NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 10
"You know to come back?" Lady Bai questioned Bai Yunhan with red-rimmed eyes.
Bai Yunhan did not speak and slowly walked forward to the bedside, then reached out to uncover the white cloth.
Old Master Bai's ghastly pale face fell into Bai Yunhan's eyes.
Bai Yunhan was so frightened that his hand shook and the white cloth dropped back down, covering Old Master Bai's face again.
He clutched his chest, unable to calm down for a long time.
Although he had always been at odds with his father, seeing Old Master Bai's tragic death at this moment caused an ache in his heart, and his eyes instantly turned red.
"When did this happen?" Bai Yun asked chokingly.
"Young Master, this happened last night. We discovered the Old Master's corpse in the back mountain of the Bai family," Wang Fu said, "I won't hide it from the Young Master, two young ladies found him, we've already locked them in the woodshed."
"Two young ladies?"
"Yes, two young ladies dressed strangely, very similar to...the two young ladies the Young Master just brought back..." Wang Fu said meaningfully.
Lady Bai looked at Bai Yunhan, "You brought two young ladies back?"
"Steward Wang, they may be accomplices. You have to keep a close eye on them!" Ying Shuang, who was sitting to the side, cried and said, "If it were up to me, send them all to the government office. They won't fail to confess!"
"Eldest Brother, you must avenge Father!" Bai Yunxin came forward and grabbed Bai Yunhan’s arm, with tears brimming in her eyes.
Bai Yunxin was born to Ying Shuang while Bai Yunhan was born to Liu Meng.
Although one was an illegitimate daughter and the other the lawful son, the two siblings actually had a good relationship.
Moreover, Bai Yunxin was very well-behaved and used to be favored by Old Master Bai.
"Mother, have you seen those two young ladies?" Bai Yunhan asked.
"I've seen them, but they said they didn't kill anyone and that he was already dead when they found your father," Lady Bai replied.
"Mistress, which murderer admits they're the murderer?" Ying Shuang said in dissatisfaction, "Or does the Mistress simply not care about the Old Master's life and death?"
"The Mistress cares about the Old Master's life and death, that's why she doesn't want the wrong murderer to be caught," Xiao Ru, the third concubine, said at the side.
Ying Shuang glared at Xiao Ru but didn't say anything else.
"Mother, I want to see the two young ladies you mentioned," Bai Yunhan said.
On the other side, a maid came to Su Mo and Sang Li’s room with tea.
Sang Li glanced at the maid and a thought turning in her mind, she politely smiled at the maid, “Thank you, Miss. May we trouble you for some clothes for my sister and I? In this state we do look rather strange."
"Yes," Su Mo walked over and winked at the maid. "Miss, is there a place to bathe? Can you let us go take a bath?"
"You two ladies can call me Chun Xiang," Chun Xiang sized them up, only to see their fair, delicate arms bared, Sang Li even had a section of calf revealed, without even simple buns in their hair.
Last night, she witnessed Steward Fu escorting two similarly dressed women into the woodshed.
Observing Chun Xiang’s expression, Sang Li was certain they had seen people dressed like them before.
Could it be Xiao Han and Xia Miaomiao?
"Chun Xiang, look at the state we’re in, we do really need a bath. Would it be possible...?" Sang Li asked.
"Please come with me, ladies," Chun Xiang put down the tea and led Sang Li and Su Mo to the bathhouse specially prepared for guests.
As they passed the guest room Wu Ying was staying in, Su Mo subconsciously glanced over. The door was tightly shut, she didn’t know what he was doing inside.
Thinking he must be resting from his injuries, she didn’t bother disturbing him.
...
In the woodshed.
Xiao Han sat next to the woodpile, a wooden stick in hand drawing circles on the ground, eyes empty.
"How long more do you plan to keep us here? We already said we didn't kill anyone! You're going to starve me to death!" Xiao Han complained and inadvertently turned to see Xia Miaomiao next to her clutching her stomach, face slightly pale.
"Miaomiao!" Xiao Han immediately discarded the stick and went up to check on her, "What's wrong? Did your stomach act up?"
"Mm..." Xia Miaomiao weakly responded, "My stomach hurts so bad..."
