Chapter 40 Heart Sinking

Shou'an Hall.

Xueying glanced at Aunt Li, who looked exceptionally beautiful yet pitiful today, and her tone softened slightly: "The old lady is not seeing you, Aunt, please go back."

Li Qu naturally could not return.

She straightened her skirt, knelt in the courtyard, and kowtowed: "I was disturbed by the safety of my family and unintentionally offended you, Madam. I have come to apologize and beg for your punishment."

Xueying glanced at it and went back inside to report.

Li Qu knelt down until the sun set.

Kneeling for a long time caused my knees to ache terribly, and my calves were so numb that I couldn't touch them. Touching them felt like being gnawed by a million tiny insects, an indescribable discomfort.

When she can't bear it anymore, she will try to relieve the pain from various angles.

Granny Xu was heartbroken and resolved to make some knee braces as a backup when she got back.

Just as Li Qu pressed her hands to the ground, lying on the floor in an indecent manner, and secretly lifted her sore and numb knees to move them, she suddenly heard hurried and chaotic footsteps behind her.

She quickly resumed her kneeling position, knees on the ground, torso straight, displaying a meticulous demeanor.

Through the latticed window of the room, the old lady saw this, pointed at Li Qu outside the window, and said to Aunt Li beside her, "Is this what you said, that she can learn it in no time, understand it immediately, and is well-behaved?"

Aunt Li stood respectfully to one side: "You've been kneeling for two hours, your legs are probably completely numb."

"Hmph." The old woman, fiddling with her prayer beads, walked towards the bed. "A self-inflicted injury ploy. Did she think she could get away with this?"

"Time and again, do you think the Zhou family is made of clay!"

Aunt Li didn't dare to respond.

"I'd like to see what kind of demon she is, that she's the reincarnation of a demon, that made the third brother come to our door with a sword, and even keep him here for the night!"

You're quite capable!

Turning their gaze outside, the two women saw Abbess Huiyuan being frantically approached by her two disciples: "Grandma, help! Grandma, Third Master is going to kill someone!"

The old lady raised her hand, intending to have Xueying bring the people in, when she saw that Master Huiyuan had somehow stepped on the hem of her robe, and the three of them fell into a comical mess.

What's even funnier is that Li Qu, who was quite far away from Abbess Huiyuan, saw this and, like a frightened bird, pounced to the side and sat down on the ground, completely freeing her poor knees and calves.

Her good nanny, Ms. Xu, also stepped forward quickly and embraced her, showing a protective attitude towards her mistress.

The master and servant, working together, fully demonstrated their ability to adapt to circumstances.

The old lady turned to look at Aunt Li again: "She has learned manners very well."

Aunt Li thought for a while before saying, "Auntie is a bit rebellious. She even dares to be perfunctory when apologizing to the old lady. This old servant will go and punish her now."

"Alright, Xueying, go and see what's going on."

The old lady walked toward the main seat in the room, and Aunt Li followed closely behind, standing behind the old lady as she sat down.

Another clever second-class maidservant served tea.

Outside, whether it was due to weak legs or something else, the three of them, including Master Huiyuan, fell down and did not get up.

Huiyuan, who was in the lead, fell to the ground and cried, "Grandma, save me!"

"Third Master wants to arrest this humble nun and throw her in jail!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the old woman guarding the gate arrived.

Xueying lifted the curtain and came out. The old woman guarding the gate then reported to her, "The old lady instructed the nun from Yinghua Temple to come to the inner courtyard to inform her."

"When Abbess Huiyuan arrived at the courtyard gate, she didn't hesitate to announce her arrival and rushed inside. This old servant couldn't stop her."

Xueying waved to her, and the old woman guarding the gate said again, "No sooner had the nun entered than Huaiyan, who was by the Third Master's side, arrived with his men. They are now waiting outside the courtyard, saying they want to arrest the nun Huiyuan and put her in jail."

