“I believe you!”

Yan Sanhe smiled faintly.

“The reason is that I’m a demon resolver. If I truly die, it’s my fate—I can’t escape it.”

Li Buyan’s eyes turned blood-red. “It’s not because of the Zheng family case?”

“That’s only part of it.”

Yan Sanhe: “More importantly, I can’t just watch the Zhu family members die before my eyes one by one. My conscience won’t allow it.”

She paused, then added: “I didn’t want to hide it from you, and I couldn’t bear to hide it.”

Two hours ago, this girl had picked up her sword—not to hurt Yan Sanhe, but because she couldn’t bear to hurt her. The one she would hurt was herself.

After all these years of mutual dependence, Yan Sanhe knew everything in her heart.

Precisely because she knew, she chose to be honest.

One sentence made Li Buyan’s internal organs burn with heat. She looked at Yan Sanhe’s deathly pale face and couldn’t say a word, yet her eyes held a thousand unspoken words.

Yan Sanhe, why are you only telling me this now?

Yan Sanhe, how can you be such a bastard?

Yan Sanhe, what am I supposed to do?

“I will cherish my life,” Yan Sanhe said.

“You’d better cherish your life.”

Li Buyan’s face showed unprecedented vulnerability, her voice nearly trembling.

“Don’t forget—you still carry my life on your shoulders.”

The door suddenly burst open with a bang.

Young Master Pei stormed in angrily. “Yan Sanhe, Eldest Madam Ling absolutely refuses to speak!”

Yan Sanhe glanced at Li Buyan’s expression. “Why?”

“She says that after the lady was questioned, the lady had an accident. After Third Madam was questioned, Third Madam had an accident. If she’s questioned, she’ll probably have an accident too.”

Like a bolt of lightning striking Yan Sanhe’s mind, illuminating her thoughts.

“Very possible.”

Madam Mao was questioned first, Third Madam questioned second.

Madam Mao fainted first, Third Madam fainted second.

There seemed to be an order to it.

“Then what do we do?”

Young Master Pei was worried. “Everyone’s afraid of having an accident, no one will talk. How can we continue resolving this heart demon?”

“First confirm if it’s true, then figure out what to do.”

Yan Sanhe: “Mingting, go gather all the Zhu family masters who haven’t been questioned yet and bring them here. Buyan, help me wash up.”

Li Buyan sneered. “It would be better if none of them talked. At least we wouldn’t be the ones dying.”

Young Master Pei: “…”

What kind of talk was that?

…

A moment later, everyone had gathered in the guest courtyard.

After sleeping for two hours, Yan Sanhe clearly had more energy to speak, though her voice was still weak.

“I don’t know if everyone who’s been questioned will have an accident. Who among you is willing to test it for me again?”

To test or not to test?

When it came to matters of life and death, everyone weighed the pros and cons.

Eldest Madam Ling’s face flushed red, the handkerchief in her hands twisted into a ball, her head lowered in silence.

Yan Sanhe’s heart softened.

“Eldest Madam need not blame yourself. Fear is human nature.”

Ling looked up sharply, her eyes full of shock.

“If it were me, I’d be afraid too.”

Yan Sanhe paused. “But the heart demon is there. Someone must step forward.”

“I’ll do it.”

Second Master Zhu spoke up: “Miss Yan, I’m willing to try.”

“That won’t do.”

Zhu Weixi stood up. “The two young ladies have already lost their mother—they can’t lose their father too. Miss Yan, I’ll do it.”

Yan Sanhe looked deeply at Zhu Weixi. “You two have discussed this.”

“No need to discuss.”

Zhu Weixi took a deep breath. “Eldest Brother can’t have an accident—the Zhu family’s prosperity depends on him. If Second Brother has an accident, the two children would be too pitiful.”

Yan Sanhe suppressed the dark surge in her heart. “Zhu Weixi, you also have a child.”

