Ye Yaming nodded and further instructed: “When hiding, be mindful of your angle. Make sure anyone peering out from the doorway cannot see you.”

The three nodded and each ran behind a tree to hide.

Ye Yaming and Bai Rui remained seated in the pavilion.

Shortly after, a head peeked out from the Third Branch’s courtyard gate again, looking left and right to ensure no one was around. Two figures emerged one after another.

The one in front was Nanny Zeng, followed by a laboring woman servant carrying a broom and a dustpan for collecting garbage.

The two came out and walked to the dead fetus. Nanny Zeng, with a dark expression, pointed at the fetus and berated the servant woman in a hushed but furious voice, even striking her twice forcefully.

The servant woman kept her head down and remained silent throughout.

Nanny Zeng’s voice wasn’t loud, and Ye Yaming’s group was too far away to hear clearly what she was saying. But from the situation, everyone guessed that the fetus had probably been buried by this servant woman earlier, but because it wasn’t buried deep enough, a cat had dug it up.

While scolding, Nanny Zeng kept glancing back toward the path, worried that someone might come. So after venting for just a few sentences, she pointed at the fetus, presumably ordering the servant woman to sweep it into the dustpan and bury it deeper somewhere else.

Ye Yaming naturally couldn’t let them destroy the evidence, so she called out: “Act now.”

Simultaneously, Nanny Zeng’s expression changed drastically as she urged the servant woman: “Hurry up.”

Their voices rang out at the same time.

Guan Ting, Lu’E, and Zi Yuan had been ready since Nanny Zeng and the servant approached the fetus. Hearing Ye Yaming’s command, they immediately emerged from behind the trees and lunged at Nanny Zeng and the servant woman.

Nanny Zeng had heard hurried footsteps coming from the path and thought it was Ye Yaming jogging with her maids. Her nerves were already on edge. Being suddenly seized from behind, she was so frightened she nearly lost her soul.

She instinctively resisted.

But Guan Ting had trained in martial arts since childhood and could take down one or two grown men. How could Nanny Zeng, accustomed to being served by young maids in daily life, compare? Guan Ting restrained Nanny Zeng with her arms behind her back without any effort.

The servant woman, caught by Lu’E and Zi Yuan holding her arms on either side, barely reacted. She didn’t struggle but stood there dazed until Qingzhi led Old Lady Ye and her entourage over. She still maintained her posture of sweeping up the fetus.

Old Lady Ye was elderly and had been carried over in a soft sedan chair by the coarse servant women from the courtyard; otherwise, she wouldn’t have arrived so quickly.

After alighting from the sedan, she looked at the dead fetus, then raised her head to glance at Nanny Zeng, her face so dark it could drip water.

Ye Yaming walked over and supported Old Lady Ye’s arm.

Old Lady Ye’s expression softened slightly. She patted her granddaughter’s hand and said quietly: “Do you want to go back first? Your First Aunt will be here shortly.”

Such unsavory matters were truly inappropriate for an unmarried young lady like Ye Yaming to witness; it would simply taint her eyes.

Ye Yaming also didn’t care to deal with such troublesome affairs. Moreover, as an unmarried junior family member, it would be inappropriate for her to be present if Madam Cai had indeed committed adultery, gotten pregnant, and aborted the child.

She leaned close to the Old Lady’s ear and whispered: “You’d better summon a physician to check each of them. Whether someone has had an abortion, and whether it was male or female, can all be determined by checking their pulse.”

Upon seeing Nanny Zeng, suspicion fell on Madam Cai. If it were truly some maid who had secretly gotten pregnant and had an abortion, Nanny Zeng wouldn’t have been tasked with cleaning up the mess.

This Nanny Zeng was Madam Cai’s wet nurse, childless her entire life. She treated Madam Cai as her own daughter, and Madam Cai regarded her as her birth mother.

Because of this, Nanny Zeng held a very special position in the Third Branch’s courtyard, even giving orders to Madam Cai at times. Besides Madam Cai, all the servants in the courtyard attended to her. Who would dare trouble her to personally handle such a matter?

Additionally, to guard against the Meng family, the Yang family, and those coveting the Ye family’s secret recipes, Ye Yaming had privately hired people from an escort agency to keep watch outside. Because the Ye family’s servants were interconnected, if one person knew, word would leak out, so Ye Yaming simply didn’t tell anyone in the Ye family.

Remote corners like this, rarely traversed, were focal points guarded by the escort agency men.

Throughout this time, she had received no reports of anyone entering or leaving the Third Branch’s courtyard.

However, a few days ago, Madam Cai had claimed to be unwell and invited a physician from outside to examine her.

The Ye family had their regular physicians, namely the two from the Huichun Hall. But Madam Cai never used them; she used a physician surnamed Ma whom the Cai family regularly employed.

This Doctor Ma was already over sixty years old. Moreover, he didn’t come frequently, perhaps four or five times a year. So when Madam Cai or Ye Yayu felt unwell and invited Doctor Ma into the mansion, no one thought much of it.

If Madam Cai was indeed pregnant and had an abortion, Doctor Ma probably came to prescribe abortifacient drugs and was unlikely to be her illicit lover. Ye Yaming suspected that the reason Madam Cai didn’t allow people to visit her courtyard was that she might be hiding that man there.

Ye Hongrong had passed away. If Madam Cai wanted to remarry, not only would Ye Yaming approve, but she would also praise her courage in pursuing personal happiness.

But if she stayed in the Ye family, eating and using the Ye family’s resources, receiving a monthly allowance comparable to Old Lady Ye’s, and at the end of the year, Old Lady Ye would still sympathize with her widowed and jobless state and give her an extra sum of money—yet she was committing adultery behind their backs—what was that about?

If she had no dowry and couldn’t support herself outside, Ye Yaming might understand. But Madam Cai had dowry fields and estates, and had saved considerable money over the years. Even if she left the Ye family and didn’t return to her maiden home, she could still support herself.

Not to mention being reluctant to part with her daughter. Look at what kind of temperament Ye Yayu had developed under her care. In this ancient society where men and women had no freedom in marriage, Ye Yaming truly worried whether Ye Yayu could survive in an unfamiliar environment after marriage.

This last point was also what Ye Yaming resented most about Madam Cai.

And if Madam Cai had chosen this lifestyle to hide her lover, thereby harming her daughter, Ye Yaming firmly couldn’t tolerate it.

Otherwise, Ye Yaming wouldn’t have said that extra word to Old Lady Ye.

Old Lady Ye nodded: “That’s a good approach.”

She also suspected Madam Cai.

But Madam Cai wasn’t a servant of the Ye family, and all those servants in her courtyard were her companions. It was impossible to get them to testify against her.

If Madam Cai refused to admit anything, the Ye family couldn’t use torture to extract a confession. Even if they suspected her, they were helpless.

But with this suspicion, it was impossible to keep her in the Ye family any longer. That would put them in a dilemma.

Ye Yaming’s suggestion was excellent.

Seeing Old Lady Ye nod, Ye Yaming led her maids back to her courtyard.

Guan Ting was a person with extreme curiosity. If she didn’t know about this matter, that would be fine, but knowing the beginning without knowing the end would keep her awake at night.

And Lu’E loved gossip. There wasn’t a piece of rumor in the mansion that she wasn’t clear about.

After whispering between themselves, Lu’E finally couldn’t resist and came to ask Ye Yaming: “Miss, may I go to the main house to inquire about the situation?”

Ye Yaming glanced at her and nodded slightly: “Go ahead.”

*There will be another chapter today, but it’s not written yet. Everyone can come back in the afternoon, or read it together tomorrow morning.*