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Unwilling to give up, Zhuang Hanyan found her fiancé, Su Ning, and sure enough, she learned the whereabouts of the original owner of the Zhuang family home from Su Ning.

After the body of the original homeowner, Wu Youzhi, was unearthed with the help of the men sent by Su Ning, Zhuang Hanyan immediately took Wu Youzhi's body to the execution ground.

On the cart, Wu Youzhi's body was covered with a white cloth, with a section of bluish-gray wrist showing as it was jostled around.

"Faster!" Zhuang Hanyan shouted to Jiang Si beside her, her voice hoarse from thirst.

She can now imagine the scene at the execution ground: more than thirty members of the Zhuang family kneeling before the guillotine, the executioner's blade gleaming coldly in the sunlight.

Jiang Si wiped away her sweat, her voice hesitant: "Han Yan, are you sure you want to save them? What about Lord Zhuang's feelings for you and your mother..."

“They all deserve to die,” Zhuang Hanyan said through gritted teeth. The cart rolled over a stone, and the corpses almost slipped off, but she quickly steadied herself. “But not for the crime of treason, not to let my mother die with the stigma of being the family of a traitor.”

"You...and I are so alike."

"Jiang Si, I will definitely listen to your story if I have the chance."

"Will do."

"How is Chai Jing?"

"She's very good! Her master likes her very much."

"..." At this moment, Zhuang Hanyan suddenly realized what Su Ning liked.

However, Zhuang Hanyan didn't have time to think about anything, because after turning the last street corner, the commotion from the execution ground could be clearly heard.

Zhuang Hanyan saw the executioner raising the command arrow, while her father, Zhuang Shiyang, collapsed to the ground.

However, the mother, Ruan Xiwen, stood upright with an almost eerie calm expression.

"Spare his life!" Zhuang Hanyan shouted with all her might.

The moment the arrow fell, she collapsed in front of the execution platform, her blood-stained skirt kicking up a cloud of dust.

The entire audience erupted in uproar, the executioner's blade hovering in mid-air.

"I have evidence to prove the Zhuang family's innocence!" She lifted the white cloth, revealing Wu Youzhi's corrupt face to the scorching sun. "This is the real Prince Shunping, Wu Youzhi! His fingerprints are on the land deed of the Zhuang family's old residence. Please, Your Honor, compare them!"

The executioner frowned and stepped back, ordering the coroner to step forward and examine the body.

Zhuang Hanyan took the opportunity to look at her mother, only to meet a pair of cold eyes.

Ruan Xiwen's face turned deathly pale, and her lips trembled as she uttered a few words, which clearly read from her mouth: "You've ruined my big plan."

Zhuang Hanyan felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave.

Before she could think it through, Zhuang Shiyang suddenly burst into tears: "Your Honor, please see the truth! I bought this house from Prince Shunping. Our Zhuang family has been framed!"

In the chaos, no one noticed Ruan Xiwen's slumped figure, like a shell whose soul had been ripped away.

Zhuang Hanyan was also unconscious, and when she woke up, her throat was burning with pain.

She blinked and saw the familiar green gauze canopy; this was her boudoir in the Zhuang family mansion.

"Miss is awake!" Chen Mama's joyful voice came, and then a bowl of warm water was brought to her lips.

Zhuang Hanyan swallowed greedily, only then realizing that her hands were wrapped in gauze and that her entire body felt as if it had been disassembled.

"How long have I been asleep? The dealer...?"

“It’s been three days.” Granny Chen tucked the blanket in. “The Zhuang family has been exonerated, the master has been reinstated, and the confiscated property has been gradually returned. But…”

She hesitated.

"How is Mother?" Zhuang Hanyan struggled to get up.

Granny Chen held her down: "Madam started a hunger strike after returning from the execution ground, and she won't listen to anyone's advice."

She lowered her voice, "Miss, please forgive this old servant for being nosy, but did Madam say anything before you went to the execution ground?"

