Song Chaoyu shook her head. "Not guards. It seemed... like a woman. Did you see a woman standing behind my window?"
"Ah? What woman?"
Tiaohong looked at Song Chaoyu in surprise and shook her head. "No woman. Isn't that the courtyard wall behind that window? There's also a locust tree, and many of its leaves have fallen in the wind. Perhaps it was the shadow of the tree swaying that made Your Highness mistake it?"
As she spoke, Tiaohong even stepped forward, felt Song Chaoyu's forehead, and muttered, "She's not sick!"
Her action made Song Chaoyu chuckle. "Perhaps I mistook it. But tell the guards outside to be vigilant. I always feel uneasy, fearing that this Gu family's mansion is not so peaceful."
Tiaohong then nodded and said seriously to Song Chaoyu, "This servant also feels that this place is eerie. The wind outside sounds like a woman crying. I wonder what sins Lord Gu committed in the past! But Your Highness can rest assured, with His Highness here to keep watch, we have nothing to fear."
This girl was getting more and more superstitious.
Song Chaoyu turned back and looked outside the window. "If someone is trying to scare us, we must find a way to expose them. Never mind, don't tell the guards outside. Tonight, let them relax a little. If there is indeed someone trying to scare us, it will allow us to know."
Tiaohong immediately understood Song Chaoyu's meaning. "Yes, Your Highness, rest assured! If anyone dares to play tricks on us, we must find him!"
---
The kitchen had unusually prepared meat dishes and rice. Mu Changxi also returned to his room.
As soon as he sat down at the dining table, Mu Changxi looked up at Song Chaoyu. "I heard that this Gu family's mansion is not very peaceful?"
He had heard about it?
This made Song Chaoyu pause. "What do you mean?"
Mu Changxi naturally picked up a chopstick of meat and placed it on Song Chaoyu's plate. "I just heard that many people saw or heard things they shouldn't have seen or heard? How did this courtyard become the strange place?"
Song Chaoyu could now be sure that she hadn't mistaken.
She sneered, "Perhaps someone is trying to scare us?"
"Hmph!"
Mu Changxi snorted coldly. "Trying to scare us? For what purpose? To scare us away? It seems Pingjiang did not investigate this courtyard thoroughly!"
Yes, since that person only dared to play tricks, it meant they wanted to scare them away. Therefore, that person must have another purpose, or there were people or things in this courtyard that they couldn't discover.
Mu Changxi looked at Song Chaoyu. "When you first came in, didn't you ask Tiaohong if she smelled anything? Did you smell anything?"
He had heard all of this? Song Chaoyu remembered that she had only been whispering with Tiaohong at the time.
However, since Mu Changxi asked, Song Chaoyu naturally had to answer. "I seemed to smell a very unpleasant odor, I couldn't quite tell what it was. I just felt... a faint smell of rot, but when I tried to smell it carefully, it was gone."
Mu Changxi's brows furrowed.
He called Pingjiang into the room. "Starting tomorrow morning, thoroughly search this courtyard again! And tonight, you must find those who are playing tricks! I am already busy enough, I don't have time to play these games with them!"
Song Chaoyu could tell that Mu Changxi was very angry.
Pingjiang quickly knelt before Mu Changxi. "It is my subordinate's fault for not searching this place thoroughly. Please punish me, Your Highness."
Mu Changxi snorted coldly again. "It is also fortunate that our Ayu is brave and was not frightened by these strange occurrences. Otherwise, if it were someone else, who knows what would have happened. I am only giving you one night. Tomorrow morning, I want results for both of these matters!"
In fact, Mu Changxi was usually quite good to Pingjiang.
But perhaps it was only by being so clear about rewards and punishments that he could make those who followed him more diligent in their work.
Pingjiang began searching the courtyard with his men without even eating dinner.
At the same time, Mu Changxi also summoned Xiao Ruizhi. "The silver you placed in Yuezhou City can now be put to use. We must also let Lord Han know that that silver was not a gift from me!"
That's right, they had also placed some disaster relief silver in Yuezhou City.
Mu Changxi intended to strike at that Lord Han while everyone's attention was focused on the matter in Haizhou City.
This time, Prince Ning was likely to have no shortage of headaches.
To clear up the several prefectures from Yuezhou City to Haizhou City, and to allow the common people to live better after they left, this was something Song Chaoyu understood clearly.
However, for now... the Gu family's mansion was the immediate concern.
Perhaps because she knew that the Gu family's mansion would not be peaceful tonight, Song Chaoyu hardly slept at all.
Just listening to Mu Changxi's steady breathing beside her, she felt that there was nothing to be afraid of.
She didn't know what was happening outside, but the surroundings of their room were relatively peaceful that night.
Until the morning sun cast a patch of light outside, Song Chaoyu sat up.
The weather today seemed exceptionally good. The strong winds were gone, and the dark clouds that had been hanging over their heads had also disappeared.
With such rare good sunshine, by the time Song Chaoyu and Mu Changxi got up, Pingjiang was already standing outside.
He had dark circles under his eyes, indicating he had not slept all night.
Seeing Mu Changxi, he knelt down. "Please punish me, Your Highness. It was my subordinate's careless search that failed to discover that there is indeed something fishy in the Gu family mansion!"
His gaze was serious and earnest, suggesting that the matter was not trivial.
Mu Changxi nodded, then took the handkerchief handed by Xiao Ruizhi to wipe his face, and said, "One thing at a time. Was the person playing tricks caught?"
"Caught!"
Pingjiang clapped his hands towards the outside, and someone brought in three women.
These three women all looked like they had martial arts skills.
At this moment, all three of them were bound tightly and thrown before Mu Changxi.
They all had injuries, and it looked like Pingjiang had already interrogated them.
"Speak!"
Pingjiang sternly said to the three women, "Tell His Highness Prince Chang what you told me!"
These women trembled, appearing extremely afraid of Pingjiang.
They were people sent by Lord Lei, tasked with creating a scare at the Gu family to frighten away Mu Changxi and Song Chaoyu.
As for why they were doing this... it was related to what Pingjiang discovered when he re-searched the Gu family's courtyard last night!