The woman blocking the path only said, “Please don’t make things difficult for us, Third Miss Yun. We are merely following orders.”

When Yun Qiufang asked whose orders they were following, they fell silent again.

Yun Qiuping didn’t want to cause trouble and tugged at Yun Qiufang’s sleeve: “Forget it, Third Sister. Let’s just go back.” She was timid by nature, and this wasn’t the Yun family’s territory after all—she didn’t want to stir up trouble.

But Yun Qiufang was extremely displeased in her heart.

Although Yun Qiuchen had chosen to avoid the limelight this year due to the Princess Consort participating in the Thousand Gold Banquet, she was the champion of the previous Thousand Gold Banquet. Everyone knew her true capabilities, and all would only think that the eldest Miss Yun understood propriety and knew when to advance or retreat—no one would dare look down on her.

At this Thousand Gold Banquet, Old Madam Yun had Yun Qiuchen help manage things, placing her in charge of the wine, tea, and refreshments at the banquet, as well as arranging meals for each family. Yun Qiuchen had made no mistakes, quietly demonstrating before everyone the management skills required of a qualified inner courtyard mistress.

The wives and young ladies of Yanbei’s prominent families all praised eldest Miss Yun, but no one ever thought to mention that besides eldest Miss Yun Qiuchen, the Yun family also had second Miss Yun and third Miss Yun.

Now, seeing the situation ahead, Yun Qiufang suspected something had gone wrong somewhere, and Yun Qiuchen didn’t want others to know about it.

Yun Qiuping tugged at Yun Qiufang’s sleeve again. Yun Qiufang’s eyes rolled, then she glared at the two women and said angrily: “Fine, if we can’t pass through, so be it. When eldest sister comes back, we’ll just ask her.” With that, she pulled Yun Qiuping’s hand and walked away.

Yun Qiuping was rather surprised to see Yun Qiufang being so agreeable today.

After walking a few steps away, Yun Qiufang’s eyes gleamed with excitement as she whispered to Yun Qiuping: “I know that Fragrant Marsh Courtyard and Autumn Swan Courtyard’s back gardens are only separated by a narrow alley. We can quietly go through Fragrant Marsh Courtyard—since no one lives there, the side door to the alley definitely won’t have anyone guarding it.”

Yun Qiuping hurriedly said: “That wouldn’t be proper, would it?”

Yun Qiufang rolled her eyes at her: “What’s improper about it! If the eldest sister can go in, why can’t we?” Her eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a sly smile like a little fox. “If you’re afraid of being scolded, we can call a few more people to come with us. As they say, the law doesn’t punish the masses.”

Without further ado, Yun Qiufang dragged Yun Qiuping toward the west courtyard to gather more people.

After Yun Qiuchen entered Autumn Swan Courtyard, she discovered there was no one in the courtyard, not even a servant woman or maid to announce visitors could be seen. This made her increasingly suspicious. She looked around and found that both the main hall and the eastern wing rooms were tightly shut, but the western wing room’s door was open a crack.

Yun Qiuchen walked to the corridor and stood at the doorway, listening for a moment. Hearing no movement inside, she frowned and glanced at her maid Nanzhu.

Understanding her meaning, Nanzhu pressed against the door and called into the room: “Miss Wu, Miss Jiang, are you inside? Our eldest miss requests an audience. Miss Wu? Miss Jiang?”

There was still no movement inside. Nanzhu couldn’t help but look toward Yun Qiuchen.

Yun Qiuchen had an ominous feeling in her heart. She turned to look at the eastern wing and main hall again—no one came out to respond.

Jiang Yuanniang’s maid Qiuxiang was almost crying with anxiety. She turned to ask another maid: “Miss didn’t leave after going in, did she?”

That maid’s face was also pale as she nodded: “This servant has been waiting outside with those two sisters the whole time. Miss didn’t come out.”

Yun Qiuchen looked toward Wu Yiyu’s two maids. The two maids exchanged glances and quietly stepped back two paces, refusing to speak. One of them even turned and ran outside.

Yun Qiuchen stepped back two paces and told the two women behind her: “You go in and take a look.” A gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall—with Wu Yiyu’s maid acting strangely and the situation inside unclear, Yun Qiuchen naturally wouldn’t rashly charge in first herself.

The two women gently pushed open the door and went inside. A moment later, they came running out in panic, their faces showing expressions of shock and fright.

Yun Qiuchen was startled and quickly asked: “What’s wrong? Are Miss Wu and Miss Jiang inside?”

The two women’s faces were completely red. They looked at each other and nodded: “Yes, inside. Miss Wu and Miss Jiang are both inside.”

Yun Qiuchen’s heart turned cold. Forcing herself to remain calm, she asked: “Are they both still… alive?”

The two women nodded again. One of them thought for a moment, then stepped forward and whispered a few words in Yun Qiuchen’s ear.

Yun Qiuchen was so shocked her eyes widened and she stepped back, unable to react for a long while. No matter how mature and worldly she usually was, she was still just a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl who had never experienced such a scene. For once, she didn’t know what to do.

Jiang Yuanniang’s two maids were crying with anxiety. Qiuxiang wept as she asked: “Miss Yun, what happened to our miss? Is she inside?”

