She didn’t waste any more words with Xiao Songhua.

When things had gotten to that point back then, as a maid qualified to access medicinal materials, even if the old nanny liked her, she certainly wouldn’t have been partial or soft-hearted—she definitely wouldn’t have skipped interrogating just this one person.

And if this girl could endure the torture when the incident had just occurred, now after three years, the Xiao family must have received whatever benefits they were due. Xiao Songhua was probably just waiting for Seventh Miss to be unable to find anything conclusive and eventually have to release everyone. At this critical juncture, her resolve to endure torture would only be higher. Besides, if she pressed too hard now and the girl randomly fabricated a mastermind, and Seventh Miss took it seriously and pursued it, making a big commotion—if there were no results in the end, she would only find it even harder to gain footing in Duke Pingguo’s manor.

Seventh Miss sat quietly for a while, examining Xiao Songhua’s calm expression in the darkness, sighing inwardly again.

Such talent—Fifth Miss couldn’t recruit her for her own use and instead let her become the cause of her death. This could only be called fate’s cruel trick. Though the position of heir’s wife was desirable, without some capability, one probably really couldn’t hold onto it.

“Lixia, come in.” She called out her instructions.

Lixia responded and entered, kneeling respectfully beside Seventh Miss. “What are the young madam’s instructions?”

“Bring in another lamp.” Seventh Miss said slowly. “Tie her to the chair, shine two lamps on her face—they must never go out. Don’t let her eat. She can only drink one bowl of water a day. If she doesn’t confess for one day, don’t let her sleep for one day. Find two women to watch her constantly, never leaving her side. If she closes her eyes, slap her face. If she faints, pour a bucket of water on her—but remember, don’t let her fall ill.”

She fixed her gaze on Xiao Songhua and said slowly, “Let her use the washroom once every two hours. Other than that, no matter how she begs, no one is permitted to say a word to her. When she’s willing to confess, come report to me. Before that, if she falls ill or commits suicide… those two women will also be held accountable.”

Seeing that Xiao Songhua’s face didn’t show much fear, she smiled warmly at the little maid. “I’ve heard that people die after ten days without sleep and go mad after three days, though no one has ever confirmed this. You’re a person with backbone—hold out a few more days. I can wait.”

This time, a flicker of fear finally flashed through Xiao Songhua’s eyes.

Seventh Miss gestured to Lixia again. Lixia bowed her head, stood, and left the room. Before long, she brought Nanny Hang and Nanny Little Wang into the room, and the three immediately got busy. Seventh Miss stood in the corner, carefully examining Xiao Songhua for a few more moments before turning and striding out of the room.

As soon as she stepped outside, a beam of bright sunlight immediately fell on Seventh Miss. She squinted, gazing contentedly at the azure blue sky, then gave Shangyuan a few quiet instructions before returning to the main hall of Mingde Hall. She sat down on the kang in the west three rooms and fell into deep thought.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when she heard footsteps. It was Xu Fengjia entering the inner room. As he removed his clothes, he smiled. “What’s this? Haven’t gone in yet, or already come out?”

The matter of bringing people from the dowry estate had been arranged entirely by Xu Fengjia, so he naturally knew Seventh Miss’s plans. Seventh Miss glanced at him and jumped down from the kang. “Nanny Hang and Nanny Little Wang have both gone to the side courtyard. Let me help you change clothes.”

Her expression had already answered Xu Fengjia’s question. The heir’s expression shifted. “What, that little maid isn’t easy to deal with?”

“If she’d confess everything just from a little scare, this case wouldn’t have dragged on so long.” Seventh Miss smiled wearily, then said, “I just find it strange…”

“What?” Xu Fengjia leaned against the kang. He said with some regret, “I was hoping to witness your interrogation prowess—what do you find strange?”

“Ever since Yu An mentioned Xiao Songhua’s matter.” Seventh Miss analyzed for Xu Fengjia. “I’ve long instructed Xiao Huangpu, Bailu, and even several nannies to secretly investigate the Xiao family’s background. This whole family came from the Qin family. Recently mother hasn’t treated them too badly. Their relatives and friends are all from mother’s dowry. What could possibly buy them off, making the entire family willing to be someone else’s weapon?”

