The man’s eyelids trembled.

“Tell me his name.” Qiao Zhao’s voice was calm, but her heart quietly tensed up.

At such a crucial moment, she couldn’t help but feel nervous. What kind of answer would this person give her?

The man’s eyebrows twitched, his expression becoming fierce, and he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood with a “puff” sound.

Fresh blood splattered on the ground, along with half of something foreign.

Qiao Zhao had been in the darkness all along, and her eyes had long adapted to such lighting. She saw that it was half of a bright red tongue.

“Ugh, ugh, ugh—” A large amount of fresh blood poured from the man’s mouth, and soon his face turned purple-red.

Hearing the commotion inside wasn’t right, Chen Guang immediately rushed in. Binglu followed, carrying a candlestick, and upon seeing the scene inside the room, couldn’t help but be greatly shocked.

“Miss, what happened to him?”

Qiao Zhao pressed her lips tightly together and remained silent.

Chen Guang glanced at the ground and said coldly, “He bit his tongue!”

As he spoke, he walked toward the man. The man fell to the ground in agony, making uncomfortable wheezing sounds from his throat.

“Are you stupid? What a miserable way to die!” Chen Guang sighed.

“Miss, can’t he be saved?” Binglu was somewhat afraid to look at the man’s pitiful condition.

“If we stop the bleeding in time, there might be a chance of survival, but since he’s determined to die, rescue wouldn’t have much meaning.” Qiao Zhao knew that most people who committed suicide by biting their tongues died from suffocation. Although this method of death was uncomfortable, it was much better than suffering torture before dying miserably.

Each served their own master. The trained death warriors were already pitiful people—why should she forcibly save someone back to suffer?

Before long, the man lay motionless on the ground, with fresh blood gradually spreading in all directions.

Chen Guang sighed: “Third Miss, another person has died. Should I send someone to watch Sister A’Zhu’s house again?”

Qiao Zhao shook her head: “No need. To those people, Sister A’Zhu’s family was an unimportant figure to begin with. They just casually sent someone to silence them. Since the person they sent had an accident, they won’t make another unnecessary move.”

“So this lead is cut off?” Chen Guang was quite unwilling.

Qiao Zhao stared at the motionless man on the ground, her expression somewhat ugly, and sighed softly: “Chen Guang, take this person away first.”

“Alright.”

“A’Zhu, Binglu, clean the study thoroughly and remember to clean up the bloodstains completely.”

“Yes.”

Qiao Zhao silently left the study. After washing her hands, she returned to the living room and sat on the bed in a daze.

The hypnosis technique had failed.

Since following Grandfather Li and being exposed to this mysterious discipline, she knew its difficulties. But having successfully used this technique several times in succession, she hadn’t expected it to fail at this most crucial moment.

However, thinking carefully, this failure wasn’t strange. Whether hypnosis could succeed was closely related to the willpower of the person being hypnotized. A death warrior’s willpower certainly couldn’t be compared to that of an ordinary village woman.

But no matter what, this indeed gave her a warning—she couldn’t be too overconfident in the future.

Qiao Zhao hugged her pillow and rubbed against it, then fell back on the bed, looking up.

Forget it. When the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. Since she was so short, she should hurry up and sleep—this was the time for growing.

The night passed without incident.

Old Madam Deng had been somewhat troubled lately.

She had rejected all those invitations asking Third Miss to visit, and after just a few days of peace, several families couldn’t hold back and simply came to visit under the pretext of calling on her.

The woman Old Madam Deng was currently entertaining, Madam Wang, wife of the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review, was one whom the old lady quite disliked.

The Chief Justice had some disagreements with the eldest master of the East Residence, Li Guangyan. When men brought their petty court emotions to the inner quarters, this Madam Wang had always shown no good face to the Li Residence. Who would have thought she would come visiting one day with a face full of smiles?

While Old Madam Deng was annoyed, she also felt a strange sense of satisfaction.

Well, it just went to show that Third Miss was capable. Seeing someone who had been cold to the Li family for years now greeting them with smiles was truly refreshing.

“Old Madam, your Third Miss must still be in her room embroidering her trousseau, right? Young ladies should go out and about more—they can’t just be confined to their rooms. It’s not like when we were young, when even going out on the street required permission.”

Old Madam Deng smiled and took a sip of tea: “Our Third Miss has a quiet temperament and doesn’t like going out. As her grandmother, I can hardly force her, can I?”

Madam Wang secretly rolled her eyes.

Quiet temperament? Doesn’t like going out? This old lady could say such nonsense with a straight face. Everyone in the capital knew that among all the noble ladies in the capital, Third Miss Li was the one with the most incidents—she hadn’t been quiet for over a year.

Old Madam Deng smiled reservedly.

So what if you don’t like hearing it? Since you’re asking for a favor, you have to endure it even if you don’t like it. Who told your family they don’t have such a capable granddaughter?

Seeing Old Madam Deng playing dumb, Madam Wang simply spoke directly: “Old Madam, to be honest, I came today specifically to ask your Third Miss to examine my youngest daughter-in-law. My youngest daughter-in-law has been married for several years, but her belly has never shown any signs of movement. She spends her days in tears, which is truly heartbreaking. Today I’m also throwing away my dignity and shamelessly asking Old Madam to please have Third Miss help out.”

Old Madam Deng hadn’t expected Madam Wang to be able to swallow her pride to such an extent, and was momentarily stunned.

Madam Wang clutched her handkerchief and wiped the corners of her eyes: “Our two families have had little contact in the past, which is all my fault. I shouldn’t have brought those messy men’s affairs into the back quarters. But speaking of it, Old Madam, you’re also a mother and grandmother, so you should understand how tragic it is for a woman to be childless. Please, for the sake of both being mothers, help me out.”

Old Madam Deng remained silent for a moment.

Madam Wang’s words indeed made her somewhat wavering, but she couldn’t decide to open this door for Third Miss.

Looking at the entire capital, although everyone didn’t say it openly, which family didn’t have one or two daughters-in-law with fertility difficulties? If she opened this door for Third Miss, the trouble would be enormous.

“Old Madam, I’m begging you, isn’t that enough?” Madam Wang suddenly stood up and performed a deep bow to Old Madam Deng.

Old Madam Deng quickly stepped aside: “Madam Wang, this is improper.”

Madam Wang closed her eyes: “If you don’t agree, I won’t get up.”

Fine, since she had already spoken openly and lost all face, no matter what, she had to get Third Miss Li to come back with her today, or else she would have suffered a huge loss.

Seeing Madam Wang behaving this way, Old Madam Deng became disgusted.

Bowing and refusing to get up? Threatening her? She should inquire about when Deng Jinhua had ever been afraid of threats!

Just as Old Madam Deng was about to speak, the head maid Qing Yun hurriedly walked in: “Old Madam, someone from the Prince’s Residence has come.”

“Prince’s Residence?” Old Madam Deng’s eyes flickered slightly, and she smiled at Madam Wang: “Madam Wang, please excuse me for a moment.”

Madam Wang silently cursed her bad luck and could only watch helplessly as Old Madam Deng left the flower hall where female guests were received.

The person who came from Prince Rui’s Residence was a chief steward. Upon seeing Old Madam Deng enter the hall, he immediately stood up and bowed: “Congratulations to Old Madam.”