20 Revealing the Truth (2)

"For... for Xing'er?" Cen Lan repeated in disbelief.

Xing'er was roughly her age, brought into the manor as a servant girl when she was only seven or eight. In her memories, the scrawny little girl had been brought to the estate by her mother and had followed behind her older sister ever since. Despite her small stature, she was clever and nimble, never slower than the adults when it came to chores, always volunteering for the hardest tasks.

When Guardian Ma first arrived at the manor to take up his post, she was already in the bloom of her youth. At the time, he seemed like an honest, hardworking man—dressed in dusty, drab clothing, taciturn, and though he rarely smiled, he certainly didn't seem like a bad person.

In her recollection, the