Xiao Yingtao furrowed her brow, and, with no fear of consequences, added, “I get it now. I must have wanted to use Lang Yu to harm Jiu’er.”

“Weren’t you the one who wanted to hit me at first, and kept cursing at Jiu’er?”

“No wonder you changed your mind afterward and even offered to take Jiu’er around the garden — so you’d already planned it from the start.”

“I didn’t.” Seventh Madam met Lei Shenbao’s vicious glare, and her legs felt as if they’d been filled with lead, unable to take another step forward.

“My lord, I really didn’t do it.”

“Lian’er, what exactly happened today?” Lei Shenbao stared at Seventh Madam and asked flatly.

Lian’er was First Madam’s childhood name.

First Madam blinked, stood up, descended a few steps, and knelt down.

“My lord, I’m sorry!”

“I only want to hear the truth.” Lei Shenbao withdrew his gaze and glanced at her.

Seventh Madam stood there, staring at First Madam in front of her, eyes wide, unable to say a single word.

“My lord, I don’t know whether Lang Yu’s death actually has anything to do with Seventh Sister’s medicine.” First Madam lifted her eyes to meet Lei Shenbao’s gaze.

“It doesn’t.” Seventh Madam shook her head fiercely. “My lord, this matter truly has nothing to do with me.”

Her face was ruined now. If she also admitted to killing Lang Yu, her lord would certainly drive her out.

She couldn’t leave the Lei estate — if she left, she’d have nothing left at all.

There was still a chance for her face, wasn’t there? It was just that these useless physicians hadn’t managed it yet — there had to still be a chance.

“My lord, here’s what happened.” First Madam’s gentle voice continued, paying no attention to Seventh Madam.

“Today, when we learned that Miss Long was in my lord’s garden, the eight of us sisters went over together.”

“Afterward, seeing that Miss Long seemed interested in walking around the estate, we didn’t mind, and agreed to show her around.”

“Somehow, Seventh Sister suggested taking Miss Long to the back-hill prison.”

“Once we got to the prison, Seventh Sister…”

“Eldest Sister, don’t talk nonsense!” Seventh Madam ran over and knelt down beside First Madam.

“My lord, that’s right, I did give the medicine to Lang Yu, but it was just ordinary medicine? That… it’s not the first time I’ve used it either.”

“Not ordinary medicine?” Lei Shenbao’s voice dropped to its coldest depth.

“It’s…” Seventh Madam bit her lip, “it’s the kind that lets a person unleash a burst of strength in a short time.”

“That’s not enough to be lethal, I…”

Seventh Madam pulled a medicine vial from inside her robe and stood up.

“So you really did want to harm Jiu’er, didn’t you?” Xiao Yingtao pointed at Seventh Madam, eyes wide.

Qiao Mu stood up with a clang, gripping her silver dragon-tongue spear tightly.

“No wonder you didn’t want me to go in — you vile woman, your life is forfeit!”

“Qiao Mu.” Before Qiao Mu could strike, Feng Jiu’er stood and gripped her arm.

She looked at Qiao Mu, shook her head, and said, “Don’t! Aren’t I fine right now?”

“Jiu’er, that may be so, but this is only our first day here, and already someone wants to harm you — how could Qiao Mu just stand by and watch?”

Xiao Yingtao frowned deeply.

“All of you, sit down properly — Lord Lei is right here.” Feng Jiu’er released Qiao Mu’s arm and patted Xiao Yingtao’s shoulder as well.

The three exchanged a glance and sat down at the same time.

Lei Shenbao looked at them and said softly, “Don’t worry. I won’t let anyone who tried to harm Jiu’er off the hook.”

With a thud, Seventh Madam dropped heavily to her knees on the floor.

“My lord, I was just momentarily possessed by some demon — I didn’t mean it. My lord, please forgive me this once, I’ll never do it again.”

Seventh Madam finally believed that Lei Shenbao meant to favor Feng Jiu’er above all others.

He had never once looked at her coldly before, yet today he watched her with the most terrifying gaze.

But Seventh Madam’s words got no response from Lei Shenbao at all.

The guards took the medicine from Seventh Madam’s hand and delivered it to the physician.

At that moment, nearly everyone’s attention turned to the physician.

The physician poured out the medicine, smelled it for a while, then approached Lei Shenbao and cupped his hands in salute.

“My lord, this is indeed that medicine, and Seventh Madam has used it within the estate before — this isn’t the first time.”

A small dose of this medicine wasn’t enough to kill outright, but it had still claimed quite a few lives. As the Lei estate’s physician, there was no way he didn’t know this.

Seventh Madam’s face turned ugly, but she still stammered, “My lord, I told you, it’s not a problem with the medicine.”

“Maybe Lang Yu’s injuries were simply too severe, and he… he just died.”

With so many witnesses present, trying to pin the blame on Feng Jiu’er now wasn’t something even Seventh Madam thought was wise.

Besides, even a blind man could see how much Lei Shenbao doted on Feng Jiu’er.

“My lord, Lang Yu’s injuries were indeed serious, but the main cause was still the medicine…”

Before the physician could finish, Seventh Madam cut him off. “How is that possible? Impossible! Don’t you dare spout slanderous nonsense — impossible!”

“How do you explain it, then?” Lei Shenbao didn’t even glance at Seventh Madam.

“My lord.” The physician cupped his hands again. “I asked the guards inside the prison, and they told me what condition Lang Yu was in when his sickness struck.”

“It’s almost certain that an overdose of the medicine was what caused his death.”

“This matter cannot be separated from Seventh Madam.”

“Old man, you’re talking nonsense — I’ll kill you!” Seventh Madam dashed wildly toward the physician.

But before she could reach him, two guards seized her, one on each side.

“Let go of me! It wasn’t me! Let go! Old man, did Long Jiu’er buy you off? This has nothing to do with me!”

“Old man, if you don’t tell the truth, I’ll kill you!”

She struggled so violently that even the white cloth fixed over her face came loose and fell off.

“Ah—” Seventh Madam immediately clutched her face and knelt on the ground to pick up the white cloth.

“It’s nothing.” She used the white cloth to cover the wound on her face and looked up at Lei Shenbao.

“My lord, I’m fine, a few days’ rest and I’ll be fine, it won’t scar, I’m fine, I’m fine…”

“Drag her out!” Lei Shenbao waved his hand coldly.

“No! My lord, I’m fine, my face is fine, don’t lock me up, I really didn’t do anything wrong, it’s not my fault.”

“It’s…” Seventh Madam once again glared viciously at Feng Jiu’er. “It’s them, it’s them, it must be them.”

If she hadn’t gone to see this woman today, none of this would have happened to her. It was Long Jiu’er — Long Jiu’er had done this to her.

No matter how Seventh Madam screamed, she was still dragged away.

Seeing First Madam still kneeling there, the other madams hurried to their feet and came forward to kneel in the hall.

“My lord, it’s our fault. We were moved to the west wing and felt resentful, so we wanted to go see the newly arrived woman.”

Second Madam knelt down, trembling.

After Second Madam spoke, the other madams also lowered their heads one by one.

“My lord, we’ll never dare again, please spare us this once.”

“My lord, we won’t dare.”

“My lord, we didn’t do anything — it was all Seventh Sister, Seventh Sister kept pushing Miss Long.”

“My lord, we really didn’t do anything, and we never will again.”

“My lord, we know we were wrong, please forgive us all!”