"This is flour. The thief was pretending to be mysterious, so she used flour to cover her face. There is also some flour on Lanzhu's purple clothes."
Right after Hua Qiyue finished speaking, the pilgrim pulled Lanzhu's sleeves. "Yes, her sleeves … even between her fingers! "
The room fell silent.
Lanzhu's face turned pale, and she kowtowed heavily, "It's not me … Second Miss, it's really not me … "
Hua Qiyue's eyes were like lightning. "If I don't miss my guess, Monk Yihan accepted a bribe. The Hua family's silver usually has a small inscription on it. Monk Yihan, do you dare to let the male pilgrim search you?"
Sweat trickled down his palms as Yihan looked at Hua Mengshi and straightened his waist. "Abbot! I was wronged!"
His entire body trembling, he was the picture of guilt.
Abbot Hanming's expression darkened. "Someone, search him!"
A monk grabbed Yihan and conducted a quick search. He took out a silver ingot from Yihan's waist pouch. Indeed, the Hua Family's emblem was on it.
Everyone gasped. Hua Mengshi's eyes flashed with momentary panic.
Hua Xiaoyi's eyes widened. She looked from one to another and could really not believe what she was seeing, "Lanzhu, you dared to collude with Monk Yihan to frame Big Sister? You deserve to die a thousand times for your crime!"
Lanzhu's face was deathly pale as she trembled.
Hua Mengshi said loudly, "Lanzhu, how could you?"
She then leaned in to glare at Lanzhu and whispered, "Your family is still outside the capital. You know what to do."
Lanzhu widened her eyes. Her eyes turned red and tears were about to fall, but she suddenly laughed out loud. Hua Mengshi pretended being scared and quickly took a few steps back.
"Yes! I did it! I've long disliked Eldest Miss! She was always weak in front of others but bullied us in private. I just wanted to ruin this bitch's reputation."
Lanzhu had confessed, under Hua Mengshi's threat. When Hua Qiyue thought about her son in the capital, she bowed to Hanming and said, "I thank the abbot for proving my innocence, and I'll leave Monk Yihan to you. Lanzhu… I'll leave her to my sisiter. Lv Xin, Youshui, I have urgent matters to attend to. Let's return to the capital tonight!"
The abbot nodded to Hua Qiyue. "Benefactor Hua, please don't worry. Yihan will be punished."
Hua Xiaoyi snorted. "How depressing! I never thought a lowly servant could cause such a ruckus!"
Hua Mengshi calmly looked at everyone and said goodbye to Hanming. She was really curious about the current Hua Qiyue. What made her become so clear and bold, and why was she going home tonight?
Hua Qiyue and the servants got on the horse carriage together, with the Hua family's guards leading the way. It was difficult traveling on the mountain road, and it was morning by the time they reached the foot of the mountain.
The thin morning sunlight penetrated through the layers of clouds, dyeing the land green and gold. The breeze was soft and gentle, and the official road was winding as it extended into the mountains.
Hua Qiyue laid on the cushion in the carriage, glad that she was still alive. In this life, she wouldn't let people who tried to bully her get away with it!
Youshui and Lvxin sat at the side and stared at Hua Qiyue curiously. Her expression was a mask of sadness and worry.
Rong Qiyue had been an ordinary girl. She had some knowledge in business, but in terms of Qi Art, she had no skill, whatsoever. Qi Art was not something that ordinary people could cultivate. Only wealthy families had the money to buy medicinal pills to open their Qi meridians and grow their Qi Art.
Hua Qiyue saw the original memories of this body. The Qi meridians of this body were broken when it was three years old, so no matter what kind of medicinal pills she consumed, it would be ineffective.
The original Hua Qiyue was tossed into a lake on freezing winter night, breaking her Qi meridians. After the incident, she had become afraid of contact with others, and had generally avoided people.
The pain of that memory was so strong that Rong Qiyue could feel the pain in her bones. It reminded her of dying at the hands of the princess' wicked old servants.