The maids forcibly pried open Nanyi’s mouth. Nanyi struggled desperately—with four maids holding her down, she somehow found tremendous strength and violently shoved them all away.

She swept her hand across, breaking a cup, then picked up a shard and gripped it tightly for self-defense, preventing the maids from approaching again.

In this life-and-death moment, Nanyi became somewhat hysterical: “There’s nothing because there’s nothing! Concubine Lu, how can you try to kill someone without distinguishing right from wrong?”

Seeing Nanyi in this state, everyone felt a bit uncertain.

A maid whispered in Lu Jinxiu’s ear: “Concubine, if this gets out of hand, it won’t end well…”

Lu Jinxiu realized she was now in a difficult position, but still needed to save some face: “She’s just a street urchin—what lie wouldn’t she tell to save her life?”

“What gives you the right to say that about me? I may be poor, I may be lowborn, I may lie, but I haven’t committed any illicit acts! I absolutely won’t lose my life over something that never happened. If you dare try to force poison down my throat again, I’ll kill anyone who comes near!”

A resolute, vicious look appeared on Nanyi’s face.

The situation reached a stalemate, then a maid suggested another idea: “Concubine, since she insists there’s nothing, why not examine her body? If she’s still a virgin, then we’ll treat this as if it never happened. If not, then even if this becomes a big scandal, we’ll be in the right.”

Lu Jinxiu looked at Nanyi: “Well? Do you dare submit to examination to prove your innocence?”

Nanyi threw the porcelain shard to the ground: “What wouldn’t I dare?”

Lu Jinxiu instructed the maid: “Go fetch the examination woman. Don’t make any noise about it.”

Before this, Nanyi had only heard of women who married into husband’s families but were subjected to examination, then cried the next day wanting to commit suicide. At the time she didn’t understand—what was there to care about?

But when it was her turn, she realized what utter humiliation this was. She was pressed down in a chair, her lower garments removed, while the woman used cold instruments to examine inside her body. The surrounding eyes watched her coldly—she seemed not to be a person, just a bare stalk of grass.

She was lowborn. She didn’t care about her body suffering, didn’t care whether her knees were soft or hard. She could kneel at a word, could bow her head to beg others, because none of that had ever hurt her inner self.

Nanyi bit her lip hard, refusing to let tears fall. In her twenty years of life, she had experienced all kinds of cold, but none surpassed the helplessness and torment of this moment.

Time seemed to drag endlessly—so long that Nanyi thought she couldn’t endure to the end. Something inside her body carried her consciousness, fleeing like a refugee to drift far away onto the city walls.

She gazed down at Li Du Mansion. Time was confused for her—she actually saw that day at sunset when she bravely saved Xie Zhu, broke through the Qi soldiers’ encirclement, and played those barbarians for fools.

She smiled, realizing that wasn’t her sacrificing herself for others’ cause—she had been fulfilled. Her spineless backbone, which had always depended on worldly circumstances, was supported upright. This made her realize she wasn’t someone who could only receive others’ charity or be possessed by others. She could also create value. Her life had such heroic moments.

It was because of such moments that this present wretchedness seemed even more pathetic.

“Reporting to Concubine, the young madam is still intact.”

The woman’s words pulled Nanyi back to reality. She stood there numbly. She felt very cold and wanted to cover certain parts of her body, but she couldn’t move—she had no strength left.

She didn’t remember how Concubine Lu led that group of maids away in grand procession, didn’t remember whether Concubine Lu apologized. When she came to her senses, she was hugging her knees, crouched in a corner. The room was a mess yet also empty.

She finally understood that crying girl—she too wanted to die so badly.

The moment this thought appeared, Nanyi immediately shook her head—no, she had endured such humiliation precisely to live, hadn’t she?

She absolutely wouldn’t allow herself to lose sight of the essential for the trivial. If she felt too sad and couldn’t solve it, then she’d forget it.

Nanyi finally stood up from the floor, hastily picked up her outer robe to drape over herself, and bit by bit cleaned up the mess in the room.

She also picked up the rice paper from the floor and put it back on the table, as if nothing had happened.

“Sister-in-law!”

Xie Sui’an’s voice came from the courtyard before she arrived.

