CH 27

The strange grin on Zhèng Yún Ní’s face did not recede. In fact, she even raised an eyebrow and looked towards Bó Ruò Yōu provokingly. Even though she was not speaking, the implications in her gestures were already clear. Bó Ruò Yōu’s gaze chilled slightly, “You were initially afraid of light, but you realised that this was how normal people lived their days very quickly. Hence, you were afraid at the start, afraid that they would discover that you were the fake, which was why you returned to the secret room to ruin her face.”

She took a slight pause, the steward’s full account from that day emerging in her brain before Bó Ruò Yōu uttered: “You started a fire with lantern oil for the sole purpose of practising your hand, curious as to whether a fire instigated by the lamp oil could burn someone to death, which was why when your father later asked you why you started a fire in your own room, you proceeded to ask him if that fire could burn someone to death—”

During the day of the steward’s questioning, Huò Wēi Lóu and Fu gonggong were both listening, and they merely felt that the hysteric Zhèng Yún Ní was ill-mannered in conduct. It was only now that they realised to the malice contained in each and every word and action.

Zhèng Yún Ní continued to listen to Bó Ruò Yōu speak, only covering her injured and smiling strangely, as if she knew that her huge momentum was gone. At the side, Zhèng Wén Ān finally came back to his senses from his shock. He looked at Zhèng Yún Ní, then at the girl the embroidered emissary had saved, his tone of voice difficult and astringent to the extreme: “Yún Ní… Everything that Bó guniang said, is it real or fake?”

When Zhèng Yún Ní heard that question, the rims of her eyes suddenly reddened. She looked at Zhèng Wén Ān, hate and ridicule intermingling on her visage, “Is it real, is it fake… Fifth Uncle, why don’t you ask yourself, ask Zumu, or ask Father…”

Zhèng Wén Ān’s complexion changed a few times. At this moment, the Da Furen who had just been rescued by the embroidered emissary coughed a few times, waking up almost immediately. She squirmed, wanting to be on the ground, so the embroidered emissary put her down. However, how could she have the strength to stand? Thus, she immediately collapsed to the ground.

Her gorgeous outer jacket was a piece of ash and filth right now, and her back was even scorched black and ragged, such that blood from her burns could be vaguely discerned. Additionally, her originally delicate and boneless hands were full of blood blisters, but she seemed oblivious to the pain as her eyes frantically scanned her surroundings, and she caught sight of the real Zhèng Yún Ní who was being carried out after her by another embroidered emissary at a glance.

The real Zhèng Yún Ní was different from the burned Da Furen; there was only soot and dirt on her face, and apart from the numerous holes that errant sparks had burned into her robes, she was otherwise unscathed. Furthermore, she was wrecked with a wave of intense coughing just after she exited the burning forest, and when the embroidered emissary let her go, her entire person also collapsed to the ground in a fit of coughs.

Despite her injuries, Da Furen crawled towards her, trying to hold her hand with much caution.

However, she cowered back, hastily retreating backwards. If it were not for the overpowering and intense fire at her back, it was highly likely that she was going to turn around and flee into the forest again, but one surveying look informed her that were a lot of people in her vicinity. With palpable discomfort, she shrank her shoulders, but in the short instant she caught sight of Zhèng Wén Róng, her gaze stagnated slightly, and in the next, saturated defensiveness emerged from the bottom of her eyes, her entire body becoming taut. She tucked in her lower jaw, her eyes brimming with cold viciousness, glaring at everyone through a veil of dark hair. This angle made her the whites of her eyes more prominent than her pupils, which made her appear all the more sinister and frightening.

Da Furen suddenly wailed. She habitually smiled because of her madness, and although she was crying right now, her voice was hoarse which made it hard to distinguish if it was a cry or laugh. Only those who were in view of her side profile could see large drops of tears rolling down her face as she stared at Zhèng Yún Ní ardently. Her lips parted and she clearly wanted to say something, but she could not utter a single word. Her expression was miserable in one moment, and vacant in another, as if she was grieving and heartbroken in the former but had forgotten why she was even crying in the latter.

