Dreaming
When Shen Yun came to her senses, they were already walking towards the South Courtyard. She stared at them blankly without stopping them.
After hesitating for a moment, she walked towards the north courtyard.
If Yu Heyi were here, he would be shocked to see Madam Shen.
When they first met, she was adorned with gold and silver, looking extremely vulgar. But now, all her gold, silver, and jewels had been taken away by the servants. Her once rosy face was now haggard, even with heavy rouge on, it couldn't hide her haggard appearance.
"Mother." Shen Yun said softly, "They really have no reason to kill Dad."
"What reason do you need to kill someone? Maybe they got mad because the master kept accusing them of fraud, so they decided to kill the master!"
"What about my younger brother? Isn't Mother going to bring him to the North Courtyard?"
"Your brother is a lunatic!"
After Shen Xu's death, Mrs. Shen never cared about the insane Shen Xu again, as if he was not her biological son, but a tool she used to gain status.
She insisted that they were the ones who killed Shen Yu, and no one could pull them back.
Shen Yun sighed and looked out the window.
They... it's also good to take Chen Xu away. In the entire Shen Mansion, except for her who would sneak into the South Courtyard to bring him some food, no one else would set foot in the South Courtyard.
When Mrs. Shen found out, she even became angry and forbade her to go to the South Courtyard again.
The lights in the south yard were still on, the lavender had been trampled on, and the entire yard was in a mess.
Chen Xu sat on the steps outside the house, drooling from the corners of his mouth and a stupid look in his eyes.
Yu Heyi's expression was complicated, and he couldn't help asking, "Do you think his illness can be cured?"
Seeing Wanqi Si shaking his head, she changed the subject.
"For Madam Shen, now that Shen Yu is dead, Shen Xu is of no use to her, not to mention he's a lunatic with unclear mind. He probably won't survive in the Shen Mansion. Why not take him to Yong'an Temple and let Baoqiu take care of him?"
She took out a brand new handkerchief and gently wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth.
No one objected.
To the Shen family, Shen Xu was a burden, and no one complained when they took Shen Xu away.
Instead, Madam Shen took a basin of cold water and poured it on their backs, muttering, “Murderer!”
The basin of water did not fall on them in the end, but was silently blocked by Shen Yun.
Looking at their backs as they left, she understood the situation of the Shen family and her mother's thoughts.
She shed tears as she grew distant from her brother.
Chen Xu was so dirty that Yu Heyi and Wanqi Si were unwilling to hug him.
So this task was given to Mi Xiu.
"Chen Xu, what did you see in the back garden that day?"
Yu Heyi spoke gently.
"Sword... Duan..." Chen Xu stammered, "Someone..."
Wanqi Si: "What bullshit is he talking about?"
"Could it be that the demons and Shen Yu were using swords to injure people and he saw them?"
"He looks so stupid, we can't expect him to provide any clues. Let's send him to Yong'an Temple first. Don't forget that we still have something to investigate."
She turned her face away and kicked the stones on the ground.
For several days, the three of them went to all the temple fairs in Yandong, but no one had ever seen the clay dolls they described.
Could it be that Xu had gone to the temple fair outside Yandong?
Mi Xiu sat on the ground in frustration, his hands on his knees. "It's not like the clay doll just appeared out of thin air, but no one I asked said they'd ever seen one. Where are we going to find it?"
Wanqi Si kicked him on the butt.
The investigation reached a deadlock, and none of the three could come up with a solution.
Outside the window, it is raining heavily.
The sound of rain drowned out the noise of Yandong, leaving only the sound of the rain.
Yu Heyi poured himself a pot of tea and said quietly, "Why don't we go to the Shen Mansion again and ask Xu for clarification? Continuing to investigate like this is like looking for a needle in a haystack."
“Knock, knock.”
Before they could leave, there was a knock on the door.
She opened the door and looked at the person in surprise: "Chen Yun? Why are you here?"
Shen Yun was soaked by the rain, her hair sticking to her cheeks.
"Can you...can you save me and my mother?" She knelt down with a plop, holding the other person's hands tightly.
"What happened?" Mi Xiu was startled by her.
"Mrs. Xu... has gone crazy! She wants to kill my mother..."
"She was combing her hair in front of the mirror this morning, and suddenly all her hair fell out! Her hair was all over the room..."
Is Xu crazy too?
But the East Courtyard is clearly some distance away from the back garden of the South Courtyard, so how could he be as crazy as Chen Xu?
"Maybe it's because of the clay doll!"
Wanqi Si ignored the kneeling Shen Yun, walked around her and walked out of the house, heading towards the Shen Mansion.
