Chapter 43 – Deliberately Spreading the News, Taking the Bait

When Ye Qingning woke up, she had no idea how lively the Yu residence had been the previous night. It was only from Lüluo’s mouth that she learned a thief had broken in.

Whether it was the storeroom, the study, or even the latrine, everything had been turned upside down.

Ye Qingning felt this girl was exaggerating a bit—flipping over a latrine? That seemed unlikely.

But for such a ruckus to happen last night and for her to sleep through it all, it only proved one thing: the remaining assessment disciples all had some real skills.

With two days left until the end of the assessment, those who didn’t find the bottle last night would surely continue searching tonight.

After all, the demonic entity was already dead, and the malicious ghosts plaguing the city had long since scattered. Disciples who had drawn the “cultivator” identity could no longer earn points by slaying evil beings.

In these last two days, they could only try to uncover others’ identities, or obtain a rare treasure and soar to the top.

Even if the person who slew the demon last night was a fellow disciple, with the Nine-Turn Yin-Yang Bottle in hand, a top fifteen placement was practically guaranteed, if not top three. She had to hold onto that bottle no matter what.

Once she was dressed and ready, Ye Qingning was about to stroll to the front courtyard to see what was going on when someone knocked on her door, followed closely by a woman’s voice.

“Sister, are you in there? It’s already this bright out, and you’re still not up? If you don’t answer, I’m coming in.”

Ye Qingning raised an eyebrow slightly. She suspected her older half-sister, and now it seemed her older sister was suspecting her in return.

Coming to her room so early in the morning—wasn’t it just to check if she was in, to test her a little?

Yun Mengyao pushed the door open and entered. Last night, under the guise of being the Yu family’s eldest daughter, she had practically searched the entire residence. Anything that looked remotely like the bottle was examined carefully, but she found nothing.

If there was one place she hadn’t checked, it was this younger sister’s room.

Originally, she had planned to search it last night after returning to the estate. But she had bumped into the maid outside the courtyard, and even spotted a man leaving the courtyard.

After asking, she learned that the man was a concubine from the side courtyard who had just come out of her sister’s room.

Because of this, she had dispelled her suspicions at the time. But now that the entire household had failed to find the Nine-Turn Yin-Yang Bottle, she couldn’t afford to overlook any place she had missed.

Of course, she needed to test her again to completely dismiss her doubts.

“Sister, so you were in your room after all! I didn’t hear a sound and thought you had gone out.”

Yun Mengyao sized Ye Qingning up from head to toe. Seeing her neatly dressed, hair pinned up, and complexion glowing, she was momentarily stunned.

Her younger sister didn’t look like someone who’d been up all night. Could it be she had truly suspected the wrong person?

“Sister coming to my room so early in the morning—could it be that you didn’t sleep all night? Judging by your calm demeanor, have the evil spirits in the city already been exterminated?”

Ye Qingning put on an expression of complete ignorance, while inwardly musing that her half-sister was definitely a fellow disciple. The question was, what identity did she hold?

Now that she had points to her name, a wrong guess could cost her half her accumulated score. That would be a major loss. If she tried to take her sister’s identity token and failed, she wouldn’t even know what realm the other party was in.

If she could win, great. If not, that’d be a one-way ticket out of the trial.

So it was better to remain patient. If she couldn’t strike, she’d let someone else do it, and she’d play the role of the mantis-catching-the-cicada, only to be caught by the oriole.

Yun Mengyao smiled lightly, not forgetting her original purpose. She replied with a testing tone, “Just as you guessed. The evil spirits in the city were indeed cleared out last night. Those that weren’t killed fled the city. I didn’t expect you to be so heartbroken over demon-slaying.”

Ye Qingning sneered, “What, just because I haven’t entered a cultivation sect, I can’t ask? If the evil spirits don’t die, how can I go out? Unlike me, you don’t have to be watched by Father and Mother. You can go wherever you like. Lately, they won’t even let me leave the house.”

Ye Qingning pouted, delivering an Oscar-worthy performance, leaving Yun Mengyao momentarily speechless.

All she could do was agree, “You’re right, Sister. Father and Mother are only worried for your safety.”

“But the residence was broken into last night and turned upside down. You really didn’t notice anything?”

Ye Qingning looked up, feigning surprise. “There was a break-in last night? I had no idea! What now? Did they catch the daring thief?”

Yun Mengyao sighed, “It wasn’t an ordinary thief. This one had remarkable skills. Not only did they get away, they didn’t even leave a single clue behind.”

Ye Qingning looked even more astonished. “From the way you describe it, the thief must have been incredibly skilled—even you couldn’t do anything about it?”

“But did they steal anything valuable? If nothing’s missing, maybe they weren’t here to steal things, but… to steal someone.”

That single line stunned Yun Mengyao.

Lüluo immediately understood what her lady meant and instinctively covered her mouth.

Didn’t Miss instruct her just last night not to tell anyone about the Second Madam sneaking out to meet her lover? How could she say it herself in front of the eldest miss!

Yun Mengyao noticed Lüluo’s reaction and realized the words weren’t baseless. Clearly, the mistress and her maid knew something.

“What do you mean, Sister? If you know something, why not tell me?”

Ye Qingning saw the fish had taken the bait and said to Lüluo, “You tell my sister what you saw last night.”

“Re-Replying to the Eldest Miss, last night Miss’s concubine was disobedient. I only intended to discipline him a little, but he tried to run away!”

“After I dragged him back, I happened to pass by the Second Madam’s courtyard. It was just a coincidence that I saw her leaving alone in the middle of the night.”

“Remembering the Immortal Masters’ warnings, I was worried about her safety and tried to secretly follow her to protect her. Who would’ve thought she’d actually leave the Yu residence!”

“No matter how urgent it is, sneaking out at midnight is just too suspicious. When I got back, I told the Second Miss. I was the one who speculated she might be sneaking out to meet a lover. It has nothing to do with the Second Miss!”

Ye Qingning patted Lüluo’s hand. “You’re my maid. You don’t need to apologize to her. Besides, you weren’t wrong. Leaving the estate in the middle of the night—if it’s not to meet a lover, what else could it be?”

Ye Qingning had read plenty of noble house intrigue novels and felt her tone was right on the mark.

Yun Mengyao hadn’t expected this at all. She came to test Yu Zhizhi, only to stumble upon a surprising revelation.

The Second Madam of the Yu family… turned out to be a fellow assessment disciple.

Sneaking out to meet a lover? Nonsense. She had clearly gone outside the city in the middle of the night!

Even though she hadn’t found the Nine-Turn Yin-Yang Bottle, the Second Madam was a demon in disguise. Taking her identity token would still earn a good number of points.

Not to mention, anyone who had survived this long without being eliminated must be holding a considerable number of points.

Only two days left—she had to act fast.

Second Madam, tonight she would pay her a visit!

“Sister, don’t say things without solid proof. That’s dangerous talk. There’s nothing else—I just came to remind you that a thief broke into the estate. You’d best be cautious, don’t sleep too soundly tonight. Wouldn’t want anything going missing.”

Ye Qingning curled her lips slightly. Tonight, she definitely wouldn’t sleep too soundly—how else could she send those two on a one-way flight?