“Huaizhou is the eldest son and grandson. The old master, the lady, and the old lady will all protect him. At worst, he still has his father.”

A fire ignited in Zhu Weixi’s eyes. “Miss Yan, I’m not protecting my natal family—I’m protecting my relatives. Just let me do it.”

“Don’t agree yet. Let me cast a divination for her.”

Second Master Zhu quickly pulled out copper coins and threw them on the ground. His voice trembled: “It’s extremely inauspicious.”

Zhu Weixi sneered. “Second Brother, since Father died, has our Zhu family had even one auspicious divination?”

Second Master Zhu was speechless.

Zhu Weixi brushed the loose hair by her ear and smiled faintly.

“After this questioning, I’ll return to my own home and never meddle in the affairs of this residence again. Consider it repayment for the Zhu family’s kindness in raising me.”

With her attitude so firm, what else could Yan Sanhe say?

“Zhu Weixi stays. Everyone else, wait outside.”

Zhu Yuanmo’s face turned iron-blue as he glanced at his wife, then silently left.

As he left, the Zhu family members followed one by one.

Ling walked at the rear. As that glance from her husband fell upon her, she knew their years of marital affection were destroyed, even with Yan Sanhe’s words to excuse her.

But she had no regrets.

Second Branch had children, and so did her First Branch. Not only that, but her natal family still had an elderly father and mother.

They all had elders above and children below. Why should she, a mere woman, be the first to step forward?

The main hall door closed.

The room darkened.

Yan Sanhe leaned back against the chair—those few sentences had depleted a bit more of her energy.

“Mingting, you question her for me!”

“No need for Young Master Pei to question me. I’ll speak for myself.”

At this point, what reservations could Zhu Weixi have? She poured everything out.

“Unlike other families with strict fathers and gentle mothers, ours was the opposite—a strict mother and gentle father. I’m the eldest daughter with three older brothers above me. My father desperately wanted a daughter.”

When the daughter was born, Old Master Zhu was overjoyed and held a full-moon celebration for three days.

Zhu Weixi’s name was also something Old Master Zhu had selected after flipping through various history books and arranging her birth date and time countless times—a carefully chosen good name.

“Miss Yan, you absolutely won’t believe this, but from childhood, I was raised in my father’s arms.”

There’s an old saying: men hold their grandchildren but not their sons.

The three young masters of the Zhu residence—Old Master Zhu never touched a single one, but Zhu Weixi was held by Old Master Zhu until she was five.

When the Bureau of Astronomy was busy, it was very busy. When it was idle, it was very idle.

Old Master Zhu didn’t gamble, didn’t visit courtesans, and didn’t enjoy socializing with friends. When he had nothing to do, he liked staying home, tending to flowers and plants.

After Zhu Weixi was born, Old Master Zhu gained another hobby—playing with his daughter.

“Miss Yan, you might not believe this, but when my grandfather passed away and we went to sweep the tomb on the first Qingming after his death, I was four years old and clung to my father. He carried me up the mountain on his back.”

Thinking of her father’s kindness, Zhu Weixi’s tears flowed.

“At Qingming tomb-sweeping, there are offerings. I loved green dumplings most. There were only three on a plate—my father secretly gave me two, with one going to Eldest Brother. Second Brother and Third Brother could only watch helplessly.

“On the way down the mountain, my father still carried me. When the wet nurse came to take a turn, he wouldn’t let her. My mother always said that in my previous life, my father must have owed me a debt, and in this life, he had to repay it as an ox or horse.”

“Wait.”

Yan Sanhe interrupted Zhu Weixi. “Mingting, among the noble families of the capital, are there many who dote on daughters more than sons?”

“What a joke!”

Pei Xiao: “Sons can carry on the family line. Married daughters are like spilled water—they’re someone else’s people. How could anyone dote on daughters more than sons?”

At the end, he added his own observation:

“For Old Master Zhu to act this way is somewhat abnormal, isn’t it?”