Feng Jiu’er stared at them for a long moment, one glance after another. After a while, she said flatly, “All of you, lift your heads.”

The five people kneeling in the hall raised their heads at the same time, looking at her.

“Think carefully. Besides all of you, who else came near today? Especially you, Hongmei — you were the one who brought the porridge to Physician Jiang.”

“This servant remembers now,” Hongmei said, her eyes widening. “On the way here with the porridge, as I passed by the courtyard, a sudden gust of wind came up.”

“The wind was strong, and it blew the handkerchief right out of my hand. I set the porridge down and went to pick it up. Your Highness, I don’t know if…”

“This morning, there wasn’t a breath of wind,” Long Er said, frowning, turning to look at her.

Feng Jiu’er clenched her fists and stood up.

“Where exactly were you when the wind blew your handkerchief away?”

“It was…” Hongmei glanced outward. “It was just outside the west wing, on the path in the garden to the left.”

“Take me there.”

Just as Feng Jiu’er was about to step forward, a large hand reached over and took hold of her small one.

Di Wu Ya said nothing, only gazed at her tenderly.

“I’ll go with you.” She must still be in pain!

Di Wu Ya knew his own strength, yet he had still hurt her without restraint.

She was the one factor he could never control.

Feng Jiu’er glanced at the man and, indifferent, let him lead her away.

How could she have known that the man who had been so tender and gentle a moment ago would turn as wild as a beast the next?

More importantly, for all his elegant, dust-free bearing, at his core he was a wolf that could never be fed enough!

Feng Jiu’er felt like she had boarded a pirate ship, and there was no mistaking it — surrounded on all sides by a vast, endless sea, with no telling when she’d ever reach shore.

Di Wu Ya sensed the girl’s resentment toward him. He stretched out his long arm and pulled her straight into his embrace.

“Wife, are you still in discomfort?”

Feng Jiu’er looked up at him, brows knitting, as if to ask: what did you just say?

With so many people around, was it really appropriate for him to ask that here?

“What, wasn’t one whole night enough?” Qiaomu turned her head, glanced over, and arched a brow.

Feng Jiang was fine, so she was at ease.

“Sorry for disturbing you two so early!”

Feng Jiu’er glanced at Qiaomu and said in a low voice, “Mind your own business, you two!”

At a time like this, she still had the mood to tease others — this sister-in-law really had nerve!

Qiaomu said nothing, striding forward.

Someone had tried to hurt her husband — how could she possibly let that go?

Soon, everyone followed Hongmei to the garden she had described.

The garden was quiet, with no one around.

“It was right here.” Hongmei stopped and pointed at the path ahead.

“That’s when the sudden gust of wind came.”

She looked around, brows knitting.

“I don’t know where the wind came from either. Either way, it was strong.”

Feng Jiu’er walked forward a few steps and picked up a leaf from a shrub.

Holding the leaf, her gaze shifted and landed on a nearby roof eave.

“From the north?”

In summer, north winds didn’t normally blow — and besides, Long Er had said there’d been no wind at all today.

Without a word, Qiaomu strode forward and leapt lightly onto the eave.

To the left of the eave grew a tall tree, some distance from where Feng Jiu’er stood.

If not for a very strong wind, the leaves would never have landed there — and there wasn’t just one or two of them either.

“Qiao, come down.” Feng Jiang, who had come out a step behind, reached out to grab her but caught only air.

Feng Jiu’er hadn’t meant to let Qiaomu go up there either — this woman’s body hadn’t even fully recovered yet!

Qiaomu ignored the person below. After checking things over, she leapt lightly back down to the ground.

“Jiu’er, not a trace to be found.”