Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 78 Bad Fate
Xue Sui stayed in the back mountain for a while, and when he returned to the temple, he saw a young monk coming to see him.

"Sixth Miss, a lady just came to look for you, saying she is an old acquaintance of yours."

Old acquaintance?

Xue Sui came to the temple with the sincere intention of praying for the Old Mausoleum for three days, but she didn't tell anyone, so who would come to find her?
Hearing the voice, she was just wondering when she saw a woman in simple clothes coming from the other end of the Buddhist hall with two maids.

"Sixth girl."

She looked haggard, with white hair on her temples, sunken eyes and bloodshot eyes, her cheekbones seemed somewhat protruding, and her skin was loose and dull, as if covered with a layer of light gray. Her whole body revealed an indescribable vicissitudes of life.

If it’s not Gu Jie’s mother, Madam Chun, then who is it?
Xue Sui stepped forward and saluted, "Why is Aunt Chun here?"

Madam Chun sighed lightly, looked around, and motioned for the maid to leave. Then she took Xue Sui's hand, walked to the round stone bench under the big banyan tree, and sat down side by side.

"The Marquis has been unlucky for eight generations. He gave birth to such an evil son, doted on him with all his heart, but he is so disappointing! I have harmed the Marquis and brought disaster to the Marquis's Mansion. I am too ashamed to stay here any longer. I wanted to go to the Jingci Temple in Nanshan to become a monk and stay with the green lamp to atone for my sins, but the nun refused to let me stay. So I came to the Puji Temple to seek peace and hope that the Bodhisattva will have mercy on me and forgive the sins of my evil son..."

She has been living in Puji Temple for several days.

Today a maid said that she saw Miss Xue Liu living in the Zen temple, so she came to find her.

Xue Sui knew clearly that the Jingyuan Marquis's family was having a hard time. Their land and shops were being sold one after another, and their money was flowing out like water. Not only was their family business in decline, but their colleagues and relatives were shunning them. It was difficult for Jingyuan Marquis to gain a firm foothold in the court...

Xue Sui had no sympathy for Gu Jie.

I only feel a little pity for Aunt Chun.

The two talked for a while.

Xue Sui did not ask about Gu Jie and Xue Yueying's recent situation, and Madam Chun did not mention it either. She only said that Marquis Jingyuan was a good husband and treated her well. After such a fatal incident, the uncles and nephews in the mansion were running around, and the old lady and sisters-in-law did not blame her. It was such a good family, but it was ruined by her son.

As she spoke, Mrs. Chun was filled with sadness and tears began to fall from her eyes.

Xue Sui took out a handkerchief and gently wiped her tears, and a humming laugh came from his ear.

"Hey, Sixth Sister is doing good deeds?"

Xue Sui looked up.

It was Xue Yueman whom I met in the back mountain.

She was arrogant and when she saw Xue Sui sitting there with someone else, she threw her handkerchief and walked over with a twist of her waist.

"I heard that Sixth Sister took a lot of money from the public treasury and came to Puji Temple to do good deeds and pray for mother and the Xue family. Look at this scene, you are not in the temple to worship Buddha sincerely, but here to gossip with others."

Xue Sui glanced at her and didn't bother to pay attention.

Madam Chun asked with a smile, "This young lady is very pretty. I wonder which girl she is?"

Xue Sui said, "The eighth lady from the Shangshu Mansion."

Madam Chun nodded and said, "No wonder."

Although she spoke these two words lightly without any tone, Xue Yueman felt as if he heard a lot of sarcasm in his ears and was very unhappy.

Madam Chun always thought that she was of low birth and was afraid of bringing shame to Marquis Jingyuan, so she seldom went out for social activities. Xue Yueman was a girl in the boudoir and she had no dealings with her, so she had long been unrecognizable to her.

With just one glance at her, he saw that Madam Chun was wearing a straw hairpin and a cloth skirt, without a single decent piece of jewelry on her body, and her face was pale and haggard, so he thought she was a poor pilgrim and looked down on her.

"Why is this lady so sarcastic? Do you have any right to speak here? You are talking too much!"

Madam Chun looked gloomy and sighed helplessly.

"Eighth Miss, please be kind in your words."

She spoke earnestly, but Xue Yueman did not appreciate it at all. She almost pointed at her nose and scolded her, saying that she was a poor person of lowly status and had no nerve to teach a girl from the Shangshu Mansion a lesson.

Xue Sui watched coldly from the sidelines, and saw that she was even more flamboyant than when she was in the mansion. He guessed that she had just heard some sweet words from Guo Zhaoxuan, and was thinking that she would be able to marry into the Duke of Zheng's mansion soon. Her heart was filled with pride, and she could no longer tolerate anyone else in her eyes.

She was originally too lazy to pay attention to this fifteen-year-old girl.

But the tree wants to be still and the wind does not stop, so let's stir it up a bit.

Xue Sui stared at Xue Yueman with meaningful eyes and smiled faintly.

