Chapter 825 Enlightenment
“I’ve delivered it to young master’s men, but I didn’t see him. After making an inquiry, I only learned that they have been occupied with an important business, but I have no idea what exactly it is,” Baisu said.
She always knew Lin Mengya’s thoughts well, so she stayed to ask about Xiaoyu’s situation.
Fortunately, with Long Tianyu’s secret help, at least she did not have to worry about Xiaoyu’s safety.
Since Xiaoyu had grown up, he had to go through trials and hardships.
It was not a permanent solution to keep him by her side.
“That’s good. No matter who asks about my going out today, you must a.s.sert that I went to admire the rosa multiflora. If someone inquires about it, you must secretly record who the person is, but you must not alert the person,” Lin Mengya said.
Baisu nodded, certainly aware of what Lin Mengya meant.
She glanced at the dress Lin Mengya put aside. The hemline of the dress was covered with mud, some of which was still wet and some had been dry.
“Miss, where have you been? How could there be such a dirty place in the imperial palace?” Baisu asked.
She was keenly aware there was soil in the rosa multiflora courtyard.
However, the other parts of the imperial palace were clean almost without soil.
She couldn’t help wondering where Lin Mengya got her dress stained with mud.
Lin Mengya looked down. At the thought of the horrible scene in the palace, she couldn’t help feeling a chill down her spine.
She slightly moved her lips and said in a serious tone, “In fact, I used to get a map which records a significant place that should be located in a certain palace. So I went there to check out the situation on this rainy day when no one noticed it. Unexpectedly, I saw a tremendously weird thing.”
Lin Mengya could not describe the chill down her spine caused by the sight of the four women cutting off their wrists.
Normal people would definitely not cut off their wrists, let alone let blood from themselves composedly.
Lin Mengya had thought that they might be unable to speak or turned into copper slaves with special drugs.
However, it would even be hard for copper slaves to survive after losing so much blood.
No matter what perverted measure was taken to shape them, they were humans after all. In this case, they inevitably had the common characteristics of human beings.
This was the reason why Lin Mengya found it so unimaginably queer.
“Your narration reminds me of a legend. It is said that the gate of the heavenly palace could only be opened by the attendant of the King of Various Venomous Insects when the red rain fell from the sky. Later, when every emperor pa.s.sed away, a mult.i.tude of slaves would be buried with them, and those slaves must cut off their left hands so as to clear their sins and be taken to the heavenly palace by the King of Various Venomous Insects. Nevertheless, this ceremony has been abolished for several emperors’ reigns. Nowadays, only a few people know it,” Baisu said.
Hearing her words, Lin Mengya also thought it tremendously queer.
“Could it be that all people in the Lieyun Empire know it?” Lin Mengya stared at Baisu and asked.
If everyone knew it, it would be difficult to track down the target.
Baisu shook her head blankly and looked at Lin Mengya with embarra.s.sment.
She said, “That’s not the case. It seems that only the royals know it. I may have accidentally heard it from someone. I can’t remember clearly what happened when I was a child, but I’m sure of one thing: it’s absolutely impossible for ordinary people to learn it.”
This made sense. After all, Baisu, who was raised and trained by Wanyan Lie’s men, naturally had the chance to learn this kind of secret.
If only the royals knew it, she would be able to lock on her target to a few suspicious people.
The red rain fell from the sky, and the slaves cut off their left hands.
These things sounded tremendously queer, but it was impossible for them to happen at the same time by chance.
There must be a connection she was unaware of between them.
It would probably be quite difficult to find it out.
“Shall I send some people to take a look at that palace?” Baisu suggested.
After pondering for a while, Lin Mengya shook her head to reject Baisu’s suggestion.
On one hand, too many visitors would definitely alert the enemy.
On the other hand, come to think of it, she found the isolated palace rather suspicious.
She had better find out what the palace was used for and why it was abandoned before she went there again.
Only in this way could she go there again to make an investigation.
After taking a hot bath and drinking two bowls of ginger soup, Lin Mengya felt most of the coldness in her body had been dispelled.
At this time, the clouds and mist had dispersed, and the sky was dazzlingly clear.
Although Lin Mengya would like to take a breath of the fresh air after the rain, she was kept behind the brocade curtain by Baisu to catch up on her sleep.
“Miss, is the bedding dirty? Why did you change them by yourself? You’d better leave this kind of rough work to someone else next time!” After tucking her in, Baisu looked at the bedding piled up on the ground and asked in confusion.
Huddling in the quilt, Lin Mengya was stunned for a moment and said in embarra.s.sment, “Uh... I... I accidentally spilled the tea last night. You know, I have always been afraid of thunder and don’t trust others, so I...”