She had chronic gastritis, and couldn't eat too much or be too hungry, otherwise her stomach would hurt tremendously.
Xiao Han immediately ran to pound on the door, "Hey, open the door! What exactly do you want? If you want to lock us up, at least give us some food! My friend's gastritis is flaring up! Open up!"
Xiao Han angrily kicked the door once, "Open up! Is anyone there?!"
"Damnit! What the hell? No common sense!"
Xiao Han kicked again, right at that moment, the door opened.
"Ah!" Xiao Han couldn't stop her leg and stumbled backwards, falling to the ground.
Xiao Han frowned, sooner or later her butt would be bruised from all the falling.
She looked up to see many people standing at the door.
Xiao Han immediately climbed to her feet and pulled Fang Qing's arm, "Big Brother, can you get us some food? My friend can't take the stomach pain anymore!"
Fang Qing uncomfortably withdrew his arm and pointed to Bai Yunhan behind him, "Miss, this is the Bai family's Eldest Young Master."
Xiao Han looked towards Bai Yunhan behind Fang Qing. She immediately walked up and urgently said, "Eldest Young Master, Eldest Young Master, can you let my friend eat something first?? Her stomach is hurting badly!"
Bai Yunhan looked into the woodshed to see Xia Miaomiao curled up next to the woodpile, clutching her stomach, face slightly pale.
"Steward Wang, have someone bring them some food," Bai Yunhan said.
"Yes, Eldest Young Master."
"Wait, best if it's congee. If there's no congee, sugar water or soft buns will do too, don't bring food that's too hard," Xiao Han quickly added.
Wang Fu glanced at Bai Yunhan.
Bai Yunhan nodded at him, "Go on, do as this young lady says."
Bai Yunhan was refined and cultured. Xiao Han instantly felt much better disposed towards him, he seemed reasonable.
"Eldest Young Master, we really didn't kill Old Master Bai. He was already dead when we found him," Xiao Han said to Bai Yunhan.
Bai Yunhan looked them up and down, and found their outfits very similar to Su Mo and Sang Li’s.
Fang Qing moved next to Bai Yunhan’s ear and softly said, "Eldest Young Master, neither of them knows martial arts."
Bai Yunhan looked at Xiao Han, "We’ll talk after your friend feels better."
Soon after, the maid brought congee, sugar water and soft buns to the woodshed.
After Xiao Han fed Xia Miaomiao the water and some buns, she finally relaxed.
Xia Miaomiao rested for a while and her stomach improved somewhat, but her complexion still didn’t look good and she seemed pitiful.
Xiao Han supported Xia Miaomiao up and walked to Bai Yunhan.
"Eldest Young Master, we really didn’t kill Old Master Bai. We don’t even know who Old Master Bai is, why would we kill him? Moreover, we don’t know any martial arts at all and can’t kill anyone,” she said reasonably.
Bai Yunhan was not unreasonable either.
"Do you...have other friends?" Bai Yunhan tentatively asked.
Xia Miaomiao paused before honestly replying, "Yes, we have two other friends but got separated midway."
"Would they be called Su Mo and Sang Li?"
Xiao Han looked at Bai Yunhan in surprise, "How do you know?"
Bai Yunhan lowered his eyes. These two girls discovered his father’s corpse last night, and today Su Mo and Sang Li stopped his carriage before entering the Bai residence. Was this just a coincidence?
And that heavily wounded Wu Ying was also suspicious.
"Keep them locked up for now. Remember to send them meals on time," Bai Yunhan said then turned to leave the woodshed.
"What? Still locking us up? We really didn’t kill anyone!" Xiao Han wanted to chase after him but was blocked by Fang Qing.
"My apologies, ladies,” Fang Qing pulled the woodshed door closed and locked it directly!
"Damnit!" Xiao Han kicked the door, “Transmigration is not fun at all!"
"Xiao Han, let’s eat something first, you’ve been hungry for so long too," Xia Miaomiao gave her a bun.
Xiao Han took the bun and viciously bit into it.
"This person knows Mo Mo and Sister Li, so they should be fine. That puts our minds at ease too."
Xia Miaomiao looked meaningfully at her, "Maybe...they're in the Bai residence too."