Within Marquis Dingyuan's Estate.
It was nearly dawn. Many people in Xiao Manor had risen early, and the commotion was far from small.
The cooks in the rear kitchen were busy preparing dishes, while the apprentices washed vegetables and stoked the fires in full swing.
The maidservants of each residence attended to the masters and madams as they washed up and dressed.
Taking advantage of the rainy weather, the household servants cleaned the courtyard walls and the corners around the pavilions.
The front courtyard was the busiest of all.
Several grooms had prepared the carriages early, ready to send those masters serving at the yamen to answer roll call.
The butler and gatekeepers recorded the purposes of visitors waiting outside the gates since dawn, accepted calling cards, and sent people to deliver them to the various residences in the rear courtyard.
Yet within Qingjing Residence in the central courtyard, the old master had dismissed everyone around him.
Not only had he refused to let in the servants meant to help him dress and wash, but he had specifically ordered several armored soldiers to guard the surroundings. No one was permitted to come within thirty zhang.
This caused most of the Xiao Family members moving about the central courtyard early that morning to mutter to themselves, wondering whether something major had happened in the estate.
But muttering was muttering, and speculation was speculation.
They all knew that even if they went forward to ask, they would get nothing out of it.
Those armored soldiers and personal guards would never reveal so much as half a word.
But what were the facts?
Wang Lixing, Liu Si'er, and the others assigned to guard outside Qingjing Residence truly knew nothing.
They had merely received orders to stand guard a quarter of an hour earlier.