Yan Qing casually named a book title and then steered the conversation toward the bundle. “Oh, by the way, Elder Brother — have a look and see if the bedding inside belongs to your room.”

Hearing this, the shorter maid eagerly moved to claim credit and opened the bundle, just barely peeling back a corner to reveal the white pillow inside.

The moment Yan Qi saw it, his face drained of color. “Where — where did you get that?”

Before the maid could answer, Yan Qing smiled and said, “One of the servants must have accidentally thrown out the new bedding by mistake, and a little maid picked it up and washed it.”

As she spoke, Yan Qing’s lovely eyes never left Yan Qi’s face. She watched as his complexion shifted from red to an ashen green, and then from green to white, his gaze darting in every direction.

Then she looked at his neck. Fresh scratch marks stood out in clear relief against his skin.

“Get rid of it — throw it out immediately.” Yan Qi looked rabid, pointing at the maid with a contorted expression.

Jiang Shi watched him with a cold smile, every inch the spectator enjoying the show.

“Weren’t you here to borrow a book?” Yan Qi composed himself with effort, turned, and went inside, emerging moments later to fling a book out the door. “Take it and go. Don’t drag out your visit here, or you’ll bring on some inconvenience and Father will blame the rest of us again.”

Yan Qi’s tone was unpleasant, but Jiang Shi stepped forward warmly to smooth things over. “Sixth Sister, don’t mind your Elder Brother. Come, Elder Sister-in-Law will walk you back.”

—

Back in her own courtyard, Jing Zhi and Murong — who had been holding their tongues for the entire walk home — spoke almost in unison: “Miss, was the First Young Master really the one who killed her?”

“It was him. His reaction when he saw the bedding and the scratch marks on his neck both point to him as the killer.” Yan Qing thought to herself that this era had no DNA technology. If it did, the blood and skin cells beneath the deceased’s fingernails could have definitively identified the culprit.

If Yan Qi denied everything, the evidence on hand would appear weak. And she couldn’t expect Master Yan to report his own eldest son to the Jinlin Guard — nor was she in a position to come forward herself.

For now, the only hope lay with Cui Nong’s parents. If they were determined to seek justice for their daughter, the Jinlin Guard could take this evidence and find a way to bring the killer to account.

“Miss, why would the First Young Master kill Cui Nong? Even if he tired of her, he could have simply sent her home.”

After leaving the kitchen, Yan Qing had continued turning the question over as they walked. She hadn’t gone far when she heard a sharp quarrel nearby.

“If my guess is correct, Cui Nong was carrying Elder Brother’s child.” Yan Qing rested her hand lightly on the book now placed on her writing table and let her fingers trace over the cover. “Cui Nong was reasonably pretty. Elder Brother must have noticed her at some point and taken a liking to her. Though Cui Nong had A-Li, she was won over by Elder Brother’s sweet words and money. The other maids only wore plain blue cotton, but Cui Nong was dressed in brand-new checkered cotton when she died. Elder Brother had been involved with maids in the household before, but because of Elder Sister-in-Law’s forceful temperament, nothing ever came of it each time. Cui Nong, however, was different — she was ambitious and calculating. By some means or another, she became pregnant with Elder Brother’s child. She had told A-Li that she had a way to make Elder Brother take her as a concubine, and what she was counting on was the Yan bloodline she carried in her womb. On the surface it seemed like a solid plan, but she overlooked one thing: Elder Brother’s fear of his own wife. He had been too afraid of Elder Sister-in-Law to take a concubine for years — why would he ever truly agree to take Cui Nong? Cui Nong must have used the pregnancy to threaten him, saying that if he refused, she would take it all the way to Father. Elder Brother, terrified that Elder Sister-in-Law would learn of his affair, was gripped by panic, and that panic turned to murderous intent. He smothered her with the pillow by his bedside. Afterward, he was overcome with fear. Under cover of night, he threw Cui Nong’s body into the well, and discarded the bedding and pillow at the rubbish heap, staging the scene to look like a suicide. Xiao Yue mentioned that Cui Nong had said ‘better to be dead than live like this’ before she fell into the well, and the emotional instability of those past few days — both were the result of her failed negotiations with Elder Brother. And what’s more…”

—