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As soon as these words were spoken, the Qin Manor erupted into chaos. The servants in the main courtyard couldn’t help but murmur among themselves:
“How could the Third Young Master possibly be involved in witchcraft and curses against His Majesty? He’s the last person who would believe in such superstitions! He doesn’t even visit temples, let alone practice sorcery!”
“Exactly! Just last year, a famous sorcerer from the Southern Territories offered to read his fortune, and he flatly refused, saying he didn’t believe in such nonsense. Why would he suddenly start burying cursed objects?”
“What if they actually find something unclean? What do we do then? Throughout history, anyone caught practicing sorcery has had their entire family executed!”
“Waaah… I don’t want to die! Mother, what should we do?”
“It’s over… The Qin Manor is really finished this time.”
Gloom and fear filled the faces of the servants. The Qin Princess Consort had already seen through the ploy—it was clearly the second branch of the Sheng family trying to drag the main branch into the mud.
Despite her frail body, she stood tall, exuding the authority of the household’s matriarch.
“Second Brother! What do you mean by this?!”
“For half a year, you haven’t visited Mother even once. Ning Shou Courtyard is in the northern part of the manor, dozens of courtyards away from your second branch. Tell me, how exactly did you see my third son bury something in the western wing?”
“What was it? A dream?”
Sheng Yichen’s face flushed red with anger. He pointed at Sheng Dehai and cursed,
“Exactly! I’ve been busy charming Miss Qiluo at Yi Hong Courtyard every day! Where would I find the time to sneak over to Ning Shou Courtyard and bury cursed objects?!”
“Second Uncle, you don’t seem like a particularly filial person. So why would you suddenly visit Ning Shou Courtyard and conveniently see me burying such things?!”
Sheng Yichen clenched his fists as if he were about to start a fight.
But when no one was looking, he quickly winked at Sheng Nanxi.
Being accused of unfilial conduct, Sheng Dehai was livid. He hastily retorted:
“You! You’re all spouting nonsense! I’ve been dedicating myself to the court, working tirelessly for the nation, which is why I haven’t had time to visit Mother. How dare you say I don’t care about her?!”
“As for whether the Third Young Master has committed such a heinous crime, it’s not something you can dismiss with a few clever words! Once the evidence is found, let’s see how you try to weasel your way out of this!”
Eager to find the evidence and bring down the main branch, Sheng Dehai had no interest in arguing further. With that, he led the Imperial Guard commander, Zheng Jichang, straight toward Ning Shou Courtyard.
“Commander Zheng, this is the place! The other night, I intended to check on Mother’s health. But unexpectedly, I witnessed the Third Young Master burying several small wooden dolls dressed in yellow robes.”
“That brat may have been mischievous since childhood, but he’s never done anything truly outrageous. Who could have guessed that this time, he would lose his mind and commit such an unpardonable crime?”
“Though I am his uncle, I understand that as loyal subjects of Southern Qi, we must serve the Emperor faithfully. That is why I had no choice but to report my own nephew.”
Sheng Dehai’s tone was sorrowful, but his eyes gleamed with uncontained excitement.
Their plan had been in the works for over a month, and it was finally coming to fruition.
Soon, the Emperor’s uncle would reward him for his meritorious report—not only sparing his second branch from exile but also granting him a thousand taels of gold and a promotion.
At this moment, he no longer saw the buried objects as mere wooden dolls.
To him, they were piles of glittering gold and a shining official hat!
Commander Zheng Jichang nodded and gestured to his soldiers.
Immediately, a few soldiers stepped forward with shovels and began digging at the spot Sheng Dehai had indicated.
Watching the soldiers dig deeper and deeper, Zheng Jichang finally relaxed.
According to the plan, they would soon uncover the evidence proving that Qin Manor’s Third Young Master had cursed the Emperor. Once he presented this evidence to the palace, the Emperor would have all the justification he needed to exile the Qin lineage.
As one of the Emperor’s most trusted officials, Zheng Jichang knew full well—His Majesty had long wanted to eliminate the Qin bloodline.
If today’s operation succeeded, the rewards would be abundant.
Moreover, the Qin Manor was vast and wealthy. When the confiscation order was issued, there would be plenty of treasures for him to pocket!
At this moment, the sky was dark, and the courtyards were all closed. Sheng Dehai still didn’t know that the Qin Manor had already been emptied.
Otherwise, his mood might have been very different.
Sheng Dehai and Zheng Jichang were lost in their grand fantasies. The more they thought about it, the more excited they became, their hearts pounding with anticipation.
But as the soldiers kept digging, their excitement gradually turned into unease.
“Report! There’s nothing at the western wing’s corner. We… we didn’t find any of the so-called cursed objects mentioned by Sheng Langzhong…”
The commander of a thousand troops, who seemed to have some idea of the truth, was visibly trembling as he spoke.
“What?! That’s impossible! I saw him bury it with my own eyes!”
Sheng Dehai’s face twisted with shock and disbelief as he stared at the massive three-zhang-deep pit that had been dug up.
“I saw with my own eyes that Sheng Yichen buried those things! There’s no way I’m mistaken! Keep searching! Don’t just dig deeper—search the surrounding area as well!”
A quarter of an hour later…
In front of them lay a massive pit, three zhang deep and three zhang wide.
“Reporting… Reporting to the commander and to Sheng Langzhong, we still haven’t found any cursed objects…”
“Keep digging! Maybe I misremembered—it might not have been the western corner. Check the other three corners as well!”
From soaring dreams to crashing reality, Sheng Dehai looked completely deranged. If not for his pride, he might have grabbed a shovel and started digging himself.
Another quarter of an hour later…
Three more pits, each three zhang wide and deep, had been dug at the remaining corners of the western wing.
What they unearthed, however, was a bizarre assortment of items:
Used chamber pots, lost rings and earrings, destroyed textbooks discarded in secret, and even cockroach and rat corpses…
But not a single yellow-clad wooden doll.
“H-how is this possible…”
Staring at the empty pits, Sheng Dehai’s face turned ashen.
How could they not be here?!
Just this morning, he had personally watched his subordinates bury those objects at the western wing of Ning Shou Courtyard!
To prevent any mishaps, he had even assigned his most trusted men to monitor the area round the clock.
Moreover, not long ago, he had specifically confirmed with them that no one had gone near the burial site today!
So how could those large wooden dolls disappear right under the noses of dozens of highly skilled guards?!
Sheng Dehai could feel the situation slipping out of his control, but he refused to give up. Just as he was about to order the Imperial Guards to search even more thoroughly, a bright and cheerful laugh rang out from nearby.
“Oh my! Could it be that my mother was right after all? Did my dear uncle really see me bury things in a dream?”
Wrapped in a luxurious fire-fox fur cloak, Sheng Yichen strolled over casually, his steps light and unhurried, his tone relaxed.
“Is Commander Zheng investigating a case of sorcery?”
“What a coincidence! I actually saw the wooden dolls my uncle mentioned about half a month ago.”
“But they weren’t buried at the western wing of the ancestral courtyard…”
Sheng Yichen deliberately twirled his slender, fair fingers in the air, drawing out the suspense as everyone hung onto his every word.
“They were buried in my dear uncle’s back garden!”
“I personally saw my uncle bury those objects under the rockery in his own garden!!”