As the lotus seed soup spilled onto the ground, Hualing fell sitting on the floor, her head also striking the corner of the table.

A muffled thud.

She clutched her knees, crying uncontrollably.

With this collision, the back of her head bled, and the corner of the table behind also bore bloodstains.

High Justice Yu frowned as he straightened his disheveled clothes. Seeing Hualing sitting on the ground crying, he really couldn’t bring himself to be angry.

He asked, “Tell me, what exactly is wrong with you?”

“…”

She continued crying!

“You…”

At this moment, Hualing suddenly got up from the ground and rushed out.

High Justice Yu looked completely bewildered.

So at that time, Hualing really hadn’t died?

Everything was as High Justice Yu had said?

Ji Yunshu wanted to chase after her to see what exactly happened to Hualing afterward.

But just as she took a step to chase out, her body seemed to be suddenly fixed in place by something, unable to move. She only felt as if water had choked her nose. A suffocating sensation locked her throat, making it impossible to breathe. Her body lost strength and softly collapsed.

Falling into an endless abyss.

Slowly falling down…

Falling down…

Down…

Splash—

Her entire body suddenly sat up from the bathtub, water splashing everywhere. She pressed hard against her chest, gasping for air in great gulps.

On her forehead, she couldn’t distinguish whether it was sweat or water.

She made out the scenery before her eyes—she was still in the room, still in the wooden tub.

So everything just now was only a “dream” she had constructed based on the clues High Justice Yu had told her? But if this dream was real, after Hualing left that room at that time, where exactly did she go?

And why did she repeatedly beg High Justice Yu to grant her wish?

Hearing the huge sound from inside, Zhulan quickly came in and asked from behind the screen, “Miss, what happened to you?”

Worried!

Ji Yunshu calmed herself for a moment before saying, “I’m fine.”

“This servant will be right outside the door. Just call me if you need anything, miss.”

“Mm.”

After Zhulan left, Ji Yunshu came out of the wooden tub, dressed, walked to the window, and called out toward the outside, “Ziran?”

Shi Ziran, who had been secretly protecting her in the shadows, was on the roof.

Hearing her call him, he didn’t move but just kicked a roof tile down with his foot.

The tile smashed on the ground with a “bang,” shattering into pieces.

This wasteful child!

Ji Yunshu frowned slightly, glanced up, and instructed, “I need you to make a trip to the Yu manor and help me with something.”

Afterward, Shi Ziran came down.

Half his body leaning against the wall, “Go ahead.”

…

Half an hour later—

The Yu manor.

The manor’s servants had gradually gone to rest.

Mumu finished her work in the front courtyard and returned to her room, just preparing to rest, when suddenly someone from behind covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief.

“Mmm mmm mmm…”

She struggled desperately.

To no avail!

The handkerchief gave off a strong smell that gradually made her faint.

When she woke up, everything around her was pitch black.

She couldn’t see her hand in front of her face!

Her heart seized.

“Eh? Where is this? Is anyone there? Is anyone there?” She shouted desperately, groping around in the darkness.

But the surroundings were empty.

There was nothing to touch.

That feeling made her more and more afraid…

Suddenly—

A light flashed before her eyes, shining on a white-clothed woman not far away.

Eh!

She was so frightened her eyes widened.

That white-clothed woman had long flowing hair, her head lowered, her face invisible.

Mumu trembled all over with fear, “Who… who are you?”

The white-clothed woman slowly raised her head, revealing that deathly pale face, a pair of eyes oozing black blood staring straight at her.

Cold and terrifying.

“Ah!” Mumu screamed.

“Mumu, don’t you recognize me anymore?”

A familiar voice!

A familiar figure!

This…

Mumu’s face filled with terror, unable to believe, “You… you’re Hualing?”

“Why did you harm me?”

“I didn’t harm you.”

“Why did you kill me? Why?”

Mumu’s voice trembled, so frightened her eyeballs nearly fell out, “I… really didn’t. It wasn’t… I didn’t kill you, it wasn’t me…”

The white-clothed woman continued, “I treated you as a sister—why did you harm me?”

Mumu suddenly knelt on the ground, “It wasn’t me, it really wasn’t me. Don’t come looking for me. I beg you, Hualing, I beg you, don’t come looking for me.”

“If you didn’t kill me, why won’t you tell the truth?”

“The truth?” Mumu pressed her forehead to the ground, not daring to look at the white-clothed woman’s eyes, “Everything I said was the truth, all of it the truth.”

The white-clothed woman suddenly floated before her and shouted, “You’re lying!”

Mumu raised her head and met that woman’s eyes. Her whole person flipped backward, her hands supporting herself on the ground, frightened into convulsions.

“Do you know how miserably I died? Inside that wall it was so cold, so cold…”

The white-clothed woman reached toward her.

Mumu cried and said, “I’m sorry, Hualing, truly sorry. I didn’t want to, I really didn’t want to! I beg you, please spare me.”

She kowtowed repeatedly!

Kowtowing until her head broke and bled!

The white-clothed woman said, “Tell me, back then was it you who killed me or not?”

“It wasn’t me. It was him, it was him who killed you.”

It was him?

As soon as these words were spoken—

The black shroud surrounding them was suddenly lifted. It was a huge black cloth that was peeled away like an eggshell, revealing the light outside.

Mumu was stunned!

She still hadn’t reacted.

Not until she adjusted did she see clearly that the white-clothed woman before her was actually a living person.

And the surroundings were actually the back courtyard of the Yu manor.

The back courtyard was filled with people. Her own master Yu Wei and Ji Yunshu were watching her from the hall.

So it turned out… to be a performance!

In that moment, Mumu’s thoughts turned to ash.

She sat limply on the ground, her face ashen.

The white-clothed woman removed her wig. Mission completed, she withdrew.

At the same time, Yu Wei and Ji Yunshu walked over.

“Young master…”

Yu Wei stared at her with a face full of anger. Ji Yunshu stepped forward and explained, “When I questioned you today you were very nervous. You shared a room with Hualing—there’s no way you wouldn’t know if something happened to her. And that night, you said you weren’t feeling well and continued resting after eating, not getting up until the next day. But I asked people in the manor, and someone said they saw you come out that night and hurriedly return to your room. Since you came out, how could you not know whether Hualing returned to the room? How could you only discover she was missing the next day? Clearly you were lying.”

“I…”

“Tell me, who exactly is the murderer?”

Mumu’s eyes were vacant. After a long while, three words rolled from her mouth: “It’s Yu Wang.”

Yu Wang?

Eh!

All the Yu family members present were utterly shocked!

Ji Yunshu didn’t understand, “Yu Wang—who is he?”

Yu Wei said, “He’s a chef in my manor.”

A chef?

Ji Yunshu remembered that in the personnel record book Yu Wei had given her, there was no such person.

“Why didn’t I see this person in your record book?”

Yu Wei was silent for a moment, his brow furrowing. He said, “Because… Yu Wang fell ill the day after Hualing disappeared and died.”