After some time, Dai Yue returned, her little mouth pouting in sadness.

"What is it, Dai Yue, what did you hear?" From what Luo Qing Luan could see, Dai Yue looked more like the person who'd been punished rather than someone else.

Just now, she secretly asked around. What she found was that there was a huge ruckus at the Side Madam's courtyard. It appeared as if someone was being punished to be an example to others. Not only was all of the servants commanded to watch, moreover, a servant was told to ruthlessly strike that person's face. Dai Yue's face couldn't help but hurt just from watching.

Only after hearing what Nanny Song had to say later on did she know that a servant maid seduced the master and was discovered by the side madam, resulting in the severe punishment. In the end, that servant girl's face was beaten swollen, then dragged out and driven away from the General's Mansion.

"Nanny Song told me that Sister Bitao absolutely did not seduce the master. Basically, the side madam doesn't like her, so she purposefully found an excuse to beat and send her away." Once she recalled this, Dai Yue's little face frowned, both alarmed and terrified.

"So be it, if she doesn't like her, just a little servant girl. Who wouldn't Father's Concubine punish whenever she wanted to? During these many years, she depended on Father not marrying anyone else and acted like she's the mistress managing this household. Now that Elder Sister is Fifth Prince's side consort, how can she still place other people in her eyes?"

Luo Qing Luan continued indifferently, "forget it. As long as she doesn't punish you, it's fine. There's no need for us to mind other people's business."

She originally didn't take this matter seriously, because this kind of matter happened frequently in the past. Who would've imagined that Dai Yue would say, "My Lady, it's not like that. If the side madam punishes someone else, I wouldn't have talked about it, but I heard Nanny Song say that Sister Bitao served our Madam before in the past."

Eyes flashed, Luo Qing Luan was somewhat startled. "What? She'd served my mother before?"

She didn't know about this at all. Otherwise, she wouldn't have disregarded the matter. Her mother passed away early. She never even glanced at her mother before, and she didn't have any status in the General's Mansion at all in the past. Besides only Dai Yue to serve her, and Nanny Song to look after her, how would she know about anything that happened previously?

"What in the world did Nanny Song say to you? Dai Yue, tell me." Subconsciously, Luo Qing Luan's tone of voice deepened.

"My Lady, I also didn't know anything previously. If it wasn't for your asking me to make inquiries tonight, and I wouldn't have happened to run into Nanny Song there. It was because she could no longer bear to watch that she spoke a bit more than usual."

As she spoke, Dai Yue displayed some lingering fear and softly continued, "I heard that during these years, of the servants that the side madam had either beaten to death, or sent away, half of them had once served our Madam. Even those people who occasionally talked about the Madam had been sent away by the side madam. I also don't know why the side madam hates the Madam so much when she's already passed away for so many years."

If it's truly like that, could it be that there's an issue in there somewhere?

Luo Qing Luan originally as going to have Dai Yue go find Nanny Song to get to the bottom of the matter, but she saw that it's getting too late and was afraid of disturbing Nanny Song's rest. Nanny Song was getting old and her health was poor. She's already tired enough during the day. It's better to let her rest properly at night.

Recollecting the past, it's not that Luo Qing Luan hadn't inquired about matters pertaining to her mother, but no one ever knew what happened. Either those servants wouldn't tell her, or they simply ignored her. At the time, she was timid and stupid and basically also didn't have the inclination look for answers. Even though she currently already turned over a new leaf, she also didn't truly suspect anything before.

It seemed that she should properly investigate this matter now.

Why did Wang Xue Ru want to either kill, or send away all of her mother's servants? Was it truly only because they made mistakes, or possibly merely because they made Wang Xue Ru unhappy? Or was there some unspeakable secret?

Early the next day, after breakfast, Luo Qing Luan prepared to step out. Dai Yue already asked around. That servant named Bitao from last night was already sent away after she was beaten. She was sent back home to never return. She was beaten so severely. If her injuries were not treated right away, she would very likely become totally disfigured.

Since Nanny Song knew something, but didn't tell her, Luo Qing Luan guessed that there was some purpose behind it. However, this didn't prevent her from making some inquiries first, so that she could learn something before getting to the bottom of what in the world happened that time.

Bringing Dai Yue, the two of them changed into men's clothes and as before, they left through the back door.

But when Luo Qing Luan found the beginning of the remote alley at the north of the city, she saw people completely surrounding the area before her. From their discussions, she found out what happened.

Bitao was actually chased and killed by debt collectors. Not only her, even her parents, along with a very young younger brother had all been killed. Currently, the authorities were investigating, but from the looks of things, it was just for show. They casually looked at and walked around the little dwelling. Very likely, they simply wouldn't be able to find out anything significant at all.

Luo Qing Luan had originally wanted to find Bitao to ask her what actually happened last night. If she found out that Bitao really served her mother before, then she could even give her some money to treat her wounds. Who would've known......she actually came late.

She absolutely didn't believe that this scene was as simple as a case of being chased down and killed by a debt collector. If things were truly like that, then how could the entire street full of people know what went on so quickly? Shouldn't those debt collectors be more discreet and cleaner, to avoid being discovered?

More likely, there were people who deliberately spread rumors in an attempt to find a reasonable justification for the deaths to hide the truth of this matter. These deaths were so coincidental. As it happened, Bitao was punished just yesterday and was already killed today. The implications within these events truly caused Luo Qing Luan to ponder.

"Let's go, Dai Yue, let's go home."

"My Lady, Sister Bitao died so miserably......" Dai Yue was somewhat aggrieved, the rim of her eyes turned entirely red.

"If she truly died unjustly, I won't easily let the murderer go free."