Upon her saying this, Zhao Yanning took another careful look at the deceased’s appearance.

Her brows and eyes were deeply set, her nose bridge extremely prominent. At first glance, one only noticed the heavy makeup and powder, but upon closer examination, one could see some differences.

“She looks like someone from the Great Xia,” Zhao Yanning said.

Fuman flipped through the testimonies of several maids again, confirming that no one had mentioned this point, then gathered her skirts and went out to question them again.

He Tinglan also came over to take a look, saying in a low voice, “I heard my elder brother mention before that since Great Qian was defeated and ceded territory ten years ago, people from Great Xia have been considered superior at the border, and some wealthy merchants even take pride in being able to marry Great Xia women.”

When Yuncheng married, he was a new favorite before the emperor. By reason, he wouldn’t have followed this trend to marry a foreign woman, yet not only did he marry one, she was even someone he had snatched from Haiyan’s hands.

Ruyi rose in puzzlement and examined the scene again.

There were bloodstains on the pear wood cabinet that was about ten feet long, extending to the floor. One could roughly determine where Lady Zhang had been stabbed.

She stood in that spot and tried to gesture, raising her eyebrows.

“Tinglan,” she beckoned, “come here.”

He Tinglan stepped forward and stood behind her.

Ruyi turned her head sideways: “Try stabbing me with a knife.”

Tinglan complied, using her hand as a knife, wanting to stab toward her back. But as soon as she exerted force, her elbow hit the pear wood cabinet behind, making a thudding sound.

“It won’t work,” she said, covering her elbow and shaking her head. “Too close, can’t exert force.”

The position where Lady Zhang had fallen was only half a step from the pear wood cabinet. Even a slender woman like Tinglan could barely manage standing behind there, let alone a tall man like Yuncheng.

Ruyi nodded and moved closer to the pear wood cabinet behind, searching carefully.

The cabinet had some age to it, with quite a few scratches on top that looked unremarkable. She stared at the exquisite cloud-pattern hanging rings on top for a while, then suddenly turned and walked outside.

Fuman had already been chatting with Lady Zhang’s maid for a while, but unfortunately, gesturing was laborious, and when the maid pretended to be stupid and not understand, there wasn’t much she could do about it.

Just as she was worrying, Ruyi came floating over in her robes.

Fuman stood up, just about to tell her that this maid was difficult to deal with, when she saw her directly ask: “How often does your mistress write letters home?”

The maid frowned and looked her over twice, slightly curling her lip: “I don’t have my eyes glued to my mistress. How could I know about such private matters?”

The maids in great households were more precious than young ladies from ordinary families outside—how could they deign to speak properly with them?

Fuman sighed, thinking she should grind away at it more, wearing the person down before trying to get her to speak.

Who would have expected that Ruyi had far less patience than she usually showed toward her? She suddenly lifted her leg and stepped on the edge of the long bench where the maid was sitting, leaning her body forward and roughly grabbing the maid’s jaw with her hand: “Will you speak properly, or shall I crush your jaw and then you can write with your hands?”

The maid was greatly startled. She wanted to scold her with furrowed brows, but this person’s strength was very great—she wasn’t joking at all. With just a slightly tighter grip, her jaw would be crushed to pieces.

Only then did she panic, struggling to speak: “I, I’ll tell you.”

Ruyi released her, staring at her coldly with both eyes.

The maid’s eyes reddened: “My mistress married far from home, so naturally she misses her family. Usually it was one letter every three months, but these past few months she’s been quarreling fiercely with the master, so it became one letter per month.”

“You never opened them to read?”

“No, how would we dare? The master told us to open them at first, but later he stopped telling us to.”

“As far as I know, the border prohibits the transmission of letters between inside and outside,” Ruyi said. “Garrison soldiers patrol day and night, and there are even special people conducting body searches. How could your mistress’s letters home get out?”

“What are you talking about, miss?” The maid was puzzled. “Our mistress’s family home is in Huizhou. Why would they be sent outside the border?”

Huizhou?

Ruyi was confused.

Could it be that she had seen wrong, and Lady Zhang was truly from Great Qian?

At dusk, snow began falling outside again.

Yuncheng listened to his servants’ reports, still anxiously pacing back and forth in the room: “They can prove I’m not the murderer? Just based on those few of them? Just listening to it sounds ridiculous.”

“They recreated the scene, saying that the mistress had wedged the knife into the hanging ring of the pear wood cabinet, using the cloud pattern to catch the tassel clasp on the knife handle, then fell backward against it,” the steward said. “This servant listened, and it does seem to make sense.”

Yuncheng was stunned, frowning and muttering: “It could be done that way? What was she trying to achieve?”

The steward bowed his hands: “Those several people said they want to return tonight and come back tomorrow.”

“The case is only half-investigated—what’s their hurry?” Yuncheng shook his head. “Prepare two outer rooms and have them stay.”

“But…” the steward was somewhat troubled.

Those few guests seemed to all have bad tempers. Earlier, they had said that if they could find evidence of the mistress’s suicide, they would let them go. Now to go back on their word, I’m afraid…

Before he could finish expressing his concerns, another household slave came running from outside: “Master, there’s a distinguished guest.”

Yuncheng looked up: “Who is it?”

“Surnamed Shen, riding in a bronze-topped treasure carriage. He says he’s just here to pick someone up and won’t enter the gate.”

His eyes brightening, Yuncheng let out a long breath of relief and quickly stood up: “Go, invite those few guests as well.”

“Yes.”

Zhao Yanning looked at the guards surrounding the courtyard outside, countless cordial greetings already on her lips: “Am I here to investigate a case or to be a thief, having him watch like this? Don’t trust people if you suspect them, don’t suspect people if you use them. This degraded behavior is really like something hatched by a turtle in a blacksmith’s shop—no wonder he can’t catch up to his brother even by flattery.”

Ruyi was quite amused by this, turning her head to share a laugh with Fuman, but saw that her face was full of worry.

“This, this person is not a good person,” she sighed. “The case, the case is easy to investigate, but people’s hearts, people’s hearts are hard to fathom.”

Someone who could strike at his brother might well do something to them.

Ruyi patted the back of her hand: “Don’t worry. If he goes back on his word and doesn’t release us, I’ll take you all out.”

“How will you take us?” He Tinglan also frowned. “There are so many of us—it’s not like in Prince Yong’s manor where we could be easily moved.”

There were ways, but she would have to exert some effort.

As Ruyi thought this, she suddenly felt somewhat dazed.

When had she begun to care about the lives of these mortals? If it were before, as long as she could escape, she wouldn’t have cared about others so much.

“Everyone,” the steward came over, respectfully bowing to them. “Our master says he’ll personally escort you all out. This way, please.”

Hearing this, everyone’s expressions relaxed, and Ruyi also breathed a sigh of relief.

Naturally, it was better if she could save her energy.

The group hurriedly stepped forward, following the steward around to the east gate. As soon as they exited, they saw Yuncheng bowing deeply toward a carriage.

Ruyi lifted her eyelids and saw Shen Qiyuan sitting on the shaft of that carriage, his hands tucked in his sleeves, his expression indifferent.

“They’ve come out,” Yuncheng said with a smile. “Then I won’t see you off any further.”

Shen Qiyuan looked over, his gaze becoming gentle the moment it touched her. For the first time in front of others, without any avoidance, he beckoned to her: “Come over.”

Ruyi touched her nose tip in surprise, and under Yuncheng’s meaningful gaze, she slowly walked toward him.