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“Hou’ye, when the subordinates found them, Da Furen was hugging her and hiding behind an inscribed stone tablet in the forest. Da Furen was burned because she was protecting her.”

Huò Wēi Lóu looked at the mother and daughters on the ground, small ripples appearing at the bottom of his eyes, “Call for a physician.”

Hè Chéng promptly ordered a government hireling to invite a physician. When he turned his head back, he saw Huò Wēi Lóu fixing his gaze on the real Zhèng Yún Ní.

It was quite apparent that she was guarding against everyone, but her gaze was very fierce. Moreover, she was slowly backing away like she was planning to plunge into the fire again in the next second, as if she would rather burn than be unwillingly rescued. Huò Wēi Lóu glanced at the two embroidered emissaries, and the pair moved a few steps closer to her, thus blocking her only way of escape. It was only at that moment where she finally recognised that she had nowhere left to run.

But apart from the severity colouring her face, there was not the slightest bit of fear.

Hè Chéng sighed audibly, “She… Can she still recognise people? Can she speak?”

Bó Ruò Yōu replied: “She recognises. Min’nü surmises that the first time she came out of the buried culvert might be two years ago, and within those two years, it can be assumed that she came out frequently to wander around the residence. Speaking… one fears that it will be slightly difficult.”

A six-year-old child was locked inside an underground secret room for nearly ten years; even if she didn’t go insane, it would be impossible for her to speak and think like a normal sixteen-year-old, and judging from her appearance, it was more than likely that she was not an ordinary person in mind and consciousness.

Hè Chéng shot a look at Huò Wēi Lóu, “Hou’ye, should she be directly taken away then? With how she is, one fears that the interrogation will be difficult.”

The space between Huò Wēi Lóu’s brows were slightly creased, and just as he was about to speak, he suddenly heard a wave of commotion coming from behind him. He looked over his shoulder, and unexpectedly saw the stupid girl standing in the distance with red eyes. She wanted to come over, but she was being stopped by the embroidered emissaries, and her eyes were hazy with tears.

Huò Wēi Lóu said: “Let her inside.”

The stupid girl was the most afraid of people in normal circumstances, but in this instance, she actually brought out an air of lonely bravery. Her shoulders were hunched, and she still looked timid, but once she saw the embroidered emissaries allowing her entry, she straightened up and walked towards the real Zhèng Yún Ní.

In that split-second where the real Zhèng Yún Ní saw the stupid girl, the fierce and severe tint that was frozen into her face seemed to stagnate slightly as well.

The stupid girl ran over to her side, and just as she crouched down, she took out a chestnut cake – which was only a crushed half-slice – out of her sleeve whilst trembling, and then she carefully offered it to the real Zhèng Yún Ní.

She hesitated briefly before she extended her hand to accept it, and she actually started to eat it in small mouthfuls in these unescapable circumstances.

The flame illuminated half of the sky dome in blood reds. Two equally thin little girls with similar burn scars on the same side, leaned into each other intimately as if they were the real twin sisters. After the chestnut cake was eaten, the real Zhèng Yún Ní curled her body, staring at everyone with unfaltering vigilance, whereas the stupid girl slanted her body, looking helpless and panic-stricken.

They seemed oblivious to consequences that the taking of lives would have, and they only felt that the disposition of forces in front of their eyes was too big and therefore frightening. Huò Wēi Lóu furrowed his brows, “Bring the two of them away.”

The embroidered emissaries stepped forward to arrest them. Instantaneously, the real Zhèng Yún Ní was like a small beast that smelled danger; her petite and witheringly thin stature springing up from the ground all at once, turning around in attempt to flee. The embroidered emissary trying to grab her had internalised her diminutive size, but he never expected that she would be so nimble. He actually stilled for a moment before throwing himself forward, and because she was being enclosed by the fire, an embroidered emissary managed to land a palm – as opposed to a fist – on her shoulder very quickly, striking her heavily to make her figure collapse to one side, while the other grabbed her arm and trussed it behind her back.

