The next morning, Luo Chentian had just returned from court when he sent someone to summon Luo Jiu to the ancestral hall.
At that moment, Luo Jiu was lying idly in a chair, preparing to take a nap, and was still completely bewildered when she was woken up. Her adoptive father had been making quite a few appearances lately.
On the way there, Luo Jiu kept thinking about whether she had done anything bad recently, after all, when you're under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head.
Thinking about it carefully, it seems that she only teased Luo Shuang'er, made Jin Shi furious and helpless, and also taught his arrogant concubine a lesson...
That's all... just an ordinary power struggle within a family, nothing to do with his grand future and ambitions. With that thought, Luo Jiu felt relieved.
After Luo Chentian became wealthy and powerful, he built a Luo family ancestral hall. In order to show off the prosperity of his family, he insisted on inviting the ancestral tablets of all relatives who were even remotely related to the Luo family.
In the spacious and desolate main hall, dozens of ancestors were enshrined. White candles burned on the offering table, and the air was filled with the smoky aroma of incense.
As soon as Luo Jiu stepped into the ancestral hall, she heard the door close. The atmosphere instantly became extremely oppressive, as if two hands were tightly gripping Luo Jiu's neck, making it hard to breathe.
She tried to open her eyes wide, but found only darkness; the faint white light that had been there had vanished. Once again plunged into darkness, Luo Jiu felt a sudden, involuntary panic.
Hearing the commotion, Luo Chentian, who was facing the memorial tablet, saw Luo Jiu standing still and unwilling to move, and anger flashed in his eyes.
"You unfilial son, get over here!"
Hearing voices, Luo Jiu inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief. At least there were still people around. If she had been locked in a pitch-black environment, without a single ray of light or a trace of human presence, Luo Jiu probably would have gone insane.
Luo Jiu moved forward slowly, when suddenly, her hind leg was struck by a ruler, and she knelt on the ground with a thud.
"You..." Are you out of your mind?!
She looked up at Luo Chentian in disbelief. Had this man gone mad?
Luo Chentian still seemed unsatisfied and shouted sternly, "You unfilial son!"
"What kind of bewitching potion did you give Liang Ye, making him so dizzy and confused? He actually went to ask the Emperor to grant him a marriage? Has my Luo family wronged you? Are you so eager to leave?"
After hearing this, Luo Jiu looked completely bewildered, raising her head to look at Luo Chentian in confusion. "Who am I? Where am I?"
Luo Chentian casually grabbed Luo Jiu's chin, "Stop pretending to be innocent! With that face, just how many men have you seduced!"
After saying that, he pushed Luo Jiu to the ground. "You better reflect on your actions before our ancestors."
Luo Jiu heard him flick his robe and leave, the ancient wooden door closing again with a deep, resonant sound.
This was Luo Jiu's first time visiting the ancestral hall since she transmigrated, and the original owner of this body must have rarely been here either. She thought about it and realized that as a blind person, her chances of escaping from here were less than ten percent. She was also very likely to knock over the candlesticks, and if she wasn't careful, she would be reduced to dust in the ancestral hall and among the memorial tablets.
He immediately abandoned his idea of escaping.
Luo Jiu didn't know how long she had stayed in the ancestral hall. There was no ticking of a clock, no whistling of the wind through the forest, and no warm feeling of the sun shining on her.
Everything was so quiet and dull that Luo Jiu could no longer feel the passage of time.
Luo Jiu was awakened by a wave of hunger. She pulled her robe tighter around her, feeling even more chilly. All around was still quiet; those novel plots where the heroine is imprisoned and the hero falls from the sky are all lies!
At this moment, Luo Jiu was both hungry and cold, and missed the pastries Jin Xia had made and her soft, cozy bed terribly.
"Is anyone there...?"
Luo Jiu struggled weakly for a moment, then suddenly covered her mouth. She thought to herself:
Let's not shout anymore. What if we don't attract anyone but instead summon a ghost? Wouldn't that mean we'd have to go to hell again?
The silver candles flickered with red light. Suddenly, a strong wind blew outside the window, rustling the leaves. Luo Jiu unconsciously grabbed a table leg and curled herself up into a ball.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of the wooden door being opened. Even though Luo Jiu knew she couldn't see, she still nervously closed her eyes.
The footsteps approached Luo Jiu, one after another, each sound seeming to dance in Luo Jiu's heart, causing her heart to beat faster involuntarily, as if it were about to burst...
"Wait! You... are you a human or a ghost?"
The newcomer stopped in front of Luo Jiu, and upon hearing these words, let out a soft laugh.
Hearing the sound, Luo Jiu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Thankfully…
She recognized Xiao Zhuo's voice, slowly peeked out from under the table, stretched out a hand and asked, "Where are you?"
Perhaps it was because she had been locked up for so long, but there was an unconscious hint of grievance in her voice, making one want to hold her in their arms and comfort her gently.
Xiao Zhuo felt a tickle in his heart, not painful, but itchy. He unconsciously reached out his hand.
Luo Jiu felt the warmth and immediately gripped it tightly. It was firm, without the slightest gap. Like a person adrift in the deep sea, clinging tightly to a piece of driftwood.
"Why are you taking so long to get here...?"
Luo Jiu ate the flatbread and steamed buns that Xiao Zhuo had brought, wolfing them down as if she wanted to make up for all the food she had eaten that day, completely unaware of how ambiguous her words were.
Xiao Zhuo smiled and occasionally handed over a pot of water, saying gently, "Eat slowly."
"I just got back and went to your room to check, but there was no one there. I had no idea you were locked up here."
After saying that, Xiao Zhuo patted Luo Jiu's head and teased, "Who is so cruel as to make my little wife look like this? She's so thin from hunger."
"Tell your husband, and he'll help you get revenge!"
"yes……"
Luo Jiu was about to reply when she realized that this man was taking advantage of her all the time. "Husband"? How dare he say that? He really has a lot of nerve!
Luo Jiu pondered for two seconds, then slapped away the hand that was playing with her head and sneered at Xiao Zhuo, "Husband? How come I didn't know?"
"Oh, have you forgotten?" Xiao Zhuo was about to tease her when he noticed Luo Jiu's furious expression, as if she was ready to be torn to pieces at any moment. He chuckled dryly and touched his nose.
"Come on, have some water and calm down!"
He handed a pot of water to Luo Jiu in a fawning manner and fed her a sip.
Luo Jiu held the smooth surface of the kettle and wondered for a moment, "Where did this water come from?"
"Hey, it's on the platform in front of you."
Upon hearing this, Luo Jiu wanted to punch him. The tea served hadn't been changed in who knows how long. Her obsessive-compulsive disorder kicked in, and she felt like vomiting it all on Xiao Zhuo.
Seeing Luo Jiu's expression of deep disgust, as if she wanted to vomit her own intestines, he chuckled softly.
"Okay, I just took it from the kitchen."
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