Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 392 Flaw
The steward worried, "When the Emperor issues his decree, it will cause another upheaval."

Yan Liang got off the ground and walked to the window, where he stopped. His face was taut, as firm as an iron plate.

After glancing at him twice, the butler slowly said, "Actually, the Third Young Mistress is Lord Lu's daughter, perhaps we could..."

Yan Liang glanced at him: "What can a woman like her do?"

The butler remained silent.

"Young Master, Yun Dou in the water dungeon has fainted three times already. I'm afraid she won't last another day or two. Please give your instructions, Young Master."

Someone else walked in from outside.

Yan Liang glanced at the doorway: "Since we can still hold out for another day or two, let's keep it locked up!"

"Yes."

The visitor handed over another item: "I found this on the carpet where the wife had fallen down while I was cleaning the third bedroom."

It's a brand new talisman bag.

Yan Liang took the document and opened it. Inside were his and Yan Qu's birth dates, which must have been made by the Taoist priests chanting scriptures at the mourning hall at Yan Shu's request after Yan Shu's death.

He felt a sharp pain in his heart, clutched the talisman in his palm, and stepped out the door.

The three-bedroom apartment was cleaned up and returned to its original state. Because no one lived there, it even seemed unusually empty.

The servants, carrying lanterns, opened the door for him. Inside, they lit incense sticks to mask the lingering smell of blood.

The blood-stained carpet had long since been removed, and the intact furniture and decorations had all been returned to their original places. Yan Liang squatted down where Madam Yan had lain, stroking the spot where the blood had flowed.

From a young age, he lived with his grandparents and spent less time with his parents than with Yan Qu, but she was still his birth mother. He grew up studying Confucian classics and understood filial piety and brotherly love.

He thought back to the night before his mother died, when he had argued with her. At the time, he felt that with the bigger picture in mind, he had to make a choice between filial piety and brotherly love. Now, he felt that he should not have done that, and it broke his heart.

"Seal off this courtyard and don't touch it again. Invite a Taoist priest to perform a ritual so that Mother can rest in peace."

He stood up.

The servant silently accepted the order and went to call for people to seal the windows.

Yan Liang looked around again and went out the door.

Just as they stepped into the courtyard, a servant trotted up to them: "I'll escort the young master back to his room first. We found a few drops of blood under the back window; it seems a weasel has sneaked in. Please don't disturb the young master."

Yan Liang didn't take it seriously.

He suddenly turned around as he reached the courtyard gate...

……

The bloodstains were on the corner of the back windowsill, two tiny drops, about the size of mung beans, invisible if the window wasn't closed.

Yan Liang reached out his index finger and touched it. The blood had long since dried, and even with the limited light from the lantern, it was still visible that the color was dark brown.

He stared intently for three breaths, then straightened up: "Have any dead birds or the like been found in the surrounding area in the past two days?"

"No," the servant replied. "When we cleaned up the third room, we tidied up the surrounding area and didn't find anything unusual."

"What about in the pond?" Yan Liang asked, gazing at the lotus pond not far away. "Have you tried to retrieve it from the water?"

The servant paused for a moment, then immediately called for the nearest people: "Quickly go into the water and search! Search the surrounding area too!"

……

Startled awake by the lights from the riverbank, Granny Li stood outside the courtyard gate for a moment before stopping a passing maid: "Why are there so many lights on the third branch of the family's side?"

Now that Lu Ying is in charge of the inner quarters, the little maid dared not refuse to answer: "I heard that the eldest young master accidentally dropped a piece of jade into the water, and they are calling for people to retrieve it."

Granny Li nodded and let her go.

She stood there for a moment after closing the door, then went inside and woke Lu Ying: "Young Master went to the lotus pond in the third house, saying he was looking for some jade that had fallen into the water. Hopefully, something's gone wrong." Lu Ying sat up abruptly and asked after a moment, "How long has he been gone?"

“I saw that there were still people from the eldest branch of the family about half an hour ago, so I guess it won’t be long.”

Lu Ying's heart clenched: "The blood that dripped onto Yun Dou's hand was from the parrot in the backyard. When I saw Young Master Shen taking blood, I took the parrot with me. There shouldn't be any problem."

Granny Li stood up: "Then this servant will go and take another look."

Lu Ying stopped her: "Don't go. Going there will only make it easier for us to be exposed."

Granny Li nodded and lay back down on the bed in the darkness.

The air in the room was so still it was as if it had frozen; the two of them didn't dare to make a sound.

She didn't know how much time had passed when she heard the sound of a courtyard gate opening and then closing again. After that, there was a long silence before Lu Ying closed her eyes, exhaled, and sat up again.

"Granny Li, tomorrow morning, please send a message to Swallow Alley and ask my sister to save us."

……

"I cleaned up everything that could be cleaned up. But time was limited and I was in a hurry, so it was hard not to leave any traces."

After receiving the message from Yanzi Hutong, Shen Qingzhou frowned and pondered, "I have already taken the parrot's carcass away. I know where the footprints would be, so I have avoided all of that."

"If there was any mishap, it was only when the blood was splashed on the maid that some of it might have been swept away and landed elsewhere."

Normally, the blood would only be around Madam Yan. It was the plum vase that caused her death, not the sharp object, so it wouldn't cause too much splattering. The blood droplets sprayed on Yun Dou's body were to prove that she was indeed present at the scene.

But it's highly unlikely that bloodstains would be found in more distant locations!

Even if there are only the slightest traces, others might not care, but if Yan Liang sees them, he will definitely not let them go.

"It seems that Ying'er is indeed in danger." Lu Jia folded the letter. "Father, how much longer?"

“Three days,” Shen Qingzhou frowned, “but today can already be counted as one day, so two more days will be enough!”

“I have to help her get through these two days.” Lu Jia stood up. “Granny Qing, go and invite my second and third aunts over immediately.”

……

Nothing was found in the lotus pond.

After the family members searched the area three times, it was already dawn.

Yan Liang had seen his mother's wounds and the extent of the shattering of the plum vase; it had broken when it hit her head, and the blood hadn't splattered very far.

That wasn't a room for servants who did manual labor.

It is where the noble young mistress of the mansion lives.

Moreover, the blood was on the back windowsill.

Apart from the night Madam Yan died, there should have been no other bloodshed.

Judging from the bloodstains, the time was around the time Madam Yan died.

So why were there drops of blood splattered on the back windowsill that was so far away that night?
After standing by the pool for a long time, Yan Liang arrived at the water dungeon.

What kind of person did you say brought you to the scene?

Yun Dou was on the verge of death: "He was dressed entirely in black... and wore a mask, so you couldn't see his face at all... and, and he was very fast, from beginning to end, it only took the blink of an eye..."

"What kind of mask?"

"I can't remember... I only remember that it was carved with eyebrows and eyes... but like the Arhats in a temple, it was very, very scary..."

The fact that he could speak so clearly made it seem less like he was just spouting nonsense.