Zhang Sao kept her head bowed and said not a word.

“Miss Yan is speaking to you,” Hei She said sternly from the side. “Do you hear her?”

Zhang Sao paid no heed to Hei She’s warning, maintaining the same half-dead expression. Her voice was cold and dripping with contempt: “Kill me or do whatever you like — I’m just a lone widow with nothing left. My son’s whole family is gone. I’ve been dragging this life along for no purpose whatsoever. If you truly kill me, you’d be doing me a kindness and letting me be reborn sooner.”

Seeing that Zhang Sao responded to neither soft nor hard approaches, Hei She couldn’t help but furrow his thick, long brows. When it came to tough prisoners hauled in by the brotherhood, he had plenty of ways to pry open their mouths. In the art of extracting confessions, no one was his equal.

“Hei She, would you please step out for a moment,” Yan Qing suddenly spoke up. “Long Yunxiao, you too — I’d like to speak with Zhang Sao alone.”

“I’ll stay here with you,” Long Yunxiao said.

Zhang Sao was clearly unhinged — she had already proven herself capable of lacing sachets with drugs. What was there she wouldn’t do? If he stepped out and she harmed Yan Qing, what then?

“It’s fine. Her hands and feet are bound, and she has no sachets on her. She can’t do anything to me,” Yan Qing said. “Besides, you’ll be right outside — if anything happens, you can rush in immediately.”

Long Yunxiao knew that with him present, Zhang Sao might not open her mouth at all. Even if Hei She applied force to someone who had already made up her mind to die, it would probably be futile.

He placed the dagger he always carried on him into Yan Qing’s hands and cautioned her: “I’ll be right outside the door. If anything happens, just call out once and I’ll be in immediately.”

“Mm, don’t worry — nothing will happen.”

After Long Yunxiao stepped out, he pulled the door shut behind him and stood just outside, listening carefully to every sound within.

“Zhang Sao,” Yan Qing said, looking at the expressionless woman. “Have you ever wondered why your home caught fire for no reason?”

Zhang Sao said nothing.

“Adults don’t play with fire, and your grandson was bedridden year-round. Even if a fire had started at the stove by accident, it would have been put out quickly. It was daytime — your family members were all awake and alert. How could they have stood by and watched the fire spiral out of control?”

At these words, Zhang Sao could no longer remain entirely indifferent. She lifted a pair of withered eyes.

“Zhang Sao, you certainly know who Lin Zhi is, don’t you?”

At the mention of Lin Zhi’s name, Zhang Sao’s pupils contracted visibly. Try as she might to conceal it, that instinctive reaction was impossible to hide.

“After Lin Zhi died tragically all those years ago, his family survived. But three months ago, the Lin family suddenly met with a devastating fire — all eight members of the household perished in those flames.”

“All of them dead?” Zhang Sao could no longer maintain her composure. She lunged as though to spring from the chair, but the ropes binding her hands and feet held fast, and the movement was never completed. “How can that be — how could they?”

Hearing the trembling in Zhang Sao’s voice, Yan Qing said calmly: “Would you like to guess what I discovered when I examined those bodies?”

Zhang Sao’s eyes, frighteningly bright, fixed on Yan Qing, waiting for the answer.

“The Lin family members did not die in the fire — they were murdered. After killing them, the murderer set fire to the house to destroy the evidence. The fire not only burned away the proof of the killings; it made the Lin family’s deaths appear to be an accident,” Yan Qing said, meeting Zhang Sao’s gaze directly. “The reason the Lin family died is that they were connected to the Chen family. Someone wants to erase all trace of the Chen family’s existence — and so anyone with close ties to the Chen family is condemned to death.”

Seeing Zhang Sao’s mouth fall open, words failing her, Yan Qing continued: “Zhang Sao, the only surviving member of the Chen family is Chen Lingling. I believe you understand that better than anyone. You were her wet nurse — you raised her with your own hands. Your bond must have been deep. When the Chen family met with catastrophe, you stayed by her side and refused to leave, didn’t you?”

Zhang Sao said nothing, but that itself was her answer.

“Chen Lingling is now going by the alias Qian Lan. She is in Shun Cheng, and her identity is not that of the Chen family’s second young miss but the eldest daughter of the Qian family.”

At the name Chen Lingling, a rare warmth entered Zhang Sao’s eyes: “The second young miss — is the second young miss all right?”

“She is doing very well. The identity of the Qian family’s eldest daughter has served her smoothly.”

“Good, good.” Zhang Sao closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.

“Zhang Sao, do you still not understand? Who is it that wants to erase every trace of the Chen family’s existence — to achieve his goal? This person killed Lin Zhi’s entire family. He killed your son’s entire family. And you — you only escaped by chance.”

“If it’s truly as you say, and this person wants to eradicate all proof of the Chen family, he should know that I didn’t die in that fire. So why has he continued to leave me alive?” Zhang Sao grew agitated, her eyes flushing red.

She was no fool. The meaning behind Yan Qing’s words was not lost on her.