Zhuang Hanyan felt a pang of anxiety when she recalled her mother's words, "You've ruined my plans."

She struggled to get out of bed, but her legs were as weak as noodles, and she almost fell over.

"Don't rush, drink this bowl of porridge first." Granny Chen helped her sit up. "There are some things... this old servant thinks you should know."

The porridge was warm, but Zhuang Hanyan had no taste for it.

Granny Chen dragged a dusty wooden box from under the bed and took out a baby swaddle blanket, which was stained with black blood.

"This is the swaddling cloth you were wrapped in when you were born. That year, the madam had only been married into the manor for half a year when the old master suddenly fell ill. On the day you were born, the old master suddenly died, and then you were falsely accused of being a barefoot ghost..."

Ruan Xiwen's courtyard was even more desolate than Zhuang Hanyan remembered.

Wild grass sprouted from the cracks in the stones, and the parrot cage under the eaves was empty.

She pushed open the door to the main house, and a strong smell of medicine hit her.

"Get out." A hoarse voice came from behind the gauze curtain.

Zhuang Hanyan knelt on the footstool, her forehead pressed against the edge of the bed: "Your daughter has come to beg for forgiveness."

There was a rustling sound inside the tent, and Ruan Xiwen suddenly lifted the curtain.

She was so thin she was unrecognizable, with white hair falling from her bun, but what was most striking were her scarred hands, the marks of her nails being completely pulled out clearly visible.

"Do you know how many years I spent planning this?" Ruan Xiwen's voice trembled. "I bribed a Taoist priest to say that Zhuang Shiyang had the countenance of an emperor, lured him to take in Pei Dafu's old subordinates, and even..."

She suddenly coughed, blood seeping through her fingers. "She even used her dowry to support the rebels, just to get them to leave evidence of the collusion between the bookmakers!"

Zhuang Hanyan was struck dumb.

She recalled that rainy night when she happened to see her mother handing a box of jewelry to a masked man.

At the time, she simply assumed it was her mother helping out her family's former servants...

"Why?" she grabbed her mother's hand. "No matter how bad the landlord is, he's still yours..."

"My what?" Ruan Xiwen smiled sadly, "My enemy! Back then, when the Ruan family was convicted, it was Zhuang Shiyang who fabricated evidence of my father's treason! He forced me into marriage just to humiliate the Ruan family!"

She suddenly threw back the quilt. "Look carefully!"

Beneath the skirt were a pair of twisted and deformed legs, with horribly sunken knees.

Zhuang Hanyan felt nauseous, remembering what Granny Chen had said.

"The Taoist priest said that Miss was the reincarnation of the Barefoot Ghost and wanted to bury you alive. The lady knelt all over the mansion but no one helped her. Finally, she pretended to be crazy and said that an evil spirit possessed her, which made the Taoist priest change his mind..."

“They smashed my kneecaps with a hammer,” Ruan Xiwen said with a chilling calmness. “And your father just stood there watching.”

Zhuang Hanyan's tears fell onto her mother's legs.

She finally understood why her mother always showed a strange smile when everyone raised their glasses at family banquets; why servants in the Zhuang family died one after another in "accidents"; and why her mother's eyes flashed with a hint of relief when she heard that the whole family had been sentenced to beheading.

"I'm sorry..." She reached out to touch her mother's leg, trembling, but was pushed away violently before she could make contact.

"What's the point of saying all this now?" Ruan Xiwen turned her face away. "You saved the Zhuang family, what can a cripple like me do?"

Zhuang Hanyan suddenly got up and took scissors from the dressing table.

To Ruan Xiwen's astonishment, she cut off a lock of hair.

"I hereby swear that I will make Zhuang Shiyang pay for his crimes in blood."

She tied a strand of hair around her mother's wrist, saying, "If I break this vow, may this hair..."