The pain made her bare her teeth, and the viciousness on her face became more pronounced as she glared at people in her surroundings, like she was going to pounce and bite them at any given moment. Her thin and weak body did everything in its power to struggle free, and it took a bit of effort from the two embroidered emissaries to completely subdue her movements.

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The stupid girl became dazed, her shock and fear compelling her to stand up, but she didn’t dare to get close. She could only stand at the side helplessly and shed silent tears. Da Furen was also struggling to stand up, she looked at the stupid girl, then looked at the real Zhèng Yún Ní, as if she was puzzling over why she had another daughter with a scar. Despite hesitating for a moment, Zhèng Wén Róng still stepped forward hastily to stop Da Furen from going any further, “Oldest Sister-in-law… She… She killed quite a few people…”

Zhèng Wén Róng was still submerged in the shock of knowing that the person right in front of his eyes was the actual Zhèng Yún Ní. As he stared at that crude and ugly face, remembering how he had taught Zhèng Yún Ní to write and paint, his heart was grieving and in turmoil at the same time. His lips opened and closed, but he did not know what he should say to her, whereas Da Furen’s struggling became more and more intense, the wails spilling out from her mouth becoming louder, and anyone witnessing this scene felt emotionally moved.

“Hah—”

It was also at this moment where Zhèng Yún Ní suddenly issued a short and sharp laugh from her position on the ground, as if she was watching some kind of joke. She fixed her eyes on Da Furen’s back figure, the flame’s illumination blazing in her eyes, embellishing it with a lustre that looked like blood tears.

Huò Wēi Lóu frowned, “Take her away altogether.”

Zhèng Yún Ní’s expression distorted as she shrieked: “On what basis? Even if I wanted to hurt her, did she die?! She’s still living, she took three lives in three days, how does it have anything to do with me…”

Hè Chéng could not help but say: “Your attempt to harm someone via arson was unsuccessful, and you nearly implicated your mother, it’s enough to arrest you based on these charges alone. That year, you even locked up the real Oldest Young Lady, and scarred her face, all these are crimes as well—”

Zhèng Yún Ní threw out an exaggerated, sharp grin as she brusquely raised her hand to point at Zhèng Wén Ān: “What about him then? Is he without guilt? What about the dead Second Uncle and Third Uncle! And Zumu! Are they not guilty! I… I didn’t have to do these things in the first place… Who was it that made me like this?!”

Her tears gushed out, as if it was only at this moment where she was genuinely weeping with grief, “So what if it’s real, so what if it’s fake, ever since the moment I was born, everything was already wrong. Zumu could have chosen to not want the marriage with His Second Highness, they… They could have disallowed Zumu and Father from hiding one and keeping the other… But they didn’t… No one ever spoke for me…

“Just because I’m the younger one, so I deserve to be sent to that dark and dayless place?!”

Zhèng Yún Ní’s tears fell like a string of pearls, but a mournful smile tugged at the edges of her lips. She suddenly looked towards the real Zhèng Yún Ní, “Me and her were originally twin sisters, but why should I never be able to see the daylight for my entire life, while she is treasured like gold and precious jade, enjoying glory and splendour for the next half of her life? Even the Heavens couldn’t watch on any longer, which was why they allowed her to enter the buried culvert. The moment I saw her, I already knew that a mistake was made, she and I were born identical, but she was layered on with gathered damask, she had the appearance of an actual human being, whilst I… I was but a monster…”

Zhèng Yún Ní could no longer muster a smile all of a sudden, as if she was remembering those distant and dark memories. Endless hatred and misery filled the space between her brows and eyes, and with those emotions, the sisterly resemblance between her and the real Zhèng Yún Ní became more prominent instead.

She thinned her lips, her tone suddenly chilling, “Since all of you turned me into a monster, don’t blame the monster for being heartless. I… I only wanted to live like a human, does it even matter that I exchanged places with her?