She glanced at Xu Fengjia, her delicate brows slightly furrowed. “Take that Qiu Shisan. According to current clues, he originally came here looking for work, then fell for Xiao Daniang locally, so the two married and returned to his Hebei hometown. How is it that in just a year or two, he entered the military and accumulated enough merit to be promoted to centurion?”

As she spoke, Seventh Miss pulled out Feng Jin’s letter and examined it carefully again. She counted on her fingers. “According to cousin, two years ago when you were in Guangdong, he was just a squad leader. Though he commanded only fifty men, he was still an officer of sorts. How could a raw recruit rise so quickly?”

Xu Fengjia couldn’t help but touch his chest, as if trying to feel through his solid back the scars remaining on it. He frowned. “You mean this Qiu Shisan also has backing?”

Seventh Miss nodded. “That’s exactly what I mean. Look at what cousin wrote in his letter. He’s already on the promotion list. Cousin reviewed his file, so when I mentioned this to cousin a few months ago, he had a vague impression but couldn’t remember. It just happened that at the beginning of this month, reports came back from Guangdong, and cousin recalled that this Qiu Zhi had a nickname—Qiu Shisan. In these two years, he was just promoted to centurion and is about to receive another small promotion… How could this happen without money paving the way? But if the Qiu family is so wealthy, why would Qiu Shisan need to marry Xiao Daniang? Every aspect of this reeks of something fishy.”

As it turned out, Feng Jin had written clearly in his letter that before the New Year he had reviewed a batch of military officers about to be promoted and deployed the Yanyun Guard to conduct basic background investigations on these officers. At that time, he had encountered Qiu Zhi’s file and vaguely remembered he had a nickname—Qiu Shisan.

But with his countless daily duties and countless files he’d read, it wasn’t until a month or two later, when reviewing reports again, that he accidentally came across it and remembered. Just then, feedback had arrived from the Yanyun Guard in Guangdong, saying they could find seven or eight people called Qiu Shisan in Guangzhou, and they’d attached basic information on these seven or eight Qiu Shisans. When he checked again, he found the only married Qiu Shisan was Qiu Zhi, so he first sent the basic materials on Qiu Zhi from the Yanyun Guard archives to Xu Fengjia, then wrote a letter instructing the Guangdong branch of the Yanyun Guard to investigate Qiu Zhi’s background thoroughly as soon as possible.

Because of this, the information Seventh Miss had on hand wasn’t actually complete—it only roughly recorded Qiu Zhi’s family situation, noting he had a wife named Xiao Daniang with no children yet, plus two concubines. He performed his duties adequately, could be called mediocre talent. Regarding Qiu Zhi’s own background and origins, his private financial dealings, family assets, and so on—all of this was absent. However, Qiu Zhi’s military record was clearly documented: he had indeed participated in the Southeast Asian campaign under Xu Fengjia back then.

The Xiao Songhua family—sisters separated by a thousand miles, yet both vaguely connected to matters harmful to the Sixth Branch. Even without any concrete evidence, it was enough to make one suspicious of the role this Qiu Zhi had played in the Southeast Asian campaign. Unfortunately, he wasn’t particularly noteworthy—Xu Fengjia couldn’t even remember what the man looked like. After the couple read the letter, he too had urgently written to Guangzhou to have this Qiu Zhi brought to the capital for interrogation. However, with the capital and Guangzhou separated by a thousand miles, escorting someone to the capital wasn’t something that could be done at a moment’s notice. For now, these layers of mystery still had to rest on Xiao Songhua alone.

Though the couple had decided on their approach last night, Xu Fengjia was still somewhat excited. He paced in place for a few steps, rubbed his hands together, and suddenly said, “No, just not letting her eat or sleep—what kind of punishment is that? I think we still need to use torture—”

Before the word “torture” was even finished, Seventh Miss had already rolled her eyes at him. “Are you afraid father will forget the four words ‘forced confession through torture,’ so you want to use such methods to remind the old man?”

She sighed with slight irritation. “The trickiest part of this matter isn’t the confession… Threatening her with her whole family’s lives, how long could that girl hold out?”

Xu Fengjia also hummed in agreement, saying quietly, “It still depends on whether we can find physical evidence.”

The most critical aspect of this matter was whether they could find physical evidence sufficient to convince Duke Pingguo. Otherwise, if conviction could be based solely on confession, Seventh Miss could immediately beat Xiao Songhua severely and force her to admit the Grand Madam had instructed her, and there would be no more trouble. But after three years, even if Xiao Songhua would loosen up and confess, whether they could find evidence was still very much in question.

