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

Xi Yueli gently tapped her fingertips on the table. If she said she didn't know him, he definitely wouldn't believe her. But if she said she did know him, given his personality, he could easily use that connection to pave his way in the officialdom.

"What does Father want to know?" she asked in return.

Xi Mingyuan stared intently at her: "His Highness Prince Chen is a close advisor to the Emperor, in charge of the Heavenly Pivot Bureau. All the civil and military officials in the court must bow their heads in his presence."

"He suddenly appeared in the back alley of the Xi residence today, personally untied your ropes, and even said, 'Next time, I will personally come to punish you.' Li'er, tell me, is he here for you, or for the Xi family?"

Xi Yueli understood the underlying meaning in his words. He was afraid that it would be too dangerous for an official who had worked in the Ministry of Revenue for more than ten years to suddenly intervene in the Xi family's affairs.

"Father," she avoided the question, her voice steady, "His Highness Prince Chen helped me today, not the Xi family. If you intend to use this relationship to your advantage in officialdom—I advise you not to."

"I don't know him well, and I don't know if he will come again after today. Father, instead of relying on someone you can't figure out, you should fill the holes in your own household first."

Xi Mingyuan's fingers traced back and forth across the cover of the ledger a couple of times, as if he were considering something. After a while, he released his grip, leaned back in his chair, and softened the sharpness in his tone: "You certainly know how to think of things for me."

She looked up at him, the candlelight making the light in her eyes shine even brighter: "If Your Highness Prince Chen comes again, Father, you don't need to promise or agree to anything on my behalf. I will handle my own affairs."

Xi Mingyuan understood what Xi Yueli meant. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but when he met those eyes that were as clear and dark as ink in the candlelight, he swallowed his words back.

He suddenly realized something: his daughter hadn't asked him for a single thing today; she had simply laid out the account books, put the evidence on the table, and explained the pros and cons to him one by one.

"That's enough." Xi Mingyuan looked away. "I won't ask about Prince Chen's matter anymore, but remember, he is a member of the imperial family. Once you're involved, you can't get rid of him. If you don't want to be involved, don't give him a second chance to untie you."

The words were ambiguous, sounding somewhat like a warning, and somewhat like... a reminder?

He remained silent for a long time, then reached out and took the account book, tucking it into his sleeve: "I'll keep the account book; I'll take care of Zhang Mama's matter tomorrow."

Xi Yueli remained seated across the table, not moving. "What about the estate?"

Xi Mingyuan looked at her, his eyes swirling with complex emotions, before finally looking away: "I'm not going. You stay in Jinxian Courtyard. If anyone mentions sending you to the estate again, tell them to come find me."

He turned to leave, but Xi Yueli's voice followed, "Father, the Fang family will definitely come tomorrow to ask about the account books. Have you decided what to say?"

Xi Mingyuan didn't turn around, his fingers clenched tightly in his sleeve. "I'll handle it myself."

After her father left, Xi Yueli stood by the window and looked into the distance. Fang Shi had suffered a setback today, and she would definitely come to investigate tomorrow.

She suddenly turned around, sat down at the table, and pondered for a long time before putting pen to paper.

"If Madam Fang comes tomorrow, she will definitely test Father's attitude towards the account books. She doesn't care about the deficit; she only cares whether Shen Yanzhi's going through the account books has been exposed. Tell Qingdai: keep an eye on where Zhang Mama goes tonight, who she meets, and what she burns."

"September 17th, sunny. Shen Yanzhi came to annul the engagement. I found a handkerchief embroidered with the character '芙' (Fu) under the stone table. Later I learned that the handkerchief had fallen from his sleeve. I confronted my grandmother with the handkerchief in front of everyone, and she granted the annulment."

After finishing this page, she turned to the next and continued writing:

"September 18th, cloudy. Madam Fang sent over lily soup with added Coptis chinensis. Three discrepancies were found in the account books: 200 taels in July, 60 taels in August, and 120 taels in September. Zhang Mama was the person in charge of all of them."

"I went to the front hall and spoke with my father. He promised not to mention the matter of giving away the estate again."

She paused again, the pen tip hovering over the paper, the ink droplet about to fall. She wanted to write, "I feel like someone is helping me," but those words would have looked too silly on the paper, as silly as a madman's ramblings.

So she changed her writing style: "When I opened the account book today, my fingers touched the cover paper on the edge of the page. The cover paper was very well hidden, and I had never noticed it before."

"But when I opened it today, it was as if someone had guided my fingertips to that spot beforehand, because I don't remember when I learned to flip through paper, but my fingers do."

As she wrote this, she suddenly understood something.

The "self" she can't remember is doing something else for her.

She is leaving clues, gradually wedging things she can't remember into her bones, so that even if she forgets what's in her mind, her body can still move forward.

Xi Yueli's pen hovered over the paper for a moment, then she turned to the last page of the booklet and wrote a line of large characters:

"If I don't remember what I wrote today, then please turn to this page and read it from the beginning."

Xi Yueli stared at the rafters covered in spiderwebs above her head, her whole body frozen for three breaths.

Originally, when I opened my eyes, I should have seen the plain-colored canopy of Jinxian Courtyard.

But when she opened her eyes, all she saw was a haphazardly laid-out wooden fence. The musty smell mixed with the dampness of straw filled her nostrils, choking her and causing her to cough violently.

Her back was pressed against the cold, hard mud wall, and her limbs were bound by hemp rope, making it impossible for her to move.

She remembered that last night she sat under the lamp in Jinxian Courtyard, flipping through the account books, and after talking with her father, he said, "I'm not going." He also said, "If anyone mentions sending you to the estate again, tell them to come find me." After returning to her room, she even picked up a pen and wrote a diary.

and then?

Her memory ended there; she didn't know how much time had passed, nor how she had ended up in the woodshed from under the lamp in Jinxian Courtyard.

The rope was digging painfully into her wrists, and she tried to pull away, but it wouldn't budge.

"Miss?" Qingdai's voice came from outside the woodshed door, hushed as if afraid of being overheard. "Miss, are you awake?"

"You're awake," Xi Yueli replied in a hoarse voice. "Qingdai, what happened? How did I get here?"

There was a moment of silence outside the door. Qingdai seemed to take a deep breath, her voice trembling with tears, "Miss, you...you had a relapse yesterday. Don't you remember?"

She didn't remember anything, but she did remember that after talking with her father yesterday evening, although she felt tired, she was clear-headed and calm. She even wrote a diary entry under the lamp. At that time, she didn't seem like she was about to have an attack.

"You say it." Xi Yueli closed her eyes.

Qingdai lowered her voice and recounted what happened last night in fits and starts.

Last night, Xi Yueli took a bath and washed up before going to bed. Everything seemed normal. Qingdai was guarding the side room when she heard noises coming from the main room in the middle of the night.

She put on her coat and looked around. She saw her young lady standing in the middle of the courtyard, wearing only a thin undergarment, clutching a withered branch that had been broken off from the flowerbed.

Under the moonlight, Xi Yueli stood barefoot on the bluestone slabs, her expression extremely indifferent. Her eyes were half-open and half-closed, her gaze unfocused yet frighteningly cold, as if she were waiting for something rather than looking at it.