She suddenly exerted force, and Wang Mama’s face immediately flushed red.

Wang Mama struggled desperately, reaching out to try to pry Wen Yuesheng’s hand away, but it was all in vain.

She widened her eyes, and a harsh sound came from her throat.

“P-Permission to speak, I know I was wrong,” Wang Mama gasped.

The suffocating feeling, as if drowning, brought an unprecedented fear to Wang Mama.

Tears suddenly streamed down her face.

The others in the main hall were frightened by this scene.

In their panic, some rushed to call for help, while others were so weak with fear that they didn’t dare to move.

The maid who stumbled out ran directly into Wen Xun, who had hurried over after hearing the news.

Before he could enter the room, a loud crash echoed from within.

His face changed slightly, and he quickly entered.

Wen Yue Sheng turned away from Wang Mama’s head, releasing her grip.

Wang Mama fell to the ground with a thud, knocking over a nearby vase, which shattered and lodged into her body.

Yet, the pain of the shards couldn’t overshadow the terror she had just experienced, almost suffocating to death.

Wen Xun entered the room and saw this scene.

He was both shocked and enraged: “What are you doing!?”

“Drag her out and execute her with the staff. Don’t make me say it a third time.” However, Wen Yuesheng was markedly different today.

Breaking her fast on a fasting day added a restless energy to her, and even her usually calm, cold eyes appeared unusually profound.

But Wen Xun continued: “Do you know what time it is? You’re in the middle of the night, entering your father and stepmother’s chambers, and you want to execute a servant by your stepmother’s side. Wen Yue Sheng, do you know what you’re doing?”

“I’ll let you know soon what I plan to do.” Wen Yue Sheng immersed her hand in the cool water that Gu Yu had brought, her eyes cold as ice.

“Master, Princess,” the house steward hurried in, his face pale: “Wang Mama has passed away.”

Wen Xun felt a lump in his throat, but before he could react, Wen Yuesheng had already taken a fresh silk handkerchief and was wiping the water from her hands as she stepped out of the room.

At that moment, the butler rushed in from outside, saying: “Master, people from Shuntian Prefecture have arrived.”

Wen Xun’s anger immediately cooled, and he frowned: “Shuntian Prefecture?”

What were they doing here at this hour?

Without thinking too much, Wen Xun quickly exited the courtyard.

Just as he stepped out, he saw the night illuminated by bright flames—the Shuntian Prefect himself had arrived with a group of men.

The night was already deep, and the scene before him was dark and overwhelming, sending a chill down his spine.

Wen Yue Sheng, who had just left, stood in front of the Shuntian Prefect, surrounded by a sea of guards.

The atmosphere in the night was oppressive.

When Chen Shi arrived, this was the scene she encountered.

Even though she was typically composed, her heart skipped a beat at the sight.

The main gate of the Princess Mansion was spacious enough, and the spot where Wen Xun was speaking to the Shuntian Prefect had a chair that Gu Yu had somehow brought for Wen Yue Sheng to sit on.

Thus, the scene became one where Wen Xun and Chen Shi stood below, while Wen Yue Sheng sat above, holding a string of white jade prayer beads in her hands.

Unlike usual, she did not turn the beads but simply stared with her cold, ink-like eyes at those in the room.

“…This is what happened. I’ve come here now to arrest the evil servant,” the Shuntian Prefect briefly explained to Wen Xun.

Wen Xun’s expression darkened, and he realized why Wen Yue Sheng had hurried back and ordered Wang Mama’s execution.

That evil servant truly deserved to die.

But before the Shuntian Prefecture’s arrival, she had already executed Wang Mama.

Wen Xun was about to speak when Wen Yue Sheng, seated above, suddenly said: “I’ve already ordered Wang Mama’s execution.”

The Shuntian Prefect was momentarily stunned and couldn’t help but look toward Wen Xun.

Wen Xun’s face was grim. Involving such a large case, Wen Yue Sheng had acted directly without even consulting him.

Wen Xun had no choice but to speak: “Though she is dead, the physical evidence should still be around. We can find some clues from her belongings.”

The Shuntian Prefect said nothing, but the case was complicated now.

Not only was the main suspect dead, but it also involved the Princess Mansion, with the princess directly involved.

This case had become exceedingly difficult to handle.

However, the Shuntian Prefect was a high-ranking official, a minister of the Ministry of Works, who had significant influence before the Emperor. He could not act recklessly.

The Shuntian Prefect paused, then was about to speak when he suddenly heard a cold voice: “She’s dead, but her master is still here.”

The room immediately fell silent.

Wen Xun’s face changed drastically, and he looked up at Wen Yue Sheng.

He saw her eyes hidden in the darkness, making it impossible to read her emotions. They seemed to blend with the deep, impenetrable night.

“The maid who was sent by her to coax Concubine Yang to leave the national temple, the doorman who allowed that maid to leave the Princess Mansion, and the servants who lived with Wang Mama and worked the same shifts.”

Wen Yue Sheng calmly looked at the people below: “And her master, who served her every day without leaving her side.”

The room was deathly silent.

