It was already dawn, and the first rays of morning light shone on the beast ridges on the roof, painting the entire mansion with a faint golden halo. But in a side room in the side courtyard, the sunlight seemed to never penetrate, leaving the person in the room forever in the bottomless darkness.

There was a woman kneeling in the room, her frail body curled up on the ground and trembling, her delicate face full of tear marks, looking quite pitiful. The two men sitting above her, however, had no sympathy for her. Xiao Du tapped the table with his fingers impatiently, frowning and saying, "Are you done crying? If you are, then talk nicely!"

The woman kneeling on the ground raised her head sadly, staring with a pair of big eyes filled with tears and said: "What do you want me to say, Lord? I really don't know anything!"

Zheng Long, who had been standing next to Xiao Du with a cold face, strode to her, raised her charming little face with his hands, and said coldly: "Miss Yunxiang, you and I were husband and wife for one night, how could you forget everything so quickly?"

The woman called Yunxiang had a look of fear in her eyes. She wanted to lower her head and escape, but her chin was clamped tightly and she could not move. She could only tremble and say, "General Zheng... I'm afraid you have recognized the wrong person."

"Mistaken person?" Zheng Long snorted coldly, and glanced at the pile of clothes, scent balls and sachets piled next to Yunxiang, and said, "Then tell me, what are these things about?"

Yunxiang sobbed and said, "These are some of my old clothes. I thought I would just dispose of them casually so that they wouldn't take up space in the house. I really don't know what I did wrong."

"Old clothes?" Xiao Du's eyes turned cold, staring at her and said, "What kind of old clothes would you stay up in the middle of the night and sneak out to the dark alley outside the corner gate to destroy the body?"

Yunxiang shivered at the look and was about to speak when she suddenly felt a chill on her face. She looked away in fear and saw Zheng Long had already pulled out a dagger from his boot and gently pressed it against her face. His voice was chilling as he said, "Think about it before you answer. It would not look good if such a delicate girl had a few pieces of flesh cut off her face."

Yunxiang was so frightened that she trembled all over. She closed her eyes in fear, but finally made up her mind and said firmly: "I didn't do anything! Even if the general asks me again, I know nothing."

"Forget it." Xiao Du waved his hands impatiently, as if he was too lazy to continue beating around the bush with her, and said to Zheng Long, "She doesn't want to talk, so you should help her talk."

Zheng Long put away the dagger. Thinking that he had fallen into the trap of this woman, he was furious. He questioned angrily: "You deliberately seduced me to have sex with you on the day of the Marquis' wedding, and took advantage of my deep sleep to move Ping'er's body to my bed, framing me as if she had been raped and murdered, right?" Yunxiang's eyes widened in horror, and she shook her head desperately, saying: "It's unfair, how dare I do such a thing." She paused, as if she remembered something, and raised her head again and said: "The real murderer...hasn't he been caught? The Marquis can check my nails, there is absolutely no damage, how could he be the murderer!"

"Oh?" Xiao Du raised his eyebrows and said slowly, "The news we released never mentioned that the murderer cut his nails into the neck of the corpse. How did you know that?"

Yunxiang's body shook violently, and she finally fell to the ground, with despair in her eyes. Zheng Long put a dagger against her throat and said, "You little slave, you are tired of living, and you dare to set your sights on this general! You thought you were smart enough to hide the half-broken armor of another maid in the room in advance, so that even if the matter was exposed, she could take the blame for you. Who knew that the Marquis had already seen through your tricks? How could someone as meticulous as you who could make such a plan be so careless as to leave your broken armor in the skin of a corpse! So the Marquis took advantage of the situation and deliberately captured Zhu Yun first, and then spread the word that I could recognize the smell of that person that night. As expected, you had to change your incense and hurried to destroy the old clothes and spices, and we caught you red-handed."

Yunxiang's eyes widened in despair, and a terrified gurgle came out of her throat. She just fell to the ground and begged for mercy, "Yunxiang knows that I deserve to die, Lord Marquis, please spare my life!"

Xiao Du snorted lightly and glanced at her with a squint: "Are you willing to admit it?"

