25 Red Scar
◎Does it hurt?◎
It snowed all night last night.
Early in the morning, Shu Yao opened the door and a gust of cold wind blew in her face. She took a breath of cold air and shivered all over. She looked down at her thin clothes and felt helpless, so she wrapped her clothes tighter.
Last night she tossed and turned in bed, wondering how she could make money here. If they didn't make some money, she and Ji Shijing probably wouldn't be able to get through the winter, and would either starve to death or freeze to death. But how on earth could they make money in ancient times? She fell asleep while thinking about it, and still hadn't figured out any way to make money.
I walked to the well and prepared to fetch a bucket of water to heat it up for washing. As soon as I put the bucket down, I heard a "clang" sound, as if it hit something.
Shu Yao didn't care and continued to lower the rope. As she was lowering it, she finally realized something was wrong, so she stuck her head out to look down.
It was pitch black inside the well and nothing could be seen. The wooden barrel that was lowered into the well could not sink into the water, as if something was carrying it.
It was really strange. She pulled the rope, and the moment the barrel left the water, she finally saw the "thing" in the water.
Her pupils suddenly constricted, her knees bent uncontrollably, and she fell to the ground. Her face was pale, her lips slightly open, and a chilling fear spread throughout her body.
Sitting on the snow, she didn't feel cold at all.
It took her a long time to react. She mustered up the courage to move carefully to the mouth of the well again, suppressing the fear in her heart and looking down. She subconsciously clenched her palms, held her breath, and only glanced at it with the corner of her eyes. When she saw the "thing" again, she still took several steps back uncontrollably.
Then he hurried to knock on Ji Shijing's door.
After a while, Ji Shijing opened the door. He was only wearing a thin coat and leaning against the door. It seemed that he had not had time to tie up his hair, which was scattered vertically on his shoulders, blocking half of his expression. He lowered his eyes to look at her.
Shu Yao finally felt relieved when she saw him. She found her voice again and pointed to the well not far away, her words barely comprehensible: "A Jing, there is... there is... in the well."
"What's the matter?" he asked, while leisurely tying his hair with the hairband in his hand.
He waited for her answer.
Shu Yao didn't know what to say, so she pulled him to the well and said with a terrified look: "A Jing, there is something in the well." She motioned him to look down.
Ji Shijing looked indifferent. He leaned over and saw a swollen corpse soaking in the well. The body was submerged in water, with only the face floating out. It was vaguely visible that it was a woman's face. The face had been swollen by water, the facial features were squeezed together, and the complexion was dark and blue. At first glance, it was really scary.
He frowned and looked away after just a glance. His eyes were as calm as a pool without a single ripple.
Seeing that he looked normal, as if there was nothing in the well, Shu Yao thought she was dazzled. She looked into the well again and there was still someone in the well. She covered her eyes. Why did he not look afraid at all?
Ji Shijing looked at her. She was just a dead body. He didn't know what she was afraid of.
Shu Yao walked a few steps to the side, away from the well. She stood there anxiously. There was clearly no body in the well when she fetched water yesterday, so how come there was a body in the well today?
She asked carefully, "Ah Jing, should we notify the old lady and the others?"
Then, she quickly shook her head to deny her proposal. What if the old lady and the others turned the tables and said that they were the ones who killed the person in the well? She would have no place to complain.
"Why don't we go directly to the government office?" she thought for a moment and said.
Ji Shijing nodded and said that he had to find someone to fish the person out of the well.
But before they could go to the government office, the old lady and Guo Cuiping rushed in aggressively.
Today, a servant came to report that Ji Tianbao did not return to his yard last night, and until now, he still could not be found. The servant hurriedly told the old lady. When the old lady heard that her precious grandson was missing, she immediately became anxious. She quickly asked people to look for him, but there was still no trace of him.
The only place left to search is the North Courtyard.
When she thought of the conflict between Shu Yao and Ji Tianbao, she couldn't help but feel a pang of fear. She rushed to the north yard with Guo Cuiping, cursing, for fear that something might happen to her precious grandson.
A group of people broke into the yard. Shu Yao didn't have time to react. Guo Cuiping stepped forward and slapped her without saying a word, grinning: "You little bitch, where did you hide my son?"
