Chapter 9 — Bamboo Burning Brooch

"That's right, that's right. I went to Dong Son to pray for my mother's blessing. Everyone in the family can testify." "Of course your family members will cover for each other. Your mother's words cannot be considered evidence." The leader of the Vu Lam Guard was completely unmoved by his mother's plea. He waved his hand and still ordered the elder sister to go. Mother and elder sister were both so scared that their faces turned pale. My mother even turned and shouted at me: "Are you dead? Why are you standing there dumb as a clam? Don't you quickly think of a way to save your eldest sister! If a girl like her is sent to prison, will she still have a way to live?" Me? What can I think of? "Mother's intention... is it possible that you want me to take the blame for my eldest sister?" "Are you not guilty?" Before I finished speaking, a voice echoed from the yard. I raised my head to look. I saw Ly Tuyen supporting his body, which had not yet recovered, and walked forward. His face turned pale, he grabbed the eunuch's hand and went in, covered his mouth and coughed twice before hoarsely saying: "Lam Thanh Ha, you used a bamboo broach to injure her and then ran away, thinking that no one would investigate? Now you still want to blame your sister, what a cruel heart, worthy of condemnation." In his previous life, when the Vu Lam guards came to investigate the Lam family, Ly Tuyen never appeared. In this life, he suddenly came here... Could it be that he also came back to life? If that's true... then that's really good! Hasn't he always refused to believe that the person who injured him was his eldest sister, and the person who saved him was me? In this life, I will let him open his eyes and see clearly. "I would like to ask Your Highness, why do you confirm that it was the goddess who used the bamboo burning brooch to injure you?" I took a step forward, bowed my knees and bowed, then slowly said: "Do you have evidence?" "You are the evidence." Ly Tuyen sat down solemnly in the middle of the hall, pointing to her chest. "The person who injured you that day used a bamboo burning brooch. I heard that when Nhi Young lady, your mother once made you a bamboo burning brooch. If Second Miss claims to be innocent, then bring that bamboo burning brooch out for me to see.” “Bamboo burning brooch?” The elder sister was stunned. Unexpectedly, Ly Tuyen still clearly remembered the situation that day when he was injured. "Yes, bamboo burning brooch." She immediately thought that she had a chance to change her mind and quickly pointed at me. "When the villager's sister Lam Thanh Ha was preparing chickens, her mother once made her a bamboo burning brooch. Mother, you should quickly say something, right?" Being urged repeatedly by the elder sister, the mother saw the calculation in her eyes and slightly cringed and turned around. He looked at me for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "That's right. When Thanh Ha planted the chicken, I actually made him a bamboo burning brooch." "Lam Thanh Ha, the witnesses have enough evidence, what do you have to say at this point?" Ly Tuyen glared at me fiercely, as if I had committed a heinous crime. I pursed my lips. "On the day of birth, mother did indeed make the goddess a bamboo burning brooch. But because the elder sister was unhappy and thought that mother was biased, in order to appease her, mother gave the bamboo burning brooch back to the eldest sister. After all, the eldest sister was the real owner of the bamboo burning brooch." "No! Not me!" Hearing this, the elder sister quickly said: "The day His Highness was executed, the women... even saw it with their own eyes." She threw the bamboo burning brooch into the pond. If Your Highness doesn't believe it, you can send someone down to the pond to pick it up." After saying that, she looked at me sadly. "Sister, I know that you have always been aggressive. Seeing that the Marquis of Vinh Ninh Palace and I had an engagement, you were not willing, so you accused me. But I didn't expect that that day you would dare to use the brooch to hurt His Highness. Do you... do you want to harm our whole family?" After saying that, she just covered her face and sobbed. Ly Tuyen's eyes looked at me

even more disgusted. He waved his hand and signaled the East Palace guard to immediately go to the pond in the palace to find a bamboo burning brooch. I was still standing in the hall, not showing any fear, just asking in return: "May I ask Your Highness, what day was the day you were executed?" "March fifteenth." Ly Tuyen instinctively answered a question, when he reacted, he immediately frowned and glared at me. "Why do you ask that?" I slowly bowed my knees and bowed again. "Your Highness, I respectfully ask for your kind consideration. On the fifteenth day of the third month, because my mother didn't have an appetite, I went to town." came to Ngu Thuc Trai to buy Ngu Bach cakes to help her mother as an appetizer. Due to the limited amount of cakes, I had a disagreement with Princess Vinh An, who also came to buy cakes, and the two sides fought for a while." "After that, Princess Truong's mama brought me to see Her Royal Highness Princess Truong. Her Highness punished her and kept her until the next evening before letting her go home." "This matter, Princess Vinh An and Truong Princess can both testify Sister said that the goddess threw the brooch and burned the bamboo." "You were kept by the aunt?" Ly Tuyen frowned even harder. On the fifteenth of March, I had enough witnesses and evidence, enough to prove that I had never been to Dong Son, much less took his life. His eyes were full of suspicion, constantly shifting between me and my eldest sister. At that moment, the guards who went down to the pond to look for the bamboo burning brooch also returned. "Informing Your Highness, there was nothing else in the pond besides an earring, a fishing rod and a brush." "How is that possible?" Ly Tuyen's face turned pale. "Have you searched carefully?" The guard replied: "The water in the pond has been drained, the bottom of the pond has also been checked in every place, and indeed the bamboo burning brooch was not found." "Impossible." Come on! That day, I clearly saw her throw the bamboo burning hairpin into the pond!” The elder sister's fingernails dug into her palm, her face was as white as paper, but she still tried to force herself to say: “Surely... she definitely picked it up in the night!” I lowered my eyes, didn't answer her, just respectfully bowed to Ly Tuyen.