After the morning greetings concluded, Yun Chu went to Concubine Tao’s courtyard.

Concubine Tao was young, and even though it was a premature birth, it hadn’t affected her constitution. She was already able to sit up and hold the child herself.

Seeing Yun Chu enter the room, she immediately handed the child to the wet nurse and said with a miserable expression: “Madam, you must seek justice for this concubine. This concubine was pushed by Third Young Master, which caused me to fall and led to the child’s premature birth. Madam, look at how small the child is. I don’t even know if he can be raised properly. It’s all Third Young Master’s fault! But the Master actually says it was an accident and won’t punish Third Young Master. How can this concubine swallow this grievance…”

Yun Chu walked over and glanced at the child sleeping in swaddling clothes.

This child was so small despite being only one month premature, while her own son and daughter had been born nearly two months early—they must have been even smaller…

This child was raised with great difficulty yet grew up slow-witted… If her own children had by some chance survived, she wondered what their circumstances would be…

Just thinking about this made Yun Chu’s nose tingle with sourness.

She suppressed her emotions, sat in the chair by the bedside, and spoke: “Concubine Tao, do you truly believe that a child just over three years old, not yet four, would be so malicious as to deliberately push you to cause premature birth?”

Concubine Tao keenly perceived the deeper meaning in these words and quickly asked: “This concubine is simple-minded. Madam, please speak more plainly.”

Yun Chu shook her head: “If someone failed to harm you once, they will naturally try a second time. Yun’er was merely being used. The Master saw this clearly, which is why he won’t punish Yun’er. And that person is the Master’s beloved, so the Master naturally must protect her.”

Concubine Tao’s eyes suddenly widened.

A month ago, she had been schemed against once by Concubine He and nearly had a miscarriage… So this time, it was also He Shi’s doing?

If that vile woman He Shi continued to remain in the Xie family, her prematurely born son probably wouldn’t even survive to adulthood!

“With the Master protecting her, there’s nothing I can do.” Yun Chu stood up. “Rest well and take good care of the young master. In the future, just avoid her.”

With that, she left the room.

Concubine Tao’s face became gloomy as water.

She couldn’t understand why the Master would care so much about that old woman He Shi. Their own flesh and blood had nearly died, yet he still protected that vile woman!

Even more puzzling was this: if He Shi was paving the way for her future child, shouldn’t the person she most needed to scheme against be the eldest young master who had already passed the scholar examination?

Wait—last time she and Concubine Jiang had discussed how the eldest young miss resembled He Shi, and the eldest young master and eldest young miss were born from the same mother. Could it be that the eldest young master was actually He Shi’s child?

But if the Master had such a grown child before marriage, how could the Yun family not have discovered it?

Regardless of the truth, He Shi could not remain in the Xie family. Otherwise, she would suffer a third scheme…

Concubine Tao pressed her lips together and said to the serving maid: “Go ask Concubine Yu to come over. Tell her I want to ask about raising children.”

Yun Chu returned to Sheng Residence.

Entering the room, she saw Tingfeng carefully cleaning the gathered thunder god vine and cautiously drying it on the windowsill.

This was the grand gift she had prepared for Xie Jingyu.

Let this poison slowly corrode Xie Jingyu’s internal organs, let him slowly watch his body lose control, let him watch the Xie family fall to ruin, let him descend into hell.

She truly wished she could stab Xie Jingyu to death with one knife… A person like him who wouldn’t even spare his own flesh and blood should never be reincarnated!

“Madam.” Tingshuang entered and said in a low voice, “This servant has investigated everyone in the residence. The night before you buried the young master and young miss, the eldest young master went to a village near that hilltop. That night, a couple moved away overnight. Upon inquiry, this servant learned that four years ago, that couple gave birth to twins, who were premature and died young, and were buried on that hilltop…”

Yun Chu laughed.

Heaven truly was helping Xie Jingyu—to actually find twins born around the same time as her children who had died prematurely. She had been completely deceived.

Reborn in this life, yet still deceived. How pathetic.

Xie Jingyu and Xie Shi’an were equally hypocritical. No matter how she asked, they would never reveal a single word.

The breakthrough lay with He Shi.

She had originally planned to reveal He Shi’s identity after Xie Shi’an entered the Imperial Academy, which would surely cause bloody chaos.

But she couldn’t wait until autumn.

In the afternoon, while Yun Chu was reviewing the ice shop’s account books in the courtyard, Tingyu came in and said: “Madam, Concubine Tao’s young master was born premature and has a weak constitution. No matter what, this has some relation to Yun’er. This concubine wishes to obtain a peace talisman for Fourth Young Master, as a way of apologizing on Yun’er’s behalf, and also get one for Old Madam while I’m at it. Please grant permission, Madam.”

Yun Chu could tell at a glance what she was planning and nodded, assigning her a coachman.

Since the birthday banquet incident, Old Madam’s health hadn’t been as robust as before. She always had a bit of a cough and kept drinking medicine to regulate it, but showed no improvement.

After drinking her medicine, Old Madam frowned and said: “Regarding Concubine Tao’s premature birth, is Jingyu just not pursuing it?”

Nanny Zhou nodded: “Third Young Master is still young. He probably couldn’t do such a thing. It must have been an accident.”

Old Madam shook her head.

Wei’er was only eight years old, yet could commit such demonic acts as inserting hundreds of needles into a maid’s body. She feared that Yun’er’s body also housed a demon.

Their Xie family had been scholarly for generations—how had they consecutively raised two such scoundrels!

Fortunately, An’er was good. Otherwise, in this vast Xie residence, there wouldn’t even be anyone to uphold the family reputation.

Just as they were talking, a servant reported that Concubine Yu had arrived.

“Greetings to Old Madam.” Tingyu curtsied. “This concubine went to Qing’an Temple this afternoon and obtained peace talismans for Fourth Young Master and Old Madam.”

Seeing that the peace talisman she presented was indeed from Qing’an Temple, Old Madam’s expression softened: “You are thoughtful.”

Although she didn’t like this Concubine Yu who had betrayed her mistress to climb into bed, at least she sincerely obtained peace talismans for her, which was better than that granddaughter-in-law Yun Chu.

“Old Madam, the master at the temple said something to this concubine.” Tingyu lowered her head. “The master said that what happened to Fourth Young Master of the Xie residence is just the beginning…”

“What do you mean?” Old Madam heavily set down her teacup. “Explain yourself clearly!”

Tingyu appeared frightened and quickly said: “The master said that our Xie family has been cursed by one of our own. The young masters will successively meet with misfortune… If we don’t remove the cursed object, the Xie family may face extinction of the bloodline…”

“How dare you!” Old Madam directly threw her teacup at Tingyu. “This is complete nonsense!”

Tingyu shrank her shoulders and said: “Old Madam, it’s better to believe it exists than to believe it doesn’t. Think about it—Second Young Master broke his leg, Fourth Young Master was born premature, Yun’er is now ill too. What if something happens to Eldest Young Master as well…”

Old Madam suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.

Recently, far too many incidents had occurred in the Xie family. Except for Ping’er finding a good marriage, everything else was disastrous.

Could they truly be cursed?

“Old Madam, let the master come examine our Xie residence. If nothing is found, it’s just a loss of some silver. But if something is discovered, it would save the entire Xie family!” Tingyu pleaded. “Old Madam, for the sake of the young masters and the Xie family, this matter cannot be delayed!”