The moment Qingli reached Qingle's courtyard, she could see the Duchess standing before Yu Ling who laid on the floor as she was held by servants. Qingle was hiding behind her mother as the Duchess screamed and pointed fingers at Yu Ling. The pot of soup laid broken beside Yu Ling.
The commotion was so huge that none of Qingle's courtyard servants discovered that Qingli had arrived and hence, there was nobody to announce her presence.
"You wretch! It's you who caused my daughter to become like this!" The Duchess screamed at Yu Ling.
"Madam, Yu Ling is innocent!" Yu Ling pleaded with the Duchess. She did not understand what is going on. All she did was respond to the second young miss's demands to deliver soup to her courtyard. But the moment she stepped in, she was met with the Duchess slap and was then made to kneel.
"Innocent?" Duchess Qian laughed before she swung her hand and slapped Yu Ling. The impact was so great that her head snapped to one side and blood trickled down her lips.
Seeing this, Qingli narrowed her eyes. She did not care for the maidservant. In the end, she was not Qingli. Even Yu Ling can sense the change in their relationship and Qingli did not pursue this matter. It is better this way so that when she leaves, there will be lesser heartbreak.
But this is her maidservant she is slapping. The Duchess is not giving her any face at all. Does she think the maidservants of the eldest young miss can be slapped without her permission? You wish to slap the dog you have to seek its owner's permission.
"What is Mother doing to my maidservant?" Qingli stepped in front of Yu Ling and faced the angry Duchess.
"Qingli, you finally came. It is you who harmed my Le er!" the Duchess screamed at Qingli the moment she entered her sights.
"What does Mother mean? Qingli had never hurt younger sister," Qingli answered back before she turned to the servants holding Yu Ling.
"Let my maidservant go," Qingli glared at them.
The servants dare not move and their gazes landed on the Duchess waiting for her orders.
"Mother, can we talk after you release my maidservant?" Qingli clenched her hands at the servants' disobedience. They must have come from her Mother's courtyard. No servant would dare to show such disrespect towards the eldest young miss of the Qian family.
"She bought the poisoned soup to my daughter and you want me to release her?" The Duchess glared at Yu Ling. "Even if I want her dead, there is nothing you can do!"
The Duchess was actually in a good mood, having recovered from her injury slightly. She wanted to visit her daughter and see how was she coping with the punishment. Maybe she would coax her husband during dinner to reduce the punishment for Qingle if not her daughter's hands will be ruined from all the copying. There is also a banquet coming up in the Imperial Palace. It will be the first banquet after Qingli had gotten disfigured and that would mean she would not be attending. Without Qingli attending, Qingle would get all the spotlight. The Duchess wanted to talk to her daughter about the upcoming banquet, about her dress, about happy things but the moment she saw her daughter, she went into shock.
Her beautiful daughter looked haggard and old with the sick yellowish skin. Her hair had thinned out and her eyes shrunken in. To begin with, Qingle had a slender figure but her current figure can only be described as sickly thin. The Duchess immediately fell into a rage and called her daughter's maidservants. After asking some questions, she finally figured out what is going on. Her daughter had been requesting soup from her sister. It was fishy.
Qingle would ask for good things such as pretty jewelry and good fabrics from her sister because those are valuable and valuable things only go to the eldest daughter in the Qian family. Her daughter was neglected and it was her good fortune that Qingli was such an idiot that would donate good things to Qingle. But soup? Unless the soup is made of gold, she wouldn't believe that her daughter would request for it until this extend.
Coincidentally, Yu Ling had entered the courtyard with the soup. The moment the Duchess smelled the soup, she could tell it was the poisoned soup that she had given Qingli all these years.
In a fit, she slapped the pot in Yu Ling hands and ordered her servants to hold the maidservant down. She was going to slice the maidservant into pieces before dragging her remains back to Qingli's courtyard to quell her angry but Qingli had arrived before she could carry out her order.
"What is Mother trying to imply here? My maidservant bought poisoned soup to younger sister? Is Mother misunderstanding something here? This is the soup younger sister had been requesting me to bring to her every day." Qingli snapped back.
"To address Mother's second statement, even if you want her dead, there is nothing I can do? I am afraid Mother is wrong because Yu Ling is this miss's personal servant. Her contract is in my hands and not in yours nor in the household's hands. This means that she solely belongs to me. Her life is in my hands and was never in yours." Qingli angrily retorted.
"I am your Mother!" The Duchess lunged towards Qingli, her nails tearing at her already disfigured face.
Qingli saw her incoming attack but did not dodge. She stood in front of the Duchess and her stance never wavered as though she was going to take the attack but before the Duchess could reach her, she was kicked away from Qingli.
Qingli pretended to collapse onto the floor in fright but was held up by a strong arm, her Lord Father's arm. Before, Qingli had sensed her Lord Father arriving in the courtyard. Given how her Lord Father always dote on her, there is no way he would allow that attack to reach her. Her Father must have kicked the Duchess away from her.
"Husband!" The Duchess clutched her injured chest as she trembled slightly in fear. After that one incident where her husband had slapped her, she had developed a fear towards him. After all, he had been tolerant towards her throughout all these years they were married.
But what the Duchess did not understand throughout those years was that there was a bottom-line to the Duke's tolerance and that is his beloved daughter Qingli. He had always been feeling guilty towards her mother for failing to protect her and those feelings made him more resolute in protecting Qingli.