Wan Shi smiled without speaking. After a while, Zhaixing brought Nanny Fang over. Wan Shi handed her the peacock blue silk threads she had been twisting in her hand and said, “You manage the embroidery room and oversee all the brocade and fabric coming in and out of the residence. Take a look at this – which batch of fabric is this from, and who has used it?”

“Yes.” Nanny Fang indeed knew fabrics and brocades like the back of her hand, and quickly identified it. “Reporting to Second Madam, this texture should be from Lianzhou. This servant remembers that only one batch of fabric came from Lianzhou this year, which included this same peacock blue color. Originally it was prepared for the various madams to use, but because we discovered the fabric had slight flaws, most of it was later given to the music hall, and the remainder was given to Miss Zhaixing, Miss Jichun, and the others.”

The Jichun that Nanny Fang mentioned was the personal maid of Third Madam Lin Shi. Like Zhaixing, she was one of the higher-ranking servants who had considerable standing in the residence. What they wore was nothing but silk and satin, at most only slightly inferior in quality.

“The music hall, you say?” Wan Shi smiled coldly and pointed at Yunyi and the others, saying to Zhaixing, “Take people to search their rooms. Any clothing of this color, bring it all to me.”

“Yes.” Seeing Zhaixing leave with people, Yunyi’s heart was extremely anxious, but helplessly Wan Shi was watching from the front, and she could do nothing.

This place wasn’t far from their living quarters, so Zhaixing soon brought back a large pile of clothes, and also called Zhang Chenyue and Sun Shi aside, because they also had clothing of the same color.

Wan Shi said coldly, “Examine carefully to see which piece has damage.”

“Yes.” Zhaixing and the others casually spread the clothes on the ground to examine them one by one. The dance girls watched with heartache – for many of them, they only had a few silk and satin garments after entering the residence. They were always very careful with them, feeling distressed for half a day even if they snagged a single thread, let alone having them thrown on the ground like this.

When examining the last piece, Zhaixing’s eyes brightened, and she presented it to Wan Shi, saying, “Madam, this is the one.”

Wan Shi took it and looked, indeed finding subtle damage. The tear marks exactly matched the few threads in her hand. She said with lowered eyes, “Whose clothing is this?”

Zhaixing truthfully replied, “This servant found it in Wu Meixue and Jiang Caiping’s room.”

Wan Shi stared coldly at the two of them and said, “Which one of you does this clothing belong to?”

Jiang Caiping never expected that after all the investigation, it would lead to them. She said in panic, “This must be a mistake. We absolutely never killed Amu.”

“Answer my question!” Jiang Caiping heard the coldness in her voice and, afraid that Wan Shi would treat Yunyi harshly once she knew the clothing belonged to her, gritted her teeth and refused to speak.

Yunyi lowered her eyes and said, “Reporting to Second Madam, this clothing belongs to me, but I have never killed the Fifth Young Master’s dog. Today was even the first time I’ve seen it.”

“If you didn’t kill it, how did Amu tear your clothing?” Before Wan Shi finished speaking, Li Zhiyun had already rushed to Yunyi’s front while holding Amu’s cold, stiff corpse, shouting fiercely, “Why did you kill Amu? How did it offend you?”

Wan Shi said gently, “Don’t be anxious. Mother will make her confess everything one by one.” After comforting Li Zhiyun, she said indifferently, “You weren’t trying to have Jiang Caiping go get a chair earlier, but rather wanted to hide this clothing, isn’t that right?”

Yunyi didn’t answer her question directly, but instead said, “Reporting to Madam, the silk threads on Amu’s claws are indeed mine, but they weren’t torn by it. Rather, someone deliberately planted them to frame me.”

Her words caused Wan Shi to show a trace of surprise. “Oh? Who?”

“Yesterday when we finished practicing dance and returned to rest, we happened to encounter Ji Rong. At that time she was unsteady on her feet and grabbed me. Afterwards, I discovered the clothing was torn.”

With her saying this, Jiang Caiping also remembered this incident and quickly said, “Yes, I remember too. I was the one who first noticed it. It must have been her doing – she did it on purpose.”

Seeing everyone’s gaze focused on her, Ji Rong said with grief and indignation, “That’s right, I did grab you at that time, but it was an unconscious action in my moment of panic, not at all intentional as you’re saying. Don’t make false accusations.”

“Whether it’s a false accusation or not, you know clearly in your heart. You’re close with Chunxiu, and when she committed a crime and was sent to the woodshed, you blamed it on us, falsely accusing us of killing the Fifth Young Master’s dog.”

“You… this is simply unreasonable!” Ji Rong said one sentence in grief and indignation, then turned to Wan Shi and said, “Madam, this servant indeed has some discord with Meixue and the others, but it’s only limited to that. How could this servant use such cruel methods to kill the Fifth Young Master’s dog and frame them over a small grudge? Please, Madam, see clearly.”

Jiang Caiping said urgently, “Madam, don’t listen to her honeyed words. She’s the one who did it.”

Wan Shi stared at them for a long while, then held up her slender fingers painted with crimson nail polish against the sunlight and said, “Then tell me, what method did Ji Rong use to secretly hook the silk threads from Wu Meixue’s clothing in such a short time? Her fingers?” Without waiting for Jiang Caiping to speak, she already said, “Zhaixing.”

Zhaixing had followed Wan Shi for several years, and one glance was enough for her to understand Wan Shi’s meaning. She immediately used her ring-adorned hand to forcefully scratch at another sleeve, but no silk threads were pulled up. She tried several more times with the same result.

Yunyi understood Wan Shi’s meaning and said with lowered eyes, “Miss Zhaixing’s nails are neatly trimmed, so naturally she wouldn’t pull up any silk threads.”

Wan Shi glanced at Zhaixing, who understood and walked in front of Ji Rong, carefully examining her ten fingers and said, “Madam, every one of Ji Rong’s fingers is neatly trimmed. There’s no situation like what Miss Wu described.”

Wan Shi turned the jade ring on her finger and said indifferently, “Do you have anything else to say?”

Jiang Caiping said anxiously, “Perhaps Ji Rong trimmed her nails afterwards to cover her tracks. Second Madam, you must not let her deceive you.”

“But I think you two are even more suspicious.” At this point, her gaze turned cold as she said sternly, “Take these two to Yuxiu Pavilion. I want to interrogate them thoroughly.”

Yunyi knew that going there would definitely bring no good, and at this time, the only one who could speak for them was Li Shimin, but unfortunately he had no idea about what was happening here.

Jiang Caiping also knew that once they entered Yuxiu Pavilion, it would be difficult to come out, so naturally she wouldn’t let them take her away so easily. She struggled and said, “We didn’t do it! We are innocent! Ji Rong is the murderer who killed Amu!”

Ji Rong said with a face full of grief and indignation, “Jiang Caiping, in what way have I wronged you that you would go to such lengths to frame me?”

Being accused by her in return, Jiang Caiping was furious inside and said hatefully, “Who’s framing whom? You’re the one calling thief while being a thief! You’re so good at turning black into white and framing us – your heart is truly vicious!”

Ji Rong stamped her foot and said, “If I really wanted to frame you, I should have killed a person instead. What’s the point of killing a dog?”