Flandre, Exusiai, Croissant, and Texas played together until very late. As for Emperor, he didn't dare get too close to Flandre—whom he saw as a demon child—and had slipped away early. It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that Texas drove Flandre back to the villa.
Upon returning, she discovered that Beatrice Schwire hadn't come back yet. One should know that this woman usually talked about her beauty sleep constantly, yet she was staying up all night to arrest people; it was clear how important she considered this matter to be. However, Beatrice wouldn't run into trouble within Lungmen, so Flandre yawned and went to sleep.
When she woke up the next day, she found that Beatrice still hadn't returned, and only the two maids were there working as usual. Flandre greeted them and prepared to head out for a stroll. Not long after stepping out, she saw a bunch of cars parked in front of a villa in the distance. Quite a few people were standing at the entrance, most of them looking panicked. She remembered that it was where Beatrice's grandfather lived.
Cars were still arriving continuously at this time, but they were all given the cold shoulder and turned away. From this, one could see the old man's intention—to remain neutral and not help either side. After all, if it were a minor issue uncovered by an outsider, he could have stepped in to ask for a favor, believing that Wei Yenwu wouldn't do anything too drastic to his family members. But the ones found to be problematic were his own people, and the one leading the arrests was also one of his own.
So, who was he supposed to plead with? Ask Beatrice to stop? He couldn't bring himself to do that. After all, he was the one who had agreed yesterday that Beatrice should handle things according to the law. To go to others now would be like slapping his own old face. Moreover, he knew that those standing outside were people with little involvement; those who had reached their claws into Central Plaza had basically all been hauled away by Beatrice.
However, in the Schwire Family, they rose and fell together. Most of those arrested were relatives, and the one presiding over the arrests was actually a junior from their own family. So they wanted to come and ask what exactly this meant. Did Governor Wei feel that the Schwire Family had become too powerful and was preparing to purge them, or was the family beginning the selection of an heir? As for Beatrice, in the eyes of these people, she was perhaps just a figurehead. They didn't believe she would dare to move so crazily against her own people without the approval of the old man and Governor Wei.
Little did they know that as soon as Wei Yenwu woke up in the morning, he received intelligence about this matter from the Shadow Guards. He was quite surprised. Did he know about this matter? Of course he did. But the reason he hadn't chosen to act was due to a tacit understanding between him and Adams Schwire. This corruption was both an excuse the Schwire Family had proactively handed him to use against them at any time, and a political achievement left for their successors. He just hadn't expected Beatrice to act so quickly and so ruthlessly.
She didn't treat those uncles and aunts of hers like people at all. In a single night, she had dragged everyone—from the operators to the participants—out and thrown them into prison without missing a single one. Wei Yenwu specifically called his old friend to indicate he had neither participated in nor known about this; it wasn't his doing. To his surprise, Adams proactively claimed it was done with his approval.
"Do you want to support Beatrice's rise to power? But with her arresting so many of her own family members at once, the others probably won't agree!" Wei Yenwu was puzzled.
"I certainly do want to; Beatrice is the descendant I favor most, without exception. Originally, I thought she would only use this matter to knock some sense into those at home. I didn't expect this child's sense of justice to be too strong... This won't allow her to sit securely in the position of the family head," Adams expressed. He admitted he had made a bad move by supporting her without evaluating her personal character first. But since things had reached this point, they had to see it through.
After hanging up, Wei Yenwu was speechless; this old fellow was truly ruthless. He didn't believe for a second that Beatrice could have finished this in one night without Adams acting as the driving force behind the scenes. However, this was also fine. The juniors had acted without propriety, pocketing all the money themselves. Once it was investigated, they didn't even have an excuse to deflect blame.
Wei Yenwu was curious; Beatrice was a child he had watched grow up. After the incidents with Talulah, the children allowed to play with Ch'en had been carefully selected. The evaluation of her had never been bad, but he hadn't expected her to be so upright and selfless. He told the Shadow Guards to continue following up. Since the evidence was solid, the case was essentially set in stone. Because it was initiated by Beatrice, outsiders saw it as an internal power struggle and wouldn't easily interfere.
Back at the villa, Flandre squatted curiously by the roadside, pulled a handful of melon seeds from her pocket, and began cracking them while watching the fun. She was acting as Beatrice's eyes and ears. After seeing a few more people drive up, Flandre made a video call to Beatrice.
A few seconds later, the call connected to Beatrice's tired face. "Hello, Flandre, is something the matter?"
Flandre pointed the camera at the entrance of the Schwire Family home. "There are so many people here at your house, Flandre is watching the show!"
On the other side, Beatrice sneered. "Hmph, I naturally know what those guys are plotting. Flandre, don't mind them. At least before noon, they won't be seeing anyone."
"Aren't these all your family members?" Flandre was confused. Logically, it should be like her relationship with her sister, but Beatrice seemed quite distant.
"First of all, in Lungmen, I am an Operator of the Guard Department first, and a member of the Schwire Family second. And they made a mistake—a very, very big mistake. If you make a mistake, you should be punished. This is also a form of protection. Since I'm the one exposing it, the punishment is still controllable. Once an outsider uses this to hold us accountable, it might mean the family is completely purged from Lungmen," Beatrice explained.
Flandre didn't fully understand, but she was willing to believe her. After hanging up, Flandre saw someone noticing her and preparing to walk over. She stood up, picked up the tissue containing the melon seed shells—being a good child who hates littering—and prepared to slip away. The people approaching stopped; anyone appearing here was either rich or noble, and they didn't dare provoke a random child easily.
Flandre decided to head to Central Plaza. Even in the morning, many middle-aged and elderly people were gathered, practicing dancing or martial arts. Flandre watched a dancing queue with curiosity.
"Little one, do you want to give it a try?" the leader invited warmly.
"Ah, can I?" Flandre was flustered.
"Of course! It's free. We're all neighbors, and dancing is for exercise and health."
The leader pulled Flandre into the crowd. The ladies were happy to have a "little tot" join them, surrounding her as they continued. Flandre began to gesture along, mimicking their movements.
Meanwhile, in Gensokyo...
"Based on previous intelligence, we have currently created an instrument that can use your sister as coordinates to see what she is doing now..."