Chapter 66

This person has already revealed a flaw; their steps and moves are exactly the same as Chen He's!?

Li Qingluo was personally taught by her; how could she not notice?

Li Qingluo exerted all her strength to lunge forward, trying to pull off that person's mask, but that person suddenly tapped the tip of their foot and flew backward.

She hid into the darkness, leaving only one sentence: "Good disciple, I am not Chen He. If you want to know the truth, ten days later, if you dare go alone to the righteous manor, as your master I will tell you the truth!"

After she said that, the entire Moonlit Garden instantly returned to silence.

The originally swaying black shadow and the sound of wind vanished in an instant.

Li Qingluo stared into the darkness for a while before picking up the lantern on the ground.

When Que'er and Deng Mama came back panting, Li Qingluo had already helped Cui Er up.

Cui Er had her acupuncture point sealed; Que'er and Deng Mama, faces ashen, said: "Miss, just now the servant and Granny seemed to have encountered a bewildering formation; before our eyes was a white mist, aside from the crying of women and infants we heard nothing, could not exit nor see anything else, truly extremely strange!"

"Miss, what about you? How did Cui Er faint?"

Li Qingluo's face turned cold: "It seems she came just for me."

"Tomorrow, I want to see grandmother."

Next day.

After Li Qingluo recounted what happened last night in the Moonlit Garden, everyone was startled.

"How come, miss, it's not the same as what we saw?"

"Did you really exchange a move with that person, miss?"

"Your sword was indeed found in the garden's thicket. You wouldn't have gone crazy and thrown it away yourself, would you, miss?"

Cui Er's face was as white as snow; even now she still feels her neck hurting.

The Moonlit Garden is haunted, and it seems the ghost is causing quite a commotion!

Pei Lao Furen immediately had Zhang Mama go fetch Chen He.

On another front, they also sent someone to bring Lou Shi over.

"Lou Shi just went to your Hongfenguan to plead with you, and then the Moonlit Garden, which had been quiet for so long, suddenly acted up again—could that really be a coincidence?"

"If this person really is Chen He, I will definitely not spare her!"

Lou Shi was quickly brought to Jingci Tang.

She had never seen Pei Lao Furen before; on the way she was already trembling with fear.

Brought into the hall, Lou Shi couldn't utter a clear word, only able to lie on the ground trembling incessantly.

"I, I... the old lady..."

Li Qingluo, seated below Pei Lao Furen, spoke: "Lou Shi, grandmother has a few questions for you; you need not be afraid."

"If you truly have doubts about the matter of the third young lady being brought to the mistress's side to be raised, I can help you. But the precondition is that you must not conceal anything in answer to our questions today."

Lou Shi understood clearly.

Her ability to return to Jinling is entirely due to the second young lady's efforts all along.

Moreover, in this manor, the second young lady and the Old Lady are not under the control of the Jiangjun Fu's mistress and master; the second young lady is the Old Lady's beloved, so her words might truly not be ignored by the Old Lady!

Lou Shi kowtowed heavily, stammering in reply: "Yes. I will listen to the young lady..."

Pei Lao Furen nodded at Li Qingluo; nowadays Luo'er's speech and conduct are becoming more proper, which naturally makes her feel relieved.

Looking at Lou Shi, Pei Lao Furen furrowed her brows again: "Bold Lou Shi! Since the master wants to bring the third young lady to the mistress's side for upbringing, this is a good thing that a concubine like you could hardly hope for; why then do you weep and put on a show of utter obstruction and fear, as if begging for death?"

"And you dare go to the second young lady for help. You know full well that after she returns to the manor, her relationship with her mother is estranged, yet you still want her to speak up for you—what exactly is your intention?"

Lou Shi was shaken by Pei Lao Furen's words, breaking out in sweat all over.

She could only hurriedly plead: "Old Lady, I dare not! I am truly at my wits' end, which is why I dared to seek the second young lady; otherwise, even if you gave me ten thousand courages, I would not dare offend the second young lady."

"I am just afraid that the third young lady will also meet the same unexplained fate as the daughter Zheng Shi once bore, and I am also muddle-headed..."

Pei Lao Furen: "What are you saying? Could it be that the daughter Zheng Shi lost early on has something to do with Qu Shi?"

"Lou Shi, you must think clearly before speaking! If it's true, I can spare you. But if I discover you have uttered even a single false word, daring to slander the mistress and pour dirty water on her, I will take your life!"

Pei Lao Furen's reputation, Lou Shi had also heard of it.

The first famed female general of the State of Liang—who would not be afraid?

Just thinking of her own daughter, trembling though she was, she had to say: "Old Lady, if any word of what I say today is false, I willingly accept heavenly thunder and earthly split!"

Li Qingluo: "Then speak seriously, word by word, make it clear."

Lou Shi: "Yes."

At this point, the remaining servants in the room, including Que'er and the others, had already withdrawn.

Only three people remained in the room; then Lou Shi slowly said: "Back then, when Zheng Shi was in favor, even the mistress, as the principal wife, could not straighten her back in her presence."

"If the mistress used the title of principal wife to discipline Zheng Shi, the master might not say anything on the surface, but behind her back he would favor Zheng Shi even more. Over time, the mistress received less and less, and she began to resent and grudgingly yield."

"Although Zheng Shi was not a flamboyant person, the mistress, being of an official family's daughter, could not bear to spend her life subordinate to a concubine."

"Therefore, after Zheng Shi bore a daughter, the mistress anxiously wanted to divide Zheng Shi's favor."

"The servant was precisely the one the mistress pushed out at that time."

Lou Shi spoke while wiping her tears.

Although everyone says she climbed into the bed while the mistress was pregnant, in fact, if it weren't for the mistress's tacit approval and hint, how could she, who had followed the mistress's senior maid since childhood, dare to do so?

"What a pity, no matter how many beauties the mistress gathered, the master still favored Zheng Shi more; back then Zheng Shi could be said to enjoy exclusive favor, no exaggeration."

"My first pregnancy, too, was ended when the mistress saw I was useless; giving out divided favor had no effect, so she made me miscarry. And from that time on I began to fear the mistress's ruthlessness."

"When Zheng Shi's daughter reached four years old, Zheng Shi became pregnant again."

"The mistress used the excuse that Zheng Shi needed to nurture her pregnancy well; if she could bear another son for the master, he would feel complete, so she took the opportunity to bring Zheng Shi's daughter to her own side to raise."

"Only a few days later, that daughter suddenly fell into the water."

"By the time she was fished out, she was already breathing out more than breathing in."

Later, although she was saved, she also thus left a lingering illness. When winter came, after barely a month, a high fever took her away...

Lou Shi wiped her own tears, "The Zheng lady is pitiful. She failed to protect the elder sister, and she herself also fell ill."

In the end, she even failed to keep the child in her womb.