“I heard she’s even pregnant. Didn’t you always say you wanted to find a wife for the young master? Well, this is perfect—the young master found one himself.”

Enthusiastic people were already pointing out You Weinan to Tie Ci. “See that? That’s your husband’s cousin. Congratulations—you’ve found your in-laws.”

Others said, “This young woman is just talking nonsense. Who knows if it’s true? She might be an assassin trying to infiltrate the Prince’s Residence.”

Someone immediately countered, “What assassin would dare walk right up to Master You like this? The Prince’s Residence has countless guards. Whether it’s true or false, we’ll know once she meets the young master. The dignified Yannan Prince’s Residence—would they fear one small woman?”

Everyone agreed and urged You Weinan to quickly take her back to verify.

You Weinan’s usual reputation for being approachable clearly put him in a passive position now. He hesitated, glanced at Tie Ci, and finally smiled, “If that’s the case, then come with me into the residence to meet the young master.”

Tie Ci acted astonished, looking up at You Weinan with the perfect expression of a village girl unable to believe she was meeting such a noble person.

After being pushed forward, she stood up, curtsied her thanks with some shyness and timidity, and followed You Weinan into Yannan Prince’s Residence.

Master Shi immediately followed, wanting to see what would happen next.

He thought that if this person was indeed the Imperial Heir, this move was truly brilliant. Right now, the people of Kunzhou were brewing plans to cry injustice at the city gates, to block the Imperial Heir outside Kunzhou’s gates and make her lose face, forcing her to slink back to the capital in defeat. No one knew she had already slipped in so quietly.

At the magnificent gates of Yannan Prince’s Residence, Tie Ci appropriately showed shock and timidity, then followed You Weinan’s attendants through a side door into the residence.

Her makeup gave her a round, moon-like face and a slightly plump figure—the kind of village girl who looked good for childbearing and would easily win the favor of elders, perfectly fitting her identity.

You Weinan showed a distinct lack of interest in her. Once inside the residence, he casually instructed a matron to take Tie Ci to Wanqing Garden and returned to his own courtyard.

Tie Ci watched his retreating figure, then looked at the matron waiting impatiently ahead of her, successfully concealing her surprise.

Though she’d used an excellent excuse, entering this Prince’s Residence had been far too easy.

Such lack of vigilance after entering was also beyond her expectations.

Probably because the real master wasn’t here, the You father and son felt completely secure.

She acted curious yet bewildered about her surroundings, making conversation appropriate to her identity with the matron, who remained coldly indifferent, responding with mere grunts.

They walked increasingly remote paths. After nearly an hour, the matron finally pointed to a particularly desolate-looking garden in the distance. “Wanqing Garden is ahead. I have other matters to attend to, so I won’t accompany you further. The young master has been ill lately and may not receive visitors. Go kowtow first.”

Tie Ci twisted her handkerchief nervously, saying shyly, “I… I am the young master’s wife. I am the young master’s lady…”

The matron snorted through her nose and laughed, “Yes, yes, you’re the young master’s lady. Well then, young master’s lady, hurry along. Perhaps the young master’s illness will be cured the moment he sees you?”

With that, she swayed away. From far off, Tie Ci heard her laughter carried on the wind: “Some country girl from who knows where dares to dream of being our young master’s lady!”

A group of maids giggled together. Someone laughed, “Hard to say. This one does look blessed. Maybe she’ll end up holding a memorial tablet and remaining a widow her whole life. Or she might accompany the young master to enjoy the incense offerings at the You family ancestral hall.”

The area fell quiet—these words were apparently too inauspicious for anyone to respond.

A moment later, a muffled sound accompanied by the crash of bowls hitting the ground. Screams arose as the maid who had spoken earlier shrieked, “Ow, I’m scalded to death! He Gu, have you lost your mind? How dare you splash hot soup on me!”

No one spoke, but there were several more muffled sounds, like someone kicking others. The maids screamed and scattered while the matron rushed up furiously, “He Gu! Have you gone mad? You’re just a kitchen drudge—how dare you hurt Miss Yousi!”

