Chapter 4 Replacement From today on, you will call me Miss

There is a plum forest on the back mountain, which was planted by Li's ancestors when they built the villa. Due to years of neglect, the forest is now overgrown with weeds.

But the plum trees are thriving and the flowers are still fragrant.

The three men carried the sacks through the weeds and stopped under the northernmost row of plum trees.

There was only one shovel, so they took turns digging the hole.

Zhang Xiuhua was the strongest and dug the longest by herself.

The moon hid in the clouds and the light became dimmer.

Raindrops fell from the branches and leaves, making a rustling sound.

It's raining, a light drizzle.

The three men didn't have time to dig a deeper pit, so they had to bury Li Shuli hastily.

Then they threw the shovel down the high hillside and returned together.

But before he walked out of Merlin, he suddenly saw two black shadows appearing about ten feet ahead.

Judging from their figures, it can be confirmed that they are two men.

Zhang Xiuhua and Chunlan were so frightened that they almost screamed out loud.

They were afraid of encountering bad guys, and even more afraid of being discovered by the bad guys that they were burying bodies.

Only Su He remained calm and looked at the other party seriously.

She couldn't see the other person's face through the hazy darkness and rain, but she could feel the murderous aura from them.

Su He asked tentatively, "I wonder why the two of you are here?"

The taller man stepped forward and asked, "Isn't the girl here too?"

She replied, "This is the Li family's plum forest."

"Excuse me, girl?"

"Li Shuli, the legitimate daughter of the Li family."

After hearing this, Zhang Xiuhua and Chunlan were both stunned.

The man was also startled, then clasped his fists and saluted: "I am Xie Wuhen, the Junior Official of the Dali Temple, and the man next to me is my long-time attendant, Wu Sheng. I am passing through here while investigating a case. I hope Miss Li will forgive me if I have disturbed you."

Wu Sheng also hurriedly clasped his fists and saluted.

It turned out to be the Shaoqing of Dali Temple. Su He's chest sank and he clenched his fists secretly.

Zhang Xiuhua and Chunlan were so nervous that they grabbed the corners of her clothes.

If this Shaoqing discovered that they were burying corpses, they would be beheaded.

Su He said, "It's no bother, please do as you please, sir."

The implication is naturally that each should go their separate ways.

Xie Wuhen was in no hurry to leave. "It's a cold rainy night. I wonder why Miss Li is here?"

It seems to be concern, but also like a question.

Su He replied, "It wasn't raining when I went out. Besides, it's not night time now, it should be early morning. I wanted to go out at dawn to collect some flower dew to make tea."

"So that's how it is." Xie Wuhen was also looking at her through the darkness. He seemed to see her messy and wet hair, the dirt on the corner of her skirt, and the bloodstains on her cuffs.

He then asked, "What about the flower dew that Miss Li picked?"

Su He's tone was full of embarrassment: "To be honest, I fell and spilled all the flower dew..."

Xie Wuhen paused, as if suddenly realizing something: "In that case, Miss Li should go back early to avoid getting soaked."

Su He bowed, then turned and left with Zhang Xiuhua and Chunlan.

After taking a few steps, Xie Wuhen called out "Miss Li" again.

Su He stopped and looked back.

In the darkness of the night, she still couldn't see Xie Wuhen's face clearly, she only saw the outline of his figure beside the plum tree. He looked much taller and straighter than an ordinary man.

Xie Wuhen said: "I will remember the kindness of 'a meal'."

"Why do you say that, sir?"

"Steamed buns on the mountain path!"

Su He was silent for a moment: "Your Excellency is too polite." Then he turned and left without looking back.

She killed someone and buried the body because of those steamed buns, but on the way to bury the body, she met a person who was grateful to her for those steamed buns, and this person was the Shaoqing of Dali Temple.

The incident was so absurd that she was unable to express it in words.

Wu Sheng watched the figure disappear into the night, feeling unwilling: "Isn't it said that Miss Li is a kind person? Why doesn't she invite the boss into the house to rest? Look, the rain is getting heavier."

Xie Wuhen glanced at him and said, "You're the only one who talks too much."

After saying this, he found a thicker canopy and sat down with difficulty. The rain was getting heavier, penetrating the branches, the soil, and the endless darkness, from a drizzle to a downpour.

A candle was still burning in the main room of the villa.

Zhang Xiuhua and Chunlan hunched over the table with their heads down, while Su He sat alone in front of the mirror.

The three of them were silent for a moment. The house was quiet, with only the sound of rain hitting the windowsill.

