Though Tanzhe Temple was delightful, the Grand Dowager had never spent nights away from home all these years. After eating lunch and resting briefly without watching any opera, she sent people to round up the children. After making some additional donations at Tanzhe Temple, she boarded her carriage and slowly made her way back to the capital.

Fourth Lang and Fifth Lang rarely had the chance to play in the suburbs. Both were so excited their little faces were flushed red. They pestered Seventh Miss all the way back, chattering, “Little Uncle took us horseback riding and we toured through the woods. Mother, when can we ride horses again?”

Fifth Lang was also thinking about something else. “In autumn, many fruit trees will bear fruit. Can we come eat the fruit then?”

“Mother, Mother, why didn’t Father come today? Big Uncle even played polo with Guang-gege and Liang-gege for a little while. Big Uncle said we were too small and wouldn’t let us play…” Fourth Lang looked hopeful. “Next time when Father comes, let Father take us to play!”

Fifth Lang nodded vigorously in agreement. “Mother can play too!”

The two children made such a fuss that Seventh Miss couldn’t rest the entire journey. Finally, when the Grand Dowager sent someone to ask, “What do the two young masters have to talk about so much?” they quieted down. But they still lowered their voices and whispered their experiences into Seventh Miss’s ear. Annoyed the whole way, Seventh Miss could only say, “Fine, next time I’ll have your father take you to play—let him take you alone and be pestered to death!”

Mentioning Xu Fengjia, Fourth Lang remembered again. “Father has been so busy lately, we haven’t seen him for several days.”

Seventh Miss had to explain, “Recently he comes home late and leaves early. He only returns after you’re asleep, and Father leaves before you wake up.”

A trace of longing appeared on Fifth Lang’s childish face. He asked Seventh Miss hesitantly, “If Father comes home late again tonight, Mother, could you have him wake us up? Just tell him… tell him we want to see Father!”

Perhaps it was because she wasn’t the brothers’ birth mother, or because Xu Fengjia was still too young and simply didn’t know how to be a father, or because in the first two years of the children’s lives they had grown up in the Qin family and received little care from their elders—whatever the reason, both children were not only well-behaved and obedient, but whenever they sought affection from adults, they were always so cautious, with a touch of timidity.

Seventh Miss’s heart ached. She pulled Fourth Lang and Fifth Lang into her embrace, kissed each on the cheek, and said with a soft laugh, “Of course! If Father doesn’t listen, Mother will… hmm, Mother won’t let him eat!”

After all, he was their birth father. The moment Seventh Miss spoke, Fifth Lang said urgently, “No, Mother is mean! Why won’t you let Father eat!”

Fourth Lang was sharper. “Mother is joking, silly Fu-ge.”

As he said this, he stole a glance at Seventh Miss’s expression, as if confirming that Seventh Miss was only joking and had no intention of mistreating Xu Fengjia.

Seventh Miss felt emotional inside but showed a little smile on her face. “Just wait and see whether Mother is joking or not. You’ll know tomorrow.”

Naturally the two children disagreed and entangled with Seventh Miss for a long while before lifting the curtain to compete for who could look at the night scenery outside first. By the time they arrived home and ate a belated dinner, both were already so tired they were speaking incoherently. Without even bathing, they fell asleep in Guyu and Chunfen’s arms.

Seventh Miss naturally had much more energy than the two children. She went again to Leshan Residence to confirm that the Grand Dowager had settled in, then returned to Mingde Hall. After bathing, she had someone bring a bowl of sweet congee to sip slowly.

After the first night watch, Xiao Huangpu came to see her. Today she happened to be indisposed and hadn’t accompanied Seventh Miss out. Seeing Seventh Miss, she paid her respects, then asked with a smile about the scenery at Tanzhe Temple before pulling a stack of coral-colored paper from her bosom and respectfully presenting it on the small kang table before Seventh Miss.

Seventh Miss’s eyes flashed. She thoughtfully pressed her hand on this stack of smooth, crisp writing paper and said softly, “You succeeded?”

There was a slight tremor in Xiao Huangpu’s voice too, though whether from excitement or vague fear was unclear. She also lowered her voice, leaning close to Seventh Miss. “All the senior maids of any rank at Leshan Residence went out, and even the respectable old matrons followed along to join the excitement. Inside the residence, only Second Sister could cross the threshold of Leshan Residence. The rest were all little maids who swept the yard and fetched water. Everything went smoothly. I went to talk with Second Sister, and the two of us sat in the room for a while. Second Sister brought the things out, and we hurried to copy a set. We checked it over again—not a single number was wrong. I tucked it in my bosom and made small talk before leaving the room. From start to finish, we didn’t encounter a single person. Those who couldn’t go out were all off playing dominoes somewhere—who would be foolish enough to just stand in the yard?”

