Yan Yang ordered the flags to be raised, and a Taoist priest wearing a purple scarf and a Bagua robe stood in front of the altar and chanted something. He then took out a talisman from his pocket and threw it upwards. The talisman actually burned in the air. He immediately opened his eyes, chanted a spell, raised his magic sword and stabbed forward. The fire on the talisman suddenly went out, and a puff of black smoke rose up until it dissipated under the sunlight.

The servants of the mansion were all crowded around to watch the excitement. At this moment, they all shouted in surprise and showed excitement on their faces. The Taoist priest walked towards Xiao Yunjing who was standing at the front of the crowd with his sword in his hands behind his back and said, "The evil has been eliminated. The old mansion can rest assured. It will return to normal in the future."

Xiao Yunjing smiled and nodded, then bowed and said, "Thank you, Taoist Qingxu." He then glanced back, and a servant hurriedly stepped forward and respectfully handed over a silver note.

Taoist Master Qingxu accepted it with a smile, exchanged a few words with the old marquis, handed him a few talismans and told him to stick them at the gate of the courtyard, and then left with his disciples. The onlookers saw that the ritual was over. Since the Taoist master said that the evil spirit had been eliminated, they felt relieved and dispersed while talking to each other.

Xiao Yunjing whispered a few words to Xiao Du, and then walked towards his courtyard with his followers. Xiao Du glanced at Yuan Xi, who was still standing there with a solemn face, and walked over to hold her hand and said, "Come with me for a walk."

They did not have their maids accompany them, but walked side by side in the courtyard that was already filled with the atmosphere of autumn, stepping on the fallen flowers on the ground.

Neither of them spoke, their silent figures overlapped and were reflected diagonally on the bluestone road. When they walked to the gardenia tree, Yuan Xi sighed, turned around and looked at him and said, "Is this really the end?"

Xiao Du nodded, looking somewhat unwilling, and said, "This is Dad's decision. Let's end this matter here. The coroner has examined the body of the fallen child. Judging from the stiffness of the body and the flies on it, she had been dead for at least six days. The cause of death was drowning, and there were no other injuries. This means that she had indeed drowned on the day she was found in the lake."

Yuan Xi frowned and said, "So we have to believe that the fallen girl Zhang Jin saw that night and the one in the princess' room were really ghosts? Even if we have discovered the mechanism in the room?"

Xiao Du lowered his head and patted the fallen petals off her shoulders, and said gently, "All the workers in charge of Qixiayuan have checked it out, but they can't find any clues. The foreman has already run away without a trace. If that's the case, why should you worry too much?"

Yuan Xi continued to stare at him seriously and said, "When we found Dui'er's body that day, I also checked it carefully. There were a lot of black paper scraps stuck to the soles of her shoes. And according to what Zhang Jin said, he was burning paper money the night he encountered Dui'er's spirit."

Xiao Du sighed and said, "So you think the one who appeared beside Zhang Jin that night was the real Pi'er? But she died two days ago."

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "Because he was too familiar with Pi'er's appearance, he would not have made a mistake, so what he saw must have been the real Pi'er. But he was in extreme shock and fear, so he might not have been able to distinguish whether he saw a living person or a dead person."

She became more and more excited as she spoke, and said in one breath: "Don't you think it's strange? Zhang Jin killed Kuai'er himself. If she really came back to seek revenge that night, why did she just scare him badly in the end but didn't kill him? I think someone disguised Kuai'er's body as a living person and used Zhang Jin to make everyone think Kuai'er really came back to life."

Xiao Du lowered his head and thought, then asked, "What about the one in the princess' room? How could a corpse walk over to talk to the princess and then hide itself and take the opportunity to escape?"

"But the princess had never seen the real Qian'er, so she only saw a woman dressed as a maid looking for her child. After Zhang Jin's description, everyone would naturally think that it must be Qian'er."

Xiao Du thought about it carefully and felt that this might be the truth. But the old marquis had told him again and again that since the Qing Palace did not pursue the matter any further, after the ritual was performed, there should be no more complications to avoid confusion in the palace. He then pulled Yuan Xi to his side and said gently, "But these are just speculations. Since there is no evidence pointing to anyone, you should not worry too much. I will take care of the rest. Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon. I will take you out to the Lantern Festival to relax, okay?"

Yuan Xi still frowned and said, "Are you afraid that it was really my second brother who did it? But I think the person behind this is very cunning and has done so many things. It should not be as simple as just wanting to scare the princess. If it is not my second brother, what should we do if that person wants to do something else to the Marquis' Mansion?"

Seeing her worried expression, Xiao Du's heart suddenly warmed up. He leaned over and kissed her forehead gently, smiling and said, "You know, you are becoming more and more like the mistress of the house."

Yuan Xi felt a little embarrassed by his gaze and was about to lower her head, but Xiao Du reached out and slowly smoothed her frowning brows, saying, "I don't like to see you frowning. Just remember, no matter what happens, I will support this family." His fingertips slowly slid down from her brows, gently caressing her lips, and then put his finger next to her ear and said softly, "If I really can't hold on any longer, can you help me hold it up again?"

