With such a background, it was no wonder that a lotus painting was hung in the room of the two people to describe people who were “out of the mud but not stained”.

After walking around the Jin Mansion and coming out of the Jin Mansion, Liu Yuan couldn’t help but say, “That woman felt that Madam Jin was ‘unclean’ and would bring bad things to Master Jin, so she forced Madam Jin to commit suicide?”

It was possible, but it might not be the truth.

“If that is the case, even the truth has not been found out. If it is finally found out that this matter has nothing to do with Madam Jin, wouldn’t it be a waste to force someone to death?” Liu Yuan said.

“Even if it is really unrelated, people’s words are scary. The truth is no longer important to many people.” A voice rang out from the side.

Lin Fei looked up and looked at the old man who came out of the house next door with a pair of flower pruning shears in his hand, and nodded to him: “Du Gong¹!”

This was the old man Du who retired. At this time, his hair and beard were all white, and his body was a little hunched, but his eyes were still bright.

The old man nodded, and sighed, with a trace of guilt appearing on his face: “I am ashamed! Although I have never told others, after the incident with King Yu, even I feel that if anyone in this alley has an affair with King Yu, Madam Jin was the most likely one!”

Seeing the old man’s guilty and annoyed look, Liu Yuan subconsciously opened his mouth, wanting to comfort him, but when the words came to his lips, he didn’t know what to say.

What Du Gong said was the truth.

Since it was the truth, there was no need for comfort.

Lin Fei asked Du Gong: “The reason why everyone thinks so is because Jin dàrén² is not in Beijing. How come the whole alley, not only you, Du Gong, but even the idle men and women on the street know about the fact that a head of the Ministry of Revenue went out of Beijing on official work?”

The movements of a court official were actually known to everyone? This was obviously a bit unreasonable.

Old Master Du switched the pruning shears in his other hand and said, “What Lin Shaoqing said reminds me. We all know about this not because Jin dàrén told everyone about it so that everyone knows about it, but because of another person…” Old Master Du pointed to the closed vermilion gate at the end of the alley and said, “Cháoān Gōngzhǔ³!”

“Half a month ago, Cháoān Gōngzhǔ returned from a trip outside and bumped into Madam Jin’s carriage in the alley.” Old Master Du said, “Of course, Madam Jin would not contradict Cháoān Gōngzhǔ. Seeing this, she immediately asked the coachman to pull the carriage back inside for the time being.”

“But because of this delay, Cháoān Gōngzhǔ was unhappy. She pointed at Madam Jin and cursed her a few times, saying that Jin dàrén was not in the capital, and she, as a woman, didn’t stay at home, but went out for what? Was she going out to meet her lover in private?” Old Master Du said, “Many people have heard this! I am ashamed to say that I was biased because of this sentence.”

This made everyone silent. They wanted to say something in their hearts, but Cháoān Gōngzhǔ’s identity was really special, so it was not easy to say it openly.

Cháoān Gōngzhǔ acted like that, so how could she say anything to Madam Jin? It didn’t seem strange for a Gōngzhǔ to know that Jin dàrén was out of the capital. After all, it was no secret that Jin dàrén was out of the capital.

As for deliberately targeting Madam Jin…

Cháoān Gōngzhǔ, who was lying on the soft chair and eating grapes fed to her by two young men, laughed twice when she heard this and didn’t mind telling the truth in front of everyone.

“Targeting her? Is she even worthy of dirtying my hands?” Cháoān Gōngzhǔ sneered wiped her hands on the clothes of the two young men who were feeding them grapes, and said, “I just saw that she seemed to be flirting with my Fùmǎ⁴, so I said it casually!”

She even implicated a consort? Liu Yuan and others were a little stunned.
Lin Fei’s expression did not change. He looked at Cháoān Gōngzhǔ quietly and said, “She is dead now. Because of what you said some time ago, she was involved in King Yu’s affairs…”

“What does it have to do with me? It’s just that woman of low birth who is unlucky!” Cháoān Gōngzhǔ said here, lying back on the soft chair, eating the grapes that were brought to her mouth, and sneered, “She couldn’t bear it and committed suicide, and no one forced her… Oh, by the way, if you really say forced,” Princess Chao’an said here, curled her lips, sneered, and said, “If you want to force her, it must be her husband named Jin who forced her! He always talks about etiquette and education and lives in the same alley. He sees me every day. When he saw me, he had to put on a stern face and turn his head away…”

“Pah!” Cháoān Gōngzhǔ slapped the table beside her and said coldly, “Do you think I’m blind? Who is he? How dare he look down on me?”

Lin Fei frowned, and before he could speak, he heard Cháoān Gōngzhǔ laugh again, her voice full of disdain: “If I say, even if she didn’t commit suicide, she won’t get anything good when the man surnamed Jin comes back!”

Glancing at the sneering Cháoān Gōngzhǔ, Lin Fei didn’t continue to ask, but turned to ask: “Is the Fùmǎ in the mansion?”

Cháoān Gōngzhǔ rolled her eyelids, raised her hand pointed to the southeast, and said: “He lives in the courtyard in the southeast corner, you can go and see it yourself!”

The entire Gōngzhǔ’s mansion was built magnificently, and the male favorites brought back by Cháoān Gōngzhǔ also lived in an extremely luxurious place, except for…southeast.

A long bamboo forest path leads to a small courtyard in the southeast corner. Along the way, at first glance, this simple and quiet courtyard gave people a sense of being out of place here.

“This Fùmǎ is really too aggrieved!” Looking at the bamboo path and the small courtyard at the end, Liu Yuan couldn’t help but sigh. “It seems even those male courtesans have better lives than him!”

Thinking that he was able to marry the Gōngzhǔ, he must have been from a famous family, but now he was…

“The Gōngzhǔ is too cruel. How can she just leave her here and ignore her after being married for a long time…”

Before Liu Yuan finished speaking, Wei Fu interrupted him: “It’s not entirely true that she ignores him. Didn’t you notice what the Gōngzhǔ said just now?”

What did Chao’an Gōngzhǔ say? Liu Yuan was stunned and listened to Bai Zhu on the side: “The Gōngzhǔ said that Madam Jin was ‘the woman of low status’.”

They only knew about Madam Jin’s origin after asking the old woman. If the Gōngzhǔ didn’t care as much as she showed, why would she go out of her way to find someone to inquire about Madam Jin’s origin?

They didn’t know whether this “golden branch and jade leaf” cared so much about Madam Jin because of Madam Jin herself, or because of her “flirting” relationship with the Fùmǎ?

Of course, they could find out the reason by asking the Fùmǎ.

The Fùmǎ of Chao’an Gōngzhǔ, who lived a secluded life, did not go out at this time, so everyone met him smoothly.

After bowing to everyone and standing up, Liu Yuan opened his mouth to explain his purpose.

When he heard the three words “Madam Jin”, the Fùmǎ sighed, and a trace of regret appeared on his face: “I heard about Madam Jin when I went out for breakfast this morning. What a pity!”

(End of this chapter)

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Footnote

1. Honourable Gentleman
2. Another way of saying the same, but generally someone with high official position.
3. Princess of first order, generally the daughter of the current Emperor
4. Husband of a Princess