Luo Yang took advantage of the fact that the sky hadn’t fully brightened yet and quietly slipped back to the courtyard. While everyone was still asleep, he hurriedly entered through the door. The moment the door closed behind him, he felt incredibly relieved!

He stretched lazily and yawned, just about to change clothes and rest.

Suddenly—

A deep, cold voice came from inside the room: “You’re back?”

Huh?

As Luo Yang turned around, he was startled and his whole body froze, his back slamming straight into the door frame.

“Bang!”

His eyes widened as he stared at the dark figure sitting in the room.

Shu Tian sat upright there, one hand resting on his knee, the other holding a long sword planted on the ground. His face was severe and gloomy, a pair of narrowed eyes looking up at him from below.

Luo Yang pressed both hands against his chest. His face had been full of shock, but upon seeing it was Shu Tian, it instantly filled with fury: “You… are you sick? Not making a sound—do you know you could scare someone to death doing that!”

“I’m asking you, where did you go?” Shu Tian asked again, his voice still low and deep.

Carrying a tone of interrogation.

Luo Yang exhaled before his lingering fear dissipated. He raised his chin and asked back with complete righteousness, “What does it have to do with you where I went? Didn’t you go to that person surnamed Wen’s place? Why did you come back here again?”

Originally, the two of them shared the same room, but Shu Tian had been keeping watch at Wen Che’s side these past two days.

Shu Tian stood up and walked before him, looking him up and down. Seeing he was wearing the clothes of a manor servant, a trace of suspicion immediately fell into his eyes: “Why are you dressed like this? And you weren’t in the room all night—where did you go?”

Luo Yang glanced at him and said without a blush or racing heart: “Mind your own business. I’m not your subordinate! Do I have to tell you wherever I go?”

“Don’t refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!” Shu Tian suddenly placed the sword hilt in his hand against his neck. “Will you speak? Or won’t you?”

“Hey, hey, hey, swords have no eyes—don’t do anything rash!”

“That depends on whether you’ll speak or not?”

Luo Yang lowered his eyes to look at the sword on his neck, let out a scoffing laugh, and stared at Shu Tian saying: “I’m the benefactor of that person surnamed Wen. If you dare touch me, I won’t be the only one who suffers the consequences!”

“Is that so? Then let me try and see?” As Shu Tian spoke, his wrist moved, drawing the sword partially out of its sheath.

That sharp long sword gleamed with silver light, the ray of light falling precisely at his jawline!

Luo Yang’s expression changed abruptly. He quickly said: “Wait, a gentleman uses his mouth, not his hands!”

“I’m no gentleman, and I haven’t learned that approach! If you don’t speak, I can’t guarantee the sword in my hand will obediently behave.”

“You…”

“You were gone all night—your whereabouts are truly suspicious. If I let my young master know, I’m afraid even if this sword of mine wanted to behave, it wouldn’t be able to.”

Ji Yinshu had given thousands of warnings and repeated instructions that this matter absolutely could not let the Wen brothers know.

Luo Yang immediately had a flash of inspiration and softened his stance: “Fine, I’ll tell you. Just take the sword away first!”

“I dare you to try any tricks.” Shu Tian removed the sword from his neck.

Luo Yang rubbed his neck, dodged to the side a few steps, and said: “I went drinking!”

“Drinking?”

“That’s right, I went drinking! And I went secretly. As a result, I drank all night and got completely drunk. I just woke up now.”

“If you went drinking, why are you dressed like this?”

“Isn’t this to avoid being discovered by you all? I drank all night and my body reeks of alcohol, so I changed into these clothes to try to cover the alcohol smell. Who knew you’d still find out. If you don’t believe me, smell for yourself.” As he spoke, Luo Yang raised his sleeve toward Shu Tian’s nose.

Those clothes already had the stench of sweat, plus after being worn through the whole night and then accompanying Ji Yinshu to examine the corpse, his body more or less carried some putrid smell.

As soon as that sleeve approached Shu Tian’s nose, he immediately stepped back, covering his nose and saying, “Get away!”

“Didn’t you not believe me? I’m letting you smell! Smell again and see.”

Shu Tian couldn’t take it anymore. He directly swatted his hand away, covering his nose and refusing to smell at all. Frowning, he said: “Forget it. I suppose you can’t pull off any tricks anyway, but if I really catch you at something, you’ll have hell to pay.”

Luo Yang secretly rejoiced!

Shu Tian snorted and opened the door to leave. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to turn back and warn: “You’d better not wander around the manor. If something happens, no one can protect you!”

