On the day of the Ghost Festival, all government offices in the Great Zhou Dynasty were closed, and civil and military officials did not need to attend court.
Shen Zhixiu got up and changed his clothes. As soon as he walked out of the main room, Wenzhu came forward to report.
"Third Master, the people I sent to investigate the Second Prince are back."
"The Second Prince was originally scheduled to arrive in Beijing at the end of June, but later fell ill in Jinyang Prefecture and has been recuperating there ever since. What is certain now is that the Second Prince is not in Jinyang and must have gone south."
Shen Zhixiu was not surprised, but said: "If those things were investigated by the Second Prince himself, it would not be surprising."
Wen Zhu asked again, "Then what should we do? Should we expose the fact that the Second Prince is not in Jinyang?"
Shen Zhixiu shook his head, his expression stern, "No need, we just need to wait for the Second Prince to return to the capital."
When Su Qingyu went out, she saw Shen Zhixiu talking to Wen Zhu in the corridor, and his face looked unhappy.
She stepped forward and asked, "But what happened?"
Shen Zhixiu's previously cold expression softened a lot in an instant.
He waved his hand to signal Wen Zhu to go down first, then turned to Su Qingyu and explained, "The people below didn't do their job properly, and it has been dealt with."
He looked at Su Qingyu's outfit again and asked, "Are you going out?"
Su Qingyu glared at him, "Third Master, you forgot that today is the Ghost Festival. I have to accompany Shen Yue to the Huguo Temple."
Shen Zhixiu slapped his forehead. He had been so busy these days that he had actually forgotten about this matter.
"You are pregnant, and there are many people in Huguo Temple today. I'm afraid it's not safe."
The capital was currently in turmoil, and the situation was treacherous. With so many eyes on the Shen family, he wasn't afraid of anything else but someone else messing with Su Qingyu. Especially since she was pregnant, he couldn't afford to scare or frighten her.
Su Qingyu also knew Shen Zhixiu's concerns and explained, "Originally, I didn't plan to go. I wanted to ask my second sister-in-law to accompany Shen Yue. But my second sister-in-law caught a cold yesterday, so she couldn't go."
"I'm worried about letting Shen Yue go alone, so let's not stay long and come back after we're done."
"Besides, Jiang Qi is with his men, and Feicui is also good at martial arts, so I will pay more attention to him."
Today, the Shen family will hold a sacrifice at the ancestral hall, and Su Yuanzhou will also return to the Su family to offer sacrifices. Shen Yue will go to the Huguo Temple to light a perpetual lantern for her parents and brother.
Shen Zhixiu didn't say anything more after hearing this, but before Su Qingyu left, he personally instructed Jiang Qi to put the safety of his wife and the third lady first.
After breakfast, Su Qingyu led her people out of the house. She first went to Prince Ning's house to pick up Shen Yue, and the two of them took a car to the Huguo Temple.
The car was covered with a thick mat, the tea was replaced with warm water, and there were several boxes of snacks.
Jiang Qi drove the carriage himself, even going much slower than usual, fearing that the bumpy ride would injure his wife.
Shen Yue looked at the bustling street market outside and teased, "Is my Third Uncle holding you in his hands for fear of dropping you, or holding you in his mouth for fear of melting you?"
Su Qingyu didn't feel shy at Shen Yue's words, but smiled brightly. Shen Zhixiu really cared about her. She subconsciously touched her belly and suddenly began to look forward to the day when the three of them would be reunited.
Along the way, Shen Yue kept an eye on Su Qingyu, worried that she was uncomfortable, thirsty, and hungry.
Fortunately, Su Qingyu's morning sickness was not serious. She only retched when passing by a bun stall and had no other reaction.
The carriage soon arrived at Huguo Temple, and everyone went to the courtyard they had reserved in advance to settle down. Afterwards, Su Qingyu and Shen Yue went to light the eternal lamp for Shen Zhiheng's family and gave them incense money.
Because they left home late and walked slowly, it was noon when they finished these things.
Several maids brought vegetarian food to the room, including a few light vegetarian dishes and a bowl of soy milk for each person.
The Huguo Temple uses mountain spring water, the vegetables are grown by the monks themselves in the back mountain, and the tofu is made fresh every day.
Shen Yue took a sip of the soy milk and then drank two big mouthfuls in succession.
Then he turned to Qiu Tong and said, "When you leave, take two buckets of soy milk back with you."
Su Qingyu smiled and said, "We can't just take soy milk. We also need to bring some tofu back when we leave."
The old lady liked the tofu from Huguo Temple, and Su Qingyu often sent people to buy it.
However, not many people brought tofu and soy milk back from Huguo Temple. Most people brought mountain spring water back to make tea.
After lunch, Su Qingyu asked Chen Yue, "Do you want to go out for a walk? There's a small stall in front, and there's a peach forest in the back, where do you want to go?"
It was rare for Chen Yue to come out to observe mourning, so Su Qingyu wanted to let her relax.
Unexpectedly, Shen Yue shook her head and said, "It's better to go back early so that your family won't worry about you."
When they went out today, Su Yuanzhou specifically reminded her that the capital was not peaceful and asked them not to stay outside for too long.
Shen Yue was really afraid that something might happen to Su Qingyu, so she wanted to go back early.
Su Qingyu said, "Then let's go to the tofu making place in the back and take a look, and bring some soy milk and tofu back."
Shen Yue had never seen tofu being made before, so she stood up with great interest.
After leaving the courtyard and passing through the peach grove, they came upon a row of side houses, smoke still rising from the chimneys. Several young monks were busy at the door, occasionally wiping their sweat from their sleeves.
Not far away is the outlet of mountain spring water. Many people are queuing up to fill their water, preparing to take it away.
After taking a few steps out of the peach forest, Su Qingyu suddenly stopped.
Shen Yue didn't understand what was going on, so she followed Su Qingyu's gaze.
Not far away, Li Chaoyun was standing by the spring with a bad look on his face.
Shen Yue muttered, "Why is she here too? What bad luck."
Su Qingyu said casually, "Maybe I've done too many bad things, so the ghost knocked on my door in the middle of the night and I came to ask for Buddha's blessing."
Shen Yue snorted, "With someone like her, even Buddha wouldn't bless her."
In fact, neither of them knew that Li Chaoyun had really encountered a ghost, and the ghost was played by Su Yuanzhou.
At this moment, Li Chaoyun was thinking about Master Ci'en's words in his heart, and waiting for Danju to fill the mountain spring water.
Danju finished filling the water bottle and walked towards Li Chaoyun, saying, "Miss, everything is ready. We can go back now."
At this time, not far behind her, a burly monk who walked with a slight limp was carrying two buckets of water and walking towards the tofu shop.
Originally, the two of them were walking separately, with little interaction. But Danju was walking so fast that she didn't notice a rock on the ground. Her skirt caught on it, and she nearly fell forward. After finally stabilizing herself, Danju, furious, kicked the rock back behind her.
She didn't pay attention to what was behind her, and the stone hit the monk's leg directly.
The monk's legs were already weak, and after being hit by the stone, he staggered and almost fell.
The buckets at both ends of the carrying pole also tilted with his movement and spilled out.
Half a bucket of water was spilled on the skirts of Li Chaoyun and several maids.
Li Chaoyun was already irritable today, and after being splashed with water, he could no longer control his anger.
He cursed coldly: "Are you blind?"
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