No one knows what will be waiting for them after dawn.

After a long while, Su He suddenly asked, "Chunlan, why did you take the blame for me in front of Li Shuli?"

Chunlan was stunned for a moment, then lowered her head and let out a long breath. "My mother died young, and my father was a gambler. We often had no food to eat. I remember when I was five, my father didn't come home for several days because he had run out of gambling money. I watched helplessly...watch my younger brother starve to death. When my father came back, he blamed me for his death and then...sold me to the Li family for two taels of silver."

She was choking with sobs and couldn't continue. After a while, she continued, "I think if there was a kind-hearted person like Sister Su who sent us some food, maybe my brother wouldn't have died, and maybe... I wouldn't have been sold, so..."

She started crying, and her shoulders shook.

Zhang Xiuhua patted her on the back to comfort her.

Su He said: "Chunlan, thank you."

Chunlan choked up and shook her head: "I should be thanking Sister Su. If it weren't for Sister Su today, I'm afraid I would have been beaten to death by Li Shuli."

"It's already so late, and you're still thanking me." Zhang Xiuhua sighed softly, "We don't know if we can survive after dawn." After saying that, she also began to wipe away her tears.

"We will definitely survive." Su He stood up in front of the mirror, walked to the wardrobe, took out a dress from Li Shuli and put it on herself. The size was just right.

She said, "From today on, you will call me Miss."

The two people at the table opened their mouths in shock.

Chunlan murmured, "Sister Su, are you really... going to pretend to be Li Shuli?"

Just now in Merlin, didn’t she tell the Shaoqing that she was Li Shuli?

Su He turned around in the open space and asked, "Why, doesn't it look like it?"

Zhang Xiuhua had stood up from the table and slowly walked towards Su He.

This is the little girl she has watched grow up since she was a child. She watched her grow from a lump of flesh into the graceful young lady she is today.

Under the orange candlelight, the girl had a slender figure and a pretty face. At first glance, she looked somewhat like Li Shuli, but upon closer inspection, she was more lively and beautiful than Li Shuli, and seemed to have grown into the appearance of her mother Su Xueer.

Zhang Xiuhua was stunned and murmured, "They're the same height, weight, and body type, but their faces..."

Su He immediately covered her face with a white scarf and said, "I will say I have boils and cannot show my true face for the time being. This way, I can hide it from the others in the house."

Zhang Xiuhua asked again: "What if someone asks where He He went..."

Su He replied: "Just say that I was so bold as to steal the steamed buns from the kitchen, and was betrayed by the young lady."

The room was silent for a moment.

In the desperate situation, there seems to be hope again.

Chunlan couldn't help but come over and asked, "Really... can it work?"

Su He said solemnly: "Even if it doesn't work, we have to create the conditions to make it work!"

She exuded an indomitable spirit, and seemed more like a master than her master Li Shuli.

Chunlan knelt down with a plop: "This servant is willing to follow the young lady."

Zhang Xiuhua couldn't help but feel her body weaken and she was about to kneel down. Su He immediately supported her and then helped Chunlan up. She said, "From now on, we will stick together through thick and thin."

The rain lasted for half a day, and the entire West Mountain was shrouded in a hazy fog.

The cold wind blew over from the opposite valley, making a series of "woooo" sounds, like the howling of ghosts and wolves.

The courtyard is still as quiet and cold as usual.

Apart from the few servants brought by Li Shuli, there was only one servant left in the courtyard who had been guarding the courtyard for many years, named Wang Gui.

No one noticed that Li Shuli was dead.

After Su He announced to others that she had contracted boils, Wang Gui came to the main room to ask whether he should help the young lady go to the city to find a doctor.

Chunlan went into the room to pass on the message as usual, and after a moment she came out to reply, "The young lady said that if you mention the doctor to her again, she will... tear your mouth apart."

Wang Gui was so frightened that he tensed up and retreated quickly.

Although he was not familiar with this Miss Li, he had heard some stories about her arrogance and domineering behavior. After interacting with her in recent days, he found that the rumors were indeed true. He decided to stay as far away from her as possible.

In the kitchen, Mrs. Zheng was washing rice while muttering, "Young lady has boils but refuses to see a doctor. What if she gets disfigured?"

Zhang Xiuhua, who was picking vegetables, glanced at her sideways: "You are just a kitchen maid, yet you are starting to worry about your master."

Mrs. Zheng replied, "I just think our young lady is still young and will get married sooner or later."

Zhang Xiuhua feigned vigilance as she glanced outside the room and lowered her voice, "To be honest, our young lady doesn't have any boils at all."