Master Huiyuan and her two disciples were so frightened they nearly fainted.

After being imprisoned by Master Zhou, how could he possibly come out alive?

Huiyuan cried out at the top of her lungs, "Old lady, may Buddha have mercy, please save me!"

Xueying frowned, raised her hand to stop Huiyuan from wailing, and asked the old woman guarding the gate, "What is it?"

"They said they found out that the nun had cheated Madam Lu's younger uncle out of three thousand taels of silver."

Huiyuan quickly protested, "I'm innocent! That was money offered voluntarily by my maternal aunt, Madam Lu. I am a nun, pure of heart and mind, how could I possibly cheat you out of money!"

"Still dare to argue!" Huaiyan couldn't wait any longer and strode over.

Master Huiyuan screamed and hugged her two disciples tightly.

When Huaiyan saw Xueying, he bowed and said, "Third Master suspects that Aunt Li is colluding with Yinghua Temple. He has arrested Abbess Huichi and a group of nuns to investigate the matter of choosing a destined person through almsgiving at the city gate."

When Abbess Huiyuan heard that her senior sister had been captured, her eyes immediately lit up with stars.

"The investigation revealed that this old nun had been in contact with Madam Lu's maternal aunt! She had already informed Madam Lu's maternal aunt of the divination message from Abbess Huichi."

That's why Lu Yanyan sneaked into the city gate behind Li Qu and his group.

With the added advantage of being a cousin, Lu Yanyan was initially aiming for Zhou Jin's position as his wife.

Unexpectedly, Li Qu, disguised as a man, suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Therefore, Lu Yanyan hated Li Qu from the very beginning.

As soon as Lu Yanyan arrived, she heard Huaiyan talking non-stop: "...send a message to Lu's maternal aunt."

"She also helped Aunt Lu arrange the time and order for her cousin to enter the city, intending for her to replace the person destined by Master Huichi according to the divination."

"Although the matter did not go through, they still managed to extort a total of three thousand taels of hush money from Madam Lu's younger brother's wife."

She felt dizzy and her legs went weak. Seeing that Li Qu, her nemesis, was still in the courtyard, she felt even more ashamed.

Covering her face with a handkerchief, she didn't hesitate to announce her arrival. She lifted the curtain and went straight into the room, terrified. She knelt down and cried, "Aunt, it must have been this nun who sent the message to my mother first!"

In other words, there was indeed an attempt to replace and confuse the hexagrams.

The old lady in the main seat picked up her cup, took a sip of tea, and her expression was unreadable.

The curtain was made of gauze, through which the figure of a person kneeling inside could be vaguely seen, and Lu Yanyan's loud words could be heard clearly.

To save her life, Huiyuan panicked and retorted, "Miss, it was clearly your mother who knew that the old lady had a close relationship with Senior Sister Huichi, and she bribed this humble nun with a large sum of money to keep a close eye on the old lady and Senior Sister Huichi's interactions!"

Lu Yanyan refused to admit it: "Nonsense! My mother is the head wife of the sixth branch of the Lu family, how could she do such a thing!"

Huiyuan quickly tried to salvage the situation: "I have kept all the correspondence between this humble nun and Madam Lu, so Miss, don't even think about denying it!"

Huaiyan's rough voice rang out at the right moment: "Reporting to the old lady, the correspondence between this old nun and Madam Lu's younger sister-in-law has been seized."

"It contains not only the reply from Madam Lu's younger brother, but also an exact copy of the old nun's letter."

"The time of correspondence, the order of the letters, how much silver this old nun spent, how many people she hired, and how many people she arranged to mingle in the procession through the city gate."

"Several people were arranged to wait outside the city specifically for Miss Biao's arrival, so that she could be the 999th person to enter the gate. All of this was written down clearly."

"Third Master has also questioned the nuns in the temple, and the old nun's whereabouts and the time of the letters entering and leaving the temple match."

