With a dark expression, Ye Jinmo pricked up his ears.
Zhazha: [Little Chuchu, take a look at the four maids in this room.]
Ye Chuchu looked at the two maidservants standing behind Lady Chen.
Right now, Lady Chen’s face was unsightly, and a maid with delicate and pretty features was pouring tea for her.
She then looked at the two maids standing outside the room; their figures from behind were also quite slender.
[Zhazha, is there something wrong with these four maids?]
Zhazha was wild with excitement: [There’s a problem, alright! The problem is absolutely huge. They are all actually…]
Before Zhazha could finish its sentence, it was cut short by an announcement from outside.
“Madam, the Master has returned!”
Ye Changlin strode in with long steps. He was still wearing his dark green official robes, evidently having been handling official business just before this.
After passing the imperial examination as the top scorer, Ye Changlin’s career had soared step by step. Within a few short years, he had been promoted by the Emperor to become the Minister of Rites.
The moment Ye Changlin stepped inside, his gaze fell upon Ye Jinmo. A broad smile spread across his face as he raised his hand to pat Ye Jinmo’s shoulder: “Good, excellent!”
“Young and promising, you are truly worthy of being the eldest son of me, Ye Changlin!”
“We father and son have not seen each other for five years. Tonight, we must raise our cups and have a long talk.”
Lady Chen dabbed at her slightly reddened eyes with a handkerchief, a bitter smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as she said gently, “Master, this concubine has already prepared a welcoming feast with all of Mo’er’s favorite dishes. Look at how much weight the child has lost; he must have suffered a great deal at the frontier.”
Looking at Lady Chen’s crimson eyes, Ye Changlin asked in confusion, “What is the matter with you?”
Lady Chen hurriedly shook her head, hesitating before saying, “No, it is nothing. This concubine is merely happy.”
“Who says it is nothing!” Ye Mengzhi interjected, her face filled with anger.
“Father, the moment Eldest Brother returned, he put on a massive display of his official authority and reduced Mother to tears.”
“Eldest Brother said his mother is only one person—the one who was burned to death before—and his younger sister is only Ye Chuchu. “
“Eldest Brother won’t even call her Mother!”
“In the past, Eldest Brother never liked me or Mother. Now that he holds an official rank, he probably won’t place Mother and me in his eyes at all.”
“I am afraid there is no longer a place for Mother and me in this Ye Estate.”
Ye Mengzhi’s eyes were also quite red now, looking as though she had suffered a monumental grievance.
Lady Chen hurriedly pulled at Ye Mengzhi: “Mengzhi, do not speak nonsense.”
Ye Mengzhi grasped Lady Chen’s hand: “Mother, Eldest Brother and Ye Chuchu show an absolute lack of respect for their elders. If we do not tell Father, how will Mother manage the Ye Estate in the future?”
Ye Changlin’s brow furrowed as he turned to look at Ye Jinmo.
“Mo’er…”
“Ah…”
Ye Changlin’s voice was instantly pierced by a blood-curdling shriek from Maidservant Lin.
Ye Jinmo had just slammed his foot onto Maidservant Lin’s leg. Accompanied by a sharp crack, the sound of breaking bone caused everyone in the room to break out in goosebumps.
Ye Jinmo’s voice sounded like the King of Hell from the underworld: “Repeat what you just said.”
Beads of sweat the size of soybeans trickled down Maidservant Lin’s forehead. Wailing “Ouch, ouch,” she cried out, “Madam, this old servant has let you down! This old servant did not want to speak, but this old servant does not want to die!”
“Master, young General Ye, it was Madam who ordered this old servant to put the muting poison into the Third Miss’s meals to strike her dumb.”
“Madam learned that the Eldest Young Master had achieved military merits and been appointed a general. Fearing that the Eldest Young Master would use his military merits to exchange for an imperial decree of marriage between the Third Miss and the Sixth Prince, she wanted to strike first.”
“She wanted to put the Third Miss to death before young General Ye returned.”
