Zhao Quanzhi heard the harsh sounds coming from all directions, fury burning in his heart!

He hadn’t expected he would fall to such a state. But everyone hadn’t spoken wrongly. Even if he was the son of the Governor-General of Jiangguang, so what? Even if he had endless wealth, so what? In everyone’s eyes, he could only act as he pleased in the capital by relying on Heir Apparent Li Shiyan’s status. He had long known this obvious fact, and all the young masters in the capital knew it too, but no one dared say it out loud. Now that the Heir Apparent was in trouble, this dog had effectively lost his master and naturally could be bullied and humiliated by anyone.

But hearing such words, how could he swallow this anger in his heart?

For a moment, that fierce gaze swept across everyone one by one, his eyes filled with murderous intent. His hands clenched tightly at his sides, as if in the next second, the killing intent in his eyes would burst forth and stab everyone until they were bloody and mangled.

When those young masters noticed his expression wasn’t right, they all suddenly shuddered!

Especially seeing that trace of killing intent rising from the depths of Zhao Quanzhi’s eyes—it truly made their hearts tremble. Everyone stopped laughing one after another, all revealing traces of timidity. As the saying goes, even a tiger locked in a cage—as long as it roars once, it will still make those outside the cage fearful! Zhao Quanzhi was that tiger. Even without Li Shiyan as his support, the momentum he had accumulated over these years still remained. Though those people continued to mock him, they ultimately still felt an instinctive dread.

For a moment, the surrounding laughter came to an abrupt halt…

No one dared speak anymore!

Just at this moment, a voice came from outside: “What’s happened?”

Looking toward the sound, they saw Minister Huang leading several elite soldiers from the Court of Judicial Review coming in from outside. When he saw the kneeling servants in the courtyard and Zhao Quanzhi’s furious expression, Minister Huang’s brows tightened as he asked: “Just passing by here, I heard noise from inside. What happened? Why are you all kneeling?”

Seeing this, Zhao Quanzhi immediately restrained the murderous and violent intent filling his eyes, then explained the sequence of events one by one.

“This official thought it was something serious! Young Master Zhao, don’t be too angry. They failed in their duties—just punish them casually and be done with it. There’s no need to make a big fuss. Right now Wang Huai’s case is still under investigation. Everything in the manor is very tense. You’d better turn big matters into small ones and small matters into nothing. Don’t add to our troubles.” Minister Huang’s words sounded like persuasion but actually carried a warning.

Zhao Quanzhi wasn’t ignorant of the stakes involved—it was just that the anger in his heart was difficult to relieve.

But with Minister Huang speaking up, he still had to give him some face.

He waved his hand at the servants: “Fine. Since Minister Huang has spoken, this young master won’t pursue this anymore. But if there’s a next time, I won’t let you off so easily! All of you may go.”

“Thank you, Young Master Zhao.” The group of kneeling servants quickly rose and left.

The farce thus ended!

The crowd dispersed one by one.

As Minister Huang was preparing to leave, Zhao Quanzhi, using concern for Li Shiyan as his reason, held him back and asked: “Minister, this case… have you found evidence yet? When exactly can the Heir Apparent be released? He absolutely would not kill anyone!”

Minister Huang looked him up and down, then sighed heavily: “We searched all day yesterday. It’s not that we gained nothing—at least we found something in the artificial mountain. But we need to investigate it clearly before we know.”

“What thing?” Zhao Quanzhi was extremely nervous.

“I cannot say right now.”

“If it’s… something that can prove the Heir Apparent is innocent, that would be good.”

“Alright, this official will take his leave first.”

“No need to see me out!”

Zhao Quanzhi watched Minister Huang leave, his gaze growing increasingly heavy.

…

Similarly, as the day had just begun to brighten, a scream rang out from the courtyard where Ji Yunshu was staying.

It scared several birds from the trees, who flapped their wings and flew away in fright!

Needless to say, it was Qiu Shu again!

Only this time she wasn’t making trouble—she had been frightened.

The young ladies in the courtyard, hearing the sound, all rushed to her door to investigate.

They saw Qiu Shu holding a black cat in her arms, anxiously pacing around the room, her eyes filled with tears. The black cat lay motionless, its body limp in her embrace, white foam coming from its mouth. Clearly it was already dead.

