Shao Wanru saw Old Madam’s impatience, realizing that she was going to butt in, so she just waited for her to get herself involved.

But she didn’t expect that Wen Xichi should speak first at this time. She thought that he wouldn’t say anything until the truth came out in the end!

Shao Wanru, surprised, turned her eyes on him. Her eyes were dewy and vivid like ripples on a lake. They shone beautiful gentleness, which was mixed up with slight indifferent alertness. Wen Xichi looked down a little, but immediately raised his eyes with an amiable and elegant smile on his face.

Compared with Chu Liuchen, who pretended to be harmless and gentle, Wen Xichi showed his sincere kindness to others with all his heart. That was very agreeable.

“Second Miss, many people, including Duke Xing and First Young Master, heard your words beside the fire scene just now. How do you explain it now, Second Miss?” Wen Xichi turned to look at Shao Jie’er with a smile, but his question was sharp enough as if he was interrogating Shao Jie’er as a suspect at the court.

Even the words he used were special languages of trial questions.

Shao Jie’er had never experienced such a scene before, so she sank into panic as soon as she was questioned like that. She didn’t remember until now that she once asked Liuxiang to lie about her confession to make her words sound more credible. Now it was quite unreasonable to insist that Liuxiang was not there to see that so-called servant girl.

She was tongue-tied and cast a “help” look at Old Madam, hoping to get a hint of instruction from her.

Old Madam was angered to curse Shao Jie’er as a fool in her heart. She had known that Shao Jie’er was not clever, but it was beyond her expectation that she should be that stupid. It seemed to be very difficult for Shao Jie’er to patch up her lie.

Old Madam coughed in a low voice and rebuked, “Why did you talk nonsense before?”

Old Madam took Shao Jie’er’s confession in the pavilion as unbelievable nonsense, which meanwhile implied that what she said now was true.

“Sorry. I said so because I was too scared when seeing so many people surrounding me at that time. It was not true!” After being reminded by Old Madam, Shao Jie’er immediately came to her senses and hastened to wave her hands and deny her previous words.

The situation at that time was indeed like this. Shao Jie’er did not dare to tell others what had happened to her before she was found. The Misses of aristocratic families were most concerned about their reputation. And her reputation would be ruined if it was known to everyone that she had been deserted in the corner after being knocked out by someone. So she would definitely not tell others about it, let alone so many people were surrounding her at that time.

“Second Miss, do you mean that you were so afraid that you asked your servant girl to testify you at that time?” Wen Xichi asked again with a smile.

“Yes, I was afraid at that time, so I did that in a panic.” Shao Jie’er insisted.

“Well, Second Miss, even if you made a mistake on your servant girl’s thing because you were in a panic, what about the fire? Can you tell us what happened when you left the house? Had the fire started yet at that time?” Wen Xichi continued to say.

At the moment, Shao Wanru noticed the burnt mark on the hem of Shao Jie’er’s dress. However, there were burn marks not only on her, but also on Shao Jing and Shao Hua’an. It was quite normal for them to carry one or two burn marks on their clothes for they just now came here from the fire scene. She smiled slightly, knowing what Wen Xichi was going to ask.

Other people might get burnt marks in the burning fire by accident. But the fire should be about to, or have faded away when Shao Jie’er appeared at the fire scene. Therefore, it was hard to explain why she would get burned!

“Of course, there was no fire when I left. I just wanted to go to Fifth Sister’s. But when I was about to arrive, I turned back because I suddenly realized that she might have fallen asleep.” Shao Jie’er could only say so now. She was secretly flustered. Since she was a child, she had been afraid of Wen Xichi and of course, she never dared to play with him. He, a childe of the Mansion of the Prime Minister, was too smart for her.

Every time she tried to hide something from him, she failed all the time.

“Second Miss, now that you left before the fire and didn’t come back until the fire died out, I wonder where the burn marks on your clothes came from.” Wen Xichi’s eyes fell on the burn marks on Shao Jie’er’s clothes.

With Old Madam’s countenance changed, she stared at the burnt marks on Shao Jie’er with hatred. Of course, she also saw them. However, she didn’t pay attention to them after seeing the marks on her second son and eldest grandson, and thought that Shao Jie’er got them in the fire.

She didn’t expect that the fire should have been out when Shao Jie’er went back there!

The dress was burned after the fire went out? Where did the dress-burning fire come from? Old Madam was so angry that she almost burst into flames. She wanted to knock Shao Jie’er’s head open and see what kind of brain such a fool would have.

“I… I…” Shao Jie’er was flurried, with her eyes flickering, and with not only cold sweat on her forehead but also all over her body. She suddenly said, “I… I went there with that servant girl of Fifth Sister, but I came back alone with a lantern. I tripped on the way and the lantern rolled over, the fire inside which burned my dress. Fortunately, I reacted quickly and put it out!”

Shao Jie’er became more and more proficient in telling lies. She even felt that they were flawless after she finished. Anyway, she fell over as she said and no one could deny it.

“Second Miss, how did you fall?” Wen Xichi still didn’t let her go. He stared at her tightly and asked with calmness and seriousness in his eyes, which held a panoramic view of Shao Jie’er’s anxiety.