“She ordered this old servant and Maidservant Qian to knock the Third Miss unconscious and drown her in the well.”
“When the time came and young General Ye and the Master questioned it, we could just say that the Third Miss lost her footing and fell into the well.”
“Master, young General Ye, all of this was ordered by Madam and the Fifth Miss.”
“Spare this old servant, spare this old servant…”
Ye Changlin’s face darkened completely.
Lady Chen dropped to her knees: “Master, this maidservant is talking utter nonsense! Over these years, Master has been busy with official duties, and it has always been this concubine taking care of Chuchu.”
“This concubine has always treated Chuchu as her own biological child. Master, you have seen with your own eyes how this concubine treats Chuchu.”
Ye Mengzhi also knelt down, saying with a sob, “Father, Mother has given her heart and soul to treat Third Sister well, but Third Sister is just like Eldest Brother—consistently disrespectful and unfilial toward Mother.”
“They simply cannot tolerate Mother and me in this estate.”
“Now that Eldest Brother has become a young general with military merits, he cannot wait to drive Mother and me out of the estate.”
Ye Mengzhi dabbed at the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief, wiping away tears that did not exist at all.
Ye Changlin strode forward to Maidservant Lin, kicking her square in the chest as he roared, “Who instigated you to sow discord here?”
Maidservant Lin: “…”
Damn it all, is this Master Ye out of his mind?
She cursed furiously in her heart, but her mouth wailed aloud: “Master, it truly was Madam and the Fifth Miss! No one instigated this old servant.”
“Over these years, Madam and the Fifth Miss took advantage of your absence from the estate to humiliate and abuse the Third Miss in every possible way.”
“They… they even forced the Third Miss to soak in freezing water for two full hours. Ever since then, the Third Miss’s health has been ruined.”
“They also put chronic poison into the Third Miss’s meals, intending to let her die completely without a sound.”
“The Fifth Miss even pinned the Third Miss to the ground, forcing the Third Miss to lick her embroidered shoes.”
“…”
Piece by piece, Maidservant Lin exposed everything Lady Chen and Ye Mengzhi had done to Ye Chuchu over the years.
The killing intent radiating from Ye Jinmo grew increasingly dense.
Ye Changlin’s expression turned progressively grim.
So the original owner of this body was actually tortured to death like this. Ye Chuchu felt a pang of heartache for her predecessor for a few seconds.
Ye Jinmo drew the sword at his waist and pressed it against Maidservant Lin’s neck.
“What else have you done?”
Maidservant Lin collapsed onto the ground like a sifting sieve, completely devoid of strength: “This old servant has told everything she knows, there is truly nothing left.”
Ye Chuchu rolled her eyes internally: [Tch, how could there be nothing left?]
[Why doesn’t she mention that she drugged Ye Jinxing and slept with him?]
[I wonder what it looked like with this old servant pinning Ye Jinxing beneath her?]
[Ah, I really want to see it!]
Shock!
Ye Changlin was so shocked his eyes widened as he stared at Ye Chuchu.
Just as he was about to furiously scold Ye Chuchu for talking nonsense, he suddenly felt a wave of suffocation, as if a fierce ghost were choking him by the neck.
The moment he suppressed the thought of scolding her, the suffocating sensation abruptly ceased.
Ye Changlin gasped heavily for air, looking as though he had just taken a walk to the gates of the underworld.
Watching his old man react this way, Ye Jinmo knew that his father could also hear his younger sister’s inner voice.
Lady Chen, Ye Mengzhi, and the others looked entirely bewildered; they could not hear Ye Chuchu’s inner thoughts at all.
“Master, young General Ye, it truly had nothing to do with this old servant! It was all ordered by Madam and the Fifth Miss, please, spare this old servant.”
Ye Jinmo let out a cold laugh. The younger sister he had held in the palm of his hand since childhood—just how much suffering had she endured during the five years he was away at the frontier?
“You bullied this General’s younger sister, and you still expect to live?”