At this time, the Laundry Workshop was still lit up.
Inside were the lowest-ranked servants of the Song Family, responsible for washing all the clothes and cleaning items throughout the residence.
Due to the heavy workload, they often worked overtime at night.
No doubt, that Xia Hongyu was also busy at this moment.
However, Zhao Ya merely glanced once before turning around to leave.
For him, killing Li Chunfeng was as easy as killing a chicken.
If not for covering up, Zhao Ya would have acted directly on that small path during the day.
Now that things were done, Zhao Ya felt a weight lifted off his mind and briskly avoided the patrolling Manor Guard to return home for sleep.
At the break of dawn, Xia Hongyu had to get up and start her work.
This was her habit; no matter how late she worked the night before, she’d get up on time in the morning.
Only this way could she wash more clothes, earn a bit more money, and thus buy more medicine.
Because of this habit, she was jokingly called a money-crazy by the fellow maids, sometimes even ridiculed.
But Xia Hongyu never argued, just silently worked.
Sometimes, even the supervising elder woman could not bear to watch and would speak on her behalf.
Over time, she became isolated by all the maids.
But this was precisely what Xia Hongyu wanted.
She didn’t want to interact with anyone.
Especially after the last incident, when she trusted a fellow maid’s word and went out with her to buy things, only to be unknowingly drugged by Li Chunfeng.
If not for being rescued by that masked hero, she would have been dead by now.
Because of this, Xia Hongyu became increasingly cautious.
Today, as usual, she was bowing her head scrubbing clothes when suddenly, she heard a commotion outside and a maid shouted loudly.
"Someone drowned!"
"Oh my God, it seems to be a man!"
Hearing the shout, Xia Hongyu looked up, a bit puzzled, toward the courtyard.
The pond outside was indeed very dangerous, even she had to be extremely careful when dumping dirty water there.
But besides her and her fellow laundry maids, no one ever went near that pond.
Especially a man.
Xia Hongyu hesitated for a moment, put down her work, and followed the crowd to the pond’s edge.
By this time, Li Chunfeng’s body had already been hooked to the shore with a rod.
Even though it was swollen after a night in the pond, Xia Hongyu recognized Li Chunfeng at a glance.
The incident that night had left such a deep shadow on her that she still often had nightmares.
And now, this wicked man who coveted her was dead, drowned near where she worked.
It was imaginable, he must have come here last night.
Why did he come here in the middle of the night?
Xia Hongyu felt a chill throughout her body, shivering uncontrollably.
Because Xia Hongyu knew clearly, if Li Chunfeng hadn’t drowned, she would have been in trouble last night.
Thank God, whether it was an accident or murder, he was finally dead.
Xia Hongyu silently chanted in her heart.
Meanwhile, Song Renqiang had also rushed over upon hearing the news.
Seeing Li Chunfeng’s water-swollen corpse, his face turned extremely gloomy.
Although he sometimes scolded this godson for not living up to expectations, Li Chunfeng was, after all, the offspring of a close friend, and he was quite fond of him.
Who’d have thought that he was fine yesterday, and in one night, he was gone.
"What happened?" he asked a Manor Guard examining the body.
"Reporting to the steward, we found no suspicious injuries on Leader Li, and by the look of the scene, it seems he slipped and fell in accidentally."
Song Renqiang’s face remained gloomy and he fell silent, then suddenly turned to look at the laundry maids not far away.
"You guys are the closest here, did you hear any noise last night?"
"Re...reporting to the steward, we didn’t hear any sounds last night!" a brave maid replied with a trembling voice.
Song Renqiang frowned, his gaze sweeping over each maid’s face.
The others were fine, even though they were scared, they had no other thoughts.
Only Xia Hongyu, having many thoughts in her mind, turned pale when Song Renqiang’s sharp eyes reached her.
Such an anomaly naturally caught Song Renqiang’s attention.
He was actually curious why Li Chunfeng would come here in the middle of the night.
But seeing Xia Hongyu, despite her plain clothing and lack of makeup, unable to hide her beauty, Song Renqiang was enlightened.
His godson’s coming here definitely had something to do with this woman.
Yet, as shrewd as Song Renqiang was, he displayed no anomalies at the time. Instead, he turned and asked, "Who drank with Chunfeng last night?"
A few Manor Guards came forward trembling.
"Did Chunfeng behave oddly while drinking?"
"No... no odd behaviors," one said.
"No, but Leader Li was murmuring about how he disliked Zhao Ya, saying he would deal with him if given a chance...," one Manor Guard added.
Song Renqiang was shocked by this, suddenly shouting angrily.
"Nonsense!"
Then he rushed forward and slapped the Manor Guard.
"Is Zhao Ya’s name something you can call freely? Commander Zhao and I have a good relationship, and Chunfeng admired him greatly. How could Chunfeng say such words? You are merely sowing discord with baseless accusations."
The Manor Guard was petrified, holding his cheek in shock.