When Chu Jingyue arrived at the octagonal pavilion, there were already many people standing here, all of whom were family members of the Ning’an Earl’s Mansion.
“Your Highness, since you were coming back, why didn’t you inform us in advance? It makes us seem to have lost our manners.”
The speaker was graceful and luxurious, with her charm still present. Even though she was a woman of age, she was still beautiful.
This person was the Countess of Ning’an, Zhuo Zhaofeng.
Her words implied that her family was rude, but she was subtly condemning Chu Jingyue for being rude in her sudden visit.
But she didn’t think that Chu Jingyue didn’t understand at all.
Chu Jingyue only knew that the several girls following behind Zhuo had dark marks on their foreheads, indicating a short life.
“Has there been frequent deaths in the mansion recently?” Chu Jingyue’s blunt question made Pei Feng next to her quickly lower his head to hide his surprise, for fear of letting others see the clues.
The Countess frowned and said, “What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Countess, please calm down, the Princess is ill and has not yet recovered.” Pei Feng quickly interjected.
Wenren Si glanced at him, and then looked at Chu Jingyue’s expression.
Seeing that she didn’t care about Pei Feng’s words at all, he then opened his mouth and said, “Since I had an accident, the Grand Madam specially invited a Taoist priest into the mansion to protect me, and the Princess learned some superficial things from him.”
Zhuo smiled and said, “The King is safe and sound, that is the blessing of my sister under the Nine Springs. Have you gone to pay respects to your mother? Your aunt knows that you are feeling uncomfortable, and has ordered people to set up a banquet in the flower hall, all of which are your favorite things.”
Wenren Si lowered his eyes and asked, “Do you want to go to the flower hall or stay here? The scenery here is also good.”
“It doesn’t matter, let’s go to the flower hall.” She roughly knew what was going on with the resentment near the octagonal pavilion.
She was now more curious about the female relatives, why they were all in their prime and healthy, but were shrouded in death.
Wenren Si nodded, and Zhuo followed behind with a deep look in her eyes.
Wasn’t the one who married into the Qi Royal Mansion the second daughter of the Marquis Mansion who was crazy and foolish? Why doesn’t she look like it?
Zhuo reached out and pushed her daughter next to her, and Zong Zhitang immediately raised a naive smile, took a few steps forward, and said, “Cousin, we haven’t seen each other for a long time, Tang’er is very worried.”
“It’s already fine.” Wenren Si’s tone was indifferent, as usual.
Zong Zhitang didn’t care, and still said with a smile, “I’ve always heard a little about the Second Miss Chu before, but seeing her today seems to be inconsistent with the rumors.”
“Rumors are always rumors, don’t take them seriously.” Wenren Si was still indifferent, protecting Chu Jingyue in his words.
Zong Zhitang joked with a smile, “Now that cousin has married a new bride, he is protecting her everywhere. Will he not love Tang’er in the future? The Second Miss Chu is very beautiful, and I think she will be the kind of appearance that cousin likes. Her eyebrows and eyes are a bit similar to Sister Liu.”
“You should call her cousin-in-law or Princess.” Wenren Si glanced at her lightly, and didn’t think there was anything wrong. His cousin was like this in the past.
Zong Zhitang puffed up her face and pretended to be angry, and said playfully, “But cousin is helping cousin-in-law to speak like this just after the wedding, and he will definitely not love Tang’er in the future, Tang’er is going to be angry.”
As she said that, she stomped her feet and ran to Chu Jingyue’s side, intimately holding her arm, and said with a smile, “Does cousin-in-law know Sister Liu? She used to live in the Royal Mansion and grew up with cousin, you are all great beauties.”
Chu Jingyue pulled back her arm with a blank expression and said, “I don’t know.”
All her attention was now focused on the lingering resentment in the Earl’s Mansion. When she first entered the mansion, she was attracted by the death energy covering the octagonal pavilion. Now, after careful observation, she found that there were wisps of resentment everywhere in the mansion.
