"Ah!" Zheng Wuyou hurriedly pulled her hand back. A tiny bead of blood had welled on her fingertip, just like Sleeping Beauty after she pricked herself on a spindle.
"Big Sister!" Wansi hurried over and anxiously took her hand.
But Zheng Wuyou yanked her back.
"Careful. There are invisible thorns on this hemp rope."
Her words made everyone curious about the rope. Miao Laisheng crouched down and lifted it with a stick.
As if it had noticed the commotion, the other end of the rope suddenly began to thrash violently.
Seeing this, everyone immediately backed away from the dog hole.
What if it really was a dog hole, and a huge dog came crawling out?
They'd be in trouble!
"Why are you all here?" The woman they had seen at noon stood in the entrance to the Side Rooms, holding a basin of laundry. She looked astonished, then noticed everyone trampling her rose patch.
The basin fell to the ground, and the dirty clothes scattered everywhere.
The woman turned and tried to run.
No!
They couldn't let her get away!
Zheng Wuyou and Miao Laisheng reacted in a flash, chasing after her from either side.
But the woman, imprisoned here for so long, was malnourished and weak.
She had barely taken a few steps before the two healthy pursuers caught up with her.
They subdued her with a single move.
Hadn't Zhu Li asked her to save the First Wife? Why did she seem to have no idea what was going on?
"Let go... Mmph!" Before the First Wife could call for help, Zheng Wuyou hurriedly plucked a blooming rose and stuffed it into her mouth.
When the other two arrived, the woman's eyes instantly reddened, and she stopped struggling.
"Don't worry. We won't hurt you! Are you part of the Zhu family? Were you the first to marry the groom?" Zheng Wuyou and Hu Yu cautiously dragged the First Wife back into the rose patch.
Since they'd already caught her, they might as well see it through.
The woman's hands were bound behind her back. Tears trickled from the corners of her eyes and pattered onto the ground.
She kept her mouth shut.
"You don't have to answer. Just nod or shake your head." Since the woman was injured, Zheng Wuyou hadn't tied her hands too tightly.
The woman spat out the rose, her expression desolate.
"If you don't say anything, I'll take it as a yes." Zheng Wuyou knew she had plucked the rose in a moment of panic, so she softened her tone.
The woman hadn't even nodded when Zheng Wuyou went straight to the question.
"Are you part of the Zhu family?"
The woman stared at her, apparently not expecting that question. After a moment's hesitation, she shook her head.
"Were you part of the Zhu family before you married into it?"
The woman paused, then nodded.
Interesting.
Zheng Wuyou gave a teasing smile at the conclusion she'd reached.
"Are you messing with us?" Hu Yu crouched in front of the woman, angrily rolling up her sleeves. The woman was obviously giving them contradictory answers!
Zheng Wuyou pulled her back, signaling for her to calm down.
Then she continued, "You hate this family, don't you?"
The woman froze, then immediately shook her head.
"You were the first to marry into the family, right?"
The woman shook her head emphatically.
Despite how firmly she shook her head, Zheng Wuyou had noticed her hesitation for just an instant. She'd meant to nod.
"Has no one married your husband after you?"
The woman nodded in agreement, but her gaze shifted to the dog hole behind her.
The rope inside the hole had gone still, as if it too were waiting for her answer.
"You... were kidnapped and sold here, weren't you?"
At Zheng Wuyou's question, everyone except Miao Laisheng looked at her in surprise.
Her short bob hid her lowered face, and no one could tell what she was thinking.
Fear showed in the woman's eyes at the question.
She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
"..." Looking at the woman's exhausted face, Zheng Wuyou couldn't imagine how much abuse she had endured.
"Was the child you carried on your back at noon yours?"
The woman nodded.
"The Backyard... is full of women, isn't it?"
Her words startled everyone all over again.
Hu Yu had no idea how Zheng Wuyou had reached those conclusions, but they were so unsettling they gave her goosebumps.
The woman shook her head.
Zheng Wuyou took a deep breath, crouched down, and untied the woman's hands.
"One last question. To show good faith, can you tell me your name?"
The woman immediately clasped her hands together and knelt before them, pleading, "I'm Madam Zhao, a wife of the Zhu family. I won't run away again. I am part of the Zhu family! Please, stop testing me."
After speaking, she got up from the ground and stumbled as she picked up the clothes and tossed them back into the basin.
She didn't care that her clothes were now covered in dirt from the rose patch.
Zheng Wuyou watched her hurry toward the well and sighed.
"Let's go. There's no hairpin here." Zheng Wuyou and Hu Yu did their best to restore the rose patch before leaving Old Zhu's family to rejoin the others.
Before they left, Miao Laisheng bent down and did something by the dog hole.
Zheng Wuyou didn't ask.
It seemed everyone had secrets they'd uncovered.
The people in the Wooden House had patiently waited for the four to return. While waiting, they had brought Sun Wu's body back to the house.
On the way back, Zheng Wuyou had looked up and carefully examined the windows on the second floor of the Wooden House.
Only the first and third windows were open.
So last night, it really had been the third window...
That had sent them false information.
"Did you find a way into the Backyard?" Wen Dian happily welcomed them at the door of the Wooden House. Being in the same room as a dead person had made him feel uneasy.
Hu Yu shook her head gravely. "She wouldn't cooperate at all."
Weren't they trying to get into the Backyard?
Who wouldn't cooperate?
Wen Dian followed the four inside, puzzled. Had they run into another strange encounter?
"She obviously wouldn't cooperate, so why ask so many useless questions?" Hu Yu walked at the back, grumbling to herself.
Tomorrow was almost here. If they were still making this little progress—
What if someone else died?
"Little sister, how did it go?" Uncle Cai saw that they hadn't brought back that First Wife person and figured they must have encountered some obstacle.
"What do you think? She asked a whole bunch of useless questions!" Hu Yu, parched, picked up the teapot from the main table and poured herself a cup of water.
Uncle Cai looked to Zheng Wuyou for confirmation.
Zheng Wuyou smiled faintly and walked over to Hu Yu.
"For now, we're a team, so I can't be bothered to argue with you. The information you think is useless isn't useless to me." She took the cup from Hu Yu, raised one eyebrow, and confidently drank a couple of sips.
Hu Yu had wanted to stop her, but seeing that no one objected—
She swallowed her frustration and took the loss.
Zheng Wuyou gathered her thoughts. "I did ask that woman a few questions. She wasn't from Zhu Village. She was kidnapped and sold here, and she was the First Wife we're looking for. The child she carried on her back wasn't hers either. It belonged to one of the women in a room in the Backyard. She must have tried to escape countless times, only to be caught and brought back every time."
Hu Yu poured herself another cup of tea. She hadn't even taken two sips when Zheng Wuyou's conclusion left her hand frozen in midair.
"No, what you're saying is the complete opposite of what that woman told us! Do you think we weren't there?"
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