Qin Wanru tensed up immediately, looking at the dark tablet, feeling a chill on her back, as if a cold wind was blowing. She shivered uncontrollably and quickly looked away.
"You are too presumptuous. How can you move my sister's tablet without Madam's permission? Do you know that this will disturb my sister's soul?" She frowned unhappily and scolded.
"No." Lvliu said calmly, "I didn't move the tablet of the former wife of the Crown Prince. I asked someone to remake it and put it in the main hall of the Crown Prince's wife. I burned incense and paper last night to inform the former wife of the Crown Prince and asked her to come here sooner or later to accept the Crown Prince's wife's kowtow. Anyway, the dead come and go freely and won't feel tired."
She said this too seriously, and the expression on her face was both pious and weird. Not only Qin Wanru, but even the concubines were frightened. These people, who were usually not united at all, now held each other's hands tightly to give each other courage.
Qin Wanru sat in the main seat. The smugness she had felt the moment before had completely disappeared, and she even felt like she was sitting on pins and needles.
"Don't talk nonsense here. The former prince's wife is my sister. I should respect and worship her. But when a person dies, it's like a light goes out. The living worship the dead just out of remembrance and to express their grief. Why are you talking so weird?" She forced herself to remain calm as she taught Lvliu a lesson.
"The Crown Prince's wife was just worried that I would disturb the spirit of the former Crown Prince's wife, so why is she saying that death is like the extinguishing of a lamp?" Lvliu raised the tablet and said seriously, "I am not talking nonsense at all. After I burned incense and prayed last night, I clearly saw a shadow floating towards the Nuanyu Pavilion. It was about midnight at that time. Is there no movement from the Crown Prince's wife?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Yunying, who was standing beside him, screamed, then covered her mouth tightly, a look of horror.
Qin Wanru immediately gave her a cold look, signaling her not to talk nonsense.
All the concubines began to tremble like they were sieved.
Qin Wanru was afraid that Lvliu would go on to talk more and more outrageously, so she ended the topic forcibly, bowed three times to the tablet in Lvliu's hand, asked Madam Lu to help the concubines serve her tea, and then she made the excuse that she was tired and asked the concubines to go back.
Luliu said that she had not yet offered tea, and respectfully placed the tablet of the former prince's wife on the long table in the middle of the back wall, then turned around to offer tea to Qin Wanru.
Qin Wanru didn't want to look at her any longer, so she skipped her tea ceremony and hurriedly sent her out.
As soon as Luliu left, Yunying couldn't help herself and knelt on the ground and said to Qin Wanru: "Madam, when I saw that thing last night, it was just after midnight..."
"Shut up!" Qin Wanru shouted at her, "Lvliu is clearly lying, and you believe it."
"But, I saw that thing with my own eyes!" Yunying swallowed her saliva and said in a trembling voice, "Could it be that the former prince's wife came to us to report..."
"Didn't you hear me telling you to shut up?" Qin Wanru grabbed the teacup and threw it at him, angrily saying, "Madam Lu, Yunying is unconscious now, take her away quickly."
"Yes." Madam Lu responded quickly, called the two maids who came with the dowry, and carried Yunying out.
The remaining two maids went forward to pick up the broken porcelain pieces on the ground, but were driven away by Qin Wanru in a rage.
Everyone had left, and Qin Wanru was the only one left in the huge room. She subconsciously glanced at the dark tablet on the table, and suddenly felt a chill all over her body. She didn't dare to stay in the room anymore, so she picked up her skirt and ran out.
…
After leaving Nuanyu Pavilion, Lvliu did not return to her own residence, but went to the young master's courtyard.
At this time, Xie Nanjia was also talking to Feng Lun in the young master's courtyard.
The human head last night was Feng Lun's doing. He knew that Xie Nanjia came today just for this matter. Without waiting for Xie Nanjia to ask, he told her everything that happened last night.
After listening to this, Xie Nanjia nodded and said, "The effect is quite good. Thank you for your hard work, Brother Feng."
Feng Lun said: "It's just a simple task, not hard work, but why are you doing this?"
Xie Nanjia said: "I can't tell you now, when the time is right, I will tell you everything."
"Okay, I understand." Since she didn't say anything, Feng Lun stopped asking, "If there's anything you need me to do, just ask."
"Thank you, Brother Feng." Xie Nanjia thanked him, "I will always remember your help to me. I will definitely repay you in the future."
Feng Lun smiled shyly, stared into her eyes, and wanted to say something but didn't.
Xie Nanjia suddenly remembered that Hualou or someone else had once teased the relationship between her and Feng Lun. At that time, she was thinking about having a chance to talk to Feng Lun in case Feng Lun misunderstood her meaning. Later, she was busy and followed Zhao Jingyu to the Xishan enclosure, and she actually forgot about it.
It is better to do it today than to wait for another day. She thought it would be better to make things clear now to avoid being unable to explain it later.
"Brother Feng, I have something to tell you." She said seriously.
"You talk, I'm listening!" Feng Lun said with a smile.
Before Xie Nanjia could say anything, Lvliu came over.
"I guessed that you must be here." Luliu walked quickly to Xie Nanjia and said to her with a smile.
Xie Nanjia had no choice but to stop talking and told Feng Lun that they would talk about it next time. Then she went to the room in the painting building with Lvliu.
The child fell asleep. In order not to disturb Xie Nanjia and Feng Lun's conversation, Hualou stayed in her room to pack her things. When she saw Lvliu and Xie Nanjia coming in together, she was surprised for a moment and asked with a smile, "What gust of wind brought Aunt Liu here?"
