Chapter 33: Leveraging Great Power with Subtle Force

Following Summer Ninth Ginger's instructions, Green Vine sprinkled the Flower Dew over each person one by one. Everyone waited in silence; the Spring Garden was suddenly cloaked in an uncanny atmosphere. They stood quietly, each with a different expression, lost in their own thoughts.

As time slowly trickled by, Lin Snow spoke up, "Isn't the incense stick nearly burnt out?"

Summer Ninth Ginger smiled gently. "Don't worry, Aunt. I've already had Green Vine light the incense. When the time is up, we'll be notified."

Since the timing began after the dew was sprinkled, Green Vine went to the front hall to light the incense, lest someone later accuse her of delaying the process by running back and forth.

Lin Snow, somewhat displeased, retorted, "What if your personal maid deliberately fails to inform us when the time is up?" Why couldn’t Summer Ninth Ginger simply admit to being the culprit and end this? Why must she always find excuses to delay?

Summer Ninth Ginger mocked, "Is Aunt anxious, so that time feels as if it’s dragging?"

Lin Snow clenched her fists, refusing to believe Summer Ninth Ginger could overturn the situation.

Summer Ninth Ginger continued, "If Aunt suspects my maid of delaying, you may have your own maid keep watch. But I doubt Green Vine would do such a thing. Sooner or later, the truth will come out. Perhaps a slight delay only unsettles you?"

Lin Snow replied, "Why should I be unsettled? Ginger, your words sound as though you’re accusing me of harming Pure! I’m not so heartless as to hurt a child."

Heartless? In the inner court, which woman has not schemed to survive, whose hands are free of blood?

Just then, Green Vine entered the garden and announced, "Princess, the incense has burnt through."

Haitang, kneeling and sweating nervously, breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing had happened after all; Summer Ninth Ginger’s threats were empty. Haitang felt a burden lifted.

Summer Moon sneered, casting a mocking look at Summer Ninth Ginger. "Time is up, yet the bees and butterflies you spoke of haven't appeared. It seems you’ve led us in circles, wasting our concern."

No sooner had Summer Moon finished than Green Vine pointed and cried, "Butterflies! There are butterflies!"

Bees and butterflies appeared, visible to all, and in a scene that startled everyone, they circled only Pure and Haitang. Haitang stared in shock, trembling as she waved her arms. "What’s happening? Why are these bees and butterflies around me? Go away... go away!"

Everyone watched Haitang's fearful gestures, while no butterflies or bees hovered near anyone else.

Haitang stammered, "No... surely it's because I was too close to the young master, or maybe... I just touched him, that must be why the bees and butterflies are around me."

She kept moving away, trying to distance herself from Pure, yet the bees and butterflies clung to her, wherever she went.

Summer Ninth Ginger looked at Haitang with contempt. "I told you, the bees and butterflies would reveal who harmed Pure."

Lin Snow frowned. "Why do the bees and butterflies circle only Pure and Haitang? Did the Princess do something... This is odd. If there’s any difference, it’s that Haitang held Pure..."

Summer Ninth Ginger knew Lin Snow would raise such questions. She answered, "Aunt, have you forgotten? Even if Haitang says she touched Pure, Father was also holding him earlier, yet the bees and butterflies are nowhere near him."

Indeed, everyone turned their gaze to Summer Wen Tao; the bees and butterflies did not surround him. So it wasn’t merely contact with Pure that attracted them.

Lord Thousand Night was astonished. How did Summer Ninth Ginger achieve this? Could someone control bees and butterflies?

Seeing the perplexed faces around her, Summer Ninth Ginger explained, "Since you all have questions, let me clarify. There is something on Pure and Haitang that no one else has, which caused the bees and butterflies to gather. This is proof that Haitang is the true culprit behind Pure’s harm."

Haitang exclaimed, "What sort of proof is this? This is a trick by the Princess! You’re trying to pin the blame on me simply because I’m a witness!"

Summer Ninth Ginger spoke coldly, "Not because you are a witness, but because you are the murderer! You are right about one thing: the pollen and butterflies only surround you two, so there must be something on you that the rest of us lack—osmanthus pollen."

At the mention of osmanthus pollen, Lord Don’t Ask immediately understood; his previously puzzled look softened. Lord Thousand Night, watching his reaction, felt frustrated—why did Lord Don’t Ask grasp the truth so quickly, while he himself remained in the dark?

Summer Ninth Ginger explained, "My Flower Dew is merely a scented mixture; when applied, it emits a faint fragrance. But if it comes into contact with osmanthus pollen, it becomes a signal that attracts bees and butterflies."

Osmanthus pollen... Summer Ninth Ginger’s words drained the color from Haitang’s face; she knew what Summer Ninth Ginger meant.

Summer Ninth Ginger smiled triumphantly. "Haitang claims she witnessed me push Pure from the rockery. If that were so, I should have osmanthus pollen on me, yet Haitang, who supposedly observed from afar, should not. Isn’t that so?"

Lord Don’t Ask, emboldened by newfound confidence, glanced around and noticed the osmanthus tree. He hadn’t expected Summer Ninth Ginger and himself to reach the same deduction, though she had used a different method to prove her innocence.

His initial plan was to check Haitang’s and Pure’s shoes for traces of osmanthus—if found, it would mark Haitang as the culprit, since Summer Ninth Ginger’s shoes would bear no such pollen, proving she hadn't gone to the rockery to push Pure.

Summer Ninth Ginger, assured and decisive, concluded, "Given the bees and butterflies only hover around Haitang and Pure, it means only they went to the rockery. To reach its top, one must pass by the osmanthus tree, regardless of the path taken."

There was no need for Summer Ninth Ginger to be sent off to the Court of Justice; she had already solved a murder case with ease, demonstrating her remarkable skill.

Lord Thousand Night, resentful and puzzled, wondered why Lord Don’t Ask had such luck. He controlled the Embroidered Guards, and even the hapless wastrel forced into marriage by Emperor Zongkang had become an ideal match.

He had wanted to see Lord Don’t Ask make a fool of himself, but instead, witnessing Summer Ninth Ginger’s unique brilliance, he wondered why such fortune had never favored him.