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Lady Luo lay peacefully in the coffin. Although she no longer breathed or spoke, her presence from life still lingered, making even the attendants guarding the coffin hesitant to meet her gaze, even with her eyes closed.
Xing Ruyi nodded at Luo Butler and reached inside, gently pushing up Lady Luo's chin.
On Lady Luo's neck were two distinct purple bruises, overlapping slightly in the middle, but the points of force and resistance were different.
Seeing Xing Ruyi staring intently at the marks on Lady Luo's neck, Luo Butler felt a mix of confusion and unease as he glanced at the accompanying Young Lady Yunxi.
"Young Lady, who is this young lady?"
"Luo Butler has been with the household for a long time, so I don't want to hide this from you, Yunxi. I'm sure you've heard some rumors around the estate."
"Is it about that incident?"
Luo Butler's expression changed slightly.
"Yes, it's that incident." Yunxi said as she stepped beside Xing Ruyi. "This is Xing Gu Niang, the adopted sister of Lord Chang."
Upon hearing this, the butler fell silent, casting an incredulous glance at Xing Ruyi before lowering his head and quietly stepping aside.
Being a steward in Ruo Mansion meant that even without being exceptionally skilled, one knew how to assess situations. Now that Master was gravely ill and there were disturbances in the household, it was clear that the one who would take charge in the future would be Young Master Luo Ping. The Eldest Young Master favored this Young Lady greatly, so the butler dared not offend her.
Moreover, the current situation was evident; the Young Lady had brought someone here to uncover the cause of Matriarch's death. No matter how capable he was as a steward, even if Master himself stood here, he likely wouldn't be able to do much.
Seeing that the butler had made his stance clear, Yunxi lowered her voice slightly and asked Xing Ruyi, "Have you found the answer you seek by coming here?"
Xing Ruyi tugged at the corner of her mouth, revealing a faint smile.
"Matriarch Luo did not die by suicide; she was murdered! Aunt Sheng, it would be hard for you to make this trip, but please inform Brother Chang of the outcome."
"It's no trouble, I'll be back shortly." The Deer Lady nodded. "Please take care of my shopkeeper. The Luo family affairs are complicated, and my shopkeeper has just recovered from a serious illness. I don't want her to be overworked and end up being bullied again."
"Don't worry, Ruyi was brought in by Yunxi. I can't guarantee anything else, but this Young Lady of the Luo family is not without her merits."
Yunxi spoke as she surveyed the surroundings of the mourning hall.
"If I cannot ensure the safety of the young lady within the residence, then there is no need for me and this child in my womb to remain here any longer."
Upon hearing this, Steward Luo lowered his head even further. The maids and servants attending nearby dared not make a sound.
After the Deer Lady left, Xing Ruyi turned her gaze back to Matriarch Luo's neck and said to Yunxi, "You must have seen the two strangulation marks on Matriarch's neck just now. It is undeniable that she died from asphyxiation. However, a person who dies by suicide typically leaves only one mark below their neck, which is this one."
Xing Ruyi continued, gently lifting Matriarch Luo's chin again: "Unfortunately, this mark was not left while she was alive; it appeared after her death. This other mark is the actual cause of Matriarch's death. Young Lady, please take a closer look at this mark; doesn't it seem somewhat different from the previous one?"
"Now that you mention it, I do notice that these two marks are indeed somewhat different."
"This fatal mark was left when someone suddenly strangled Matriarch from behind. Young Lady, look here." Xing Ruyi signaled for the steward to help lift Matriarch Luo's upper body and then pulled aside her collar to show Yunxi: "This knot at the back of her neck formed a similar mark; it was left by the Criminal during the act and is the true cause of Matriarch's death.
Without needing Fox Demon’s insight, Young Lady knows well that there are not many who could take advantage of Matriarch Luo's unguarded moment to strangle her in this household."
"That's right! My mother-in-law was not close with many people." Yunxi glanced at the steward: "You heard what Ruyi just said, didn't you? Considering the time, Lord Chang should be arriving soon. With Father-in-law seriously ill, my husband is now the only one capable of managing matters in the Luo family. Please ask the young master to come over and convey some of Ruyi's urgent words to him so he can be prepared."
The steward agreed and left the mourning hall.
"Now that we have some clarity on my mother-in-law's situation, what about that old woman? Could it be that she was also killed by the same person?"
"Whether it is or not, we will know once we take a look."
According to Xi Er, Lady Luo's soul has already been taken to the underworld by her. There is no direct enmity between Xi Er and Grandma, so she likely wouldn't go out of her way to bring Grandma's soul along to the underworld. If she wasn't taken to the underworld, then where would Grandma's soul be?
The answer is: the land of the dead.