Lvliu rolled her eyes at her and said, "Do you know how to speak? Watch out or I'll tear your mouth apart!"
After all, they grew up together and had no taboos when talking to each other. Although they had already accepted Xie Nanjia as one of their own and had close contacts with her over the past few months, there was still a layer of distance between them and they rarely joked with each other.
After chatting for a while, Lvliu got back to the point and told her in detail what happened in Nuanyu Pavilion. She said in a relaxed mood, "You didn't see it. When Qin Wanru saw the young lady's tablet, her face turned green. I held the young lady's tablet and accepted her three kowtows. I felt so relieved."
"It's a pity that I didn't see it." Hualou said regretfully, "You have to supervise this matter well. Every morning and evening, you have to go and watch her kowtow to the young lady. Don't miss even one kowtow."
"You don't need me to tell you. I will naturally supervise her." Lu Liu said, "If I can find a chance to go back to the general's mansion and talk to my wife about this, it would be great. Let my wife also vent her anger."
"It's not that easy. If Qin hadn't wanted us to be lobbyists, we wouldn't have been able to get out." Hua Lou said, "But I'm curious, why is Yunying so scared?"
"Who knows? I find it strange too." said Lu Liu.
Qin Wanru issued a gag order regarding what happened last night, and no one else except the people in Nuanyu Pavilion had heard about it.
"Because she saw a ghost last night." Xie Nanjia said slowly from the side.
"Ah?" Hualou and Lvliu were both stunned, and asked at the same time, "What the hell is this? How did you know?"
Xie Nanjia then told the two of them what Feng Lun had done in Nuan Yu Pavilion last night.
"Oh my god!" Hua Lou exclaimed, "How did you come up with this idea? It's so late at night, it will scare people to death."
Lu Liu suddenly realized: "No wonder you taught me to burn incense and pray in front of Qin Wanru at midnight. It turned out that it was to make this ghost thing seem more real."
"But why do you do this?" Hualou expressed confusion.
Xie Nanjia didn't want to let her know about his suspicion of Qin Wanru yet, so he smiled and said, "To vent the anger of the general's wife, isn't that good?"
"It's good, but it's scary." Hualou said, "Luckily I wasn't the one who got scared."
Green Willow laughed and said, "Are you sympathizing or taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune?"
"Of course she is gloating over someone else's misfortune." Hualou said seriously, "Qin Wanru is not a good person. Yunying is following her, so she must not be a good person either. She deserves to be scared to death."
"… "
Luliu and Xie Nanjia were both amused by her serious look.
After laughing, Xie Nanjia said, "There's no need for us to cover up for them. The more people who know about this, the better. So when Lvliu goes back, she will be responsible for spreading this story. The more outrageous it is, the better."
"Okay, leave it to me." Luliu said, "It just so happens that when I said those words just now, the concubines were here. I will go back and tell them. I don't need to make up stories. They will add fuel to the fire."
"Yeah." Xie Nanjia nodded, and then said, "Actually, I did this for another reason. I wanted to see if Qin Wanru was really pregnant."
"What do you mean? Can pregnancy be fake?" Hualou asked puzzledly.
Lvliu immediately understood what Xie Nanjia meant: "You mean, Qin Wanru is likely to pretend to be pregnant in order to marry into the Marquis' Mansion as soon as possible?"
"No way, she even lied to her aunt?" Hua Lou was a little unconvinced. "Besides, if she pretended to be pregnant, she couldn't hide it when she got a long period of pregnancy."
"I'm just guessing," Xie Nanjia said, "but judging from last night, there's still a possibility of fraud."
"How did you know that?" Hualou asked.
Xie Nanjia said, "I just asked Feng Lun, and Feng Lun said that when he went there, the bridal chamber was full of activity, but then there was a shock and a commotion. Qin Wanru was fine, and she didn't particularly care about her belly."
"In that case, it's really hard to say." Lu Liu said.
"So what we have to do now is to muddy the water first, so that we have a chance to confirm whether she is real or fake." Xie Nanjia said.
"I understand. I'll go back and tell stories to the aunts now." Luliu stood up and said.
…
Supernatural things have an inexplicable attraction to people. In less than half a day, the news of the haunted Nuan Yu Pavilion spread throughout the entire mansion, and through the polishing of different people, several different versions appeared.
The most convincing and frightening version is that the former wife of the prince was dissatisfied with the prince marrying a new wife, so her ghost visited Nuan Yu Pavilion at night and wanted to take the lives of the prince and the new wife. Fortunately, the unlucky Yunying saw it and scared her away with her screams, so the prince and the new wife escaped.
Later, there was a new rumor that it was possible that more than one person, Hong Yi Niang, might have killed the wife of the previous prince. The reason why the ghost of the previous prince's wife lingered was because her injustice had not been redressed, but the prince ignored the relationship between husband and wife and found a new love before she had her revenge, which angered her ghost.
All kinds of rumors spread like wildfire, and before dark, even people outside had heard about it.
Before the festive atmosphere in the Marquis' Mansion faded away, it fell into an unprecedented panic.
When Qin heard the rumor, she immediately called Zhao Jingping and Qin Wanru to question them.
Qin Wanru could no longer hide it, so she dismissed everyone and told her aunt everything that had happened last night.
After all, Qin was the mistress of the house who had experienced many ups and downs. After listening to Qin Wanru's story and pondering for a moment, she came to the conclusion: "This matter has nothing to do with wronged souls or the like. It is clear that someone is deliberately doing something behind the scenes."
(End of this chapter)