Yunxiang choked up and nodded, and confessed honestly: "Ping'er relied on her position as the maid of the main wife to often oppress and bully us. On the day of the Marquis's wedding, I was decorating the room with her. I couldn't stand her bossy behavior, so I argued with her a few words, but she slapped me back without saying a word. I was so angry that I wrestled with her, but I accidentally killed her! I knew that if I made such a scene at the Marquis' wedding banquet and was discovered, I would definitely have no way to survive, so I simply broke the jar and dragged General Zheng into the water. Originally, I thought that General Zheng had a prominent status, and if he accidentally killed a maid, the Marquis would definitely find a way to suppress it, and he would not pursue the truth. Who knew that later Such a big fuss. Fortunately, I broke Zhuyun's nail in advance and embedded it into Ping'er's neck, thinking that I could hide the truth. It was not until yesterday that I heard the servants in the mansion talking that I knew that General Zheng could actually identify the incense on my body that night. I thought that since Zhuyun had been convicted, the matter had been completely settled, so I thought of taking out all the previous incense clothes and burning them to avoid long nights and sleep. Who knew..." As if she had foreseen her upcoming fate, she could no longer speak, covering her face and sobbing. Zheng Long sneered when he heard it, but Xiao Du frowned and asked, "You said that you were going to use General Zheng to cover up this matter, which means that the shout of "murder" was not you?"

Yunxiang nodded and said, "I hope as few people as possible know about this, so why would I dare to make a fuss about it!"

"Then do you know who shouted?"

Yunxiang slid her hands down from her face, shook her head with a dull look, and said, "I had arranged everything that day. I was already extremely scared and didn't dare to stay for a moment. How could I have known what happened later?"

Xiao Du frowned and pondered for a moment, then he called the servant at the door and ordered, "You guys take turns watching this room, and no one is allowed to enter or leave, got it?" Seeing the servants nodded in agreement, he took Zheng Long out.

As soon as Zheng Long walked out of the door, he couldn't help muttering, "Why is she still in prison? She should be handed over to the government directly to clear my name." Xiao Du looked ahead with a stern face and said, "There are still many loopholes in her confession. This matter is probably not that simple. There may be other stories behind it. We need to keep this person and interrogate her a few more times to find out the truth."

Following the direction of his gaze, an apricot tree in the courtyard was in full bloom, with its dense branches slanting over the pink wall, and the flowers fell with the wind, floating on the hem of Yuan Xi's skirt. Yuan Xi gently flicked off the fallen flowers on her skirt, sighed in her heart, and was led by a maid into Aunt Wang's room.

Aunt Wang was leaning on the brocade couch, talking to the maids in the room. When she saw Yuan Xi coming in, she greeted her warmly and told the maids to bring tea and fruit. While inviting her to have some snacks, she said with a smile, "Why are you here so early? A new daughter-in-law must be busy. No one will blame you if you sleep a little longer." After saying that, she winked at her meaningfully.

Yuan Xi knew that she was teasing her on purpose, but she was not good at socializing. Even when she met someone as smooth as Aunt Wang, she could not help being timid and fearful that she would say too much and make mistakes. She just smiled as a response. Fortunately, Aunt Wang did not take it to heart. After a few more idle words, she asked, "Have you ever looked at the account book at home before?"

Yuan Xi shook her head quickly. With her status, she naturally could not have been exposed to these things before. Aunt Wang sighed and said, "The Marquis's family is large and powerful. In addition to the shops and money houses in the capital, there are three manors outside the city, supporting hundreds of people. Although it may seem glamorous to outsiders, it is not easy to be the head of this family! You know, there are so many eyes staring at you, waiting to find your faults. Although I, your aunt, have gained the reputation of being the head of the family over the years, it is not in the right place. I am afraid that if I do not do something well, I will be criticized. Now that you are here, I am really happy to hand over this burden that I have been carrying for so long!" As she spoke, she wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, as if she could not control her emotions.

After hearing her words, Yuan Xi was also somewhat touched. She thought to herself that maybe she was being petty. She had originally come here just to deal with Xiao Du, but now she was ready to study hard. She said, "But I don't know anything. I still have to trouble Aunt Wang to teach me. So, where should I start?"

Aunt Wang rubbed her red eyes, put away her handkerchief and smiled, "I'm glad you have this intention." Then she led her to the cabinet, unlocked it, and took out a large stack of account books. She placed the account books in front of Yuan Xi and said, "You should start by learning to read the account books. Here are the accounts of the mansion in the past few years. Read them carefully and memorize them all. Then I will teach you." Yuan Xi stared at the several-inch thick account books, her eyes suddenly became a little straight, and she asked timidly, "Do I have to memorize all of these?"

