Separated by just a curtain, the sound of the woman getting out of bed could be heard.

A-Man was dumbfounded.

Jiang Si pointed to the west room.

A-Man, carrying the unconscious man, ran off immediately.

The west room was not as good as the east room, lacking even the half-torn cloth curtain. Fortunately, it also had an earthen kang by the window, providing a place to hide in a hurry.

A-Man carried the man onto the kang, only then realizing belatedly: Oh no, she had left her mistress behind.

Jiang Si, however, was much calmer. Listening to the woman’s footsteps, she took out an object and placed it on the ground, then stood close to the wall.

The woman walked out groggily, calling out repeatedly, “Niuniu, Niuniu, have you come back?”

After not seeing her for some time, the once charming tofu seller had become a mere shadow of her former self.

She seemed to be in a state between sleep and wakefulness, completely unaware of Jiang Si’s presence nearby. She walked straight ahead, stepping on the object Jiang Si had just placed on the ground.

A faint sound was heard.

Madam Xiu stopped, bent down, and picked up the object.

In the dim light, the object in Madam Xiu’s hand was dark, its outline barely discernible.

It was a hairpin.

Jiang Si wasn’t certain if the hairpin belonged to Madam Xiu’s daughter, but it was a possibility.

The copper hairpin had fallen among the peony flowers. It could have belonged to Madam Xiu’s daughter, or it might have belonged to one of the previously victimized girls.

Jiang Si was using this copper hairpin to test Madam Xiu’s reaction.

If the hairpin truly belonged to her daughter, it would facilitate the smooth execution of the illusion later.

Madam Xiu stared blankly at the copper hairpin in her hand for a moment, then suddenly burst out with a cry: “Niuniu, Niuniu, you’ve come back!”

Madam Xiu seemed to awaken suddenly, rushing out like a whirlwind, looking around the empty courtyard.

“Niuniu, come out quickly! My Niuniu, Mother misses you so much, really misses you… Mother knew you would come back…”

A-Man tiptoed to Jiang Si’s side, her eyes full of sympathy as she watched the seemingly deranged Madam Xiu.

Jiang Si let out a soft sigh.

The love of parents is boundless, but Madam Xiu’s daughter was sleeping eternally beneath the peonies, never to return.

She couldn’t bring back Madam Xiu’s living daughter, but at least she could help Madam Xiu seek revenge!

After crying and shouting in the courtyard for a while, Madam Xiu opened the gate and ran out. Her heart-wrenching cries could be heard from afar: “Niuniu, where are you? Why are you hiding from Mother? If you just come out, Mother will give you anything you want—”

In the middle of the night, Madam Xiu’s cries almost spread through half the village. Soon, neighbors came out, shouting in annoyance: “Madam Xiu, stop it! Your daughter can’t come back. You’re disturbing everyone’s sleep every day!”

“You’re talking nonsense! What right do you have to say my daughter can’t come back? She has returned, she has returned!”

There was a commotion outside, and someone else tried to persuade: “Let it be, let it be. Madam Xiu is pitiful too. Why argue with her? Let her cry it out. She’ll sleep when she’s done.”

Heavy sighs could be heard.

A-Man, hiding by the gate, asked softly, “Miss, this servant thinks Madam Xiu has gone mad. Why did you want to find her?”

“Don’t speak in a moment, just watch.” In the darkness, the young girl’s voice was exceptionally calm, with an inexplicable determination beneath that calmness.

Madam Xiu, barefoot, ran around and stumbled back: “Niuniu must be waiting for me in the house. Niuniu said she was going to buy me osmanthus cakes…”

A-Man, despite being able to take down several men, had a very soft heart. Hearing this, tears fell from her eyes.

So Madam Xiu’s daughter had gone missing while buying osmanthus cakes for her mother. How pitiful Madam Xiu was…

Seeing Madam Xiu about to run into the courtyard, Jiang Si hurriedly returned to the west room with A-Man.

A-Man was very nervous: “Miss, what if Madam Xiu comes to the west room?”

She could knock out that scoundrel with one blow, but she found it hard to raise a hand against the pitiful Madam Xiu.

Jiang Si didn’t answer A-Man’s question. Instead, she pulled out the hairpin holding up her hair, letting her black tresses cascade down like a waterfall.

“Miss?”

Jiang Si stroked the doorframe, quietly watching outside.

Madam Xiu, with disheveled hair, ran in. Perhaps in her haste, she stumbled forward after climbing the steps, falling at the entrance of the main room.

The copper hairpin in her hand fell, landing not far away.

“The hairpin, Niuniu’s hairpin…” Madam Xiu stretched out her hand and crawled forward. Her face was pale, her expression wild, like a vengeful ghost crawling out of hell, returning to the world of the living with despair and hope.

A-Man instinctively took half a step back.

Jiang Si turned her palm upward, and tiny points of light emerged from her palm, flying towards Madam Xiu along the ground with a faint glow.

The illusory fireflies entered Madam Xiu’s left ear, exited from her right ear, and finally returned to Jiang Si’s palm.

Throughout the entire process, no one except the master of the illusory fireflies noticed anything.

Madam Xiu was still struggling to crawl forward to reach the copper hairpin, and A-Man still had her mouth slightly open in shock.

At this moment, a voice softly sounded: “Mother—”

A-Man quickly covered her mouth, almost crying out as she watched Jiang Si slowly walk toward Madam Xiu.

Oh, Miss, this is too scary!

Madam Xiu’s reaction was even stronger than A-Man’s.

She forgot about reaching for the copper hairpin and suddenly looked up, staring blankly at the young girl standing not far away.

The young girl’s hair reached her waist. Because there was no light, her fair face appeared hazy in the darkness.

“Niuniu—” Madam Xiu excitedly scrambled to her feet.

The young girl’s voice was calm and steady: “Mother, don’t come near me, or I’ll have to leave.”

Madam Xiu abruptly stopped her rush forward, speaking incoherently: “I won’t come near, Mother won’t come near. Niuniu, don’t go…”

After a moment, Madam Xiu gazed at her daughter in a daze: “Niuniu, where have you been all this time? Mother has missed you so terribly…”

The young girl let out a soft sigh: “Mother, your daughter is already dead.”

A-Man, hiding in the west room: “…”

Madam Xiu suddenly covered her mouth, her whole body shaking like a sieve.

She looked like she wanted to rush forward and embrace the daughter she had been longing for day and night, but remembering her daughter’s words, she didn’t dare move an inch.

“Mother, listen carefully.”

Madam Xiu nodded, crying.

Jiang Si felt a pang of sympathy watching this, but she knew this act had to continue.

She believed that this was also what Madam Xiu’s daughter would want to tell her mother.

“Mother, your daughter was killed by the son of Marquis Changxing. The Marquis’s son saw that your daughter was beautiful, took her to the Changxing Marquis’s mansion, violated her, and then killed her, burying her beneath the peonies in their garden. Your daughter sleeps eternally underground, hearing Mother’s calls night after night, which is why she could come to see Mother one last time…”

Madam Xiu bit her lip, making muffled sounds.

A tear rolled down the young girl’s cheek: “Mother, your daughter died a terrible death. You must avenge her—”

“Revenge?” Madam Xiu’s eyes slowly moved, suddenly flashing with a piercing cold light. “Mother will kill that beast, kill that beast to avenge my child!”

A sigh was heard: “Mother, you must not seek revenge directly from the son of Marquis Changxing. The Changxing Marquis’s household is not something ordinary people like us can challenge. If you were to be harmed by the Marquis’s son, your daughter would not rest in peace…”

Madam Xiu was stunned, murmuring, “How should Mother seek revenge?”