This is a sign of the formation of a bone ghost.
The so-called bone ghost is a dead person that ordinary people can see. The strong resentment after a person’s death gathers into a resentful ghost, which can be attached to its own bones again.
Ordinary people call it a ‘ghost’, but for Chu Jingyue, the real ghost is invisible to ordinary people because of the separation of yin and yang.
“Sister Liu is a very good person, and grew up in the same courtyard with cousin…”
The person next to her was still noisy, and Chu Jingyue was really annoyed by the noise. She turned to look at Wenren Si, “Has the flower hall not arrived yet?”
“Soon.” Wenren Si reached out and pulled her to his other side, and Pei Feng retreated knowingly to make way.
Zong Zhitang suddenly pouted, and said a little aggrieved, “Does cousin-in-law not like me?”
“You are too noisy.” Wenren Si frowned at her, his cousin was a bit talkative today.
Zong Zhitang snorted twice and said, “Now cousin is disliking me because of cousin-in-law, Tang’er doesn’t want to.”
Seeing him protecting Chu Jingyue so much, the Countess pretended to blame, “Okay, Zhitang, don’t disturb your cousin, he must not have recovered well from his near-death experience.”
“Got it.” Zong Zhitang ran back to her mother’s side again.
As they walked, the mother and daughter fell far behind, and Chu Jingyue only felt that her ears were finally quiet.
“This place is very strange, first there is a soul-trapping formation, the octagonal—”
“Don’t worry.” Wenren Si interrupted Chu Jingyue in a low voice, and said, “Let’s talk about it when we get back to the mansion.”
The conversation between the two turned into flirting in the eyes of the Countess and her daughter, and Zong Zhitang’s eyes were about to pop out with jealousy.
“Mother, look at cousin staring at Chu Jingyue without blinking. It’s okay for her to steal my position as princess, but she’s still pretending to be noble and seducing cousin! How can I enter the Royal Mansion to win face for the Earl’s Mansion in the future?”
Zong Zhitang bit her lip in anger. There was only Liu Siyu in the Royal Mansion before. She was the orphan of a beloved general under the old King, and the late King entrusted her to the Royal Mansion on his deathbed, so the Royal Mansion raised the Liu family mother and daughter in the mansion.
In the end, Liu Siyu had no power or influence. Even if cousin liked her, she would at most be a concubine, not even a side consort.
As the legitimate daughter of the Earl’s Mansion, she and the late Concubine, her aunt, had the same background, and it was only right for her to sit in the position of princess.
But now Chu Jingyue suddenly appeared, and became the Princess of Qi in the form of a posthumous marriage, and cousin valued her, what should she do?
“What’s the hurry? It’s just a posthumous marriage, isn’t it easy to go back on the marriage? Chu Jingyue was crazy before, it’s easy to make Wenren Si divorce her, isn’t it?”
Zhuo’s eyes were full of calculations hidden deeply. Now the Earl’s Mansion is not as good as before, and she must let her daughter become the Princess of Qi to make the Earl’s Mansion rise again.
What Chu Jingyue? Sooner or later, she will be a divorced woman.
The mother and daughter stared at Chu Jingyue, but in the next second, Chu Jingyue suddenly stopped and looked back at them coldly.
Their eyes met, Zhuo was still calm and her face was as usual, but Zong Zhitang didn’t take back the malice in her eyes in time.
“Your relatives seem to have a lot of opinions about me.” Chu Jingyue came back to her senses and said faintly. Could this mother and daughter be related to the weirdness in the mansion?
Wenren Si took the lead to enter the flower hall and moved the chair for her. When Chu Jingyue sat down, he leaned over and said, “Don’t worry, I will protect you.”
“No need, I might have to protect you.”
Joke, she, Chu Jingyue, is a person who is half a step into immortality by relying on the ruthless way, and needs others to protect her?
Wenren Si looks down on her too much.