And the Youngest Miss's three wet nurses were bound by a Blood Covenant, so their status within the Sun Residence vastly differed from the other servants.
Li Yaner said,
"I've sensed it already, though there is an Array in the Youngest Miss's bedroom, it's not the deadly kind, and while it does suppress ghosts, I'm not an ordinary ghost anymore, and I'm just going in to take a look, at most I'll stay for a moment before coming out, there shouldn't be any harm..."
In the end, she added,
"You've forgotten, I have this Jade Token! "
Speaking of the Jade Token, it is indeed powerful. With it, Li Yaner could move about freely in the talisman-laden Sun Residence, even taking strolls in the middle of the night unharmed, which demonstrates the Jade Token's strong ability to conceal one's presence!
Gu Shi Yi pondered for a moment and said,
"Then be careful, if anything feels off, run out immediately!"
"Alright!"
The next day, as usual, before dawn, Gu Shi Yi waited in the outer chamber for the Youngest Miss to wake. She sat upright at the table, hands resting on her knees, using the tablecloth as cover, Little Mud Man slipped out of her sleeve, glided down her skirt to the floor, then took advantage of the lack of attention to creep along the base of the wall toward the doorway of the inner chamber...
Gu Shi Yi's expression remained unchanged, yet her back was tensely stiff. She felt watching Li Yaner was even more nerve-wracking than risking her own life, her eyes surreptitiously watching the two maidens by the door while her ears stayed alert to the sounds within.
Inside the inner chamber, as usual, it was dead silent. Gu Shi Yi's heart pounded frantically. After a long wait, she finally heard someone speak.
"The Youngest Miss is awake!"
Gu Shi Yi hurriedly rose to take the Youngest Miss from her wet nurse's arms. Youngest Miss Sun quite resembled her mother: big eyes, a small mouth, looking extremely adorable. Seeing Gu Shi Yi, she smiled, her little mouth red and plump,
"Hold!"
Gu Shi Yi quickly reached out her hands, catching her,
"Let's go!"
At four years old, the Youngest Miss couldn't yet speak full sentences and could only utter single words. Gu Shi Yi quickly carried her outside, not daring to glance back at the inner chamber, afraid it might arouse suspicion,
"Yaner has been inside for so long without any commotion; it seems she wasn't discovered!"
With that thought, she carried the Youngest Miss out the door to meet her birth mother in the front hall.
They met the Eldest Young Madam in the front hall and then visited the Madam and the Grand Madam. The morning passed, and when it was time for the Youngest Miss's nap, Gu Shi Yi took her back. While the wet nurses went in to attend to the Youngest Miss, and the maidens went about their own tasks, Li Yaner dashed out from a corner. Gu Shi Yi, pretending to fix her shoelace, crouched down and hid Little Mud Man inside her sleeve,
"Now that the Youngest Miss is asleep, I'll go rest for a while too, and come back later!"
Gu Shi Yi turned and left Youngest Miss Sun's embroidered building. The maidens, accustomed to her routine, paid her no mind. Gu Shi Yi returned to her own courtyard next door, sent the two maidens at her side away, entered her inner chamber, and locked the door behind her. She jumped onto her bed and, only then, set Little Mud Man by the pillow to speak,
"How did it go?"
Li Yaner was silent for a long while before suddenly asking Gu Shi Yi,
"Shiyi, you... you always had a good memory since you were little, do you remember anything... was there anything wrong with your half-demon body?"
Gu Shi Yi was somewhat puzzled by her question, but still, after some thought, she replied,
"Nothing was wrong! I was no different from ordinary human children!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, that should be the case... I don't recall anything abnormal, and that old guy never warned me about anything, so there must not have been anything wrong..."
Given the old guy's character, if there had been anything abnormal, he would have told her long ago and wouldn't have waited until his dying breath to reveal this big secret!
Li Yaner nodded, thought for a moment and then said,
"Guess what I saw in the inner chamber?"
Gu Shi Yi, already hooked by curiosity, exclaimed impatiently,
"Oh... Yaner, spare me, please, just tell me. If you don't, I might die of curiosity!"
Li Yaner said,
"This morning when I slipped into the inner chamber, I saw Youngest Miss Sun still in bed, wearing only an undershirt. When the wet nurse went over to help her dress, she lifted the blanket, and I saw her lower half covered in scales, looking just like fish scales..."
"Fish scales?"
Gu Shi Yi's eyes widened in shock. She had guessed back and forth that perhaps the Youngest Miss had some congenital deformity, and that the family wanted to keep it secret due to concerns about marriage prospects, but she never expected... this wasn't just a deformity; this was...
"She too has a half-demon body!"