Chapter 21 Children
Arriving at the backyard, Qiandeng tried his best to cheer himself up and walked around the pond under the high pavilion.
The small pavilion was built on a two-foot-high brick platform, facing water on three sides, and moss had grown between the bricks. The brick walls were smooth and flat, and at least two feet high, not to mention the difficulty of climbing, the moss on them was naturally intact, showing no signs of any recent climbing.
A few lotus flowers still bloomed in the pond. The water wasn't deep, but the bottom had accumulated thick silt over the years. Qiandeng walked around the edge of the pond, carefully examining it to ensure there wasn't a trace of mud.
No one ever came or went from the water.
She walked through the weeds, stepped onto the stone path between the grass, and looked forward.
Behind the flat lawn is a cluster of gardenias.
She remembered when she was young, on summer days with gentle breezes, her mother would hold her tiny hand, pick a gardenia for her, and then say, "Deng Deng, don't put your nose too close to the flower to smell it. There are little black bugs in the center of the flower."
The gardenia blooms so beautifully every year, and the rich fragrance still lingers by the water and permeates this farm full of beautiful memories.
But the person who reminded her of the little black bug has left this world forever.
She was filled with grief and raised her hands to cover her eyes. The dizziness and exhaustion made her efforts to hold on collapse. She could no longer hold on and squatted on the ground, breathing rapidly.
"County Princess, County Princess..." Uncle Kang hurried over to support her.
But Qiandeng could hear nothing. Overwhelming grief came over her. She bit her lower lip hard and buried her face deeply in her knees, drowning out all the sobs.
Qiandeng, remember the words of Prince Linhuai, remember the hatred, remember that you have to hold on to yourself, remember that you are the only one left in the Changhua Palace.
Only after she had overcome the trembling and sorrow and the darkness in front of her eyes gradually faded did Qiandeng raise her hands to support herself on the bluestone floor and barely stand up straight.
"I'm fine." She felt something as she clapped her hands and turned her palm to look.
When it was pressed to the ground just now, it was not only covered with mud and dust, but also had a few small gray-brown fragments stuck to it.
She took it down and looked at it in front of her eyes. She realized that it should be the bark of a pine tree. After it dried and broke, it floated lightly into her palm.
She looked down at the stone path. A few steps closer to the pond, there were some broken pine barks scattered between the stone slabs, as if they had just been knocked off the tree. They were of different sizes and scattered among the cracks in the stones.
However, her family usually came to the manor to escape the summer heat. Therefore, there were many summer trees and flowers in the manor, but trees like pine trees that did not wither in winter were not very interesting in summer, so they were not planted in the manor.
She took a deep breath, and though her voice was hoarse, it no longer trembled. "Uncle Kang, are there any pine trees in the village? Or... unpeeled pine wood?"
Kang Shu replied, "There are no pine trees, but there are pine logs. A while ago, the warehouse leaked, and the village got some pine logs to build a shelf. Now they've been used up and are still piled up in the warehouse."
"Warehouse? I'll go check it out later." Qiandeng said, calming himself down, walking across the grass and onto the corridor.
The top of the corridor is suspended in the air, while the bottom is connected to the rockery next to it.
Qiandeng sat down on the corridor and signaled Nanyu and Nanny Tian to answer him properly.
She pointed at the rockery with a gloomy face and asked Nan Yu, "I remember you said that you heard a noise on the rockery, a woman crying for her child, so you went over to take a look?"
Nan Yu's face was grim, but he couldn't swallow back the words that had just come out of his mouth. He could only nod and say, "Yes..."
Qian Deng turned to Aunt Tian again and asked in a deep voice, "Aunt Tian, did you hear that?"
Nanny Tian stood in front of her with her head down, hesitating and not daring to speak.
Qian Deng looked at her coldly and asked, "Why, is there anything in this world more serious than the charge of murdering Madam Qi that makes you hesitate?"
