Chapter 34 Suicide (Bonus Chapter Thanks for the Lightning Throw) Thanks for the Lightning Throw...

Li Chenjin was met with silence.

The person who sat back down in the corner didn't even glance at her, as if they couldn't understand what she was saying at all.

“You don’t need to be so wary of me. You should be able to tell that I’m not from this place, nor am I one of Master Wu’s men. I come from the cultivation world, invited to eliminate evil spirits,” Li Chen said. “And I came here for two reasons: first, to see if you’re truly insane or just pretending; second, to rescue you from here. If you’re not insane, then I have a third reason. I want to know if that Miss Guo really committed suicide because she couldn’t think straight.”

“I know it’s hard for you to believe me, but I can’t waste any more time here. You can think of this as a gamble. After all, if you stay here, you’re doomed, but if you take a gamble, there’s a chance of survival. So, you might as well bet that I’m a good person.”

"..."

As Li Chen expected, she was met with silence.

However, she wasn't annoyed; she simply turned her gaze back to the storybook in her hand.

But the windows in this room were too small, and even though it was daytime, not much light came in, making it difficult to read the storybook. So she took out candles and candlesticks from her storage bag.

The moment the candlestick with the missing corner of its lotus base was placed on the table, the person in the corner suddenly screamed, covered their face, and retreated as if trying to shrink themselves into the wall.

Only after Li Chen lit the candle and inserted it into the candlestick, providing a faint light, did the person in the corner slowly lower their hand, revealing a gaunt face covered in cold sweat, as if they had just woken from a nightmare.

She stared blankly at the candlestick on the table until Li Chenjin had turned four or five pages of the storybook in his hand, then she suddenly murmured, "Miss...Miss...it didn't commit suicide...Miss didn't commit suicide...it didn't commit suicide..."

Seeing that she had spoken, Li Chen smiled, put the storybook in his hand on the table, and waved to her, saying, "Are you hungry or thirsty? I have some food and water here, come and have some."

This time, she didn't pretend not to understand, nor did she go crazy. Instead, she silently stood up and sat down at the table.

As she reached for the mung bean cake, she glanced up at Li Chenjin cautiously, as if trying to confirm whether it was truly for her.

Seeing that Li Chen smiled, picked up the storybook, and looked down at it without paying much attention to her, she grabbed the mung bean cake on the oiled paper and stuffed it into her mouth in big bites.

At the same time, he picked up the cup and poured water into his mouth. After drinking it all in one go, he still felt it wasn't enough, so he picked up the teapot on the table and poured it into his mouth.

After she finished one pot of wine, Li Chen would take out a new one. After she finished one serving of mung bean cake, he would take out new pastries. He would continue until she was too full to drink or eat anymore. Then he would stop taking things out of his storage bag and slowly turn the page of the storybook, as if waiting for her to digest it.

After she turned four or five more pages, she suddenly asked, "What's your name?"

“Little…Little Lian…” the maid replied, “I was sold into the Guo family when I was little, and I’ve long forgotten my surname…”

"You just said that Miss Guo did not commit suicide, so how did she die? And why did she die on her wedding night?" Li Chen asked.

As Li Chenjin spoke, Xiaolian's eyes gradually revealed deep fear.

Her gaze was fixed on the candlestick on the table, which emitted a soft glow, and her breathing became rapid and involuntarily rapid, the heavy breathing echoing throughout the room.

After a long silence, she finally answered, "Miss...Miss was...Miss was murdered...Murdered by this...Murdered by this thing...Murdered...Murdered...Murdered..."

Her expression suddenly became dazed, as if she were trapped in a nightmare with her eyes open. She kept repeating those few words, and her body began to tremble, causing the table to shake.

Only when Li Chen slapped the table, making a slight sound, did she seem to suddenly come back to her senses, gasping for breath, but the fear in her eyes only increased. "Wedding night...wedding night...Miss's wedding night...it's...it's because of me..."

Li Chen lifted his eyelids and looked at the person opposite him, a hint of interest in his eyes. "Because of you? Because of what?"

Xiaolian's lips moved a few times before she slowly said, "Because I... I heard... things that I shouldn't have heard..."

According to Xiaolian's recollection, Guo Hanyan was determined not to marry Young Master Wu. She even set up a scheme, waiting for the day when the lantern festival would arrive in town. She planned to secretly escape before leaving, no matter where she went, even if she died outside, it would be better than dying in this place.

Xiao Lian also knew about this. She had served Guo Hanyan since childhood and they were like sisters. Guo Hanyan would never hide anything from her, no matter who else she was hiding it from.

After learning of Guo Hanyan's idea, she decided to find a way to delay Guo Hanyan on the day she went out to see the lanterns, so as to prevent her from being discovered by the Guo family.

Therefore, they separated immediately after leaving the mansion.

Xiaolian had actually thought about what would happen to her if this matter were discovered: either she would be kicked out and sold off, or she would be beaten to death.

