The Red Mansion in its bustling glory

Jia Chi died.

He died naked, with a peaceful expression, without a trace of pain.

The severed head rolled on the ground, the large amount of blood spilled out indicating that the person was dead.

At midnight, the Rongguo Mansion was brightly lit up by the screams of several concubines.

Jia Jue had already returned to his courtyard. When he arrived, Xi Ren, She Yue, and Ying Lian were still asleep. Only Qing Wen was watching him with a meaningful look in her eyes.

Jia Jue sighed softly to himself and tiptoed back to his bed—he had already taken off the clothes Qingwen had given him and put them back in their original place—and covered himself with the quilt, pretending that he was still asleep.

Soon, a commotion reached the courtyard.

Xi Ren, She Yue, and Ying Lian were woken up by the noise.

When they woke up, they looked out the window and saw a fiery red glow outside, as if it were on fire—a glow created by countless candlelight candles.

Yinglian was still staring blankly at the fiery red outside the window when Xiren and Sheyue turned to look at Jia Jue.

Jia Jue, as if just waking up, sat up halfway and asked, "What happened outside?"

Xi Ren said, "I don't know yet, but let's get up first. Judging from this situation, it must be something big."

The others quickly got up, dressed, and lit the candles in the room.

The four people sat down in the room, none of them speaking, and an inexplicable atmosphere filled the air.

Yinglian turned to look at Qingwen—she was puzzled. Normally, Qingwen would have started talking and complaining long ago, but today she was silent and staring at Jia Jue in a daze.

She sensed something was wrong.

But she didn't know what was wrong.

-

Soon after, someone arrived.

The person arrived in a great hurry, stumbling and falling as he came. He was wearing a silk robe, but it was haphazardly draped over his body, making him look disheveled.

Jia Jue recognized this person; he had met him on his very first day here—this was the head steward of the mansion, named Lai Sheng.

Upon hearing the surname "Lai," Jia Jue felt a sense of familiarity, as the steward of the Jia family in the capital also shared the surname Lai. Sure enough, after some questioning, he discovered that this Mr. Lai was indeed a relative of the head steward of the Jia family in the capital.

Jia Jue sneered inwardly—it turned out that the position of the head steward of the mansion was also hereditary!

Back to the story, this Lai Sheng stumbled over, and upon seeing Jia Jue, he knelt down and cried out, "Second Master, Master Zhi... he was assassinated, and now... he's already..."

Lai Sheng could no longer speak clearly; his head was drooping to the ground, and tears streamed down his face.

Upon seeing this, Jia Jue quickly stepped forward and said, "Uncle, how could you have been assassinated? Take me there immediately!"

Lai Shengcai swayed as he stood up and led Jia Jue to Jia Chi's residence.

Before leaving, Jia Jue ignored Qingwen's gaze and said to them, "You wait here for me, I'll be right back."

Having said that, he followed Lai Sheng away.

When they arrived at Jia Chi's courtyard, it was packed with people—Jia Dun and Jia Xiao were already there; Jia Jue, Jia Lin, Jia Yao and other members of the Yu generation had also come; Jia He, Jia Cha, Jia Miao and other older members of the Cao generation were also inside, and now they were only waiting for Jia Jue.

Upon seeing Jia Chi's body, Jia Jue cried out, "Ah!" and stumbled back several steps, his arm trembling as he raised it to cover his mouth, his voice a mixture of sobbing and utterance: "Uncle—you—how could you—"

Immediately afterwards, as if all her strength had been drained, she collapsed onto Jia Jue beside her.

"Jue-ge'er!"

Jia Jue quickly called out and helped him up.

Although the person who died before him was Jia Jue's father, there was no trace of sadness in his eyes; instead, he seemed to feel a sense of satisfaction.

So Jia Jue, while supporting him, whispered, "He's still your father, after all..."

Jia Jue's words had already reminded him, and Jia Jue hurriedly hugged Jia Jue and cried out, but it was all bark and no bite, and he didn't shed a few tears.

Fortunately, it was late at night, and although many candles were lit, the light was still dim, so no one noticed anything amiss.

Seeing that the brothers Jia Jue and Jia Jue were in great grief, Jia Dun quickly had several servants help them back to their respective courtyards.

Before leaving, Jia Jue asked his trembling concubine beside him, "Do you remember what the thief looked like?"

The concubine shook her head. "I only remember her holding a piece of cloth to cover her face—she seemed to be wearing white clothes..."

"White clothes?" Jia Jue asked. "White clothes or black clothes?"

These concubines were already frightened, and now that they had just recovered from the sight of the head falling to the ground, they couldn't possibly remember what clothes Jia Jue was wearing at the time. Besides, it was nighttime, and even though the moonlight was bright, it still affected them.

Therefore, when Jia Jue asked this question, they began to doubt their own memories.

"Perhaps...it's black clothing?"

One of the concubines said this.

"If they're dressed in black, they're probably Japanese pirates—masked and dressed in black. That's how they were dressed when I encountered them on the ship."

Upon hearing this, another concubine immediately chimed in, "Yes, it's black clothes!"

She was eager to find a reasonable explanation to put an end to what had happened today—and Jia Jue happened to provide such an option, so her mind automatically modified memories that she herself was not even sure of.

Jia Jue left satisfied.

All that remained were anxious people, filled with anger and fear.

They didn't even consider that it was impossible for a Japanese pirate to break into the Rongguo Mansion alone, take nothing, and just kill someone before leaving.

Jia Jue went into his room.

"I heard... that Master Chi has passed away?"

Seeing Jia Jue approach, Musk Moon asked him carefully.

Jia Jue nodded and said, "I heard from some of the concubines that it was probably done by Japanese pirates—Jia Chi's death was extremely gruesome; even his head was cut off."

Upon hearing Jia Jue's words, Qingwen's face paled slightly, though it was not noticeable in the candlelight.

But this slight change was noticed by Yinglian, who had been watching Qingwen the whole time.

Hearing Jia Jue's explanation, Musk Moon was clearly skeptical—"How could that be? Could it be...?"

Musk Moon stopped mid-sentence, because in her mind, Jia Jue shouldn't make a big fuss over trivial matters, let alone resort to force—even if he was unparalleled in martial arts—Musk Moon knew this when they encountered the Japanese pirates.

For most young masters of this era, a maidservant—or even a concubine—was not a particularly important person.