“She has lived an easy, comfortable, and plentiful life for six years, it should be my turn now…”

Zhèng Yún Ní stared at the real Zhèng Yún Ní with an almost blank and deranged expression, “I… I never thought about leaving her underground forever at the very start, but… but the feeling of being loved and cherished by others was too nice, days of being able to see the light were too wonderful.” Zhèng Yún Ní released her injured wrist to raise her other hand to the upper portion of her face. Her eyes squinted slightly, as if she was blocking the non-existent sunlight.

“I don’t want to go back ever again, I don’t ever want to go back, since one must be left underground, then why can’t it be her?!” She suddenly dropped her hand, her visage brimming with ridicule and callous cruelty, “What’s more hysterical is that, these people who flaunt that they love her, didn’t manage to distinguish who was the real her, she was just a tool for the Marquis Residence to seek a high position and great wealth, that’s all…”

Having spoken to this point, Zhèng Yún Ní shot a contemptuous look towards Da Furen, “Even my Mother, she couldn’t distinguish between the both of us. She treated me as the original one and cherished me greatly. Although she was mad, she knew that I was lost for a night, she… Not only did she not recognise me, but it was even to the extent…” As if she was recalling something ludicrous, Zhèng Yún Ní started smiling strangely out of the blue, “It was even to the extent where she followed me back to the buried culvert, and when she saw me set the fire, she didn’t even know that the one burning was her original daughter…

“Consequently, she watched her roll around on the ground with open eyes, it’s truly absurd…”

Zhèng Yún Ní was laughing so much her tears were flowing again. The expressions of the people present went through great changes collectively, and even Bó Ruò Yōu, who hadn’t spoken for a long time, felt her heart chill. She shifted her eyes towards Da Furen, finally finding the answers to the questions that had been lingering in her mind for numerous days.

The insane mother, personally witnessed her second daughter start a fire, and even if she didn’t understand what was happening then, it still branded an image of her other daughter having a burn scar on her face in the depths of her heart. And the fire that the second daughter ignited, started burning from ten years ago, and continued to blaze to this day, incinerating the entire Marquis Residence until the family was ruined and its members were dead. Everything began on the day the twin daughters were born, or perhaps, in the earlier days where Da Furen saved the current reign’s Second Highness, the tragedy was already being foreshadowed.

Zhèng Yún Ní’s maniacal laughter did not cease as she talked about what happened that year, but the victim of that affair – the real Zhèng Yún Ní – scarcely showed any fluctuations in expression on her face. She stood at the side and listened, indifference and hatred filling her countenance from start to end, as if the gloomy darkness of being unable to see light all year round in the buried culvert had already merged into her flesh, bones, and blood.

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“This happened after your room caught fire?” Bó Ruò Yōu asked.

Zhèng Yún Ní seemed to understand what Bó Ruò Yōu wanted to ask, and she unexpectedly barked out a laugh, “I didn’t expect that Mother would stumble into that buried culvert with me that night, and I brought her out later. It was fortunate that she was badly frightened and seems to have forgotten everything, but I wasn’t assured since I didn’t know if she had died inside. Hence, I threw a huge fit and Father proceeded to fill and level that lotus pond.

“At that time, I thought it was the only entrance.”

As that sentence was being uttered, Zhèng Yún Ní’s tone gave the particular impression that she was sketching out the details in the lightest shades, but it was precisely because of it, which emphasised her resolution to eternally keep her biological older sister underground, and that realisation was shiver-inducing, though not from the cold.

In the face of Zhèng Yún Ní’s apparent wretchedness and derision, what Bó Ruò Yōu said in the end was: “Perhaps, it wasn’t necessarily because your mother didn’t distinguish between the both of you; it’s simply that she recognised you as well. The reason why she succumbed to her illness that year was because you were sent away; regardless of which daughter was by her side, she would love and cherish all the same. However, with this knot that you’ve harboured in your heart for all these years, how much genuine respect and love have you shown her in return?”

