Chapter 85 - aftermath
There are more or less secrets in the courtyard of each inner house, especially half of the people present are the mistresses of the inner house. Naturally, you can guess that there are many secrets hidden under this pool that cannot be humane.
When they pursued it, it was not only because of Shi’s statement, but also because of the power of the Xu family.
Although this is a handle to talk about, it is too hot to hold, but anyone who is smarter is not willing to touch it.
So suddenly there was such a person who broke it in one sentence, and everyone looked around one after another, and recognized who this person was, so bold.
It’s not surprising to see someone.
It turned out to be a girl from the Bai family. No wonder, as soon as King An’s troubles came out, the Bai family and the Xu family had already formed a feud. When the two girls married into the palace together, they looked up and didn’t look down. It was for the sake of their daughter. Home will never be kind.
They are all offended, and they don’t care about offending a little more.
Bai Yinhua’s hand hidden in his sleeve clenched into a fist, secretly encouraging himself, only to suppress his body trembling due to the sharp light thrown by Shi Shi, and took a deep breath, showing a bit of cowardice on his face: “I, I saw Mrs. Shi, the secretary of the Ministry of Punishment, was also there. I remembered what is often said in the book, ‘Integrity is fearless, and justice is selflessness’ before I dared to speak. Did the little girl say the wrong thing?”
The Mrs. Shi who was named by her was not only the original wife of the Minister of Punishment, but also the biological mother of Mrs. Shi, the wife of the first son of the Marquis of Cheng’en. She didn’t know about it at all, but Bai Yinhua said so, as if she was Favoritism to cover up scandals for the Xu family.
Mrs. Shi’s face was pulled down on the spot, but she did not pay attention to her, and said coldly: “The matter of the inner house should be handed over to the mistress, and it is not too late to make a decision until it is found out whether this person was harmed by others. I can’t work as a court official to investigate a case of a servant’s foot slipping into the water, Miss Bai, don’t you think?”
Bai Yinhua pursed her lips and whispered: “If any case can be investigated by anyone, what should the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple do… In Mrs. Shi’s eyes, these slaves are not worthy of Mr. Shi’s intervention at all. ?”
This tricky sophistry, Bai Chu couldn’t help but glance up at Wang Xiuze: “You must have taught this.”
Wang Xiu raised his brows slightly and smiled at her, indescribably romantic.
Mrs. Shi was really angry, but according to her cultivation, she wouldn’t be embarrassed in public with a junior, so don’t go overboard and ignore her directly, just say: “Speaking of my family and the Marquis of Cheng’en are related by marriage, it’s not good. Speak up. Simply being present, the eldest princess is the most respected, please show me.”
The eldest princess is also a few years older than Shi’s. To say that she is highly esteemed means that she has a high status and is the most suitable to come out to preside over justice, and others will have no objection.
The eldest princess smiled and said, “I can’t bear what Mrs. Shi said. It’s better to empty the water in this pool first and see if what these people are saying is true or not, and then it’s not too late to discuss.”
She intended to give a buffer time, and it was not easy to withdraw the water, but once the regulations were set, both the Xu family and the guests who looked at each other could escape from this embarrassing situation in a short time.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief in unison, and said, “It’s possible.”
Even Bai Yinhua gritted his teeth unwillingly, and did not dare to refute the eldest princess in person.
However, a dramatic scene happened.
As we all know, human corpses will float up after falling into the water for a few days. The Xu family has never seen such a horrifying scene, which means that it should be strapped with heavy objects, enough to keep them underwater forever without seeing the sun.
But just as everyone turned around and was about to leave, they suddenly remembered a “pop” sound behind them, and there was a little splash of water, and then… the floating corpse, which was described as hideous and looked terrified, lay on the water.
Frightened screams burst out with the momentum of breaking through the eardrums.
Bai Chu only felt a buzzing in her ear cavity, and unconsciously covered her ears to avoid this set of sonic attacks, and then a hand appeared behind her head, exerting a slight force, and pressed her into his arms.
For a long time, I waited for the tingling to slowly disappear, but the tinnitus had not completely disappeared. The world was silent, only the sound of my own breathing could be heard, and…
A steady heartbeat in the chest.
Because of the limited hearing, other senses become more sensitive, especially the sense of smell. It’s light, a bit like the two fragrances of Gansong and Suhe blended together, and there is a deep mellow of turmeric, not light, nor rich, at least Bai Chu didn’t notice it.
But now that I realized it, I was reluctant to leave.
Wang Xiu let out a low laugh, she could feel the trembling in his chest, she couldn’t help but raised her head and glared at him, as if accusing him of moving around and making her pillow not comfortable enough.
Wang Xiu calmed down honestly, the palm behind her head never retracted, and she let her lazily lean on him.
After a while, the noisy voice outside could be heard fading away, and Bai Chu pushed him gently: “It’s time for us to go back.”
Wang Xiu looked down with a pointed gaze, and said with a smile, “Mrs. Shen still owes me something, where do you want to go back?”
Bai Chu smiled and looked up: “There is no way, the prince has so many tricks, I can’t resist it, so I have to take a small handle and take it as a peace of mind.”
“Don’t worry, three days later, I will keep this jade pendant intact and return it to your house. After all, it’s not a good thing for me to wear a man’s accessories, right?”
Her voice was light and soft, and the moment she spoke the words between her lips and teeth, the words “close body” and “external man”, which were emphasized by her intentionally or unintentionally, carried a different kind of tenderness.
Before he could notice the difference, while he was in a trance, Bai Chu slid under his arm flexibly, and before leaving, he waved at him with a smile on his face: “Then, please go back and wait for the news. already.”
