Peach Blossom.

The front yard of Situ Mansion was indeed pitch black and silent, with only the snoring of the gatekeeper coming from the corner room next to the front door.

Midnight is the coldest time of the night. Tao Ye had to coax Yu'er to sleep before going out, so her clothes were loose. She felt wind leaking everywhere, which made her even colder. She kept complaining in her heart that it was too troublesome to take off and put on ancient clothes!

Before this, she had already roughly learned the basic geographical locations of various places in the front yard when chatting with Yu'er. Wang Yi's study was in the southeast, so she found it quickly.

Tao Ye first lit the candle with a tinder before she could see the keyhole clearly. Then she used the key to open the door, silently thanking her lucky key that was the key to the study.

After entering the study, Tao Ye hurriedly closed the door again. She thought that it should be difficult for people to notice whether the door was locked or not, but it must not be left open.

Chen Ji faintly felt the sounds of the door opening and closing and gently knocked on the mirror.

Tao Ye placed the candle on a candlestick in the room, then took out a mirror from her bosom and said to Chen Ji, "Look, this is Wang Yi's study."

She held up the mirror and turned the study 360 degrees, and then looked around herself. There were rows of bookcases on both sides of the study, and the bookcases were completely filled with books. There was a desk in the middle, and on the wall behind the desk were two pieces of calligraphy. The two fonts were slightly different, but both were written very well.

When Chen Ji saw it, he couldn't help but praise: "The calligraphy of Wang Yi and Wang Jing, father and son, is indeed one of the best in Qi. I wish I could write like them!"

Tao Ye asked in surprise: "How do you know this was written by them, father and son?"

Chen Ji smiled softly: "In Jiankang, who doesn't have a collection of calligraphy works by the father and son? There are many in my eldest brother's room, how could I not have seen them?"

"Oh..." Tao Ye looked up. She recognized Wang Jing's handwriting, so the other one must be Wang Yi's.

Chen Ji said again: "Little girl, once you have spotted Wang Yi's handwriting, look for it quickly to see if there is any letter written by him on the desk."

Tao Ye moved the candlestick to the desk, where there were a lot of official documents and other papers.

She just stretched out her hand when she heard Chen Ji remind her: "If you pick up any one, remember to put it back. If you are worried about forgetting, just pick up one at a time. Do you understand?"

Tao Ye nodded, and followed Chen Ji's instructions, picking up one copy and then putting one copy down. Most of the handwriting on the table was Wang Jing's. She looked for a long time before she saw Wang Yi's handwriting. She hurriedly said to Chen Ji, "I found one copy... but there are many characters I don't recognize..."

Chen Ji said, "Point the mirror at the paper, let me see."

Tao Ye did as he was told.

After Chen Ji finished reading, he said, "Keep looking, there should be more."

Tao Ye continued to look, and sure enough, the next few documents were all written by Wang Yi. However, she had no knowledge of ancient Chinese characters, and Wang Yi's characters were mostly in cursive script, making it difficult for non-professionals to understand.

Tao Ye was so tired of reading that she didn't wait for Chen Ji to tell her what to do. She spread out the papers one by one on the table, facing the mirror, and let Chen Ji look at them. One of the papers had small words and some drawings. At first glance, it was so densely packed that it was very tiring for the eyes.

Chen Ji stopped at this point: "Don't move, I'll go get a pen."

Tao Ye was very curious and looked at the paper several times. The words were difficult for her to read, but she seemed to be able to understand the picture a little. It looked like a simple hand-drawn map with red circles drawn in some places.

On the other side of the mirror, Chen Ji quickly took out a pen and paper and took notes while looking at the words and pictures in the mirror.

Tao Ye looked at it and felt that Chen Ji seemed to have copied it.

She became even more curious: "Is this one important?"

"It's the most important." Chen Ji answered casually and continued to copy quickly.

After a long while, Chen Ji finally finished copying. His fingers were sore and Tao Ye's arm was stiff from holding the mirror. They both put down their things and stretched their arms slightly.

Tao Ye asked hurriedly: "What exactly is written on it?"

Chen Ji grinned: "This... you may not understand even if I tell you! It's getting late, you should return the key quickly! It's not far from dawn, it will be bad if you are discovered!"

Tao Ye's heart suddenly started beating fast, and she became suspicious of Chen Ji: "Are you hiding this from me on purpose and using me?"

"How could that be?" Chen Ji's voice was very gentle and kind: "Silly girl, aren't you in a hurry now? You still have to restore the study to its original state and return the key! I will tell you slowly when we are both free some other night!"

Tao Ye was half-believing and half-doubting. She put everything on the desk back to its original place, moved the candlestick back to its original place, took the candle off the candlestick, checked the study room again, and made sure that everything was the same as when she first came in. Then she walked out and locked the door.

When she sneaked into Wang Jing's room again, Wang Jing was still asleep. She quietly put the key back under the pillow. When she was about to turn around and leave, she heard a voice behind her: "Ah Jiao..."

Tao Ye was startled and turned around quickly. Seeing that Wang Jing's eyes were still closed, she realized that he was just talking in his sleep. When she was about to leave, she heard another sentence: "My feet hurt..."

