Chapter 9: How Pitiful

It began to drizzle in the middle of the night.

The spring rain in Jiangling was fine, moist, and silent, yet dense and persistent. Ye Chutang went to close the window, and a few drops of rain splashed onto her cuffs.

She glanced up unintentionally, and in her peripheral vision, she saw the candlelight in the room across the way still burning quietly, outlining a tall and elegant silhouette.

"Rich young masters are truly expensive to maintain..."

He used more candles than anyone else, keeping the room so bright.

Ye Chutang murmured and closed the window.

Consequently, she did not see that, just a moment later, the candle across the way was also extinguished.

Lian Zhou asked curiously, "Master, are you resting so early today?"

Shen Yanchuan let out a soft chuckle.

"Living under someone else's roof, one must naturally follow their rules."

...

The rain fell all night.

The next day, while Ye Chutang was still sleeping, she heard Ye Yunfeng’s voice from outside: "Big Sister! Big Sister!"

Ye Chutang turned over and said lazily

"Don't make noise, Xiao Wu is still sleeping."

Xiao Wu, who had already sat up and played for a while, blinked, then obediently stuck her bottom out and lay back down, snuggling up to Ye Chutang.

Ye Yunfeng hesitated for a second, but continued anyway: "It’s a big deal! Big Sister, come out quickly!"

Lian Zhou watched this scene in the courtyard, feeling a bit strange.

"What’s going on so early in the morning?"

Seeing the excited and thrilled expression on the boy's face, could it be some good news?

Shen Yanchuan was changing his bandages; the two wounds on his chest and lower abdomen had actually begun to heal.

His sword-like brows lifted slightly, and a flash of surprise crossed his eyes.

This injury had persisted for half a month. Because it was poisoned, it had repeatedly festered and refused to heal, causing even the doctors in the capital a great headache.

He hadn't expected that after only two days in this small medical clinic, there would be such a significant improvement.

This Dr. Ye... truly possessed some hidden talents.

Hearing Lian Zhou’s words, he didn't even look up and said casually, "It seems they’ve found the murderer."

Lian Zhou was stunned: "So fast!?"

Although he hadn't gone out to watch when the Cao family came to cause trouble yesterday, he had heard everything clearly thanks to his profound internal energy.

Dying from an allergic reaction to food was extremely difficult to investigate, especially if someone had done it intentionally; it was even harder to find evidence and the truth.

How could they have found the real culprit overnight?

However, the next moment, Ye Yunfeng’s irrepressible, excited voice drifted over.

"Big Sister! They said they’ve found the person who snuck river shrimp to Cao Chengwu!"

Lian Zhou was startled and looked back to see his master’s expression remained calm and composed, without a hint of surprise, as if he had expected it all along.

This—

*Creak—*

The door was pushed open, and the young girl, woken from her sleep, walked out.

Shen Yanchuan lifted his eyelids and glanced in that direction, his gaze narrowing slightly.

She possessed a naturally gentle and beautiful appearance. At this moment, there was a hint of sleepy, lazy fatigue between her distant-mountain brows, and her black hair was simply pinned up with a wooden hairpin. In the drizzling spring rain, she looked like a begonia flower that hadn't quite woken up.

Hazy and inexplicably alluring.

"If they found him, they found him; why are you so excited?" She raised a hand to cover her lips and yawned lightly. "A-Feng, you’re so noisy."

Shen Yanchuan retracted his gaze calmly. The voice drifting into his ears still carried a hint of laziness, like a feather lightly brushing against him, feeling a bit itchy.

Ye Yunfeng scratched his head in embarrassment: "Big Sister, I know I shouldn't have disturbed your sleep, but I’m just too happy!"

He pulled Ye Jingyan over from the side. "Third Brother! You tell her!"

Ye Jingyan had originally intended to wait for Ye Chutang to wake up, but the fourth one was impatient and he hadn't been able to stop him in time.

Meeting Ye Chutang’s gaze, he gathered his thoughts and explained everything: "I was planning to go out to buy things this morning, and when I reached the street, I heard people saying that the person who killed Cao Chengwu had been caught. It wasn't anyone else, but Liu Si from the Cao family. He was Cao Chengwu’s servant. Yesterday, when Cao Chengwu was having a late-night snack, he secretly put river shrimp meat into it. Later, he specifically made excuses to send others away, which led to Cao Chengwu having no one by his side when his illness flared up, and he died just like that, without a sound."

Ye Chutang’s dark brows lifted: "It’s only been one night, and they’ve investigated it so clearly?"

Ye Yunfeng couldn't contain himself, his face beaming: "Big Sister, you’d never guess! The reason the yamen investigated so quickly is because someone sent an anonymous tip-off letter last night!"

Ye Chutang’s lips curved slightly: "Oh?"

Ye Yunfeng slapped his palm with his fist, feeling excited: "I heard they went to Liu Si’s house overnight and actually found the clothes he wore to the lake the day before, along with some river shrimp shells! He had secretly gone to the lake to catch shrimp the night before last and accidentally cut a big gash on his leg, but he didn't dare to say anything! Who would have thought he’d still be found out!"

Ye Chutang looked at the misty sky.

"A single letter isn't enough to serve as evidence."

At this, Ye Yunfeng became even more excited: "Who says it isn't! That’s why the yamen officials went to the lakeside early this morning and actually found the torn pieces of Liu Si’s clothing! With the evidence ironclad, Liu Si’s legs went weak and he knelt down to confess on the spot!"

Ye Chutang nodded. "It’s raining, so going to the lake to find evidence must have been quite hard work. We should thank the officials properly later."

She had originally thought she would have to wait at least half a day longer.

However, high efficiency was good. With the rain, many traces would have been washed away; if they had delayed too long, it might not have been so easy to find the items.

Ye Yunfeng asked with some surprise: "Big Sister, aren't you surprised at all?"

He hadn't slept well all night yesterday. Although his suspicion had been cleared, it was still a human life after all. How could a twelve-year-old boy act as if nothing had happened?

Ye Chutang flicked his forehead.

"We didn't kill the person; we were just unlucky enough to be implicated. Now that the truth is out, isn't that just right?"

Why think so much about it?

Ye Yunfeng rubbed his forehead, feeling that what his Big Sister said was very right, yet somehow, something felt a bit off.

In his view, this incident was a huge disaster, but in his Big Sister’s eyes, these things didn't seem to count for much—not even worth delaying her extra sleep.

And this calm, composed manner of taking it for granted that things would be resolved... he had never seen it in anyone else.

It was as if everything was meant to be this way.

It made people inexplicably feel at ease.

Ye Jingyan met Ye Chutang’s eyes and asked: "Big Sister, what should we do next?"

Ye Chutang said: "Go to the yamen."

Ye Yunfeng’s eyes widened: "We still have to go? But isn't this matter no longer related to us?"

Ye Chutang asked: "Liu Si was Cao Chengwu’s servant; why would he kill him?"

Ye Yunfeng hesitated: "It seems... it seems because Cao Chengwu used to beat and scold them every day. Liu Si had long held a grudge in his heart, so he developed the intent to kill!"

"A life for a life." Ye Chutang opened an oil-paper umbrella. Rain splashed down, forming a thin layer of white mist on the ground. "The people at Liu Si’s home must feel like the sky has collapsed by now, right?"

She said softly.

"Now, with orphans and a widowed mother left behind, it’s truly pitiful."