Indeed… there really was no breath left. Meixue… she was dead. How could this be? How could she suddenly just die? This… this was impossible!

At this moment, a pool of dark red blood slowly seeped from behind Meixue’s head to Chunxiu’s feet, causing the latter to hastily retreat, avoiding it like a snake or scorpion.

Blood—why was Meixue bleeding so much? She had only pushed her once, and she hadn’t used a knife or sword. This…

Just as she was puzzled, a drop of blood fell to the ground. Trembling, she looked up and discovered that the drop of blood had dripped down from the top of the cabinet. At this moment, she finally understood why Meixue had suddenly died. When she had pushed Meixue earlier, she had accidentally caused her to hit the sharp corner of the cabinet with the back of her head, thus injuring her skull and causing her death. Because the cabinet was dark red in color, she hadn’t noticed the bloodstains on it before.

She… she had killed someone!

Chunxiu tightly covered her mouth, desperately suppressing the scream that had rushed to her lips!

Although she didn’t like Meixue and wished Meixue would disappear from her sight forever, she had never thought of killing anyone! If people discovered this, would they demand her life in return? No, she didn’t want to die!

That’s right—while Jiang Caiping hadn’t returned yet and no one had discovered that Meixue was dead, she should quickly leave this place!

With this thought, Chunxiu crawled and stumbled out of the room. She had no mind to continue searching for the assassin. Once she returned to her own room, she tightly wrapped herself in a quilt and cowered in the corner of the bed, her eyes filled with fear and terror.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Jirong came in carrying a food box. At first she didn’t see Chunxiu cowering in the corner of the bed and said in surprise, “Eh, where did she go? Could she still be in Meixue’s room? I wonder if she found the assassin?”

Before her words had finished, a figure suddenly rushed toward her, startling her greatly. When she saw clearly that it was Chunxiu, she covered her wildly beating chest and said, “You scared me to death! Where were you hiding just now? How come I didn’t see you?”

Chunxiu was in no mood to answer her questions at this moment. She desperately grabbed Jirong’s hands and said in panic, “Sister Jirong, save me! You must save me!”

Seeing her expression was wrong, Jirong asked puzzledly, “Save you? What happened? Was it that assassin?”

Chunxiu shook her head frantically, speaking incoherently, “Save me! They’ll demand my life in return! Sister Jirong, I don’t want to die! Please save me!”

Jirong listened with complete confusion. She pulled Chunxiu’s hand and sat down at the table, then poured her a cup of tea, saying, “Drink some water first, then tell me slowly.”

Chunxiu’s hands kept trembling continuously. Before the tea could reach her mouth, more than half had already spilled. After managing to bring it to her lips and take a sip, she barely suppressed the fear in her heart and recounted what had happened in Meixue’s room.

Hearing Chunxiu say she had accidentally killed Meixue, even the usually calm and composed Jirong was shocked and pale, scolding, “You… how could you be so careless? This is a human life!”

Chunxiu said with a sobbing voice, “I didn’t do it on purpose either. How was I to know she was so useless that she’d die from just lightly hitting her head? Actually… actually, it’s all Meixue’s own fault. If she had obediently moved aside and let me check that cabinet, nothing would have happened. But she insisted on blocking me—she was basically seeking her own death!” Then she added somewhat complainingly, “Sister Jirong was also really something. Knowing I had gone to their room, how could you not hold Meixue back? Otherwise, such a big incident wouldn’t have happened.”

Jirong said helplessly, “I already did my best, but she said her wound hurt and insisted on going back. What could I do? Could I really have tied her up to prevent her from returning? Besides, I calculated the time—if you had moved quickly enough, you would have already finished searching the room. Who knew you would… Ai, I really don’t know what to say.”

Chunxiu was left speechless by her words, then said nervously, “What should we do now? Sister Jirong, help me think of a solution! You were the one who told me to go to their room to look for the assassin—you can’t abandon me!”

“Of course I’ll help you. Don’t panic yet, let me think!” Jirong stroked her chest, trying hard to calm her agitated feelings. After pacing back and forth in the room several times, she asked, “Did anyone else see you accidentally kill Meixue?”

Chunxiu shook her head urgently, “No, there were only Meixue and me in the room at the time.”

“Good!” Jirong breathed a slight sigh of relief and, supporting Chunxiu’s shoulders, said word by word, “Remember this: after noon today, you stayed in your room the entire time and didn’t go anywhere, especially not to Meixue’s room. You know nothing about her affairs, and you don’t know that she’s already dead!”

“But clearly…” Chunxiu was about to speak when Jirong interrupted, “If you don’t want to pay with your life for Meixue’s death, remember these words well. No matter who asks, don’t answer incorrectly. Do you understand?”

Hearing this, Chunxiu understood her meaning and nodded repeatedly, “I know. I stayed in my room the entire time and didn’t go anywhere.” She kept repeating this sentence as if she wanted to carve it stroke by stroke into her heart.

After Chunxiu gradually calmed down, Jirong remembered something and said, “According to what you said just now, you didn’t open that cabinet?”

“Mm, I was terrified at the time and only wanted to leave immediately. I couldn’t care about the cabinet.” Speaking of this, her face suddenly changed, and she said nervously, “What if Shen Yunyi really is hiding inside and she knows I killed Meixue? What if she goes to tell the eldest young masters to make up for her crimes? What should I do?” Saying this, she forcefully hit her own head, “It’s all my fault.”

Jirong also thought of this point and found it quite troublesome. After pondering for a moment, she said somewhat helplessly, “Now we can only take it one step at a time. Fortunately, Shen Yunyi can barely protect herself right now. Even if she really saw it, she wouldn’t dare tell the eldest young master. Besides, even if she really did tell, you could simply deny everything. I believe the eldest young masters wouldn’t listen to what an assassin says.”

Chunxiu nodded, then walked to the door to listen carefully. Not hearing any commotion outside, she asked puzzledly, “Sister Jirong, did Jiang Caiping come back with you?” After Jirong nodded, she continued, “Then why hasn’t there been any sound from her room after she went back? Could she possibly not have seen Meixue’s corpse?” As soon as she mentioned the word “corpse,” she thought of how Meixue looked when she died, staring at her with hollow eyes, and immediately felt a chill.

Jirong walked to the door and listened for a while. Indeed, there was no sound. She frowned and said, “It is rather strange. A dead person is no small matter, and the two of them were so close. How could there be… no reaction at all?”

Chunxiu shrank her neck and said quietly, “Should we… go out and take a look?”

Jirong nodded and went out with Chunxiu. By now the sky had completely darkened, but the moonlight was bright, and with several red lanterns hanging not far away, they could still see the path clearly enough.