After a person dies, if there is no Ghost Messenger to guide them, their soul will linger in the same place. If they arrive in time, Xing Ruyi might still be able to see this Grandma.
"Has anyone died in this courtyard before?"
Xing Ruyi activated her Ghost Eye and saw two circles of varying depths of black mist swirling above the courtyard. Even Yunxi felt that this place seemed colder than others; she rubbed her hands together, cupped them, and breathed heavily into them.
"I vaguely heard someone mention it. It was a maid who made a mistake and was punished by kneeling in this courtyard. That night, it snowed heavily, and the maid ended up freezing to death."
"Is that maid's death related to Grandma?"
Xing Ruyi rubbed her hands together again and exhaled warm breath.
"It is related! Grandma was considered a dowry maid of the matriarch, so her status was certainly different. The frozen maid was bought into the household later and was reportedly not even thirteen at the time of her death."
Yunxi followed Xing Ruyi's gaze upwards toward the sky above the courtyard, even though she didn't know what exactly Xing Ruyi was looking at.
"If this matter were to come up, it wasn't Grandma's intention. She originally just intended to punish that maid a little and didn't think much of it. However, something came up on the matriarch's side that required her attention, and she forgot about the maid still kneeling in the courtyard as punishment. If it were an ordinary maid, she would have gotten up when she couldn't endure it any longer, but this maid was stubborn and remained kneeling without moving, ultimately becoming a snow sculpture. Because of this incident, the matriarch sent Grandma away. But Grandma didn't have a good life afterward, which is why she returned to the Luo Family."
"I never expected that there was such a thing hidden within the Luo Family."
"It's not that Yunxi's heart is cold; it's just that such things are not uncommon among wealthy families. Every family that buys maids has a few unexpected deaths."
Yunxi deliberately emphasized the words "unexpected death."
Xing Ruyi shook her head, not wanting to hear about the dark matters within this grand residence. She took a deep breath and pushed open the courtyard door, only to find three sets of unusually distinct footprints in the yard.
"On the day Grandma was discovered dead, how many people came into this courtyard?"
"There should have been only Luo Butler!" Yunxi recalled carefully: "After discovering that my mother-in-law had hanged herself, Father-in-law ordered the butler to summon Grandma for questioning. The butler then reported back that Grandma was dead. After that, Father-in-law instructed the butler to remove Grandma's body and specifically ordered not to disturb the scene so that people from the Government Office could come to investigate."
Xing Ruyi responded with an "mm," carefully examining the footprints on the ground. At first, she was puzzled as to why there were only three sets of footprints at the scene. Then she suddenly remembered that she was currently using Ghost Eye. The Ghost Eye can see what ordinary eyes cannot discern, so these three sets of footprints appearing before her must be related to the murderer.
These three sets of shoe prints looked quite strange; they were arranged in a row, with each pair of prints consisting of both left and right shoes together. The middle print was long and large, indicating it belonged to a man, while the two outer prints belonged to two women. The prints extended towards Grandma's Bedroom.
"These footprints are too strange!" Xing Ruyi stared closely at them, her brow furrowing deeper.
"What’s wrong? Is there something odd about these footprints?"
"How many people live in this courtyard?"
"Yunxi isn't very clear about past matters, but since Yunxi married into Ruo Mansion, this courtyard has been where Grandma lived alone. Grandma had a peculiar temperament and usually didn't like others around her."
"But judging from these footprints, it seems that when Grandma had her incident, one man and two women entered here."
"One man and two women?" Yunxi was also taken aback: "I can understand one man as the murderer, but who is the other woman?"
Xing Ruyi narrowed her eyes and gestured towards the room: "Perhaps the answer lies within that Bedroom."
Inside the room, everything was tidy and orderly except for a chaotic bed. Additionally, a foul stench of decay filled the air.
"This room..."
Yunxi could only utter a single sentence before she couldn't help but gag.
"Young Lady, it's not easy to go in. Just stand here."
Xing Ruyi stopped Yunxi at the door and steeled herself to walk inside. The closer she got to the bed, the stronger the unpleasant odor became. That smell was familiar to Xing Ruyi; it was the scent left behind after a corpse had decayed.
In front of the bed, there were many wet stains, and the bed itself was damp, as if even the quilt had been soaked in water. Underneath the quilt, something bulged; from its shape, it looked like a person was hidden there.
Xing Ruyi stepped forward, grasped a corner of the quilt, and pulled it up forcefully. A face that had turned pale and swollen from being soaked appeared before her. Xing Ruyi carefully recalled this face and suddenly it overlapped with a certain image in her mind.
"Young Lady, may I ask you something?"
"Please go ahead, miss!"
Yunxi was gently stroking her chest while looking into the room.
"Where is Grandma's corpse now?"
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