The temperamental white moonlight is back, and the entire Marquis's family obediently calls him

Zhou Shili nodded, then shook his head.

"We found one person, but... he has already committed suicide by poisoning himself."

"Presumably, realizing that his accomplices had failed and that there was no way to escape, he chose to end his own life to avoid being caught and tortured."

Lu Mingzhao was not very surprised.

Since they dared to become bandits, they must be ruthless to others and to themselves.

"I've only been back a short time, and I don't know if An'an has offended anyone before. Since I came back, I've had some disagreements with Madam Cui of the Duke of Huguo's Mansion and Madam Wang of the Liu family. Apart from that, do you have any other suspects?"

Zhou Shili: "An'an is kind-hearted and unlikely to provoke others. Mother, please rest assured. This case has been taken over by the Ministry of Justice, and I have acquaintances there who will thoroughly investigate it."

"In addition, the son would also secretly send people to investigate."

"Furthermore, from now on, whenever An'an goes out, my son will assign more people to protect her."

Lu Mingzhao sighed and nodded: "You've thought of everything the most."

After today's incident, Lu Mingzhao even thought that from now on, whenever An'an goes out, she would shamelessly follow her daughter and protect her at all times.

But clearly this approach won't work.

The daughter loathed herself, even choosing to trust a stranger when her life was in danger.

With such intense aversion, Lu Mingzhao feared that if she insisted on staying by her daughter's side, her daughter would think she had ulterior motives and intended to harm her.

As for her wish to teach her daughter martial arts so that she can learn to protect herself... that would probably be even more difficult.

The next day, Liu Muqiu brought Zhou Ming'an to see her.

For some reason, Lu Mingzhao felt that her daughter seemed to be in even worse condition than yesterday.

Whenever she made eye contact with her, her daughter would immediately look away, her body seemingly trembling slightly.

Lu Mingzhao tried to keep his voice as gentle as possible: "Did you drink the calming soup today?"

Zhou Ming'an's heart tightened.

How did she know that she hadn't drunk the calming soup?

She couldn't sleep all night, fearing that everything she had experienced might be her mother's doing.

They didn't even dare to drink the calming soup that was brought to them.

Seeing that she was trembling even more violently, Lu Mingzhao paused and looked at Liu Muqiu with a puzzled expression.

Liu Muqiu asked in a gentle voice, "That was a prescription your brother got from the imperial physician. He added some honey because he was worried it would be too bitter for you. Don't you like it, Miss?"

Hearing that his brother had obtained the prescription, Zhou Ming'an felt a little relieved.

Although her older brother and sister-in-law have been getting very close to her mother in the past month, she believes that her older brother would not harm her.

But then I thought, if my mother had poisoned the medicine, who would know?

Lu Mingzhao continued, "This case has been handed over to the Ministry of Justice, and your elder brother will also be involved in the subsequent review."

"When your father returns, he will surely raze the mountain stronghold and completely wipe out those thugs."

Zhou Ming'an glanced quickly at his mother, his eyes filled with undisguised fear.

If someone else had said that, she probably wouldn't have thought there was anything wrong with it.

But it was her mother who said it, and she always felt that her mother was so eager to "flatten the mountain stronghold" in order to completely destroy all the evidence.

Since everyone is dead, there's no way to verify the testimony.

Who would have guessed that the mother had hired the killer in the first place?

Lu Mingzhao and Liu Muqiu could see that she was becoming increasingly nervous.

The two exchanged a worried glance. Lu Mingzhao stood up first, but his movement startled Zhou Ming'an.

"...An'an, you should go back first. If you're scared these days, you don't need to come anymore."

Lu Mingzhao tried to keep her voice down.

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Ming'an stood up abruptly and walked out without hesitation, as if he were fleeing something incredibly terrifying.

Liu Muqiu immediately followed.

Only after walking out of the main courtyard did Zhou Ming'an clench the herbal sachet in his hand and take a deep breath.

The faint scent of herbs was the only thing that could soothe her these past two days.

Liu Muqiu followed beside her, discreetly observing her every move.

After a long pause, she hesitantly asked, "An'an, what's wrong with you?"

She felt that An'an's strange behavior today was not just because of what happened yesterday.

An'an was especially afraid whenever she saw Lu Mingzhao.

This is really not right.

"Sister-in-law, I'm just feeling uneasy, for no other reason than that."

"However... I have a favor to ask of my sister-in-law."

She clutched the handkerchief tightly, mustered her courage, and asked softly, "Could I have a small kitchen in my own yard?"

Worried that his request might seem too abrupt, Zhou Ming'an quickly added, "I couldn't sleep last night, so I flipped through a few books and suddenly felt like trying to cook for myself. But the main kitchen is too far away, so..."

Liu Muqiu smiled gently: "It's nothing. I'll go and tell the old lady, and she'll definitely agree."

Zhou Ming'an breathed a sigh of relief.

In this way, all the food she ate came from her own yard, which made her feel more at ease.

"Sister-in-law, I'll head back now."

Liu Muqiu understood: "Go ahead."

After bidding farewell to his sister-in-law, Zhou Ming'an lowered his head and headed towards Longcui Pavilion.

As she passed by the garden, she suddenly smelled a somewhat familiar fragrance and couldn't help but look up and peek inside.

Cuilan said softly, "Miss, let's go for a walk."

"You didn't sleep well last night, you should relax a bit."

Zhou Ming'an nodded and walked along the bluestone path through the moon gate, where the fragrance became even stronger.

It seemed to be the scent of the herbal sachet in her hand.

Zhou Ming'an's heartbeat quickened slightly.

Could it be that……

She quickened her pace, and soon she heard footsteps and conversations not far away.

Following the sound, they could only vaguely see their second brother and Liu Muyuan sitting in the hexagonal pavilion through the branches.

Liu Muyuan is a year younger than his second brother, but he is much more mature and composed than his second brother.

Furthermore, having been rescued by Liu Muyuan yesterday, Zhou Ming'an now feels incredibly at ease whenever he hears Liu's voice or even just smells his faint fragrance.

Nowadays, people are more open-minded, and men and women can meet and chat freely at banquets.

Even after entering the mansion, Liu Muyuan was still considered an outsider.

Zhou Ming'an had no choice but to stop.

She thought to herself that she would just stand there, listen for a while, and then leave.

But not long after, the second brother seemed to get up and leave for some reason.

Only Liu Muyuan remained in the pavilion.

Zhou Ming'an's attention then fell solely on him.

Yesterday I was in a hurry and didn't have time to take a good look at him. But today I saw that Liu Muyuan is handsome. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he is as good-looking as Pan An.

No wonder her girlfriends teased her yesterday, saying that after this ordeal, she might actually find a good match.

At that time, Zhou Ming'an had no idea about such trivial matters.

But right now, she couldn't help but think of her best friend's words, and felt her cheeks burning.

"Miss Zhou?"

Suddenly a voice rang out not far away. Zhou Ming'an looked up in surprise, only to be met with a pair of warm and gentle eyes.