Zhèng Yún Ní’s complexion changed slightly, as if she never thought of this possibility, which stunned her momentarily. Bó Ruò Yōu glanced at Da Furen, “Look at her, she hasn’t seen your older sister for so many years, and yet she still protected her subconsciously. How do you know that the love she gave you all these years, was because she was treating you as your older sister?”

Astonishment flooded Zhèng Yún Ní’s facial features. Her brows twitched a few times, as if she was not willing to believe this possibility, “Then… So what if that’s the case? The calamity that the Marquis Residence is currently faced with was buried by the older generation, the one deceiving the monarch isn’t me, nor am I the person who killed the people of the Marquis Residence. Even if I set the fire, what of it, I…”

“None of you will be escaping.” Huò Wēi Lóu finally opened his mouth after a long time, “Excluding Zhèng Wén Róng and Da Furen, everyone else will be arrested and brought into the custody of the Prefectural Government Office’s main prison. This case involves many old and rather complicated affairs, each and every person needs to be thoroughly interrogated before it’s reported to the Ministry of Justice.”

Hè Chéng verbally complied. When Zhèng Yún Ní heard that Zhèng Wén Ān and the others would be arrested as well, the resentment on her face did decrease by a degree, but she unexpectedly declared: “Let’s see what crimes the laws and regulations of Great Zhou can charge me!”

On the other hand, when Da Furen saw that the government hirelings also wanted to arrest Zhèng Yún Ní, her expression contorted, and she staggered towards her and pulled on her hand. Da Furen gazed at the government hirelings in a blank and alarmed manner, her mouth opening, but only “ah ah” sounds escaped, while her tears flowed ceaselessly.

Zhèng Yún Ní had been enraged and agitated for the entire night, maybe out of hatred and resentment, or pure misery and resolution. But when this moment arrived, where she saw Da Furen desperately trying to keep her like she was oblivious to the pain her blood-blistered hands were causing, distress flashed past her face in the end, and her lips pursed tightly. However, she still pushed away Da Furen’s hand, tidying her jacket and skirt, before she walked outwards with a raised chin.

At a loss, Da Furen wanted to follow but she was stopped by Zhèng Wén Róng again. But upon turning her head back, she saw the real Zhèng Yún Ní and the stupid girl being brought away by the embroidered emissaries. “Ah ah”, she cried, trying her damnedest to stop it, and because Zhèng Wén Róng couldn’t pull her back in the moment, it allowed her struggle free and give chase. However, just as she took two steps forward, Da Furen tripped on her own skirt, and collapsed to the ground powerlessly.

The real Zhèng Yún Ní halted in her footsteps as she was being escorted outwards, turning her head back with a rigid back and set of shoulders to fix her eyes on Da Furen. Upon seeing Da Furen crying with such heartbreak, she seemed to remember something that was incredibly distant, and a trace of gentleness emerged from her eyes. She uttered two syllables, albeit out of practice and with much difficulty, but her voice was hoarse, and she was suffering from a loss of speech; even if she managed to strain out those two words, even the embroidered emissaries that were closest to her could barely hear what she said.

When all was said and done, she took three lives. The embroidered emissary did not have the slightest sympathy for her; when they noticed that she was standing there blankly and not moving, they shoved her. That seemed to awaken her, since the gentleness in her eyes dispersed cleanly by the time she turned around again.

Zhèng Wén Ān was also being surrounded by the government hirelings. The night of changes made it hard to calm the tides in his heart. With Marquis Wuzhao uncovering the old events of that year, there was absolutely no possibility of him concealing it for them. It was apparent that not only did Marquis Anqing Residence fail to protect the marriage between their Oldest Young Lady and His Second Highness, but he couldn’t even preserve the Marquis Residence’s honour and splendour. There was nothing sadder than a withered heart for him now, and when he saw Zhèng Wén Róng pulling on Da Furen as he tried to console her, he could only croak out: “Fourth Older Brother, the residence will be handed over to you now.”

Zhèng Wén Róng had been sent out of the Marquis Residence ever since he was a child, he was originally a person that the Marquis Residence refused to acknowledge, but right now, he was ironically the only person who could preside over the current situation. Zhèng Wén Róng nodded heavily, and only then was Zhèng Wén Ān brought away with a face full of despair.

