Chapter 540 Come up the Mountain Together to Make Trouble
Beaten for no reason, the busybodies were about to make a scene, but suddenly heard the guards shout, “His Highness goes out to track down a murderer. Anyone making noises is equally guilty!”
Someone sharp-eyed had found the sign of Prince Zhou’s Mansion on the carriage and told others about it in a low voice. After that, all people scattered.
Since it was Prince Zhou in the carriage and he went out for tracking down a murderer, no one dared to get involved in it.
“Your Highness, they are all gone!” The guards came back and reported.
“Let’s go!” Inside the carriage, Prince Zhou said with his face darkening.
The guards stepped back and told the coachman to set out, and the carriage began to move slowly. Inside the carriage, Prince Zhou closed his eyes slightly with a frown and thought that Shao Wanru, who had a good reputation, was much more important than Shao Yanru, who had a bad reputation…
“Old Madam, Old Madam, bad news, bad… bad news…” Nanny Yu rolled and crawled to Old Madam and said, followed by several old maids.
All of them felt that their legs went weak, and Nanny Yu almost fell to the ground.
In the main room, Old Madam was sitting in the seat of honor. She was dressed in a set of clothes with the patterns of flower bunch and the patterns of bergamot, peach, and pomegranate, looking sullen. It was a Taoist nun in her thirties sitting in the guest’s seat. She was quite good-looking with delicate features on her white face. Hearing the voice coming from the door, she raised her head with a smile and slightly swayed the horsetail whisk in her hand, looking peaceful.
“What makes you so panic-stricken?” Old Madam asked with a frown.
“Old Madam… just now… just now I accompanied the Fifth Miss’s maid to Great Elder Princess’s Mansion to fetch the longevity lock stored there… I saw… I saw it also covered with dark ants… dark ants…” Nanny Yu said with a pale face.
“Old Madam, I also saw it… The longevity lock… was covered with dark ants…”
“They were squirming… It’s so disgusting and weird…”
The other two old maids hurriedly added. Despite their old age, it was the first time that they had seen such a thing. Now they were trembling all over and obviously badly scared.
All of the four inferior old maids were very fl.u.s.tered and scared. Hearing their words, all the other maids and old maids in the room looked at the Taoist nun in panic.
“Taoist Priest Xiushui, what do you think of this matter…” Old Madam said with an increasingly gloomy face. She twisted her face in an attempt to show a smile, but she failed and looked a little scary instead.
“Old Madam, based on what happened before, coupled with this matter, I’m afraid…” Taoist Priest Xiushui stopped smiling and said with a frown. She narrowed her eyes, put two fingers together, and murmured softly, while deftly pressing a finger on the other finger, seeming to be figuring out something.
It became quiet in the room, and everyone stared fixedly at Taoist Priest Xiushui, who was figuring out something while moving her fingers. Some of them even put their palms together and prayed silently.
After a long while, Taoist Priest Xiushui opened her eyes, showed an inexplicable expression, glanced at Old Madam, and swallowed back the words on the tip of her tongue.
“Reverend, if you want to say something, please say it directly!”
“The Fifth Miss of your mansion has never been raised by Old Madam since her childhood and was found back after many years, right?” Taoist Priest Xiushui asked.
“Yes… yes… that’s true!” Old Madam nodded repeatedly and said.
“She was born and grew up in the countryside instead of your mansion, so she doesn’t have a solid foundation and ancestors’ protection, which makes it easy for her to be possessed by evil spirits.” Taoist Priest Xiushui said gently as she put down her fingers.
“What… what should we do?” Old Madam immediately understood and said. Taoist Priest Xiushui meant that Shao Wanru had been recognized by their mansion before long, so she hadn’t been recognized by their ancestors and wasn’t under their protection. Under the circ.u.mstances, she was possessed by an evil spirit. “What kind of evil spirit has possessed her? How are we going to get rid of it?”
“The Fifth Miss has been possessed by a dark evil spirit, so she attracted a variety of bugs. The details are as what you said. The dark evil spirit will turn into Yin energies later. This kind of dirty thing is quite influential. It not only influences the Fifth Miss but also influences her elders. Does the Fifth Miss have any elder who died an unnatural death?”
Taoist Priest Xiushui looked serious and said with a slightly pale face, “I have never seen such a powerful dark evil spirit for so many years. I think the Fifth Miss has already done harm to her elders!”
“My son, my Jiang’er… It turns out that you… You got into trouble and got killed because of your daughter, who is a trouble maker… How… how should I deal with her…” Old Madam suddenly understood, burst into tears, and said. The maids and old maids around her knew that Old Madam thought of the former heir again, so they all lowered their heads.
Nanny Yu hurriedly took two steps forward, walked up to Old Madam, and comforted her in a low voice, “Old Madam, stop crying. Let’s listen to the Taoist priest’s solution. The former heir has pa.s.sed away, and it is over. We can’t let the rest of our mansion be influenced…”
Even as a respected servant in the mansion, Nanny Yu couldn’t say the following words in front of so many people. Fortunately, Old Madam understood. She reached out to wipe the tears off her face, looked up at Taoist Priest Xiushui with red eyes, and asked, “Reverend, how are we going to deal with it? I can’t let all members of our mansion be influenced by her. Please help us solve the problem.”
“Uh…” Taoist Priest Xiushui said, seeming to be in a dilemma.
“Please go ahead.” Old Madam pressed her hands on the table and said with a decisive look.
