Since she had taken on people’s livelihoods, she should be responsible for them to the end, and should not neglect this duty for any reason. But during that recent period, she had indulged in sorrow over her private affairs, neglecting business matters. She knew in her heart that the guild would certainly not remain quiet, but she had subconsciously been avoiding these troubles, seeking only temporary peace of mind.

It was her!

It was her weakness, incompetence, pretentiousness, and selfishness that had cost a human life!

Shen Xiling trembled as she closed her eyes.

Outside the carriage, lightning flashed and thunder roared. Before long, the sky had completely darkened, and raindrops began falling on the carriage canopy. Later, the sound grew louder and more intensive, making everyone increasingly anxious.

In this thunder and rain, Shen Xiling slowly opened her eyes, which held a more captivating gleam than the thunder itself.

She said, “Go to the Southeast Villa.”

The maids were all startled upon hearing this, then showed bewildered expressions. After thinking for a long while, they remembered that the Southeast Villa was in the suburbs of Jiankang City, not far from Qixia Mountain. It was reportedly the private property of Yang Dong, the guild leader of the Weaving Guild.

When their young miss said to go there with such a cold expression, the maids naturally realized she wanted to confront that leader and seek justice for Shopkeeper Feng’s death.

This was of course an understandable action, but it was already late and looked like heavy rain was coming. Going rashly to Yang Dong’s territory would be rather too risky. Moreover, their young miss was so emotionally agitated now that she probably couldn’t remain very calm, making it even easier to suffer losses.

The maids all wanted to dissuade her, but Shen Xiling was very insistent. Though she didn’t say much, she gave them a cold glance with a sharp look they had never seen before – quite similar to the young master – that made them feel intimidated and not dare to object.

Liuzi was the softest-hearted and immediately followed the young miss’s instructions, turning the horse’s head toward the suburbs. Shuipei cursed him silently for his lack of judgment but was powerless to stop him, only able to lament internally.

When the young master had left Fenghe Garden a few days ago, he had specifically instructed her to take good care of the young miss and said to come find him at the government office if anything happened. But today, the young miss going out to handle business matters was originally routine – Shuipei hadn’t thought anything special of it at the time and hadn’t sent word to the young master beforehand. Who would have expected the young miss to suddenly want to find Yang Dong? And now that she was in the carriage, how could she send word to the young master?

Shuipei felt uneasy, constantly feeling disturbed. Hearing the heavy rain outside made her shrink even more. She could only pray silently that everything would go smoothly today without any incidents.

Meanwhile, at the Privy Council, Qi Ying was personally escorting Xu Zhengning, who had recently returned from afar, out of the government office. This official had only returned to Jiankang at noon today and came straight to the Privy Council to discuss matters with Qi Ying, only leaving now at evening.

Qing Zhu had been waiting outside the office. Only after Master Xu left the room and walked away did he enter to change the young master’s tea.

When he returned with fresh tea, he saw the young master holding a brush, but it remained suspended in mid-air, never touching the paper. Looking at his expression, his brows were slightly furrowed as if he was quite troubled, and he seemed somewhat lost in thought.

The young master had not rested properly for two consecutive days. Rather, ever since he left Fenghe Garden on the day of Shen Xiling’s coming-of-age ceremony, he had barely closed his eyes. Qing Zhu knew something must have happened between the two of them, making the young master restless and unable to rest peacefully. Today, with Master Xu’s return possibly bringing bad news, and with official duties weighing on him, the young master would be even less able to find peace. Tonight, he would probably stay up until dawn again.

Qing Zhu felt uneasy but didn’t dare ask questions, only quietly attending to the young master’s side.

Actually, Qing Zhu’s guess wasn’t entirely correct. Xu Zhengning hadn’t brought any particularly bad news that day – even if there was some that wasn’t good, it was all within Qi Ying’s expectations, and he wasn’t surprised.

But for some reason, he felt an inexplicable unease, as if something he very much didn’t want to see was about to happen, making him vaguely anxious and unable to settle his mind for a long time.

