Chapter 26: Searching for Ye Chutang All Night

A violent storm was raging.

The lanterns in the corridor swayed wildly, their flames flickering and almost going out.

The brightly lit mansion of the Minister gradually fell into darkness.

All the servants braved the wind and rain, using the brief flashes of lightning to search for Ye Chutang.

Ye Jingchuan stood in the main room of Ningchu Courtyard, looking out at the downpour, his brows tightly furrowed.

He had asked three maids who passed by Ningchu Courtyard a couple of incense sticks ago.

“Did you hear anything unusual in the courtyard? Or see any suspicious people?”

The three maids all shook their heads.

“Master, we didn’t see anything.”

Ye Jingchuan noticed one of them had an odd expression and kicked her in the knee.

“Speak! What did you see?”

The maid fell heavily to her knees, her kneecap seeming to shatter as pain flooded her, and tears started to spill out.

She didn’t dare continue to cover for Ye Anzhi.

“When I passed by Ningchu Courtyard, I saw the young master crouching on the wall, looking inside.”

“Lies!”

The maid knew this shouldn’t be spread and immediately corrected herself.

“It was too dark, I couldn’t see clearly, but I thought the figure resembled him… it must have been a mistake.”

After saying this, she slapped herself in apology.

Ye Jingchuan warned the other two maids.

“Forget what you just heard, and if a single word of this gets out, I’ll make sure you regret it!”

“Yes, Master.”

“Go find the eldest young lady!”

The maid quickly ran out into the rain, and Steward Chen approached, asking, “Master, should we call for the young master?”

“Go call him! Ningchu Courtyard only has one entrance, if he was outside, he would have known if Ye Chutang left.”

Steward Chen quickly brought Ye Anzhi over.

The rain was pouring so heavily that their clothes were soaked, water dripping down to pool by their feet.

“Father, in such heavy rain, you called me here…”

“Slap!”

Before Ye Anzhi could finish speaking, he was slapped by Ye Jingchuan.

“Wretched son! You actually tried to climb the wall of Ningchu Courtyard, what were you trying to do?”

Ye Anzhi covered his face, shouting in disbelief, “Father, you hit me?”

Ye Jingchuan slapped him twice more.

“Answer my question!”

Ye Anzhi was frightened, even more reluctant to tell the truth, “My elder sister just came back home, I was worried she wouldn’t be used to it, so I came to check on her.”

“What did you see?”

“I didn’t see anything. When I arrived, my elder sister was already getting ready to rest.”

He had tried to climb in but failed due to the wall being too high.

Ye Jingchuan could tell his eldest son hadn’t finished speaking, so he asked again, “What happened afterward?”

“Afterward, I heard my sister scolding the maid, and not long after, the maid ran out with blood on her face.”

“I hid behind the bushes near the wall and tried to climb over the wall again but was spotted by the maid, so I went back to my own courtyard.”

“After the maid with blood on her face left, did you see anyone suspicious enter Ningchu Courtyard, or hear anything from inside?”

Ye Anzhi nodded firmly, “No!”

Ye Jingchuan knew his eldest son was too scared to lie at this moment.

No one entered Ningchu Courtyard, and there was no noise in the courtyard, so how did the wardrobe and the canopy bed disappear?

Who could quietly steal such heavy and large items?

“Steward Chen, go and check if there’s any hidden passage in the courtyard.”

“Yes, Master.”

Steward Chen searched in the rain but found nothing.

At this time, the guard, Chen Zhong, arrived at Ningchu Courtyard and reported to Ye Jingchuan about the search.

“Master, we’ve turned the entire mansion upside down, but we haven’t found the eldest young lady or the maid named Shan’er.”

“Can they have disappeared without a trace?”

Steward Chen glanced at the empty boudoir and swallowed nervously.

“Master, could it be a ghost?”

Upon hearing this, Ye Jingchuan’s hands and feet went cold. He didn’t dare think further.

“Continue searching!”

As Steward Chen left, he remembered something.