"Now all we need to do is capture this old nun and interrogate her carefully, and the truth will come to light."

After a moment of silence, Lu Yanyan's voice suddenly broke out as she cried out, "Aunt, this old nun must have set a trap to frame my mother!"

Huaiyan rolled his eyes and bowed to the person in the main seat of the room: "Grandma, I have been ordered to arrest Abbess Huiyuan and bring her to justice. What do you think..."

After a while, Aunt Li came out of the house: "The old lady said it was not a big deal and did not cause any bad consequences. Now that Third Master has found out the truth, he should properly send the nun back to the temple and apologize."

The nun here naturally refers to the highly respected nun, Master Huichi.

Huiyuan cried out in fear and trembling, "Grandma, please help! The money that my maternal aunt Lu gave me was really just for incense money. I didn't touch a single penny!"

Aunt Li waved her hand expressionlessly.

Huaiyan waved his hand, and immediately people stepped forward to gag or drag the three nuns away.

Whether or not she was cheated out of money is irrelevant; what truly caused Huiyuan's death was her daring to monitor Old Madam Zhou's actions and leak her important matters.

Lu Yanyan's panic was not because she was afraid that her ambition to climb the social ladder would be exposed. Everyone in the mansion knew that she had come with the intention of marrying up.

She was afraid of being disliked by her aunt and thus completely losing the opportunity to climb the social ladder!

From inside the house came Lu Yanyan's sobbing voice: "Aunt, Mother is definitely not that kind of person. Yanyan doesn't know anything!"

Li Qu was engrossed in watching the gossip when suddenly a figure appeared in front of her. When she looked up, she saw Aunt Li's solemn expression with her eyes lowered.

Li Qu immediately knelt down again, straightening her posture.

"You should be glad you didn't cross the old lady's line."

Li Qu felt a chill run down her spine and prostrated herself on the ground, adopting a humble posture: "I am terrified."

Aunt Li turned away and said, "The old lady already knows what she needs to know. This time, considering your concern for your parents and your filial piety, I'll let you off this time. Go back."

Li Qu breathed a sigh of relief, kowtowed three times towards the house, and then got up to take his leave.

Fortunately, his knees had been able to rest earlier, and with Granny Xu's help, he wasn't walking too awkwardly.

The setting sun casts an orange-yellow hue.

Upon arriving at Fanghua Garden, Li Qu immediately sensed something amiss as soon as she stepped inside.

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Taking a few steps further in, she saw Hongguo and Cuiguo kneeling on the ground, trembling with fear, accompanied by four little maids.

The setting sun cast a long shadow on the figure standing in the courtyard.

Li Qu's heart pounded wildly.

She had anticipated that he would come looking for her after learning about what had happened in Yan. She hadn't expected it to be so soon!

She clenched her fist tightly in her sleeve, telling herself that she had to fight to the death to survive!

Once she gets past this hurdle, it'll all be her domain from now on!

She swallowed involuntarily, composed herself, pushed Xu Mama aside, and slowly stepped forward.

He stood there, his gaze fixed on the pillars in front of the door.

She looked over there and remembered.

Not long ago, she had been sitting on that pillar, letting him kiss her.

A slight chill was added.

Li Qu suppressed the trembling that emanated from within, slowly stepped forward, hugged his waist from behind, and pressed her face against his back, trying to draw a sense of peace.

Zhou Jin raised his hand and slowly removed her arm. He turned around and looked at her quietly with his calm and deep eyes.

Li Qu had seen him arrogant and aloof, and he had seen him furious, but she had never seen him so extremely angry yet calm and composed.

It was as if all the sweet nothings they had shared before had been deleted by him in an instant, leaving nothing but blank space.

It was as if he had lost all expectation and compassion for her.

A storm is brewing.

As she looked into his eyes, her heart sank lower and lower.

She hooked her index finger around his cold fingertip and said softly, "My lord... I'm afraid of you doing this."