This was truly unprecedented for Young Master Qi.

Qi Ying closed his eyes, about to forcibly suppress the tumultuous anxiety in his heart, when suddenly a drop of black ink fell from the tip of his brush. The ink gradually spread, staining the document awaiting approval with a dirty black spot. At this moment, thunder and lightning flashed outside – harbingers of a storm.

His sense of unease intensified.

Qi Ying set down his brush, frowning, and turned to ask Qing Zhu, “Has anyone come from the villa?”

Qing Zhu immediately understood the young master was asking about the situation at Shen Xiling’s side. He comprehended and immediately bowed to reply, “No one has come. Everything should be well.”

Hearing this, the young master’s frown didn’t relax. He only looked down at the ink stain on the document again. After a long silence, he suddenly stood up and strode toward the door.

Qing Zhu was startled and hurried to follow, chasing after Qi Ying and asking, “Where is the young master going?”

It had already begun raining outside.

The young master’s profile appeared even more stern in the dark light of the lightning.

He answered in a deep voice, “Back to Fenghe Garden.”

Shen Xiling arrived at the Southeast Villa near evening, when fierce winds were raging and it was pouring rain.

Liuzi braved the rain to knock on the door. The gatekeeper only said his master didn’t receive guests, with a rather domineering attitude. Liuzi pleaded for a long time to no avail, and Song Haotang’s assistance also proved useless. Later, Shen Xiling personally got out of the carriage. When the gatekeeper saw her, he felt her entire bearing was extraordinary and guessed she had a noble status. His arrogance diminished by three parts, and he bowed to inquire about her name.

Shen Xiling’s expression was cold and somewhat indifferent as she answered, “Please inform the guild leader that Fang Jun requests an audience.”

Though she used the humble phrase “requests an audience,” her aura seemed somewhat sharp. Though the gatekeeper couldn’t detect the anger she was suppressing, he could sense her severity. He had heard of Miss Fang’s reputation and knew she had business dealings with his master – she was an honored guest. He immediately didn’t dare neglect her. After hesitating for a moment, he said he would first go inside to report and asked Shen Xiling to wait.

Shen Xiling didn’t make things difficult for him, only saying “Thank you for your trouble.”

The gatekeeper closed the door and went into the estate. After the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, he came out and bowed to Shen Xiling again, saying, “My master invites Miss Fang inside.”

He paused, then looked at the group of people behind Shen Xiling and continued bowing, “However, my master hasn’t personally received guests for a long time and dislikes noise. Today, please bring only one person inside, Miss, while the others wait here.”

This was truly an insult.

Setting aside that Shen Xiling had always been raised in the Qi family, even without that connection, just based on her business success, there was no reason for her to have only one servant attending her. Usually when she went out, she was accompanied by at least two maids and one servant. For more important occasions, she would bring two more shopkeepers of status – only then would it be appropriate.

Yet today Yang Dong only allowed her to bring one person inside – this was naturally an insult.

Shen Xiling hadn’t yet reacted, but Liuzi and the others were angered first.

Liuzi angrily said, “What strange rules! How noble is my young miss’s status? How can she have only one person attending her? Your guild leader’s arrangements would never be so unreasonable – didn’t you mishear?”

Liuzi’s words carried both open criticism and hidden barbs. While seemingly absolving Yang Dong, he was actually still criticizing his improper handling of the matter. The gatekeeper was equally stubborn, however. Hearing this, not only did he not back down, but he said, “I heard clearly and could never be wrong. My master also said that if Miss Fang is unwilling to do this, they can arrange to meet elsewhere another day.”

Hearing this, Shen Xiling’s expression remained calm. She raised her hand to stop the anger and indignation of those behind her and said, “Shuipei will accompany me inside. The rest of you wait here.”

After saying this, she stepped into the villa’s entrance.

Seeing this situation, Shuipei naturally had to hurry and follow the young miss. But after thinking it over, she still whispered something in Liuzi’s ear before hastily entering the door to follow her young miss.

