Chapter 144 out of 513 – The female lead and the supporting female character share a bed for a night (1)
Old madame had put up a jade Guanyin statue in the main courtyard. The statue compassionately looked down at the kneeling group.
(T/N: Guanyin is the Bodhisattva of compassion and mercy.)
As soon as Ji Man entered the room, she saw a deathly pale person on the side that was wrapped up like a zongzi. Ji Man was surprised that Wen Wan had been carried over here. After all, Wen Wan had recently suffered a miscarriage.
(T/N: Below are pictures of zongzi. Zongzi is a rice dish made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in layers of bamboo leaves.)
The smell of incense was very strong in the room. Old madame was at the head of the kneeling group and reciting scriptures. The sound of the repetitive mumbling inexplicably created a heightened sense of tension in the room.
Qian Lianxue was also part of the kneeling group. She looked so weak that she seemed as if she would fall over at any moment. She would end up gasping for breath and leaning against a servant girl for support after only kneeling for a short period of time, but she would resume kneeling again after a brief break.
Jinse had her head lowered. Right now, she looked very well-behaved. Qi Siling’s expression didn’t look good and she was frequently helping Wen Wan with her breathing. Out of all the women, the only person that looked utterly fearless was Liu Hanyun. She was the person that usually had the least amount of presence.
Was this an example of innocent people not fearing that ghosts would knock on their door? Ji Man didn’t have a deep impression of Liu Hanyun, but this girl seemed very straightforward. Her background was a bit low, but she always behaved decently.Ji Man turned her head to look at Wen Wan. Her gaze was blank and her entire body was trembling. She was so haggard that all traces of her beauty had already withered away. Wen Wan seemed to be muttering something to herself, but they were too far apart and she couldn’t hear her words clearly.
Ji Man followed the other women by kneeling down. It seemed that old madame had decided to continue reciting scriptures until Marquis Moyu returned.
Marquis Moyu had already gone out to personally invite monks over. Since the sage monk’s previous ritual hadn’t worked, he was also going to bring back holy women. This time, cleansing rituals would be done for the entire marquis’s residence.
Ji Man thought that most of these people were just charlatans. Why? Because there was a ghost living in her body that hadn’t been the slightest bit affected by the chanting or the holy statue. But, for some unknown reason, she hadn’t heard Nie Sangyu speak in a long time.
After kneeling for a while, Qian Lianxue seemed unable to continue kneeling. She quietly apologized to old madame. Old madame had always thought that Qian Lianxue was a person that didn’t cause trouble, so she didn’t make things difficult for her and allowed her to leave first and rest.
Ji Man was truly curious about what happened last night. Wen Wan had clearly been staying at Xuesong Courtyard. It couldn’t be that the ghost baby had migrated from Feiyue Courtyard to Xuesong Courtyard, right?
Motivated by curiosity, Ji Man quietly followed Qian Lianxue out of the room.
Danzhu was supporting Qian Lianxue by the arm as they walked out.
Ji Man’s steps weren’t too hurried. She just slowly followed them. Looking at Qian Lianxue’s soft back figure that looked almost boneless, Ji Man sighed. Since ancient times, beautiful women had bitter lives. Qian Lianxue had a pretty good temperament and she gave off a comfortable, downy feeling. It was probably because of this reason that Ning Yuxuan always showed some degree of care towards her.
Ji Man had been in this ancient world for a long time. It was only Qian Lianxue and Liu Hanyun that never changed in how they treated her. They didn’t try to make life difficult for her or excessively fawn over her either.
While Ji Man was mulling over these thoughts, they had almost arrived at Xuesong Courytard. There were even yellow paper talismans pasted at its entrance. They looked like the ones left behind in Feiyue Courtyard by the sage monk during his previous visit. Seeing how they were haphazardly stuck on the entrance, she guessed that they had been been temporarily borrowed last night. However, seeing that some of the paper talismans had fallen to the ground, Ji Man couldn’t help feeling a bit scared.
Ji Man stopped walking. Just as she was about to call out to get Qian Lianxue’s attention, she saw Danzhu pushing open Xuesong Courtyard’s doors without even pausing at the sight of the fallen paper talismans. They stepped on the paper talismans as they passed through the doorway.
Ji Man was slightly surprised. Could it be that Qian Lianxue didn’t believe in evil spirits? But, hadn’t she gotten sick out of fright? Why didn’t she show any reaction to the fallen paper talismans?
Ji Man decided to not go to Xuesong Courtyard. She turned around and asked, “Gancao, what exactly happened last night?”
Gancao’s complexion was slightly pale as she said, “When this servant was startled awake last night, this servant heard that a ghost had appeared in Xuesong Couryard. No one knows why, but Mistress Wan kept shouted that there was a ghost, then she fell out of the bed and ran outside. She fell down several times. In the end, it was Honored Concubine Xue that came out to stop her. After that, Mistress Wen miscarried and Honored Concubine Xue fell sick. The two of them seemed to have both heard the sound of a baby crying.”
So, Qian Lianxue and Wen Wan were the only two people that heard the ghost?
Ji Man raised her eyebrows, then she looked at Xuesong Courtyard again. In the end, she still obediently returned to the main courtyard to continue kneeling.
There was no reason for her to join in that fuss. Anyways, it was fine as long as she didn’t see a ghost too.
—
Marquis Moyu returned around noontime with monks and holy women that surrounded the residence in a short period of time.
Ji Man didn’t even want to take a single step out of Feiwan Courtyard. As soon as she went out, she would see shabbily dressed holy women jumping around while holding up sticks. She wouldn’t be able to stop herself from laughing at such a ridiculous sight, but laughing under this solemn situation would be very improper.
After the ritual had lasted four hours, a monk that surely had be missing some marbles said to Marquis Moyu, “Feiwan Courtyard is the purest place in the entire residence. It doesn’t have the slightest trace of evil spirits. Marquis, if you want that person to feel at ease, how about sending her to rest there?”
The corners of Ji Man’s lips twitched. Seeing Ning Yuxuan looking over here, she spread her hands out and accepted her fate. “This servant understands.”
Who thought of the idea of saying Feiwan Courtyard was the purest place? If they wanted to drag her into this mess, why couldn’t they just straightforwardly say it instead of borrowing a monk’s mouth?
Ji Man resignedly sighed and had Gancao and Dengxin prepare her room. She would be sharing a bed with Wen Wan tonight. What kind of evil spirit would be popping up?
Ning Yuxuan stretched his hand out to stop her. With a very gentle expression, he said, “I’ll have to bother you with taking care of Wan-er. I’ll be busy with official government work tonight.”
Ji Man turned her head and gave him a very fake looking smile. Who was he trying to fool? He wasn’t the extremely diligent Zhou Enlai. How could there possibly be endless documents for him to look at? His woman had already been terrified into miscarriage. And yet, he was still looking at governmental documents. If he wasn’t plotting something, then she would write her name backwards!
(T/N: Zhou Enlai was the first Prime Minister of Republic of China.)