Seventh Miss let out a long breath from the depths of her heart. She first flipped through the stack of papers and saw that indeed, Xiao Huangpu’s elegant handwriting filled the pages. It recorded a year’s worth of account transactions—which properties were sold for how much silver. Among them, the one hundred thousand taels of silver obtained from selling properties in the twelfth month of Chengping’s second year was clearly listed line by line. Just the properties and shops sold on this one occasion filled an entire page of coral paper.

Seventh Miss exhaled softly and dismissed Xiao Huangpu. “You’ve worked hard. Go rest. Tell your Second Sister that Yang Qi always keeps her word. Once this major matter at hand is finished, I’ll immediately arrange her affairs.”

Xiao Huangpu naturally understood what major matter Seventh Miss meant. She solemnly bowed to Seventh Miss and silently withdrew from the room.

Seventh Miss propped her chin on her hand, casually flipping through the account book before her. Countless thoughts in her heart were like waves, swirling inward and then swirling back out of the sea of her mind.

To drag the Grand Dowager into this, the evidence at hand was indeed sufficient. But once the Grand Dowager was implicated, to protect themselves, the Fifth Branch would likely put all their effort into framing her, making it impossible for the Grand Dowager to defend herself. It wasn’t even impossible that she might die of anger on the spot.

Without the Grand Dowager, the Fifth Branch would be like grasshoppers after autumn—unable to make much of a stir. But… to let Fifth Younger Madam escape justice like this—Seventh Miss was very unwilling.

However, if she wanted to expose Fifth Younger Madam’s actions to public scrutiny, the current evidence really had too little persuasive power. The Grand Dowager was like a great mountain, blocking all the clues at herself, thereby protecting Fifth Younger Madam, who hid behind her, too well.

By the second night watch, Xu Fengjia also returned.

As soon as he entered the room, he waved his hand and instructed Lixia, “Quickly prepare hot water. I’ve sweated through my clothes several times today. If I don’t bathe, I’ll go rancid!”

He came over to look at the sweet congee in Seventh Miss’s bowl, which was only half-finished. “If I don’t watch you, you won’t eat properly! You can’t even finish one bowl of congee—how can this do? When I’m done bathing, I’ll deal with you!”

Seventh Miss hurried to help him remove his outer robe, asking, “Have you eaten dinner? Should I arrange for some snacks to be brought up?”

As she spoke, she noticed that the corner of Xu Fengjia’s outer robe was faintly stained with blood. She turned her head and called Lixia over to take the garment, saying, “This robe probably can’t be washed clean. Throw it away.”

Xu Fengjia seemed to be in a good mood today. As he walked toward the washing room, he said, “Just have them prepare a bowl of noodles. Tonight I just want to eat a bowl of Suzhou-style eel noodles—I don’t have an appetite for anything else.”

Hearing him say this, Seventh Miss also felt her appetite stirred and became hungry. She instructed Lixia, “Make me a bowl of yellow croaker noodles too. If there’s no yellow croaker, then shrimp noodles, plain and simple—definitely don’t add shrimp oil.”

By the time Xu Fengjia emerged, two bowls of noodles had also arrived. The couple ate most of their bowls with their heads together before Seventh Miss put down her chopsticks and told Xu Fengjia, “The thing from Grandmother’s residence—we’ve copied it out.”

Xu Fengjia immediately stopped his chopsticks, glanced at Seventh Miss, then said, “Let me finish eating first!”

He swallowed the noodles in a few bites, then picked up the papers to look through them while saying, “What a coincidence—I also have good news here today.”

Seventh Miss couldn’t help raising an eyebrow, asking half-skeptically, “In just a few days, Qiu Zhi has already confessed?”

“With torture, no matter how tough a man is, after four or five days without sleep, he’ll tell everything.” Xu Fengjia said lightly, then put on a cheerful expression to tease Seventh Miss. “Guess who in the household he actually had contact with?”

Seventh Miss glared at him but didn’t speak. Unable to keep his own secret, Xu Fengjia said resentfully, “After four days of beating, he finally told me he’s the distant cousin of Wu Xun’s wife. Wu Xun instructed him to do everything. He doesn’t know who the person above really is, only that this person has always been very generous, willing to promote him, and extremely capable. So he’s always followed Wu Xun’s instructions to do things.”

“Then your injury…” Seventh Miss couldn’t help drawing out her voice.

“He did mention the injury—said the person above instructed him to do it. But such things are just verbal claims with no proof, so I didn’t have him write it down.” Xu Fengjia’s tone became flat again. “When Father hears about his business dealings, he’ll understand.”

Seventh Miss nodded, then said, “According to what you’re saying, this kinship relationship can be proven with evidence, correct?”

