The Artist Ponders, Ponders, and Ponders Some More

Yujia's fingers fiddled with the papers, folding and unfolding them over and over again. She read the words written on there countless times until she practically had them carved into her mind.

This new discovery didn't seem to solve any of her questions. In fact, they introduced even more uncertainties. 

Who were those letters addressed to? She knew that the second one was written to Liu Yuxi, her birthmother, likely, but the first letter… she wasn't quite sure. 

Her birthmother wasn't dead. Yujia had never gone to visit that woman, but she was positive that Liu Yuxi was still alive. Yet the first letter was very clearly addressed to someone who had passed a long time ago…

Yujia racked her brain for ideas.

She needed to figure out the individual who wrote those letters fast. This was so that Yujia could narrow her theories down some more. It felt likely that they were written by Madam Zhang, but then again, Yujia had never seen or memorized Madam Zhang's handwriting.

She should return the box as well. 

Stealing personal belongings like this was never morally correct. Opening them and digging through the most private parts of someone's life also wasn't correct. Yujia already felt loads of guilt for doing this. She felt like she was looking into something that she had no right to know.

In the past, she justified her actions with the idea that she deserved to look in the box, in case it had any hints about the poison within it. 

She couldn't use this same justification anymore, considering that there were no clues about anything that had to do with poison in that box. 

Yujia couldn't connect the contents of the letter with the entire case of her poisoning. At the same time, she wanted to know exactly what the backstory was for the letters. If it involved her birthmother, surely she could bend some logic to make it involve her as well?

Regardless, Yujia felt like such a snoop. 

Yujia wondered how she was going to return the box. She knew that she had to, in order to soothe some of the guilt that was building up inside of her. 

Before putting the letters and hairpins back, Yujia grabbed some ink and paper, copying the contents of the letter directly onto the other page. She wished that she had her smartphone with her so that she could take a picture, but since that was impossible, she would have to make do with writing everything as a record keeper. 

If she saw that handwriting on the letters again, though, Yujia was sure that she would recognize it. She read those letters far too many times to not recognize the handwriting again, in the future.

While she placed everything back in the box, Yujia decided that she would have to inconvenience Zixu again to aid her in sneaking into the Yang Villa. Yujia needed to put the box back in its little compartment. She also needed to find some handwriting excerpts from the various people in this villa. There was no way to do either of the two things besides sneaking into the Yang Villa.

Yujia hated asking Zixu so many favors. What could she possibly do in the future to pay him back?

Yujia slumped forward, tapping her fingers on the now-closed box. 

The desire of wanting to know the truth behind the letters built up within her again. A part of her regretted reading those letters— it felt like she opened a Pandora's box. 

…

Some more thinking later, Yujia came to a few conclusions. 

First, she needed to go visit her birthmother, Madam Liu, or Liu Yuxi. 

She knew that Hui'er said before that she didn't want Yujia to go visit this woman, partially because Liu Yuxi was one of the people who knew that Yujia wasn't actually some Fourth Miss. She probably thought that her daughter was possessed. 

However, Yujia wasn't quite sure if there was any other way in finding out some more hints. She had to make do with the few clues she had right now, even if she was accused of being possessed by her birthmother.

Secondly, it would be careless for Yujia to dismiss the idea that her poisoning wasn't connected to the letters. Maybe it was. The more she discovered, the more it seemed like there was some greater conspiracy behind all of this, and she was just thrown in the midst of it all.

Thirdly, Yujia needed to go visit Yu Zixu.

She convinced herself of this fact by making up plenty of excuses. She needed to get her pendant back. She needed to see how Zixu did after the test, to check up on him as a friend. She needed to talk to him about this whole deal.

He was the only one who knew everything— the complete truth— behind her poisoning. Not even her master or her Senior Brother Yunhe knew the details that he did. And at this point, where Yujia was fairly stuck, she wanted to talk to Zixu about everything. He had a way of speaking that guided Yujia in new directions that she never thought about before. Sometimes, just by talking with him, a lot of the confusion Yujia had would just clear up. 

Besides, hearing from another viewpoint always helped, didn't it?

Thus, Yujia decided to work on her list of conclusions. After the examinations were over for Zixu, she would go pay him a visit. 

…

However, when Yujia went over to the Yu Villa, the last thing she expected to find was a very-drunk Yu Zixu.