Seventh Miss forced herself to rally her spirits and said lightly, “Wherever one passes, traces must remain. Let’s first see when this girl loosens up.”

She pondered for a moment, then asked, “Shengluan, do you know which sister-in-law among these branches has the most dowry?”

Logically, this question would be best asked of the old nanny. Xu Fengjia stroked his chin and answered honestly, “That’s not clear. But all four sisters-in-law combined probably don’t have as much dowry as your Yang family gave one daughter—that’s true. After all, these sisters-in-law all have many brothers in their families.”

He paused, then said, “Fourth brother has been away for years. Fourth sister-in-law’s food, clothing, and expenses all come from the household. Even if there are any expenses, they’re mostly tips for servants when she goes out. Though this isn’t much, she goes out frequently, so over the years it adds up. I’m afraid she hasn’t been able to save much ready cash.”

“As for eldest sister-in-law, her dowry is secondary. Eldest brother has managed household affairs for so many years—if you say he hasn’t saved up a private stash, I don’t believe it.”

Seventh Miss hummed thoughtfully. “But eldest brother and sister-in-law never involve themselves in household matters. Even if they wanted to build connections with the Xiao family, I’m afraid they’d both…”

Xu Fengjia said with a half-smile, “By this reasoning, you still suspect fifth sister-in-law more?”

“I’ve been thinking it over,” Seventh Miss didn’t answer Xu Fengjia’s question directly but began analyzing again. “If mother wronged the Xiao family in any way, it was only that one time when she transferred Xiao Dalong from the outer accounting office. That could be considered wronging the Xiao family. For mother, since Xiao Dalong was incompetent, transferring him was nothing. But for Xiao Dalong, he might have harbored resentment toward mother because of this. If fifth sister-in-law then gave some benefits, it’s not impossible he’d side with the Fifth Branch.”

“But the Fifth Branch didn’t give the Xiao family many benefits either.” Xu Fengjia was quite dismissive. “Unless you count Xiao Daniang’s marriage as the Fifth Branch’s doing. But that’s a stretch—being a soldier means risking your life for wealth. Setting aside whether the Fifth Branch could possibly have any connection with the Qiu family, even if they did, this marriage isn’t anything wonderful.”

Seventh Miss hummed and said, resting her chin on her hand, “You’re right. If Xiao Songhua won’t loosen up, we can only wait for cousin to send Qiu family’s details. Then you interrogate Qiu Zhi thoroughly and see what you can find out.”

“If Xiao Songhua never loosens up, what do you plan to do?” Xu Fengjia showed some interest, leaning lazily against the kang and asking, “Release her?”

Seventh Miss glanced at him and said quietly, “If her brother-in-law weren’t Qiu Zhi, I’d probably let this matter go. But since this matter relates to your injury, I can’t simply let the Xiao family off so easily.”

A flash of murderous intent crossed her face. Immediately after, she sighed with irritation. “But things haven’t reached that point yet. I don’t want to mention methods that are too vicious.”

Xu Fengjia acted coquettish. “Can’t you even tell me?”

Seventh Miss glared at him, half-serious, half-joking. “I’m afraid once you hear it, you’ll increasingly say I have a serpent’s heart.”

Without waiting for Xu Fengjia to respond, she continued, “But things won’t come to that. At worst, I’ll ask Yu An to come out and help me. How could Xiao Songhua refuse to speak then? Just wait and see—in two days at most, she definitely won’t be able to hold out. Not allowing sleep is more terrifying than any torture.”

Seeing Xu Fengjia’s skeptical expression, Seventh Miss flicked his nose. “Otherwise, you try going one day and night without sleep—then you’ll know how severe it is!”

“If I don’t sleep, will you keep me company all night?” Young Master Xu rolled his eyes and, grinning wickedly, went to draw the curtains, making Seventh Miss anxiously protest, “Don’t fool around—I still have things to handle!”

The young couple played around for a while. In the end, Seventh Miss held firm and didn’t let Xu Fengjia have his way. She was just held in his embrace as the two leaned against each other on the kang, discussing household trivialities. Seventh Miss brought up an old topic again, asking Xu Fengjia, “So in your view, how substantial are the Fifth Branch’s assets?”