“Master, should we check the study?”

The study was the courtyard where the books were kept.

It was a forbidden area, and no one could approach unless Ye Jingchuan gave permission.

The study was the most tightly guarded place in the mansion.

If someone had broken in, it would have been noticed by the guards outside.

Ye Jingchuan shook his head. “No need, I’ll go check myself.”

When he arrived at the study, Ye Chutang was listening to the wild winds howling and the heavy rain pouring down.

So, she knew someone had arrived immediately.

She planned to grab Shan’er and escape through the corner of the yard, but Ye Jingchuan arrived first.

Seeing that it was just him, Ye Chutang relaxed and pulled Shan’er up to hide on the beam.

Ye Jingchuan, drenched to the bone, entered the study and immediately went to the study room.

He found that it looked just like when he left, and he felt a bit more at ease.

Then he twisted the bronze sculpture of the “Galloping Horse” and unlocked the stone door’s secret mechanism.

Seeing that the staircase was intact, he felt fully reassured.

Ye Jingchuan closed the secret room and quickly left.

He had no idea that, just like Ningchu Courtyard, the secret room was now completely empty!

After the gate to the study courtyard was shut, Ye Chutang jumped down from the beam with Shan’er and went to sleep soundly.

---

The storm lasted the entire night.

The servants of the mansion searched for the whole night.

Everyone’s skin was wrinkled and pale from being soaked in the rain, their eyes looked like they had been smeared with soot, and they appeared extremely exhausted.

Ye Jingchuan also hadn’t slept the entire night. This morning, he had taken a leave and hadn’t gone to court.

He stood in Ningchu Courtyard, looking at the puddles on the flagstones and the leaves blown away by the wind. His headache was unbearable.

If Ye Chutang couldn’t be found, he wouldn’t be able to report back to Duke De, and the Ye family could be finished!

At that moment, Kong Ru, who had been pulling all night, arrived.

Her legs were weak, her face pale, and she had lost a lot of weight.

“Master…”

When Ye Jingchuan heard her voice, he immediately thought of the stench from her earlier incident and quickly took three steps back.

“Don’t come near!”

Kong Ru’s face stiffened, and she quickly explained, “Master, the doctor has checked me and said I was poisoned, that’s why I had diarrhea, and now I’m feeling better.”

Ye Jingchuan didn’t care about the cause of her illness or whether she was better; all he knew was that he was disgusted and didn’t want to see her.

“You’re weak, go back and rest.”

Kong Ru, seeing Ye Jingchuan’s disdainful look, felt a suffocating pain in her chest.

“It must have been Ye Chutang. She knew I poisoned her, so she poisoned me back!”

She wouldn’t have said this, but as soon as she did, Ye Jingchuan got angry.

“Didn’t I warn you to hold off? I have my own plan. Are your ears just for decoration?”

Kong Ru knew Ye Jingchuan was upset and intentionally picked a fight with her.

She didn’t retort but said, “Master, I heard that all the valuable things in Ningchu Courtyard are gone. Could it be that someone stole things and, seeing the opportunity, took the person as well?”

Ye Jingchuan sneered. “Do you think anyone could steal everything from Ningchu Courtyard so quietly in just a short time?”

He still believed there was an insider in the mansion.

Whether the things were stolen or the person couldn’t be found, it all pointed to an inside job!

Kong Ru whispered, “Could it really be a ghost?”

“No matter what it is, we must find them!”

Kong Ru suddenly remembered something.

“Master, do you remember the three conditions Chutang mentioned last night?”

Ye Jingchuan immediately recalled and shouted loudly, “Chutang, I agree to all your conditions, come out quickly!”

He felt like a fool.

But now that he couldn’t find her, he had to give it a try, treating a dead horse as if it were a living one.

To his surprise, Ye Chutang really appeared.

She gracefully descended from the roof, standing between Ye Jingchuan and Kong Ru, her smile radiant.

“You two better prepare some offerings and go to my mother’s grave to apologize!”