Who said the eldest daughter is crazy? She's clearly a woman of high rank and influence in the

He took out the black iron plaque with the number "B" from his waist and placed it on the table. Then he took out a piece of paper folded into a small square from his pocket, unfolded it, and pushed it over.

The note read, "Target: Xi Yueli, the eldest daughter of the Xi family. Price: 200 taels. 50 taels already paid as a deposit. The balance will be settled upon completion of the transaction." There was no signature at the bottom, but the last stroke of the character "已" (already paid) was drawn out and ended with a small hook.

Xi Yueli glanced at the paper and the iron plate, then put them into her sleeve. She paused when she walked up to the assassin, looking down at the blood-soaked bandage on his shoulder.

"Go back and tell your superiors," she said, "the deal's done. From now on, no knife is allowed to be pointed at me again."

The assassin looked up at her, his Adam's apple bobbing. The light in the eyes of the frail girl sitting in front of him sent a chill down his spine.

"...Yes," he said.

Xi Yueli turned around and walked to the door, opening the courtyard gate of Jingxin Pavilion.

A night breeze blew in, causing the lamplight to flicker. The assassin stood up from his chair, flipped over, and went out the window. His movements were swift, and he disappeared into the moonlight in the blink of an eye.

Xi Yueli returned to the table and reread the note.

She recognized the handwriting—the elongated "已" (yǐ), the habit of ending with a hook. She flipped through all the account books and receipts handled by Granny Zhang, and every single one of them had this handwriting.

"Qingdai," she called out to the storage room next door.

Qingdai poked half her head out from the crack in the door, her face deathly pale, still clutching the piece of hemp rope in her hand.

She had just been crouching behind the ventilation window of the storeroom and clearly saw her daughter sitting face-to-face with the assassin under the light, "discussing business." She was so frightened that she almost tied the rope around her wrist.

"Go and invite Grandmother. Tell her we have something we'd like her to see at Jingxin Pavilion."

The old lady arrived at Jingxin Pavilion half an hour later.

She was wearing a dark brown outer robe, and the hairpins in her hair hadn't been properly put in her hair. When she entered the courtyard, she saw Xi Yueli sitting under the lamp, with an iron plaque and a piece of paper in front of her.

Xi Yueli pushed the two items in front of her grandmother and briefly explained the situation.

The assassin broke in at night but was captured by her trap. Two items were found on his person, and the assassin confessed that the middleman who hired the killer was someone from the manor.

She didn't mention negotiating with the assassin, only saying, "Prince Chen left some men to help me capture him, and he left his things behind. He has already been taken away."

The old lady picked up the note and examined it under the light, tracing the elongated character "已" twice with her fingertips. She recognized the handwriting.

The Xi family did not split up in Xi Mingyuan's generation. The household accounts were transferred from the old lady to Fang Shi. During the transition period, Zhang Mama handled countless receipts, each with the long, hooked character "已" on it.

"Zhang Mama." The old lady pronounced the name heavily.

"Grandmother, I dare not make a judgment, but all the old people in the manor who can write can recognize this handwriting," Xi Yueli said softly.

"The assassin said the fifty taels deposit was paid last night after dark, in cash, and handed out through the back alley. Grandmother can find out where this money came from by checking the account books."

The old lady clutched the note in silence for a long time. The candlelight flickered around her graying temples, casting a cold, hard outline on her wrinkled face.

She folded the note and tucked it into her sleeve. When she stood up, her movements were much more agile than when she arrived.

"Let's go. To the back room."

The head maid and her men ransacked Zhang Mama's room, finding a blue cloth purse under the bedding. Inside were more than a dozen silver notes worth one hundred taels each. What high-ranking family's maid could save up so much money?

Another receipt for a killer deal was found in a hidden compartment of the dressing table, making the evidence even more irrefutable.

When Granny Zhang was forced to kneel in the courtyard, she trembled like a withered leaf in the autumn wind.

