Chunxiu immediately shook her head and said, “It wasn’t a dream! Someone really tried to kill me. If I hadn’t been awakened by the thunder and caught sight of her standing by my bed in the lightning flash, I might already be dead by now. She was holding a knife and kept stabbing at me—it was terrifying!”
Feng Chunming spread his hands and said, “But there’s really no one here. Besides, who would come to kill you in the middle of the night? It’s still raining outside. In my opinion, you must have mistaken a dream for reality.”
Chunxiu said urgently, “I told you, it was real, not a dream! Why won’t you believe me?”
Feng Chunming shrugged without saying anything, though his expression clearly showed he didn’t believe her. Feng Cheng also didn’t quite believe it and yawned, saying, “Anyway, since nothing happened, Chunxiu, you should sleep quickly. You have to return to the Governor’s mansion early tomorrow morning.”
Hearing this, Chunxiu remembered something and said hastily, “Father, didn’t you send people to beat up Wu Laosan before? Could it be that he and his daughter are holding a grudge and came to kill me?”
Upon hearing this, Feng Cheng immediately burst into laughter, then said disdainfully, “Even if you gave Wu Laosan a hundred times the courage, he wouldn’t dare kill anyone. As for Wu Meixue, she’s just a little girl with no strength to even tie up a chicken—even more impossible.”
“But…” Before Chunxiu could continue, Feng Cheng said, “Enough, stop thinking about that dream and go to sleep quickly.” With that, the several of them walked out.
Although Feng Cheng repeatedly said it was just a dream, Chunxiu remained frightened and didn’t dare extinguish the lamp or sleep. She stared tensely at the doors and windows that were rattling under the wind and rain.
Just now… was it really a dream? No, it wasn’t—someone really tried to kill her. But who could it be? As Father said, Wu Laosan didn’t have that kind of courage. As for Wu Meixue…
Thinking of Meixue, Chunxiu recalled something. In the past, Meixue was very afraid of her—if she spoke even slightly harshly, Meixue would be too frightened to even lift her eyes. But ever since she accidentally injured Meixue’s head that time, Meixue had changed. She became less and less like the former Meixue, especially today when she spoke to her—both her tone and expression were completely different from before.
Could it be… she wasn’t Meixue? Chunxiu quickly dismissed this thought. She had grown up with Meixue since childhood and was thoroughly familiar with her appearance—that face was definitely Meixue without a doubt. What exactly… had gone wrong? Or had Meixue’s personality changed drastically because of her head injury?
However, even if Meixue’s personality had changed completely from before, she couldn’t possibly be ruthless enough to take a knife and try to kill her. But… thinking back, although she hadn’t seen that person clearly, recalling those eyes… they really did resemble Meixue’s.
Was it possible? Could it be that timid, weak Meixue who didn’t even dare speak loudly?
Chunxiu instinctively felt it was impossible, but those eyes… the more she thought about it, the more they seemed like Meixue’s. Moreover, thinking it through, the person who held the deepest grudge against her was indeed Meixue.
If the masked person she saw tonight was really Meixue, then… there must be deep secrets hidden about Meixue, and even… a thought she had nearly forgotten surfaced again.
Could it be… that Meixue was in cahoots with Shen Yunyi, who had previously attempted to assassinate the Governor? That previous appearance of being weak and helpless was all an act? Thinking carefully, when she had secretly searched Meixue’s room, the latter had kept obstructing her and refused to let her open the chest. It was very likely that Shen Yunyi was hiding inside at that time, but unfortunately, she had been too frightened by “accidentally killing” Meixue to look properly before fleeing.
The more Chunxiu thought about it, the more possible it seemed. If she could find evidence of Meixue colluding with Shen Yunyi, even if the Second Young Master liked Meixue, he would definitely not spare her. This way, she could completely eliminate this thorn in her side!
Right, she vaguely remembered that when the lightning illuminated the assassin’s figure, the clothes the assassin wore—if she could find them at the Wu family’s place, she could prove that the assassin was indeed Meixue. Thinking of this, Chunxiu couldn’t help but become excited, wishing she could immediately go to the Wu family to search. But soon she deflated again. The Governor’s mansion had only given her one day of leave, and she had to return to work early tomorrow morning. There was no time to go to the Wu family unless she gave up that job at the Governor’s mansion.
After much consideration, Chunxiu ultimately couldn’t bear to give up that job. Moreover, she feared that if she continued staying at home, Meixue might come to assassinate her again. No matter what, the Governor’s mansion would be safer. She decided to temporarily suppress her doubts and wait until the next time she left the mansion to deal with everything. Additionally, since there weren’t many people at the music hall these days, she could take the opportunity to search the room where Meixue and the others lived—she might find some clues.
As for Yunyi’s side, she had originally planned to quietly kill Chunxiu, but unexpectedly that thunderclap had ruined her plans. To avoid exposing her whereabouts, she could only leap through the window and leave before the Feng family members came in, returning home in the rain.
However, since she had decided to eliminate Chunxiu, how could she give up so easily? Moreover, after this incident, Chunxiu would very likely suspect her, so… this person had to die!
She knew Chunxiu would return to the Governor’s mansion early in the morning, so as soon as dawn broke, she took an umbrella and went out, planning to strike on the path Chunxiu must take to return to the mansion.
Just as her hand was about to touch the courtyard gate, Wu Laosan’s voice suddenly came from behind her: “Girl, where are you going so early in the morning?”
Yunyi was startled. Looking back, she saw Wu Laosan standing under the eaves wearing a cotton coat. She said evasively, “Didn’t Father say the day before yesterday that he wanted to eat pancakes from the Zhang family shop on the street? Today is the fourth day of the new year, so perhaps the Zhang family shop has opened. That’s why your daughter planned to go buy some.”
Wu Laosan didn’t suspect anything and laughed, “The Zhang family shop closes until the eighth day of the first month every year. It definitely isn’t open now, so there’s no need to go.”
“Then… I’ll go buy some other pastries for Father to eat.” Faced with Yunyi’s words, Wu Laosan waved his hand and said, “Don’t waste that money. Besides, it’s still raining now—the cold wind and rain make it easy to catch a chill. Don’t we still have dumplings at home? We can just cook some.”
Seeing that Wu Laosan kept refusing to let her go out, Yunyi had no choice but to turn back, putting away her umbrella and saying, “Why did Father get up so early? Is your body hurting badly?”
Wu Laosan chuckled and said, “After rubbing on that medicinal wine yesterday, I was fine long ago. When I used to go hunting in the mountains, I got up even earlier than this.” As he spoke, he walked toward the kitchen while saying, “Come, come in and help Father light the fire. Let’s cook dumplings to eat.”
Yunyi reluctantly nodded. With Wu Laosan’s interference, she couldn’t kill Chunxiu today and could only postpone it temporarily.
What Yunyi didn’t know was that as she walked toward the kitchen, Wu Laosan walking behind her had put away the smile on his face and instead revealed a complex expression mixing distress, confusion, and worry.