From what she said, it appeared she intended to bring nearly all the servants from the main courtyard, as well as Chen Shi herself, to be interrogated at Shuntian Prefecture.

The servants mentioned by name, and those who were not, all immediately fell to their knees.

The arrival of Chen Shi was a grim sight.

Although she still managed to keep her composure, she spoke to Wen Xun: “It is my fault for not managing the household well. Please, Master, punish me.”

Jiang Mama, kneeling behind her, was terrified and felt her legs go weak.

This matter truly had nothing to do with Chen Shi.

But that Wang Mama was someone close to Chen Shi, and every move she made was under Chen Shi’s watchful eye. If it was said that Chen Shi truly didn’t know, that would be absurd.

It was just that when this matter was reported to Chen Shi earlier, she didn’t care to intervene.

She still remembered the look on Chen Shi’s face at the time.

Chen Shi sat in the bright main room, casually flipping through the accounts in her hand, and said in a soft voice, “Since she was the one who nearly killed Wang Mama’s son, she should have known this would happen.”

At the time, Jiang Mama was startled by the meaning behind Chen Shi’s words.

Afterward, though she felt uneasy, she still followed Chen Shi’s instructions and didn’t expose Wang Mama.

Instead, she allowed the situation to unfold.

But who knew, Wang Mama’s actions were so foolish that it eventually led to their involvement.

Now that the matter had come to light, Jiang Mama looked at Chen Shi’s composed back, and in her heart, panic had taken over completely.

“But if this matter was ordered by me, I cannot accept it,” Chen Shi raised her eyes, and two lines of clear tears slid down her face. “Please, Master, please examine this.”

Wen Xun’s face was already extremely grim.

He suppressed his anger and turned to the Shuntian Prefect, saying, “This matter was due to negligence within the mansion, which allowed that evil servant to commit such a vile act.”

“It’s also my fault…”

“How many people died in this case?” Wen Yuesheng extended a hand, the one with the prayer beads, and began counting: “One, two, three… a total of seven lives.”

“Can this case just be closed like this?”

The evening had grown cooler, and the night breeze could dispel the heat of the day, but it could not calm the restlessness in Wen Yue Sheng’s heart.

This was the first time she had broken her vows since coming here, and it was on a day when she was supposed to fast.

She looked at the Shuntian Prefect in the center of the room, her face expressionless, and spoke in a soft voice: “Oh, or is it that everyone in the capital knows that someone living in the national temple is me, so these matters were all aimed at me?”

“Then those bandits were actually targeting the murder of the royal family,” Wen Yuesheng said.

Chen Shi’s face changed.

She spoke in a deep voice: “The princess misunderstands. This matter was truly caused by Wang Pei, and it has nothing to do with anyone else in the mansion.”

No matter what Chen Shi had been thinking before, at this moment, what she said was sincere.

However, Wen Yue Sheng didn’t care what she said.

She didn’t even care whether Chen Shi knew about this matter.

She coldly said, “Gu Yu. Since Shuntian Prefecture refuses to handle this, then take the princess’s token and go to the Supreme Court, to the Ministry of Justice.”

She casually tossed her hand with the prayer beads onto the chair behind her. “Go to the palace.”

Wen Xun immediately changed color.

Wen Yue Sheng was going to escalate the matter completely, even to the Emperor himself!

He stepped forward with large strides, his voice, suppressed with anger, trembled slightly: “Wen Yuesheng, do you know what you are doing? You’re dragging the entire mansion down with you. Do you think you can stand aside? You are ruining your own reputation!”

In noble families, everything is tied together—if one rises, they all rise, and if one falls, they all fall.

If she blew this matter up today, tomorrow her reputation would be ruined.

If she was implicated, her future and those of others would also be affected!

Wen Yuesheng, hearing this, stared at him with cold eyes: “So what?”

Wen Xun was momentarily speechless.

He suddenly understood.

She had come to the mansion and had the old Wang Mama beaten to death because she wanted to drag everyone into madness with her.

She wasn’t after any particular outcome or to solve any case.

She clearly knew they were not involved in this, so what?

That didn’t stop her from blowing everything out of proportion and dragging the entire Princess Mansion into it.

For the first time in his life, Wen Xun experienced this feeling, and it came from his own flesh-and-blood daughter.

After taking a few deep breaths, he finally calmed down.

Having been in the bureaucracy for many years, Wen Xun was not a fool.

If he were, he wouldn’t have secretly supported the current Emperor before the late Emperor even set the heir.

Nor would he have blocked a hidden attack during the imperial succession, gaining the Wen family favor for many years.

Wen Xun had been scheming in the officialdom for years, so he certainly knew how to handle today’s situation.

But while he could stop the Shuntian Prefect, he could not stop Wen Yuesheng from going crazy.

He stared at her steadily, and after a long while, he asked, “What exactly do you want?”

Wen Yue Sheng, hearing this, lifted her gaze toward him. Her cold eyes held no emotion.

She simply said, “Wasn’t it clear enough before?”

“I want all of you who use the Princess Mansion’s name for everything, to get out of the Princess Mansion.”