The once clean and elegant chamber was now in a state of disarray. The yellow pear wood flower stand had fallen beside the window, blocking it from the inside. The blue and white porcelain vase that had been on the stand had been smashed to pieces, with the bare branches of the flowers scattered.

Only black smoke remained in the burned charcoal stove; outside the open bookcase, paper with words written on it was scattered all over the floor, and on the table next to it, a person was lying upright. The face that had once been timid was now frozen in its final calmness, with black blood flowing from the corners of her lips, her originally fair skin now turning purple, and her eyes that hid too many secrets could no longer be opened.

No one expected that just when they were trying their best to deal with Xia Mingyuan, Aunt Cai would actually die in her own room, and the clues they had originally wanted to torture out of her had to come to an abrupt end.

But there are still too many mysteries about her. How did she get in touch with Xia Xiang's people? From beginning to end, what did she do? What did she want? All the mysteries can only be completely obliterated with her death.

Xiao Du stood at the door, looking coldly at the scene in front of him, and punched the brick wall unwillingly. The Qi he had just suppressed surged up, causing him to cough uncontrollably. Xiao Chun was terrified, fearing that the series of misfortunes would make the Marquis unable to bear it. He hurried forward to pat Xiao Du's back to calm him down, and ordered the maids who were already frightened outside to go out and pour tea.

Xiao Du waved his hands, indicating that it was not necessary, and called one of the maids and asked, "Were you the first to find the body? When did you find it?"

The maid's name was Gui He. She had always been Madam Cai's personal maid. She was so frightened that her face turned pale. She sobbed and said, "The master locked Madam Cai up and ordered us to stay outside the door. She was fine a few days ago, but today when I was going to bring breakfast in, I called for a long time but no one answered. When I pushed the door, I found Madam Cai lying there. The room was in a mess. I thought she was asleep, so I hurried over to push her, but she didn't move after pushing for a long time... Then I realized that she was dead."

Xiao Du turned around and said to the guard who had been standing outside the door, "When she pushed the door open, did you all see what was going on inside the house?"

One of the guards understood what he meant and immediately replied, "When she went in, the door was still open. It was exactly as she said."

Xiao Du then asked the other maids, "You have also been guarding outside and have not left for a moment."

Everyone present nodded in agreement. Xiao Du looked at the window that was blocked by the flower stand and asked, "What about this window? Was it blocked when you came in?"

Gui He nodded quickly and said, "This is what I saw when I came in. I dare not touch anything in this room."

Xiao Du frowned and fell into deep thought. If, as they said, there was always someone guarding the door and the window was locked from the inside, then it was impossible for anyone to enter this room during the period before Aunt Cai died. Moreover, Aunt Cai had no external injuries on her body, nor any signs of struggle, so it could only be that she committed suicide by taking poison.

But he looked around carefully again and still felt it was very irrational: if she had made up her mind to commit suicide by poisoning, and her death was as peaceful as her face, why did she mess up the house in advance? If she messed up the house because she was struggling in pain before her death, why didn't she show any evil expression on her face?

He walked to the bookcase while thinking, and carefully picked up the stack of paper. He saw many unrelated sentences written on it, and the handwriting was crooked and not even elegant. He turned around and asked Gui He, "What is this?"

Gui He replied, "This is the calligraphy that Aunt Cai copied herself. She always said that she was born in a low family and knew few words, so she was not worthy of the old marquis or the third young lady. That's why she insisted on copying calligraphy in the house all these years, hoping to learn more words."

Xiao Du stared at the paper bundle in his hand, and felt that it was unusual for something like this to be scattered around. However, he looked through it carefully several times and could not see any clues.

He walked to Aunt Cai again and carefully observed her from head to toe. Suddenly, he found that there seemed to be something pressed under her arm. He quickly asked the guards to move her away, only to find that there was a piece of paper under her.

There were a few lines of words written on it, exactly the same as the handwriting on the copybook just now, "I have committed a heinous crime, and I am ashamed of my old master and the princess. The only way to atone for my sins is to die!"

The person who wrote it seemed to be in a very unstable mood. Although there were only three lines of words written on the large piece of paper, there were many ink drips and ink smears in the middle, as if it had been revised many times.

Xiao Du read these few lines over and over again. It seemed to be just an ordinary will, but he soon found something unusual in it: Aunt Cai's death was probably not as simple as hanging herself. But how did she die? What did Aunt Cai want to tell him through the situation in this room?

His eyes unconsciously scanned every object in the house, and suddenly it occurred to him that if Yuan Xi were here, he would be able to give a lot of insights into this corpse.

Those soft and bright eyes suddenly appeared, and her soft and sticky voice seemed to still be in my ears. My chest suddenly ached and even my breathing was almost stagnant.

I dared not think about it anymore, and I dared not touch her even a little bit, but her shadow was everywhere, making the wounds that I had deliberately ignored become bloody again, until they broke down and burst.

Xiao Du held onto the table, trying to pull himself away from the deep pain. After a long while, he finally let out a long breath and said, "Call a coroner to come over and do a thorough examination to find out exactly when and how she died!"

After saying this, he walked out with his hands behind his back. The courtyard was filled with autumn colors, but Xiao Du felt that everything in the world had lost its color in an instant just because there was one person missing.

Outside the high wall of the marquis's mansion, the sound of horse hooves could be heard, and a long wheel track was imprinted on the fallen flowers and dead leaves on the ground.