Shu Yao tilted her head to one side, her mind went blank for a moment, but in just a moment, she reacted and slapped Guo Cuiping back hard. One slap was not enough, so she slapped Guo Cuiping again, making her hand slightly numb.
She is not a punching bag. If someone provokes her, she will definitely pay them back double.
Guo Cuiping was a little bit incredulous. She covered her swollen face and stared at her fiercely: "You dare to hit me? I am your aunt, you unfilial thing." As she said that, she wanted to scratch Shu Yao's face again.
Shu Yao reacted quickly and grabbed her flailing hand in time: "You slapped me for no reason, I'll slap you twice. This is called reciprocity, auntie, don't you think?"
She emphasized the four words "reciprocity".
Guo Cuiping was a little shocked by her aura, but when she thought about herself as an elder, how could she be afraid of a little girl? Then she raised her voice and said, "You must have hidden our Tianbao. If anything happens to him, I will not forgive you."
Shu Yao found it funny: "What does your Yaozu's disappearance have to do with me?"
Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, the old lady hit the cane and shouted: "Enough, stop quarreling."
Guo Cuiping retreated back to the old lady unconvinced.
The old lady narrowed her eyes and looked at Shu Yao and Ji Shijing. Finally, she half-squinted at Ji Shijing with her yellow and cloudy eyes and asked, "Did Tianbao come to your yard last night?"
Ji Shijing's eyes were fixed on the half of Shu Yao's face that was beaten red. After hearing the old lady's words, he slowly withdrew his gaze and stared at the well in front of him without saying a word.
The old lady followed his gaze and felt something was wrong. She was so scared that the crutch in her hand almost fell to the ground. She staggered to the well and looked down, but this one look almost cost her life.
"Oh, my Tianbao."
After howling, her eyes rolled back and she fell straight back. The old woman next to her quickly supported her.
When Guo Cuiping saw the old lady's reaction, her heart sank. She looked into the well nervously. Suddenly, she screamed "Ah" and her face was full of fear.
The old lady was having trouble catching her breath, and the maid next to her was frantically trying to help her catch her breath.
Guo Cuiping's face turned pale with fear. She kept shaking her head and muttering to herself: "No, no, the person in the well can't be Tianbao."
The old lady took a few deep breaths and finally calmed down. She quickly asked someone to fish the body out of the well.
Two strong men tied ropes around their waists and jumped into the icy well water to rescue the person.
The old lady turned to look at Shu Yao and Ji Shijing, her eyes filled with resentment: "If anything happens to my Tianbao, both of you will be buried with me."
Shu Yao licked her dry lips, feeling a pang of anger in her stomach. She stood on tiptoe, leaned closer to Ji Shijing, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "Ah Jing, have you noticed? No matter what bad things happen in the mansion, your grandmother always thinks it's us. We have it so hard."
Inexplicably became a scapegoat.
I'm just angry.
Ji Shijing looked at her cheeks that were puffed up with anger, and inexplicably wanted to laugh, but when he caught a glimpse of the marks of being beaten on her face, his eyes suddenly turned cold.
The two servants in the well finally fished the body out of the well.
The old lady and Guo Cuiping immediately came over.
Shu Yao was a little scared. She hid behind Ji Shijing and pulled the corner of his clothes to cover her view. She saw a female corpse with disheveled clothes lying on the ground. Her body was stiff and the exposed skin was a lifeless blue-gray color.
When the old lady and Guo Cuiping saw that it was not Ji Tianbao, they breathed a sigh of relief and returned to heaven from hell.
The old lady suddenly had an idea and turned to Shu Yao and Ji Shijing, saying in a very serious tone, "How could our Ji Mansion produce such evil people like you two? How dare you do such a heinous thing? I will hand you over to the government. I believe that the government will definitely eliminate this evil for the people."
"Madam, do you have any evidence to prove that we were the ones who harmed that woman?" Shu Yao was dissatisfied. Why should all the bad things fall on them?
The old lady smacked her lips twice, not caring much: "Everyone here can testify that you were the ones who killed him."
The servants nodded.
