But there was no other way. To prevent the Ye family members and servants from overthinking, she had to take on the task herself; there was no other choice.

As for the servant boy Zan’er, he would only come in when there was business to attend to and wouldn’t wander into the inner courtyard without reason. Ye Yaming handed him over to the Ye family accountant, Wen Tao, for training. As for Nanny Xia, who was advanced in age, Ye Yaming had mentioned learning to read, but seeing Nanny Xia’s troubled expression, she never brought it up again.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Ye Yaming went out jogging with Guan Ting, Bai Rui, and the other two maids.

To avoid bothering others and becoming the object of onlookers’ curiosity, they always ran toward secluded areas.

“Ah!” As they passed by a small grove, Guan Ting, who was running ahead, suddenly stopped in her tracks and let out a startled cry after seeing something.

Ye Yaming and the others tensed up and immediately rushed forward.

The four maids gathered around Ye Yaming in a protective stance.

Guan Ting covered her mouth, and seeing Ye Yaming and the others approach, she quickly pointed ahead: “Look, what’s that?”

Ye Yaming looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a bloody, mangled object not far from the path.

She frowned and said to Lu’E: “Go find a tree branch.”

Lu’E instinctively wanted to object. In her view, regardless of what it was, they should report it to Old Lady Ye and Madam Tao, letting them handle it.

But her mistress had become increasingly forceful, and once an order was given, she instinctively obeyed, breaking off a branch from nearby and handing it to Ye Yaming.

Ye Yaming stepped forward and used it to prod the bloody mass.

Guan Ting hesitated as Ye Yaming approached.

She was hired by Ye Yaming for protection and received a very generous monthly allowance. By rights, she should be the one to step forward in such situations.

But this was, after all, the Ye family estate, and she wasn’t a member of the Ye family. When encountering such unsightly, private matters, she would rather avoid them than get involved.

Therefore, she just stood still.

Bai Rui wanted to dissuade her mistress, but Ye Yaming moved so quickly that by the time Bai Rui opened her mouth, Ye Yaming had already finished examining the object.

After her inspection, Ye Yaming looked ahead with a grim expression, then turned and quietly instructed Qingzhi: “You run fast. Go report to the Old Lady. Tell her there’s a fully formed dead fetus in the small grove that someone has aborted.”

The young maids were all startled by Ye Yaming’s words.

A dead fetus?

Gathering their courage, they went over to look and indeed saw that the bloody mass seemed to be human-shaped. From the marks around the dead fetus, it appeared to have been dragged from somewhere else, with drag marks visible along the way.

Qingzhi didn’t dare delay. She agreed with a word and ran swiftly toward the main house.

“Miss, perhaps we should…” Bai Rui stuttered, wanting to persuade Ye Yaming to leave this place.

This area was close to the Third Branch’s courtyard, one of the more secluded corners of the Ye estate. When the century-old Ye family established their residence, they had planted several peach, plum, and loquat trees here. Over the years, not only had the original trees grown, but seeds had fallen and grown into many smaller trees, gradually forming a small grove.

The Ye estate was spacious, with few descendants. Moreover, lush vegetation was a symbol of prosperity, so these trees had never been removed.

It was barely dawn, and the environment was secluded. Having just discovered the eerie dead fetus, the maids all felt uneasy and wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

Ye Yaming looked at the pale-faced maids, thought for a moment, and pointed to a pavilion ahead: “Let’s go sit there for a while.”

Bai Rui nodded quickly.

The group went to the pavilion.

This corner was remote, and due to the Third Madam’s peculiar personality, the Ye household members rarely came here. The pavilion had been built here, but almost no one came to rest in it.

Fortunately, the servants responsible for cleaning came from time to time, so the pavilion was relatively clean.

Bai Rui took out her handkerchief and placed it on the stone bench.

Ye Yaming sat down and gestured to the others: “All of you, sit down and don’t make a sound.”

After such an event, everyone was still anxious, their legs weak. Hearing Ye Yaming’s instructions, they all sat down, and even Lu’E, who wanted to discuss the matter, closed her mouth.

They had just sat down when suddenly they heard the sound of a door opening with a “ya.” This sound, which normally wouldn’t have seemed particularly loud, was especially distinct in the quiet early morning, punctuated only by occasional bird calls.

Everyone looked toward the source of the sound.

It was the direction of the Third Branch’s courtyard gate.

They saw the gate open, and a head peeked out from inside.

For scenic effect, a rockery had been piled beside the pavilion, with several clusters of bamboo planted around it. Ye Yaming and the others were wearing clothes that she had designed based on modern sportswear, with slight modifications that Bai Rui and the others had made. The colors were all light and pale.

They sat still, half-hidden by the rockery and the sparse, artfully arranged bamboo. The person from the Third Branch was focused on the path and didn’t look closely in their direction, so they didn’t notice the people in the pavilion.

That person was cautious of them, who usually jogged on the path.

Seeing no one on the path, the person quickly ran out, searching everywhere, finally finding the dead fetus. With a low curse, the person turned and ran back into the courtyard.

Upon recognizing that it was Third Madam Cai’s trusted elderly maid from her maiden home, Ye Yaming and the maids all had different expressions.

The Third Branch originally had many servants, but after the Third Master died, Madam Cai said she would be reminded of painful memories and didn’t like having too many servants around. So she sent away the servants who had worked for the Third Master, keeping only the maids and women servants she had brought from the Cai family, along with two chambermaids.

When they first saw the dead fetus, everyone except Ye Yaming thought it belonged to a maid from the Third Branch who had had an illicit affair with a servant boy from the estate and had secretly aborted the child. It should have been buried, but somehow a cat had dug it up.

Everyone knew that the Fifth Miss, Ye Yayu, didn’t like socializing but loved to keep cats. She had five or six cats of various sizes.

But now, seeing that it was this Nanny Zeng who came out, and that she seemed to know about the dead fetus and was specifically looking for it, the situation seemed unusual.

Ye Yaming turned and instructed: “Guan Ting, go stand behind that tree. Your target is the old woman who just came out.”

She passed over a handkerchief: “When you catch her, stuff this in her mouth. Try not to let her make any sound that might alert people in the courtyard.”

Bai Rui quickly offered her handkerchief: “Please use mine instead.”

Ye Yaming withdrew her handkerchief.

Her handkerchief had been carefully embroidered by Bai Rui using excellent material and a lot of effort. She was very fond of it and truly didn’t want to waste it like this.

She turned and said: “Lu’E, Zi Yuan, you two go behind those two trees and see how many people come out. Try to catch the most important two. If necessary, you two can team up to catch one.”

“Alright,” Lu’E said, purposefully taking out a handkerchief from her bosom. “I’ll also gag her mouth.”

Zi Yuan also took out her handkerchief.