…
Bai Chu was inevitably worried about how to explain it when she went back, but in fact, she may have looked down on her presence, until she quietly returned to the hall where the Xu family welcomed guests at first, except for the eldest princess who heard the movement and glanced sideways , the rest of the people seemed to be thinking, and no one had time to pay attention to her movements.
Fortunately, she moved quickly. After a quarter of an hour, the male guests also came over. The first thing Shen Yuzhi did when he entered the door was to look in the direction of the eldest princess and Bai Chu, and he was relieved to make sure that they were not implicated.
God knows how anxious he was when he heard something happened in the backyard and Bai Yinhua’s name.
Rao is that no matter how Shen Yuzhi doesn’t believe in ghosts and gods, he can’t help but silently complain about what kind of fate Wang An and Bai Yinhua are carrying, how can they make a lot of noise wherever they go?
When Xu Litao, the Prince of Cheng’en, heard about this, his first reaction was to ask outsiders to leave before dealing with internal affairs, but Bai Yinhua’s remarks made their position embarrassing. Let’s go, I don’t say it on the bright side, maybe I will make up so many secrets and scandals for the Xu family.
Therefore, when he strode into the main hall and met Shi Shi’s eyes, he immediately signaled her to immediately investigate the floating corpse case, and always find a culprit to deal with.
Coincidentally, Shi Shi also thought so, in order to show innocence and justice, because the corpse was wearing the clothes of the Xu family’s maid, and she announced all the maids in the backyard in front of everyone, one by one.
Shi gave an order secretly, even if it was found out that it was a person in the master’s courtyard, it could not be said. So in the end, it was found out that this maid was only on duty in the flower room. She didn’t show her face often on weekdays, and even her name was Cui’er, which was very simple.
At this time, Cui’er’s maid in the same room reported that Cui’er’s mother outside the mansion had just suffered a serious illness, and her father didn’t endure it. There was a brother who was a greedy gambling **** and often forced Cui’er. give him money.
The truth gradually became clear, maybe it was the maid who lost her parents, or could not bear the exploitation of her brother, so she threw herself into the lake in despair.
So far, everything seems to have settled down.
Shi sighed and sighed with Napa Zi and nodded her eyes: “This child is really pitiful. Let’s bury her alive and give her brother more silver taels. It’s not a waste of her life in this world.”
Some people next to her are complimenting her for her “forgivingness” and “Buddha’s benevolent heart”. Bai Chu laughed secretly in his heart. If this story is true, Cui’er’s brother is the culprit who killed her. In Shi Shi’s words, Instead, it benefited.
If she were Cui Er, she would like to pry open the coffin board and get up, climb up to Shi’s window, and thank her for this “good deed”.
Suddenly, a few servants stepped forward and covered Cui’er with a white cloth. Just as she was about to lift it up, something seemed to slip from her and landed on the ground with a crisp sound.
Everyone followed the sound and found that it was a small pendant of blue and white jade, with the pattern of a white tiger biting a golden ball hanging on the top. It was strung with brocade threads intersecting with gold and silver. The matching beads are the famous Xiaodong beads, which are not easily available.
According to the custom of the Xu family, when every male is born, he will get this pendant according to their zodiac. It’s just that this thing is small and formal, and it is not often worn on the body, but it must be a status symbol.
The family rules set by the ancestors of the Xu family in order to strengthen the cohesion of the family, from the animals made of grass and trees, to the use of the best jade, the best jade, and the jade pendant carefully made. A lot has changed since then.
There are a lot of males in the next generation of the Xu family. Xu Huan alone has one older brother and two younger brothers. When she thinks about it carefully, no one is a tiger. She just mentioned it and put it down in an instant.
Xu Huan was relieved, and Xu Yuan was like thunder.
Strictly speaking, she wasn’t a straight-away young lady from the Xu family, because her father was born from a concubine, and her ability and luck were not very strong, so she could only live at the back of the long house to get some benefits.
For Xu Yuan, compared to her father, her younger brother, who was just over fourteen, was her future dependant.
However, her younger brother was the only one in the Xu family who belonged to the zodiac of a tiger.
He only heard a cry, before Shi Shi’s words were out of his mouth. Standing next to him, Mrs. Yun, the second wife of the Xu family, fell down tremblingly.
Shi Shi was choked in his heart, and he almost didn’t get over it. Is there such a idiot in the world who doesn’t make a fool of himself!
Xu Yuan endured the panic, and when she noticed Shi Shi’s increasingly cold eyes, she hurriedly leaned over and said, “Eldest aunt, my mother’s condition has not yet recovered. I can’t hold it anymore, please forgive Yuan’er for her rudeness, and let Yuan’er help her to rest in the inner room for a while.”
This niece has always been winking, Shi Shi nodded: “filial piety is rare, you go.”
It’s just that no matter how the Xu family hides it, Xu Yuan’s younger brother, Xu Hao, takes this pendant and calls himself a child of the Xu family. They looked at each other clearly, and then looked at Xu Hao, sweating coldly. The maid named Cui’er said that she was working in the flower room, and she might have been born more beautiful than Hua Hua, which made Xu Hao coveted and made a mistake. , it might even kill someone.
Thinking about it further, Cui’er has good luck, and she can still float up and be discovered. Who knows how many Cui’er are still buried in the bottomless pool?
No matter what the truth was, the Xu family’s cause of Cui’er’s death could only be revealed to the public. As for the pendant, everyone tacitly ignored it, and even Bai Yinhua didn’t make a sound.
It’s one thing to offend Xu Huan’s first room, but it’s another thing to offend the Xu family.
In the end, the head of the Xu family today is still the shrewd and experienced Marquis Chengen.