Who said the eldest daughter is crazy? She's clearly a woman of high rank and influence in the

Later, he returned to Daying alive and searched the whole world for the person who saved his life. The painter painted dozens of portraits of a woman with her face covered based on his description. He looked at them one by one and rejected them one by one.

The eyes in those portraits were either too soft, too timid, too round, or too alluring. None of them were like that—calm, clear, and burning with an undying flame even in dire straits.

At that moment, on the shaft of the mule cart in the back alley, the girl with her hands tied behind her back looked up at the alley entrance, and the light that flashed in her eyes was exactly the same.

Helian Jing dismounted so quickly that the horse stumbled backward, its horseshoes scraping against the bluestone with a screeching sound.

He walked a few steps to the mule cart, and before the old woman could react, he had already raised his hand and pressed down on the shaft.

"Relax," he said.

The two old women were stunned. The woman in the lead looked him up and down, noticing his imposing manner but the absence of an official seal at his waist. She then said defiantly, "Young master, this is a family matter of the Xi family. She broke the family rules and was sent to the estate to recuperate. It's none of your business—"

Helian Jing looked down at Xi Yueli. The hemp rope on her wrist was digging into her flesh, leaving a purplish-red mark. He saw her bite her back teeth to swallow the pain, and then raise her eyes to meet his gaze.

When that glance landed in his eyes, four years of accumulated snow cracked open in the depths of his gaze.

"I say, loosen."

The old woman's knees buckled instantly, and she frantically tried to untie the hemp rope. Another old woman also knelt down, her head hitting the bluestone slab, too afraid to lift it.

Helian Jing bent down and personally untied the knot on her wrist. The knot was tied tightly, and when his fingertips touched her wrist bone, he felt her whole body tremble slightly.

He carefully untied the rope, loop by loop, until the last loop was completely loosened, revealing the purplish-red mark on her wrist—a shocking sight on her thin wrist.

He stared at the mark for a couple of moments without saying a word, then stood up and stood between her and the mule cart.

"Go tell your master," he said, turning to the old woman kneeling on the ground, "that if the eldest daughter of the Xi family is again tied up and dragged out the back door, Prince Chen will personally come to the Xi residence to question her."

The old woman scrambled away, while the other old woman huddled in the corner, trembling like a leaf.

The alley quieted down, leaving only the snorting of the black horse beside the mule cart and the whooshing of the wind as it passed through the alley entrance.

Helian Jing turned around, squatted down, and stood at eye level with her.

Sunlight poured down from above, illuminating her pale face. The marks on her wrists hadn't faded yet, and her knuckles trembled slightly as she clenched her fists. But she looked up at him, the fire still burning in her eyes, unwavering and unyielding.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Xi Yueli".

"I remember, my name is Helian Jing." He reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair that had fallen across her forehead behind her ear.

"Go back and get some rest." He stood up, took the reins, mounted the horse, and the horse turned around at the alley entrance. He turned his head to take one last look at her.

"Next time, don't let anyone tie you up again."

The clatter of hooves faded into the distance, quickly disappearing around the corner of the alley.

Xi Yueli sat on the shaft of the mule cart, looking down at the purplish-red mark on her wrist, and slowly clenched her fist.

She jumped off the mule cart and walked towards the side gate of the Xi residence. The old woman huddled in the corner and dared not stop her. She pushed open the half-closed side gate, went in, and walked through the corridor back to Jinxian Courtyard.

Qingdai was squatting at the courtyard gate, covering her face and crying. When she saw her return, she suddenly stood up and rushed over: "Miss! Are you alright? Why did you come back?"

"I'm not going." Xi Yueli raised her hand and touched Qingdai's swollen face. "Go boil some water, I want to take a bath."

She went into the room and closed the door. Just now, when Helian Jing brushed the stray hairs from her forehead, she clearly recognized that face somewhere before.

After Helian Jing left, Jinxian Courtyard remained quiet for half a day.

Xi Yueli knew that Fang Shi was observing. A stepdaughter who had been untied by Prince Chen himself was no longer the same as before.

But Fang wouldn't give up easily. Her specialty was waiting for the storm to pass before striking. Her blows weren't fatal, but they would slowly drain a person of their blood.

Xi Yueli sat in the room, her fingers pressing on the cover. The three deficits totaled nearly four hundred taels, enough to make Fang Shi and Zhang Mama return what they had taken in, including interest.

But she couldn't just talk to her father about this. He would ask her how she knew all this, and she couldn't very well say that she found out when she had an attack.

She got up and walked to the door: "Qingdai."

Qingdai ran over, her face half-swollen: "Miss."

"Investigate something for me," Xi Yueli said in a low voice. "How much of the money for the garden repairs in August did Granny Zhang handle? Who did she meet with, which shops did she go to, and who owns those shops? The more details the better."

Although Qingdai was naive, she knew the relationships between the servants in the mansion like the back of her hand and could strike up a conversation with anyone. She nodded, turned around, and ran away.

There was a knock on the courtyard gate from the outside. Qingdai was not there, so Xi Yueli went over and opened the door herself.

Fang was standing outside the door. She was wearing a light brown padded jacket, and a white jade hairpin had been replaced in her hair. Her smile was gentle and warm, like that of a relative who had come to visit and chat.

"Li'er, your mother has come to see you." She stepped in, her gaze sweeping around the courtyard before finally settling on the half-open door. "I heard you were frightened in the alley earlier, and I felt bad about it, so I specially made a pot of lily bulb soup to bring over."

The maid behind her was indeed carrying a celadon bowl, the lid slightly ajar, from which a sweet, lily-like fragrance wafted out.

Xi Yueli stepped aside to let her in. Fang Shi sat down in the main room, her gaze subtly sweeping across the table. The account books were still lying there. She glanced at them, her smile unchanged, but her eyes darkened slightly.

"Is Li'er still looking at the account books?" Madam Fang handed her a bowl of lily soup. "With your health, you shouldn't worry about things so much. Let Yuefu manage the account books for you. You should focus on getting better."

Xi Yueli took the lily soup and placed it on the table without drinking it: "Mother, the account for the garden repairs in August is 240 taels, but the total only adds up to 180 taels. There's a 60-tael discrepancy. Do you know where it went?"

Fang's smile froze for a moment, and her fingers tightened slightly as she held the lily soup.

"Li'er has a bad memory, she must have made a mistake." Madam Fang's voice remained gentle. "The accounts were all checked by the steward, there can't be any error."

"Really?" Xi Yueli turned to the third page of the account book and pushed it in front of Fang Shi. "Then Mother, please take a look."

"Fifty taels for timber, thirty-two taels for lacquer, seventy-eight taels for labor, and twenty taels for bricks and tiles—that adds up to one hundred and eighty taels. But the general ledger says two hundred and forty taels. Is the sixty taels difference due to a mistake by Mother or the steward?"

Fang looked at Xi Yueli, her smile slowly fading. A person with dissociative identity disorder shouldn't remember the details in the account book.

A madman who was tied up and taken to the manor, only to be rescued by Prince Chen halfway there, should be hiding under the covers and crying right now.

But Xi Yueli sat opposite her, the marks on her wrists still red, yet her eyes were as clear as a spring.

"Li-jie," Fang said, her voice lowering slightly, "these account books are handled by the accountant. You, an unmarried girl, shouldn't be involved in these things."

"Does Mother think it's right for Shen Yanzhi, a man from outside the family, to come to my courtyard and look through my account books?"