With a flash of cold light, the scissors severed the remaining long hair at shoulder length.

Ruan Xiwen finally broke down and hugged her daughter tightly.

Zhuang Hanyan smelled the putrid odor emanating from her mother, mixed with the salty taste of her tears, and felt a warm, damp sensation on her neck.

“Silly child…” Ruan Xiwen stroked her broken hair, “I would rather you never know these things, because these things are too cruel for you?”

“Mother, I’m enduring all kinds of bullying all by myself in Danzhou. Is there anything more tragic than that?”

"..."

Outside the window, a crow landed on a withered tree.

Zhuang Hanyan gazed at the falling black feather and silently moved her lips: Father, it's your turn.

……

Zhuang Shiyang's official boots clattered on the blue bricks of the ancestral hall.

Zhuang Hanyan followed half a step behind him, her gaze sweeping over the black lacquered memorial tablets.

Finally, she stopped at the brand-new memorial tablet at the very front, which was the shrine for her father, whom she had risked her life to save from the execution ground.

"Kneel down," Zhuang Shiyang said calmly.

Zhuang Hanyan lifted her skirt and respectfully performed the three kneelings and nine kowtows ceremony.

Wisps of smoke rose from the incense burner, their sweet aroma nauseating.

"You saved the Zhuang family this time, and I am very pleased with you." Zhuang Shiyang had his back to her, his fingers tracing the grain of the golden nanmu wood on the offering table. "What reward do you want?"

Zhuang Hanyan stared at the black mole on the back of her father's neck, remembering what her mother had said: that was the only thing she could see clearly when Zhuang Shiyang knelt in front of the Ruan family mansion to ask for her hand in marriage.

"My daughter is about to come of age and asks her father to hold a coming-of-age ceremony."

Zhuang Shiyang's turning motion stirred up a gust of wind, and the ashes in the incense burner floated out.

"Coming-of-age ceremony?" A slight smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "I'm afraid... I'll have to deal with the aftermath of the Pei Dafu case these days..."

“Then please allow Mother to preside over for her daughter.” Zhuang Hanyan immediately replied, her eyes fixed on her father’s suddenly gloomy face.

Suddenly, the incense burner burst into a burst of sparks with a "bang".

Zhuang Shiyang's fingers unconsciously rubbed the jade pendant at his waist, which was a birthday gift Zhou Ruyin had given him last year.

"Whatever you want." He finally uttered these two words, turned and walked towards the door, then stopped as if remembering something. "Oh, by the way, from today onwards, the power to manage the Zhuang family is handed over to you." Zhuang Hanyan almost burst out laughing.

The estate has just been raided, and the rats in the warehouse are starving. How can you give her the power to manage the estate now?

“My daughter is too young and inexperienced to be up to such a responsibility.” She lowered her head to hide the sarcasm in her eyes. “Let Aunt Zhou continue to manage it.”

Zhuang Shiyang narrowed his eyes and suddenly reached out and lifted her chin.

His nails were neatly trimmed, yet stained with incense ash from the ancestral hall.

“You’re becoming more and more like your mother,” he said softly, “especially those eyes.”

……

Five days later, red silk was hung in Ruan Xiwen's courtyard.

There were no throngs of guests, no grand feasts or banquets, only Granny Chen and a few loyal servants bustling about.

Zhuang Hanyan wore a lotus-colored ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) that her mother had altered overnight, and her hair was adorned with a gold phoenix hairpin, a dowry hairpin from Ruan Xiwen's wedding years ago, inlaid with filigree and jade.

"Lower your head." Ruan Xiwen sat in her wheelchair, holding a comb in her hand.

Zhuang Hanyan obediently bent down and smelled the faint medicinal fragrance on her mother.

The feeling of the comb teeth brushing against her scalp reminded her of when she was a child, when her mother used to comb her hair like this, only back then she could still stand up.

