Li Zhiyun looked back at Lin Shi and the others behind him, then at Amu’s cold corpse in his arms, and said sadly, “What do we do now? Are we just going to let this go?”

Wan Shi stroked his head and said, “Of course not. Mother will definitely find evidence and seek justice for you and Amu.”

Her words made Li Zhiyun feel somewhat better. He silently followed Wan Shi toward Yuxiu Pavilion. After they had gone far, Lin Shi said, “It’s nothing now. Everyone disperse.”

The women left as instructed, but only Yunyi and Jiang Caiping remained where they were. They curtsied to Lin Shi and said gratefully, “Thank you, Third Madam, for saving our lives.”

“Rise.” After signaling for the two to stand, Lin Shi raised her eyebrows and said, “That dog – was it really not you who killed it?”

Jiang Caiping quickly shook her head, “Of course not! How could we do such a thing!”

Yunyi hesitantly said, “Third Madam doesn’t believe us?”

Lin Shi looked her over and said, “Wu Meixue, I remember you. It was because of you that the female assassin had the opportunity to attempt assassination on the Governor.” Then she laughed lightly, “I’ve only exchanged a few words with you two. Where does this talk of ‘belief’ come from?”

Her words puzzled Yunyi. “If that’s the case, why did Third Madam speak up for us just now?”

Lin Shi raised her hand to adjust the silk flowers on Yunyi’s ruyi hair ornament and smiled, “Because I like…” Her eyes sparkled as she said with a half-smile, “Whatever can make Wan Shi unhappy, I like! So you don’t need to thank me.”

Yunyi said respectfully, “Regardless, Third Madam saved us both, so we should offer our thanks.”

Lin Shi smiled and, supporting herself on Jichun’s hand, walked to the pavilion, saying, “Although there’s nothing wrong for now, Wan Shi won’t let this go. Who knows when she might take you away again.”

“She has no evidence.” Facing Jiang Caiping’s words, Lin Shi stroked the exquisite embroidery on her wide sleeves and said indifferently, “Evidence is dead, but people… are alive. You’d better look out for yourselves.”

While Jiang Caiping was still pondering, Yunyi had already curtsied and said, “Please, Third Madam, save us both.”

Lin Shi smiled gracefully, “What’s this? Saving you once isn’t enough, and you want me to save you a second time?” When Yunyi nodded, she casually picked an unknown purple flower and played with it between her fingertips, saying, “What’s your reason?”

Yunyi organized her thoughts and said, “Just now Third Madam spoke up for us both so much that Second Madam and others probably already consider Caiping and me to be your people. If at this time Caiping and I were punished by Second Madam or even driven from the residence, others would think that you, Third Madam, feared Second Madam.”

Lin Shi lowered her head to smell the flower’s fragrance and said coolly, “That does sound somewhat reasonable, but… it’s still not enough to persuade me.”

Yunyi said unhurriedly, “Third Madam just said you like anything that makes Second Madam unhappy. What a coincidence – Caiping and I are the same way.”

Lin Shi stared at her for a long while, then suddenly smiled and raised her hand to insert the flower into Yunyi’s hair, “This reason barely passes. Fine, from now on you can stay peacefully in the music hall. As long as you don’t make mistakes yourselves, no one will be able to touch you.”

Yunyi knew she had agreed and quickly pulled the confused Jiang Caiping to bow, “Thank you, Third Madam.”

“Well, if you have anything in the future, come find me at Cailan Pavilion.” After Lin Shi had gone far away, Jiang Caiping said in complete bewilderment, “Sister, what were you two talking about? I couldn’t quite understand.”

Yunyi sighed and said, “This time Second Madam let us go reluctantly out of consideration for Third Madam’s face, but she definitely won’t let this matter rest. Plus with Ji Rong whispering in her ear, if we want to stay in this Governor’s residence, we must find backing. Third Madam is the best choice, allowing us to use her power to counter Second Madam and thus protect ourselves. Actually, Second Young Master could work too, but he’s a generation below Second Madam, so there are many things he can’t say.”

Jiang Caiping nodded with half-understanding, then said angrily, “I thought Ji Rong would be better than Feng Chunming, but I didn’t expect her to be even more detestable, coming up with such a vicious scheme to harm us. I don’t know why Second Madam trusts her so much!”

Yunyi said lightly, “Have you forgotten about the motherwort face cream? Second Madam’s complexion today is much better than when we saw her last time.”

Jiang Caiping suddenly understood, “So that’s it, no wonder.” Then she said indignantly, “Just watch – hmph, I’ll definitely expose her fox tail. Even if she has more motherwort face cream then, Second Madam won’t spare her.”

Yunyi didn’t speak, only coldly watching the withered leaves spinning in the cold wind…

While they were talking, Wan Shi had already sent someone to summon Ji Rong to Yuxiu Pavilion. As soon as the latter entered, she asked in a deep voice, “When did Wu Meixue and the others become Lin Shi’s people?”

Ji Rong answered truthfully, “This servant doesn’t know. As far as this servant knows, they have no dealings with Third Madam, so when this servant saw Third Madam speaking up for her like that just now, this servant also found it very strange.”

Wan Shi said coldly, “She just likes to oppose me.”

Zhaixing frowned and said, “Madam has been tolerant of her many times out of sisterly affection, but she’s becoming more and more excessive. Just now she made Madam lose face in front of so many people. How infuriating.”

Ji Rong glanced at Wan Shi and said tentatively, “Madam, could it be… that Third Madam instructed Meixue and the others to do the Amu incident?”

Wan Shi stared at her for a moment and said indifferently, “Ji Rong, do you know what the consequences are for deceiving me?”

Ji Rong’s heart was alarmed, and she feigned confusion, “What does Madam mean by this?”

Wan Shi said expressionlessly, “You deliberately tore those silk threads from Wu Meixue’s body, didn’t you?”

Ji Rong said in shock, “Madam saying this – could it be… that you believed Jiang Caiping’s nonsense and think this servant killed Amu?”

Wan Shi took the tea cup handed to her by a servant and said coolly, “Looking at that wound on Amu’s belly, the muscle-mending and bone-healing powder you made doesn’t seem very effective.”

“Madam thinks… this servant used Amu to test medicine?” Before Wan Shi could speak, Ji Rong already said with a face full of grievance, “Madam saying this truly wrongs this servant to death.”

Wan Shi used the cup lid to brush away the foam on the tea’s surface and took a sip of the yellow-green tea soup, “Wasn’t your killing Amu to test the efficacy of the muscle-mending and bone-healing powder?” When Jiang Caiping mentioned that Ji Rong had once supported Yunyi, she had already become suspicious, but she was extremely deep in scheming and had held back until now to speak out.

Ji Rong shook her head repeatedly, “Before today, this servant had never even seen Amu. Besides, how could one day be enough to test the efficacy of muscle-mending and bone-healing powder?”

“Naturally you couldn’t test bone-mending and muscle-healing, but you could test some of the blood-stopping effects. If not for this, why would you pretend to have a cold and deliberately fall, using this excuse to grab Wu Meixue’s clothing?” Wan Shi had seen the wound that Ji Rong had inflicted on herself and knew something about the miraculous effects of the muscle-mending and bone-healing powder.