Yuan Xi felt that these words contained a spring of water, which warmed her heart. She buried her head in his chest, listening to his heartbeat in her ears. The world was so quiet that it seemed as if they were the only two people left.

Xiao Du felt a little warm in the corners of his eyes. He had been carrying too much all along, and never thought that he could share his burden with someone. He never thought that he could have her accompany him, and from then on he would no longer be alone. Thinking of this, he actually began to feel a little grateful to Xia Xiang. No matter what he wanted, at least he sent her to him.

On one side, the two were in harmony, but on the other side, each had his own agenda. After the ceremony was over, Aunt Cai said she was ill and did not wait for the old marquis to return to his room. She also took the opportunity to send away the maidservants around her, walked through the corridor and courtyard alone, and stopped beside a secluded rockery.

Behind the rockery, a shadow was cast in the sunlight. Aunt Cai casually found a stone bench to sit on. She looked around and saw no one was around. Then she spoke, "Why are you calling me here so urgently? Does the master have any other instructions?"

A voice came from behind, "No, the master said you did a great job on this matter, and he will definitely reward you if he has the chance."

Aunt Cai smiled with satisfaction, then curled her lips and said, "You took the risk to signal me on that occasion just now just to tell me this."

The voice said, "Of course not. It was my idea to ask you to come. I just want to ask you why you deliberately left a shoe in the princess' room."

Aunt Cai's body trembled slightly, but her expression remained calm. She replied, "Your arrangements are so complicated, it's inevitable that there will be some mistakes. Anyway, didn't you find anything in the end?"

The voice seemed to snort lightly, and said coldly: "It doesn't matter if it was a mistake or it was intentional. I called you here just to remind you that it's best not to play any tricks behind your back. It won't do you any good."

Aunt Cai covered her mouth and laughed, saying, "Look at what you said. What tricks can I play? In all these years, I have not done anything according to your wishes. Without you, what good can I do?"

The voice said, "I'm glad you understand. I don't want this to happen again."

Aunt Cai saw the shadow slowly disappearing, and a look of resentment appeared in her eyes. She walked slowly back into the house, sent the maid to guard outside, and flipped through the book of daily copying. The corners of her mouth rose slightly, and she said in her heart: "This is just the beginning. One day, your true face will be revealed."

Soon it was Mid-Autumn Festival. The eaves of the mansion were hung with all kinds of lanterns, and a banquet was held for drinking and admiring flowers. Finally, there was a festive atmosphere. After dinner, Xiao Du was eager to take Yuan Xi out to see the lantern show. As soon as they walked to the hanging flower gate, they ran into Xiao Zhixuan, who looked worried. Xiao Du smiled and invited her to go with him.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Zhixuan seemed uninterested. She just curled her lips and said that she had agreed to go with Aunt Cai to watch the moon and it was inconvenient for her to go out again.

Xiao Du felt a little strange and couldn't help shaking his head and muttering to himself, "I usually don't like to join in the fun, what's wrong today?" Yuan Xi had been a little concerned about her since the last incident, so she didn't say anything more at this time. She just nodded to her and prepared to walk straight ahead.

Who knew Xiao Zhixuan suddenly called out: "Sister-in-law!"

Yuan Xi turned her head curiously, only to see Xiao Zhixuan biting her lip and twisting the corner of her clothes. She glanced at Xiao Du from the corner of her eye, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

Yuan Xi asked the others to wait by the carriage first, and then walked over to Xiao Zhixuan and asked, "What happened?" Xiao Zhixuan burst into tears, hugged her neck tightly, and said, "Sister-in-law, it's all my fault. Not only did I cause you and brother to quarrel, but I also caused Mr. Luo to never come to the Marquis' Mansion again."

Yuan Xi was startled and asked what happened. Xiao Zhixuan wiped her tears and said, "I embroidered a purse for you that day. You were not in the room. I saw Li Ma and the others went out to get tea and fruit, so I thought of hiding the purse in your room to give you a surprise. But I accidentally found the book you hid under the table. I recognized that it was Mr. Luo's handwriting, and I was panicked and scared, so I secretly tore off the page and asked someone to pass it to my eldest brother."

She seemed to be full of regret and said, "But I didn't know that I would cause such a big trouble and make my brother so angry. Fortunately, you two have reconciled now, otherwise I would never forgive myself in my life."

Yuan Xi had been suspicious of the incident, but she had no time to pursue it. Now that she knew the truth, she was overwhelmed. Xiao Zhixuan was looking at her with tearful eyes and asked cautiously, "Sister-in-law, will you forgive me?"

Yuan Xi was confused and didn't know how to answer for a moment, so he asked, "What do you mean Mr. Luo can no longer come to the Marquis' Mansion?"

Xiao Zhixuan was stunned and said, "Don't you know? My eldest brother was very angry that day and ordered the guards at the gate to forbid Mr. Luo to set foot in the Marquis' Mansion again. Now I have changed back to the original teacher to teach." When she said this, she seemed to be very self-blaming and lowered her head in annoyance.