That night, Dushan had a nightmare, and her heart-wrenching screams woke up everyone in the house.
"There's a woman, there's a woman, she's wearing a white dress, standing right there in front of the mirror..."
Standing in the corridor, Xu Keke heard Du Shan's sobbing. She immediately recognized the woman she was referring to as the woman in the photograph of the original owner's mother in Du Bingtian's study.
When Xu Ke saw Lin Meijuan, she was wearing an apricot-colored silk robe, which made her face appear even paler. She looked much more haggard than she had in just one day. Because she wasn't thin to begin with, and her face was somewhat swollen, she didn't give off a pitiful or delicate impression.
Instead, she seemed like a resentful woman.
Before going to bed that night, Xu Keke casually flipped through the red-covered diary. To her surprise, she saw Lin Meijuan's name inside.
Because I was just flipping through it casually, I noticed that Lin Meijuan's name started appearing frequently around two-thirds of the way through the diary.
The original owner's mother described her as a quiet and gentle girl. She would occasionally comment on the Du family chef's skills, presumably because the original owner's mother would bring her a meal when she delivered food to Du Bingtian.
Xu Keke recalled the last part she watched.
"Meijuan is right, the shrimp didn't taste as fresh and sweet today. But I don't want to dampen the cook's enthusiasm, so I don't plan to bring it up with her. I'll wait for the right opportunity."
"What are you looking at?" Lin Meijuan asked hoarsely, standing in the soft light of the corridor.
Du Bingtian came out of the third concubine's room, his clothes disheveled, clearly thrown on in a hurry. Xu Keke glanced at the expression on his face, then looked away and looked at Lin Meijuan.
"If she's scared, we should find someone to take a look at her. I heard that the Taoist priest at Miaojin Temple in the south is very good at... exorcising ghosts."
Xu Keke deliberately paused before saying the last two words. She wanted to scare Lin Meijuan, because Lin Meijuan was in a bad mood that evening.
Du Yuan was only a few months younger than the original owner of this body. Lin Meijuan had already started an affair with Du Bingtian while the original owner's mother was still alive. Taking away a scumbag was no big deal to Xu Keke. He was just trash, something that should have been thrown away anyway; whoever wanted to pick him up could have him.
However, Lin Meijuan harbored ill intentions towards the original owner from the very beginning, which is a bit excessive.
"What nonsense are you spouting! What are you saying?" Lin Meijuan was furious. Her fists clenched, she stared intently at Xu Keke. Xu Keke couldn't quite put her finger on what else was mixed in with that look besides resentment.
Fearing that Lin Meijuan might hurt Xu Keke, Du Bingtian reluctantly stepped between the two. He glared at Lin Meijuan before speaking gently to Xu Keke, "Ajin, it's so late, you should go back and rest. Mr. Li is coming tomorrow."
Xu Keke almost burst out laughing. Li Dakang came in the afternoon, not early in the morning.
But Du Bingtian was right about one thing: it was too late. She had just read that diary, which recorded a woman's life, family, and lover in detail, like a clear spring flowing gently by.
Seeing these two people now only makes her feel disgusted.
Xu Keke glanced coldly at the two of them, then turned and went back into the house.
It's unclear how Du Bingtian communicated with Lin Meijuan that night, or if Lin Meijuan came to some realization. The next morning, Xu Keke saw Lin Meijuan at the breakfast table.
She was fidgeting, having already spilled a cup of coffee. Her head was turned to one side, her eyes deliberately avoiding looking towards the small living room, as if there really was something terrifying there.
Before she had finished her meal, an old woman came in to deliver a message, asking if she could go to the teahouse in Osmanthus Lane now.
"Who brought the message?" Xu Keke asked.
"He was a young man; he left right after he finished speaking."
When Du Bingtian asked her what was wrong, Xu Keke gave an evasive answer, saying that she had asked the teahouse to help her buy some tea.
Knowing that Xu Keke was going, Du Bingtian readily expressed his opposition, saying, "Mr. Li is coming today, how can you not be home?"
Xu Keke assured him confidently that she would be back before noon. Du Bingtian was furious at her disobedience. He tried to get others to join him in opposing Xu Keke's decision.
This time, everyone else in the family sided with Xu Keke. Everyone believed that at this time, Xu Keke would have plenty of time to make it out of the city, let alone stay in it.
“It’s okay if we come back a little late, we’re all here and we’ll explain for our eldest sister,” Du Yuan said considerately.
This was the first time that no one in the Du family stood by him. This angered Du Bingtian, who felt his authority in the family had been challenged.
Helpless yet furious, he pointed at Xu Keke and said, "You'd better come back right now."
Despite his good wishes, Xu Keke really didn't make it back in time.
Xu Keke arrived at Osmanthus Lane in a rickshaw. Surprisingly, the lane was deserted, just like during the day.
Xu Kexin walked into the alley, initially worried that the teahouse wouldn't be open so early. She was wrong; from afar, she could see the teahouse's doors were wide open.
By the time Xu Keke realized something was wrong, it was too late. What Xu Keke deeply regretted afterwards was that during their arrest, she tried to resist and even fought back.
Looking at the man I met at the shooting range that day, I heard him say, "I'm so sorry! I thought Miss Du was only good at shooting, but I didn't expect her to be so skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well. She injured six of my men and broke the arms of three others. If I hadn't arrived in time, you probably would have killed them all to silence them."
He was right. Xu Keke was holding two guns at the time, but she chickened out when faced with a row of heavy machine guns.
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