As Jing Rong carried Ji Yunshu away, Marquis Kang remained rooted on the spot, stunned. He only reacted again after a long pause and waved his arm, looking angrily at Cai Da, “Bring him to the woodshed. If Teacher Ji is really injured, you’re dead.”
Cai Da was restrained on the ground, and didn’t struggle as he was dragged away.
Jing Rong carried Ji Yunshu back to his room and immediately called for Mo Ruo.
Ji Yunshu’s arms were spread out on the table, letting Mo Ruo treat it for her. When the medicine was dabbed onto her palms, she grimaced in pain but refused to let out a sound.
“It hurts?” Mo Ruo revelled in a little schadenfreude. “Really, you took on that matter of the haunting, then started to investigate a murder. This is clearly a task for the Jingzhou prefectural magistrate. That Marquis Kang is really too much, shoving everything to you just because he could to save trouble for himself.”
“It’s just a scrape.”
“If that knife had landed a blow on you, would you still say the same?”
That…! Ji Yunshu shut up then.
Jing Rong looked at her torn up palms with anger and worry. He secretly clenched his fists and frowned, asking, “Are you still investigating?”
Ji Yunshu looked at him. “Yes. This case is very strange. Why shouldn’t we investigate?”
“You still want to investigate with your hands like this?”
“Don’t we still have you?”
“This prince?” Jing Rong repeated dumbly.
Ji Yunshu smiled and said deviously, showing off a little, “You’ll know in a while.”
What on earth does this woman have up her sleeve?
After Mo Ruo was done with the wrapping, she looked at her own bandaged hands, then at the clueless Jing Rong. Her expression trembled a little as she looked at Jing Rong.
……
Once dark fell, everyone hurried back to their rooms. Granny Lin’s strange death had sent a shiver down their spines, terrified that something unclean was really haunting the estate.
Tang Si, who had had a ghost knocking on her door, was extremely fearful as well!
She stayed in her room all day long, with a maid for company. It’s a little strange. She has a bold personality, unafraid of anything in the heavens or on earth. She had experienced everything from living in the forests with wolves as companions, to hunting wild game, and tussling with fierce tigers. Normally, she would put up a tough front and claim that she wasn’t afraid of ghosts, but once she thought about how an illusive “ghost” had knocked on her door the whole night long, she would immediately have her back covered in cold sweat, the back of her head chilly with her hairs all standing on end. Tang Si couldn’t help but hug her own arms tightly around herself!
The maid who had accompanied her the whole day also had to return to her room now that night had fallen. “Miss Tang, you’d better quickly go rest. I have to return now.”
“You’re going? Sit with me for a while more.”
“I’d rather not. It’s already so late. If I don’t go now, later…” She didn’t dare to continue speaking and just lowered her head, taking a glance outside as she swallowed nervously.
Tang Si quickly stood up and tugged at her arm. “Good girl, just stay here and accompany me. Why don’t you sleep with me? I promise I won’t squeeze you out of the bed!”
The maid was dumbfounded. This was the first time she encountered a guest that wanted to sleep with her. She quickly took a few steps back. “Miss Tang, you must be joking. How can a maid like me sleep in the same bed as you?”
“Of course you can! Just stay here.”
“Aiya, it’s… already so late. Miss Tang should quickly go to bed. I… I really can’t stay here, please don’t make things difficult for me.” The maid wrenched her arm away and turned to flee. If she didn’t go back to her room now, who knows what other unfortunate things may happen after it turns a little darker!
Tang Si ran out the door a few steps, chasing after her. But the maid was like spilt water, there was no way to retrieve her. She clutched the doorframe and thought for a moment, then continued running out.
However, she wasn’t chasing after that maid, but instead heading to Mo Ruo’s room.
Meanwhile, Mo Ruo had been drinking tea as he read in his room, ever since he returned from treating Ji Yunshu. He had been deeply engrossed in his book when someone suddenly bounced into the room, sat down beside him with a plop, and unceremoniously flicked his book aside without a single word. A pair of large eyes looked at him entreatingly, “Tonight I’ll sleep with you.”
Pfft. The large gulp of tea Mo Ruo had just taken sprayed out of his mouth, every single drop landing unerringly on Tang Si’s face. He wiped his chin disbelievingly. “You… sleep with me?”
Tang Si grimaced at the face full of tea and only reopened her eyes after a long while. As she wiped her face, she raised a fist and started hitting him energetically, cursing, “Did you do that on purpose?!”
“What on purpose?! You’re the one doing this on purpose! To actually say something like that to me… are you even a woman?”
“What’s so bad about that? Isn’t it just sleeping with you?”
“This…” Mo Ruo was truly speechless.
Tang Si pounded her fist on his arm again. “What are you thinking?! I mean that we’ll sleep in the same room, but not on the same bed.”
“Why do you want to sleep in the same room as me then? I remember that Marquis Kang had given you a bright and spacious room. Why aren’t you staying in there and coming to disturb me instead?”
“I…” She stuttered for a moment and bit her lip. “I just want to accompany you.”
“Accompany me?”
“That’s right! You see, so many strange things have been happening in the Marquis’s estate lately. I’m worried that you’ll be scared so I came to accompany you. I’m being nice, Ah Mo. You know how nice I am.” She revealed a row of clean white teeth with a bright grin.
Mo Ruo shuddered, getting some sort of sinister feeling behind that smile that curled up by his side. Is this woman mad?
He touched her forehead with the back of his hand. “You don’t have a fever, so why are you saying such nonsense? I’ve even been to mass graves several times; would I be worried about some ghost? Besides, Jing Rong and Teacher Ji have both said that there are no ghosts in this world, just human hearts playing tricks on themselves. I think that the strange happenings in the estate are clearly the work of humans.”
“You can’t be sure about that! Although I haven’t seen that Granny Lin, but I heard the maid say that even Ah Ji couldn’t find the cause, and she died for no reason. There was also that little kid that was knocking on my door last night. How would you explain what that was about?”
When she said that, Mo Ruo finally understood. “Ah, so you’re not here to accompany me at all, but you yourself are scared.”
Hmph! Tang Si’s face turned black when her secret motives were revealed and bit her lips awkwardly. “So…so what? We’re going to get married sooner or later, so what if we sleep in the same room?”
Pfft! Mo Ruo’s eyebrows raised high into his hairline. “What nonsense are you talking about? Who’s going to marry you?”
Hey, are you still going to renege on your promise? Tang Si was upset and started listing out incidents just like a loanshark. “Previously in Yufu, we slept in the same bed, under the same blanket, for a night, then you saw my bare body. Although nothing happened, but… anyways, I’m already yours. You were also the one who asked me to follow you to the capital, so our marriage is already a done deal. If we were in Houliao, we would already be married.”
“My grand lady, could you not keep bringing up that incident?” He was speechless.
