Two guards escorted the Xie family’s page boy into the courtyard.

The page boy was the same age as Xie Jingyu, but his weathered face looked much older than Xie Jingyu’s—as if he were in his thirties or forties.

Yun Chu sat in a chair, looking at him coldly: “Raise your head.”

The page boy’s whole body trembled. Lifting his head to see Yun Chu’s face, he immediately prostrated himself on the ground in fright: “Madam, it has nothing to do with me… The master forced me to do such things. I had no choice but to obey… I beg Madam to spare me!”

Yun Chu looked at him coldly: “Why did you leave the Xie family?”

The page boy stammered: “It was… the master wanted to silence me permanently. To save my life, I, I could only flee!”

“So you’re saying you were innocent too.” Yun Chu smiled sarcastically. “Tell me again in detail about that night’s events.”

She could already guess why the page boy had left. He must have threatened Xie Jingyu with that night’s events, and Xie Jingyu had wanted to silence him, so the page boy fled.

Master and servant—neither one was any good.

The page boy prostrated on the ground: “The master ordered me to buy drugs and put them in the wine to knock out all the maidservants and older servants in the courtyard. He also drugged the wedding wine. After Madam lost consciousness, the master and I together carried Madam onto the Marquis Xuanwu’s carriage…”

Chu Yi, lying on the couch, felt his gaze turn cold.

His sharp eyes fell on the page boy’s hands. If looks could kill, the page boy’s hands would probably already be severed.

The page boy shuddered and continued: “The ones responsible for receiving us at Marquis Xuanwu’s residence were the marquis himself and a maidservant. There was no one else besides them.”

Just then, a woman with her mouth gagged was thrown down beside the page boy.

Yun Chu took a sip of tea and said indifferently: “Do you two know each other?”

The two looked at each other for a long while before nodding.

Since they recognized each other, it meant they had found the right people.

Yun Chu looked toward Chu Yi: “How does Your Highness think they should be handled?”

Chu Yi used the coldest tone to speak the cruelest words: “This page boy need not be kept.”

Yun Chu nodded. She had the same thought.

“Spare my life, Madam! Spare me, Your Highness!” The page boy was completely terrified. “This lowly one will take this matter to the grave and won’t tell anyone. I beg Madam and His Highness to spare this lowly one’s life…”

Two guards gagged his mouth and dragged him away directly.

The maidservant beside him witnessed all this and turned deathly pale with fear, her entire body curling into a trembling ball.

Although the maidservant looked disheveled, Yun Chu could still see she possessed some beauty.

This was the woman Marquis Xuanwu had prepared for Prince Pingxi.

An attempt to make this woman the mother of the two children.

For all this, this woman had been lying low in a village thirty li outside the capital outskirts for five years.

“Keep her for now.” Chu Yi’s cold voice sounded. “Letting her die like this would be too easy for her.”

Steward Cheng waved his hand, and two guards dragged the woman away. The woman’s muffled pleas for mercy gradually faded into the distance.

Yun Chu didn’t linger, stood up, and returned to her own courtyard.

The moment she left, Steward Cheng came to report that Consort Yin had arrived. He immediately had people place several pots of broad-leafed plants above the doorway. The long broad leaves hung down, the green leaves spreading, with more pots of chrysanthemums placed on the ground, blocking the doorway completely.

Consort Yin entered the courtyard with a worried expression and sat by Chu Yi’s bedside.

She forcibly looked at Chu Yi’s wound, and tears immediately fell: “How dare you go suppress bandits taking only Chengxu with you? If you had died in that bandit den, how could this consort mother go on living… This consort mother can only rely on you. From now on, before making any decision, can you think about this consort mother…”

Consort Yin cried heartbrokenly.

Chu Yi only felt a headache coming on.

After crying enough, Consort Yin finally stopped and chattered on: “At least your injury wasn’t for nothing. This time you captured the Bandit King alive—practically trading your life for it. Your imperial father knows he was terribly wrong to take back your bandit-suppression elite troops. So now, he’s had me bring your sword back to you.”