Everyone knew that this black cat was called Little Guozi. Qiu Shu had brought it to the manor, saying it was a pet bestowed by the Empress, so she treasured it greatly. Wherever she went, she liked to bring it along and show it off to everyone.

Now with the black cat in this state, she was both grieving and extremely angry.

The maid beside her was also frantically worried.

Wiping her tears, she rebuked: “Why don’t you hurry and fetch a physician to look at it?”

“Yes, this servant will go right away.”

The little maid quickly rushed out the door to fetch the manor’s physician.

Several young ladies gathered outside walked in, asking: “Sister Qiu Shu, what happened?”

She said as she spoke: “Little Guozi was still fine last night, but this morning it was like this. It was given to me by my sister. If it dies, how will I explain to my sister?”

From this, it seemed she had no emotional attachment to this black cat at all—solely because this cat was given by the Empress.

A purple-robed young lady covered her nose with her handkerchief, furrowing her brows and saying: “Perhaps this cat ate something bad. It should… be fine. Sister, don’t worry.”

Someone chimed in to comfort her: “That’s right, it will definitely be fine. This cat is no ordinary cat.”

Everyone spoke words of comfort one after another, though in truth there was a hint of currying favor.

Soon, the manor’s physician hurried over. By rights, he was a physician who treated people, not some veterinarian. But since Miss Qiu had summoned him, he didn’t dare not come. As soon as he entered the room, Qiu Shu grabbed him: “Physician, quickly look—what’s wrong with my cat? It was still fine last night, but this morning somehow it was suddenly foaming at the mouth, lying motionless on the ground. Its belly is still moving, so it definitely isn’t dead. Quickly save it.”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

The physician had her place the cat on the table. He pressed the cat’s belly with his hand—there was indeed still a bit of breath.

But after a moment, the cat’s body stiffened.

Seeing this, Qiu Shu immediately panicked. She gently stroked the black cat, calling: “Little Guozi? Little Guozi?”

The physician told her: “Miss Qiu, this cat is dead.”

Eh!

At this moment, it was like being struck by thunder.

She couldn’t believe it. Holding the black cat, she began crying heartbrokenly.

“Why is this happening? It was still fine last night!”

The physician took some of the white foam from the black cat’s mouth with a cloth. After carefully examining it, he said: “This cat died from poisoning.”

Poisoning?

Everyone present was shocked.

Because they were all daughters of noble families, upon hearing it was poisoning, they were all frightened out of their wits.

Qiu Shu stopped crying, her eyes wide with disbelief: “What did you just say? What poisoning? You’re saying Little Guozi was poisoned?”

“That’s right. It was aconite poison. This poison is colorless and odorless. Once accidentally consumed, death will occur within two days.”

“Impossible! Little Guozi couldn’t have been poisoned! I was clearly very careful with its diet. How could it be poisoned?”

“But this old physician wouldn’t diagnose incorrectly. It was definitely aconite poison.”

Qiu Shu was stunned. She stood up, and with her backhand fiercely slapped her maid across the face, saying: “Was it you? Did you poison Little Guozi to death?”

The maid, suddenly slapped, her body swaying to the side, immediately knelt down saying: “Miss, it wasn’t this servant. Even if you gave this servant the greatest courage, this servant wouldn’t dare do such a thing!”

“You’ve always been the one taking care of Little Guozi. If not you, then who? Speak! Why did you poison Little Guozi to death? Speak!”

“It wasn’t this servant, truly it wasn’t this servant!”

“You still dare say it wasn’t you?” Qiu Shu was so angry she completely lost her reason. Raising her hand, she delivered another slap. “You ignorant, wretched slave! This young lady raised you, provided you food, provided you clothing, yet you dared do such a thing. Today I must beat you to death.”

The maid, crying and shouting, knelt on the ground denying it: “Truly it wasn’t this servant, truly it wasn’t! Miss, this servant has followed you for so many years! How… how could I do such a thing? You must believe this servant!”

“If not you, who else could it be?”

“It was…” The maid suddenly remembered. Covering her face, she said tearfully: “This servant knows who it was.”

“Who?”

“It was that Miss Ji!”