Mrs. Zheng was startled and hurried over to Zhang Xiuhua, asking, "Why does the young lady always cover her face with a handkerchief?"

Zhang Xiuhua snorted at her and deliberately kept silent.

"Why are you keeping me in suspense? Just tell me." Mrs. Zheng poked Zhang Xiuhua with her arm.

Zhang Xiuhua rolled her eyes: "It's all your fault."

Mrs. Zheng was puzzled: "Why blame me? I haven't even spoken to the young lady."

"If you hadn't complained that someone had stolen the steamed buns, the young lady wouldn't have argued with Su He. If there hadn't been an argument, the young lady's face wouldn't have been stabbed by Su He with a hairpin."

Mrs. Zheng was stunned. "Was she pricked with a hairpin? Like Chunlan?"

Zhang Xiuhua answered the question irrelevantly and continued picking vegetables: "Anyway, Su He has been sold out now. If the young lady gets angry one day, she will definitely not let you down."

When Mrs. Zheng heard this, she gasped and remained silent for a long time.

Mrs. Zheng soon received her "fruit".

At noon the next day, the young lady called her into the main room because the rice she cooked was too hard.

At that time, the young lady was sitting with her back to her in the rose chair in front of the window, like a giant Buddha.

It was cold in winter, but she felt that the young lady's back was even colder than the winter.

Mrs. Zheng knelt on her knees and called out "Miss" tremblingly.

The young lady did not respond to her, but Chunlan came forward and said, "From now on, you don't have to serve in the other courtyard anymore."

Mrs. Zheng's chest sank, realizing she was destined to be sold out like Su He. "Please, young lady, have mercy on me and allow me to earn a living here. Please, young lady, have mercy on me."

"It's no use begging for mercy." Chunlan interrupted her and put a document into her hand: "This is your indenture, keep it well."

When she heard the word "body contract", Mrs. Zheng stopped abruptly. Could it be that this was not a sale, but a release of slaves?

Before she could figure it out, Chunlan handed her another purse: "There are twenty taels of silver in it, enough for you to live on for a while, so take care of yourself."

When Mrs. Zheng walked out of the main room, she still felt like she had had a big dream.

He was clearly being punished, but it felt like he was being rewarded—he was inexplicably given his freedom and money.

As she walked down the stairs, she looked back again and again and said, "Miss, you are a good person."

Guards Jin An and Jin Shun at the bottom of the stairs looked confused when they heard this.

A few days later, Jin An and Jin Shun were also called into the main house.

They faced punishment because the wild cat broke into the main room and frightened the young lady.

The young lady, her face covered with a veil, sat at the head of the room and spoke slowly, "Do you all admit your mistakes?"

The young lady's voice seemed different from before, but the difference was not that big. Perhaps the boils had hurt her throat.

Jin An knelt down and replied, "It is my fault that I failed to protect you well. I hope you will forgive me, young lady."

Jin Shun echoed: "It is my fault for not protecting you well. I hope Miss will forgive me."

Su He winked at Chunlan.

Chunlan understood and stepped forward to hand over two documents: "This is your indenture."

Then he handed over two money bags and said, "This is money for your safety. You two can go now."

The two people kneeling on the ground were both dazed.

After leaving the room, Jin Shun was still confused. "Do you think Miss is punishing us or rewarding us?"

Jin An looked at the silver in his hand and answered irrelevantly: "Miss is a good person."

In the main room, Chunlan breathed a sigh of relief: "This way, Miss will no longer be restricted in the house."

Su He smiled and said nothing more, then turned around and went to the desk to grind ink and paint.

She learned painting from her mother when she was a child. Although she did not learn it very well, she was able to paint with great accuracy.

He continued painting like this for several hours, and was almost finished when Zhang Xiuhua brought him dinner.

While setting out the dishes, Zhang Xiuhua asked, "What did you draw, Miss?"

Su He picked up the rice paper and presented it to her.

Zhang Xiuhua looked up and suddenly felt a chill on her back, and the bowl and chopsticks in her hands fell to the ground with a thud.

Chunlan heard the noise and ran over. She looked at the picture on the paper and covered her mouth in fear.

Li Shuli's face was clearly drawn on the paper!

Zhang Xiuhua slowed down and said, "Why did you draw her, young lady? It's creepy."

Su He replied: "Aunt, I can't just be a fake Li Shuli."

"So what do you want?"

"I need to find someone to sculpt my bones into the image of the person in the painting, to be the real Li Shuli."