Xiao Zhixuan blinked and asked in confusion, "Last night? I didn't go anywhere last night."

Xiao Du held her hand slightly harder and said in a cold voice: "Xuan'er, do you know that you have never been good at lying since you were a child? Do you think you can deceive me? When I walked past your room last night, I happened to see you returning to your room. It was so late, where did you go?"

Xiao Zhixuan bit her lip, tears welled up in her eyes, and lowered her head and said, "I...I dare not say it. If I tell you, will you believe me?"

Xiao Du's expression eased a little, he let go of her hand, and said softly: "As long as you tell the truth, I will believe you."

Xiao Zhixuan seemed to have made up her mind before she said, "I couldn't sleep in bed last night, and kept thinking about you and my sister-in-law. Suddenly, I had an idea to peek and see if you had returned to your room." She felt a little shy when she said this, and her face blushed. She continued, "When I was about to reach my sister-in-law's door, I suddenly saw a figure standing in front of her door, and I didn't know what he was doing. I thought the back was very familiar, so I wanted to get closer to see clearly, but who knew that the person suddenly turned around..." When she said this, she seemed to recall the scene of last night. Her face suddenly turned pale, and she unconsciously reached out and grabbed the collar of her clothes.

"Who is that person?" Xiao Du asked with a frown.

"Yes...it's Yunniang!" Xiao Zhixuan hesitated for a moment and finally said.

"Impossible! How could it be Yunniang!" Xiao Du couldn't help but grab her arm again, a look of disbelief on his face.

Xiao Zhixuan nodded, her expression a little confused, "At first I didn't dare to believe it was her. But I saw her suddenly turn around and walk back, so I secretly followed her. After following for a while, I was sure it was Yunniang. Later, I accidentally sprained my ankle, and when I looked up again, she was gone. I felt pain in my foot at the time, so I went back to my room first. Who knew that later I would know that my sister-in-law was poisoned. I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid that you wouldn't believe it, and I was afraid that it would hurt Yunniang, so I didn't dare to say it." She seemed to be very guilty as she spoke, and couldn't help shedding tears.

Xiao Du was also feeling upset at the moment, so he could only comfort her, "Okay, don't let your imagination run wild. Big brother will figure this out. Go back to your room first."

Xiao Zhixuan nodded with tears in her eyes, and couldn't help asking again: "Brother, why did Yunniang..."

Xiao Du waved his hands and said, "Don't worry about it. Remember not to tell anyone about this."

Xiao Zhixuan nodded in agreement and walked back with the two maids who were looking anxiously not far away. When passing by Linghua Courtyard where Yuan Xi lived, she couldn't help but stop, looking at the spring scenery in the courtyard, and sighed softly.

Looking across the window of the corridor, Yuan Xi was sitting alone in the house, flipping through a copy of "Xi Yuan Lu Ji" in her hand. The light yellow pages had been slightly curled. She opened a page at random and saw the following words on it: "A man from Guangnan was quarreling and robbing others. He took Hu Man Cao, which is shaped like asafoetida and has long pointed leaves. Taking more than three leaves will result in death." The three words "Hu Man Cao" were lightly circled with ink, and a line of small words was added next to it: Also known as wild kudzu, it is often found in sparse woods and bushes, and is highly poisonous. It is also recorded in "Yao Yi".

Turning the pages a few more times, he could see these small characters written in a vigorous and natural style on almost every page. Sometimes they were annotations of unusual things, sometimes they were supplementary introductions to the cases, and sometimes they were a few witty comments. Yuan Xi was so engrossed in reading them that he seemed to see the young teacher standing in front of him and talking eloquently again, and he could not help but chuckle.

Closing the book, she thought of Xiao Du's suspicion of her just now. She didn't understand why she felt so guilty at that moment and didn't dare to tell him the truth. Ever since she saw this book "Washing Wrongs" from Xiao Fuzi once, she felt particularly interested in it. So Xiao Fuzi would bring her a few detective books of this kind every now and then. Even after he left the Xiangfu, he would regularly send her new books he found, and each book was filled with his own notes. From childhood to adulthood, she had neither sisters to date nor close friends. It was because of these books that she didn't feel too lonely and felt that there was someone to keep her company.

She rubbed her brows and thought of Li Ma's expectant eyes when she returned to her room. She felt even more depressed. The scenes that happened last night jumped back into her mind. She was almost certain that the pair of eyes that were glued to her window were Yunniang. But why did Yunniang do this? Was she really crazy?

She suddenly recalled that Xiao Zhixuan had told her in the carriage that she was poisoned last night, and that the poison was colorless and odorless, and was hidden in the light and burned, so she was unaware of it and just kept wanting to fall asleep. If it was Yunniang who wanted to harm her, why would she go to such lengths, risking herself by leaning on the window to peek, and making those noises to wake her up.

