At the mention of Zhu Hanshuang, the Duke of Anguo’s expression suddenly turned cold and sinister: “Originally I planned to send her away from the capital under the pretext of recuperating from illness, as an explanation to Prince Kaiyang and Grand Commander Luo. Now that your mother has met with this mishap, doing so would be too conspicuous. During your mother’s mourning period, we’ll say she fell ill from excessive grief over Mother’s sudden passing. Afterward, she’ll voluntarily become a lay Buddhist at home, henceforth practicing Buddhism and vegetarianism to accumulate karmic merit for Mother.”

In other words, they would restrain Zhu Hanshuang under the guise of practicing Buddhism at home, making it difficult for her to see outsiders from now on.

The Heir Apparent of Anguo had originally doted on this younger sister, but at this moment his heart couldn’t summon the slightest pity.

He nodded with a cold expression: “Your son will follow your arrangements.”

The Duke of Anguo looked heavily at the Duchess of Anguo’s corpse, reached out to lift her up, and sighed: “First let’s properly handle your mother’s funeral arrangements.”

By the time the Duke of Anguo’s second son, Zhu Erlang, arrived, the Duchess of Anguo had already been dressed in her burial clothes and lay motionless on the cold bed.

“Mother—” Zhu Erlang cried out in anguish and threw himself beside the Duchess of Anguo’s corpse.

“Mother, how could you leave so suddenly? Mother, are you abandoning me and my sister?”

Zhu Erlang wept heart-wrenchingly. The Duke of Anguo’s face darkened as he listened.

The eldest son needed to be taught and cultivated to inherit the title, the eldest daughter needed to be raised according to the requirements of a clan wife before marrying. But they were much more lenient with the younger son and younger daughter.

As a result, Zhu Erlang had become one of those idle wastrel sons among the noble families of the capital.

The Duchess of Anguo had shown more indulgence than strictness toward her younger son and daughter, so naturally Zhu Erlang’s feelings for his mother ran deep.

He had grown to seventeen years old with harmonious parents and affectionate siblings, never knowing what troubles were. But suddenly the servants of the Duke’s manor had run to Rouge Alley to find him and told him his mother was gone.

In that moment, he felt as if half the sky had collapsed. Clutching disbelief, he had stumbled back to the manor, only to truly see his mother’s cold corpse.

How could this be? Just last night Father had summoned him to the study for a scolding, and Mother had gently cautioned him not to anger Father again.

He had perfunctorily agreed, then secretly slipped out that very night.

Who would have thought Mother would be gone?

If he had known this would happen, he would never have snuck out to visit courtesans even if beaten to death.

“Wuwuwu, Mother, wake up. You can’t just abandon your son like this—” Zhu Erlang wept sorrowfully, reaching to grasp the Duchess of Anguo’s hand covered beneath the white cloth.

The Heir Apparent of Anguo grabbed Zhu Erlang’s arm: “Second Brother, don’t be so impulsive. Disturbing Mother will prevent her from resting in peace.”

Zhu Erlang suddenly froze.

What was that brownish color under Mother’s fingernails?

Mother was such a clean person—how could she have gotten soiled?

Zhu Erlang suddenly thought of something and reached out to lift the white cloth covering the Duchess of Anguo.

“Second Brother!” The Heir Apparent embraced Zhu Erlang, stopping his action.

Zhu Erlang struggled desperately: “Big Brother, let me go!”

In terms of strength, the still-adolescent Zhu Erlang naturally couldn’t match the already-grown Heir Apparent of Anguo. But in his current frenzy, his strength was astonishing—the Heir Apparent was actually shaken off.

“Enough!” A stern rebuke rang out.

Hearing this familiar reprimand, Zhu Erlang instinctively froze.

The Duke of Anguo’s face was masked with cold frost as he pointed: “Kneel over there!”

“Father—”

“Go!”

Under his accumulated authority, Zhu Erlang reluctantly knelt to one side.

Maids and matrons went in and out, removing the bright decorations and curtains from the room, replacing everything with uniform white.