A slightly rough female voice said, “I scalded you on purpose, you ungrateful wretch! Yousi, has your conscience been eaten by dogs? Have you forgotten when you made a mistake and were about to be expelled, who saved you and let you stay? Now that the young master is in trouble, you turn around and curry favor with the Second Master. Instead of helping, you say such disgusting things. Are you even human? Your bones and intestines must be made of rotten mud!”

Someone said, “He Gu, say one less word. We know you served the young master for a long time and feel sorry for him. But now you’ve been assigned to the kitchen. If you keep making trouble, do you want to be thrown out of even the kitchen?”

Yousi: “You dare hit me! You dare scold me! Someone come help me fight back!”

Footsteps scattered chaotically.

Tie Ci flicked her finger.

Cries of “Ouch!” rang out in the distance, with Yousi’s voice the loudest: “Who’s throwing things at me now!”

Quick footsteps sounded as the clever He Gu ran away quickly. The commotion continued for a while before dispersing.

Tie Ci continued toward Wanqing Garden. Though called a garden, when she approached the moon gate, she saw the bricks and stones were dilapidated, the pillars mottled, and spider webs hung from the gate with no one to clean them. Looking through the gate cracks into the courtyard, she saw wild grass covering the steps, broken branches and fallen leaves—it had clearly been abandoned for years.

By now it was already evening. The area around Wanqing Garden was empty and deserted, with no other courtyards or tall buildings nearby, only a sizable lake. Night wind passed over the lake with wailing sounds, reflecting the cold crescent moon—a ruined garden, a lonely courtyard.

Tie Ci muttered to herself, “Perfect atmosphere for a ghost story.”

An ordinary village girl would be crying by now.

So Tie Ci also crouched down and cried.

While crying, she softly called out, “Husband, husband…”

Her voice was thin and weak, floating away in ripples.

She gently knocked on the copper ring on the door. The clear tinkling sound in the exceptionally quiet dark night made one’s heart tremble.

Someone in the darkness quietly rubbed the goosebumps on their arms.

They’d wanted to frighten this woman, but somehow seemed to be frightened by her first.

After the door knocker sounded, there was actually a response from inside after a long while.

A voice yawning, with shuffling footsteps approaching: “Who is it!”

Though it was just nightfall and not bedtime, this person’s voice was young but sounded as if already asleep.

Through the door crack, Tie Ci saw a chubby, fair young man wearing Yannan Prince’s Residence servant clothes, walking over with a sleepy face.

He came from a side building, opened the door, and stared at Tie Ci in bewilderment: “Who are you?”

Tie Ci bowed to him, “This humble woman is from Haiyou Qingyang, come to Kunzhou seeking my husband. Someone pointed me here, saying your residence’s young master is my husband. Please, young brother, help me inform the young master that his Ba Niangzi has come looking for him.”

The servant inside was stunned for a moment, then directly opened the door: “Come in.”

Tie Ci entered with a delighted expression. The servant stood by the gate without moving forward, pointing toward the main hall: “The young master is over there. Go yourself—the young master doesn’t like us disturbing him.”

Tie Ci walked forward two steps, then looked back. The servant was watching her with a strange expression. Seeing Tie Ci’s uneasy backward glance, he grinned eerily: “Go on, young master’s lady. The young master is thinking of you.”

Tie Ci showed naive gratitude: “Thank you, young brother. May I ask your name?”

“Me? I’m called Ah Qi.”

Tie Ci nodded and carefully walked two more steps, then suddenly looked down and exclaimed, “Why is there a piece of gold on the ground!”

Ah Qi was startled and quickly rushed over: “Don’t touch it, let me look first… Ah!”

The ground suddenly gave way beneath his feet.

The surface cracked open, revealing a dark pit. With a thud, Ah Qi fell into the hole.

From the time it took him to hit bottom, the pit was quite deep.

Tie Ci waved her hand, closing the garden gate while timely letting out a scream to cover Ah Qi’s cry.

With a click, iron bars slid across the ground to cover the pit.

It was indeed a prepared trap.

