Buxiu had never seen Miss Ming like this before. Her face, usually as gentle as the bright moon, suddenly became filled with a chilling aura. Her phoenix-like eyes opened wide, emanating a murderous intent that chilled him to the bone.

For a moment, Buxiu even thought Miss Ming might attack him.

The guards outside the courtyard sensed the danger and rushed into the yard where they were. Buxiu came to his senses and quickly raised his hand to stop them, his eyes lowered. “It was the master’s order. Twenty-seven’s background was already unclear, and yesterday he trespassed into the Green Tile Courtyard. According to the manor’s rules, he was to be punished by caning.”

“He’s quite a man. He didn’t make a sound even when three of his bones were broken. He died without revealing why he went to that courtyard.”

A suffocating feeling washed over Ming Yi like a tidal wave, causing her to sway.

She suddenly recalled what Ji Bozai had said that day: “Situ Ling sending you to the Green Tile Courtyard means he wants your life.”

At the time, it had seemed like a joke, but now, thinking back, it made her teeth chatter.

“Take me to see him,” she said.

Buxiu gave her a long, deep look. “Miss Ming, if you leave this residence, I will have to inform the master.”

So be it, she thought, walking out with a cold expression.

The antidote, the chance to return to Chaoyang City – all of it was stained with Twenty-seven’s blood.

She didn’t want any of it anymore.

She just wanted to take Twenty-seven home.

“Miss Ming,” Buxiu called out to her, unable to bear it.

Ming Yi didn’t stop. Her exquisite magpie pearl flower snow brocade shoes stepped into the muddy flower bed, the heel coming loose. Without even looking, she pulled her silk stockings free and strode directly out of the back garden’s moon gate.

The delicately embroidered shoes were left behind, mud-stained and looking somewhat lonely.

Buxiu looked at them regretfully, then stepped aside slightly to make way for Ji Bozai behind him.

Ji Bozai stood under the eaves, watching her retreating figure.

He wanted to appear indifferent, after all, there were many people around. Showing anger would reveal how much he cared for her, and he had never been one for sentimentality when it came to matters of interest.

But he was truly angry.

He had told her repeatedly not to deceive him, yet how dare she act in front of him for so long? Earlier, when the manor caught fire, he had found it strange how she had so conveniently found a guard with Yuan Power, and this guard happened to be the one she had pouted and asked him to recruit when strengthening the manor’s security.

He should have suspected her earlier. He really should have.

But when he discovered her lie, he wished there weren’t so many people around.

Without all these people, he could have dragged her back to the room to question her, perhaps there might have been some room for leniency. But now, meeting Buxiu’s gaze, he couldn’t utter a single word of forgiveness.

“Lock her in the woodshed until the welcoming banquet,” he ordered.

“Master, that woodshed…”

“Lock her in there. No food or drink, at all.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ming Yi was walking with large strides, about to cross the west side gate when she was suddenly restrained by several high-ranking guards and pushed into a dark, dusty room.

She was about to lose her temper when she looked up and saw Twenty-seven tied up opposite her.

He didn’t look at her. There were no visible injuries on his body, but he was bound tightly with ropes specifically designed to restrain fighters, unable to move at all.

The tight knot in her heart suddenly loosened. Ming Yi’s throat constricted, and her eyes reddened.

“Do you miss him that much?” someone asked coldly.

She turned her head and realized that Ji Bozai was sitting in the shadows nearby. His dark brocade robe blended with the darkness, making his expression unclear.

As reason returned, she finally realized she had fallen into a trap.

Quickly composing herself, Ming Yi lowered her head. “Master, I don’t quite understand what you mean.”

Ji Bozai smashed the armrest of his chair with one palm, showering her with splinters.

Twenty-seven’s body instinctively moved slightly.

Protecting her seemed to be his instinct.

Ji Bozai laughed coldly, his eyes brimming with malice. “You two truly share a deep bond.”

Seeing that playing dumb wouldn’t work, Ming Yi knelt and sighed. “Master misunderstands. He is my brother.”

“Oh?” He looked at her coldly. “Your real brother?”

“Not by blood, but as good as,” she said earnestly. “Twenty-seven once saved my life. After I lost my father, I came to the main city with him. But he had blood debts and didn’t want to implicate me, so he went to make a living on his own. It was only after I came to your manor, feeling it was safe and could help him avoid those seeking revenge, that I found a way to bring him here.”

“His situation was special, and I feared you would disapprove, so I kept it hidden. But since Twenty-seven came to the manor, he has never harmed you. He even helped resolve the manor’s crisis last time, didn’t he? When I heard today that you had beaten him to death, of course, I was distraught. But this has nothing to do with romantic love.”

She looked at him directly, very candidly.

Unfortunately, the Ji Bozai before her was coldly indifferent, no longer moved by her pitiful expression.

“Never harmed me,” he repeated her words flatly, then looked at Twenty-seven. “Then why did he go to the Green Tile Courtyard?”

Ming Yi licked her lips, unable to answer.

She couldn’t mention the antidote, as that would be tantamount to telling Ji Bozai she had Yuan Power, which would make her carefully constructed identity as a farm girl in Chaoyang City untenable. But without this reason, no other explanation would be convincing.

Seeing her reaction, Ji Bozai sneered, “You two truly are like siblings. When it comes to this topic, even your silence is identical.”

He stood up, losing patience. “Stay here. Talk to me when you’ve thought it through.”

“Master!” Ming Yi quickly called out to stop him.

He thought she was going to tell the truth, but when he turned his head, he heard her say, “It’s so dark and damp here. Could you move me to a sunnier room?”

Ji Bozai: “…”

The door was slammed shut violently, raising a cloud of musty dust that made Ming Yi cough repeatedly.

As everything gradually quieted down, she stopped coughing and turned to look at Twenty-seven. “How were you discovered?”

Twenty-seven turned his head away and said in a muffled voice, “There was moss on the toe of my shoe.”

Just ordinary moss, yet it led to the discovery that he had been to the Green Tile Courtyard. This Ji Bozai was truly meticulous in his thinking.

Ming Yi sighed, about to comfort him when Twenty-seven said, “If the young miss had been more cautious, she wouldn’t be locked up with this subordinate today.”

Well, now he was blaming her?

Ming Yi snorted, “You’re my only family. How could I not care?”

Her voice became increasingly hoarse as she spoke, the final words even carrying a hint of tears.

Twenty-seven dared not speak again. He glanced at Ming Yi, his lips pursed, wanting to say something comforting but unable to find the words, so he could only remain silent.

Her blood relatives had all betrayed her; indeed, he was the only one still by her side. But he had never thought that she would consider him family.

He was just a slave she had saved.

Ji Bozai stood in the courtyard outside the woodshed, coldly listening to their conversation inside. Finding it uninteresting, he turned and left with a sweep of his sleeve.