"Eighth Miss, there is no hatred between you and me."

"Everyone knows what kind of person you are, Xue Liu. I just don't like you. So what?"

"Eighth Miss will suffer if she speaks like this."

Xue Yueman sneered contemptuously, "Sixth sister, don't try to scare me! Don't think that you can do whatever you want just because you have won the favor of the princess and become the lady of the palace. I advise you to look at the long-term, don't just focus on the present, use the money given by your family to pretend to be rich and kind, and give a few coins to help any cat or dog..."

You are such a bad mouth.

Xue Sui felt that if he didn't smash this broken mouth, he would be doing a disservice to the compassionate Bodhisattva of Puji Temple...

Just at this moment, a warrior monk from the Puji Temple came running over from the back mountain...

"Someone died in the bamboo forest in the back mountain."

"Hurry up and report to the abbot and the dean that someone has died in the back mountain."

Madam Chun was shocked, her face turned pale and she said "Amitabha", and asked in panic: "In this important Buddhist place, someone is committing a crime?"

Xue Sui held her hand tightly and glanced at Xue Yueman indifferently.

When the eighth girl heard the words "bamboo forest at the back mountain", her face changed. She didn't have time to argue with Xue Sui anymore and hurried away with her maid.
-
After saying goodbye to Madam Chun and making an appointment to get up early the next day to go and listen to Master Jinghong's lecture, Xue Sui took the two maids back to the small courtyard room where he lived.

Xue Sui and Xiao Zhao were not nervous. They calmly walked past the people heading to the back mountain and listened to their discussions as if nothing had happened.

Ruyi's body was slightly tense.

"Girl, is everything going to be okay?"

"Don't worry." Xiao Zhao rushed before Xue Sui and pulled Ruyi's hand. She found that her palms were cold. She couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"What are you afraid of? You didn't kill that person."

Ruyi curled her lips: "Hey, dead man, aren't you afraid? That man almost hurt our girl..."

Xiao Zhao looked at the uneasiness in her expression and didn't know how to comfort her...

If Ruyi knew that she had killed someone, would she still dare to approach her?
Xue Sui glanced over and said, "Please stay here peacefully and worship the Buddha sincerely. The prince will take care of this matter."

After returning from the back mountain, she was not worried at all.

If Li Zhao couldn't even handle such a small matter properly, the Eastern Palace would have fallen long ago, and there would be no chance for Prince Duan to do anything.
The prince claimed to be ill and was recuperating in the palace.

Several of his study companions came to visit, but were all turned away.

Li Zhao was usually friendly to his tutor and was very considerate of all necessary etiquette and manners. However, when he stood up from the couch today, his face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

The attendants looked around in panic.

Everyone in the East Palace fell silent again at the same time.

I don't know why the prince is angry.

Growing up in the palace, Li Zhao could be said to be good at dealing with women, but he had never seen a woman as bold and fierce as Xue Sui.

No matter how fiercely the concubines and palace maids fight each other, they have to pretend to be harmonious on the surface. The so-called women's virtues, women's appearance, women's words, and women's work, gentleness and grace are virtues. Which one of them is not gentle, quiet, and dignified?
Xue Liu also pretended.

Dressed very demurely.

But once he attacked, he was merciless and didn't give any face. Of course, it was also his fault that he was not careful at the moment and let someone take advantage of him...

"I will kill her sooner or later!"

The day when the love poison is detoxified is the day when Xue Liu dies!

It was windy in the morning, and the palace maids had already prepared delicious meals and brought them in one by one.

Li Zhao ate two bites and felt no appetite, so he asked them to leave and went to the study to write or read. After a while, he still couldn't calm down, so he called Guan Ya to find the scout to ask.

"What happened to the Puji Temple? Xue Liu went to the back mountain that day, so I'm sure someone else saw it..."

After that, he gently put down the scroll in his hand and said, "Be clean and don't let her get into trouble."

The scout had a very beaming face and spoke excitedly.

"Don't worry, Your Highness. Today, officials from Jingzhao Prefecture have gone to investigate and collect evidence. Everything is as Your Highness expected."

Li Zhao looked at him silently.

Do not respond.

The scout continued to report.

"Right now, there are rumors out there that the police found a small seal on the belt of Guo Zhaoxuan, the fourth son of the Duke of Zheng's mansion, in the bamboo forest. Then someone came out to point out that they saw the fourth master of the Duke of Zheng's mansion and the eighth girl of the Shangshu's mansion sneaking into the grove that day..."

Guo Zhaoxuan usually slept with prostitutes and gave quite a few gifts to the ladies in brothels.

It is not difficult to find a piece of his jewelry.

This makes things hot.

The Duke of Zheng's Mansion was in a dilemma.

