A grandmother and granddaughter swap souls, causing chaos throughout the entire court.

Zhong Shichu gritted his teeth and stood up despite the excruciating pain.

Seeing her third brother's forced composure, Guoguo felt a sharp pang in her heart, a deep, aching pain.

"Clatter."

Large tears rolled down her cheeks.

Ignoring the horrified looks from her servants, she stepped forward, bent down, and carefully lifted him up by his armpits.

Although the old lady was no longer young, she could lift a thin, five-year-old child without much effort.

Zhong Shichu stiffened, instinctively wanting to break free, but he restrained himself and obediently let her hug him.

Guoguo turned around, her gaze sweeping over the servants she had brought, and pointed to the most burly man among them.

"You, come here! Carry the Fourth Young Master on your back, be gentle, and don't hurt him!"

The servant was startled and quickly stepped forward, crouching down with his broad back, and steadily took Zhong Shichu from him.

After settling her brother in, Guoguo turned around and coldly glanced at Granny Liu on the steps.

"Who do you think you are?" Guoguo put on a stern face, trying to imitate the authoritative tone her master used to use when reprimanding worshippers at the Taoist temple. "When did it become the place of a lowly servant to resort to private punishment for the masters of the Zhong family? Who gave you the audacity to hit my grandson!"

Although her words carried a childlike tone that was not typical of an old lady, they were still frightening when paired with her gloomy face.

Granny Liu's legs went weak, and she knelt down on the cold stone bricks with a "thump," her forehead touching the ground, trembling all over in fear.

"Madam, please understand! Even if this old servant had the greatest courage, I wouldn't dare to be disrespectful!" Cold sweat beaded on Liu Mama's forehead as she stammered, "It's just... it's just that Madam's dowry gold bracelet is missing! Just now, this old servant led a search, and they found the bracelet on the Fourth Young Master!"

She abruptly raised her head, pointing urgently to the tray containing the gold bracelet: "The evidence is overwhelming! This old servant was only acting according to the rules of the Marquis's mansion; I would never dare to have the slightest selfish motive!"

Guoguo gave a cold laugh.

rule?

She knew perfectly well the sordid things these people were plotting.

Today she stands here to wash away every last drop of the dirty water that was splashed on her third brother in front of all these servants in the courtyard!

"Witnesses?" Guoguo raised her chin slightly, her sharp gaze sweeping over the trembling servants in the courtyard. Her voice rose a few decibels. "Fine, since there are witnesses, then all of you step forward! I want to hear how they saw the Fourth Young Master stealing!"

After he said that, the courtyard became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Granny Liu swallowed hard and quickly gave a wink to the crowd.

Soon, five people quietly emerged from the crowd.

There was a round-faced maid named Xiao Tao who was in charge of sweeping, an old woman who guarded the side gate, and a servant who did odd jobs in the kitchen.

The five people lined up and knelt tremblingly in front of Guoguo.

"Reporting to the old lady..." Xiao Tao was the first to break down in the oppressive atmosphere and stammered, "At the end of the day, I went to the back room to fetch water and saw with my own eyes... I saw the Fourth Young Master climb out of the window behind the main room of the madam, and he was holding something golden in his hand..."

Immediately afterward, the old woman at the gate chimed in, "This old servant works at the side gate and also saw the Fourth Young Master enter the main room looking flustered..."

The five people, one after another, matched the time and place perfectly.

These five clues, when put together, form irrefutable evidence of the Fourth Young Master sneaking into the main house to steal and then fleeing in a panic.

Listening to these people's confident testimonies, Zhong Shichu, who was perched on the back of a servant, felt a growing mockery in his eyes.

This is the Marquis's residence, this is the quagmire he lives in every day.

Guoguo listened quietly until they finished speaking.

There was no outburst of anger, nor did he proceed with the interrogation according to their demands.

She reached into her small purse and rummaged around inside.

Then, in front of everyone, he took out a handful of yellow talisman paper covered with cinnabar runes.

"Do you know what this is?" Guoguo tilted her chin up, a hint of pride in her voice. "It's called a Truth Talisman. Let alone mortals like you, even a thousand-year-old demon inside you will have to vomit out every single word of the truth if you stick it on!"

The five people kneeling on the ground looked at each other, their eyes filled with surprise and uncertainty.

Granny Liu forced a smile and said dryly, "Madam is joking. There are no such things as truth-telling talismans in this world. Everything we've said is true..."

"Whether it's true or not, you'll know once you try it."

Guoguo didn't waste any words with her, and her fingertips glowed with tiny points of light as they landed on the mantra talisman.

Her lips moved slightly, and she uttered a low, sharp command: "Go!"

The stack of talismans, as if they were living things with eyes, shot straight towards the five people kneeling on the ground.

The last blow pierced Liu Mama's chest.

Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, the talisman gradually turned into nothingness and disappeared.

All the maids, servants, and rough boys watching were frozen in place, their eyes wide open, their breaths catching in their throats.

The old folks in the manor have been saying in private that the old lady encountered a celestial being when she was young and learned some unpredictable magical arts, which is why the Marquis's manor has been able to rise in rank.

But rumors aside, apart from a few trusted confidants who served him closely, no one had ever seen it with their own eyes.

Now, the immortal magic of the talisman entering the body through the air is vividly displayed before everyone's eyes!

"thump!"

It's unclear who was the first to succumb to such terrifying pressure, but their knees buckled and they knelt down.

Immediately afterwards, the servants in the courtyard knelt down in a flurry, like wheat fields blown down by the wind.

Everyone kowtowed their heads hard on the cold blue bricks, their whole bodies trembling like leaves, their awe for the old lady instantly reaching its peak.

Guoguo looked at the round-faced maid who spoke first.

"Speak! Did you see the Fourth Young Master go to the main house?"

Xiao Tao opened her eyes wide in horror and covered her mouth tightly with both hands.

She didn't want to tell the truth; she knew that if she did, the lady would skin her alive!

But the power of the talisman hidden in her chest was like an invisible hand that forcefully pried open her throat.

"Fourth Young Master... Fourth Young Master has been washing clothes in the laundry room all day!" Xiao Tao blurted out the truth, "This servant has never seen him go to the main room! It was Granny Liu who gave this servant two taels of silver and told this servant to give false testimony according to her instructions!"

Upon hearing this, Zhong Shichu, who was perched on the servant's back, suddenly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Xiao Tao.

Guoguo snorted coldly, then pointed at the gatekeeper: "And you? When exactly did you see the Fourth Young Master go to the main room?"

"This old servant didn't see anything!" the gatekeeper replied honestly. "The Fourth Young Master never went to any side gate! I only said those things because Granny Liu threatened my son with his job and forced me to say them!"