Geng Songsheng wore a gray robe. His hair was somewhat disheveled, and the robe was soaked with sweat, clinging to his body, making the frame beneath appear very frail.

The servant was called Qingfeng, currently using a damp cloth to wipe sweat from his master.

Seeing her, Qingfeng’s eyes suddenly turned fierce, and he forcefully pushed Geng Songsheng.

Geng Songsheng groggily lifted his face, looked blankly for a moment, then collapsed back down.

Zhu Weijin felt something heavily strike her heart.

This face had grown so thin it was unrecognizable. White hair had appeared at his temples—yet he was barely over twenty.

Seeing his master wouldn’t wake, Qingfeng had no solution. When he got up to fetch water, he spat fiercely at Zhu Weijin’s group and cursed: “Unlucky!”

Before Zhu Weijin could speak, her personal maid Xiaoqian became angry and spat back at him: “You’re the unlucky ones!”

Qingfeng cursed: “Not one good person in your Zhu family!”

Xiaoqian cursed back: “You and your master are the ones who aren’t good!”

Several guards surrounded them.

Zhu Weijin quickly stopped them: “No one cause trouble. We’ll rest one night and leave.”

Qingfeng was also sensible. Seeing they outnumbered him, he glared angrily at Zhu Weijin once, then ignored them.

Zhu Weijin was also supported by Xiaoqian into the guest room.

Coincidentally, Zhu Weijin’s room and Geng Songsheng’s room were separated by only one wall.

In the middle of the night, waves of suppressed sobbing came through the wall, mixed with some of Qingfeng’s cursing.

Yan Sanhe: “What was he cursing?”

“The Zhu family.”

Zhu Weijin glanced at Zhu Weixi again. “And Father.”

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became stagnant, as if something invisible was pressing down on every Zhu family child’s head.

Heavy and suffocating.

Yan Sanhe: “And then?”

“The commotion next door didn’t slowly stop until the second half of the night…”

But Zhu Weijin couldn’t sleep.

She lay with both eyes open, staring at the bed canopy, not understanding why Qingfeng would curse the Zhu family and Father when his master was the one who had repeatedly erred.

Also, she had never heard such suppressed crying before.

That crying seemed stuck in the throat, unable to be swallowed down or released, wheezing and gasping.

Like a wounded wild beast surrounded by hunters, using such sounds to intimidate the hunters and protect its fragile body.

She lay with eyes open, forcing herself to stay awake until dawn.

At first light, she washed up and prepared to depart early. Unexpectedly, when leaving the inn, she met Geng Songsheng’s eyes directly.

“At that moment, he was saddling his horse. When he saw me, he first froze, then showed an icy, abrupt smile.”

Zhu Weijin: “I turned my head away, ignoring him. He clearly didn’t want to acknowledge me either, quickly mounting his horse and galloping away.”

However, just as Xiaoqian was helping her into the carriage, rapid hoofbeats approached from far to near.

“That horse almost charged straight at me, scaring me half to death. When it reached me, Geng Songsheng jerked the reins. As the horse’s hooves rose high, he shouted something at me.”

Yan Sanhe: “What did he shout?”

“He shouted…”

Zhu Weijin gave Zhu Weixi a faint smile.

“…’Go back and tell your sister—I, Geng Songsheng, have never done a single thing to wrong her!'”

Zhu Weixi’s face showed shock first, then fury.

That fury grew stronger and stronger until her eyes were so red they seemed about to drip blood, and she shrieked:

“Zhu Weijin, why didn’t you say this earlier?”

“Say what?”

Zhu Weijin seemed to have anticipated this reaction and wasn’t flustered at all.

“Say I encountered Geng Songsheng? Say he didn’t betray you? Would you have believed it?”

“…”

“You wouldn’t have believed it.”

Zhu Weijin sneered: “You not only wouldn’t have believed him, you wouldn’t have believed me either. The cheating was real, that girl’s swollen belly was real.”

Zhu Weixi couldn’t refute a single word. She lowered her head and silently wept.

Yan Sanhe couldn’t bear to look at Zhu Weixi’s expression at this moment. She changed the subject: “Zhu Weijin, you must have believed him.”

“Yes, I believed him.”

Zhu Weijin: “I’ve drunk wine, secretly gotten drunk a few times, and cried under the covers. When someone gets drunk and doesn’t dare cry loudly, they must have something sad. If they hide under covers to cry, they must have troubles.”

Yan Sanhe: “Did you investigate in secret?”

Zhu Weijin shook her head: “I just kept an extra eye out.”

Yan Sanhe: “Where was the problem?”

Zhu Weijin: “That pregnant woman.”

“For casual encounters on the road, what matters is mutual willingness and carnal pleasure. Who you are, who I am—none of that matters.”

Yan Sanhe: “Geng Songsheng had no need to reveal his background so clearly. Even if he did, it should have been ‘the Geng family of Luoyang,’ not very likely ‘the Zhu family of the capital.'”

Zhu Weijin looked at Yan Sanhe with surprise and shock. After a long while, she finally nodded.

Yan Sanhe: “This is one suspicious point. Are there others?”

“Yes!”

Zhu Weijin’s gaze turned to Zhu Yuanzhao: “A few days before the Spring Examination that year, Second Brother secretly divined fortune for Geng Songsheng.”

Zhu Yuanmo was shocked: “You divined fortune for Geng Songsheng?”

Zhu Yuanzhao’s eyelid jumped. He reluctantly nodded.

He had the best relationship with Eldest Sister, and he quite admired Geng Songsheng. Unable to resist, he secretly divined a few days before the Spring Examination.

Zhu Yuanzhao looked at Zhu Weijin with disgust: “How did you know about my private matters?”

“After Geng Songsheng’s incident, Second Brother got drunk one day and kept muttering: ‘It was clearly great fortune—how did it become great misfortune?'”

Zhu Weijin: “The Zhu family can’t hide too many secrets. During that period, the servants were all discussing Eldest Miss and Geng Songsheng’s affair. I overheard it by accident.”

“You’re really attentive!”

Zhu Yuanzhao sneered coldly and turned to say: “Miss Yan, my skills were lacking at the time. I made an error in divination.”

Zhu Weijin returned his cold sneer: “To make such an error in this type of divination—Second Brother isn’t lacking in skill but unworthy of being a Zhu family member.”

Zhu Yuanzhao gritted his teeth: “You…”

“Zhu Yuanmo, what’s going on?” Yan Sanhe quickly interrupted the two siblings’ confrontation.

Zhu Yuanmo’s gaze darkened: “Our family doesn’t divine such fortunes.”

Yan Sanhe: “Why not?”

Zhu Yuanmo: “Because it’s too simple, and because it offends people.”

To divine fortune, especially regarding academic matters, one only needed the person’s birth date and three copper coins.

Those who came seeking divination were all wealthy and noble families, but children from such families rarely studied diligently—most just idled away at the Imperial Academy relying on their ancestors.

Without divination, nine out of ten would be inauspicious.

The Zhu family’s status didn’t need to be supported by such trivial matters, so they simply didn’t accept such requests.

As these words fell, an atmosphere of deathly oppression filled the already stifling hall.

Eldest Master Zhu said it was simple, which meant Second Master Zhu had a very small chance of error. Which meant Geng Songsheng should originally have passed the examination.

But then the cheating incident occurred.

Yan Sanhe looked solemnly at Zhu Weijin: “Tell me, what else did you secretly discover?”