Nanny Tian trembled all over and kowtowed repeatedly on the ground, tears streaming down her face: "This old slave deserves to die. This old slave heard... heard it."
Qian Deng slammed his palm against the corridor pillar and gritted his teeth, "Tell me exactly what happened last night. Don't hide anything!"
“Yes, yes…”
The corner gate was broken open from the inside and the rebel army rushed in.
The two guards with Nan Yu were from the Eastern Palace after all. After realizing that the unrest outside might affect the prince, they immediately went outside to help.
Qiandeng heard the noise and went to the front yard to check, and asked Nanyu and Nanny Tian to protect the lady.
Nanny Tian was watching over the lady in the room. Seeing that she was full of worry, she spoke to her to comfort her. However, in this situation, the two of them exchanged a few dry words and fell silent for a while.
In this dark night, they heard shouting from outside, mixed with a hint of crying.
Madam grabbed Nanny Tian's hand and asked her nervously, "Nanny Tian, did you hear any noise?"
In the darkness, a sharp, distorted voice could be vaguely heard, crying out in a ghostly voice: "My child, my child and I died so tragically..."
Nanny Tian felt goosebumps all over her body. Afraid that a bright light would attract the enemy, only a dim oil lamp was lit in the room. Now, a breeze leaked in through the crack in the door, causing the light to flicker and appear even more terrifying.
"That sounds like a woman's voice, definitely not a rioting army." The lady listened, trying to calm herself down. "Our village has always been peaceful, how could there be a woman crying for a child? Go and see if some maid or servant has been wronged."
Nanny Tian agreed and walked out of the door trembling. Suddenly, she saw a few ghost lights flying past.
She was so frightened that she waved her hands around, and in panic she stumbled backwards and fell into the next room. Only then did she see that the ghostly lights were actually a few fireflies.
Hearing the faint sounds of fighting coming from the front yard, mixed with the cries of ghosts and the rustling of fireflies, she dared not go out. She just collapsed in the ear room, kowtowing to the gods and praying for their protection, not daring to go out.
At this time, Nan Yu was guarding the corridor alone, listening to the intermittent sounds in the dark night, whose source could not be identified, and panic surged in his heart.
He held his breath and listened to the strange sound.
The sound disappeared, and there was only silence in the dark night.
There was water all around and no one was in the corridor. This ghostly person must be hiding on the rockery beside the corridor.
"Hmph, I finally get to be the son-in-law of the royal palace and marry the Princess of Lingling County. No matter whether you are a human or a ghost, who dares to stop me from doing good things!" Nan Yu became ruthless, holding the bow and arrow in his left hand, grabbed the hatchet distributed by the village in his right hand, and stepped into the rockery.
In the water pavilion above, Nanny Tian, who was praying to Buddha with her head in her hands in the ear room, also noticed that the ghost screams outside had stopped.
She was trembling and listening carefully when she suddenly heard a cry outside the door, followed by the sound of a body falling heavily to the ground.
Nanny Tian leaned over the threshold of the side room and looked out, only to see the lady fall to the ground, her body illuminated by the lantern that had fallen beside her.
There was an arrow stuck in her heart, and it was shaking violently with the pain in her body.
Nanny Tian was so frightened that she could hardly breathe. She crawled out of the side room and rushed to the side of the lady. As soon as she hugged her, the lady shuddered violently and vomited. Nanny Tian's hands were warm and sticky.
She saw large amounts of blood gushing out of the lady's mouth and nose.
Aunt Tian screamed in the darkness, "Madam! Help! Someone come!"
Nan Yu, who was hacking around with an axe in the rockery, looking for someone pretending to be a ghost, heard screams from the pavilion above.
He was startled, and cold sweat immediately broke out on his back. The ghostly screams that had just thrown him into confusion were immediately thrown out of his mind. He remembered that he was ordered to guard this place and protect his wife.
He immediately turned around and ran towards the corridor.
However, although the rockery was not big, the road on it was winding and rugged. By the time he groped his way to the corridor, the county lord had already led her men over.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com