her voice: "Master, why not first calm down, wait for the Prince to return before deciding?"

"After all…… she's the Prince's sister!"

"No, I'm not talking about that!" Gu Jiu Ling raised her hand and waved it, then fiercely knitted her brows, turned around and went back into the warm pavilion, continuing to have Yun Duo close all the doors and windows of the warm pavilion.

Yun Duo was also a bit dazed; wasn't she supposed to go to Seek Spring Pavilion to seek justice for Jinzhi? How did she come back?

She had no choice but to properly hide her weapon again, then obediently stood before Gu Jiu Ling.

"Master?" Jiu Yue hurriedly asked, "Have you thought of something else?"

The room was a bit stuffy; Gu Jiu Ling took off her cloak and tossed it aside, leaning crookedly against the bolster, her brows furrowed.

"Not right at all!"

"If Su Wanrou wanted to harm me, she would at least have to poison the strongest maid beside me to gain the greatest benefit; yet she wants to poison a poor little mute girl—what is this?"

"Su Wanrou is wicked, but she's not stupid!"

Gu Jiu Ling sucked in a breath, sat up, and said with focus: "You two also help me think; let's sort this out properly."

"I feel that if she wanted to deal with me, she should have poisoned you two first—that would be the proper solution!"

Yun Duo and Jiu Yue both gave an embarrassed laugh; the master really thinks highly of them.

Gu Jiu Ling slowly said: "She clearly knows I'm a doctor, yet she poisoned those around me—this is practically courting danger."

"What could have driven her to do this must have a reasonable explanation; if I were her, I'd aim for a decisive strike to topple me, the legitimate Princess Consort."

"Even if she were to strike, she should start with you two; Jiu Yue has followed me for years and knows many of my secrets—she could poison you and use the antidote to force you to reveal my secrets!"

"And Yun Duo," Gu Jiu Ling glanced at Yun Duo, "you are my personal guard; killing you would truly be cutting off one of my arms and removing a safety barrier before me."

"But what is Jinzhi? She's merely a mute girl who embroiders handkerchiefs for me; using her to threaten me is utterly absurd."

Jiu Yue hurriedly said: "Master, could it be that Su Wanrou isn't targeting the Princess Consort at all, but simply takes a dislike to Jinzhi?"

Yun Duo nodded: "That lowly creature envies Jinzhi's beauty!"

Gu Jiu Ling coughed, "Well, discussing such profound matters shouldn't drag this lass into it—gone off track."

If jealousy was about Jinzhi before her disfigurement, it's about the same; now that Jinzhi is disfigured, it shouldn't affect Su Wanrou at all—so why would she poison Jinzhi?

Moreover, it's a poison that guarantees death tonight?

"What on earth is Su Wanrou thinking? Could she be stupid? To kill someone for no reason, or to kill those around me, feels like a panicked killing, with no proper planning—crime of passion? Tch!"

"Master! Maybe she didn't have time to plot—just seeing Jinzhi makes her want Jinzhi dead!" Jiu Yue said, then suddenly covered her mouth, "Su Wanrou couldn't have seen Jinzhi before, could she? Otherwise where would such hatred come from?"

Yun Duo hurriedly echoed: "It's possible; maybe that day when Jinzhi entered the mansion, Su Wanrou secretly slipped back from the manor, saw the master treating Jinzhi well, and grew jealous of Jinzhi."

"Stop! Be good! Go play over there for a while; there's a sword manual over there—go take a look!"

Gu Jiu Ling shoved Yun Duo over to the table nearby; Yun Duo's cheeks flushed slightly—could her guess be wrong?

She hurriedly lowered her head to look at the sword manual before her; these days her martial arts have improved considerably, but a few sword techniques have hit a bottleneck and need polishing.

On this side, Jiu Yue grew more alarmed the more she thought, looking at Gu Jiu Ling: "Master, could Su Wanrou and Jinzhi have met before? And perhaps they have some grudge?"

Gu Jiu Ling gave a cold chuckle, slowly lay down, and comfortably shifted her position.

"Otherwise? Is there any other way to explain this?"

"If two people have never known each other and one launches a killing move right away, do you think that's possible?"

"Even a pervert would need something to stimulate him before he acts."

"So Su Wanrou and Jinzhi must have met before!"

Jiu Yue suddenly felt the situation turning strange: "Then why didn't Jinzhi recognize Su Wanrou?"

Gu Jiu Ling raised her hand and tapped her own temples: "Because she has amnesia."

"Because of amnesia, she might have forgotten things, especially anything involving Su Wanrou."

She gave a cold laugh: "Su Wanrou just came back from the manor, crying before the Prince and admitting her mistake, then immediately attacked Jinzhi—this doesn't match her usual act of pretending to be a pure white lotus."

"She's been driven to desperation, possibly even having a murder-and-silence motive—hah! Miss Su Wanrou's past surely has plenty of dirt, right?"

"Is it because she fears Jinzhi recognizing her and then ruining her big plan?"

"Hiss!" Gu Jiu Ling sucked in a cold breath, "She was taken in by the Prince midway; we don't know where she lived before, what she did, where she went—we don't know if the Prince investigated or not."

"However, the Prince probably doesn't want to look into this, after all these years he's always treated her as a sister!"

"Ask Jinzhi about these things, and she also forgot, only knowing that she was rescued midway by the princess of the Fuyu Tribe."

"Jiu Yue! Yun Duo, stop looking at the sword techniques—come over!"

Jiu Yue and Yun Duo hurriedly gathered before Gu Jiu Ling; Gu Jiu Ling looked at them two and deliberately lowered her voice: "You two go separately to investigate."

"Jiu Yue, have Li Qiao'er stop handling those chores for now and let her personally go to Longzhou; I heard the Prince say that Su Wanrou's mother is a singer in the Longzhou mansion's pavilion, and she's quite famous—investigate every detail, big or small, and report everything to me."

"Even what Su Wanrou liked to eat and drink as a child, which restaurant San Niangzi took her daughter to for meals—her entire life trajectory, send it all to me via pigeon post!"

"Give Li Qiao'er plenty of silver notes—this world… hum! No mouth can't be pried open with silver! If there is, then double the silver!"

"Yun Duo!"

"Master!" Yun Duo hurriedly came to Gu Jiu Ling's side.

Gu Jiu Ling whispered: "These days, as long as there are dark guards closely following me, you personally run an errand for me."

Yun Duo was taken aback; she wanted to protect the master, but since the master gave the order, she dare not disobey.

Gu Jiu Ling looked at her and said: "Wasn't it the little princess of Fu Yu Guo who saved Jinzhi? Go back to the place where Jinzhi was rescued, examine it closely, check nearby villages for any changes—even the slightest gossip—and bring it all back to me."

"Yes!" Yun Duo promptly replied.

Gu Jiu Ling took a breath and said: 'This matter, for now don't tell the Prince. After all, to the Prince, Su Wanrou is a relative he has raised for many years; I am just an outsider who recently married into the Wangfu. Doing some things openly would put him in a difficult position.'

Also, for these few days, send a few covert guards to protect Jinzhi; don't let her go elsewhere, just have her stay in my Peach Blossom Pavilion.

Gu Jiu Ling's beautiful eyes slowly narrowed, and she coldly laughed: 'Su Wanrou, Su Wanrou, no matter what dirt you've hidden, I will definitely dig it out!'