Chapter 45: Borrowing a Corpse to Return a Soul

  Ever since Amber was favored by the Empress Dowager, Madame Chen had been holding back her temper and would get angry at the slightest provocation. Even her personal maid, Chen Zhongjia, couldn't escape her wrath and no longer dared to try to curry favor with Madame Chen as she used to.

  Fu Xueyang arrived at the Amber Mansion again, Chen Zhongjia hurriedly hid and slipped away to a small pavilion behind the artificial hill. However, she saw two little maids wearing light green jackets walking over while whispering to each other with their heads down. She quickly hid herself, wanting to eavesdrop on some news so that she could go and ask for rewards from Madame Chen.

  As it happens, those two little maidservants stopped beside a few camellia trees next to the artificial hill, and Chen Zhong's family hiding behind the artificial hill could hear clearly.

  Only a little maid whispered: "You see, the emerald cuffs that Master gave to Miss Hupo are said to be even better than those of Madam's."

  Another little maid said, "What's the big deal? Miss Amber is good-looking and can write poetry, of course Master likes her. If it weren't for Old Madam, Master would have already made her a concubine. At that time, we'll also gain some prestige."

  "That's right, let's just follow and serve Miss Amber well, Miss Amber is very generous to others."

  Behind the fake mountain, Chen Zhong's family heard "Jade Bangle" and "Carrying Auntie", their eyes turned red, they wanted to rush out and give these two little girls a slap in the face, but they restrained themselves and continued listening, wondering what else this pair of good-for-nothings could say!

  The little maid who spoke first frowned and said, "Don't you think that Miss Amber is not the same as before when she was following Madam? My dry nurse said that Miss Amber's needlework used to be top-notch, even Old Lady praised her. But that day, when Madam asked Miss Amber to make a pair of shoes for Master, Miss Amber cut her hands and Master was worried sick about it, and then he rewarded Miss Amber with a golden hairpin, which must be worth a lot of silver."

  Another little maid chimed in with a clear voice: "No, it's not like that. Miss Amber's hands are for holding brushes to write characters, and even the master praises her handwriting as beautiful. Miss Amber is really kind-hearted, she said she wants to teach us to recognize characters too. If madam was also as virtuous and generous as Miss Amber, that would be great."

  Chen Zhongjia's mind was no longer on the two maidservants, Chen Fu Ren and Xi Hong, but rather on how to belittle Chen Fu Ren. She felt a chill run down her spine as she thought about it more and more - originally, Chen Fu Ren had let Xi Hong accompany her from her natal family because she seemed honest and simple-minded, but who would have thought that she was actually deceitful inside? Moreover, that lowly maidservant Xi Hong couldn't even recognize characters!

  Chen Zhong's family couldn't care about anything else anymore. After the two little maidservants left, they hurriedly rushed to Chen Furen's room and told her everything from start to finish. Chen Furen's face turned pale. The big maid, Feicui, who was standing in front of her, suddenly fainted and fell to the ground, giving Chen Furen a fright.

  Chen Zhong's family also followed and scolded unclearly. Scolding: "You little hoof are you going to die!"

  Jade hurriedly knelt down, her voice trembling: "This slave deserves to die, this slave was just thinking that Amber might be possessed by an evil spirit and borrowed a corpse to return to the soul!"

  As soon as this was said, Mrs. Chen and the people in the Chen family were shocked. Mrs. Chen's hand shook, knocking over a teacup on the table, which made a loud noise in the quiet space, and she scolded in a pretended calm tone: "What are you talking about, you fool? What ghost or not, stop frightening people here."

  Chen Zhong's face didn't look good either, and he asked Feicui: "How did you think of this?"

  Jade said with a quivering voice, "I once heard an old woman say that the youngest son of a landlord's family was pushed into a pond and rescued, but he had already stopped breathing. However, he suddenly came back to life, only his temperament changed greatly. At first, he just spoke incoherently, but later he set fire to the landlord's house with a torch. A wandering Taoist heard about it and said that he was probably possessed by an evil spirit who borrowed a corpse to return to the world of the living to harm people."

  Feicui said, feeling scared and shrinking her neck, almost crying: "Amber had hit her head before, after waking up she spoke nonsense, and shamelessly flirted with the old master. I was thinking that Amber used to be like a wooden stump, how did she suddenly...". Feicui didn't dare say more.

  "It's probably all nonsense made up by that old woman, can't be taken seriously!" Although Mrs. Chen said so, she had already believed it in her heart.

  "Madam!" Chen Zhong's heart turned a corner, and he leaned in to say: "Regardless of whether this matter is accurate or not, that wretched Hu Po must be problematic. You also saw it, that fox-like woman has now enchanted the old master. What if she takes advantage of the situation to harm Second Master..."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Why not find a Taoist nun with high moral integrity to perform the ritual, and see if that fox spirit is still not afraid. For the peace of our Hou Mansion, and for the sake of Second Master's well-being, those who are possessed by ghosts usually end up being burned to death." Chen Zhongjia's words made the kneeling Feicui shudder.

  Madam Chen suddenly became fearless, and as soon as she thought of taking the opportunity to get rid of Amber, that hateful woman who made her teeth ache with rage, she gained courage, nodded: "You're right, I couldn't possibly risk Master and our entire household, hurry up and find a powerful Taoist nun! Master is still at Amber's place, no way, I absolutely can't just watch as Master gets harmed by that seductress!"