"Of course," Aunt Wang said seriously, "You have to memorize every account transaction so that you can know whether the amount of money in and out is reasonable. I know it's a bit difficult for you to memorize all this, but everything is difficult at the beginning. I, your aunt, also went through this."

Yuan Xi stared at the pile of account books, feeling like she wanted to cry but couldn't. At this time, Aunt Wang had already told a maid beside her, "Xingtao, help Madam carry these back to the room." Yuan Xi bowed to her dazedly and said goodbye, and followed Xingtao out the door. Thinking that she had just entered the room and had to face this mountain of account books, she suddenly felt a splitting headache. She followed Xingtao forward with a heavy heart, and she didn't know how many doors she had passed. When she looked up, she found that Xingtao was gone.

Yuan Xi was startled and looked around to find that everything was unfamiliar. She had no idea where she was. She had only been in the mansion for a few days and was usually taken by servants wherever she went. Now she was suddenly thrown into an unfamiliar place and was immediately panicked and anxious, not knowing what to do.

She looked around quickly, wanting to find a servant to ask, but it seemed that all the servants in the yard were deliberately sent out. After searching for a long time, she didn't meet anyone. She was anxious and was hesitating whether to go out of the yard to try her luck, when she suddenly heard screams coming from the room in front!

The screams were obviously from a young woman, and they echoed in the quiet courtyard, sounding particularly frightening. Yuan Xi bit her lip and hesitated for a moment, but she couldn't ignore it, so she found the room where the sound came from and secretly looked inside from the window. However, the scene in the room made her completely stunned, and she forgot to move for a long time.

Xiao Qing, the second young master of the Xiao family, was seen half naked, holding a whip in his hand, whipping her body fiercely. The woman lying under him was clearly groaning in pain. She was moaning, but she didn't struggle, and there was a hint of pleasure in her eyes. On her creamy back, the red blood was winding down, like a red plum blossom blooming in the snow. Xiao Qing's eyes were filled with anger, he threw away the whip, bent down to lick the wound on the woman's back, tore off her skirt, and suddenly thrust forward...

Yuan Xi didn't dare to look any further, and quickly squatted down, holding back the strong nausea in her stomach, just wanting to escape from the yard as soon as possible. At this moment, a pair of hands gently patted her shoulders, scaring her so much that she almost cried out.

She turned her head quickly and saw a gentle and dignified face with an unspeakable sadness. It was Xiao Qing's wife, Wang Shiqin. Yuan Xi immediately understood that Wang Shiqin must know what was going on in the room. She stood up slowly, and for some reason she felt very sad. She didn't know what to say, so she just stood there at a loss, and heard the groans coming from the room one after another. She felt extremely embarrassed.

Wang Shiqin smiled at her in a friendly way and gestured to her to come to the gate to talk. Yuan Xi finally responded and hurriedly followed her to the porch on tiptoe. Wang Shiqin said to her softly, "Are you lost, sister-in-law?"

Yuan Xi nodded quickly. Wang Shiqin still smiled gently, holding her hand and carefully explaining how to walk back to the main courtyard. Seeing that she was able to maintain such a calm attitude even though she knew that her husband had done something ugly and was caught by someone, Yuan Xi couldn't help but secretly admire her in her heart. At the same time, she felt that such a good woman had met the wrong person, adding many ups and downs. She hurriedly thanked Wang Shiqin, thought about it and swallowed the words she was about to say. Some things are better to keep in the stomach than to reveal them bloodily and hurt yourself and others.

After all these twists and turns, Yuan Xi just wanted to get back to her room as soon as possible, and she was surprised to see the familiar Li Ma and An He. She followed the road pointed by Wang Shiqin, hurriedly passed through the courtyard gate and the corridor, but the more she walked, the more she felt strange. Why did she feel that the place she passed was getting more and more remote, and she didn't even meet a single servant on the road.

She was full of doubts and finally walked through another door. Inside the door was a small courtyard with weeds growing everywhere. It was obvious that no one took care of it. Yuan Xi was wondering why there was such a place in the mansion when suddenly a face jumped out from the front!

The face was mostly covered by messy dry hair, with only half of the eye exposed, which was staring at her fiercely! Yuan Xi was frightened and took a few steps back, but the man came closer and closer, grinning with yellow teeth. Yuan Xi then saw that this was a woman in her thirties or forties, and on her bloodless face, there was a scar several inches long, which looked even more terrifying.