But at that time, she only hoped that Guo Hanyan could escape, and she was not afraid of anything. She would rather die than have Guo Hanyan marry that good-for-nothing Wu Gongzi who liked to visit brothels and drink wine, and who also kept several mistresses outside.

She just didn't expect that even though they had made so many preparations, Guo Hanyan was still found in the end.

Moreover, the time he was found was not honorable...

Guo Hanyan was found in a small alley, her clothes disheveled and her expression panicked, while Guo's guards were beating someone with sticks.

At that moment, Guo Hanyan's parents were also there, coldly watching her from the side. Even though she rushed over and hugged her immediately, she could feel Guo Hanyan's body trembling.

Later she learned that someone had informed the Guo family that Guo Hanyan was being molested in the alley. Master Guo was immediately shocked, but fortunately he arrived in time. Guo Hanyan's clothes were only torn, and the person did not have time to do anything, nor did any other people see anything.

But this place is not like the cultivation world. It's not that whoever does something wrong is automatically considered the wrongdoer. Even though Guo Hanyan was the victim, her innocence was valued too much in the town. Guo Hanyan was slapped twice by Master Guo and then dragged home, where she was forced to kneel in the ancestral hall for two days as punishment.

As Guo Hanyan's personal maid, she was naturally to be punished.

Even though Guo Hanyan defended her, saying that she wanted to buy a lantern from a certain shop, but there were too many people in line, so she asked Xiaolian to join the line while she went to browse around elsewhere, Xiaolian was still beaten more than a dozen times.

After that incident, even though the Guo family didn't know that Guo Hanyan had tried to escape that day, they still forbade them from going out to prevent similar incidents from happening again. Many more people were added around Guo Hanyan's courtyard, and from that day on, the two of them never found a chance to go out again.

They didn't have the chance to go out until their wedding day.

But looking back now, it would have been better if I had never had the chance to go out.

On that day, Guo Hanyan was forcibly stripped of her clothes by her stepmother and the maids of the mansion, put into a wedding dress, and then had her hands and feet tied before being stuffed into a bridal sedan chair.

She still remembers when they were getting married, two or three people stood behind Guo Hanyan, pressing down on her shoulders and head, forcing her to bow to heaven and earth with Young Master Wu.

The people around seemed oblivious to the fact that Guo Hanyan was being forced. They congratulated Master Wu and Young Master Wu and laughed heartily. The entire wedding hall was filled with joy and laughter. Apart from Xiao Lian, no one shed a tear for Guo Hanyan, not even Master Guo, who had once doted on her and wanted to leave all his property to her.

After Guo Hanyan was forcibly dragged and thrown into the bridal chamber, she seemed to suddenly lose all her spirit and resigned herself to her fate.

At that time, Xiaolian saw that Guo Hanyan had not eaten or drunk anything all day and was worried about her health, so she asked for directions to the kitchen, wanting to go to the small kitchen to make some of Guo Hanyan's favorite dishes and bring them to her.

On her way to deliver the food she had prepared to Guo Hanyan, she passed a courtyard and, through the wall, suddenly heard people talking inside.

She shouldn't have lingered, but one of the voices belonged to Young Master Wu and mentioned Guo Hanyan, so she couldn't help but stay and listen in.

Unexpectedly, it was precisely because of that extra time she listened that she heard so much...

Things they shouldn't have known...

"Back then...back when they started talking about the Lantern Festival, I sensed something was wrong. It was like a voice was telling me not to listen anymore, but...I just couldn't resist...so I just...hide there...and then...and then I heard...heard Young Master Wu thanking someone..."

Xiao Lian said in a daze, "I...I didn't see that person, but Young Master Wu said...thank you for pretending to molest you during the Lantern Festival..."

"He also said that he had already thought that if...if Miss still refused, he would spread the word about what happened to Miss during the Lantern Festival, saying that Miss had lost her innocence and that she would never be able to marry...and that the Guo family would never be able to hold their heads high again..."

"They...they talked about something else after that, but...but I couldn't bear to listen anymore...I ran back immediately. I...I didn't want to tell Miss about this. I know Miss's temperament; if she found out, this matter would definitely not end well, but...but..."

“But I can’t hide it, I can’t hide it… Miss noticed I had something on my mind, so she asked me, and then I… I… I told Miss about it…”

Her voice trembled more and more as she spoke, until her whole body began to shake, her jaw started to chatter, and she curled up into a ball, as if she were experiencing a strange, bone-chilling cold in the height of summer.

Li Chen said, "So after Miss Guo learned about this, she was so angry that she stabbed Young Master Wu with scissors when he entered the bridal chamber?"

"No, no!" Xiaolian immediately retorted, "Miss isn't that kind of person. She wouldn't attack Young Master Wu without asking first!"

"Miss...Miss only took action after Young Master Wu entered the bridal chamber and she inquired about the matter with him..."