“Old Madam, the Fifth Miss has been possessed by a dark evil spirit. In fact, the best way to get rid of it is to exorcise the dark evil spirit on her by burning it. Only in this way can all members of your mansion be safe. However, the fire will hurt the Fifth Miss of your mansion. After all, she is your granddaughter. Although it can ensure the safety of all members of your mansion, you can’t bear to do that!”
Taoist Priest Xiushui said helplessly.
“Burn her?” Old Madam asked with a trace of horror in her eyes and looked at Nanny Yu. Nanny Yu hurriedly reached out to take her hand to comfort her and said to Taoist Priest Xiushui, “Will it… Will it go too far if we burn her? The Fifth Miss is Old Madam’s granddaughter, and Old Madam is so kind that she won’t let the Fifth Miss die because of this!”
They could imprison or ground the Fifth Miss, but couldn’t kill her. Otherwise, Rui’an Great Elder Princess would never spare the entire Duke Xing’s Mansion.
Although Rui’an Great Elder Princess had little real power, she was of n.o.ble status. Old Madam didn’t dare to enrage her and make her stand against Duke Xing’s Mansion.
“Old Madam is so benevolent. If you don’t want to do that, there is another way to deal with it. You can let the Fifth Miss become a nun directly. Let her pray for her parents and the entire mansion for a lifetime and clear her mind every day. Only in this way can she get rid of the dark evil spirit on her gradually.”
Old Madam lowered her head. After thinking for a while, she asked, “If I want her to be a nun, should she be a Buddhist nun or a Taoist nun?”
“That makes no difference. Old Madam, you can look for an appropriate place for her.” Taoist Priest Xiushui looked as indifferent as someone free from the mortal world and said, “Let it be natural. If the Yuhui Nunnery can shave her head directly, it’s a good thing. But if the Yuhui Nunnery is unwilling to do that, I can do it. My Taoist temple happens to need a little nun to do the cleaning.”
In the past, some families would leave their female family members, who were possessed by powerful evil spirits, in Baiyun Taoist Temple. As the abbess of Baiyun Taoist Temple, Taoist Priest Xiushui enjoyed a great reputation in the capital.
“Ask the Fifth Miss to come down the mountain!” Old Madam said coldly.
“But the Fifth Miss is still observing mourning for her parents, and now the officials of the Ministry of Justice are on the mountain. I’m afraid it’s not easy for her to come down the mountain.” Nanny Yu reminded her.
“Let’s go up the mountain!” Old Madam gnashed her teeth and said. She could not bear waiting for even a minute. After making up her mind, she asked Nanny Yu to prepare the carriage. Then she turned her head to Taoist Priest Xiushui and said, “Something happened in the Yuhui Nunnery, so no one is allowed to come down the mountain at will. I’m wondering if you can go with me.”
“Okay!” Taoist Priest Xiushui nodded with a slight smile and said.
The carriage had been prepared outside. Old Madam and others hurried up the mountain and brought eight tall and st.u.r.dy female servants with them before leaving.
The carriage hurried to the Yuhui Nunnery. When it arrived at the gate of the Yuhui Nunnery, some officials of the Ministry of Justice came to stop it. Old Madam instructed Nanny Yu to step forward and negotiate with them.
At first, the officials of the Ministry of Justice refused to let them pa.s.s. Later, when they learned that it was Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion who specially came up the mountain because of feeling worried about her two granddaughters and intending to deal with the dark bracelets found beneath the hall, someone went to report it to their superior and then they let Old Madam’s carriage get inside.
When the officials of the Ministry of Justice was about to retreat, several carriages suddenly came from the mountain road. When they came near, an old maid jumped down from a carriage and told them the name of Rui’an Great Elder Princess.
Rui’an Great Elder Princess had been here before and went down the mountain later. But later there came the emperor’s decree allowing Rui’an Great Elder Princess to get in and out of the Yuhui Nunnery. The staff of the Ministry of Justice all knew about it, so they dared not stop her and directly let her pa.s.s.
Seeing that Great Elder Princess’s carriages also entered the Yuhui Nunnery, the staff of the Ministry of Justice guarding outside stood, gazing at one another.
One of them was Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion, and the other was Rui’an Great Elder Princess. It was said that they were on bad terms with each other. Moreover, it was getting late, but they both came up the mountain in a hurry. Thinking of what had happened today, the officials of the Ministry of Justice suddenly felt that something was going to happen.
After gazing at one another, the officials of the Ministry of Justice reported it in a hurry.
As Old Madam’s carriage stopped, Nanny Yu immediately led four female servants to Shao Wanru’s courtyard.
Shao Wanru was reading a book. Hearing that Nanny Yu had come again, she smiled slightly, put down the book in her hand, and asked Nanny Yu to come over.
“Greetings, Fifth Miss!” Nanny Yu came in, bowed to Shao Wanru respectfully, and said.
“Nanny Yu, why do you come back after leaving?” Shao Wanru raised her head and asked leisurely.
“Old Madam is here. Fifth Miss, please go to give greetings!” Nanny Yu raised her head and said seriously.
“At this moment?” Shao Wanru looked at the sky outside the window and asked.
“Yes, exactly. Fifth Miss, please hurry up!” Nanny Yu nodded and said.
Shao Wanru looked at the several st.u.r.dy female servants behind Nanny Yu and said, “Nanny Yu, please wait for a moment. Let me freshen up.”
“Fifth Miss, you look good now, so you don’t have to do that. Old Madam needs to talk with you for an emergency!” Nanny Yu said and stretched out her hands. Several inferior old maids stood around Shao Wanru in four corners, obviously intending to coerce her into submission.