It was all Long Tianyu’s fault for acting recklessly last night, and she did not even notice when he changed the bedding.
She blushed. Although it was not inappropriate for them, husband and wife, to do so, Baisu’s question gave her the illusion that she was caught in adultery.
She decided she must ask Long Tianyu to restrain himself in future!
But she then thought of another thing: she seemed to be quite active as well.
Gosh! She was terribly ashamed of herself!
She crawled into bed and tucked in the bed curtain to keep off the cold wind.
Baisu considerately lit some sedative incense for her. Soon, Lin Mengya, whose body and nerves were tense, fell asleep in the quilt.
Fortunately, when she was in the Liuxin Courtyard, she usually slept with her maids on rainy days.
Therefore, Baisu did not expect that Lin Mengya would act so recklessly last night.
The quiet room was filled with the sweet fragrance of the sedative incense.
By the time Lin Mengya woke up, it was already dark.
It was getting late, and it had just rained, so it was a little cold outside.
Lin Mengya, who had nothing to do after getting enough sleep, could only sit at the desk and read.
Baisu had prepared a lot of things for her. Apart from food and drinks, the writing brush, ink stick, paper and inkstone. Lin Mengya usually used and the books she liked, such as travel notes and biographies, were neatly placed on one side of the desk.
At her feet, there was a small brazier of burning charcoal with sweet milk tea above it.
Lying on the large wool cushion, Lin Mengya couldn’t help grinning foolishly.
This life of leisure was worth living.
But a maid as considerate as Baisu was indispensable.
“Baisu, have you ever thought about what kind of life you want to live in this lifetime?” Lin Mengya asked.
Getting tired of reading, she picked up a piece of red bean pastry, put it into her mouth and intended to enlighten Baisu.
Baisu had stayed in Lin Mengya’s courtyard for a relatively short time. Although she had a close relationship with Lin Mengya, she did not live as freely as the other maids did.
She had never approved of these girls giving up their lives for her.
For example, Baishao had found the life she wanted, and Baiji and Baizhi began to live for themselves.
Only Baisu in front had been secretly atoning for her mistake that could not be counted as a betrayal, thinking Lin Mengya didn’t notice it.
However, Baisu was equally important to Lin Mengya.
As Baisu’s elder sister, how could Lin Mengya be unaware of it?
“Me? I will be satisfied as long as I can stay by your side. Compared with others, I’m much luckier,” Baisu said.
Watched by Lin Mengya, she felt uneasy.
She only behaved like a lively girl of her age in front of Lin Mengya.
After years of killing, she had almost forgotten what a free life was like.
“I haven’t heard much about your past. Anyway, I’ve had enough sleep today and feel so bored. Can you tell me about your childhood? I really want to know how you grew up into a swordswoman,” Lin Mengya rested her chin on her hand and said, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with interest.
Baisu was the most honest among the girls, as well as the most stubborn.
As such, if Lin Mengya intended to free Baisu’s mind, she must find out the truth of what Baisu had become first.
After years of enlightening people, Lin Mengya was keenly aware of this.
“Nothing special. I’m an orphan and had followed my masters to practice martial arts since I was twelve years old. Later, the general sent me to work for young master, and then I met you,” Baisu said.
She was impa.s.sive at the mention of her past.
Seeing her emotionless face, Lin Mengya supposed it was not a fond memory.
After she finished her narration listlessly, Lin Mengya did not give up, blinked her big eyes and continued asking, “What about your memory before the age of twelve? You should be able to remember what had happened before the age of twelve, right?”
Baisu nodded, then shook her head.
Then she said, “Actually, I have a little bit of memory before the age of twelve, but maybe because I was too young back then, I can’t remember it clearly. I only remember that when I was six or seven years old, I seemed to have followed a woman all the time. I can’t remember her appearance, but she often took me to visit a little girl secretly. Come to think of it... I just have a vague memory of the little girl’s appearance. The only thing I can remember is that the little girl was very cute, and that woman was very cordial. I think they should be my family members. I can’t remember anything other than these.”
Seeing Baisu trying hard to recall, Lin Mengya knocked on the desk subconsciously and even forgot to drink her milk tea.
She had asked Xiaoyu and learned that Baisu was only eighteen years old and one year younger than her.
Normally speaking, Baisu should retain a clearer memory of what had happened at the age of seven or eight.
Could it be that Baisu was also abducted from her parents in that perverted manner?
Soon, she denied this possibility, because Xiaoyu had mentioned that Baisu’s ident.i.ty was very special.