Yuan Xi's heart was constantly bumping along with the carriage. She looked at the vermilion eaves of the mansion slowly fading away, and suddenly remembered that on the day of her wedding, she was also sent to the mansion from this road. At that time, she felt uneasy, expectant, and disappointed, but now there was only desolation.

Xia Mingyuan glanced at her expression and said coldly, "Since you're gone, don't think about it anymore. There's nothing here worth your nostalgia."

Yuan Xi turned her head and looked at him directly. The confusion and questioning in her eyes made Xia Mingyuan feel a little uncomfortable. She seemed to have made up her mind for a long time before finally speaking: "Dad, can you tell me, is marrying me into the Marquis' Mansion really a move of yours? But what do you want me to do?"

Xia Mingyuan's face changed, and he was speechless for a moment. He turned his head away from her gaze and said calmly, "Don't worry, I won't let you do anything."

Yuan Xi became more and more confused. It didn't seem like her father was lying to her, but he must have hidden something important from her, which was why she felt so guilty now.

She unconsciously clenched the corners of her clothes with both hands. After a while, she asked again, "Was it really Dad's order to pacify the Pass? Do you really want to kill Xiao Du?"

Xia Mingyuan seemed to be a little angry. He stared at her and said in a gradually hard voice, "This is not your business! You just need to understand that you were raised in my mansion. No matter what, you are the daughter of the Xia family, and you also have the blood of the Xia family in your body. No matter what happens, you just need to remember this!"

Yuan Xi looked away in disappointment, but she was even more confused. She left him because she didn't want to choose between him and her father, and she didn't want her father to have any chance to use her to deal with her. But is the place where the carriage is going to really her home?

The driver drove the carriage as fast as he could, but there was only silence inside the carriage. Finally, the carriage stopped outside the lacquered gate of the Left Prime Minister's residence. The Seventh Aunt had heard the servant's announcement and had been waiting in the courtyard. When she saw Yuan Xi coming out, she couldn't stop crying. She rushed over and hugged her, repeating: "Xi'er, my Xi'er..."

Yuan Xi rested her head on Seventh Aunt's shoulder. She felt that now, leaning in her arms, she seemed to have become the helpless child again. So she burst into tears without caring about anything else, as if she wanted to vent all her grievances and depression.

Xia Mingyuan stood aside and watched Yuan Xi cry wildly for a while, then wipe away her tears, took Seventh Aunt's hand and comforted her softly.

He couldn't help but look at her carefully from head to toe, and suddenly felt that she was very different from before she got married: less timid and inferior, but more strong and tolerant. Was all this the credit of that man?

He slowly withdrew his gaze, sighed in his heart, and ordered the housekeeper who was standing by, "Go and clean up the room for the young lady. She wants to stay at home for a few days."

The housekeeper quickly agreed and ordered a few servants to help Yuan Xi move the boxes back to her room. Yuan Xi asked Li Ma and An He to go back to her room to pack them up first, and then accompanied Seventh Aunt to her room to have dinner with her. The two hadn't seen each other for a long time, so naturally they had a lot to talk about. Seventh Aunt knew that her sudden return to the mansion must be unusual, but she didn't dare to ask in detail, so she could only chat with her about some gossip in the mansion to make her happy.

The two of them stayed there until the sun was about to set. Yuan Xi wanted to stay in Seventh Aunt's room, but thinking that he had just returned home, he needed to tidy up the room first, so he made an appointment with Seventh Aunt to visit her early the next morning.

When she walked back to her room, Nanny Li and An He had already arranged most of her things. Yuan Xi looked at the familiar arrangement in front of her and couldn't help but feel a lump in her throat. Everything in the mansion seemed like a dream, and after going around in circles, she finally returned here. It seemed that as long as she hid in this room, the wind and rain outside would have nothing to do with her.

At this time, An He took out a small silk bag from the box and asked curiously, "Madam, this is what you have been keeping next to your pillow. Do you need to take it out now?"

Yuan Xi's face immediately flushed when she saw the cloth bag. She quickly snatched the bag back and covered it up with embarrassment, "It's nothing. I can handle it myself. I'm a little tired. You guys go out first."

Nanny Li and An He felt a little strange, but they did not dare to ask any further questions, fearing that they would make her sad again. They could only tell her to take care of herself and then walked out.

Yuan Xi fell on her back on the bed, took a deep breath, opened the cloth bag, looked at the little man he had carved in front of her, and finally couldn't help but miss him: his smiling eyes, his strong arms, his warm hands and hot lips. She closed her eyes, pressed the little man tightly against her chest, and kept repeating to herself: Go to sleep quickly, and when you fall asleep, your heart won't ache anymore.

But her mind was out of her control. It was filled with memories of the two of them together, some sweet, some sad, and finally, only a strong bitterness that could not be dissolved. In a daze, she seemed to hear the noisy voices outside, and the faint sound of dogs barking.

For some reason, her heart suddenly started beating wildly. She quickly turned over and sat up and shouted to the outside, "What's going on?"

Nanny Li replied from outside the door: "It seems that a thief has entered the mansion, and Chief Steward Du is leading people to track him down. We are all guarding outside, so Madam, just go to sleep peacefully."

Yuan Xi turned around and suddenly found that the window was opened at some point. She walked to the window and was about to close it when suddenly a black shadow flashed in quickly.

Yuan Xi was about to scream out of fright, but the man suddenly hugged her in his arms, and the familiar breath enveloped her completely. Yuan Xi was stunned and felt as if she was still in a dream.

Before she came to her senses, Xiao Du couldn't wait to put his lips next to her ear and whispered, "Hey, I missed you!"