The old lady fell into the lake? How could she have fallen into the lake out of nowhere?

Xie Zhaozhao asked Guanyan, "Have you seen a doctor?"

Guan Yan looked around and whispered, "Miss, I think there's something wrong here. The old lady fell into the lake, and instead of rushing to find a doctor, the whole family is desperately looking for you, Miss. Especially the second young lady, I feel like she has a kind of smug gloating about her misfortune!"

What did she say?

"The second young lady said to call her eldest sister back immediately, because it would be difficult to resolve the situation without her."

Xie Zhaozhao smiled slightly. Xie Xiangxiang really has too much free time!

He said to Guan Yan, "Go find a teahouse and have a pot of good tea before you go back. Tell them that I and the young ladies from each household are packing our things and will be returning to our residences soon."

Then he said to Mo Yan, the servant who had come to help yesterday, "Go back to Qingpu Courtyard quietly right away and check the courtyard carefully, especially under the trees and in the corners of the walls. Are there any signs of freshly turned soil? If so, dig them up. Whatever you find, throw it far away immediately."

Mo Yan's eyes widened: "Miss suspects they're secretly burying filthy things?"

Xie Zhaozhao nodded slightly and said calmly, "The inner quarters are used to these underhanded tactics. These past two days while we were away, they were impatiently setting up a trap, waiting for me to fall into it, so I have to cooperate."

Mo Yan rode his horse back to the mansion quietly, while Guan Yan also went elsewhere to dawdle for time.

Xie Zhaozhao then called Yuanyuan over: "Go to the Xie residence quietly and ask the physician for a prescription."

Hearing this, Yuanyuan rode away on horseback.

Xie Zhaozhao, Liu Yiyi, Zhang Yanyan, Li Ranran, and Zhou Tangtang are true best friends. After enjoying the scenery at Yuehu Lake in the morning, they chatted and drank tea in the tea room.

"Do you know that female owner who caused such a stir the other day by opening an ice shop? She's Prince Gu's cousin. That woman is incredibly wild; she actually went to the Crown Prince and said she wanted to be his advisor," Zhou Tangtang said.

"Really? There's a female strategist?"

"The strange thing is that the Crown Prince actually agreed! Not only did he agree, but to please her, he also planned to entrust the most lucrative part of the project—the grain supply—to Prince Gu."

"Why does it seem like Prince Gu is a bit of a freeloader?"

"Haha, they're cousins!"

After listening to Zhou Tangtang's words, Xie Zhaozhao remembered that the extension project of the Grand Canal probably started around this time in her previous life.

The Grand Canal extension project recruited more than 500,000 laborers and had a huge demand for materials.

In her previous life, Gu Chengyan used her dowry money to take on the job of supplying grain to the Grand Canal.

What about this life? Did he take Xie Xiangxiang's dowry?

Zhang Yanyan asked Xie Zhaozhao, "Does Grand Secretary Gu know about this?"

Xie Zhaozhao shook her head: "The Grand Secretary is most likely unaware of this. He won't concern himself with such matters; he's too busy with court affairs."

Zhou Tangtang looked at Xie Zhaozhao with a smile: "Really? He should be busy farming, right?"

Xie Zhaozhao blushed and spat, "You're not even married yet, and you're already teasing me!"

There were no outsiders here, so everyone was joking around with Xie Zhaozhao.

Is he good to you?

Does he have any hidden illnesses?

Will he treat you well?

...

Xie Zhaozhao blushed deeply; how could she tell outsiders about matters between husband and wife?

However, she immediately recalled Gu Shaoyu's nightly coaxing of her with "Little Darling, Little Darling," like a tiger descending the mountain, bullying her, a little lamb, until she had no chance to fight back.

As the group was playing around, Yuanyuan hurriedly returned, looked at Xie Zhaozhao, and nodded slightly.

Reporting: "Something terrible has happened! The old lady of the manor has fallen into the lake."

"How did he end up falling into the lake? Have you seen a doctor?"

"No, the old lady and the Marquis's wife are both anxious to have you come back."

Zhang Yanyan found it strange. Shouldn't someone who fell into the lake be looking for a doctor? Why would they want to see Xie Zhaozhao?

Could he have drowned?

But he still said, "Let's all disperse, matters at the manor are more important."

Everyone packed their things and left in their respective carriages.

Upon returning to the Marquis's residence, the steward Zhang Qing immediately came to greet her, saying, "Third Madam, please go and check on the Old Madam. She has accidentally slipped into the lake."

"What's going on? Is there no one to serve you?" Xie Zhaozhao got off the carriage and went straight to Ci'en Courtyard without even returning to her own courtyard.

"It was too hot, and the old lady couldn't stand the heat, so she went to cool off under a tree by the lake. I don't know how she slipped and fell in."

As Xie Zhaozhao listened to Zhang Qing's words, she walked without stopping to the old lady's courtyard.

Seeing Xie Zhaozhao return, Madam Tu's face was very unpleasant: "Third Madam still has the mind to go cool off, while Mother was so hot that she fell into the lake, and you're only just coming back?"

Xie Zhaozhao didn't respond to her words and hurriedly went in. She saw that the old lady was in poor health, lying on the bed covered with a sheet.

He touched her forehead; she didn't have a fever. He asked Madam Tu, "Have you called a doctor?"

Madam Tu said, "The doctor from Yuqing Hall came and gave us medicine for a day, but we haven't gotten any better. He just fell into the water out of nowhere; could it be that he's been possessed by an evil spirit?"

Xie Zhaozhao frowned and asked, "What exactly did the doctor from Yuqing Hall say?"

"When the old lady fell into the water, Ta Xue was with her and immediately rescued her. She wasn't injured in any internal organs, but she's been feeling unwell ever since, especially in her chest, which is very painful. The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with her either."

As Madam Tu was speaking, Aunt Wang, Gu Boyu's concubine, chimed in, "I once heard of a family where the old lady fell into the water without any apparent reason, and no matter what they did, she couldn't be cured. Seeing that the old lady was dying, they found a Taoist priest to come and take a look, and only then did they realize that she had been possessed by an evil spirit."

Xie Zhaozhao said, "These are nothing but superstitious and bizarre talk. Why don't we take the invitation to the palace and ask the imperial physician to take a look?"

Tu said, "The doctors at Yuqing Hall are no less skilled than the imperial physicians. Since they can't diagnose the disease, they have to consider that it might be caused by evil spirits."

Xie Zhaozhao smiled but didn't say anything.

Madam Tu then said to Zhang Qing, "Go to Chongyang Palace and invite Master Qizhenzi to come and examine the old lady. It has been two days, and she has not eaten or drunk anything."

Before long, Daoist Qizhenzi arrived.

The Taoist priest was dressed in a long blue robe, with his hair tied in a topknot. He held a whisk in one hand and an exorcising five-element compass in the other, with a sword on his back.

Three long strands of beard on his chin trembled slightly in the summer breeze.

From a distance, he really does have an air of otherworldly elegance.

He was holding an exorcism five-element plate in his hand. As soon as he entered the mansion, he exclaimed in surprise, "What fierce and domineering evil energy!"

Like a heavenly judge looking down upon all living beings in the palace, he gave a sacred conclusion.

Xie Xiangxiang then said, "No way, how could there be evil energy in our mansion?"

Aunt Wang chimed in, "Taoist priest, look closely, there really is malevolent energy here?"

Master Qizhenzi held the Five Elements Compass in his hand and gestured for a while before confidently saying, "There is a strong evil aura in the due east direction of the courtyard."

Everyone looked at the direction he was pointing to, which was due east. Wasn't that Qingpuyuan?