After Jirong repeated Qiulin’s words, she choked back tears and said: “Sister has always doted on Chengzong, and she herself is with child. I believe it couldn’t have been sister’s doing. But according to what Qiulin said, that Ayue… she did claim to be sister’s person.”

Li Jiancheng’s cheek twitched violently, and he called over Xue Wanche who had come with him: “Go invite Madam over.”

After Xue Wanche left, he spoke a few more words to Li Chengzong with an uneasy heart, but unfortunately the result was still the same as before – the latter couldn’t hear anything.

Seeing his eldest son had become a deaf person who couldn’t hear anything, Li Jiancheng couldn’t suppress his anger and punched the bed rail heavily with a “bang” that sounded like a hammer hitting everyone’s chest, startling them all. Only one person was an exception – Li Chengzong. No matter what tremendous sounds the outside world made, he could no longer hear them. From now on, he could only live in his own world.

Li Jiancheng stared at the several people responsible for serving Li Chengzong and said: “From the beginning until now, it’s been about ten days. Why didn’t a single person discover this? Why?”

Qiulin and those nannies were already frightened to death, and being shouted at like this made them even more afraid. They all knelt down to beg forgiveness. One of them said tremblingly: “Dalang has never been one to talk much, so these past days, when we servants saw that Dalang wasn’t speaking much, we didn’t think much of it. Who knew… it would be like this? This servant deserves to die!”

Li Jiancheng stared at her and suddenly showed a cold smile: “That’s right, you all indeed deserve to die!”

They heard the murderous intent in Li Jiancheng’s words and were so frightened they didn’t know what to do, desperately kowtowing and pleading for mercy. Unfortunately, even if they knocked their foreheads swollen, they couldn’t earn a single word of forgiveness, and could only wait anxiously for their upcoming fate.

Not long after, the six-months-pregnant Zheng Shi, carrying the cold dew of deep night, walked in with Xue Wanche. As soon as she stepped into the room, she felt the heavy atmosphere inside. She quickly glanced at Yunyi beside her, walked to Li Jiancheng’s side with a slight curtsy, and asked softly: “My lord, I wonder what important matter you summoned me here for in the deep of night?”

Li Jiancheng stared at her and said: “Have you ever heard the name Ayue?”

“Ayue?” Zheng Shi lowered her head in thought for a moment, then shook her head: “I have never heard of her. I don’t know who she is. What does my lord want with her?”

At this moment, the steward who had helped Zheng Shi over showed a flicker in his eyes and said: “First Young Madam, this humble one has heard this name.”

Zheng Shi asked in surprise: “Oh, where did you hear it?”

The steward said: “About ten days ago, Qiulin came to our courtyard asking about a maid named Ayue, saying she was new and served by your side, First Young Madam. This humble one told her there was no such person, and at that time, we had just settled into the residence and didn’t have any new maids. So this humble one told her to ask Second Young Madam, after all, the affairs of this residence have always been arranged by Second Young Madam. As for why she was looking for this Ayue, that I don’t know.”

Qiulin said urgently: “It was she who taught me to put honey in the tofu pudding! She wanted to harm Dalang!”

“Harm Dalang?” Under Zheng Shi’s puzzled gaze, Li Jiancheng said in a sinister voice: “Mixing tofu pudding with honey causes deafness. Chengzong’s ears… can no longer hear!”

“What?” Zheng Shi covered her lips in shock, saying incredulously: “How… how could this happen?”

Li Jiancheng said with darkened eyes: “This question should be one I ask you, Madam.”

“Ask me?” Zheng Shi pointed to herself in astonishment. After understanding the meaning of Li Jiancheng’s words, her face suddenly turned as white as snow, and she said tremblingly: “My lord thinks… that I had someone harm Dalang?”

Li Jiancheng said expressionlessly: “I’m waiting for you to tell me yourself!”

“No!” Zheng Shi denied excitedly, “I don’t know this person Ayue, and I have never harmed Dalang, never!”

What responded to Zheng Shi was a suffocating silence. Zheng Shi knew that Li Jiancheng didn’t believe her, didn’t believe she had nothing to do with Li Chengzong’s matter. Enduring the waves of pain in her heart, she walked to Li Jiancheng’s side: “Although I haven’t been married to my lord for very long, it’s been a full five years. What kind of person I am, doesn’t my lord know? All these years, I have never harmed a single person!”

Li Jiancheng met her gaze and said: “You didn’t in the past, but now… I can’t be certain!” He and Zheng Shi had married by parental arrangement and matchmaker’s words. He had no deep feelings for Zheng Shi, naturally there was no trust to speak of either.

This answer hit Zheng Shi’s chest like a heavy hammer, making her unable to breathe for a moment. After a while, she recovered somewhat and said tremblingly: “So my lord has so little confidence in me.” She then laughed bitterly: “Although Chengzong wasn’t born to me, I have always treated him as my own, loving and protecting him. I still remember when Chengzong was six months old, I held him while playing outside. It had just rained and the ground was slippery. I accidentally fell, but I protected him firmly in my arms despite getting hurt myself, not letting him suffer any harm. Because of this, the child I had just conceived nearly miscarried, and I had to lie in bed for over a month before the pregnancy stabilized. I love him like a treasure, so how could I harm him? My lord is my closest person, yet why… won’t you even give me this bit of trust?”

Li Jiancheng remained silent. When Zheng Shi mentioned this, he did remember. Indeed, from the time Chengzong was born, Zheng Shi had been impeccably good to him.

At this moment, a servant beside Jirong interjected: “That may be so, but Dalang ultimately wasn’t born to First Young Madam.”

This remark made Li Jiancheng’s face darken again after it had begun to soften. Zheng Shi was greatly angered in her heart. After glaring at the steward for a moment, she walked to Jirong’s side and said hoarsely: “Sister, do you also think this way?”

Jirong said with a complex expression: “I don’t want it to be sister’s doing, but Qiulin insists that person was from sister’s quarters. I really don’t know what to do.”

Zheng Shi stared at her and said: “So you’d rather believe a servant’s words than trust me, your sister?”

Jirong frowned tightly: “My mind is very confused right now. Sister, don’t force me.”

“I’m forcing you?” Zheng Shi sneered: “Now it’s all of you ganging up to force me! If Ayue really was my person, and I really wanted to harm Chengzong, how could I be so stupid as to expose my own people, letting you know that Ayue was mine? All of this is clearly someone deliberately framing me, fabricating a person who doesn’t exist at all.”

Her words made everyone frown. Indeed, if Ayue was Zheng Shi’s person, she would definitely try to hide her identity completely. How could she tell Qiulin without any concern? They had all overlooked this issue just now. But… if it wasn’t Zheng Shi, then who could it be?