Time flies, and it is Mid-Autumn Festival in a blink of an eye.
After careful planning, Xie Nanjia planned to take action against Lvliu at the Mid-Autumn family dinner.
However, on the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lvliu suddenly went to the young master's yard.
At that time, Xie Nanjia had just returned from school with the fourth young lady when Xiao Xizi came to her and said that the painting building wanted her to come over.
Zhao Lanzhi knew that Xiao Xizi had always been in love with her, and with the old lady's permission, she could visit him at any time, so she let her go with Xiao Xizi.
Hualou had never taken the initiative to look for her, so Xie Nanjia's first thought was what happened to her son. As soon as she left the yard, she anxiously asked what happened to Xiao Xizi.
Xiao Xizi said, "Madam Liu came to talk to Sister Hualou, and Sister Hualou quietly told me to come and look for you, but I don't think anything happened."
When Xie Nanjia heard that it was Lvliu who came, she quickly quickened her pace. With Feng Lun around, she was not afraid that Lvliu would do anything bad to her son, but she was worried that she would cause trouble for Hualou.
Lvliu was not here to cause trouble. In her own words, she came to Hualou to reminisce about the past.
But Hualou didn't want to reminisce with her. Since she entered the door, he had been treating her badly, saying that he had something to do and didn't have time to accompany her, and asked her to leave.
Lvliu refused to leave. She sat down on a chair and asked the maid Jixiang to make tea for her.
Jixiang was someone the old lady had brought over from her side. He was very confident. Not only did he not pour water for Lvliu, but he also said to her in a sarcastic tone, "Aren't you also a servant? You haven't served your master for a few days, and you can't even make tea?"
Lvliu has always been arrogant and had a bad temper. When the young lady was around, all the maids in the yard except Hualou had been beaten by her. Hualou was afraid that she would hit Jixiang, so she stepped forward to stand in front of Jixiang.
Lvliu was not angry at all, instead she smiled and said, "As expected of someone who grew up around the old lady, I like this kind of personality."
Jixiang sneered disdainfully: "Who cares about your likes? You are just killing your master for fame!"
Lvliu's expression changed, and it was hard to tell whether she was angry or resentful: "Whatever you say, you have nothing to do here. Go out, I want to talk to Hualou."
Jixiang defended Hualou again: "Good words are not spoken behind people's backs. If you speak behind people's backs, there is no good thing to say. Just say whatever you want to say. I will not leave."
Lvliu smiled, seeming to be envious and a little lonely: "You two have a good relationship. Back then, Hualou and I were like this too."
Hua Lou's eyes suddenly became moist, and he yelled at her, "Don't mention the past to me. I am already dead. If I had known that you would become an ungrateful person, I would not have been so open-hearted to you. Now that the young lady is gone and you have become the master, go and enjoy your wealth and glory, and don't disturb me and the young master."
Tears welled up in Lvliu's eyes: "Let me see the little master, tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, I can't reunite with my young lady, at least let me take a look at her child, okay?"
Hualou and Jixiang became alert at the same time, and shouted for Feng Lun to come in and see the guest off, fearing that Lvliu would rush into the young master's room and commit murder the next moment.
Feng Lun was standing guard at the door. He came in immediately upon hearing the noise and said to Lvliu, "Madam Liu, please go back!"
Green Willow wiped her tears with a handkerchief and looked at Hualou with a sad expression: "Do you still remember the mid-autumn before the young lady got married?"
Hualou was stunned for a moment, tears welling up in his eyes, but he was unwilling to answer Lvliu and kept asking Feng Lun to send the guest away.
Feng Lun asked Lvliu to leave in a firm tone.
Lvliu sighed and said, "Well, no matter what, I finally came to see you. Madam might let the young master go to the family dinner tomorrow. You must keep an eye on the young master and make sure nothing goes wrong."
Hualou wiped her tears and said, "Don't cry like the cat over the rat here. If a sinister person like you doesn't go, nothing will go wrong!"
Lvliu had nothing to say, but still refused to leave. She looked out the door again and again, as if she was waiting for someone.
When Feng Lun asked her to leave for the third time, Xie Nanjia walked in.
Lvliu's eyes suddenly lit up.
Xie Nanjia came in and quickly scanned the room. She didn't see the child, but Hualou was crying sadly and Jixiang was looking indignant.
"Hey, what's going on? Who has offended our Hualou?" Xie Nanjia smiled and walked over to hold Hualou's arm.
Jixiang curled his lips and said, "Who else could it be? My young lady climbed into the bed of my brother-in-law before her body was even cold, and now she has the nerve to show off in front of her former sisters."
Xie Nanjia looked at Lvliu, who was not angry either. She said to her, "I'm about to leave, Xiu'er, can you see me off?"
Only then did Xie Nanjia notice that she came alone without any maid.
Hualou came over and took Xie Nanjia's hand, and said to Lvliu: "Why should Xiu'er send you off? If you want to leave, go by yourself."
Luliu said nothing and just looked at Xie Nanjia quietly.
Xie Nanjia then understood that Lvliu had come to see her specifically.
Lvliu was smart. Since it was inconvenient for her to go to the Fourth Young Lady's courtyard, she ran here to lure the snake out of its hole. It was obvious that she had expected that Hualou would send someone to notify her.