“Because one person felt a flicker of mercy toward you and chose not to act against you,” said Yan Qing, holding Zhang Sao’s gaze so steadily that she had no room to look away. “Chen Lingling had originally intended to have you killed along with the others, but you happened to be out buying spices and so you escaped. When she learned you were still alive, she couldn’t bring herself to act against you again — after all, you raised her with your own hands and never abandoned her even after the Chen family fell. Even so, she must have had people watching you. Once she knew you had retreated deep into the woods and withdrawn from the world entirely, she let you be.”

“No — you’re lying. What you’re saying isn’t true.” Zhang Sao struggled against her bindings, and her cries grew hysterical. “What quarrel do you have with the second young miss? Why do you slander her this way? The second young miss was such a kind and gentle soul — she would never kill anyone.”

“Zhang Sao, in your heart you already know very well who is responsible for what happened to the Lin family and your family. Perhaps Chen Lingling was once a kind and gentle person. But after all she endured — the collapse of her entire world — do you really believe she could have held on to that original nature?”

“No, no — it isn’t like that.” Zhang Sao’s cries were sharp and frantic. “You’re a liar — I won’t let you slander the second young miss like this.”

Outside the door, Hei She heard Zhang Sao’s voice and looked at Long Yunxiao with an inquiring expression. He needed only the word, and he would go in immediately to restrain Zhang Sao.

Long Yunxiao had long since reached the limit of his patience, but Yan Qing had not called out — which meant she did not want him to come in and interrupt her. Even though he was worried about her, he forced himself to suppress his unease.

Long Yunxiao shook his head at Hei She. Hei She stepped back two paces and said nothing more.

Inside the room, Yan Qing quietly waited as Zhang Sao vented her emotions, watching as the woman gradually deflated from a swollen balloon until, at last, she began to sob.

“Zhang Sao, Lin Zhi fell in love with Chen Fangfang, and he later died seeking vengeance for her. Lin Zhi’s family were innocent — yet they paid with their lives. Your son and grandchildren were innocent too — yet they lost their lives for nothing. And those others I don’t yet know about, those with ties to the Chen family — they may well have quietly vanished from this world already.” Yan Qing looked steadily at Zhang Sao: “Trusted servants discarded when no longer needed, loyal allies abandoned once their purpose is served — none of you deserved to be treated this way.”

At those words, Zhang Sao’s quiet sobbing swelled into full-throated wailing. Her hands and feet were bound so she couldn’t wipe her tears, and soon her face was a mess of tears and snot.

Yan Qing picked up a handkerchief and wiped her face for her: “Zhang Sao, tell me — what happened to the Chen family afterward? Who among the Chen family is still alive?”

After weeping for a long while, Zhang Sao finally spoke in a hoarse voice: “Back then, after the eldest young miss met with her tragedy, the master and mistress passed away one after the other. The Chen family had no sons — only two daughters — and so that great fortune all fell onto the second young miss’s shoulders. But the second young miss was only a ten-year-old child. She understood nothing.”

Zhang Sao shook her head gently. “Those disloyal servants began embezzling the Chen family’s assets. On the surface they fawned and flattered the second young miss, creating the illusion that business was prospering — while behind the scenes they were gutting the Chen family of everything. By the time the second young miss discovered what was happening, the Chen family was nothing but an empty shell, and those who had taken what they wanted had long since scattered to the winds.”

Recalling those events, Zhang Sao’s voice filled with bitter fury: “The master and mistress had always been so generous and good to them — never treated them poorly — yet the hearts of people are hidden away, and what they raised in the end were a pack of ungrateful wolves. Once these people had hollowed out the Chen family, the family mansion was sold off. I had no choice but to take the second young miss to live in the one small residence the Chen family still had left, barely scraping by through the sachets I and the second young miss made together. The second young miss was beautiful, and wealthy young men and local ruffians would often come to harass her. With no other option, the second young miss claimed she had contracted smallpox and shut the doors, refusing to go out — and from then on, she lived in that small courtyard for ten years.”

“For ten full years, she never left?”

Zhang Sao nodded. “Every day the second young miss made sachets and read books and played the qin. By the time she was past twenty, she still had not married.”

“Why didn’t she marry? Why not find a family to wed into?”

“The second young miss had witnessed with her own eyes the tragic fate of the eldest young miss and Mr. Lin, and the experience planted a deep knot in her heart. So when she reached her twenties and still refused to marry, I understood — she was afraid she would end up with the same fate as the eldest young miss.”

“And after that — when did the two of you part ways?”

Zhang Sao thought for a moment. “Just over three months ago, someone suddenly came looking for the young miss.”

“Who was this person? Can you still recall what he looked like?”

“A young man — quite good-looking, and very tall,” Zhang Sao recalled. “He came to the door looking for the young miss. Both the young miss and I were surprised, because we had been living there for years without contact with the outside world. The young miss did not want to meet him at first, but he said two words — ‘Hui Yuan’ — and the young miss agreed to see him.”

“You know about Hui Yuan too, don’t you? Were you also the one who accompanied Chen Lingling when she went to Baiyun Convent?”