Chapter 199: Condolences
The second version Li Xiaonan heard was brought back by Li Xuedong.
Li Xuedong heard it from a classmate, who heard it from a servant delivering food, who heard it from a rice shop shop assistant delivering rice. The rice shop shop assistant heard it from whom, Li Xuedong said the servant didn’t ask.
Li Xuedong’s version was:
While the Tianyi Opera House was performing a hat play, a beautiful young lady in mourning clothes descended from the sky, landing on the opera stage. She held a knife to her throat and began to plead her grievances, saying she was a Chen Family Daughter, and her parents and elder brother had died unjustly. Little Lady Chen made a curse vow on the spot, saying that if she was wronged, her blood would not fall to the ground, and then she slit her own throat.
Li Xuedong’s eyes widened, and he lowered his voice, “They say there wasn’t a single drop of blood on the opera stage, that all the blood flew upwards!”
Li Xiaonan looked at Li Xuedong speechlessly.
“Don’t look at me like that, that’s what everyone is saying. Do you know what happened?” Li Xuedong felt a bit awkward under Li Xiaonan’s gaze.
“I’ve heard it once before. There was no blood on the opera stage because she didn’t die on the opera stage,” Li Xiaonan sighed.
In her brother’s version, how did this curse vow of blood not falling to the ground get added?
She didn’t have enough people, otherwise, she would definitely find that servant to ask clearly.
Such superstitious curse vows have great potential for spread, and if they really spread, it wouldn’t be good.
The third version was told by Aunt Tang.
This version was quite miraculous.
It said that a young lady in white clothes and a white skirt suddenly appeared in the middle of the opera stage. When she spoke, everyone was silenced. The young lady said her grievances were as deep as the sea and asked the gentlemen present to help her seek justice. After speaking, the young lady in white clothes and a white skirt began to bleed all over and collapsed on the opera stage. But when everyone rushed onto the stage, there was nothing there.
Li Xiaonan wiped her face as she listened.
After seeing Aunt Tang off, Li Xiaonan wrote down the three versions as faithfully as possible, word for word, folded them, and sealed them.
This matter was not a secret and did not require wax sealing. Li Xiaonan asked A Wu to quickly deliver the letter to the villa and give it to Wan Jing.
………………………………
In the evening, Miss Shi and Fourth Mistress Wei sat on the couch, listening to the reports from the maidservants and servants who had gone out to inquire.
With so many people inquiring, the story versions they heard were varied.
Rumors were always like this.
Watching the servant bow and withdraw, Fourth Mistress Wei frowned and asked, “Is the vigil at Bao En Temple because of a violent death?”
“Bao En Temple, the name of the temple is quite good,” Miss Shi said, lowering her eyes and sipping her tea.
“Is this an attempt to stir up trouble?” Fourth Mistress Wei reacted extremely quickly.
“We’ll know tomorrow. Write a letter to the Young Lord,” Miss Shi said, looking at Fourth Mistress Wei.
“Let’s write it here. You need to watch carefully, in case anything is missed. I’m not as good as you at this,” Fourth Mistress Wei gestured for Yin Xing to grind ink.
………………………………
Gu Yan received two letters one after another. After a moment of hesitation, he took the letters and left the tent, asking to see the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince had just finished bathing and was wearing only a short shirt and shorts. He called Gu Yan in, took the long gown handed to him by an inner attendant, and casually put it on.
“Something happened?”
“Yes, I didn’t expect them to push a young lady out to lead the charge,” Gu Yan handed the two letters to the Crown Prince.
After reading the letters, the Crown Prince let out a cold snort and asked Gu Yan, “What are your plans?”
“Investigate a murder case and publicly announce one case clearly and directly. It cannot be delayed. First, deal with it as a murder case,” Gu Yan replied.
“Yes, let’s start with the Chen family and make the case public as soon as possible,” the Crown Prince replied. He shook the two letters and smiled, “This little girl, upon hearing about this, would think of writing to you. This letter is well-organized and indeed good. You need to find someone to teach her some rules. Look at this letter, it’s all over the place.”
“This is a private letter, not a memorial,” Gu Yan took back the letter.
“A private letter, huh~” the Crown Prince drew out the sound, “So I was being meddlesome.”
………………………………
The next day at noon, Miss Shi’s expression darkened as she listened to the servant’s report.
