An ugly girl starts off, then becomes a beauty

There were even more guests attending the night banquet. It was also at the old man's birthday banquet that Sang Ling met Ban Le again. He learned that Xun Jin had passed the examination last month, but had not yet been appointed to a regular official position, and had stayed by the emperor's side as a Shizhonglang.

The duties of this position in the imperial court were extensive, ranging from serving the emperor himself to participating in court discussions. Whether one could be promoted depended on subsequent performance and daily assessments.

It seems that Prince Xun still has a long way to go in the future.

Although Ban Le had thought about divorce before, she was still a young girl after all. Later, when she saw that Xun Jin treated her a little better, she gave up the idea and now just wanted to live a peaceful life.

She said, "The prince is still a good man. Although my family can recommend him, he still has to take the exam in the palace and be questioned by the emperor. It will take more than a few days to prepare. He didn't take care of the family affairs before, so he could concentrate on preparing for the exam. Now that he has entered the palace, although he is busy, he is willing to take care of me and has argued with his brother and sister-in-law several times. I think life is not impossible now."

The saddest part of a woman’s life is when she defends the man in her heart and lets the past go.

I don't know what she has been through, but she looks far worse than when she was in the gatehouse. At that time, the daughter of the Ban family was delicate and charming, with the arrogance of a daughter of a rich family. But in less than a year, she has wasted her time like this. Although Sang Ling was still angry, she didn't plan to say anything else. She had already persuaded her to divorce once, and now that she herself said it was okay, if she still persuaded her to divorce, she would be pushing this friend away.

So she just smiled and said, "Okay, if he can treat you well, then of course it's good."

By the beginning of the 11th hour of the night, half of the banquet was over. The older people in the palace went back to their own gardens. As for the birthday boy, Grandpa Nie, he had called everyone to rest at the beginning of the 11th hour of the night and went back to the Hall of Right and Wrong to rest. After all, he was old and could not stand tossing and turning all night. However, banquets in the imperial court always liked to drag on, so even though the birthday boy had left, the younger generations and some young guests who stayed behind could still clink glasses and have fun for a while.

While the rest of the men were drinking and bragging, Sang Ling was the one who was most reluctant to stay. After Ban Le and Xun Jin left, she left as soon as the subordinate came to reply.

When they passed the backyard of Jingsi Residence, the hexagonal stone lamps on the side of the road had already been lit, and the stone path became clear. After walking only ten steps or so, Sang Ling saw Nie Guang's cat in the flower garden again.

She looked around and saw that there was no one around, so she squatted down and waved at the thing.

Aunt Cheng understood what was going on, and with a wave of her hand, she ordered the servants following her to return to Wuyuan first.

Cats are aloof animals. If someone they don't know greets them, they won't even bother to look at them.

But Sang Ling's original purpose was not to tease the cat. Once the crowd left, she slowly stood up, twirling her skirt and speaking in a low voice, "Let's go."

The servant she saw in front of Jingyuan a few days ago had been on her mind. She couldn't see him clearly at the time, but she felt vaguely familiar with him. After she went back, she thought about it for several days before she finally recognized that face - it was the first person she saw when she came out of the bridal chamber on her wedding day. At that time, everyone was rushing to the well in the backyard, but he was the only one running in the opposite direction, and he even looked panicked.

Furthermore, the bridal chamber was occupied only by Wu Yuan’s own people, so how could he let a servant from outside in?

In fact, Sang Ling had thought about it many times afterwards, that might be the murderer. However, she had not seen this person in the mansion since then, and she just thought that the master behind the scenes had transferred him out of the mansion. After all, no matter how stupid the other party was, she couldn't let the executioner be in front of her and leave evidence for herself.

So she was determined to catch the mastermind behind the incident.

Unexpectedly, she ran into this person again a few days ago. Although there were many strange things, Fourth Uncle was not among Sang Ling's suspects. But at least there was a clue. In the past two days, she arranged for Zong Xiang and Wei Chu to come here frequently and keep an eye on him. Coincidentally, Cheng Lao came to reply at the last moment, and saw the servant enter Jingyuan again.

There was no servant's room in the fourth chamber, so the servants had to go back to the third courtyard to rest at night. Since the man had entered Jingyuan, he had to come out at all times of the night.

She would come and confirm it herself.

……

The birthday banquet later turned into a wine party, and the joyous atmosphere in Jingsi Residence lasted until nearly midnight.

Nie Ce returned to Wuyuan at midnight. Sang Ling came back only a little earlier than him. He was sitting on the felt mat, sniffing and taking a big sip of water before he suppressed the fear and anger in his heart.

Something strange happened today. The young marquis, who had been drinking all night, didn't smell of alcohol. Sang Ling didn't care about his emotions and went over to invite him into the house. "You didn't drink?"

When she was sitting in the hall in the first half of the night, she actually saw him drinking cup after cup of yellow soup.

"Hey, you don't understand." Young Marquis Nie put two fingers together and smiled at her smugly, "I have my own tricks."

What other tricks are there? Just find ways to avoid drinking.

"Did no one notice?" She helped him take off his black crimson robe, only for Nie Ce to shake his head.

As for whether he had discovered it or not, with his status, others would not expose it. Sang Ling was too lazy to continue talking about this. Seeing him enter the bathroom and several servants bringing in the washing and bathing supplies, he walked back to the wall and turned off the lights in the room one by one.

When the people came out, there was only a single lamp left in the room.

"Oh." The person behind the barrier muttered, "Today is really unusual. They are waiting for me to come back and leaving the lights on."

In the past, when Nie Ce came back late, Sang Ling would indeed not wait for him. Usually, after he came out of the shower, there would be no lights on in the back room, so he would be allowed to get on the bed in the dark.

But today was different, she had something to ask him.

"I went to Jingyuan today and saw someone who looked very familiar."

As Nie Ce was about to enter the tent, he pulled the quilt from under his knees, sat on the couch, and said "hmm".

The heat wave came later this year, and it was cooler for a while after the summer heat. But it has started to get hot again in the past two days. Sang Ling smelled the faint scent of soap and said, "It was the man I saw on our wedding day when Ya Nu died. He was in a panic and ran away when he saw me. Everyone went to the backyard, but he was the only one who wanted to go out."

Suspicion immediately emerged: Why did Jingyuan's servant appear outside the wedding room? And why did he run in the opposite direction at that time? Nie Ce thought for a while, looked up at her, but did not speak for a while.

"It's someone from Fourth Uncle's room." Sang Ling moved closer, "No, it should be Zhang!"

During this period of time, she often went in and out of Jingyuan. She could clearly see the main rooms inside when standing at the gate. Her fourth uncle went into the bedroom around 11:00 p.m., and the servant stayed in the living room until nearly midnight before leaving. There were only two masters in Jingyuan, so it could only be that he was getting along with Zhang.

As soon as he finished speaking, Nie Ce's eyes darkened, "Sang Ling, don't touch this matter."

This was almost exactly what Madam Zhaoyu had said before. Both mother and son meant that this matter should not be touched. She had originally guessed that it might be because of Nie Zhongxu, Nie Shudi, and Nie Guang, and they all had a reason for "not being touched".

But why can’t we touch the Zhang family?

She could only think of the relationship between Nie Ce and Zhang. Zhang was afraid of him, and whenever he mentioned his fourth aunt, he was always very secretive.

"You have to tell me a reason, right?"

Why is it that when we talk about the Zhang family, we cannot touch upon this matter?

"Go to sleep." Unexpectedly, Nie Ce said this again.