If they don't admit that Guo Zhaoxuan and Xue Yueman went to the back mountain for private communication and secret love, then what did they do when the things hanging on Guo Zhaoxuan's waist belt were rubbed off?
How could he explain clearly that it had nothing to do with the unknown corpse in the back mountain?
Just admit that you had a secret meeting with the girl. It may look a little embarrassing, but there is no need to bring it up with a murder case...

Once Guo Zhaoxuan admitted it, Miss Xue Ba could only suffer in silence.

It's shameful and everyone should take this lesson home with them.

"Duke Zheng was furious, saying that the Xue Mansion was full of shameless people, so how could she be a legal wife? The marriage between the Eighth Girl and Guo Zhaoxuan was not settled in the first place, and now that the matter has become a big deal, the Duke Zheng's Mansion is embarrassed. They don't want to follow the footsteps of the Marquis Jingyuan Mansion, so they refuse to marry her."

"This time, Miss Xue Ba, you can either go to the mansion of Duke Zheng and become a concubine, or... you can only swallow your tears and marry someone else."

Li Zhao had no interest in these things.

He waved his hand lazily.

"Call Zhang Huaicheng here. He should adjust the prescription for me."

Lai Fu suddenly became nervous: "Your Highness, are you feeling unwell?"

Li Zhao frowned and said nothing, his fingers resting on his knees slowly tightened...

I felt better over the first two days and felt much more comfortable. I no longer thought about that beautiful romance all the time.

But ever since he met Xue Liu in Puji Temple, that "male poison" had become unbridled. Last night in particular, it had made it difficult for him to sleep. It felt like there was a ball of fire burning in his stomach, burning from his internal organs to his limbs. Every inch of his skin seemed to be licked, and it was so hot that it seemed to melt.

Woke up sweating...

Xue Liu's face appeared uncontrollably...

The smile is like a lotus.

A sneer but also a sweet smile.

It was like a ghost haunting him, making him feel hot and uncomfortable.

After taking the decoction, he didn't feel much better when he woke up today. Of course, he didn't think he had feelings for Xue Liu because of the Gu. He just wanted to get out of control and kill the Gu and the woman as soon as possible.

Li Zhao suddenly became extremely angry.

Xue Liu used a small love thread Gu to control him, making him her accomplice. Not only did he have to take care of everything for her and save her life, but he also had to endure the heart-wrenching torment every night.

But she didn't mind and wanted to marry into Prince Duan's mansion in a grand ceremony...

"Xue Liu!"

Seeing his master's expression, Lai Fu quickly made a suggestion.

"Then how about going to see Miss Xue Liu again?"

Li Zhao glanced at him coldly.

Lai Fu laughed awkwardly.

"A small capital offense."

He keeps saying "death penalty, death penalty" every day, but he's still alive and well after so many years.

Li Zhao got angry just by looking at him, and even angrier when he thought of that hateful Xue Liu.

"Tell the Master that I have a headache today and will not go to Chongwen Hall."
-
Master Jingkong had gone on a long journey, so Xue Suian followed Madam Chun and listened to the three-day ritual. During this time, an official came to ask if there was anyone who knew the situation.

Xue Sui and the other two knew nothing about anything they were asked. The officer registered them in the book, left, and never came back.

There was a dagger on the body of the unidentified corpse, and no other identification marks. The officer said that he died of suicide, but there were two other scars on his body, which were inconsistent with the blade marks of the ring-handled knife in his hand.

Not only do the curious people in the society like to discuss strange and bizarre cases, but the monks in the temple do too.

Xue Sui lived in Puji Temple. He did not need to send anyone to inquire about the progress of the unidentified corpse case in the back mountain. He could hear about it from the young monk every day.

The day we left Puji Temple, the sky was clear and cloudless.

The driver had been waiting at the temple gate early. When he saw Xue Sui, he said, "The old lady told me yesterday to wash the carriage and replace the seats with clean cushions, so as not to delay the pick-up of the Sixth Miss."

Xue Sui: "Thank you for your help."

She was polite to the servants.

The servants also felt that the Sixth Girl was kinder and easier to get along with than the other girls, and they all treated her with respect.

Anyway, once a person gains power, he will be well-received wherever he goes.

The carriage slowly entered the city. The scenery outside the carriage changed again and again. After entering the towering city gate, the road in front of us suddenly became wider.

There are shops everywhere, including wine shops, tea houses, cloth shops and silk shops, as if you have stepped into a bustling and prosperous world.

"Pedestrians give way and be careful of startled horses."

Hearing the shouting, Xue Sui opened the curtain and saw that the person leading the way on horseback was none other than Li Huan.

He led a team of imperial guards and came back from somewhere unknown, looking exhausted.

She asked the driver to move aside and not compete with them for the road.

Unexpectedly, Li Huan suddenly rode forward, glanced slightly sideways, and his eyes met his.

See you tomorrow……

Li Zhao: The love thread poison has misled me! Xue Ping'an, can you explain it to me?
Xue Sui: Stocks? Today's A-shares are pretty good, up sharply!

Li Zhao: What? I have grown up again?