In other words, while she and Hualou were keeping an eye on Lvliu, Lvliu was also always keeping an eye on their movements, so she knew their current relationship very well.
So, is her goal the same as theirs, to kill the other party
Xie Nanjia decided to see her off.
After comforting Hualou and others, she accompanied Lvliu out of the yard.
Along the way, Lvliu didn't speak, and she didn't speak either. The two of them seemed to be competing in patience.
As they walked, Lvliu changed direction unconsciously and brought Xie Nanjia to the courtyard where she lived before her death, Yaoyueju.
Xie Nanjia noticed it, but remained calm and pretended not to know where this place was.
There was a lock on the gate of the courtyard. Lvliu took out a key from her sleeve pocket and opened the lock. Only then did Xie Nanjia remember that this lock was the one she had used when she was alive. The housekeeper, the gatekeeper and Lvliu each had a key.
The door opened and Luliu invited Xie Nanjia in.
Xie Nanjia poked his head in and looked inside: "What is this place?"
Lvliu said, "This is the courtyard where the former prince's wife lived."
"Why did you bring me here?" Xie Nanjia asked.
"Come in and talk." Luliu pushed her in forcefully and bolted the door from the inside.
Xie Nanjia was secretly shocked and became more alert.
She looked around, taking in the twilight the place where she had lived for nearly three years.
In just a few months, this place has become overgrown with weeds and dilapidated, with all its former splendor gone.
Lvliu sighed quietly, "A few months ago, this was the most beautiful place in the entire mansion, but in the blink of an eye it has become desolate."
Xie Nanjia said: "What does this have to do with me? If you have something to say, just tell me. I still have to go back to serve the Fourth Miss."
Lvliu said: "Then I will tell you the truth. Can you tell me if you are someone sent by the General's Mansion?"
Xie Nanjia's heart skipped a beat, and she asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Green Willow said, "Since the day you stopped Young Master Nanfeng's sword at the banquet, I have been secretly observing you. At first, I couldn't figure out your intentions. Later, you first met the Young Master and Hualou in the front yard, and then managed to drive Qin Wanru away, transferred Hualou out of Qingqu Garden, encouraged the old lady to properly place the young master, and arranged a group of people you trusted in the young master's yard, treating the young master as your own. All of the above seem chaotic, but in fact, every one of them is for the young master. Unless you are sent by the General's Mansion to secretly protect the young master, otherwise it doesn't make sense at all."
This well-reasoned reasoning made Xie Nanjia feel mixed emotions.
Lvliu was indeed the smartest girl around her. She saw everything so clearly without saying a word. If it were in the past, she would have been very pleased. But now that Lvliu had turned into a murderer, she could no longer feel pleased and was left with only a cold sweat all over her body.
It's not a good thing to have an opponent who is too smart.
"Madam Liu has a very rich imagination." She said calmly, "You probably forgot that I came here from the farm with the Fourth Madam."
"Indeed." Luliu nodded. "I know Xiu'er came from Zhuangzi, but with the ability of the General's Mansion, it is not difficult to replace someone midway. Besides, you have a close relationship with Fourth Aunt, and there is no guarantee who she belongs to now."
Xie Nanjia smiled: "So you think I am the one who was switched with Xiu'er, and Fourth Aunt is the one who was switched with her?"
Green Willow said: "That's my suspicion, otherwise it doesn't make sense."
Xie Nanjia neither admitted nor denied it, but asked vaguely: "But what does this have to do with you calling me here? What exactly do you want to do?"
Lvliu knew that there would be no one else in the yard, but she still looked around cautiously and said in a low voice: "I want to ask you to do me a favor."
"What help?" Xie Nanjia asked.
"Help me to take the position of the Crown Prince's wife." Lu Liu revealed her true purpose.
Xie Nanjia was very surprised. She could never have imagined that Lvliu was looking for her for this.
A man who killed her and was about to be killed by her asked her to help her marry her husband.
How ridiculous.
It was so ridiculous that she couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Why do you want my help?"
"Because you are smart." Lu Liu said, "In my opinion, there is nothing you can't do as long as you want to do it. Your mission is to protect the young master, and the reason why I stay in the Marquis' Mansion is also for the young master. If I become the wife of the prince, I will be the mother of the young master, and I will do my best to protect him until he grows up.
You have witnessed with your own eyes how Qin Wanru did whatever it took to harm the young master in order to stay in the Marquis's mansion. You can imagine that if Qin Wanru or another woman were allowed to be the prince's wife, once they had their own children, I'm afraid the first person they would kill would be the young master."
"You will have your own children too." Xie Nanjia's tone was calm, but her heart was like the waves of a hurricane. "And as far as I know, you are the biggest suspect in the murder of the Crown Prince's wife."
"I'm not, I really am not." Lu Liu grabbed her hand excitedly, "I know no one will believe me if I say this, but I really am not, and I won't have my own children. Since the day I followed Zhao Jingping, I have already drunk the sterilizing soup. The reason why I didn't follow my lady to die was to find her murderer and protect my lady's only bloodline."
She was so earnest and so sad that even though it was dusk, Xie Nanjia could still see the sparkling tears in her eyes.
Xie Nanjia's heart seemed to be hit hard by a huge hammer, and the pain was so severe that it made her numb. She stared at her blankly, unable to tell whether what she said was true or false.
(End of this chapter)