Chapter 111 - Her Image Begins to Fall Apart
At that, Feng Tianlan laughed mockingly and said, “You see? You didn’t even tell me exactly when you were going to arrive home, so how could you have told me that you were bringing back a Marrow Cleansing Pill and planning on giving it to me in public?”
“I….”
Feng Tianlan did not give her a chance to explain herself. She continued, “Since you didn’t tell me any of this beforehand, then what sort of deep sisterly bond do we have that justifies your giving me a Marrow Cleansing Pill? And why would you do this in front of everybody? To show that we are very close sisters?”
“Oh, sure, you’re such a fantastic younger sister, trying to give me a Grade 9 Marrow Cleansing Pill. Even if it didn’t have this layer of medicine as described by Doctor Su, when given to a Spiritualist for marrow cleansing, such a pill would bring my skill level down by one grade, right?”
“I….I didn’t know it would be like that.” Feng Xiupei’s face was now very pale, and she stared even more intensely and angrily at Feng Tianlan.
Upon hearing this, Feng Tianlan laughed again. “You don’t know? You’re not only training as a Spiritual Master at Flying Frost Pavilion but also as an alchemist, right? This is common knowledge among alchemists, so you couldn’t not have known. If you didn’t know, that would be a disgrace to the first female genius of South Winds Nation!”
“Eldest Sister…” Feng Xiupei’s eyes filled with tears, and she looked at her with her best pitiful face. Her expression seemed to say, ‘why are you picking on me? Did I make you unhappy somehow?’
When she saw this wonderful, persistent act of pretending to be pure and kind, Feng Tianlan snorted coldly and said, “Sure, let’s say you really didn’t know that there was this sort of difference in the pills. But then, you were the one who gave me the pill, and I only touched the box. Not even my nails touched the pill. So, how can you say that I added poison and tried to frame you?”
“They said you were the one who poisoned him so…” Feng Xiupei became an even whiter shade and looked like she was the one being bullied.
“But that pill came from you, so wouldn’t you know best if it were poisoned or not? You could have explained that the pill had no poison, and that the person didn’t die from poisoning.”
“That’s because…” Feng Xiupei starting panicking because Feng Tianlan’s questions were getting more and more tricky.
“Ohhhh, I know. Because you weren’t sure if I had really poisoned the pill or not, for the sake of justice, you just decided to label me the murderer instead of believing in your heart that I didn’t kill anyone. And then, because the crowd said so, you decided that I am indeed the murderer. What a good sister you are!”
Xu Jiayi also started panicking when she heard each question becoming harder and harder to answer. She shouted out, “Feng Tianlan, don’t you smear Pei’er’s name now! She was in a panic and decided to take the blame for you. But you don’t appreciate her kind actions at all! Besides, it wasn’t Pei’er who said that you poisoned the man, it was those other people, so blame them instead!”
“Mother.” Feng Xiupei didn’t know what to do anymore. Her mother only made things worse. Feng Tianlan responded, “Ohhhhhh…so you want me to blame them for saying I poisoned someone to death, blame these people for sending me to court, and blame them for blowing up this matter?”
“No…that’s not…don’t misunderstand what I said. What I meant was that it wasn’t us who said you added the poison. It was…” Xu Jiayi’s face turned pale from panicking. The more she talked, the more incoherent she sounded. In the end, she just glared angrily at Feng Tianlan.
“Let’s not talk about this, then. Let’s talk about the treasure, which Feng Xiuyu mentioned, and the Spirit Stabilizing Pill that Feng Xiupei has stated that she’d planned to give me. There are loopholes, everywhere, in this part of the story.”
Feng Tianlan smiled at Feng Xiupei. “My Second Sister, where’s that Spirit Stabilizing Pill that you said you were going to give me?”
“Er…” Feng Xiupei’s expression changed. She could no longer maintain that pitiful face she’d had earlier.