In the crowd, the man in the long robe and the bearded man exchanged glances, both delighted by this unexpected discovery.

They had deduced that the person hiding behind the tree, eavesdropping and attacking them, must have been a woman familiar with the jianghu world. They had been worried about finding clues, but now they had encountered a suspicious character right here.

While ordinary onlookers might not have noticed, they had immediately recognized that the woman possessed martial arts skills when they saw her rush out to save the child.

Judging by the direction she came from, it was exactly where the White Cloud Temple was located.

A young woman who likely visited the White Cloud Temple and had martial arts skills – wasn’t she the most fitting candidate?

“Follow that woman,” the man in the long robe said quietly.

The bearded man nodded, touching the iron-headed staff hanging at his waist, his eyes flashing with malice.

Daring to throw chili powder in his eyes? Daring to hit him on the head with a sneak attack? If he didn’t teach this little girl a lesson today, all these years would have been lived in vain!

Seeing his companion leave, the man in the long robe lost interest in the commotion before him. He gave Jiang Si a deep look before quietly departing.

This Fourth Miss of the East Peace Marquis’s family did resemble the Holy Maiden Asang. If one were to add a red dot between her brows and make some slight modifications, she could easily pass for the real thing.

It was a pity that the girl before him was born into a marquis’s family. The disappearance of such a well-known person would surely cause an uproar, and it would be impossible for her to openly appear by the Seventh Prince’s side in the future. So no matter how similar her appearance was, they would have to give up on her. She wasn’t as easily controllable as the girl they had found in the brothel.

“Yi Niang, are you alright?” Zhu Ziyu and the others finally caught up.

Seeing Zhu Ziyu’s anxious expression, Jiang Yi suddenly felt weak in the knees and almost burst into tears.

Zhu Ziyu quickly stepped forward, embracing Jiang Yi and comforting her in a gentle voice.

Amane rushed over and hugged Jiang Si, her voice trembling, “Miss, you scared this servant to death!”

Jiang Si patted Amane, signaling her to let go, and walked silently to the startled horse.

By now, the horse had calmed down and was standing quietly under the tree, sweating profusely and listlessly swishing its tail, completely unlike its agitated state earlier.

Amane hurriedly pulled Jiang Si back, “Miss—”

“It’s fine,” Jiang Si said, walking a few steps around the horse.

Old Qin came over.

“Old Qin, why do you think this horse suddenly got startled?” Jiang Si asked.

Old Qin stepped forward to carefully examine the horse’s mouth and nose, then frowned and said, “Generally speaking, when a well-trained horse suddenly gets startled, it could be because of foreign objects mixed in its feed that make it agitated, or it might have sudden physical discomfort, or it could be frightened by external disturbances. Everything was normal on the road earlier, so we can rule out external interference. I just checked, and this horse has no obvious external injuries, so whether it’s physical discomfort remains to be seen. As for whether there’s a problem with the feed, we’d need to examine the leftover feed to know…”

“Couldn’t we also tell by examining the food remnants in the horse’s stomach?” Jiang Si asked.

Old Qin was taken aback, stumbling over his words. After a moment of silence, he replied, “That would depend on the situation. If the foreign objects mixed into the feed haven’t been fully digested, an experienced veterinarian might be able to find the cause. But if it’s already been completely digested, it would be difficult. And to use this method to determine the cause, we’d have to cut open the horse…”

He wouldn’t even blink at killing a person, so killing a horse was certainly not an issue. What surprised him was that the young miss had thought of this…

Remembering Jiang Si’s composure when he mentioned killing people, Old Qin understood.

Of course, a woman who could harbor someone like him would be exceptionally tough.

Aya, who had been eavesdropping, looked at Jiang Si with horror in her eyes, tightly covering her mouth.

See? How could Miss Jiang possibly be interested in perfume-making as Amane had said? This was Miss Jiang’s true nature.

Amane was also a bit surprised, but quickly showed an indifferent expression.

This horse had nearly caused the miss harm; it deserved to be cut open.

Jiang Si was merely analyzing the situation objectively, but seeing the unusual expressions of the three, she realized she had been misunderstood. However, Aya’s terrified reaction pleased her greatly, so she deliberately didn’t explain and continued to ask, “What about examining this horse’s feces?”

Old Qin was stumped by this question. After a while, he said, “It’s hard to say. Some foreign objects aren’t toxic, they just happen to affect horses, so examining the horse’s feces might not reveal anything.”

“I see…” Jiang Si stepped forward and pressed her hand around the horse’s hindquarters.

The three who noticed this action immediately looked horrified.

They were too naive. The miss’s intention to cut open the horse was nothing compared to this! Calmly touching a horse’s behind was truly shocking! Was the miss trying to make the horse defecate immediately—

Thinking of that scene, the three simultaneously shuddered.

Jiang Si paid no attention to others’ thoughts and focused on touching the horse’s behind.

The startled horse, perhaps never having encountered such a shameless person before, was initially stunned and unresponsive. It wasn’t until this young lady showed signs of continuing her touching indefinitely that it suddenly raised its hind legs.

Amane was greatly shocked and quickly pulled Jiang Si back.

The startled horse kicked a few times but soon calmed down.

Zhu Ziyu came over with Jiang Yi, looking concerned: “Fourth Sister, are you alright?”

Jiang Si looked at Zhu Ziyu, her eyelashes trembling slightly, her voice calm but filled with indecipherable emotion: “I’m fine.”

Zhu Ziyu wore a gentle smile, treating Jiang Si as if she were his beloved sister: “This horse is startled and unpredictable. Fourth Sister, please don’t go near it again.”

Jiang Yi quickly added, “Yes, Fourth Sister, it was too dangerous for you to approach the startled horse just now.”

Jiang Si smiled, “Brother-in-law is right, the startled horse is too dangerous. Earlier, when Elder Sister and I were sitting in the carriage if Old Qin hadn’t arrived in time, who knows what might have happened if the carriage had crashed into a tree or overturned.”

Jiang Yi trembled uncontrollably as she recalled the dangerous situation earlier.

If something had happened to Fourth Sister, how could she face Father? If something had happened to her, what would happen to little Yanyan without a mother?

Just thinking about these possibilities, Jiang Yi was overcome with fear, even more intense than when she was in the out-of-control carriage.

Jiang Si glanced at the quietly parked carriage and raised her chin slightly to ask Zhu Ziyu, “Brother-in-law, where’s the carriage driver?”

Zhu Ziyu scanned the roadside.

A man in his forties came out and knelt before Zhu Ziyu, repeatedly begging for forgiveness: “This lowly one deserves death. It happened too suddenly, and I was thrown off. I failed to protect the Madam and the Young Miss…”

Jiang Si coldly watched the Zhu family’s carriage driver plead for mercy, unmoved.

Jiang Yi, being soft-hearted, sighed, “Let it go. This kind of accident is not something you could have foreseen…”

Zhu Ziyu looked at Jiang Si, his face showing shame: “Although the carriage driver’s mistake was unintentional, he did fail in his duty. Fourth Sister, rest assured that I will punish him severely. Today’s incident is all my fault for not making proper arrangements. I will personally apologize to Father-in-law later…”

Jiang Si listened to Zhu Ziyu expressionlessly, then gave him a cool smile: “Brother-in-law indeed should apologize to Father.”