"First comb to the end, second comb to the white hair at the eyebrows..." Ruan Xiwen's voice trembled slightly, and she stopped before finishing the third comb.

Zhuang Hanyan looked up and saw a tear falling onto her mother's twisted knee.

Suddenly there was a knock on the courtyard gate.

Yuwen Chang'an stood outside the door, holding a sandalwood box in his hands.

He was wearing a plain-colored long gown and looked thinner than when we last met at the execution ground.

"I heard today is Miss Zhuang's coming-of-age ceremony, so I came to offer my congratulations." His gaze, however, remained fixed on Ruan Xiwen. "I also came... to say goodbye."

Ruan Xiwen moved her wheelchair slightly backward, her fingers gripping the blanket on her knees tightly.

"Lord Yuwen, you flatter us. Our ceremony is so simple, how could we possibly..."

“I am no longer an adult.” Yuwen Chang’an smiled bitterly. “Because of my oversight in the Pei Dafu case, I was demoted to a commoner.”

He handed over the wooden box, saying, "It's just a small token of my appreciation."

Zhuang Hanyan took the box; inside was a pair of jade earrings with excellent clarity.

She noticed a handkerchief embroidered with orchids at the bottom of the box, which was definitely not a gift for her.

"Did Uncle Yuwen know Mother?" she asked deliberately.

Yuwen Chang'an's ears turned red.

"Back then, Lord Ruan's family..." He had barely begun to speak when Ruan Xiwen began to cough violently.

"Granny Chen, see the guests out!" Ruan Xiwen's voice was shrill and unnatural. "Yan'er, it's time for your coming-of-age ceremony."

Yuwen Chang'an hesitated for a moment, then finally bowed deeply: "Xiwen... take care."

As he turned around, Zhuang Hanyan clearly saw her mother's fingers twitch, as if trying to grasp something, but ultimately they rested on the armrest of the wheelchair.

……

On the evening after her coming-of-age ceremony, Fu Yunxi arrived uninvited.

He was wearing an indigo long gown and holding a brocade box in his hands, saying it was a belated coming-of-age gift.

"Miss Zhuang, may I have a word with you in private?" His gaze drifted toward the ancestral hall.

Zhuang Hanyan led him to a side hall of the ancestral hall.

Fu Yunxi took out a paper packet from her sleeve, inside which were several dark red incense pills.

"Does Miss Zhuang recognize this?"

"The incense used in the ancestral hall." Zhuang Hanyan frowned. "Is there anything special about it?"

Fu Yunxi crushed the incense pills, and the powder, scattered in the beams of the setting sun, emitted an eerie blue light.

"This is 'Soul-Locking Incense,' made from corpse oil mixed with seven kinds of poisonous herbs, specifically designed to suppress the souls of the dead."

Zhuang Hanyan felt a chill run down her spine as she remembered her mother saying that her grandfather had died suddenly on the day she was born, and the Taoist priest said it was because she had brought bad luck to him.

"what do you mean……"

“Old Master Zhuang’s death was suspicious.” Fu Yunxi lowered her voice. “I checked the records of the Imperial Hospital. The old master did not summon any imperial physicians on the day of his death. And the Taoist priest who accused you of being a ghost child was invited to Zhuang Shiyang’s residence to perform a ritual just three months ago.”

The ashes in the incense burner suddenly moved on their own without any wind, forming a small vortex.

Zhuang Hanyan stared at the vortex, her mother's words echoing in her ears: "They smashed my kneecaps with a hammer..."

"Why is Lord Fu telling me this?"

“I was also dismissed from my post.” Fu Yunxi smiled bitterly. “But the secrets behind the Zhuang family go far beyond that. Those so-called traitors in the Pei Dafu case were actually family members of officials who impeached Zhuang Shiyang back then.”

He took out a gold-inlaid jade hairpin from the brocade box and handed it to Zhuang Hanyan: "Shall we cooperate?"

"..."

