“Perhaps.” Jiang Caiping agreed, then continued, “When I went to the kitchen just now, I heard Nanny Li say that the Eldest Young Master has hung that Shen Moping in the front courtyard. He’s been beaten so badly that he’s covered in wounds with only one breath left. Although he deserves it for attempting to assassinate the Governor, it’s still somewhat pitiful to think about.”

“Why would the Eldest Young Master do such a thing?” Meixue’s voice seemed somewhat ethereal in the dim candlelight.

“I heard it’s to draw Yunyi out.” Speaking of this, she said mysteriously, “Nanny Li said the Eldest Young Master has ambushed many people in that area. As soon as Yunyi shows up, she’ll be captured immediately.”

Li Jiancheng! Meixue’s hand hanging at her side suddenly tightened, and endless cold frost flashed through her eyes.

Jiang Caiping sighed and said, “Sigh, I really can’t understand why someone would want to kill the Governor, such a good person. I heard that when the Governor left Xingyang and Loufan counties, many people were crying by the roadside, reluctant to see the Governor leave office. If you ask me, if they really wanted to kill someone, it should be the one sitting in the imperial palace in Luoyang City!”

Before her words finished, Meixue had already darkened her face, her eyes cold as ice as she scolded, “Presumptuous!”

Jiang Caiping had never seen her look so terrifying before. She was so frightened that she froze in place, not daring to move. After a long while, she finally said with a tearful voice, “Sister, I… what did I say wrong?”

Meixue also realized she had spoken too harshly, her expression slightly changing, then said, “You still have the nerve to ask me? Were those words you just said something you should be saying? If anyone heard them, you’d surely lose your head!”

“There are no outsiders here.” Saying this, Jiang Caiping muttered, “Besides, I wasn’t wrong. All these years, His Majesty has been campaigning east and west, building imperial palaces and canals, wasting so much of the people’s wealth and causing so many deaths. Our lives get harder year by year, otherwise we wouldn’t need to fight tooth and nail to get positions serving in the Governor’s mansion. His Majesty is extravagant and wasteful—who in Honghua County doesn’t say so?”

“For us, we only need to care for our own family members, and at most some relatives and friends. But His Majesty is different—he must care for all the people under heaven, for the livelihood of countless subjects. The matters and responsibilities he bears are beyond what we can imagine. Similarly, his thoughts are also beyond what we can imagine. You shouldn’t judge His Majesty poorly based on one-sided words.”

Jiang Caiping looked at Meixue in astonishment, “Sister, didn’t you also say before that His Majesty had moral failings? How is it that now you keep speaking up for His Majesty?”

Meixue turned her head slightly and said, “How am I speaking up for His Majesty? I’m just… speaking the truth.” Speaking of this, she said solemnly again, “In any case, for your own good, never say such things again, lest you truly bring fatal disaster upon yourself. Do you understand?”

“I understand.” Seeing Jiang Caiping agree, she said, “It’s very late, let’s sleep early.”

Jiang Caiping looked at her, her lips moving several times, but ultimately said nothing. After blowing out the lamp and candle on the table, she got into bed and lay down, her mind constantly thinking about what had just happened.

That “Presumptuous!” from Meixue had really frightened her, and her gaze was also terrifying. At that moment, she almost thought she was facing not Meixue, but a lofty princess!

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but laugh, then quickly covered her mouth, afraid of disturbing Meixue beside her. She was really overthinking—how could Meixue possibly be a princess?

Speaking of which, how wonderful it would be if Meixue really were a princess. Then she could also benefit from it, not having to be a dancer here, and perhaps… even marry into a good family, living a life of supporting her husband and teaching children without worrying about daily necessities.

In such wild thoughts, drowsiness came over her. Jiang Caiping yawned and closed her increasingly heavy eyelids. Before long, she fell into sweet, sound sleep.

In the darkness, Meixue opened her eyes and stared at the bed canopy, without the slightest bit of sleepiness. After an unknown amount of time, the sound of the night watchman could be heard faintly from outside. After two “clang! clang!” sounds, there was also the night watchman’s voice: “The air is dry, beware of fire.”

After shouting this three times in succession, it gradually faded away. Once it was quiet again, Meixue turned her head and called softly, “Caiping? Caiping?”

After calling several times without Caiping responding, Meixue knew she must be fast asleep. She quietly got out of bed and came to the cabinet in the corner.

Meixue took a light breath and pushed the cabinet with force. If Caiping had been awake, she would have been greatly surprised—this cabinet was extremely heavy, and previously it took both of them together to move it slightly. Now Meixue could actually push it by herself.

As the cabinet slowly moved, Meixue’s face showed a pained expression, cold sweat breaking out on her forehead. But she still gritted her teeth and continued pushing. After pushing it about the width of a person, the sound of something heavy falling to the ground came from behind the cabinet.

Hearing this sound, Meixue stopped her movements and sat on the ground leaning against the cabinet, breathing heavily. At her left shoulder, a red stain was slowly spreading, and her shoulder hurt so much she could barely lift it.

After resting for a while, she went around to the back of the cabinet and struggled to drag out what was behind it with her right hand. If anyone had seen this, they would have been shocked—hidden behind the cabinet was actually a person… no, to be precise, it was a corpse. Because it was in the corner and blocked by the bed, Chunxiu and the others had never discovered that a corpse was hidden here. What was most unbelievable was that this corpse had exactly the same features as Meixue.

Meixue opened the door, looked around to make sure no one was there, then gritted her teeth and carried the corpse on her back to the empty space behind, after which she found a discarded hoe and laboriously dug out a pit, then moved the corpse into the pit.

Looking at that face identical to her own, Meixue reached out with a complex expression to close the wide-open eyes, saying softly, “Rest in peace. I will avenge Chunxiu’s killing of you, consider it… payment for me borrowing your identity.”

Meixue had already died when Chunxiu pushed her and she hit the cabinet corner. From then on, the person who appeared before Jiang Caiping and Chunxiu and the others was not Meixue, but Yunyi.

At that time, Yunyi was hiding in the cabinet. After Chunxiu fled as if escaping, she came out. Upon discovering that Meixue had died, she conceived the idea of borrowing her identity to avoid capture. After all, she looked exactly like Meixue—as long as she was careful in her words and actions, no one would be able to see through the deception.

So, while there was no one in the room, she hid Meixue behind the cabinet, wiped clean the blood on the floor, and pretended nothing had happened while waiting for Jiang Caiping to return.

She knew that Chunxiu and Jirong suspected her, but no matter how much they racked their brains, they couldn’t guess the reason, much less imagine that Shen Yunyi and Wu Meixue would have identical faces.

From now on, she was Wu Meixue, the dancer of the Governor’s mansion. The next time she saw Li Yuan, she definitely wouldn’t fail again!