This was the precious sword the Emperor had bestowed on Chu Yi when he was fifteen. He had always treasured it, and now it had returned to his hands.

Consort Yin sighed: “Although you’ve been absurd—giving up your princely title, rank, and lands for a woman—your imperial father still feels for you and can’t bear to truly disown you as his son. I discussed it with your imperial father, and he’s agreed to let that sweetheart of yours become a secondary consort. For a woman of unknown origin from a farming family to be entered into the imperial genealogy already breaks our ancestors’ rules. Yi’er, stop being so willful.”

Chu Yi closed his eyes: “Consort Mother, please return.”

“You, you truly won’t listen to reason!” Consort Yin exploded again. “Since you won’t take the olive branch being offered, so be it. Just spend your whole life living in this broken courtyard!”

She threw down a basket full of angry words and swept out with a flick of her sleeve.

As she left, she deliberately had people search through several courtyards but still didn’t catch a glimpse of that so-called sweetheart.

She couldn’t help but feel frustrated. Her son protected that farm girl far too well.

Yun Chu returned to her courtyard and was examining the Yun family’s account books.

After so many years of the Yun family’s accumulated wealth, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they had extensive family assets. Although income was high, the main and branch families of the Yun clan combined had a flourishing population. Just maintaining daily expenses was no small sum, so the actual savings in the public accounts weren’t that much.

For instance, the Yun family clan school taught children to read and write, there was also a martial arts hall, and a special embroidery school for girls. The money for hiring tutors, plus various writing supplies, needles and thread, and weapons, came to nearly ten thousand taels a year.

Another major expenditure was maintaining the ancestral shrine—continuous offerings and incense throughout the year, monthly clan gatherings… all such things required money.

There were also the widowed, orphaned, and solitary clan members, all supported by their branch.

The source of silver was the properties the Yun family had accumulated over the years. Previously, her mother had managed them, then passed them to her sister-in-law, and now they were in her hands.

Yun Chu flipped through all the account books briefly. Business wasn’t particularly good, but it wasn’t bad either. Continuing like this would completely maintain the daily expenses of an aristocratic family.

“Miss, Fourth Madam has arrived.” Tingxue entered and reported softly.

Yun Chu set down the account book: “Let Fourth Aunt come in.”

Yun family’s Fourth Aunt entered the flower hall with a face full of smiles, her eyes sweeping over the account books: “Oh my, Chu’er is reviewing accounts. So many account books—you must be exhausted?”

Yun Chu had someone serve her tea and smiled: “Not tired.”

“You must be tired.” Fourth Aunt Yun looked distressed. “The Xie family comes from humble origins. All their affairs put together don’t amount to one-tenth of the Yun family’s. Accustomed to handling the Xie family’s simple household matters, looking at these Yun family affairs now, you must be unable to manage them. Your mother is busy, your sister-in-law is pregnant—you surely feel embarrassed to ask. So Fourth Aunt specially came to check if there’s anywhere I can help.”

Yun Chu said: “Fourth Aunt also has her own matters to attend to. Wouldn’t this be too troublesome?”

“Not troublesome at all.” Fourth Aunt Yun sighed. “Now that the Yun family has had troubles, many people deliberately step on the Yun family. The Yun family’s business will surely be affected. You’re a young lady with a thin face—some matters aren’t easy for you to handle. But women of my age—those people wouldn’t dare provoke us.”

“Fourth Aunt speaks truly.” Yun Chu looked toward Tingxue. “Go tell the clan that any women around Fourth Aunt’s age who are idle and have nothing to do may come to me to find something to do.”

Tingxue acknowledged the order and left.

Fourth Aunt Yun’s face turned green.

She had deliberately come calling before everyone else reacted, precisely to gain the advantage.

If all those people were summoned, what benefits could she still obtain?