Xu Fengjia looked at Seventh Miss with a smile. “This truly was an oversight—have you forgotten? They’re clan cousins. The Wu family isn’t some vagrant poor household either. Births, deaths, marriages—all of those go into the genealogy.”

Only then did Seventh Miss understand, and she couldn’t help blaming herself. “Oh my, I forgot that Wu Xun’s family is also from Hebei. Otherwise, a few months earlier, we might have directly investigated his background, and where would we need such trouble!”

Her spirits lifted greatly. “With this relationship, the matter can be accomplished. This matter—whom do you plan to have handle it?”

“Commander Liao is already on his way to Hebei.” Xu Fengjia sipped his tea and said slowly, “If things go smoothly, he can return in two or three days. With this key evidence, the matter will be much easier to handle.”

Seventh Miss suddenly laughed. “This time, Fifth Sister-in-law still lost because of her arrogance.”

Xu Fengjia couldn’t help raising one eyebrow, casting her a questioning glance.

“If Fifth Sister-in-law weren’t so confident—confident that her schemes would never be exposed by me—how could she rashly send out the Wu Xun family to charge into battle, not only losing a major piece for nothing, but also making Father deeply convinced of the connection between them?” Seventh Miss analyzed softly for Xu Fengjia. “And how could such a small flaw give us leverage over her, leading to complete defeat? Making things difficult for me was the only wrong move she made. Her future downfall and disgrace will all stem from this one step.”

She half sat up and said in a low voice, “This matter still needs to be told to Mother. I think you should find a day to go to Xiaoshan Mountain and tell Mother everything from beginning to end, and also ask for her opinion.”

Although Madam Xu had now retired, she was still the household’s rightful mistress. For such a major matter, even if Seventh Miss wanted to act on her own, she had to go through the formalities first.

Xu Fengjia’s expression immediately softened. He looked at Seventh Miss with something close to admiration. “We’ll do as you say. As soon as the genealogy returns, I’ll immediately go to Xiaoshan Mountain to speak with Mother.”

He paused, then asked Seventh Miss, “The matter of the one hundred thousand taels—do you also plan to expose that?”

Seventh Miss shook her head without hesitation. “The one hundred thousand taels, including the matter of the sea vessels—there’s no need to expose it now. It would only muddy the situation. I have other arrangements for this matter. Whether or not Grandmother is innocent in Fifth Sister’s death—just by looking at her reaction to this matter, we can know one or two things.”

She sneered again. “Recently I’ve been constrained by Leshan Residence without properly reciprocating Grandmother’s ‘gift.’ This one hundred and fifty thousand taels in ship deeds—don’t compete with me for it. I’m very much looking forward to personally presenting it before Grandmother so she can see what excellent grandsons and granddaughters-in-law she’s raised!”

Xu Fengjia was suddenly stunned. He examined Seventh Miss carefully and said in a heavy voice, “What, has Grandmother been continuously using the concubine matter to pressure you in private? I thought that after I made my attitude clear…”

“You still don’t understand—in this world, if a man doesn’t take concubines, it must be because his wife is not virtuous.” Seventh Miss sighed, then waved her hand and said softly, “Let’s not talk about such unpleasant things. It’s settled then. Another day I’ll have a talk with Yu An. It would be best if she could step forward to identify Xiao Songhua. Then the entire chain would be complete, and even if Father wants to find fault, he probably won’t be able to pick it apart so easily.”

Mentioning Duke Pingguo, Xu Fengjia’s expression darkened again. He was silent for a while before saying with difficulty, “Father won’t be partial to that degree. After seeing the evidence, even if he still wants to smooth things over, at least toward Fifth Sister-in-law, he definitely won’t be lenient.”

As Duke Pingguo’s own son, Fifth Young Master naturally couldn’t suffer too fatal a blow—even a vicious tiger won’t eat its cubs. But Fifth Younger Madam was a different story.

Embezzling public funds, poisoning the heir’s wife, hiring assassins to murder the heir—each matter pulled out individually was enough to destroy an ordinary commoner’s family. Even though Fifth Younger Madam came from a prominent family and her natal family had considerable power, these three matters together were enough to utterly disgrace her with no hope of recovery.

Seventh Miss thought of Fifth Miss’s deathbed request and couldn’t help sighing deeply.

Three years after Fifth Miss’s death, she had finally fulfilled her promise to Fifth Miss. The true murderer who killed her seemed to have completely surfaced and received her due fate.

When would she be able to fulfill her promise to Ninth Yiniang—to bear a lovely grandson or granddaughter for Ninth Yiniang?

Seventh Miss’s thoughts drifted away. Wang Buliuxing, saffron… one familiar medicinal herb name after another was like little pebbles creating ripples in her mind.

She suddenly sighed irritably again, murmuring to ask Xu Fengjia, “Tell me, why besides wang buliuxing was there also a dose of saffron?”