"Fei Ning?" Yu Mei stood in front of the ever so strange Fei Ning.
Fei Ning quickly put her hands behind her back and held her chin up high. She did not expect Yu Mei to be here. Wasn't she with Pei Nan? That was what she found out earlier. So what in the world was she doing here.
"What are you doing here?" she rudely asked.
"I could be asking you the same thing." Yu Mei looked at her suspiciously. What was Fei Ning doing here when Pei Nan wasn't here? Seeing how Yu Mei was staring at her, she quickly became flustered. "Why can't I be here? I came to see his highness. What about you? You're not even favored. So why would you be at his highness's palace. Not to mention his bedroom. Unless you are here to steal." She quickly pointed her finger at Yu Mei.
"His highness is with me. I came to get something for him." Yu Mei could see that she was fumbling with her hands. "What are you hiding?"
"Nothing! You dare suspect me of stealing?" Fei Ning was getting more and more nervous. This nervousness, even Yu Mei could sense it. She didn't even accuse her of stealing yet she jumped into conclusion.
Yu Mei took a step forward.
Fei Ning took defense, one step back. "What are you hiding?" This time Yu Mei knew something was going on. To see Fei Ning this flustered was too strange. "Hand it over."
Fei Ning and Yu Mei bickered back and forth. Finally Yu Mei got physical and grabbed her by the hand and tugged. When she held Fei Ning's arm up, a folded piece of paper appeared. Yu Mei snatched it.
It was a map. But she couldn't pinpoint what location was drawn on the map.
"Give it back." Fei Ning snatched the map back. "My father asked me to hand this map over to Pei Nan but seeing that he isn't here, I'm taking it back."
"Then why did you need to act so suspicious."
"Hmph! How can I trust anyone to see this map. What if it gets stolen? I am entrusted to hand it over to him, how could I let a mere woman like yourself see it." This map can't be seen by just anyone."
Yu Mei didn't know if she could believe Fei Ning or not but it did make sense. She did hear that his father the Marquis came over to see her today.
"If you don't believe me, ask Pei Nan yourself."
Fei Ning left.
***
When Yu Mei woke up the next morning, Pei Nan had already left. She wanted to ask him about the map but didn't know how to bring it up to him. She decided to wait until he came to visit her. It was only until Chu'mei ran back in a panic state that she found out something was wrong.
"Xiaojie, no good. Someone has stolen from his highness and everyone is in question."
"What? What went missing?"
"I don't know but…" she looked at her lady. "But you've been summoned to the main hall too."
***
When Yu Mei arrived, maids, guards and eunuchs were being led in and out one by one. Sitting on the right were Fei Ning, Ji Er and Ming Yan.
"Greetings your highness." Yu Mei quickly greeted him before taking a seat. His face…nothing but anger was displayed. This was no small matter. For him to bring everyone into question, whatever was stolen must have been important. Yu Mei whispered along with Ji Er to find out what had happened but Ji Er herself didn't know.
Just like it was planned, a maid from Pei Nan's courtyard was brought in. The little girl went on her knees scared. Her eyes shaking as she stared at Yu Mei and then back to the ground.
Pei Nan sat down as his head eunuch started to interrogate her. At first she kept denying it but then finally gave in. She placed her hand on the ground and begged for mercy. "I saw but am too afraid to speak in front of her." The maid said.
"You are in front of me now, who dares to harm you."
The maid looked at Yu Mei once more. "Last night while I was on the night duty, I saw Consort Pan and Consort Su fighting in front of your room."
"Why were they fighting?" he asked. Why had he not heard about this.
"I didn't hear but all I saw was Consort Pan hide something in her sleeves. Consort Su wanted to see what she was hiding and thus they had an argument." She finished.
"What was it?" he asked when she became silent.
"I don't know." The maid replied.
Pei Nan turned over to Yu Mei and Fei Ning. Fei Ning was very calm but Yu Mei was becoming flustered at this sudden accusation. Why was this made turning something from white to black.
"Consort Pan, is this true?" he asked. Yu Mei was about to defend herself when Fei Ning went on her knees.
"Your highness, I didn't fight with Consort Pan on purpose. I came over to have a chat with you but ran into her. I tried to take the paper from Consort Pan but she was too fierce. In the end, I could only see bits and pieces of the paper that looked like some kind of map."
"I…you are lying. It was you." Yu Mei stood and pointed. "You were the one that stole it."
"Your highness, you must believe me. I have been dedicated to you my whole life. You know that I would never do anything to harm you." Fei Ning spoke.
"Your highness knows what kind of person I am. I didn't take anything from you." Yu Mei too explained.
These two women... Pei Nan didn't know what to think.
He summoned his head eunuch over. "Chu'gonggong, send someone over to Consort Pan and Consort Su's palace. Do a thorough search and find that map."
The air was deadly silent as they all sat there waiting.
Half an hour later and Chu'gongong returned. He did not come empty handed. Instead a small folded piece of paper arrived with him.