  Fu Yiyang went to the South Wing to see Wei Niangniang, who had already woken up with a bandage on her forehead. When she saw Fu Yiyang approaching, her face turned pale and lost its initial charm, looking dull and wooden. It wasn't until Jasmine pushed her that she came back to herself.

  Under Fu Yiyang's gaze, which was as sharp as a thousand arrows, she lowered her head and said in a hoarse voice: "I was wrong, you can punish me for it, don't implicate the innocent."

  Her forehead was red and swollen, Jasmine's nose was sour, and she knelt down with a plop: "It's all the fault of the slave, the slave is confused, shouldn't have taken the opportunity to speak out for the aunt and exaggerate the aunt's injuries, slandering the Hou Mansion, making it difficult for the master and mistress. It's all the fault of the slave, if the master wants to punish, punish the slave, has nothing to do with Auntie. Please, master, be wise!"

  Lü Huai held the medicine and came in from outside, and bent his knees to Fu Yeyang: "Auntie should take her medicine, Madam said that Jasmine is Auntie's usual servant, so she especially allowed Jasmine to serve Auntie until she recovered." One sentence made it clear that Su Ying had already defaulted to letting Jasmine bear all the blame, and even showed extra kindness, without taking advantage of the situation to push her down.

  The low-headed Wei Yiniang didn't cry or make a fuss, but instead it was the kneeling Mo Li whose face turned pale and white, as if she had already accepted that she was here to take the blame.

  Fu Yiyang's face stiffened for a moment, but no one noticed. He coldly swept his gaze around the room before speaking after a brief pause: "Madam is being too lenient, but this kind of behavior cannot be tolerated. This kind of disloyal servant should be punished according to the rules."

  Jasmine suddenly collapsed on the ground, her pleading eyes fixed on Wei Niang, who was stunned and motionless. This scene was etched in Fu Yeyang's memory.

  Wei Yiniang suddenly lifted her head, staring straight at Fu Yiyang, but was stung by the cold intent that permeated his stern face. She moved her lips, only managing to utter a few words: "How...like this?"

  Fu Yiyang remained unmoved and said to Lü Hui: "You don't need to attend to me here, go back to Zhengyuan."

  Wei's aunt couldn't cry anymore, she could only stare blankly as Fu Yeyang turned around and left without any hesitation. She took a pitiful glance at the limp Mo Li on the ground, then closed her eyes wearily, adopting an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude.

  Lü Hu furrowed his brow, put the tray on a nearby tea table, and called over a young maid to attend to it. After giving her some instructions, he hastily returned to the main courtyard.

  Fu Yiyang habitually took a step towards the main hall, but after taking only two steps, he suddenly stopped and didn't go to the main hall after all.

  Su Ying saw the red dot marked as Fu Yeyang on the map and went to Liu Niang's courtyard, then stopped there, tightly closed her eyes, and without saying a word, she turned off the map and lowered her eyelids to cover up the deep thoughts in her eyes - ever since the system told her that she couldn't go back, the so-called mainline task had already lost its meaning.

  It's perfectly normal for this situation to happen now, she should have known it earlier, and it's not too late to understand thoroughly now.

  Su Ying rubbed her eyebrows, turned around and told Bao He that they didn't need to wait anymore. Anyway, no one would come over. Regardless of Bao He's and Bai Ju's reaction, she climbed onto the bed and fell asleep with her head buried under the covers.

  Mint and Angelica stood face to face, Aloe rushed over and explained the situation. Mint stomped her foot: "I'll send someone to ask where Master has gone?"

  There are just a few people in this courtyard, where else can they go?

  This is going to be a sleepless night.

  Su Ying, who was sleeping drowsily, was woken up by Lu Hui, who brought the lamp over and said: "Madam, the second house has flooded!"

  "What's going on?" Su Ying had no intention of getting up, and her tone wasn't very pleasant either. Lu Hui advised her: "Someone has already gone to take a look, would you like to get up and see, madam?"

  Su Ying sighed in her heart, "Turn on all the lights."

  As soon as she got out of bed, a little maid came running over to report: "The master said the mistress doesn't need to get up, he'll go take a look."

  "Madam, Master has you in his heart."

  Su Ying was particularly displeased with this, sitting on the bed without speaking. When she had just crossed over, they would comfort her in front of her all day with these words, and now they were still using this phrase to comfort her - was she really that pitiful?

  When did it fall to this point? Su Ying was self-reproaching, and then Bao He, who had gone to ask about the situation, came back. She smacked her lips and said: "The candle wasn't careful and fell over, setting the house on fire. Fortunately, they put out the fire in time, so only one room was burned."

  "Is everything all right?"

  "This is not, however -" Mint hesitated, and Aloe glared at her before she continued: "I don't know what kind of stimulation the second madam received, but she insisted on burning Amber to death, saying that Amber was possessed by an evil spirit and had returned from the dead!"

  Lü Huì was also startled, "This, this is really... Second Madam really doesn't like Xiāng Pó's daughter, no need to make such a big deal out of it, too scary!"

  Su Ying narrowed her eyes, what is high efficiency? This is high efficiency. Just for this swift and decisive style, I must give Second Madam a thumbs up.

  ps：