Shu Yao laughed in anger. There was a group of people living in this big house who were scarier than ghosts.
The old lady was feeling very proud, but at this moment, a faint rustling sound came from the abandoned pigsty nearby.
Everyone followed the sound and looked over.
Ji Tianbao got up from the pile of dry straw with a dizzy head. His clothes hung loosely on his body and there was saliva on his chest. He pounded his aching head with a very confused expression.
The old lady had the sharpest eyes. She walked quickly to Ji Tianbao and said, "My dear grandson, why are you here?"
Ji Tianbao was a little confused: "Grandma." As soon as he opened his mouth, he still smelled of alcohol.
Guo Cuiping also hurried forward and pulled Ji Tianbao to look up and down, left and right.
Ji Tianbao's mind finally became clearer. He looked around and was a little confused: "Why am I here?" He shook his head vigorously, and he couldn't remember clearly.
"Where is the woman from Zui Xiang Fang?" he asked.
The old lady was startled and immediately alert: "What woman?"
Ji Tianbao scratched his head: "It's the woman who came back with me last night. She has a mole on her left cheek."
He only remembered that after they were done, the woman said she was a little thirsty, so she went to scoop some water to drink. When he fell asleep, he saw a tall and thin figure standing next to the well. He couldn't remember anything else.
The old lady pointed at the female corpse lying on the ground. Ji Tianbao looked over, rubbed his eyes, and after seeing clearly, he was so scared that his legs went weak and he fell to the ground.
Guo Cuiping hurried to help.
He grabbed Guo Cuiping's hand, terrified: "Mom, how did she die? I didn't kill her, I didn't kill her." He even urinated, "She slipped and fell down by herself."
Guo Cuiping comforted him: "Don't be afraid, Tianbao, it's okay."
The old lady's face looked unhappy. She asked Ji Tianbao, "Did anyone see this girl when she came back with you yesterday?"
Ji Tianbao huddled in Guo Cuiping's arms: "A lot of people saw it, everyone saw it."
The old lady tightened her grip on her cane. She asked Guo Cuiping to take Ji Tianbao away first, then looked at the servants in the yard and threatened: "You didn't see anything that happened today. If anyone says anything nonsense, I will pull out his tongue."
Everyone lowered their heads and dared not speak.
The old lady asked two servants to roll the woman on the ground into a torn straw mat.
Finally, she stared at Shu Yao and Ji Shijing and snorted coldly. This time, she let them escape again. If no one had seen that woman coming back with Tianbao, she could have put the blame on Shu Yao.
But it’s no longer possible now. If Shu Yao is handed over to the government, Tianbao will definitely be implicated.
Now we can only spend money to settle the matter and pay a large sum of money to Zui Xiang Fang, hoping to cover up this matter.
After everyone left, Shu Yao sat on a small stool. She felt a little relieved now. The old lady probably wouldn't dare to report her and Ji Shijing to the government. After all, this matter was closely related to Ji Tianbao.
She stared at the well. Although she didn't know who the girl was or what her relationship with Ji Tianbao was, she still felt sorry for her.
But, did the girl really fall down by accident?
"Ajing, someone died here, are you scared?" The North Courtyard had become a haunted house, and she was still a little scared.
Ji Shijing stood beside her, curling his lips slightly. "Hasn't there been many deaths in this place?" He just didn't intend to tell her, after all, she was timid.
"Does it hurt?" His cold fingertips gently touched the red marks on her face.
"Ah?" Shu Yao obviously didn't expect him to ask this. "It doesn't hurt. Just apply some ice."
Ji Shijing didn't say anything else.
Last night, just as he was about to put out the candles and rest, a strange woman came in. When she saw him, her face flushed with shame and she spoke in a strangled voice, "Sir, I came to ask for a drink of water."
As she spoke, she deliberately leaned down, revealing her snow-white chest, and her hand with red nails touched his sleeve.
He suddenly smiled at her, and his smile bewitched the evil spirit in the candlelight.
The woman was bewildered.
…
Ji Shijing's gaze fell on the well again, and his deep eyes were filled with a captivating cold light.
After a long time, he sighed softly and turned back to the house.
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