Yuan Xi felt her heart was about to jump out of her chest, and she quickly picked up her skirt and ran back. But the woman ran up to her and shouted at her, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Yuan Xi saw the pair of skinny hands with blue veins about to grab her arms, and she was so scared that she almost cried. She quickly swung her arms, but the woman was so thin that she threw her to the ground. She slowly stood up and pointed at Yuan Xi viciously with her finger like a dead branch, saying, "You will not have a good ending! This is a curse! It's a curse! Hahahaha!" She suddenly laughed crazily, her laughter was hoarse like a stone slab scraping bones, and it was creepy to hear.

At this time, a little maid ran out from inside, supported the woman who fell to the ground, and said anxiously: "Yun Niang, how can you just run out? What if something happens!" Yuan Xi did not dare to delay, and turned around and ran out. Unexpectedly, she bumped into a strong chest. When she looked up, the man was Xiao Du!

She had never wanted to see her husband as much as she did now. Just when she was delighted, Xiao Du pushed her away, rushed to help the woman who had fallen to the ground, and carefully brushed away the dead branches on her head. Yuan Xi was stunned. If she was not mistaken, she found in his eyes the care and warmth she had never seen before. When the woman called Yunniang saw Xiao Du, she suddenly cried and laughed, and suddenly fainted.

Xiao Du raised his head with a livid face, looked at the maid and said, "How did you take care of her to let her become like this?"

The maid was so scared that she started to cry. She said, "I just went to cook a meal and she disappeared. I don't know who came from out of nowhere and provoked her to become ill again."

Xiao Du turned his gaze to Yuan Xi and shouted, "Who told you to wander around here? Do you know that this is a forbidden area in the mansion?"

Yuan Xi came back to her senses at this moment. Just as she was about to explain, she suddenly remembered that Wang Shiqin had just smiled gently and pointed her to this courtyard. She suddenly felt as cold as if she had fallen into an ice cellar. How many people and things were hidden in this mansion that she couldn't see through! Who should she trust?

Seeing that she was still in a daze, Xiao Du was too lazy to pay attention to her anymore. He picked up Yunniang from the ground and walked inside. The little maid was so anxious that she was spinning around, but she couldn't intervene, so she had to lower her head and follow behind. Yuan Xi stared at this scene in a daze, and suddenly shouted: "No! There was another person that night!"

Xiao Du turned his head suddenly, but then looked down at Yunniang who was unconscious in his arms. He quickened his pace to send her back to her room, then walked back and asked her, "What did you mean just now?"

Yuan Xi had just figured out this key point, and said anxiously: "Since the offender is just a little maid, how could she carry a dead body of almost her size in and out by herself, and also have time to set up such a complicated trap when General Zheng was drunk."

Xiao Du also frowned and said, "You mean someone helped her move the body outside the room, waited until Zheng Long fell asleep, and then moved it in with her and arranged it together." He suddenly remembered Yunxiang's previous confession, cried out inwardly, and ran out quickly. Yuan Xi didn't know what happened, but she would never stay here again, so she followed behind panting. The two ran all the way to the door of the side room where Yunxiang was imprisoned, and they saw that the servants were all unconscious on the ground, and Yunxiang in the room was lying on the bed with her eyes wide open, and she had already passed out.

It was almost noon, and the maids in each room began to prepare lunch for the day. In Tianxiang Courtyard, Aunt Wang was served by the maids and sat on the table. Just as she was about to pick up her chopsticks, a maid suddenly ran in from outside the door and whispered something in her ear. She sneered and said, "She got lucky this time. I wonder if she can be so lucky every time!"

Inside the Dongjiang Courtyard, Aunt Cai was copying calligraphy as usual. Her handwriting was not elegant, but after years of practice, she finally wrote quite well. Halfway through the page, she suddenly paused, took out a piece of paper from her bosom, and smiled meaningfully.

In the Buddhist temple, Madam Zhao stood up with the help of Nanny Yu. She sighed softly, and a look of sadness appeared on her usually cold face. She murmured, "I have recited scriptures and prayed for you. You can go with peace of mind."

Yunniang, who was lying unconscious on the couch, suddenly opened her eyes and sat up straight. Her eyes were clear and bright, without any trace of madness...

(End of Volume 1)