Seventh Concubine was obviously seriously ill. After speaking just a few sentences, she coughed almost continuously. Li Weiyang quickly walked over and firmly grasped her hand. “Mother.”

This was the first time in both her previous and current lives that she had called someone “Mother.” Li Weiyang’s heart filled with waves of panic. She shouldn’t have been so certain—if the Grand Madam had acted just a bit earlier, she would never have been able to see her birth mother again!

Though the little maid called Cui’er was very frightened, she wasn’t stupid. Knowing the situation was serious, she quickly found a sack, then together with Bai Zhi stuffed Nanny Zhao inside. They went to the courtyard and moved blue stone slabs into the sack. Unfortunately, Nanny Zhao was too heavy—the two of them couldn’t lift it. Seeing this, Li Weiyang simply walked over and helped them lift the sack together. Exhausted to the point of barely being able to breathe, they finally opened the window and threw the sack down. They heard only a splash of water. The three exchanged glances and all breathed a sigh of relief.

“Clean up the bloodstains in the room, and that soup and medicine that was brought—bury it all too. Move quickly and don’t let anyone discover it.” Li Weiyang commanded steadily.

Seventh Concubine watched from the side, almost in a daze. She hadn’t expected that at the critical moment, Weiyang would actually save her life, and moreover, she was so decisive!

After everything was cleaned up, Seventh Concubine tightly grasped Li Weiyang’s hand: “Child, hurry back. Don’t stay here—it will implicate you!”

Li Weiyang looked at Tan Shi’s face and slowly but firmly shook her head: “No, Weiyang won’t leave. Weiyang wants to stay with Mother.”

“Nanny Zhao represented the Grand Madam—” Tan Shi began coughing again. Weiyang quickly stepped forward to pat her back. She softened her voice, “Mother, don’t worry about the Grand Madam causing me trouble. I’ll have a way to handle it!”

Tan Shi shook her head: “No, the Grand Madam is not easy to deal with.”

Li Weiyang nodded and touched Tan Shi’s face, discovering her forehead was burning hot. Then she asked Cui’er: “How is my mother’s illness?”

Cui’er’s eyes were full of tears. Tan Shi stared at her, signaling her not to speak carelessly. Cui’er really couldn’t hold back: “Third Miss, Seventh Concubine has suffered too much. At first it was just a cold, but no one called a physician for her, and they even withheld our food. That’s why the concubine’s illness has gotten worse and worse!”

Li Weiyang took out five silver ingots from her bosom and tucked them under Tan Shi’s pillow: “Mother, keep these. Have Cui’er exchange them for broken silver and find a way to buy medicine from outside.”

Without thinking, Tan Shi refused: “No, it should be Mother supplementing you, not the other way around. How can I take your money?” As she spoke, she forcibly removed the jade bracelet from her hand and pressed it into Li Weiyang’s palm.

Even an iron-hearted person could distinguish who truly cared for you. Tan Shi’s eyes were full of concern, coming straight from the heart. Li Weiyang’s eyes burned hot. She shook her head: “Mother, the Old Madam likes me very much. The silver was all given by her. Don’t worry, I’m doing very well.”

Tan Shi nodded, suppressing the impulse to cry with her daughter, her eyes brimming with tears: “Weiyang, it’s all Mother’s uselessness.”

“Mother, whoever made you become like this today… one day, I will also make her taste this same experience!” Li Weiyang’s voice carried a trace of cold determination, completely unlike the precocity of someone her age.

Seventh Concubine panicked and immediately covered her mouth. Cui’er was her only confidant, and Bai Zhi was obviously trustworthy as well, but still—

“Don’t say such things! If you can grow up safely, marry, and have children, that would be best. Don’t even think about revenge! Living peacefully and steadily is better than anything!”

These were words only a birth mother could say. Li Weiyang’s heart was burning hot, but she didn’t respond.

Tan Shi was about to say something when she suddenly heard a strange sound.

With a splash, her face suddenly turned deathly white. She almost couldn’t believe her ears and gripped Li Weiyang’s hand tightly: “Weiyang, did you hear that!”

“Has Nanny Zhao climbed back up?!” Cui’er said in terror.

