After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

The young man turned pale with fright.

He'd seen dead people before, but never seen a murdered person, especially not the familiar young servant of the Liu family. A gust of wind rose, swirling fallen leaves and Lu Zhiyuan's sleeves. He stepped into the storeroom, his footsteps treading on the leaves, and a shadow fell upon the deceased.

The deceased looked terrified, his hands slightly clenched, and there was a very obvious scratch on his right hand; some of the blood on the fallen leaves had come from this scratch. He was wearing a waiter's uniform, which was thick and without an outer garment, presumably because he found it inconvenient to take it off while cleaning. The wound on his neck was peculiar; the killer was left-handed. The attack was indeed swift and ruthless, but the knife wound was not perfect.

He was in such a hurry that he only cared about killing the man.

As I stood up, the light and shadow swept across the deceased's face, revealing that his eyes were not completely closed, so I closed them for him.

As he was leaving, he asked the young waiter, "Since you know him, do you know if he has any family?"

The young man followed behind Lu Zhiyuan with his head down. When he heard the question, he looked up and said, "He has an elderly mother who is not in good health and lives alone in the countryside. He told me that his family wants to find him a wife. He just needs to save enough money so he can get married and start a family."

The young man's eyes reddened: "Winter is just around the corner, and then it'll be the New Year. He's gone. How will his mother cope?"

Lu Zhiyuan sighed, "I will hand it over to Manager Xie and ask him to take care of it."

“I’ll help take care of him too.” The young man wiped his eyes. “We’re both from poor families. His father died early, and my mother died early. His mother never remarried because of him, but my father found me a stepmother. My stepmother isn’t too bad compared to other stepmothers. She doesn’t scold me or hit me; she just acts like I don’t exist. When no one sews my torn clothes, he takes them back and asks his mother to sew them for me. During holidays, he’ll bring me food made by his mother. In my heart, his mother is my mother.”

The young man rubbed his eyes hard: "I'm just afraid of his mother..."

Lu Zhiyuan comforted him: "There are some things we can't control, such as life and death."

Liu Ying's eyes suddenly reddened, and she turned her head away, afraid that Lu Zhiyuan would notice.

She thought of Lu Zhiyuan's illness, and of life and death.

She had no parents and had lived in the Xie family since she could remember, growing up under the care of the Xie family's nanny. Besides the nanny who raised her, Master Xie, Madam Xie, and Lu Zhiyuan, Lu Yun, and Han Ting, her closest relatives were the only others.

In terms of relationships, she was closest to Lu Zhiyuan and Lu Yun; they were more like family than master and servant.

She knew Lu Zhiyuan was in poor health, and that the master had sent her to the Marquis's mansion. She never imagined that one day they would really be separated, especially not by death.

The more I thought about it, the sadder I became, and tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.

Lu Zhiyuan handed over a handkerchief and said softly, "The first funeral I attended was my great-grandmother's, who was my grandfather's sister-in-law. I was very young then and didn't understand life and death, nor did I know why my great-grandmother was lying there. I only knew that the house was very lively, with people coming and going. Later, my maternal grandmother passed away. When I heard the news, I didn't feel anything until one late night when I suddenly thought that my maternal grandmother was gone and burst into tears."

Liu Ying hesitated, wanting to say that Lu Zhiyuan was not yet born when Madam Xie passed away.

Upon further reflection, the Xie family was large and powerful, and the Lu family also had many members. She only mentioned her maternal grandmother, but did not say that she was her biological maternal grandmother, so it was not appropriate for her to interrupt.

"When I grew older, one of my uncles passed away. By then, I was old enough to understand what death meant. I was sad, but not as sad as I had imagined. I asked myself if I was just naturally emotionally detached and cold-hearted. It wasn't until I went to the cemetery and my uncle was buried, and the grave mound was raised, that I stood there and had a strange thought."

"A strange idea? What's on your mind, Madam?"

Not only was Liu Ying curious, but the young waiter was too. He temporarily forgot his sadness and stared straight at Lu Zhiyuan.

"Under every grave lies a deceased person, like my uncle, behind whom lie his parents, his grandparents. To the living, he is dead. To the dead, he has gone to reunite with them. We don't know what the afterlife is like. Perhaps he returned to his childhood home, saw his parents and grandparents, and went from being the pillar of the family to a beloved child. We will all go to that world sooner or later, so why rush, why be sad?"

“Madam…” Liu Ying looked at her, “Does such a world really exist?”

Lu Zhiyuan wiped away the marks on her face: "Yes, if you believe, you will."

Young man: "Miss, do you mean that when I get there I will see my mother, I will see him?"

He refers to the worker who died in the storeroom.

Lu Zhiyuan nodded, and the young shop assistant suddenly felt less sad. He muttered to himself, "I know how to comfort his mother now. There may be no hope for a person living, but the people below will definitely want her to live well and die peacefully in her old age. If she leaves prematurely, she will definitely be nagged by her parents and complained about by her children in the afterlife."

"Let's go in and have a look."

"Madam!" Liu Ying stopped her. "What if the murderer is still around? What if there's danger? We don't know where Lu Yun is either. Why don't we wait a little longer? Han Ting will definitely come to find us after he finishes his business in the prefecture."

“It’s getting dark.” Lu Zhiyuan glanced at the sky. “After dark, many details will be invisible.”

They entered through the main gate, next to which was the rear building. The body of the murdered worker was in the storeroom next to the rear building. Passing through the hanging flower gate, they arrived at the second courtyard. To the right was the east wing, and to the left was the west wing. Compared to when they first entered, the smell of blood in the second courtyard was much stronger.

Lu Zhiyuan nodded. Liu Ying and the young waiter went one to the left and the other to the right. The east wing was empty, but there was a lot of blood on the floor, and a shoe lay on the threshold. The shoe was about the size of a palm, probably belonging to a child. The shoe was covered in blood, indicating that the child's owner had most likely met with misfortune.

Liu Ying came out, clutching her shoes, and saw the young waiter slumped in front of the west wing. Lu Zhiyuan, who had been standing in the courtyard, was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Madame?"

The young waiter pointed to the west wing.

Without even putting the little shoes on the ground, she rushed into the west wing. The strong smell of blood, along with the horrific scene before her, assaulted her senses. All the members of the Liu family were there, lying down, sprawling, or reclining, piled on top of each other, making it impossible to tell whose blood was on the ground.

Lu Zhiyuan looked at each of them one by one. Apart from Manager Liu, none of them had been killed with a single blow. Unlike fatal wounds, the wounds on their bodies were a mess, some deep, some shallow, some horizontal, some vertical. Her gaze darkened, revealing a hint of coldness.

The murderer actually forced the Liu family members to harm themselves. What grudge did he have against the Liu family?

If the purpose was simply to kill someone to silence them, there would be no need to go to such lengths.

There was another courtyard behind, and sounds came from inside. Listening closely, it was a child crying for help. Liu Ying panicked, picking up her shoes: "There's a child! The Liu family has a child, about three or four years old. Madam, please save him!"