CHAPTER 14: CHAPTER 14: WHY WAS DING SHIQI TAKEN OUT OF THE EQUATION

Empress Dowager Wang’s body was taut, her gaze icy as she looked at the Emperor.

The Emperor, however, seemed oblivious, focusing solely on the petite young girl by the door, and inquired as though it were a routine matter, "I heard the assassin has not been found yet. You’ve seen the assassin before; could you describe his appearance?"

Tang Xiaobai lifted her head slightly and glanced at the Emperor.

The figure was tall and slender, and the face was not as gloomy and terrifying as she had imagined, but rather handsome, though the deep gaze sent a chill that spread from within.

Tang Xiaobai steadied herself, nodded, and said, "About as tall as Your Majesty—"

"Nonsense!" The Empress Dowager coldly rebuked, "Who in this world dares to compare height with the Son of Heaven?"

Tang Xiaobai obliged easily, "A bit shorter than Your Majesty...much shorter..."

The Emperor’s expression remained unchanged as he asked again, "Did you hear him speak? Was it a Chang’an accent?"

Tang Xiaobai thought for a moment, shook her head, "It wasn’t a Chang’an accent."

The black-clad assassin indeed spoke with a slight accent, different from the accent she naturally picked up upon arriving in the story.

However, she only recently realized that her accent was that of Chang’an, and she guessed the assassin’s accent was likely from Zhenzhou.

Nevertheless, even if she guessed correctly, she didn’t want to say, knowing that a proper Second Miss of the Duke Yan Mansion would not understand different accents.

Even if the Emperor asked, she could confidently answer that she didn’t know.

But the Emperor asked differently—

"Imitate a sentence he said for me to hear," the Emperor’s gaze locked onto her from above.

Imitate how the assassin spoke?

Tang Xiaobai was stunned, as a thought suddenly crossed her mind—

In Zhaoren Hall, everyone watched as the petite Second Miss Tang nodded obediently, cleared her throat, then scrunched her face to mimic an adult man’s coarse voice, "Don’t make a sound! Otherwise—I’ll kill you!"

It was lifelike, yet also...odd.

As if every note was off-key in a song.

The hall went silent for a moment.

"Sounds like a Persian accent?" commented the Empress Dowager.

"I’ve heard a monk from India giving sermons; the accent sounds a bit like that too," the Empress added.

Tang Xiaobai widened her innocent and bewildered eyes.

In the world she was familiar with, such an accent would be called a "foreign tone," but here it was unknown.

The Emperor, however, did not make blind guesses but moved directly to the next question, "I heard that besides you, another servant also saw the assassin that day?"

As soon as he asked, the lively young girl’s face turned pale, and she lowered her head, her eyes flickering, "Yes, yes..."

The Emperor’s eyes narrowed slightly, his tone weighed with severity, "What exactly?"

"A-a slave..." her voice was clearly guilty.

The Emperor stared at her for a moment, then asked, "Do you know what the crime of deceiving the sovereign is?"

The young girl’s body trembled violently, quickly shaking her head, nearly in tears as she spoke, "No, it’s not that, elder sister told me not to say anything—"

"Not to say what?" the Emperor’s gaze sharpened suddenly, his voice booming through the hall.

The Empress Dowager’s expression changed, "Emperor—"

"Let her speak!" The Emperor, without blinking, cut off the Empress Dowager’s words.

He was determined to hear what exactly the Duke Yan Mansion was hiding from him!

"Don’t say, don’t say I stabbed that person with a knife—" The young girl finally could not withstand the imperial pressure, slumped to the ground, tears wetting her eyelashes, on the verge of falling, utterly frightened and helpless.

Yet no one in the hall spared her any sympathy.

The Emperor remained silent, a trace of suspicion in his expression.

The Empress Dowager lowered her eyes, unwilling to speak further.

The Empress wanted to speak but eventually refrained.

Even if no one asked, she could speak on her own!

Tang Xiaobai sniffled once and continued, "That bad man, he threatened me with a dagger. If I were threatened, my sister would surely blame me for being useless. I saw that he was bleeding heavily and didn’t look well, so I took the opportunity when he wasn’t watching to grab his dagger and stab him, then I, then I ran away..."

At this point, the young girl seemed relieved and spoke more fluently, "Elder sister said I was too young to be so fierce, or else I wouldn’t be able to marry later. Besides, if it were known, the government would always keep an eye on me, so outwardly we just said a family servant happened to save us—" she glanced timidly at the Emperor, "We didn’t mean to deceive the sovereign... Elder sister said if the assassin had committed a major crime, there would be news outside. No news meant he was just a petty thief, nothing important... Didn’t expect Your Majesty to be interested in a petty thief..."

The Empress Dowager sneered, "For such a petty thief, the Emperor really showed his might, scaring a child to tears in my Zhaoren Hall."

The Emperor brushed off his sleeve and left without a word—

...

"She really said that?" In a dim room, the young man suddenly opened his eyes.

"Yes, everyone in Zhaoren Hall heard it," the response was barely able to contain joy, "Your Highness can return to the Duke Yan Mansion!"

The young man grunted in acknowledgment, his heart filled with confusion.

Why make it so clear?

...

Why clear Ding Shiqi’s name so thoroughly?

After returning to the Duke Yan Mansion, Tang Xiaobai unsurprisingly faced this question.

The answer was prepared long ago: "Previously, I heard my uncle and Mr. Zhou say that if the assassin escaped from our mansion, we would be implicated to some degree. So, I thought, if at that time I stabbed the assassin once, wouldn’t it prove we had no connection with the assassin?"

Everyone gave her a sidelong glance.

Tang Xiaobai was a bit anxious, "Did I say something wrong?" Even though she considered every angle at the time, being stared at by so many made her insecure.

Princess Ji laughed heartily, hugging her in her arms, "Right! Right! Our Xiao Bai is so clever!"

Gu Ling also nodded with a smile, "Xiao Bai considered it thoroughly. The assassin used a weapon to threaten the young lady of the Duke Yan Mansion and was injured by Xiao Bai, so we only hold enmity with him; since the palace kept the assassin’s news under wraps, we are unaware of the extent involved, hence slightly concealing the truth to protect the young girl at home is only natural."

Only then did Tang Xiaobai calm down.

When she came out from the palace, not only Tang Jiaojiao and Gu Ling were waiting at the palace gates, but her maternal grandmother, Princess Ji, was also there to bring her back home with a grand entourage.

Upon returning, there was thorough questioning.

Tang Xiaobai knew it was a matter of great importance, so she answered very meticulously.

Others listened quietly, only Princess Ji occasionally scolded the Empress as a "lowly woman bullying my granddaughter" and criticized the Emperor as having "thieving looks from a young age," vividly illustrating the origin of Miss Tang’s temperament.

After she explained everything, another question emerged—why did the Empress Dowager help her?

This question puzzled Tang Xiaobai as well.

She remembered in the book, the Empress Dowager didn’t like Tang Jiaojiao and had no good feelings toward the Duke Yan Mansion.

After much contemplation, she felt there was only one possibility left—

"Could it be that I’m too adorable?"

...

After a whole morning of hustle and bustle, sending Princess Ji and Gu Ling off, Tang Xiaobai was finally able to rest.

Yet, just as she left the seniors’ sight, Tang Jiaojiao grabbed her and pulled her to the front.

Miss Tang, with a look of fury, whispered sternly, "Did you involve me to clear Ding Shiqi’s name?"