Xie Nanjia woke up instantly, lifted the car curtain and asked, "What happened?"
A guard was standing outside. Because there were other people around, he could not say more. He whispered, "Young lady, please follow me. Something happened to my aunt."
Xie Nanjia hurriedly got off the carriage and followed him to the guest rooms in the front yard.
When they arrived at Fourth Aunt's room, she was huddled in a corner with her hair disheveled, hugging herself tightly, staring blankly at the bed opposite, muttering, "Xiu'er, Xiu'er, call Xiu'er over quickly."
Xie Nanjia followed her gaze towards the bed and was shocked to find that Mrs. Liu was lying straight on the bed with a dagger stuck in her chest.
No matter how calm she was, she couldn't help but gasp.
"What happened?" she asked, "How could Mrs. Liu die in Auntie's bed?"
The head guard shook his head and said, "I don't know. We heard Auntie yelling in the room, so we rushed in and saw this. Auntie was just looking for you, and she didn't say anything."
Xie Nanjia took a deep breath, walked to the side of Fourth Aunt, squatted down, and extended her hand to her: "Aunt, I'm Xiu'er, I'm here."
The fourth aunt looked up at her, then threw herself into her arms and burst into tears.
Xie Nanjia was afraid of alarming others, so she asked the guards to close all the doors and windows, and patted her back to comfort her softly.
The chief guard led his men to search the house.
While crying, Fourth Aunt told Xie Nanjia some information intermittently.
It turned out that Xie Nanjia had repeatedly told her to be careful before going to bed, so she became cautious and let Liu Pozi sleep on the bed while she slept on the floor. In the middle of the night, she heard some noise, but she was too sleepy to get up and check.
Later, she was really thirsty, so she called out to Mrs. Liu to get up and pour her some water. After calling out several times but getting no response, she groped her way to the bedside and asked Mrs. Liu for a fire starter, but Mrs. Liu still refused. She tried to shake her awake and accidentally touched the knife.
Then she screamed loudly, and the guards rushed in when they heard the noise.
"It's all your fault. Why did you agree to switch with her? I didn't want her to sleep in my room anyway..." The fourth concubine cried and complained to Xie Nanjia.
Xie Nanjia said calmly: "If I hadn't exchanged with her, the knife would have been stuck in you right now."
"What did you say?" Fourth Auntie was startled. "What do you mean?"
Xie Nanjia said: "People who sleep on the bed will die. If I stay here with you, will you still give me the bed?"
"…" Fourth Aunt swallowed hard, and her previous fear turned into relief for surviving the disaster, "You're right, it's a good thing you switched with her."
Xie Nanjia didn't think she hadn't thought of this, otherwise she wouldn't have given the bed to Liu Pozi.
But Xie Nanjia did not expose her. She just patted her hands, helped her sit down at the table, and poured her a glass of water.
The fourth aunt took a sip of water and asked her in return: "Xiu'er, did you guess that someone would come to kill me tonight?"
Xie Nanjia denied: "Auntie, you are overthinking. I am not Zhuge Liang. I cannot predict the future."
The fourth concubine didn't believe it and wanted to ask again, but suddenly she heard a guard shout, "Look, there is a pendant under the window."
The head guard took the pendant and took a look at it, his expression a little surprised, but he said nothing and handed the pendant directly to the Fourth Aunt.
It was a round jade pendant with a green silk ribbon underneath, and it was obviously a man's ornament.
Xie Nanjia looked at the pendant, then at the head guard, and asked him tentatively: "Who do you think it could be?"
"It's hard to say. We need to ask the authorities to come and make the final decision." said the head guard.
"No, you can't report it to the authorities!" The Fourth Aunt stopped him loudly, "There are only two of us in the room. What if the authorities suspect that I killed the person? Also, if this gets out, my innocence will be ruined and the Marquis will dislike me."
"Fourth Aunt, human life is at stake!" the leader of the guards said in a deep voice.
"I don't care. You can't report it to the authorities. Even if you want to, you have to wait until I return home and see the Marquis." The Fourth Aunt said sternly.
The head of the guards said, "It's too late, Auntie. I have already sent someone to report to the authorities."
Xie Nanjia was startled and counted the number of guards, only to find that one was missing. She had come in a hurry just now and did not notice it.
The fourth concubine said angrily: "How dare you be a servant like you? How dare you go beyond your master and act on your own!"
The head of the guards remained calm and said, "I am not your slave. I am the Marquis's soldier and I only obey the Marquis. The Marquis said that I have full authority to deal with everything that happens along the way. I don't need to ask Auntie for instructions."
"You!" The fourth concubine was so angry that she fell backwards, but she could do nothing about it.
Xie Nanjia couldn't help but look at this chief guard with admiration.
This man was silent the whole way, and never stepped forward when there was something to say, but let other guards communicate with them. She originally thought that he was just there to get the job done, but she didn't expect him to be a meticulous and tough man.
It seems that she needs to find an opportunity to make friends with this person.
"Listen to me, Auntie." She whispered in Fourth Auntie's ear, "Brother Guard is right to do this. I'll tell you in detail later. For now, don't make a fuss and wait for the officials to come."
The Fourth Aunt knew that it was useless to make a fuss, so she had to endure it for the time being.
When the police arrived, there was no way to avoid alerting others, so all the guests were woken up and gathered in the lobby downstairs for questioning.
The first people to be interrogated were naturally Xie Nanjia and his group, but since they were from the Marquis' Mansion after all, the officers did not dare to make things too difficult for them.
After all the trouble, it was already five o'clock in the morning. Along with the crowing of roosters, a loud baby cry was heard from the backyard.
(End of this chapter)