CHAPTER 375: CHAPTER 377: EXPOSED (PART 4)

"What happened?" Nanny Wu immediately stood up, knitting her brows and looked at Ziwei.

Ziwei’s expression changed. She glanced at the Fifth Madam, whose heart skipped a beat at Ziwei’s gaze, and she shrank back a little.

"Why do you look so terrible?" The Second Madam also put down her cards, looking at Ziwei in astonishment. "What happened?"

Ziwei hesitated for a moment, then replied to the Grand Dowager, "Grand Dowager... Someone outside says that Fifth Young Master... was detained by someone from the Five Cities Military Department."

"What?!" The Grand Dowager paused when she heard it, and asked again, "Why did the Five Cities Military Department arrest him?" The Fifth Young Master held a position at the Five Cities Military Department; people coming and going every day knew him. How could he be detained just like that?

The Fifth Madam’s expression changed and she asked, "Explain clearly, why would the Fifth Young Master be detained by the Five Cities Military Department?" After she spoke, her gaze quickly swept over the faces of the First Madam, Second Madam, and Xiqiu.

Ziwei turned back and pulled the old woman aside, saying, "Tell the Grand Dowager and the madams the situation one more time."

The old woman knelt on the ground and carefully said, "It was just a young gentleman who came and said the Fifth Young Master is detained in a temple on the outskirts by the Five Cities Military Department, and the charge seems to be... seems to be murder."

When the Grand Dowager heard, her expression changed. She swayed slightly as she leaned on Nanny Wu for support. The Fifth Madam, however, jumped up, grabbing the old woman and asked, "Murder? How could the Fifth Young Master commit murder?"

The old woman was rendered speechless by the question. She was merely a messenger and knew no more than the Fifth Madam did.

"Fifth Sister-in-law, why make it difficult for her? How could she know anything else?" The Second Madam then turned to the old woman and asked, "Is the person who brought the news still here?"

The old woman shook her head and replied, "No, I wanted to keep him, but he left as soon as he delivered the message. I chased after him, but he was nowhere to be found."

The Fifth Young Master of the Marquis Mansion was detained by the government office, and it’s a murder charge!

The Grand Dowager knitted her brows and instructed Nanny Wu, "Ask Housekeeper Hu to take the Marquis’s visiting card and go to the Five Cities Military Department." Nanny Wu acknowledged and hastily left the room.

The Fifth Madam paced back and forth anxiously in the room, looking at the Grand Dowager with a face full of worry, "Mother, the Fifth Young Master would walk around even bugs, how could he possibly kill someone!" After speaking, she muttered, "Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"Silence!" The Grand Dowager, looking at the Fifth Madam, sternly said, "Why are you in such a panic? Whether it’s true or not hasn’t been clarified. Even if it’s confirmed that a murder has occurred, there’s no need for you to be so flustered."

This must be the strength of the Marquis Mansion. Even if the Fifth Young Master really committed murder, the Grand Dowager would still have the ability to have him come out unscathed. Xiqiu knitted her brows and also showed a worried expression.

The Fifth Madam quieted down but sat with an uneasy face, constantly moving as if sitting on pins and needles. The Grand Dowager looked away, not seeing her, and said to Ziwei, "Go and ask when the Fifth Young Master went out, where he went, and who was with him."

Ziwei responded and left. After a while, Nanny Wu returned and reported, "Housekeeper Hu has taken the Marquis’s visiting card to the Five Cities Military Department." The Grand Dowager nodded upon hearing this.

"Mother," the First Madam said calmly, "it must be a misunderstanding. Since when does the Five Cities Military Department handle criminal assaults? If such a thing really happened, the Capital City Government should be the one to step in. Besides... even if he was really detained, someone would come to inform us by now. The Marquis and Fourth Brother should have received the news as well."

The Grand Dowager shared the same thought, so she nodded, "Let’s wait and see." She was worried that Xiao Yanting might have caused some other trouble outside and someone was maliciously framing him as a form of retaliation.

Even though they knew nothing would happen to the Fifth Young Master, nobody felt like playing cards anymore, nor did they eat, as the women sat in the room waiting for news from Housekeeper Hu.

At this moment, Ziwei returned, "He left in the morning, with two servants, heading toward West Street, but no one knows exactly where he went." The Grand Dowager listened and then looked at the Fifth Madam. They were husband and wife; how could the Fifth Madam not know where Xiao Yanting went?

The Fifth Madam was given a stern look by the Grand Dowager, which made her heart sink. She shrank back and replied, "...He just said he was going out in the morning but didn’t tell me exactly where he was going."

The Grand Dowager’s face was full of displeasure. The Second Madam turned to the Fifth Madam and sighed, "How could the Fifth Young Master not have told you where he was going? Even if he didn’t, you should have asked, Fifth Sister-in-law." She sighed again after speaking.

The Fifth Madam felt uneasy inside. How could she dare to tell the Grand Dowager that she asked the Fifth Young Master to see Zhou Dao Po? The Grand Dowager disliked her associating with such people, always saying they were charlatans!

The Grand Dowager scrutinized the Fifth Madam for a long time before looking away...

In the afternoon, Housekeeper Hu finally returned from outside. Ziwei reported to the Grand Dowager, "The Fifth Young Master... is back." The tone of her speech seemed somewhat off.

The Fifth Madam immediately jumped up from her chair and hurriedly ran out of the Warm Pavilion, lifting her skirt with a face full of urgency. As soon as she went out, she stood there stunned...

Nanny Wu also supported the Grand Dowager out. Xiqiu and Xiao Yanzheng followed the Grand Dowager and the First Madam out the door. They stood outside the Grand Dowager’s main entrance, shocked at the sight in the courtyard before them of a disheveled Xiao Yanting.

Xiao Yanting appeared in a deep blue jiaao long robe, half torn and hanging on him, with only one sleeve precariously attached to his shoulder. His headscarf was also loose, with strands of hair scattered across his face. He looked shell-shocked, a sorry sight to behold. What surprised everyone most was that there was another person kneeling beside the Fifth Young Master, wearing a Qiuxiang-colored jiaao, with a bluish-gray cotton cap on the head, and a face so dirty it was impossible to discern the original features. She knelt there trembling, eyes closed in fear, muttering something incomprehensible.

However, despite the unclear appearance, the attire alone allowed everyone to recognize this person’s occupation.

Xiqiu’s eyes moved to the Fifth Madam, only to see her clinging to Qingjia Mian, standing there with a pale face, stunned.

"What’s going on?" The Grand Dowager asked, looking at the still shocked Xiao Yanting and Housekeeper Hu, with furrowed brows, "How did things come to this?"

Housekeeper Hu glanced at Xiao Yanting, showing a troubled expression. After a moment of hesitation, he responded, "When I got to the Five Cities Military Department, Vice Commander Liu was just sending the Fifth Young Master out. It turns out it was a misunderstanding, they didn’t detain him; rather, they rescued him from a dilapidated temple outside the city. The Fifth Young Master was surrounded by a group of thugs. If Vice Commander Liu hadn’t happened by, the Fifth Young Master might have..." He paused and continued, "It’s being investigated. Those thugs seemed unfamiliar, and it might take time to find out more. But once there’s news, they’ll notify the Marquis. As for the details of what happened, since it appears the Fifth Young Master was quite scared, they didn’t manage to learn much from him."