Jiang Ning administered the drug just after 5 PM, but due to an unexpected situation, she didn't leave until almost 9 PM.
Tomorrow would be the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival. The moon in the sky was already nearly full, illuminating the world brightly.
Jiang Ning recalled what had just happened, and her face was filled with an irrepressible smile. She loved how Liu Ming'an's eyes were full of infatuation when he leaned in to kiss her at the end. She loved how that handsome face showed signs of being intoxicated by her, and the sweat that seeped from his forehead, and those uncontrollable low pants...
Jiang Ning knew she was falling deeper and deeper. The word "love" was truly indescribable.
She put on her veil and walked out with light steps. After entering her space, Jiang Ning headed towards Wei Fangxiong's house.
Go quickly and come back quickly, Jiang Ning told herself. Liu Ming'an would definitely be waiting for her.
She successfully climbed over the wall and entered Wei Fangxiong's courtyard. Before Jiang Ning could steady herself, she suddenly saw several eerie green lights flashing in the pitch-black grove nearby.
What was that?
Jiang Ning knew the answer in the next second.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
Two large wolfhounds barked furiously and charged towards Jiang Ning, their eyes fierce, black mouths revealing snow-white teeth, looking as if they wanted to tear this uninvited guest to pieces.
Jiang Ning's gaze sharpened, and in an instant, the dagger from her space was in her hand.
The two dogs must have been trained, as they came running in a pincer formation, one from the left and one from the right. With their weight of nearly 100 kilograms and such high speed, even a robust adult male would be knocked to the ground by this tremendous impact force.
Jiang Ning made a split-second decision. She shifted her body slightly to the right, raised her foot, and kicked hard at the head of the dog on the left. At the same time, her right hand gripped the dagger horizontally and stabbed it fiercely upward into the neck of the other dog.
"Bang!"
"Yelp!"
The sound of a dog hitting the ground came, followed immediately by the yelp of the other dog.
Jiang Ning pulled out the dagger. The stabbed dog lay on the ground whimpering, while the kicked dog struggled for a few seconds before getting up again, barking "Woof! Woof! Woof!" and preparing to charge at her again.
But Jiang Ning didn't intend to tangle with it anymore. Her figure flashed, and she slipped into her space.
Originally, she didn't know Wei Fangxiong and wasn't familiar with this large mansion, so the plan was to search room by room.
But the appearance of these two dogs saved her the trouble.
These two large wolfhounds must have been brought in to guard the house. The commotion just now would surely bring people out.
Sure enough, after a short while, several men dressed as servants ran out. Seeing one dog lying on the ground barely alive and the other barking in place, the servants sensed something was wrong. Immediately, one of them ran in another direction, shouting, "I'll go call the master."
Jiang Ning waited patiently. After a few minutes, several people crowded around an old man, walking hurriedly towards this direction.
Blind Yang had said that Wei Fangxiong was considered his elder brother. Blind Yang himself looked to be in his fifties, so this old man before her was undoubtedly Wei Fangxiong.
"Master, it seems someone has broken in," a servant greeted Wei Fangxiong, pointing at the dog on the ground that was breathing heavily.
A servant holding a lantern stepped forward. The candlelight illuminated the dog, clearly showing the fresh blood gushing from its neck, which had already dyed its gray fur dark.
The other dog was still barking at the surroundings. Wei Fangxiong frowned deeply and questioned, "Did any of you see anyone?"
Everyone shook their heads, saying it was like this when they arrived.
Wei Fangxiong's face was filled with suspicion. He took the lantern himself and carefully examined the blood stains on the ground. Finding that the blood was only dripping in this one spot, his frown deepened.
"All of you, don't sleep tonight. Guard outside the courtyard," Wei Fangxiong ordered the servants sternly after a moment, then took a lantern and headed off alone in a certain direction.
Jiang Ning quickly followed in her space.
He's alone now, perfect!
Wei Fangxiong walked into a courtyard and then entered a room that looked like it hadn't been used for a long time.
Jiang Ning followed closely behind, only to discover upon entering that the room was full of wooden boxes.
Wei Fangxiong walked straight to one of them, opened the lid with a "click," and golden light shimmered in the candlelight.
It was a gold thread garment!
Jiang Ning suddenly recalled that Blind Yang had mentioned Wei Fangxiong and he would traffic some illicit items. Who knows which noble's grave this gold thread garment was dug out from?
But none of that mattered now. Jiang Ning flashed out of her space, and in an instant, the dagger stained with dog blood was at Wei Fangxiong's throat.
Feeling the cold blade tainted with blood against his skin, Wei Fangxiong's pupils constricted sharply. He wanted to turn his head in disbelief to see who it was, but he heard a warning.
"Don't move, or this gold thread garment will become your burial clothes."
This room was some distance from the courtyard. Even if Wei Fangxiong shouted, no one would hear him, which was why Jiang Ning chose to follow him all the way into the room.
Wei Fangxiong swallowed hard, not daring to move at all. His voice trembled as he asked the person behind him, "Who sent you to steal the gold thread garment? Was it Wang Ping? How much did he pay you? I can give you double, no, triple—"
"Enough nonsense!" Jiang Ning's cold voice interrupted the old man. Who would want things from dead people? Especially these shady, illegitimate items. How unlucky!
"I'm going to ask you a few questions. Answer me honestly. If you dare to lie..."
"I wouldn't dare! I wouldn't dare! Ask me anything, and I'll answer. I guarantee I'll tell you everything I know, without holding anything back!" Wei Fangxiong quickly spoke up before Jiang Ning could finish her threat.
"You're quite sensible!"
Jiang Ning chuckled lightly. As expected of someone who was Blind Yang's elder brother, he was much more sensible than Blind Yang.