Li Weiyang stood up from the bed. “I’ll go take a look.” She quickly walked to the window and looked toward the lotus pond, seeing shadows vaguely moving behind the artificial mountain. Then several more stones fell into the water one after another, making splashing sounds. Turning around, she smiled at Tan Shi and said, “Mother, don’t worry. It’s just stones from the artificial mountain falling into the lake because of disrepair over the years.”

In that one glance, Li Weiyang had already confirmed that there was someone behind the artificial mountain, but who exactly? They had just thrown Nanny Zhao down from the window—she didn’t know if anyone had seen. Thinking of this, she stood up and squeezed Seventh Concubine’s hand: “It’s about time. Your daughter should go now. I’ll come see you again later.”

Tan Shi knew Li Weiyang couldn’t stay long. Though her heart strongly didn’t want to part, she still instructed her: “You must be extra careful.”

Li Weiyang knew the Grand Madam would soon bring Prime Minister Li here, so—she had to be fully prepared. But facing Tan Shi, she said nothing.

Leaving the South Courtyard gate, Li Weiyang had Cui’er point out the way. Taking only Bai Zhi with her, they made their way around the lotus pond to reach the vicinity of the artificial mountain made of Taihu rocks. From here, looking toward the South Courtyard’s only window, she discovered that facing this lotus pond was a patch of reed marsh growing densely at least half a person’s height. She couldn’t see the opposite side clearly at all. Knowing that the matter of Nanny Zhao being thrown into the lake wouldn’t be exposed, she finally relaxed.

Just as she was about to turn back, she heard a suppressed muffled cry.

The two of them looked in that direction and saw an eight or nine-year-old child being firmly grabbed by two nannies whose faces couldn’t be seen clearly. One of them viciously strangled his neck. The child struggled desperately. His delicate skin quickly turned deathly pale, his jet-black hair completely disheveled, his hands and feet constantly moving futilely.

Li Weiyang was startled, then Bai Zhi whispered urgently in her ear: “Miss, that’s Third Young Master!”

Li Weiyang was immediately shocked. Li Minfeng—he was Third Aunt Zhou Shi’s adopted son! Seven years ago, after Third Master Li Xiaohe died of illness, the Third Branch had no heir. Word spread that they would find an adopted son. At that time, the Grand Madam had wanted to find a child from a Li family branch she could control to inherit Zhou Shi’s substantial dowry and the Third Branch’s property. The Second Madam had the same plan, and the two fought over this for quite a while. Who knew that although Zhou Shi had a gentle temperament, she wasn’t a soft persimmon. With the Old Madam’s support, she overcame all opposition and brought over Zhou Minfeng from a distant clan relative’s family. At that time, she had simultaneously offended both the Grand Madam and the Second Madam. In other words, the Li Minfeng before her eyes was one of the Grand Madam’s thorns in the side.

Bai Zhi’s eyes held a trace of terror. Li Weiyang hesitated—how should she save him? There were two nannies outside. Li Weiyang wasn’t foolish enough to think she could handle them.

In just a moment, the child stopped moving and let his neck drop, like a stiffly dead crane. One nanny laughed coldly: “Throw him into the lotus pond. We’ll say he lost his footing and drowned.”

Li Weiyang watched all this, suddenly feeling enlightened. So in her previous life, this child had died this way. No wonder when she returned to the Li Manor, Third Aunt lived in isolation, no longer interacting with outsiders. She must have had her heart crushed by this blow.

The child was thrown into the water without any awareness, his red brocade robe rippling in the water. After a moment, it was pulled down by the lake water.

The two nannies watched him sink down. One of them looked around particularly carefully, and only after confirming no one was there did they leave together with the other.

After they had gone far away, Bai Zhi fearfully grabbed her hand: “Miss, what should we do?”

Seventh Concubine, Li Minfeng—these two people had been murdered one after another, and all of this was vaguely connected to herself in some way! But Li Weiyang suddenly stood up, without a word kicked off her shoes, and jumped into the ice-cold lake water…

Bai Zhi was badly frightened. Unable to stop her in time, she could only watch helplessly as her black hair left mottled traces on the water’s surface, vanishing completely in an instant…