Xiao An’s words rolled in his throat for a long time, as if he didn’t know how to say it.

More accurately, he was afraid!

Just thinking about the scene he’d just witnessed made his heart turn cold.

Lord Li came down from above, walking step by step until he stood before him, asking, “Speak, what exactly happened? Why are you so panicked and flustered? And running here of all places?”

“My lord, I… I saw…”

“Saw what?”

“Meat!” After stammering for a long time, he managed to utter this single word.

Everyone was confused.

Could this person have gone mad? Why was he speaking so incoherently about meat?

Lord Li knew he didn’t mean just that, so he said, “Don’t be afraid, just speak.”

Xiao An caught his breath, raised his eyes to meet Lord Li’s gaze, and finally spoke: “A dead person! I discovered a dead person in the back courtyard, only… only a skeleton remained, the flesh on the body… had all been eaten clean by dogs.”

A dead person?

White bones?

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was shocked. No one could remain seated—they all rose and crowded around Xiao An, wanting to understand clearly what exactly had happened.

But the Wen brothers and Su Ziluo sitting in his wheelchair seemed uninterested and continued sitting in their seats.

Wen Che and Su Ziluo across from him exchanged a glance, then hastily looked away.

At this moment, someone in the crowd suddenly asked, “Speak clearly, what exactly is going on? In broad daylight like this, where would a dead person come from? Where would white bones come from? Do you know what you’re saying? Today is Lord Li’s grand birthday—how can you speak such inauspicious words so carelessly?”

Xiao An sat on the ground, pointing toward the back courtyard and saying, “Right in the back courtyard, right in the back courtyard, I… I’m not lying!”

Looking at him, he didn’t seem to be lying!

So Lord Li’s expression became stern. He flicked his sleeve, pulled Xiao An up from the ground, and said, “Lead the way.”

Xiao An nodded in panic, his hands fearfully tucked into his sleeves, then led Lord Li out of the hall toward the back courtyard.

Everyone looked at each other, and in the end they all followed. Even Luo Yang, who had been hiding in the crowd eating and drinking, followed along to join the excitement.

Only the Wen brothers, Su Ziluo, and Qi’er remained in the hall.

Wen Che asked, “General Su doesn’t plan to go look?”

Su Ziluo smiled slightly but didn’t respond to his words. Instead, he instructed Qi’er, “Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

Qi’er pushed him out.

Wen Che wasn’t bothered and followed closely behind with Wen Yu.

The group all headed toward the back courtyard. Among them was Zhao Quanzhi, who looked around—why couldn’t he see Li Shiyan? Didn’t that boy usually love joining the excitement? Moreover, this was his uncle’s birthday celebration—how could he not come?

Strange!

Not only had Li Shiyan not come, Wang Huai also hadn’t come. But now everyone’s attention was on that so-called “dead person” and “white bones,” so no one noticed.

As for those young ladies, though afraid, they all went to join the excitement too.

Zhu Yao walked behind, naturally feeling fearful. Cai’er said, “Miss, perhaps we shouldn’t go. What if it really is a dead person? What would we do?”

“You’re right.”

“Miss, you’ve always been afraid of such things. Don’t go, lest you have nightmares tonight.”

She nodded, her gaze searching ahead. From the time she’d been seated in the hall, she hadn’t seen Li Shiyan, and he still hadn’t appeared now. She asked Cai’er, “Have you seen Shiyan? I’ve looked for a long time and haven’t seen him.”

Cai’er shook her head. “This servant hasn’t seen him either. Perhaps the young master is drinking somewhere right now!”

“Drinking?” Zhu Yao worried he would act recklessly. After all, before coming to the manor, her father had given instructions, telling her to keep a good watch on Li Shiyan and not let him make any embarrassing scenes. If he drank in broad daylight and something happened, what would they do? Worried in her heart, she stopped and said, “I’ll go look for Shiyan. I must keep a good watch over him.”

“Yes!”

So Cai’er helped her go look for Li Shiyan.

The back courtyard.

Upon entering the abandoned courtyard, an extremely foul odor emanated. Those noble young ladies all covered their noses with handkerchiefs, each walking behind. The young ladies were all very afraid, yet also curious, wanting to see what exactly had happened.