The old lady looked down at her and placed the banknotes and receipts in front of her.

Looking at the two items, Zhang Mama's lips trembled slightly. Suddenly, she prostrated herself on the ground and kowtowed, "Grandma, spare me! Grandma, spare me! I did it myself! It has nothing to do with Madam!"

When Fang was invited to Jingxin Pavilion, the courtyard was already full of people.

She walked into the courtyard wearing her nightgown, her gaze sweeping over Zhang Mama kneeling on the ground, the old lady's ashen face, and Xi Yueli standing beside the old lady.

She knelt down with a thud. "Grandma! I truly knew nothing about this!"

Fang's tears came easily. She knelt down and crawled to the old lady's feet, clutching her skirt with both hands.

"It's true that Granny Zhang is an old servant in my courtyard, but I have never ordered her to do such a thing! Even if I had the greatest courage in the world, I wouldn't dare to hire someone to kill! It must have been Granny Zhang who acted on her own initiative, wanting to avenge me after I was wronged. I really don't know anything about it!"

The old lady looked down at her; her face, streaked with tears, was smeared with makeup, but her eyes, red at the corners, darted around rapidly.

Having lived most of her life, what couldn't she see through? No matter how loudly Fang cried, it couldn't hide her determination to absolve herself of all responsibility. If Zhang Mama admitted it, she wouldn't.

But Zhang Mama knelt beside her, kowtowing until her forehead turned blue, repeatedly saying only, "It was my own doing, it has nothing to do with Madam."

She had followed Fang for over a decade, and her life was bought by Fang from a human trafficker. In exchange for Fang's verdict of "complete ignorance," she was not at a loss no matter how you looked at it.

The old lady glanced at Xi Yueli, her granddaughter standing quietly under the lamp with her eyes lowered, and nodded slightly. The old lady understood the meaning of that nod—that's enough for today.

"Fang was lax in managing his subordinates, condoning those around him to commit murder."

"Effective immediately, the management of the household is temporarily transferred to Li'er. Fang is confined to the Buddhist hall for seven days, permitted only to receive two vegetarian meals daily. Zhang Mama is to be given forty strokes of the cane and sold into slavery."

Fang knelt on the ground, her fingernails digging into the cracks in the blue bricks until they bled, but she didn't utter a sound. Seven days of confinement and the stripping of her power over the household were lighter than she had expected.

She knew all too well the old lady's soft heart, but she also knew what that soft heart meant. The old lady was still saving face for the Fang family, but that face was so thin it was almost transparent.

Two old women lifted her up from the ground and dragged her outside. As they passed Xi Yueli, Fang Shi turned her head, and a venomous hatred shone brightly in her red, tear-filled eyes.

"You wait." She didn't say anything, only her lips moved slightly, but Xi Yueli could see it clearly.

Xi Yueli smiled slightly.

After the courtyard gate closed, everyone in the courtyard gradually dispersed. The old lady patted her on the shoulder and said, "Take a good rest," before being helped away by the head maid.

As dawn approached, Xi Yuefu locked herself in her room and smashed her sixth teacup.

She hadn't eaten or drunk anything since last night. The news that Zhang Mama had been sold off was brought in by a maid early in the morning, and the news that the old lady had personally handed over the keys to the household affairs to Jinxian Courtyard spread throughout the entire mansion half an hour later.

She lay on the dressing table, crying until her voice was hoarse. In the mirror, half of her face was wrapped in gauze, revealing a scar that stretched from her cheekbone to her jawline. It was fresh, pinkish flesh, like a wound that would never close.

Just then, someone gently knocked on the window three times from the outside.

She jerked her head up, tears still clinging to her eyelashes, and saw a note slipped under the window. She rushed to tear it open; it contained only one line of writing, the handwriting unfamiliar and crude, deliberately not resembling anyone else's—

"Want to get rid of Xi Yueli? Go to her room and find something. After that, we'll do it for you."