Watching all this, Zhu Erlang felt as if he were trapped in a dream.

Father said Mother had choked to death on dumplings—how could there be such an absurd thing?

He had seen the brownish color under Mother’s fingernails. If there was nothing suspicious about Mother’s death, why had Big Brother blocked him from viewing Mother’s face?

Right, where was Second Sister?

Zhu Erlang finally noticed one person was missing from this room.

With such a major incident happening, how could Second Sister not be here?

“Father, where is Second Sister?” Zhu Erlang was too young to contain himself after all, and asked directly.

The Duke of Anguo was lost in thought and didn’t respond immediately.

The Heir Apparent quickly offered reassurance: “Second Sister had breakfast with Mother. When Mother choked on the dumplings, Second Sister was right there. Second Sister witnessed the entire process and couldn’t withstand the shock—she fainted. She’s still lying in her room now…”

“I didn’t ask Big Brother!” Still harboring anger over his elder brother’s earlier obstruction, Zhu Erlang shouted.

The Duke of Anguo was pulled back to his senses by this shout. Seeing his second son with his neck stubbornly stretched, he immediately flew into a rage: “What are you shouting at your big brother for? Is this how a younger brother should treat his elder brother?”

Zhu Erlang’s momentum weakened as he choked out: “Your son is distressed…”

The Duke of Anguo’s breathing caught, his chest aching.

A perfectly good family had been destroyed in just an instant.

And the cause of all this was the good deed done by that wretched daughter!

Thinking of Zhu Hanshuang, the Duke of Anguo’s eyes turned icy.

“Father, is Second Sister’s condition serious?”

The Duke of Anguo frowned: “Your second sister suffered a shock, so naturally she’s not well. But right now the most important thing is to handle your mother’s funeral properly. Erlang, you can’t continue indulging your temperament and adding chaos to this family.”

“Your son understands.” Zhu Erlang lowered his eyes in acknowledgment, but his heart grew increasingly uneasy.

That touch of brown under Mother’s fingernails kept flashing before his eyes, leading him to become suspicious about his sister’s situation.

Had Second Sister truly fallen ill?

He wanted to interrogate, wanted to throw a tantrum, but facing Father’s stern and cold countenance, he ultimately didn’t dare.

The person in this world who had indulged him the most was no longer here.

Thinking of this, Zhu Erlang cried even harder.

As people from the Anguo Duke’s manor went to various households to report the death, news of the Duchess of Anguo’s passing spread throughout the capital in the blink of an eye.

And at this time, an incident also occurred at the Jinlin Guard.

A Jinlin Guard under Fifth Master Yun Dong named Zhang Ping—his corpse had been discovered by someone on the bank of the Jinshui River.

After examination by the Jinlin Guard’s internal coroner, it was determined he had drunk excessively after visiting a pleasure boat on the Jinshui River and fallen into the water.

“What a fine ‘drinking excessively,’ what a fine ‘falling into the water’!” In front of many subordinates, Grand Commander Luo flew into a rage, directly hurling his teacup at Yun Dong.

Yun Dong knelt on one knee to plead guilty: “This son begs foster father’s punishment. It’s this son’s failure in strict supervision.”

“Is it only a problem of lax supervision? Last night someone tried to kill the nephew of the cook at your Third Sister’s tavern. Do you know who that person was?”

The nephew of the cook at Third Miss’s tavern?

Those present couldn’t help but think: Isn’t this relationship a bit convoluted?

Yun Dong knelt on the cold stone slabs, enduring Grand Commander Luo’s fury, following his words to voice his conjecture: “Does foster father believe it was Zhang Ping?”

“Believe?” Grand Commander Luo laughed coldly. “Fifth, do you think it’s just my belief? I’m telling you—the one who wanted to kill that child was precisely this Zhang Ping. That child was fortunate not to die and happened to have seen him!”

Yun Dong’s calm countenance finally showed surprise as he looked up at the furious Grand Commander Luo.