TICIEC Chapter 74.1

After the transaction was completed, the two people hurriedly parted ways.

They did not notice Tang Miaoling and her maid eavesdropping nearby.

“Master, let’s go quickly…” Cui Ping said fearfully.

Tang Miaoling shook her head: “That palace maid looks familiar to me. She seems to be the one who usually follows Xue Meiren. Go and see if she’s going to Qionghua Garden.”

“Then, Master…?”

“I’ll follow that young eunuch. There aren’t many places in this entire palace worth Xue Meiren spending money to gather information… This matter must be significant!” Tang Miaoling said, her eyes gradually brightening.

“Xue Meiren has been bullying my cousin repeatedly. If we can find something wrong with her, my cousin will be very happy!”

Now that she had turned to her cousin for help, Tang Miaoling was willing to do her best!

Otherwise, if she just lay around doing nothing, she was afraid her cousin would think that she was useless.

“Yes, Master, please be careful!”

The master and servant immediately went their separate ways.

Tang Miaoling secretly followed him for a while and eventually discovered that this eunuch had actually entered Qianxin Hall.

He was actually a eunuch serving the Emperor!

A short while later, Cui Ping returned to report, “The palace maid entered Qionghua Garden, and the palace staff there treated her very politely. She is Xue Meiren’s newly appointed head maid.”

“I knew she looked familiar… Let’s go find my cousin!” Tang Miaoling said excitedly.

…

Lingxue Pavilion, Flower Hall—

Tang Miaoling specifically said that she had confidential information to share, so Ning Wanyin dismissed all outsiders.

“I saw it with my own eyes. They exchanged money and letters! This Xue Meiren is incredibly audacious, trying to gather information about the Emperor…” 

Tang Miaoling recounted what she had seen in the Imperial Garden.

Then she said, “The Duke of Su’s mansion is truly lawless!”

Ning Wanyin’s eyes darkened slightly: “The Xue family has always been arrogant.”

“Cousin, they’ve agreed to meet again in seven days. Shouldn’t we report this to the Emperor immediately and have them arrested? If they’re caught red-handed, Xue Meiren will either be dead or banished to the Cold Palace!” Tang Miaoling said excitedly.

Ning Wanyin calmly shook her head and said, “No. Just pretend you don’t know anything about this.”

“Why?” Tang Miaoling asked, puzzled. 

“This is a rare good opportunity. Sending someone to inquire about His Majesty’s affairs—blaming it on a palace maid is useless. It will definitely implicate her personally!”

If a palace maid were to inquire about state affairs, it must be because someone was acting on someone else’s behalf.

Then both Xue Jinyan and the Xue family are to blame.

“Because, in this matter, we cannot be completely sure it will succeed. On the contrary, if something goes wrong, the charge of false accusation will be inevitable.” Ning Wanyin said cautiously.

Tang Miaoling asked doubtfully, “Isn’t this a case of catching the suspect red-handed? Why aren’t you 100% sure?”

“Firstly, if they change the meeting time and place privately due to some unforeseen circumstances, where will we go to arrest them? This kind of risk accounts for 10%.”

“That’s still 90%!”

“Secondly, even if we block the person on the spot, with the letter in the other person’s hands, the moment they see the guards rushing over, they might throw the letter into the nearby lake to destroy it, or swallow it. When that happens, if they claim that it was just a reunion, with insufficient evidence, what can we do? Such a risk accounts for 50%.”

“Ah, this…”

“Furthermore, is it certain that this eunuch will find useful information within seven days? What if he fails to perform his duties and comes back empty-handed next time? That risk accounts for 30%.”

Tang Miaoling was completely stunned: “We only have a 10% chance of winning…”

What she thought would be a piece of cake suddenly felt like a life-or-death situation after Ning Wanyin’s analysis.

“Then, let’s just forget about it. I’ll pretend I don’t know anything.” 

Tang Miaoling quickly shook her head, still somewhat regretful as she muttered to herself: “What a waste of such a good opportunity…”

Ning Wanyin calmly replied, “It’s no pity.”

And most importantly, it involved the Emperor, which she didn’t mention.

If someone did manage to obtain information from the Emperor’s inner circle, Helian Qi would almost certainly know it.

He didn’t interfere, which meant that he had his own plans.

Ning Wanyin certainly wouldn’t expose this matter and disrupt his plans.

In short, doing this would be extremely risky.

Even if she doesn’t do it, the Emperor isn’t stupid. If news leaks out and she has to remind him, then the Emperor is not far from death. (T/N: Wow, that’s indeed right!)

 

 

 

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