High-class maid

The guard knelt down and respectfully told the emperor what he had seen.

The Emperor twirled the beaded string in his hand, his expression revealing no joy or sorrow. After a long while, he parted his thin lips slightly and asked, "Where is the second son?"

"The Second Prince still refuses to see anyone and only studies in his residence," the guard said. In fact, even he himself couldn't believe how composed the Second Prince was.

"Just reading? Didn't you see anyone else?" The Emperor asked, somewhat skeptical.

"Yes, the Second Prince practiced his sword at dawn, and spent the rest of his time reading."

"You've done a good job. Keep an eye on them, and record who they met and what they did. Report back to me tomorrow." The Emperor waved his hand, signaling the guards to leave.

The guard bowed again, then turned and disappeared from the roof of the palace, as if he had never been there at all.

"Madam, Madam Sun has left the manor again today." Inside the Song manor, Madam Lin, Song Wenyang's stepmother, was leisurely eating grapes that her maid had peeled when her nanny walked up to her and whispered.

"What? How come this slut goes out of the manor every few days? Does she think she can ignore me just because the master dotes on her?" Madam Lin was furious. She even stopped eating the grapes and waved for the maids in the room to leave.

The maids breathed a sigh of relief and quickly and quietly withdrew, wanting to leave this place of trouble.

"Granny, do you think that Madam Sun is always going out of the mansion? Is she having an affair outside?" Madam Lin perked up at the mention of this, leaning forward slightly and asking with a gossipy look on her face.

The old woman seemed startled. She hurriedly waved the handkerchief in her hand, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and said, "Oh dear, my lady, if the master hears this, it will be terrible! Even if she had ten times the courage, that Madam Sun wouldn't dare to find a man!"

"Then tell me, why is she leaving the manor so frequently? Have you sent someone to follow her?" Madam Lin asked, her eyes darting around.

"Not yet. I saw that she was accompanied by the guards arranged by the master, so I didn't dare to make a decision on my own. That's why I came to ask for your opinion." The old woman's voice grew softer and softer until it was almost inaudible.

Lin was about to explode in anger, but remembering that the other woman was, after all, her dowry maid, she held back. She said...

"In that case, why don't you send someone to follow that Sun woman?! Don't let any evidence slip by."

The old woman was startled, bowed, and hurriedly retreated to make the arrangements.

"None of them give me any peace of mind. I've been raising Xiangyu for so many years, and she can't even handle a young boy. In the end, she actually married an old man from a thousand miles away as his concubine!"

Madam Lin thought of Lin Xiangyu again, a fine pawn, lost in Jinling. She also thought of her son; although he was her biological son, she had to admit that her foolish son was no match for Song Wenyang.

At this moment, the woman they were talking about, surnamed Sun, stopped at a tea shop. She turned to the nanny and said, "Nanny, I've been craving the tea here for a long time. Take this money and let the guards have a taste. They've come out in this cold weather; it must be hard for them."

"Yes, Madam has always been kind-hearted." The nanny, without suspecting anything, took the purse and went to arrange for the servants.

Supported by her maid, Madam Sun arrived at the private room on the second floor. She pushed open the door and saw Song Wenyan's cold, stern face. Looking at Song Wenyan's face, so similar to her master's, she couldn't help but shed tears.

"Aunt Sun, please stop crying and sit down quickly so that no one with ulterior motives can see you." Song Wenyang stood up and gently helped Sun Shi up. Sun Shi said she dared not, turned aside to avoid his help, and slowly sat down opposite Song Wenyang.

"It's been many days since I last saw you, young master. You seem to have lost a lot of weight, but you've also grown much taller. I saw you had to look up at me just now!" Madam Sun wiped the corner of her eye with a handkerchief and said in a seemingly relaxed manner.

"Aunt Sun, please don't call yourself a servant. You're making me feel too embarrassed. I wonder how you are doing in the manor? Has Madam Lin given you any trouble?" Song Wenyang said politely to his mother's servant.

When asked about her time at the Song residence, Madam Sun's smile vanished. She said resentfully, "What else could I do? If it weren't for finding the real culprit who framed Miss and making that Lin family unhappy, I would have just been clinging to life."

Song Wenyang also thought of his mother. He softened his tone, which was rare for him, and replied with a look of longing, "Has Aunt Sun collected any evidence in the mansion? Has Lin Shi acted strangely? And my grandmother, how has she been lately?"

Song Wenyang had not returned to his residence for a year. Although he occasionally came to the capital, he kept it a secret from everyone in the Song family. Therefore, he was unaware of everything that had happened in the Song family.

Madam Sun smiled slightly and replied, "Reporting to the young master, when Madam Lin heard that Lin Xiangyu had married someone else in Jinling and become a concubine, she was so angry that she smashed many things in her courtyard and kept cursing Lin Xiangyu for being useless." Madam Sun rarely saw Madam Lin unhappy, and she spoke with a look of amusement.

"Hmph, it's all her own fault. Does she really think everyone else is stupid?" Song Wenyang also recalled the time Lin Xiangyu spent in Jinling. In order not to offend the Lin family and be accused of being unfilial, he stayed in the inn for several months. Fortunately, he also met his Xing'er there.

Madam Sun did not respond. She then brought up other matters that had occurred in the mansion: "The old lady is still fasting and chanting Buddhist scriptures. I haven't heard her mention you..." After she finished speaking, she looked up at Song Wenyang's face.

"They never mentioned me? During my year in Jinling, apart from my grandmother's occasional letters of greeting, they never told me anything about what happened in the manor. If it weren't for Aunt Sun occasionally telling me, I probably wouldn't know anything about what was happening in the capital." After figuring things out, Song Wenyang wasn't sad, but instead began to look for something amiss.

"Yes... perhaps the old lady is too old and doesn't want to be bothered by worldly affairs." Madam Sun didn't know how to comfort Song Wenyang, so after considering for a while, she said something indifferent.

“There’s something fishy about this. If my child were alone in another place, I would definitely be worried. My father… I have no expectations of him, but my grandmother, in my memory she has always been very good to me.”

"What has the young master discovered?" Madam Sun asked.

“I asked Aunt Sun to risk meeting me this time because Wen Yang has a favor to ask, and now only you can help me,” Song Wen Yang said.

“Young master, there’s no need to be so polite. I will do anything that is within my power,” said Madam Sun.

"Aunt Sun has been in the mansion for a long time. I wonder if you have heard that my grandmother has a servant with a limp?"

“There was a lame servant… but I heard that he was extremely arrogant and aroused public anger, so the old lady punished him,” Madam Sun replied after thinking for a while.

"Perhaps my mother's death is related to this person."