The truth, however, could not be contained forever, and soon Yan Luo learned of the matter.
While comforting Xue Yao, he pondered how to resolve this issue.
Meanwhile, Fan Zehao, who had gone to the Snow Kingdom to procure an ice silkworm, was currently engaged in a desperate struggle against assassins. Just as he was about to enter the Cloud Kingdom, he never expected that the assassins harbored by the Snow Kingdom's emperor would find them so quickly.
His eyes were bloodshot, and he sustained injuries, but thankfully, his life was still intact. Fan Zehao took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
"Bury these people on the spot, erase any traces, and let's continue our journey," Fan Zehao gritted his teeth, enduring the pain from his wounds, and said in a low voice.
The Chief Minister, looking at the masked prince, felt both heartache and turmoil. He advised the prince, "Master, we are about to leave the Snow Kingdom. Why don't we find a place to rest and travel tomorrow? Your injuries also need to be treated."
On this trip to the Snow Kingdom, they only discovered within its borders how rare and precious the ice silkworm was. Procurement was no longer an option, so they resorted to theft.
For his mother's life, Fan Zehao could no longer afford to worry about losing face. He would only apologize to the Snow Kingdom's emperor once his mother's illness had recovered.
He looked down at the gashes on his body, opened by swordplay. The white cotton inside was stained with red blood, which was slowly congealing, and the wounds throbbed with a burning pain.
He surveyed the men who had accompanied him. More than half were dead or injured, and all of them looked exhausted. After a moment of contemplation, he agreed with the Chief Minister's suggestion.
He parted his thin lips and, with a hoarse voice that burned, said hoarsely, "Alright."
This simple word was enough to invigorate everyone behind him. They could finally rest. Tonight, all they wanted was to find a safe place to sleep soundly.
Snowflakes began to fall from the sky, and the snowfall gradually intensified, quickly burying the bloodstains on the ground. To conceal their tracks, they handled the situation and then disappeared into the small grove.
They vanished with the wind, as if no one had ever passed through.
The snow continued to fall heavier and heavier. Standing under the eaves, Zhao Jiaqi tightened the fur cloak around her and gazed at the snow-covered trees, her thoughts drifting as she secretly counted the days until her husband's return.
It had been more than ten days since she had seen him. She wondered how he was doing.
Su Ya approached, holding a small hand warmer filled with gold-threaded charcoal, and handed it to Zhao Jiaqi. Noticing that the sky had begun to darken, she said, "Let's go inside, Madam. The wind has picked up, be careful not to catch a chill."
She withdrew her gaze with a sense of loneliness and, like a puppet, turned back to the house. "Has there been any news from Yu Meng yet?"
Su Ya paused as she supported her, shaking her head. "No, the county princess has not returned since she left last night. However, I heard that she apprehended quite a few people, both within and outside the estate. I suspect... she is still interrogating them."
The implication was that with so many people captured, the interrogations would take time.
Zhao Jiaqi understood Su Ya's meaning, but she was anxious. She wanted to settle matters within the estate before Fan Zehao returned.
That evening, as soon as she put down her chopsticks, Yu Meng entered the room, dejectedly slumping onto the table. Looking at the delicious and appetizing meal before her, she felt no inclination to eat.
Even though her stomach rumbled, she had no desire to consume anything.
Seeing this, Zhao Jiaqi understood immediately. It must be that no useful information had been extracted.
"Don't be discouraged. Since Cai Lian was able to infiltrate the estate for so long, she must have been extremely cautious. It's normal not to leave any clues."
But Yu Meng was frustrated. She turned, her questioning eyes suddenly losing their usual brightness, and said sullenly, "Mother, even if Cai Lian was careful, she would have left clues. Traces of life cannot be erased. Yet, I've apprehended and interrogated all the young ladies she knew, spoke to, and was close with. The result is that everyone says she was a good person, and not a single person spoke ill of her. Some even find it hard to believe she was a spy."
Growing increasingly indignant, Yu Meng simply leaned back in her chair, finding a comfortable posture. She no longer cared about being a proper young lady or a general; she did whatever was comfortable, completely disregarding her image.
She stroked her chin, recalling the details of the interrogations, trying to see where she might have missed something.
Zhao Jiaqi lowered her gaze, also falling into thought. No one was perfect. However, the fact that everyone believed Cai Lian was not a spy proved that she was intelligent enough not to offend anyone. This indirectly proved that the mastermind behind it all must be even more cunning.
If this mastermind was so capable of predicting their next move, why not consider the opposite perspective?
"Yu Meng, within our estate, did Cai Lian have any contact with anyone?"
"She's a maid. She spoke with and had contact with the servants, both male and female, within the estate. Even Jiaojiao and Yaoyao from your courtyard received purses sewn by her, let alone others."
Contacted everyone?
Could it be that the mastermind was not within the estate? Was her suspicion of Yan Luo mistaken?
"Huh? It seems she never spoke with Brother Yan." Suddenly, Yu Meng remembered this detail and spoke up.
She turned to her mother curiously, staring at her. "Mother, you don't think Brother Yan gave the poison to Cai Lian, do you?"
Before Zhao Jiaqi could nod, Yu Meng shook her head and waved her hands. "That's impossible. Brother Yan Luo is incredibly dull. He spends his days with medical books or fiddling with herbs, wishing for more hours to treat patients. How could he poison anyone? He even treats an ant when it's sick, so how could he kill someone?"
"Impossible, absolutely not. It's definitely not him."
Her triple negation that he was the mastermind only deepened Zhao Jiaqi's suspicion. The more perfect the persona, the kindhearted and detached from worldly affairs, the more poisonous it was. The more beautiful the flower, the more poisonous it was, and lethally so.
Zhao Jiaqi replied, "Everyone saw Cai Lian put poison in the assassins' food, yet everyone says she doesn't seem like a spy."
"That's because these people don't have brains," Yu Meng said. Then she paused, and her own understanding shifted. As if unable to believe Yan Luo could be that kind of person, she murmured, "Within the estate, everyone had contact. To distance themselves from Cai Lian, they deliberately avoided any connection between them, so that no one could catch them? Is that it?"
"So, those who care about these minor details are the ones who are most guilty?"
After a long silence, Yu Meng finally realized, "Everyone gets sick. Cai Lian has been in our estate for many years, yet she never let the estate physician examine her... That doesn't make sense!"
After speaking to herself, she suddenly understood. Yan Luo was the most suspicious.
Thinking of him, Yu Meng then remembered her cousin Xue Yao. She nervously clutched Zhao Jiaqi's sleeve and said with panic, "Mother, Sister Xue Yao really likes Brother Yan... Brother Yan Luo. I even heard Cousin say the day before yesterday that she wanted to marry Yan Luo. This..."
If Xue Yao were to find out that Yan Luo was likely the murderer of their grandmother, she truly didn't know what her cousin's reaction would be upon learning the truth.
Hearing this, Zhao Jiaqi realized that her daughter had understood the relationship between them from the beginning.