He walked away with a wave of his sleeve.

Luo Yang showed a crafty, triumphant smile and waved at his retreating back: “Take care, I won’t see you out!”

Finally got through that!

But his palms were full of sweat. He muttered again: “Do I really smell that bad?”

He raised his sleeve to smell his own clothes. It was smelly, truly smelly, but not unbearably so. Perhaps because he had been wearing them on his own body for so long, he had grown accustomed to the smell.

He quickly took off the clothes, wiped his body with a damp towel, and as drowsiness washed over him, he collapsed on the bed and fell asleep.

……

On this side, after Shu Tian left, he went to Wen Che’s room.

Wen Che sat in the room. Seeing it was already light outside, he blew out the candle at his side.

Shu Tian entered to report: “Young Master, that boy Luo Yang was acting mysterious. He didn’t return all last night. He says he went out drinking and was afraid we’d smell the alcohol on him, so he changed into the manor servants’ clothes.”

Wen Che’s expression was calm. He picked up the tea that had just been brewed at his side, took a sip, and asked: “Do you believe him?”

“This…” Shu Tian also had some doubts, but after thinking it over, he said, “Even if this subordinate doesn’t believe him, what could Luo Yang do being gone all night? If he’d caused trouble, someone should have come to notify us by now.”

“Even if he wanted to do something, he doesn’t have the ability!”

“But just to be safe, why don’t this subordinate send him back to the capital?”

“A murder case has occurred now. The people from the Court of Judicial Review are guarding the cliff area—entry only, no exit. Who can leave?”

“Then…”

Wen Che was silent for a moment before instructing: “Just watch him carefully. After all, right now he’s the only witness who saw the heir kill someone. He absolutely cannot have anything happen to him. If we want the heir to be convicted, we still need to count on him to continue coming forward to testify.”

With the Li family in trouble, the Su family had lost an ally. For his Wen family, this was all benefit and no harm.

Shu Tian understood clearly and bowed: “Yes, this subordinate understands.”

Wen Che turned the small teacup at his fingertips and asked: “How is Miss Ji’s side?”

“Miss Ji should be fine. She’s not the type who loves to join in the commotion anyway. She’s resting in her room.”

“That’s good.” Wen Che looked toward the door and sighed again. “Such a major incident has occurred, yet the manor master and Uncle are still in seclusion. I wonder if we’ll be able to see Uncle before leaving, to have him help dispel the cold affliction in Miss Ji’s body.”

Speaking of which, it was also strange. Wen Che’s uncle had always loved to join in the commotion, yet now that such a major incident had occurred, he was still in seclusion with the old manor master. This behavior was completely different from his usual conduct.

Shu Tian pondered: “Should this subordinate have someone send word?”

Wen Che stopped him: “No, let’s wait for Uncle to come out on his own. He can’t avoid things forever. If we go disturb him, it would only annoy him, and he might just quietly leave.”

“The young master’s thinking is still more thorough.”

Wen Che slowly stood up, walked to the doorway, raised his head to look at the gradually whitening sky in the distance, his eyes gradually deepening.

……

Ji Yinshu returned to her room. She had just changed out of the clothes on her body when someone came to knock on her door.

“Miss Ji, are you awake?”

It was Zhu Yao!

This early?

She went to open the door. This time she wasn’t wearing a veil.

When Zhu Yao, standing outside the door, saw her appearance, she was stunned. She hadn’t expected Ji Yinshu to be so refreshingly ethereal in appearance—clean and pure, with delicate and lovely features. Between her brows and eyes was a faint, elegant refinement. Such a woman, though not a devastating beauty who could topple kingdoms, possessed the countenance of Xi Shi and the gentle sentiment of landscapes. With just one glance, one felt she was different from ordinary people, as if she possessed a quality of deep forests and clouds.

“Miss Ji? Your face… is healed?”

Ji Yinshu smiled: “Perhaps the water in this manor nourishes people. The red rash on my face has already disappeared.”

“That’s wonderful. I didn’t expect Miss Ji to be so beautiful.”

“Nothing but a mere outer shell!”

Zhu Yao didn’t know what to say for a moment. Only after Ji Yinshu invited her into the room did she squeeze out a few tears gracefully.

“Miss Zhu, what’s wrong?”

“I… am worried.”

“About the heir’s matter?”

She nodded: “My father said that regardless of whether the heir has been wrongly accused this time, my betrothal to him must be canceled. My heart aches, and I’m worried about the heir. I couldn’t sleep all night.”