From early morning, people paying their respects at Bao En Temple had been arriving in an endless stream. Many elegy poems and texts had already been posted at the mourning hall and on the walls of Bao En Temple.
Miss Shi and Fourth Mistress Wei passed around the dozen or so elegy poems and texts copied by the servants. Fourth Mistress Wei frowned, “These people have no idea what’s going on, it’s all nonsense!”
“Let’s go offer some incense too,” Miss Shi said to Fourth Mistress Wei after reading the last elegy poem.
“Hmm? How should we go?” Fourth Mistress Wei asked quickly.
“Write an elegy text. Your writing is better than mine, you should be the one to write it. Put both our names on it, and write it like this…” Miss Shi and Fourth Mistress Wei spoke in low voices.
Fourth Mistress Wei nodded repeatedly and sat down at the desk. Miss Shi stood and ground ink, watching Fourth Mistress Wei quickly finish writing an elegy text. They looked at it, revised it two or three times, copied it, changed into plain clothes, and got into a cart to head to Bao En Temple.
The cart belonging to Miss Shi and Fourth Mistress Wei was adorned with the conspicuously bright emblem of Prince Rui’s Mansion. Long before they reached Bao En Temple, it attracted the attention of people on the road, whether they were riding horses, in carts, or walking. Many people either immediately turned back, or ran a few steps further and then turned back, or followed the cart of Prince Rui’s Mansion from a distance, all the way to outside Bao En Temple.
The cart stopped outside the mountain gate of Bao En Temple. Miss Shi and Fourth Mistress Wei alighted one after another. Several old women carried incense and candles for paying respects from the cart and followed behind them into the mountain gate.
Those who followed the emblem of Prince Rui’s Mansion dared not get too close, but if they fell too far behind, they wouldn’t be able to see anything. They crowded together twenty to thirty paces behind Miss Shi and Fourth Mistress Wei.
At Little Lady Chen’s mourning hall, the Old Madam Chen, dressed in plain clothes, sat in an armchair. The other female relatives of the Chen family stood behind and to the side of Old Madam Chen. Dozens of pairs of eyes were fixed on Miss Shi and Fourth Mistress Wei.
Miss Shi walked in front, calm and composed. Fourth Mistress Wei, as she walked, turned her head slightly to observe her surroundings, also appearing very calm.
The two stood before the mourning hall. The accompanying old women stepped forward to arrange the offerings, picked up incense, lit it, and handed it to Miss Shi and Fourth Mistress Wei.
Miss Shi and Fourth Mistress Wei bowed slightly, paid their respects to Little Lady Chen’s memorial tablet, and inserted the incense into the incense burner.
“Do you two feel no guilt facing our sister’s memorial tablet? Do you sleep soundly at night? Do you not have nightmares?”
A middle-aged woman, standing next to Old Madam Chen, pointed at Miss Shi and Fourth Mistress Wei and angrily rebuked them.
“You are the ones who killed her!” Miss Shi looked directly at the Chen family members, her voice clear, “Your sister was innocent and naive, simple and ignorant. You! Did you not know how your Chen family’s mountains of gold and silver were acquired?
“You all know it clearly, don’t you? You clearly know that you deserve your fate, right!
“You all knew clearly, yet you pushed and forced a young lady of about ten years old to her death. You let her make such a scene and die in such a way, fantasizing that by using your sister’s life, you could reclaim the wealth that wasn’t yours, right?
“If this one sister wasn’t enough, were you planning to push out a second? Was it her? Or her? Or were they all to be pushed out to their deaths? One after another?”
Miss Shi pointed her finger at the young ladies beside Old Madam Chen.
“Even if the young lady is a noble person, you cannot slander us like this! You are going too far!” Old Madam Chen picked up her crutch and angrily poked it on the ground.
“How did your Chen family’s immense wealth come about? Why was your Chen family’s property confiscated, was it without reason? You know it clearly in your heart, don’t you? Since you know it clearly, why didn’t you tell her? Why did you still force her to die?”
Miss Shi’s voice was stern and severe.
“You are a bunch of beasts in human clothing! Let’s go!”
Miss Shi turned and left.
Fourth Mistress Wei quickly followed.
Several stewardesses found conspicuous places and posted Fourth Mistress Wei’s elegy text.
The crowd filling Bao En Temple surged forward, eager to read the elegy text.