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The intense fire was not yet subdued, but no one at scene could have ever imagined that this densely fogged and prolonged case would be solved like this. The huge fire that Zhèng Yún Ní started as she thought herself to be clever, not only exposed her own secret, but it also tied the hands of the murderer and led to her capture. While it could be said that the murderer’s capture would happen sooner or later with the discovery of the culvert, the dredging up of so many old events made it hard for even someone like Hè Chéng – who was by all accounts, an outsider – to calm the waves in his heart.

Zhèng Wén Róng was still consoling Da Furen, but when he realised that there was really no other recourse, he ordered the maidservants to forcibly send Da Furen back. On the other end, Bó Ruò Yōu was looking in the direction that the real Zhèng Yún Ní departed from, trapped in a daze.

Regardless of whether the fake Zhèng Yún Ní was acting or tearfully complaining as she laid bare all the anger and resentment in her heart in front of everyone tonight, the real Zhèng Yún Ní did not issue a single word from beginning to end. Maybe she couldn’t verbalise the words, or she was unwilling to say them, perhaps she was already accustomed to living in the darkness and loneliness. Her person was already brimming with defensiveness and callousness; it was only when the stupid girl offered her the chestnut cake that a thread of human vitality could be perceived, and when she turned around just now, Bó Ruò Yōu only saw her open her mouth, but it was hard for her to discern what she said…

“She called out ‘Mother’.” Huò Wēi Lóu had walked over to Bó Ruò Yōu at some point in time.

Bó Ruò Yōu came back to her senses, supressing the complicated feelings at the bottom of her heart. Calmly, she said: “She is charged with three human lives, according to the law…”

“According to the law an execution is due.” Huò Wēi Lóu did not hesitate at all.

Bó Ruò Yōu heaved a sigh, not speaking again. Fu gonggong stepped forward and said: “That fake Oldest Young Lady wasn’t wrong either. Everyone in the Marquis Residence is guilty of something, and that child is indeed pitiful, but no matter how pitiful she is, ignoring the laws and decrees in lieu of clandestine murder is not allowed.”

Bó Ruò Yōu issued a bitter laugh, “Gonggong can be at ease, min’nü understands these principles. If the laws and decrees are disregarded, and each privately carry out their own punishments, the world will become more chaotic.”

Hè Chéng walked over and said in respectful manner: “Hou’ye, all the orders have been issued. Xiaguan will be carrying out interrogations through the night to ensure that dossier is presented earlier to Hou’ye to look over.”

Huò Wēi Lóu, however, waved his hand, “There’s no need to let benhou look over it. From this point onwards, the full authority to hear the case will be handed to you, the subsequent dossier just needs to be presented to the Ministry of Justice as per the norm and that will suffice.”

Hè Chéng’s visage changed slightly, “Hou’ye is leaving Qingzhou?”

Fu gonggong replied smilingly, “Hou’ye had an official business in Luozhou from the very start. Coming to your place is merely because Marquis Xinyang had asked for a favour. Now that the case has ended, the remaining matters, can naturally be handled by Hè daren.”

Hè Chéng quickly said: “It is all thanks to Hou’ye for personally making a trip here. If there were not the case, xiaguan really does not know what should be done.”

Huò Wēi Lóu could not be bothered to listen to his praise, and he only instructed: “Benhou will send a letter to Marquis Xinyang and His Second Highness to give an explanation, you must be impartial during this hearing, and there is no need for any apprehensions.”

Deep in his heart, what Hè Chéng was most worried about was the Capital having a lot of opinions about this case. Now that he heard Huò Wēi Lóu arranging it in such a manner, his heart relaxed, “Yes, yes, yes, xiaguan will certainly be fair and strictly impartial, many thanks to Hou’ye.”