According to custom, before the family divided, each branch wasn’t permitted to keep private funds. Aside from the daughters-in-law’s dowries, the men’s income was to be handed over entirely and redistributed by the household. Of course, this rule couldn’t be implemented too thoroughly. Among the branches, Fourth Young Master from fighting certainly had side income, First Young Master from managing the household also had grey income, and Fifth Young Master had the Grand Madam’s subsidies. To say they all relied on their wives’ dowries would be untrue.

Xu Fengjia pondered. “Looking at fifth brother’s usual spending, the household’s monthly allowance is definitely not enough. However, fifth sister-in-law’s dowry isn’t that much either…”

Seventh Miss shifted and reminded him, “Haven’t you counted that one hundred fifty thousand taels?”

She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully and said quietly, “I still don’t understand why fifth sister-in-law would use false pretenses to swindle one hundred thousand taels from the old madam.”

“Are you certain it’s swindling?” Xu Fengjia was dismissive. “Given how the old madam dotes on fifth brother, let alone one hundred thousand taels—with a good reason, she’d be willing to give two hundred thousand! Why would she need to swindle?”

“That’s exactly what I can’t figure out.” Seventh Miss frowned. “The old madam definitely doesn’t know about this. Otherwise, given fifth sister-in-law’s personality, she’d certainly have the old madam step forward and make me clear the names of those steward nannies. Last year’s matter wouldn’t have been so easy to smooth over. I just don’t understand—what matter is fifth sister-in-law afraid to tell the old madam about, forcing her to secretly swindle like this… Could it be the old madam doesn’t permit her to lend at high interest?”

She suddenly sat up, her brows tightly furrowed. “No, there’s definitely more to this story. I think I still need to ask cousin—”

Before she could finish, Xu Fengjia had already interrupted Seventh Miss. He rarely showed some displeasure. “After all, this is a family scandal. Do you think it sounds good to have the Xu family name associated with usury? If you have your cousin investigate, should he report upward or not?”

Seventh Miss glanced at Xu Fengjia. She sighed helplessly.

Though this man also had great objections to the Fifth Branch, he was ultimately still an ancient person for whom the notion that family scandals shouldn’t be made public was deeply ingrained. Xiao Songhua was just a servant, but matters concerning the Fifth Branch were different.

She suppressed the impulse to argue with Xu Fengjia. Many things didn’t necessarily require someone to win or lose.

“Shengluan.” Seventh Miss said softly and gently. “If possible, how would I want to tell cousin about this? But you know in your heart—back then, if fate had aligned, between cousin and Fifth Sister, there might not have been a story… Being able to do something for Fifth Sister’s sake, cousin would never have objections.”

At the mention of Fifth Miss, Xu Fengjia always felt somewhat uncomfortable. After all, it was because he wasn’t around for years and failed in his protective duty that Fifth Miss departed this world at such a young age.

“Besides, I always feel fifth sister-in-law’s various actions are wrong. Fifth Sister’s matter might be related to where those one hundred thousand taels went. But such information isn’t something Xiao Songhua or the Qiu family can provide us. To investigate, we still need to work from the top down.” She spoke softly and slowly, analyzing for Xu Fengjia. “Even if it means airing family scandals, we must air them this once. I don’t want you to have to guard against betrayal from your own people when you’re on the battlefield again… Fourth Young Master and Fifth Young Master are still so small, and I’m just a woman. Without you, what would we three do?”

Perhaps her rare show of weakness pleased Xu Fengjia, or perhaps her meticulous analysis made the young general also perceive the necessity of this matter. Xu Fengjia was silent for a long while before finally yielding reluctantly. “Fine, fine, fine—whatever you say. Anyway, whenever you have matters, you don’t know to ask me—you only know to find your cousin.”

The sourness in his words could drift ten miles downwind.

Seventh Miss couldn’t help but laugh heartily. “Are you silly? There’s specialization in every field. Would you be happy if I relied on you for everything?”

She rolled over, intimately pressing Xu Fengjia beneath her, kissed the tip of his nose, and said quietly, “Tonight, I…”

Xu Fengjia’s voice took on a note of laughter. As he listened, he kept humming in agreement. “Good, you said it yourself! If you can’t deliver tonight, let’s see how I punish you!”

But that evening, Seventh Miss nearly failed to fulfill her promise.

Just after the first watch began, Xiao Songhua had already sent word that she was ready to confess.