Yun Qiuchen’s face showed some embarrassment, finding herself in a difficult position. At this moment, the eldest Miss Yun still didn’t know that this incident was caused by her second brother, Yun Wenfang, so she couldn’t decide whether to intervene. If she wasn’t careful with such matters, not only would she gain no benefit, but she’d end up covered in filth.

Wu Yiyu’s remaining maid, who hadn’t left, also sensed something was wrong, her face showing some unease. If Miss Wu were inside, she wouldn’t remain silent after seeing two women barge in. But the women who went in said Miss Wu was inside, so something must have happened.

The maid became more frightened the more she thought about it. Finally, she pushed past Jiang Yuanniang’s two maids and ran into the room.

“Ah—” A moment later, a terrified scream came from inside.

Now Jiang Yuanniang’s two maids couldn’t stand still either. Without a word, Qiuxiang ran inside, followed by another scream and then crying.

Yun Qiuchen sighed, thinking she should report this matter to her grandmother and mother. However, she also knew such things absolutely could not be spread around, or if Wu Yiyu and Jiang Yuanniang’s reputations were damaged, the blame would fall on her.

She quietly instructed the woman who had just gone inside: “Go report this matter to my grandmother and mother.”

After that woman hurried away, she instructed her maid Yinzhu: “Have someone guard the courtyard gate—don’t let anyone in for now.” Yinzhu took two people to guard the gate.

After arranging these matters, Yun Qiuchen walked to the center of the courtyard to consider how to handle what came next. She didn’t plan to enter the room right now—at least not until their maids helped wake them up and got their clothes properly arranged, to avoid embarrassing everyone.

Yun Qiuchen hadn’t expected Yun Qiufang to suddenly appear in the corridor at this moment. She wasn’t alone either—behind her followed Yun Qiuping, Guo Yujiao, Qiu Hong, and two other young ladies who were friends with her. Silently, a whole group of people had appeared, and Yun Qiuchen hadn’t even seen where they came from.

“Second Sister, Third Sister, you…”

The other young ladies who had been inexplicably dragged over to watch the excitement were completely confused. When they saw Yun Qiuchen, they wanted to go greet her.

But when Yun Qiufang saw Yun Qiuchen standing in the courtyard with Yinzhu leading two women to block the courtyard gate, while one of Jiang Yuanniang’s maids was nowhere to be seen, she sensed something strange. As she walked while looking around, just at that moment, a scream came from the western wing, followed by the “crash” of something falling to the ground, then cries of pain and weeping—complete chaos.

Yun Qiuchen was about to step forward to shoo away the intruders when she inwardly groaned, realizing from the sounds that Wu Yiyu had probably woken up and was taking her anger out on her maid inside.

Yun Qiufang was wondering where to poke around when the commotion from the western wing pointed her toward a clear target. Her eyes lit up, and before Yun Qiuchen could speak to stop her, she grabbed Guo Yujiao, who was closest to her, and slipped into the western wing like a loach.

“Third Sister, don’t—” Yun Qiuchen cried out in alarm.

Yun Qiufang was convinced that Yun Qiuchen had done something improper and excitedly dragged Guo Yujiao into the western wing, running toward the inner room where the commotion was coming from.

But when she saw the scene inside the room, Yun Qiufang froze in shock.

Wu Yiyu was holding a feather duster she’d found somewhere, viciously beating her maid. The maid was rolling on the ground in pain. Miss Wu’s appearance wasn’t very dignified either, though she had put her clothes back on, her sash wasn’t tied, and the front of her inner jacket was half-open.

Even more shocking was that on the canopy bed on the western side of the room, there was another maid bound to the headboard, her clothes torn so badly she was practically naked, struggling to free herself from her bonds.

After Yun Qiufang recovered from her shock, she let out a piercing scream.

Yun Qiuping and the other young ladies following behind Yun Qiufang had originally hesitated, not daring to enter. But when Yun Qiufang screamed like that, they too ran inside. Only Qiu Hong glanced at Yun Qiuchen and then stopped at the doorway without following.

When the young ladies entered and saw the situation, they were all startled—they hadn’t expected to witness such a scene.

Wu Yiyu, in her shame and rage, swung the feather duster toward the screaming Yun Qiufang. “Crack—” It struck Yun Qiufang’s face with a heavy blow, loosening two of her teeth. The intense pain made her let out a sharp, agonized cry.

Wu Yiyu was in the height of her fury and struck Yun Qiufang repeatedly with the feather duster, deliberately aiming for her head, face, and neck. Guo Yujiao, dodging quickly, still accidentally got hit on the arm. The young ladies who had barged in all screamed and ran outside.

Yun Qiuchen couldn’t avoid entering now even if she wanted to. Seeing Yun Qiufang’s miserable state, she quickly had Nanzhu drag Yun Qiufang out.

When Yun Qiuchen entered, she felt something was wrong. Now she suddenly realized that she hadn’t seen Jiang Yuanniang when she first came in. Her gaze swept across the bed—there was only one maid on it, with Qiuxiang and Jiang Yuanniang’s other maid standing nervously at the foot of the bed. Yun Qiuchen couldn’t help but glance under the bed, just in time to see the bed curtains around the base of the bed move slightly. Yun Qiuchen understood immediately.