When Shao Jie’er was about to reply, there seemed to be a white light flashing in her mind and some things deep in her memory occurred to her, which drove her into extreme panic with her face immediately turning pale.

Even her lips were trembling, but she failed to make any sound.

Shao Wanru was stunned when seeing the converted expression of Shao Jie’er. She then took a look at Wen Xichi, whose smile had been replaced by a solemn face that was pointing at Shao Jie’er like a sheathed sword.

“However, Shao Jie’er’s reaction was also very odd. Wen Xichi’s questions were aggressive enough to make her nervous, but not enough to make her scared like that——she trembled, and expression on her face made a tremendous change.” Shao Wanru frowned and thought, “Is there anything else that I don’t know?”

“Jie’er, just tell us how you fell down. Then Minister Wen can record it. It’s cold, and he has been waiting for a long time!” Old Madam said impatiently. It was obvious that she was showing the door to Wen Xichi. If it weren’t for him, it would have been much smoother.

Old Madam was inexplicably annoyed. “Finally came the moment without Great Elder Princess, but here came Wen Xichi to spoil our plan.” She just wanted Shao Jie’er to answer Wen Xichi’s questions so that he could leave.

“I… I just fell on my knees, so my dress was burned…” Scolded by Old Madam, Shao Jie’er came to her senses from her memory and hastily explained in a panic.

However, the dress wouldn’t get burnt unless it reached the fire.

“Second Miss, are you sure that you fell down just as you said, but not in any other way? Don’t tell me then you again made a mistake because you were scared.” Wen Xichi said with his face showing another smile, which was mixed up with a little calmness.

“Just…just as I said. I’m sure, I’m very sure,” Shao Jie’er said hurriedly.

“Well, it will be the best if you’re sure!” Wen Xichi turned to look at Old Madam calmly and said with saluting hands, “Old Madam, I’ve done with asking questions. Now I have a conclusion that Second Miss Shao was lying!”

His conclusion shocked everyone in the room. They all stared at Shao Jie’er in surprise.

“I… I’m not lying. I indeed fell down in that way!” Shao Jie’er, who felt guilty, immediately shook her head in a panic after being stared at by everyone.

“Yuanqing, why did you say that?” Shao Hua’an looked at Wen Xichi and asked.

While Old Madam was looking at Wen Xichi, full of coldness and displeasure.

Wen Xichi ignored the unpleasant gaze of Old Madam, reached out to point at the top of Shao Jie’er’s head, and said, “Old Madam, First Young Master, look! Second Miss Shao said that she just knelt on the ground and got her dress burnt. But her hair was in a mess and even covered with some dust. How could her hair become like this if she just knelt down? But she insisted on the truthfulness of the kneeling-down statement no matter how many times I questioned her. She was just telling a lie.”

Wen Xichi was comparatively tall, so he could see the top of Shao Jie’er’s head clear from where he stood. Shao Jing and Shao Hua’an were also tall enough to see her top. However, no one had ever noticed it on the way here. At this time, when they looked carefully, they found that there was indeed some mud in the messy hair and even a small stone sticking on the hair bun.

It was obvious that her head once hit on the ground.

“Second Miss Shao, is there any reason why you can’t tell us?” Wen Xichi turned to question her again after he presented his opinion.

Shao Jie’er was deeply flustered at this time. She wanted to cover her head with her panicked hands but knew at once that doing so could not help. Old Madam was the one to whom she could turn. She said, “Grandma… ”

“Grandma!” Another crisp voice cut her off. Shao Wanru took a step forward to Old Madam, bowed sideways respectfully and then got up, and said with her watery eyes fixing on Old Madam’s, “Grandma, please uphold justice for me!”

Shao Jie’er’s words were almost confirmed to be lies. Everything she had said before might be lies too! Then there was the possibility that the fire might have been set before she left the house. Shao Jie’er was most likely to be the one who set on fire.

Although Shao Wanru didn’t directly criticize Shao Jie’er, the meaning of her words was obvious enough. Moreover, Wen Xichi was helping her. She didn’t know why Wen Xichi did so, but his unexpected help was just right for her. She immediately seized the opportunity.

Old Madam was so angry that she almost wanted to eat Shao Jie’er alive. Along the way here from the fire scene, none of her words were convincing. They were all nonsense one after another. And now everything would be blamed on her.

But it was of no use that Shao Jie’er took on everything. What Old Madam wanted was to put the blame on Shao Wanru. Of course, she didn’t mean to put the latter into prison. As long as Shao Wanru took the blame, it would be much easier for Old Madam to go on her plot. Old Madam first expected it to be an easy duty and Shao Jie’er would do it well, though she was not smart.

But it turned out that Shao Jie’er made mistakes again and again. And the current situation was even more difficult to deal with.

Wen Xichi perfectly pointed out every flaw in Shao Jie’er’s lies. Even if Old Madam wanted to defend Shao Jie’er, she could not.

“Jie’er, does the fire really have anything to do with you?” Shao Jing said coldly.

“No, Father. It’s not me. It has nothing to do with me. I really went to find Fifth Sister. I’m really…” Shao Jie’er burst into tears, not knowing what else she could say.