The wind and rain were dark as night was boundless. Shuipei held an umbrella and accompanied Shen Xiling into the Southeast Villa’s gates.

This place was very different from the Qi family residence.

The main Qi residence was a noble family’s high gate – magnificent yet maintaining proper solemnity. Fenghe Garden was Qi Ying’s private residence – aristocratic yet maintaining dignified elegance. The Southeast Villa was completely different from both estates, having none of these refined qualities but emphasizing only luxury. Gold, jade, and colored glass could be seen everywhere. Though it was stormy tonight, one could still vaguely see the garden’s grandeur in the lightning flashes – it was actually larger than the Qi family’s.

At that time, Shen Xiling had a fire burning in her heart and truly had no mind to pay attention to these trivial matters. She only walked through courtyards and past buildings under Shuipei’s umbrella, following the gatekeeper to a building structure.

Shuipei was on edge the entire way. When they reached the eaves and she looked up, she saw three large characters “Remembering Past Hall” written on the plaque. Inside the door was quiet, only letting out vague light. Soon after they arrived, the door opened from inside, and a pair of beautiful maids walked out from the room, both with spring in their eyes.

As soon as Shuipei saw these two women’s appearance, she knew what had just happened in the room. Her frown deepened, and her sense of foreboding intensified. She heard the gatekeeper say to her young miss, “Miss Fang, the guild leader is waiting for you in the room.”

Hearing this, Shuipei immediately became furious, thinking that Yang Dong must be mad to dare make their young miss enter such a filthy place. She was about to curse him out when she saw her young miss didn’t even hesitate before entering the door.

Shuipei quickly grabbed her, then realized that their young miss still… didn’t understand these matters.

She was young and had grown up beside the young master. Though the young master had educated her very well, he hadn’t been detailed enough to have someone teach her about relations between men and women. So their young miss was still ignorant about such things and couldn’t see anything suspicious about the two women who had just come out of the room.

But Shuipei could see it. At this moment, wanting to warn the young miss but not knowing how to speak, she was in a difficult position when she saw the young miss expressionlessly glance at the hand with which she was holding her.

That one glance let Shuipei know that regardless of whether their young miss could see the impropriety in this situation, she would enter this door today.

She had a fire burning in her heart.

Shuipei guessed correctly – Shen Xiling indeed had a fire burning in her heart at that time. Though she appeared calm and composed, she had actually lost all rationality.

She only wanted to question Yang Dong about why he had caused Shopkeeper Feng’s death.

Though Shuipei could see this, she couldn’t help but try to dissuade her. She pulled her young miss and urgently whispered in her ear, “Miss, you cannot enter this door. Why don’t we arrange to meet Guild Leader Yang elsewhere another day? Or we could first inform the young master and wait for his approval before…”

This latter half truly added fuel to the fire.

Because of what happened on the day of the coming-of-age ceremony, Shen Xiling had long decided to break ties with Qi Ying. How could she allow herself to depend on him whenever she encountered problems? Shuipei’s words not only didn’t make Shen Xiling turn back, but actually pushed her forward another step.

Shen Xiling looked at Shuipei and gently pushed away the hand holding her, saying, “There’s no need to mention the young master anymore. This is my own affair, after all.”

At that time, various complex emotions had stirred Shen Xiling’s heart into murky waters.

Shopkeeper Feng’s death had greatly disturbed her mind. She partly blamed herself for her incompetence, and partly couldn’t help but blame Shuipei, Liuzi, and the others for concealing the fact that Shopkeeper Feng had visited Fenghe Garden. Moreover, hearing Shuipei mention Qi Ying at this critical moment made her feel especially uncomfortable.

She was so sensitive, and having lost her rationality, she suddenly felt that Shuipei wasn’t truly close to her either. An indescribable resentment in her heart made her misdirect her anger. She looked at Shuipei and said, “Sister Shuipei, why don’t you wait here for me? I’ll go say a few words to the guild leader and come out very soon.”