In what had once been a clean and elegant bedchamber, now only chaos remained. A yellow pear wood flower stand had fallen beside the window, perfectly blocking it from the inside. The blue and white porcelain vase that had originally sat on the stand was now shattered into pieces, with bare flower stems scattered about.
The burned charcoal stove held only lingering black smoke. Outside the open bookcase, papers covered with writing were strewn across the floor, and at the nearby desk, a person lay prostrate. That face, which had once been so submissive, was now rigidly frozen in final peace. Black blood had trickled from the corners of her mouth, her originally fair skin now tinged with bluish-purple, and those eyes that had hidden too many secrets could never open again.
No one had expected that while they were devoting all their efforts to dealing with Xia Mingyuan, Concubine Cai would die in her own room, and the clues they had hoped to extract from her could only come to an abrupt end.
But she still carried too many unsolved mysteries. How exactly had she contacted Chancellor Xia’s people? From beginning to end, what exactly had she done? What had she wanted to gain? All these mysteries could only be completely buried with her death.
Xiao Du stood at the doorway, coldly observing the scene before him. Unwillingly, he slammed his fist against the brick wall, causing the internal energy he had just suppressed to surge up again, making him cough uncontrollably. Xiao Chun watched from the side with trembling heart, fearing that these successive incidents would be too much for his lord’s body to bear. He quickly stepped forward to help Xiao Du pat his back and regulate his breathing, while ordering the frightened maids outside to go prepare tea.
But Xiao Du waved his hand, indicating it wasn’t needed, then called to one of the maids and asked: “Were you the first to discover the body? When did you find it?”
The maid was named Gui He, and she had always been Concubine Cai’s personal attendant. She was now pale with fright, sobbing as she said: “Master confined Concubine Cai and ordered us to guard outside her door constantly. Everything was fine the past few days, but today when I prepared to bring her breakfast, no matter how long I called, no one answered. When I pushed the door open, I found Concubine Cai lying here like this, with the room in complete disarray. I thought she was sleeping, so I hurried over to wake her, but no matter how much I shook her, she wouldn’t move… only then did I realize she was already dead.”
Xiao Du turned to the guards who had been standing outside the door: “When she pushed the door open, did you all see the condition inside the room together?”
One of the guards understood his meaning and immediately answered: “When she went in, the door was still open, and everything was exactly as she described.”
Xiao Du asked the other maids: “You were all guarding outside constantly, never leaving for a moment?”
Everyone present nodded in agreement. Xiao Du then looked toward the window blocked by the flower stand and asked: “What about this window? When you came in, was it already blocked like this?”
Gui He quickly nodded: “When I came in, this is how I saw it. I didn’t dare touch anything in this room.”
Xiao Du frowned, lost in thought. If what they said was true, there had always been people guarding outside the door, and the window was blocked from the inside, then during the time before Concubine Cai’s death, it would have been impossible for anyone to enter this room. Moreover, Concubine Cai had no external injuries and showed no signs of struggle, so she could only have died by poison or hanging.
But as he looked carefully around, he still felt it was very unreasonable: if she had been determined to poison herself or hang herself, and had been as peaceful before death as her expression suggested, why would she have made such a mess of the room beforehand? If she had struggled and made the mess because of excessive pain before dying, why was there no trace of agony on her face?
While pondering, he walked to the bookcase and carefully picked up the scattered papers. He saw they contained many unrelated sentences, with crooked handwriting that couldn’t even be called neat. He turned to ask Gui He: “What are these?”
Gui He replied: “These are copybooks that Concubine Cai wrote herself in her spare time. She always said she was born lowly, knew few characters, and wasn’t worthy of the Old Marquis or the Third Miss. So all these years she persisted in copying texts in her room, wanting to learn more characters.”
Xiao Du stared at the papers in his hand, feeling that having these things scattered about was highly unusual, but after examining them carefully several times, he couldn’t discern anything suspicious.
He then walked to Concubine Cai’s side, observing her carefully from head to toe. Suddenly he noticed something seemed to be pressed under her arm. He quickly had the guards move her aside, revealing that she had been lying on top of another piece of paper.
On it were written several lines in the same handwriting as the copybooks: “This concubine’s crimes are heinous, shameful to Master and the Princess. Only death can atone for my sins!”
The writer seemed emotionally unstable. Though only three rows were written on such a large piece of paper, there were many ink blots and smudges in the middle, as if it had been revised many times.
Xiao Du read these lines over and over again. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like nothing more than an ordinary suicide note, but he quickly noticed something unusual: Concubine Cai’s death was probably not as simple as hanging. But how exactly had she died? What was Concubine Cai trying to tell him through the scene in this room?
His gaze unconsciously swept over every object in the room, and he suddenly thought that if Yuanxi were here, she would probably be able to offer many insights about this corpse.
Those soft, bright eyes suddenly appeared before him, her gentle, sweet voice seeming to still ring in his ears. His chest suddenly seized with pain, almost stopping his breath. He dared not think further, not even the slightest touch, yet everywhere were traces of her, making the wounds he had deliberately ignored become fresh and bloody again, festering until they burst.
Xiao Du steadied himself against the desk, struggling to pull away from this bottomless pain. After a long while, he finally exhaled deeply and said: “Call a coroner over to examine her properly – what time did she die, and how exactly did she die!”
With that, he walked out with his hands behind his back. The autumn colors were rich in the courtyard, but Xiao Du felt that all things in heaven and earth had lost their color in an instant simply because one person was no longer by his side.
Outside the high walls of the marquis’s mansion, hoofbeats clattered as wheel tracks were pressed into the fallen flowers and withered leaves on the ground.