Tao Ye couldn't suppress her curiosity. She turned around, slowly squatted down, and leaned forward to look at Wang Jing's feet.

Wang Jing was covered with a quilt, but not tightly.

Tao Ye stretched out her right hand, gently picked up a corner of the quilt, and took a look inside in the faint moonlight outside the window. She was so frightened that her hands began to tremble and the corner of the quilt fell off.

The light was dim, so she couldn't see clearly, but she could see that Wang Jing's feet were swollen, and covered with scars, pustules, and scabs...

Such a handsome man, but such a horrible pair of feet.

Tao Ye suddenly understood why Wang Jing could walk normally but often used crutches. She also remembered the day when she was punished to kneel in the rain. When Wang Jing brought her back, Xiao Rui shouted, "Jing'er, watch your feet!"

With such an injury, every step you take would be excruciatingly painful, and walking is a common occurrence, so the injury on the sole of the foot will definitely become inflamed repeatedly.

This wound has not healed for a long time, I am afraid it is not just a simple skin injury.

Tao Ye's heart was in turmoil for a moment. She looked at the east and saw that it was already getting light. She decided there was no need to go to sleep. She might as well explore the mystery in her heart before dawn.

She walked out of Wang Jing's room and went to the back door of Situ Mansion, remembering that she and Wang Jing had met on that sleepless night.

Tao Ye opened the bolt of the back door. The sound startled the servant who was on night watch in the corner room. "It's Second Madam. Are you going out so early?"

Tao Ye nodded: "I have something to do, so I may be back very late today. Please run an errand for Xiu Ping. If I am not back by dark, tell her to sleep with Yu Er first, and don't wait for me."

After briefly explaining everything, Tao Ye went out the back door and walked to the Qinhuai River. After searching for a long distance along the river bank, she saw a small boat with the boatman sleeping on the deck leaning against the cabin.

Tao Ye woke up the boatman and asked, "Do you want to go to Ghost Mountain?"

The boatman immediately waved his hand and said, "No! It's a mass grave, haunted! Who would go there?"

Tao Ye took off a silver hairpin inlaid with pearls and jade from her head. It was a piece of jewelry that Man Tangjiao left at Wang's house. She handed the hairpin to the boatman and said, "Please teach me how to row a boat. I want to rent your boat for a whole day."

It turns out that money makes things easier. Tao Ye learned and put it into practice immediately. He rowed the boat to Guishan by himself, but he went very slowly.

She came to the haunted house again and met the ghost king: "Do you have something like a "time recorder" here? I want to know the story between Wang Jing and Mantang Jiao."

"Yes, but it is not available for loan." The Ghost King's attitude was a little better this time than before. Perhaps it was because Tao Ye had completed her work at a good speed and with good quality recently, so he allowed Tao Ye to sit with him for the first time.

Tao Ye said hurriedly: "I won't borrow it, just take a look at it here!"

The Ghost King shook his head. "I just hired a new delivery man and I'm waiting to go back to headquarters for a meeting! How can I have the time to waste time with you here?"

"I'll deliver ten more takeout orders to you!" Tao Ye stretched out two hands with ten fingers in total.

The Ghost King shook his head again: "No, no! Their story is eight years long. Even if you fast forward it four times, it will take two years to finish it!"

"Twenty orders!" Tao Ye even stretched out both legs.

The Ghost King stroked his beard and thought for a moment: "Let's calculate it by the length of time, so that you don't think I'm asking for an exorbitant price! Their stories are counted as one episode a day, and for every episode you watch, I'll add ten orders, how about that?"

"This is a fair way!" Tao Ye was secretly delighted.

"So...how many episodes do you want to watch?"

"Ah?" Tao Ye was a little confused: "Do we have to choose now? Can't we calculate after reading it?"

"Of course, I will copy the file you want to watch, project it on the wall, and set it to play in sequence. Do you think I will be here to watch a romance drama with you?" The Ghost King said, and a machine shaped like a projector appeared in his hand.

Tao Ye thought for a moment and said, "Then I will choose three episodes! The day Wang Jing's foot was injured, the day Man Tang Jiao received the divorce papers, and the last day before Man Tang Jiao left the Wang family."

The Ghost King turned on the projector, and Tao Ye saw that there was a wall in the haunted house that was pure white and very flat, which should have been specially designed for projection.

"I have to go first. After you finish looking around, go back by yourself. Don't touch anything here without permission." The Ghost King said this and then disappeared.

Tao Ye sat alone in the haunted house and watched the images.

It was just getting light in the sky. Mantang Jiao stood at the back door of Situ Mansion, staring at it in a daze. She had dark circles under her eyes, her hair was disheveled, and her clothes were only draped loosely.

"Ah Jiao!" Wang Jing came over from behind, put another cloak on Mantang Jiao, and held her hand: "You have been sleepless all night again..."

Mantangjiao didn't say anything, but two lines of tears flowed silently.

Wang Jing hugged Mantang Jiao tightly, letting her tears fall on his shoulders: "Let's go together! Leave here!"

Mantangjiao closed her eyes and shook her head gently: "No! We can't leave..."