Seeing her confusion, Yan Sanhe added, “Or regarding the old madam, what’s the one thing you can’t forget most?”

Xiaohong thought for a while.

“Last Mid-Autumn Festival, the eggplants in the vegetable garden were growing well. The old madam was pleased when she saw them and had Mama Chen reward this servant with a crab.”

“The old madam likes eating eggplant?”

“The old madam is advanced in years with poor teeth. She said steamed eggplant, cooked until very soft, has good flavor.”

“And then?”

“This servant went to kowtow and thank the old madam for her grace. She suddenly asked me if I wanted to leave the manor.”

“Oh?”

Finally, a trace of expression appeared on Yan Sanhe’s calm face.

Her expression was actually quite faint.

So faint it was like the fleeting hint of delight between a hunter’s brows and eyes upon catching a whiff of prey—if one didn’t look closely, it wouldn’t be noticed at all.

Yet Xie Zhifei saw it clearly.

Due to his duties, he often dealt with people from the Three Judicial Offices. Setting aside the Ministry of Justice, even the most outstanding case investigators from the Court of Judicial Review and the Censorate didn’t have such keen instincts.

Before he could think further, the hunter’s voice had already sounded.

“Why would the old madam ask such a thing?”

Xiaohong: “This servant also found it strange, wondering if I’d done something wrong that made the old madam dislike me. This servant was so frightened I immediately knelt down and begged for forgiveness repeatedly.”

Yan Sanhe: “What did the old madam say?”

Xiaohong: “The old madam looked at me and sighed, first saying ‘Never mind,’ then after a long silence, saying ‘Going out would just mean being sold again—might as well stay with this old woman.'”

Yan Sanhe’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you remember these words so clearly?”

“Because what the old madam said spoke to this servant’s heart. Even if the master mercifully released this servant, in the end I’d just be sold again by my parents for some spending money.”

Xiaohong thought of sad matters and wept. “If fate is bad and I’m sold again to a family that beats and scolds, life would be even harder. In the old madam’s courtyard, this servant at least ate her fill and stayed warm.”

Yan Sanhe picked up her brush and wrote down another line: Felt pity for little maids sold by their parents.

The brush tip paused, her brows furrowed. Finally, she added three more characters after this line: Why?

Putting down the brush, her gaze suddenly turned cold.

“I called you here today because the old madam’s tomb was dug up by someone.”

“Ah?” Xiaohong let out a sharp cry.

“The Military Command Bureau is investigating this very case.”

Yan Sanhe slapped the table, her voice stern and sharp. “Tell me truthfully—the old madam was such a good person, who would want to deny her peace even after death?”

“Third Madam, it must be Third Madam!”

Xiaohong’s response was almost reflexive, shrieking: “The old madam disliked her most when she was alive. She, she was greatly disrespectful to the old madam. It must be her—it couldn’t be anyone else.”

“You’re certain?”

“If this servant speaks falsely, may I die a terrible death, descend to Avici Hell after death, and never achieve rebirth for all eternity.”

Xiaohong wept bitterly, tears falling in streams, each drop grieving for the old madam.

“Take her away!”

Yan Sanhe sighed and wrote down three more characters—Third Madam.

After writing, seeing that Zhu Qing beside her hadn’t moved, she looked up and asked, “What, didn’t hear me clearly?”

Zhu Qing said in a low voice, “Won’t Miss ask about the reason before letting her leave?”

Yan Sanhe wasn’t surprised he would ask this, and responded word by word with a counter-question:

“When the Empress Dowager and the Emperor’s consort have a conflict, can the true reason be seen through by a little maid who tends the garden?”

Zhu Qing: “…”

“Do as Miss Yan says.” Xie Zhifei spoke up.

Zhu Qing’s face paled. He glanced at his master, then quickly pulled the maid called Xiaohong out.

Yan Sanhe looked at Third Master Xie who was lazily leaning against the doorway. “The Commander has watched long enough. Time to do proper business!”

Commander Xie calmly stroked his chin and smiled as he uttered a phrase: “Miss speaks very truly!”

Truly your sister!

Yan Sanhe felt that spending more time with this wastrel Xie, she was gradually developing a tendency to lose her temper.

Little did she know that though Commander Xie wore a smiling face, he was also cursing inwardly.

Look at how she conducts interrogations—logical and clear. Even someone as steady and reliable as Zhu Qing couldn’t measure up in her presence.

If the Northern District Military Command Bureau had someone like this, would I need to exhaust myself day in and day out?

…

The remaining ten people were divided into two groups—one finished, the next entered.

When the last old servant woman walked out of the courtyard, dusk had quietly fallen. Li Buyan, who hadn’t shown her face all afternoon and nobody knew where she’d gone, now came sauntering in prettily.

She extended her hand before Pei Xiao. “What have you recorded? Let me take a look?”

Can you even read?

Pei Xiao glanced at his own rather proud calligraphy, puffed out his chest, and handed over the paper.

Li Buyan took it, put her hand behind her back, and walked away leisurely.

“She…”

“Shh!”

Xie Zhifei extended his long arm, hooked the person, and led him outside.

On the Eight Immortals table, two sheets of paper were already placed side by side. Yan Sanhe was looking down at the paper Pei Xiao had recorded.

“What have you discovered?”

The man’s strong presence fell from overhead. Yan Sanhe unobtrusively shifted aside. “The answers are very monotonously similar.”

“Let me see.”

Pei Xiao forcefully squeezed between Yan Sanhe and Xie Zhifei.

Xie Zhifei frowned. What was wrong with this fellow?

Pei Xiao looked down and his expression immediately changed. “You wrote these characters?”

Yan Sanhe frowned, thinking this person must have something wrong with his brain, always liking to ask irrelevant questions.

“Written quite well.”

Pei Fifty hadn’t missed Yan Sanhe’s impatient frown and naturally pulled the topic back.

“Miss Yan, where do you see monotonous similarity?”

“Good person, kind and amiable, caring toward juniors, without airs—all describing the old madam’s goodness.”

Yan Sanhe pondered. “Though there’s some exaggeration, it at least shows one thing.”

Xie Zhifei mused, “The old madam’s character wasn’t bad.”

“Correct!”

Yan Sanhe extended her hand and tapped a certain spot.

“Only this person’s answer is somewhat interesting. She said the old madam didn’t talk much and had heavy thoughts. From this we can see Old Madam Ji was hiding matters in her heart.”

Xie Zhifei remembered this person—he’d interrogated her personally. “She said she served at the old madam’s side for over ten years.”

“Long enough.”

Xie Zhifei looked at her pale profile in surprise, always feeling this phrase “long enough” carried some other meaning.

“Indeed too long.”

Xie Zhifei echoed, then asked, “Any discoveries from the second question?”

“This second question is actually supplementary to the first.”

Yan Sanhe lowered her eyes. “I looked through it—there isn’t much useful information. This shows Old Madam Ji wasn’t any different from other old ancestors in prominent families.”

Xie Zhifei didn’t understand. “What do you mean ‘not any different’?”

“Not any different means—same status and position, same good fortune and luck, same filial children and grandchildren, same appearance before servants of being both lofty yet kind and amiable.”

Yan Sanhe raised her eyebrows. “In other words, people who live to their age all wear a layer of skin. Outside the skin is the appearance their status and age should have, must have. But what’s beneath the skin, no one knows.”

Xie Zhifei had been listening with a smile at first, but gradually, his expression changed.

“Yan Sanhe.”

He suddenly called her by her full name.