Yuanxi’s heart jolted with the constant swaying of the carriage. She watched the vermillion eaves of the marquis’s mansion slowly fade away, suddenly remembering her wedding day when she had been brought to the marquis’s mansion along this same road. Then her heart had held anxiety, anticipation, and melancholy, but now only desolation remained.
Xia Mingyuan glanced sideways at her expression and said coldly: “Since you’ve left, don’t think about it anymore. There’s nothing there worth your attachment.”
Yuanxi turned to look directly at him. The confusion and questioning in her gaze made Xia Mingyuan feel somewhat uncomfortable. She seemed to muster great determination before finally speaking: “Father, can you tell me – was marrying me into the marquis’s mansion truly one of your strategic moves? But what exactly did you want me to do?”
Xia Mingyuan’s expression changed, and for a moment he found himself speechless. He turned away to avoid her gaze and said indifferently: “Don’t worry, I won’t make you do anything.”
Yuanxi became even more confused. Father didn’t seem to be lying to her, but he must be hiding something important he hadn’t told her, which was why he seemed so guilty now.
She unconsciously clenched the corners of her robes with both hands. After a while, she asked again: “The matter at Pingdu Pass – was that really done on Father’s orders? Do you really want Xiao Du dead?”
Xia Mingyuan seemed to grow angry, staring at her as his voice hardened: “This is not your concern! You only need to understand that you were raised in my chancellor’s mansion. No matter what happens, you are a daughter of the Xia family, and Xia blood flows in your veins. Whatever occurs, you only need to remember this!”
Yuanxi disappointedly withdrew her gaze, her heart even more bewildered. She had left him only because she didn’t want to be forced to choose between him and Father, and didn’t want Father to have any opportunity to use her against him. But was the place the carriage was heading toward truly still her home?
The driver urged the horses to great speed, while inside the carriage only silence remained. Finally, the carriage came to a steady stop outside the lacquered gates of the Chancellor’s mansion. Seventh Concubine, having heard the servants’ report, was already waiting in the courtyard. The moment she saw Yuanxi emerge, tears flowed uncontrollably down her face. She rushed over to embrace her, repeatedly murmuring: “Yuanxi, my Yuanxi…”
Yuanxi rested her head on Seventh Concubine’s shoulder, feeling that nestled in her embrace, she seemed to become once again that helpless child she had once been. So she wept aloud without restraint, as if wanting to release all her grievances and suppressed feelings.
Xia Mingyuan stood to the side, watching Yuanxi cry unrestrainedly for a while before wiping away her tears and gently comforting Seventh Concubine with soft words.
He couldn’t help but examine her carefully from head to toe, suddenly feeling that she was very different from before her marriage: less timid and self-deprecating, but more strong and resilient. Was all this that man’s achievement?
He slowly withdrew his gaze, sighing inwardly, and instructed the managing nanny standing nearby: “Go prepare Miss’s room. She’ll be staying at the mansion for several days.”
The managing nanny quickly agreed and ordered several servants to help Yuanxi move her trunks back to her room. Yuanxi had Nanny Li and An’he go to her room first to help organize her things, while she accompanied Seventh Concubine back to her room to dine together. The two hadn’t seen each other for a long time and naturally had much to discuss. Seventh Concubine knew that Yuanxi’s sudden return to the mansion must be unusual, but didn’t dare ask too closely. She could only chat about gossip and trivial matters in the mansion, hoping to cheer her up.
The two stayed together until the sun was about to set. Yuanxi had originally wanted to spend the night in Seventh Concubine’s room, but thinking that she had just returned to the mansion and needed to properly organize her own room first, she agreed to visit again early the next morning.
When she returned to her room, Nanny Li and An’he had already arranged most of her belongings. Yuanxi looked at the all-too-familiar furnishings before her and couldn’t help feeling her nose tingle with emotion. Everything at the marquis’s mansion seemed like a dream, and after going in circles, she had returned here again. It seemed that as long as she hid in this room, all the storms outside would have nothing to do with her.
At this moment, An’he took out a small silk-wrapped package from the trunk and asked curiously: “Madam, you always kept this by your pillow. Do you need to take it out now?”
The moment Yuanxi saw the package, her face immediately flushed red. She quickly snatched it back and somewhat awkwardly deflected: “It’s nothing. I’ll handle this myself. I’m a bit tired, so you should go out first.”
Nanny Li and An’he found this strange but didn’t dare ask too closely, fearing it might make her sad again. They only reminded her to take care of her health before leaving.
Yuanxi fell back onto the bed, took a deep breath, and opened the package. Looking at the little wooden figure he had carved with his own hands, she finally couldn’t suppress thinking of him: thinking of his smiling eyes, his solid embrace, his warm hands and passionate lips. She closed her eyes and pressed the little figure tightly against her chest, desperately repeating to herself: Go to sleep quickly, when you’re asleep, your heart won’t have to hurt anymore.
But her mind wouldn’t obey her, filled with fragments of their time together – some sweet, some bitter, finally leaving only a bitterness too thick to dissolve. In her daze, she seemed to hear voices outside, with the faint sound of barking dogs mixed in.
For some reason, her heart suddenly began racing wildly. She quickly turned over and sat up, calling toward the outer room: “What’s happening?”
Nanny Li replied from outside the door: “It seems there are thieves in the mansion. Steward Du is leading people to investigate. We’re all guarding outside, so Madam can sleep peacefully.”
Yuanxi turned back around and suddenly noticed that the window had somehow opened. She was walking to the window to close it when suddenly a dark figure quickly flashed inside.
Yuanxi was about to cry out in fright when the person suddenly pulled her into his embrace. That all-too-familiar scent enveloped her completely, and Yuanxi froze in shock, feeling as if she were still in a dream.
Before she could recover her senses, Xiao Du had already urgently pressed his lips to her ear, whispering softly: “Shh, I missed you!”