Outside the garden, hearing this scream, two people dressed as guards stood up from the grass, exchanged glances, curled their lips in a smile, and walked away.

Tie Ci crouched by the pit, asking in surprise, “What happened? How did a pit suddenly appear? Ah Qi, Ah Qi, are you alright?”

No sound came from inside, but she could faintly hear puffing sounds as Tie Ci saw smoke rising from the pit walls.

Oh, there were follow-up mechanisms too.

Good—this saved her from the fellow’s ghost-like wailing.

Tie Ci crouched by the pit, thinking that if there really were such a village woman seeking her husband who entered this ghost-ridden garden and fell into this pit, between injury, fright, and dark imprisonment, she’d be dead or mad within two days.

Perhaps the Prince’s Residence wouldn’t let her die—going mad would be perfect. They could still treat her well as You Weixing’s wife and continue earning a good reputation.

Vicious and poisonous.

Now, let Ah Qi enjoy this experience.

This person who could remain in Wanqing Garden was probably a servant close to You Weixing. With You Weixing imprisoned and his fate unknown, this one was eating well and sleeping soundly, collaborating with the Prince’s Residence to harm You Weixing’s “wife.” Such a wicked slave—if Heaven didn’t punish him, it would only be because his time hadn’t come.

Now hadn’t she arrived?

Tie Ci pushed open the door to the main hall and lit her fire starter.

The main hall was covered in dust and completely empty, not even a plank bed. Scattered on the ground were scraps of turnips, cabbage, and such. In the hot weather, they gave off a putrid stench.

Something like a black line seemed to be moving on the wall. Tie Ci’s lamplight illuminated it.

It was a group of ants moving along traces of honey remaining on the wall, forming two characters.

“Shiba” (Eighteen).

In the dancing firelight, Tie Ci remained expressionless, like a stone statue.

But cold gleams flashed in her eyes as she stared at those two characters.

The wall surface was mottled, stained with vegetable scraps. It seemed You Weixing had originally tried to attract ants with turnips and cabbage but failed.

She didn’t know how a imprisoned person had finally obtained honey.

Because of this, the wall was very dirty, and those small ant-formed characters “Shiba” were hidden in the filth, unnoticed by others.

Below the characters “Shiba” were two smaller characters: “Jiejie” (Elder Sister).

Tie Ci crouched down, her finger brushing across the dirty wall surface. The characters “Shiba” disappeared.

But she would remember them.

She would remember that the characters “Shiba” were larger than “Jiejie.”

She would remember the countless deep and shallow impressions of “Shiba” on that broken wall—written with turnips, written with cabbage, written with soup, covering half the wall.

She would remember that child who lived in his own world, who never concerned himself with worldly matters due to his pure nature, yet remembered someone he’d briefly encountered. In this shabby room, in loneliness, in cold isolation, stroke by stroke, he concentrated on writing her name.

Not necessarily waiting for salvation, but missing her so deeply that he called out day and night, summoning ants to write her name.

“I’m sorry I came so late.”

“But I think there’s still time.”

Tie Ci’s gaze fell on the wall. Besides the deep and shallow character impressions, there were also various chaotic drawings.

She had once told Ah Yao that if he really didn’t want to speak, he could draw instead.

Ah Yao didn’t like communicating with people, but had strong learning ability. After Tie Ci briefly taught him to draw, he quickly became quite good at it.

Now on the wall was drawn a room—empty inside, with a person lying against the wall painting. He’d painted a landscape with long waterways crossing the wall surface. At the end of the water flow, three tracks swept horizontally, connecting to a faint doorway.

Tie Ci stepped back to look at the room, confirming this drawing depicted this very room.

The artist was You Weixing.

The drawings on the wall layered one over another, painted with vegetable juice and no longer very clear. Tie Ci’s finger slowly followed the water flow’s trajectory. At the end of the current, she applied slight pressure and swept three times.

Her finger paused—she’d touched a crack.

Just as her finger was about to apply force…

Suddenly she turned around, staring into the darkness behind her.

Someone was coming.