The startled Lady Mao almost bounced up from the arhat couch and immediately strode toward the door.

Another maid hurried after her: “Madam, please don’t go—”

Lady Mao turned a deaf ear, as if to verify something, and looked directly toward the window.

Outside, fierce winds raged, pouring through the open window. The night was as thick as ink, completely devoid of starlight and moonlight.

Just then, a bolt of lightning struck, instantly illuminating the outside like daylight.

Outside the window stood a woman in white robes, her face pure as snow, yet at first glance, she seemed to lack any human vitality.

The head maid Chunzhi, seeing the white-robed woman outside the window, thought she was seeing a ghost, but Lady Mao recognized her at once.

This was Qiao Zhao, who had died in the Northern Territories!

The white-robed woman outside the window suddenly began bleeding from the corners of her eyes and mouth.

Lady Mao’s mind exploded with a buzzing sound: “Don’t come closer, don’t come closer! I never meant to kill your brother!”

She collapsed weakly, and the other maid Qiuhua, who followed closely behind, also screamed: “There’s a ghost, there’s a ghost!”

She looked again carefully, but there was no shadow outside the window.

The maids and servants, along with Kou Bohai, who was sleeping in the study, were all startled awake. Within a short time, lights blazed everywhere as everyone braved the wind and rain to rush over.

Seeing people arrive, the two maids collapsed on the ground, trembling like sieves, their faces streaked with tears of terror, looking utterly wretched as they kept shouting: “Ghost, white-robed female ghost!”

Kou Bohai strode over with a cold expression: “Help Madam onto the bed.”

The maids and servants clumsily lifted the unconscious Lady Mao onto the bed.

Kou Bohai asked the two maids sternly: “What exactly happened?”

Both maids pointed at the wide-open window: “There’s a ghost outside the window, a white-robed female ghost.”

Kou Bohai strode to the window.

By this time, rain had begun to fall, and wind mixed with rain struck his face. A white silk handkerchief tied to the window frame fluttered in the wind, particularly conspicuous.

Kou Bohai untied the white handkerchief and leaned out to look. There was no one outside the window.

“Go check if there are any traces left outside,” Kou Bohai ordered.

The gentleman does not speak of strange phenomena and supernatural forces. Rather than believing in ghosts, he was more inclined to believe someone was playing tricks.

Kou Bohai looked down at the white silk handkerchief. On it was a line of vermilion characters: “Dear aunt-in-law, I’m watching what you’ve done.”

It was a very straightforward sentence, but the bright red characters on the white silk made one’s heart turn cold.

Kou Bohai was shocked.

Why did this handwriting look somewhat familiar?

His heart was still racing when he heard joyful shouts from inside: “Madam is awake.”

Kou Bohai quickly walked in.

Lady Mao’s face was deathly pale, like the white silk in Kou Bohai’s hand. Seeing him enter, her vacant eyes turned slightly, and her lips moved faintly: “Master—”

“Madam, are you alright?” Kou Bohai patted Lady Mao’s arm.

Lady Mao, like a frightened child, shrank into Kou Bohai’s embrace: “Master, there’s a ghost, there’s a ghost!”

“Don’t be afraid, Madam. You saw wrong—”

Lady Mao snatched the white silk from Kou Bohai’s hand: “What is this?”

Unfolding it, the blood-red characters on the white silk struck Lady Mao like a bolt of lightning.

She stared blankly for a moment, then let out a heart-rending scream: “Go away, go away! Don’t haunt me, don’t haunt me!”

Lady Mao clutched her head and tried to run outside, but Kou Bohai blocked her: “Madam, don’t run. There is no ghost—”

Before he could finish speaking, Lady Mao had already collapsed limply.

“Quickly fetch a physician.”

The entire Minister’s residence blazed with lights throughout the night. The large red lanterns hanging under the corridors swayed constantly in the wind and rain, their candlelight flickering uncertainly, mirroring the anxious and uneasy mood of everyone in the residence.

When Lady Mao awakened again, she had gone mad.

In front of the masters of the Minister’s residence and the physician, Lady Mao kept repeating one sentence: “I didn’t kill Qiao Mo. I only wanted to make him unwell, so I poisoned him. Please don’t come to haunt me, don’t come to haunt me…”

These words shocked everyone present. Minister Kou immediately gave the physician a large sum as hush money, then immediately arranged for Lady Mao to be moved to the most remote courtyard in the residence, claiming she was recuperating in seclusion.

“Did you find any clues about the white-robed female ghost that Lady Mao and the maids spoke of last night?” Minister Kou asked Kou Bohai.

Kou Bohai shook his head: “Nothing. Even though it was raining, there wasn’t even a footprint left outside.”

Everyone remained silent.

Kou Bohai couldn’t help but say: “Father, could there be a ghost—”

“Nonsense! Do you believe in such things too?”

Kou Bohai took out the white silk handkerchief: “Father, Mother, please look at this. I found this at the window where the female ghost appeared last night. It’s because I saw this that I can’t help but think so.”

Minister Kou reached out to take it. Seeing the line of blood-red characters, his expression tightened.

Old Madam Xue, whose mood was heavy, glanced at it and turned pale with shock: “This, this is—”

Minister Kou closed his eyes, his voice trembling slightly: “This is Zhaozhao’s handwriting!”

At these words, the entire room fell silent.

If Lady Mao and the others seeing a white-robed female ghost could possibly be someone in disguise, how could they explain handwriting identical to that of their deceased granddaughter?

The deeper they thought about it, the colder everyone’s heart became.

Old Madam Xue looked down and wept: “My poor granddaughter! No matter what, it’s true that Lady Mao did something utterly unconscionable. What is her heart made of? How could she harm Mo’er like this!”

Suddenly, there were alarmed cries from outside: “Elder Sister, Elder Sister, what’s wrong with you?”

Kou Qinglan rushed in, tears streaming down her face: “Elder Sister has fainted!”

Lady Mao’s wild ravings had been spoken in front of everyone, so they naturally heard them too.

While the elders discussed their mother’s situation in the inner room, the three of them couldn’t listen in appropriately and could only wait outside like prisoners undergoing torture.

Even though they couldn’t hear the elders’ words, they knew that even if their mother’s madness could be cured, she was finished.

A servant woman who understood medical principles quickly pressed Kou Zimo’s philtrum. After much effort, Kou Zimo slowly regained consciousness and choked out: “Zimo has been unfilial, causing worry for Grandfather, Grandmother, and Father.”

After dismissing the irrelevant people, Old Madam Xue sighed and spoke earnestly: “Zimo, Qinglan, after your mother gave birth to Tianyu, her health was never good, so you were essentially raised by me. Have you forgotten everything Grandmother taught you? In this lifetime, no one has a smooth path. There will be many pitfalls waiting to trip you up, so you can never get back up. So when you encounter difficulties, the first thing you must do is remain calm yourselves. Your mother did wrong and is now reaping what she sowed, but you can’t stop walking your own life’s path because of this. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes.” The younger generation all bowed their heads.

“Good. Since you understand, you may all withdraw.”

After sending away the younger generation, Minister Kou stared at the white silk handkerchief and said gravely: “Investigate how Lady Mao obtained the poison she used to harm Mo’er!