Xiao An walked ahead, trembling as he reached that wall and didn’t dare approach any closer. He pointed at the pile of leaves not far away, saying, “Right… right there!”

Lord Li looked in the direction his finger pointed—there was nothing but a pile of useless rotten leaves. Where was any dead person?

A young master named Jiang Bin, who associated with Wang Huai, was rather bold. As he walked over there, he said, “What dead person? These are all just leaves.”

As he spoke, Jiang Bin kicked around in the pile of leaves with his foot and actually kicked something. He lowered his head for a careful look, and truly, from beneath the leaves appeared a bloody human skeleton! The skeleton was twisted together, covered in fresh blood, still stained with some scattered bits of flesh. Almost no part of the body was intact. From the flesh still clinging to the bones, it looked like it had been torn off by some sharp teeth—extremely disgusting!

And there were no clothes or boots around, making it impossible to identify who it was.

Jiang Bin immediately collapsed to the ground, his legs kicking backward forcefully, frightened until his face turned deathly pale, his eyes seeming ready to pop out.

Seeing this, the steward picked up a wooden stick from nearby and immediately stepped forward to push those leaves aside, revealing bit by bit a complete skeleton underneath.

“Ahhh!” A young lady screamed, frightened out of her wits.

Immediately after, all the young ladies began crowding together, each thoroughly terrified.

Those court officials and noble young masters were also frightened and shocked, though their reactions weren’t as extreme. They stared at those bloody white bones for a few glances, then began discussing in low voices.

“How could there be a dead person?”

“Today is Lord Li’s sixtieth birthday—who would have expected such a thing to happen!”

“Indeed, but who… exactly died?”

“Who didn’t come today?”

So everyone began looking around in the crowd.

Lord Li had seen the world after all. Seeing this situation, he wasn’t frightened or shocked. After calmly looking at those white bones for a while, he instructed the steward, “Quickly clean up these white bones, and immediately send someone down the mountain to request Lord Tong from the Court of Judicial Review to come quickly.”

“Yes!”

Lord Li turned to look at the crowd still discussing and said, “No one could have anticipated such an incident today. However, since someone has died, we must investigate clearly. Therefore, no one currently in this manor may leave until the people from the Court of Judicial Review arrive and investigate the matter thoroughly. I hope everyone will cooperate.”

The Vice Minister of Works responded, “Lord Li, rest assured, we will certainly cooperate.”

Everyone naturally cooperated fully. With such an incident, they also hoped to quickly find the culprit.

Suddenly—

Someone in the crowd didn’t know who suddenly shouted loudly, “Wait, why aren’t the young master and Wang Huai here?”

Hm?

Everyone looked—it was true!

“I didn’t see those two in the hall earlier either. Could it be…” Could those white bones be one of them?

Before that person finished speaking, someone else tugged at his clothes, telling him not to speak nonsense.

Lord Li’s brows furrowed slightly. He looked back once more at those white bones, then ordered people to find Li Shiyan and Wang Huai.

During this process, Su Ziluo remained silent throughout. He stayed not far away, a pair of eyes showing no emotion tightly fixed on those bloody white bones in that pile of leaves, his mind seemingly thinking about something, until Qi’er beside him said softly, “Young master, the young master hasn’t appeared.”

With a reminder in her tone!

However, Su Ziluo said with great confidence, “He’s fine!”

“How does the young master know?”

“Judging from the height of those white bones, it’s not the young master.” He said with complete certainty.

Although the white bones were all twisted into a mass, looking at the length of the hand and foot bones, it wasn’t Li Shiyan.

Qi’er was also relieved.

But—

She said again, “Then if it’s not the young master, could it be Wang Huai?”

Su Ziluo remained silent, not responding to her words.

Though Qi’er didn’t receive his response, she already understood in her heart.

It seemed those white bones were Wang Huai!

This point was also confirmed shortly after. The servant cleaning up the white bones found a severed finger under the leaves. On the finger was a thumb ring. According to Jiang Bin, that belonged to Wang Huai. Wang Huai loved playing with thumb rings most, and that mutton-fat jade ring was something Wang Huai had obtained at a high price.