The murderer had been caught and the case had ended. Huò Wēi Lóu occupied a high position, so he did not have to care about the remaining trivial matters. Thus, Hè Chéng asked: “When is Hou’ye planning to leave the city? Hou’ye has arrived at Qingzhou, and xiaguan has yet to act as a host, perhaps—”

Huò Wēi Lóu’s eyes did not stray away, “Departure will be tomorrow, there’s no need to expend that effort of yours.”

Hè Chéng did not expect that Huò Wēi Lóu would be in such a hurry, and he wanted to speak more, but he was reminded of Huò Wēi Lóu’s swift and decisive reactions, and how he hated fawning and flattering in the officialdom the most. Hence, he did not dare to retain him any further, “Since that’s the case, the hour is already late. Perhaps Hou’ye should rest up early, xiaguan will send Hou’ye out of the city tomorrow.”

雷厉风行 (pinyin: lei li feng xing) – lit. pass like thunder and move like the wind.

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Huò Wēi Lóu declined to comment, merely tossing a glance towards the fire. Having caught sight of Zhèng Wén Róng gathering the servants to put on the fire, he knew that he did not have worry any further, and promptly turned around to leave the area. After walking a few steps, however, he turned back, noting that Bó Ruò Yōu was standing beside Hè Chéng and saying something. The flames were scorching, but it reflected her delicate and straight posture, and her countenance was rather pleasant to the eye.

He withdrew his line of sight, suddenly sensing that there was still an object in his hand. Upon lowering his eyes, he saw that it was that earring from just now, so he casually threw it towards Fu gonggong. Fu gonggong did not know what it was, and when he caught it, he was slightly surprised. “Isn’t this Zheng da xiaojie’s earring?”

Huò Wēi Lóu suddenly issued a soft chuckle, “It is her earring, but it isn’t the one she dropped today.”

Once Fu gonggong heard those words, his eyes widened, “Ah… Hou’ye commanded the embroidered emissaries to leave, not to search the residence storehouse, but to find an earring…Prior to this, when Hou’ye was secretly conversing with Bó guniang for a short while, could it be…”

The smile hanging on the edge of Huò Wēi Lóu’s lips deepened, “She noticed that Zhèng Yún Ní dropped her earring and so she conceived of this idea, she’s quite a smart one.”

Although Zhèng Yún Ní was lying at that time, she was extremely calm as she came up numerous excuses because she came prepared. Bó Ruò Yōu was close to her and noticed that she had dropped an earring at glance. However, instead of opening her mouth and questioning her in a hasty manner, she carefully scrutinised her first, and it was only after she verified that she genuinely harboured the suspicion of committing arson from her body, that she asked Huò Wēi Lóu to borrow a step to talk. Afterwards, she concocted a plan, and put up a good song-and-dance with Huò Wēi Lóu.

Fu gonggong suddenly saw the light, “No wonder the conversation took so long. The fake Oldest Young Lady was still slightly flustered, and the questions that Hou’ye asked later completely messed up her rhythm, and then the earring, acting as iron-clad evidence, was brought out in the end, hence she had no choice but to confess. What a marvellous plan!”

The case was just solved, so Huò Wēi Lóu’s mood was slightly profound and solemn, but now his brows and eyes relaxed by three parts. He seemed to think of something suddenly as he asked Fu gonggong, “The message that I asked you to send to the Capital, was there a reply?”

Fu gonggong promptly said: “The item is on the way, but judging from the current situation, should it be sent towards Luozhou directly?”

They were going to leave Qingzhou tomorrow, but they would no longer be here when the item arrived at Qingzhou, so it was natural to divert the course to Luozhou.

Huò Wēi Lóu was supposed to agree or disagree immediately but he suddenly felt that Fu gonggong’s idea was quite decent too, but he could not make the decision right then and there, so he could only return his guest courtyard first.

Just as he entered the study, Huò Wēi Lóu saw the two new documents on the table. One of them happened to come from Luozhou, and he picked up the Luozhou document to open and read it. After reading half of it, his brows screwed together, and by the time he was done reading everything, his expression had become grave.

After a moment of consideration, Huò Wēi Lóu ordered: “Call over Bó Ruò Yōu—”