She pushed open the door and saw Nanyi like this, startled: “Sister-in-law, did you just get up? Why haven’t you tidied up yet?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Sister-in-law, did you forget? Today is Little New Year’s Eve. Grandmother’s health has improved somewhat—today everyone needs to go pay respects and offer blessings to Grandmother. Last time we discussed methods to find the spy, you said we needed to wait for a time when everyone was present to implement it. Isn’t that today?”

Nanyi was stunned—she had completely forgotten about this.

Xie Sui’an sensed something was off and found it strange: “Sister-in-law… did something happen?”

Nanyi shook her head, pretending nothing was wrong. She casually twisted her hair into a bun, put on her clothes, and went with Xie Sui’an to Songhe Hall.

That day, an Eight Immortals table was set up in the embracing hall of Songhe Hall, with a long scroll and writing materials placed on top.

Xie Sui’an had convinced Dowager Madam Xie to gather everyone at Wangxue Stronghold to write a “Hundred-Person Buddhist Scripture,” symbolizing unity and devotion, praying together for favorable weather in the coming year.

Dowager Madam Xie had been hesitant, thinking it somewhat ostentatious, but Xie Sui’an said they would quietly send this Buddhist scripture to Third Uncle, letting him add his writing too—this way the family would be reunited for the New Year.

This was tantamount to telling Dowager Madam Xie that Third Uncle was safe. She had no more reason to refuse and immediately agreed, ordering preparations.

Nanyi had suggested this idea precisely to inconspicuously collect handwriting samples from everyone at Wangxue Stronghold, then compare them with the handwriting on the silk letter she had seen. This way, they might find the spy who had passed information.

The Dowager Madam entrusted this matter to Xie Sui’an and Nanyi to handle—after all, on the surface, Nanyi was still considered the manager of Wangxue Stronghold’s courtyards. The two sat in the courtyard all day, watching people come and go, while that blank paper gradually filled up.

For Nanyi, this became an effective form of escape in her confused state. Being with Xie Sui’an made her feel secure.

Xie Queshan came by, but tactfully didn’t add his writing. His gaze swept across Nanyi’s face, but she showed no abnormality—only docilely bowed and called out “Master.”

Xie Queshan had no idea what Lu Jinxiu had done while he was away, and Nanyi never planned to tell him.

Of course, Nanyi was also too lazy to wonder whether Xie Queshan had seen through her little scheme. As long as he didn’t stop her, she’d continue.

At dusk, Qiu Jie’er came.

She didn’t like bringing maids and came alone, choosing a time when there were fewest people, timidly approaching. Her small figure was bundled in a fluffy cloak, like a little calico cat.

After writing on the rice paper, she hesitated, then walked up to Nanyi and handed her a carefully packaged box: “Sister-in-law, this is for you.”

Nanyi noticed that Qiu Jie’er’s fingers seemed injured—several were wrapped in gauze—but she didn’t think much of it, looking at the box in her hands in confusion: “…For me?”

“I wanted to thank big sister-in-law. Inside is an inkstone from Plum Blossom Pit—it absorbs ink very quickly,” Qiu Jie’er said gently.

Nanyi opened the box to find a completely black inkstone with delicate lotus patterns carved on the head, embedded in a fine, warm yellow pear wood base. Even though Nanyi understood nothing about such things, she could tell this was a precious item.

Xie Sui’an was also curious: “Qiu Jie’er, why give sister-in-law an inkstone?”

“Sister-in-law has been practicing calligraphy lately,” Qiu Jie’er would even blush when speaking with people. She didn’t like looking at her conversation partners, keeping her head down and speaking softly.

“How do you know?” Nanyi was surprised.

“These past days, Zheyue Pavilion has been pouring out a lot of inky water from washing brushes.”

The Xie family members had different personalities but were all extremely clever, able to infer much from little.

“Thank you, Qiu Jie’er.”

Nanyi accepted it straightforwardly.

In normal times, she would have felt overwhelmed by the favor and might not even have dared accept such a precious item. But now her mindset had changed. Whether the people here loved or disliked her, she was just a passerby who would leave sooner or later.

She would swallow humiliation, but naturally she would also accept kindness. She wouldn’t put on airs of nobility and leave empty-handed.