Zhao Jingning hurriedly said, "Master, this is my cousin. We came to the temple to fulfill a vow. Just now we saw a... a little stray cat enter the house. My cousin has loved kittens since she was little, so she wanted to look for it and that's how she accidentally entered the house. Please forgive her, Master."
After Zhao Jingning finished speaking, she gave Xing'er a wink. Xing'er cleverly took out a bag of silver and stuffed it into the Taoist priest's arms, saying, "Taoist priest, my young lady invites everyone to have a cup of tea."
The Taoist priest weighed the heavy money bag in his hand, his expression softening considerably. "You must leave quickly. If anyone asks, do not say you have been here."
Zhao Jingning was somewhat puzzled. "Daoist Master, I don't see anyone living here. Why can't we come?"
The Taoist waved his hand, "There's no need for so many questions. You should leave now. Remember, you've never been here before."
Zhao Jingning and Su Ruojin exchanged a glance, said nothing more, and quickly left.
The Taoist priest watched the girls leave and breathed a sigh of relief. He turned back to the other three and said, "Remember, no one but us came here today."
"Understood, senior brother," the other three replied in unison, their eyes all fixed on the money bag in the Taoist's hand.
Everyone in the Taoist temple knew that Miss Zhao was very generous; this big bag of silver must have been quite a lot.
The Taoist priest opened the silver bag and distributed it to the three men, reminding them again, "Don't forget what I said, or the abbot will not forgive us."
The three of them knew the seriousness of the matter and hurriedly nodded in agreement.
Today it was the four of them's turn to guard the forbidden area, but the place was too remote and hardly anyone ever came. The four of them took a break and went to sleep. When they came back, they were terrified to see Zhao Jingning and Su Ruojin.
Fortunately, they knew Miss Zhao, but she was just a young lady from a sheltered family who must have wandered in by mistake and nothing serious happened.
However, after this incident, the four dared not be negligent again and guarded the place diligently.
Back inside, Zhao Jingning quickly pulled Su Ruojin aside and asked, "Sister Jin, have you found anything?"
Su Ruojin shook her head. "It does look like a place that has been uninhabited for a long time."
Zhao Jingning asked in confusion, "Why would someone be sent to guard a place that no one lives in? And when the Taoist priest saw you come out of the house, he seemed a little flustered."
Zhao Jingning also noticed something was wrong. If the house was uninhabited, it would just be left deserted, so what was there to be nervous about?
"The room was like an ordinary quiet room, and it looked like no one had lived there for a long time. Everything inside was covered in dust, but the area under the bed in the third room was relatively clean."
Su Ruojin glanced at it earlier and felt something was wrong, but then she realized that it was because the area under the bed was too clean.
It's not that there wasn't a speck of dust under the bed, but compared to the other two rooms, the dust there was quite clean.
This only means that someone cleaned under the bed, but why would someone clean under the bed in an uninhabited room?
"I'll go check on it tonight," Su Ruojin said.
“I’ll go too,” Zhao Jingning said quickly.
"No, it's too dangerous." Su Ruojin wasn't sure what the situation was, so she didn't dare take Zhao Jingning on a risky trip. What if something happened to her? How would she explain it to her great-uncle?
"Jin-meimei, please, please take me with you. I'll be scared if I stay in the house alone. Don't worry, I won't make a sound if I see any rats." Zhao Jingning looked at Su Ruojin with pleading eyes.
"Then you have to stick close to me." Su Ruojin really couldn't refuse her cousin's gaze, which was like that of a kitten.
Oh well, I guess I'll just bring it along and keep an eye on it myself.
As night fell, Su Ruojin, Zhao Jingning, and Yan Luo changed into their night clothes.
Su Ruojin first gave Zhao Jingning and Yan Luo the antidote, which would be enough to deal with most poisons. Then she gave each of them a dagger and hid it in their boots.
After everything was settled, the three of them quietly left the quiet room.
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