Lan Yue took the paper, and by the moonlight, she leaned closer to examine it. Then, with a look of surprise on her face, she hesitated for a moment before saying, "My lord, this is not actually a pattern, but a number. It belongs to the Longevity Sect. I have never seen this number before, which can only mean that... it belongs to one of the most senior members of the sect."
Lan Yue's words contained a lot of information. Zheng Quchi frowned after listening and could only grasp one key point: "What do you mean you haven't seen this before? Have you seen many people with this number?"
Lan Yue rolled up her sleeves, revealing the number tattooed on her arm.
She said, "Because Lan Yue is also a dark guard trained by the Changsheng Sect. Lan Yue's number is 17, but this number 17 is different from the numbers that ordinary people recognize. Only people from our Changsheng Sect can recognize it. I have seen dark guard numbers from 18 to over 100, but I have never seen any number above 16. Lan Yue can recognize that this number is commonly used by the Changsheng Sect, but I don't know which one above 17 it is."
Zheng Quchi was stunned for a long time after hearing this.
Are you sure?
"Blue Moon confirmed."
"The Gate of Longevity? What is the connection between the Gate of Longevity and Yuwen Sheng?" she asked again, unwilling to give up.
Lan Yue did not hide anything: "General Yuwen is the leader of the Changsheng Sect. All the secret guards were born for him. The four of us were sent to the master's side and were told that we had left the Changsheng Sect. Therefore, General Yuwen is no longer our master. We only obey Madam."
Therefore, the corpse, along with Lan Yue and the others, were all members of the Changsheng Sect, and the secret guards trained by the Changsheng Sect were all serving as secret guards for Yuwen Sheng...
This relationship was immediately made clear and understandable.
She thought she had only found a clue, but she didn't expect that she would directly flip up a whole vine that was tied to it.
"Alright, I understand. You may leave now." Zheng Quchi's brows immediately showed signs of weariness, as if he were weighed down by a massive amount of information.
Lan Yue looked at her with concern, but seeing that she only wanted to be alone and didn't want anyone else around, she swallowed the words she wanted to say: "Yes."
Lan Yue returned the drawing paper and then vanished from Zheng Quchi's sight in a flash.
Zheng Quchi clenched the piece of paper tightly, his expression a mixture of anger and amusement: "A substitute..."
No wonder they needed Fu Rong. Without Fu Rong, how could he have created such a realistic-looking corpse?
The courtyard was silent. Qiu and Dong, who were on night watch in the side room, were waiting for orders when suddenly a furious roar came from the general's wife's bedroom—"Damn it, if I don't make you cry this time, I'm not Zheng Quchi!"
They were both so frightened that they trembled and rushed forward, anxiously asking, "Madam, what's wrong?"
The person inside paused for a moment, then cleared his throat and tried to suppress his anger, saying, "It's nothing! You don't need to keep watch anymore, go back and rest."
"Yes." Seeing that the lady seemed to be really alright, they breathed a sigh of relief. However, the lady was perfectly fine in the room just now, so why did she suddenly start speaking in dialect? They had heard that people from Fuxian County liked to use "I" when they were unhappy, but they didn't know if it was true.
——
As dawn broke, Zheng Quchi, who hadn't slept all night, sat up. Just then, the old steward, Chang Yue, brought her a set of newly made mourning clothes. After she put them on, she had breakfast, during which the old steward, Chang Yue, reported to her on the situation in the manor and the arrangements for the day.
Afterwards, she went to the funeral hall with the old butler and the four of them, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. She had some knowledge of funeral etiquette, but the rules of her time were very different from those of this time, so she didn't understand them. The butler followed closely behind her, carefully and attentively reminding her of each step.
This discusses the importance of having a capable and loyal steward in a household.
Before noon, a number of people arrived one after another. There were court officials and their families, all of whom had interests or connections with the Yuwen family. Of course, many more came to make a show of it and get acquainted with the current Crown Prince because of the ambiguous relationship between Zheng Quchi and the Crown Prince.
As the saying goes, once the person leaves, the tea grows cold. No matter how glorious the General's Mansion once was, it couldn't stop the fact that the owner had left, leaving behind a desolate and impoverished scene.
After entering the mourning hall, these people first paid their respects to the bereaved family, which was to express their condolences and care. However, looking around, there was only Zheng Quchi among Yuwen Sheng's bereaved family members. There were no others.
Unlike the "lively" atmosphere of other families where relatives with elderly parents and young children gather to mourn, the funeral hall was quiet and deserted. There was not a sound of crying, and even the atmosphere of sobbing and grief was quite faint.
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