The hairpin head was engraved with fine lines, which Zhuang Hanyan carefully examined and found to be a variant of the character "阮".

……

Three days later, the visiting card of Zhongqin Earl Su Ning was delivered to the Zhuang residence.

Zhuang Shiyang personally greeted them at the gate, his face beaming with a rare smile.

“Father-in-law, Su Ning has come today with a request.” Su Ning got straight to the point. “Zhuang Hanyan has come of age, and I wish to marry her.”

The teacup swayed in Zhuang Shiyang's hand, spilling tea onto his brand-new official robes.

Zhuang Hanyan stood behind the screen and saw her father's Adam's apple bob a few times through the gap.

"This……"

Su Ning interrupted him, "Father-in-law, Han Yan and I have been engaged for two years, and it's time for us to get married."

Zhuang Hanyan quietly left and went straight to her mother's courtyard.

Ruan Xiwen was embroidering when she heard what she was saying, and the needle pricked her finger.

“Promise him.” Ruan Xiwen sucked the blood from her fingertip. “Although Su Ning is just a newly risen nobleman in the court, the Marquis of Zhongqin’s residence is definitely safer than here.”

"But what about the dealer's situation?"

“Silly child, you can investigate better once you’re married.” Ruan Xiwen’s eyes shone with a familiar light. “Remember, there’s a hidden compartment at the bottom of the dressing case.”

That evening, Zhuang Shiyang, for the first time ever, came to Zhuang Hanyan's boudoir.

He stood at the door, unwilling to come in, as if afraid of getting dirty.

"Su Ning is urging us to get married. What do you think?"

Zhuang Hanyan was combing her hair, and her father's blurry figure was reflected in the bronze mirror.

"It's entirely up to Father to decide."

"The eighth day of next month is an auspicious day." Zhuang Shiyang said and left, as if staying even a second longer would cause him to catch a disease.

……

On the eighth day of the lunar month, the Zhongqin Earl's residence was decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers.

Zhuang Hanyan wore a bright red wedding dress, and the tassels on her forehead swayed with the bridal sedan chair.

When the sedan curtain was lifted, she saw Su Ning's outstretched hand and felt a sense of peace for no reason.

“Madam.” Su Ning’s voice was gentler than expected.

"Husband."

The wedding ceremony was complicated, and Zhuang Hanyan mechanically performed the rituals and knelt down.

During the couple's mutual bow, she saw Fu Yunxi nod to her through the gap under her veil.

At the wedding banquet, Zhuang Shiyang was flushed with drink, while Zhou Ruyin forced a smile on her face.

Ruan Xiwen claimed to be ill and did not come, but only asked Granny Chen to send a brocade box.

When no one was around, Zhuang Hanyan opened it. Inside was an exquisite silver key and a note: "Dressing box hidden compartment".

As night deepened and everyone dispersed, when Su Ning lifted her veil, Zhuang Hanyan had already made all sorts of preparations.

But all he did was take down his sword and hang it by the bedside, then bring over a quilt and spread it on the floor.

“Madam, you don’t need to be nervous.” He turned his back to her and removed his crown. “Next, I will help you find out all the inside stories of the bookmaker.”

Zhuang Hanyan gripped the silver key in her sleeve tightly: "Thank you, my husband."

Su Ning blew out the candles. "Han Yan, a moment of spring night is worth a thousand pieces of gold. The flowers are fragrant and the moon casts a shadow. Let's consummate our marriage!"

"what……"

An hour or two later, Zhuang Hanyan was lying in Su Ning's arms.

In the darkness, Zhuang Hanyan's big, blinking eyes were wide open.

What might be hidden in the secret compartment of a dressing case?
What is the connection between the Soul-Locking Incense that Fu Yunxi mentioned and her grandfather's death?
And what secrets does this self-proclaimed frank owner hold?
Outside the window, a blood moon was quietly climbing onto the treetops.

...(End of chapter)