C17 A Drama 1

He certainly hadn't anticipated that instead of securing a reward, he'd earn himself a stinging slap from the nanny. Had he known, he would have never shown up.

The nanny, upon hearing his plea for a reward, immediately knew his motive. "You haven't even figured out what's going on, and you dare ask for a reward? Get out! Come back when you have something."

With a heavy sigh, the servant turned to leave, dejected. Yet, after just a step, he spun back around. "Nanny, they say that fool from our house and her nurse are still loitering by the A'Bei quarters."

"So, he is there," the nanny muttered, squinting thoughtfully. For some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that the incident at the B Protectorate had something to do with Mu Yunhua.

She didn't buy into the idea that Mu Yunhua, that wretched girl, could be a murderer, but she sensed a connection nonetheless.

Aunt Wan, who had been sitting in her room, overheard the exchange between the nanny and the servant. She smoothed her dress and stepped out, unfazed by the news of the death. A simple burial would suffice; after all, the Crown Prince was due to arrive soon.

As Aunt Wan approached the mansion's grand entrance, she sensed something amiss. The estate was never this chaotic.

Reaching the gates, the clamor was as vibrant as a bustling marketplace.

"Enough of this commotion!" Aunt Wan commanded. The crowd of maids and servants encircling the entrance hastily parted for her.

"Madam has arrived! Make way!"

"Step aside, step aside, the Madam is here."

"The Madam is here, stop gawking."

Mu Yunhua, who had been listlessly standing at the Mu Mansion's gates, perked up at the noise. Lifting her gaze, she saw a ravishing woman, escorted by the nanny, gliding through the throng.

It was no surprise Mu Yuxi inherited such looks, taking after Aunt Wan.

Yet, Mu Yunhua recalled that Aunt Wan's family, the Li's, ran a bookstore, even a chain of them across the Da Xi Kingdom. How could a lady raised in such an environment not exude scholarly elegance, her every gesture infused with the scent of ink and the grace of poetry?

The young Miss Li was exuding a sly, fox-like charm? If Mu Yunhua didn't vividly remember Aunt Wan being one and the same person, she might have mistaken her for Aunt Lan, the woman her father had brought home from the pleasure district.

The saying goes, 'a mouse's son will know how to burrow,' but if that son happens to be the offspring of the neighbor, well, that's another story...

Aunt Wan, initially oblivious to Mu Yunhua's presence, made her way through the crowd with an air of poise. It wasn't until she reached the end that she noticed the gates of the Mu Mansion, usually shut tight, were now flung open, with onlookers swarming around like bees to honey.

One more step and she'd be over the threshold of her own home! The cacophony that filled the air wasn't from the servants within; it was the chatter of the curious crowd outside.

"What's the meaning of this? Who opened the gates?" A guard's death was hardly a matter to fuss over; in any household, servants come and go. But to die is one thing; to broadcast it for public amusement is quite another.

Fueled by her ire, Aunt Wan demanded answers, and a servant hastily whispered, "It appears to have been the Second Miss."

Mu Yunhua?

It took a moment for Aunt Wan to register which 'Second Miss' was meant. Her piercing gaze snapped to Mu Yunhua, who stood out conspicuously.

Yet before their eyes could meet, Aunt Wan averted her gaze, as if even a lingering look would sully her.

​