Her heart skipped a beat, and a thought suddenly occurred to her: Could it be that Yunniang didn't want to harm her, but was just reminding her to get out quickly! But the door had already been locked, so she kept pushing it, and the one who really harmed her was the person who hid behind her and poisoned her and locked her in the house!

Yuan Xi figured this out, and couldn't hold back any longer, wanting to find Yun Niang to find out what was going on. She told An He and Rong Xuan not to follow her, and she walked alone to the side yard where Yun Niang was, relying on her memory.

After passing through the corridor and the courtyard, it was still the quiet courtyard with overgrown grass. But in front of the gate stood a man, wearing a dark green brocade robe hanging down, as if blending into the deep or shallow new green behind him. That man was naturally Xiao Du. He stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the isolated green brick house not far away. He didn't know why he couldn't muster the courage to cross the shallow threshold in front of him.

Since he could remember, he rarely saw his mother. In his memory, his mother was always the sickly and arrogant woman, while his father was deep and dignified, and only forced him to practice martial arts and study. Whenever he felt scared or sad, Yunniang would hold him in her arms and comfort him with a gentle voice. At that time, he told himself that when he grew up, he must treat Yunniang as a relative and be filial to her. Five years ago, Yunniang suddenly became crazy for no reason. He felt guilty and blamed himself for not taking good care of her. So he firmly kept her in the mansion and vowed not to let her get into trouble again. But what if all this was an illusion, what if she was not crazy... After the Pingduguan battle, he thought he could handle anything calmly, but if even his closest relatives were no longer trustworthy, how should he face it?

The sound of footsteps interrupted his thoughts. He turned around and found Yuan Xi standing beside him, with the same confusion and anxiety on his face. Xiao Du slowly walked over, his face becoming more gloomy, and said, "Do you remember?"

Yuan Xi nodded, guessing that he was here for this purpose as well, and said hurriedly: "But things are not what you think. The real culprit last night must be someone else."

Xiao Du raised his eyebrows and looked at her, but he felt slightly relieved and said, "Let's go in first."

The two of them walked into the yard. As soon as they entered the house, they saw Yunniang sitting on a stool in a daze. The little maid beside her was feeding her porridge mouthful by mouthful. Xiao Du took the porridge from the maid and said to her, "Let me do it. You go out first."

The little maid hurriedly stood up and walked out, then gently closed the door. Xiao Du scooped a spoonful of porridge, put it to his mouth and blew on it a few times, then brought it to Yunniang's mouth and said softly, "There is no outsider here now, tell me, what happened?"

Yunniang still had that dazed expression on her face. She just mechanically swallowed the porridge. Her cloudy eyes were devoid of any emotion. Xiao Du was about to speak when Yuan Xi squatted next to Yunniang and whispered, "Yunniang, did you want to save me last night? What did you want to tell me?"

Yunniang turned her head and looked at her woodenly, and suddenly she showed a weird smile, which made the scar on her face flip up, looking indescribably horrible. Yuanxi's heart tightened, and she couldn't help but ask anxiously: "Do you know, who wants to harm me?"

"That's enough," Xiao Du suddenly said, "She won't answer you. If she wanted to say something, she should have said it five years ago." He scooped another spoonful of porridge and fed her while saying, "I know you must have your reasons. No matter who it is, if he wants to harm you or my family, I won't let him off easily. Yunniang, don't worry, Du'er has grown up and will definitely protect you."

Yunniang seemed not to understand anything and just ate her porridge blankly. The room fell into silence. Only after the bowl of porridge was finished did Xiao Du take Yuanxi out of the room.

The two walked in silence until they came to a peach tree next to the hanging flower gate. Xiao Du suddenly smiled and said, "Do you want me to come over tonight?" Yuan Xi was stunned. He had said the same thing by the stream yesterday. But at this moment, both of them felt an indescribable heaviness in their hearts. She lowered her head with mixed feelings, not knowing how to answer.

Just when she was feeling uneasy, she suddenly felt dizzy. When she came to her senses, she found that Xiao Du had already pressed her against the door, and was lowering his head and slowly moving his lips towards hers.

Yuan Xi suddenly felt a surge of fear in her heart. After a struggle, she couldn't help but turned her head away. Xiao Du stopped suddenly, still smiling, but there was some coldness in his voice. "This kind of thing is naturally only interesting if you and I are willing. Since my wife doesn't want to, I can't force you." After saying that, he let go of her hand, turned around and walked away without looking back.

Yuan Xi felt that there was a sudden emptiness in front of her. The warm breath disappeared, leaving only a slight chill, which seeped into her heart bit by bit and turned into an unspeakable sadness.