"Of course, of course. Please ask, ask anything you want..." Wei Fangxiong continued, trembling.
Since that was the case, Jiang Ning didn't want to waste time and asked directly, "In early July last year, Blind Yang from Qushui City came to the Capital City to find you. You handed over to him a woman with severed hands and feet and a rotten face, instructing him to sell her. You specifically emphasized that the woman should be kept alive and sold far away from the Capital City. You haven't forgotten about this, have you?"
Wei Fangxiong was stunned for a moment, until Jiang Ning casually asked, "Do you want to die?" Then he came to his senses and answered, "No, I haven't forgotten. I remember."
"Did you know that woman?"
"No, I didn't."
"Were you the one who injured her?"
"No, she was already in that condition when I saw her."
Jiang Ning said to herself, "As expected." Everything was just as she had guessed. This Wei Fangxiong was just a human trafficker; he also knew nothing about Nangong Ling's identity.
"Then who handed her over to you?" Jiang Ning asked the most crucial question.
Wei Fangxiong hesitated for a moment but finally said, "It was the Ma Steward from the Prime Minister's Mansion."
"The Ma Steward from the Prime Minister's Mansion?" Jiang Ning repeated softly.
"Yes, yes, yes. He had someone bring me to a mansion in the suburbs of the Capital City and handed that woman over to me. The woman was barely alive at the time, just hanging on by a thread. He told me to sell her and insisted that she must be sold far away, preferably to some small village. He said she couldn't be allowed to die..."
"And you just listened to him? You do whatever he tells you to do?" Jiang Ning's voice was frighteningly cold.
"I, I, I had no choice. He threatened me. He said if I didn't do as he said, he would report to the authorities that I was privately selling burial items. In Great Liang, that's a crime that would land me in prison. I was forced into it..."
As Wei Fangxiong said this, he sighed repeatedly. He should have known this matter wasn't simple. Now look what happened, someone was holding a knife to his throat. He really had the worst luck. There were so many human traffickers in the Capital City, why did Ma Steward have to choose him? Alas!
"Where is that mansion?" Jiang Ning asked again.
"I don't know. I really don't know. My eyes were covered both when I went in and when I left. But I'm sure it wasn't inside the city because the carriage ride took over two hours, and the latter half of the journey was very bumpy. It couldn't have been within the city," Wei Fangxiong said with certainty.
"Is there any other information?"
"What else... what else..."
Wei Fangxiong struggled to remember. Just as Jiang Ning was about to give up hope and knock him unconscious, he exclaimed, "Ah!" and continued, "Ma Steward also wanted to force-feed that woman a muting drug to poison her into silence. But she was unconscious, her jaw clenched tight, so he couldn't get it in. He gave the drug to me instead, telling me to take it back and administer it. In the end, I lost the drug. I had intended to buy more from the pharmacy, but since that woman hadn't said a word even when she woke up, and I was busy at the time, I forgot about it. It wasn't until I handed her over to Blind Yang that I remembered..."
Severed limbs!
Disfigurement!
Muted by poison!
Then sold off to a place far from the Capital City!
Jiang Ning couldn't help but feel shocked. Who could hate Nangong Ling so much? To make her life worse than death, and even frame her for eloping with someone.
Jiang Ning didn't know everything yet, but she could be certain of one thing: that enemy definitely wasn't Ma Steward!
No matter how bold a steward might be, he wouldn't dare to torture the Prime Minister's daughter, even if Nangong Ling was born of a concubine, even if she wasn't favored. She was still his master!
Ma Steward was merely a tool. Jiang Ning's true enemy was the person wielding that tool!
"That's all, I really can't remember anything else. So..." Wei Fangxiong smiled stiffly, awaiting his fate.
"Hmm, I've asked everything I needed to," Jiang Ning said nonchalantly.
Wei Fangxiong laughed ingratiatingly and negotiated, "Then, could you perhaps move the knife away? The blade is sharp, it could easily hurt someone..."
As he spoke, Wei Fangxiong cautiously raised his hand, intending to push the dagger away.
"Don't move. The blade is sharp, it could easily hurt someone..."
The warning whisper was right by his ear, and the knife at his throat pressed closer. Wei Fangxiong was so frightened that he quickly raised his hands in surrender, "I won't move! I won't move!"
"Since Ma Steward could find you, you must be able to contact him too, right?"
"Yes! He likes to play with jade. I once sold him a jade cicada, and he told me I could find him if I had any good merchandise." Wei Fangxiong didn't dare hesitate for even a moment.
"Good, then tomorrow—" Jiang Ning paused, remembering that tomorrow was the Lantern Festival. Such a lovely night shouldn't be wasted; it should be spent with the one you love.
So Jiang Ning changed her words, "The day after tomorrow, call him out. Have him come to your residence at 5-7 PM and stay for about an hour or two before leaving."
Wei Fangxiong seemed to understand the implications of these words. He swallowed hard several times, cold sweat breaking out on his back.
"If he doesn't come, you die. Do you understand?"
"I understand!"
The knife finally moved away from his neck, but Wei Fangxiong still didn't dare move, standing rigidly in place.
"Come to think of it, I should thank you," Jiang Ning said with a hint of self-mockery. Thanks to this Wei Fangxiong, at least she hadn't been muted by poison.
"What—"
Wei Fangxiong was confused and instinctively wanted to ask, when he suddenly felt a pain in the back of his neck. The next moment, he fainted, never having seen even a corner of the garment of the person behind him.
Jiang Ning looked at the person lying on the ground, crouched down, and used Wei Fangxiong's clothes to wipe the blood off the dagger. Then, using her spatial ability, she brazenly walked through the group of servants, reached the wall, and climbed over it to leave.