Yu Heyi helped Chen Yun up, put his cloak on her, borrowed two umbrellas from the innkeeper, and followed her.
The figures of several people quickly disappeared in the rain and fog.
In the north courtyard of the Shen Mansion, Xu clutched a kitchen knife that gleamed coldly, and approached Madam Shen, who was huddled in the corner.
The black hair on his head had disappeared completely, and his scalp was covered with crisscrossing blood scabs and scratches.
A few strands of bloody hair were still hanging on her fingers.
Madam Shen was shaking like a sieve: "Help!"
"Mother!"
Shen Yun suddenly rushed forward and stood in front of Madam Shen.
In an instant, Xu swung her knife and chopped it down. The strong wind from the blade made her cheek hurt, and she closed her eyes tightly.
" "There was a loud noise.
Wanqi Si held a silver sword and blocked the kitchen knife that Xu was chopping at him.
Mi Xiu and Yu Heyi cooperated well and pinned Xu to the ground in just a few moves.
While struggling, muddy sewage kept flowing out of Xu's mouth.
"How long has Xu been pregnant?"
"It's almost five months."
Her belly was bulging like a blown-up bag, and if you listened carefully you could hear the sound of water coming from inside.
"Mother...why is Aunt Xu's belly so big?"
Shen Yun looked at Xu's belly tremblingly. She was only five months pregnant, but her belly looked like it was about to burst.
"Take her back to the East Courtyard to rest first."
Yu Heyi exchanged a look, and Mi Xiu understood and carried Xu on his back.
Several people tied her up on the bed and found Xu's personal maid Lixia.
Lixia came out from behind the screen tremblingly when she saw her tied up, with bloody marks on her face from scratches.
"She was fine a few days ago, but these past few days, Aunt Xu has been having nightmares every night. When she wakes up, she says she didn't harm anyone. She even refuses to drink the soothing soup I made."
"Did Aunt Xu ever tell you what she dreamed about?"
Li Xia hesitated for a moment and then said, "Yes."
"Mrs. Xu said that in her dreams, a child kept calling her mother. At first, she thought it was the child in her belly, and she was overjoyed. But in her dreams, she would uncontrollably take him to the lake to go boating."
"The child was laughing happily, but when the boat reached the center of the lake, she pushed the child into the lake."
Yu Heyi asked, "She was fine a few days ago, so why is her stomach now so different from normal, like a blown-up balloon?"
"I don't know, but Concubine Xu always makes muffled sounds in her stomach. I thought she drank too much water, but these past few days, when I took her for a walk, the sounds became clearer."
Xu has water accumulation in his abdomen?
"Cast a spell to hypnotize her, Mi Xiu." Wan Qi Si's face was solemn. "I want to enter her dream and see what happened."
"Brother, if you enter the dream alone, it will easily backfire!"
"hurry up!"
Mi Xiu had no choice but to sit down cross-legged and start casting a spell immediately.
Under the gentle spiritual power, Xu's body became heavier and heavier, and her head began to shake slightly unconsciously.
After her eyelashes trembled slightly a few times, her breathing became steady and she fell into a deep sleep.
Spiritual power rushed into Wanqi Si's consciousness and led him into Xu's dream.
"I'll go with you!"
Yu Heyi suddenly spoke, his consciousness leaving his body and following his consciousness.
It was too late for Mi Xiu to refuse, her consciousness had already followed him into the dream.
If you try to peel it off forcibly, you may damage the root.
He could only watch as the two of them lost focus and fell into a daze.
In the dream, the sky is clear and blue, without any fine clouds.
Wanqi Si frowned and grabbed the girl's wrist, his voice filled with anger: "Yu Heyi, what are you doing here?"
She shrank her neck and said in a muffled voice, "With you."
"Mi Xiu cast a spell and you entered the dreamland. I can't just sit there and do nothing."
In fact, she herself didn't know why she followed at the last moment of falling asleep.
Perhaps it was because he heard what Mi Xiu said, that if he fell asleep alone he would be retaliated against.
As a junior sister, how could I watch my senior brother suffer backlash?
This was the reason she gave herself.
Wanqi Si was choked and speechless for a moment.
She changed the subject: "Let's go find Xu first."
Xu was sitting on a park bench with a child sitting on her lap, who was smiling and saying something to her.
They could only hear clearly when they got closer.
The child kept calling her "Mom".
"Mom, let's go fly a kite. Those kids have kites, and I want one too."
"Mother, maybe we can go pick some flowers. Look how beautiful the red flowers are under that tree."
"Mother..."
No matter what request the child made, Xu remained indifferent and rejected him with a smile.
A look of disappointment gradually appeared on the child's face.
"Yanyan, how about I take you boating?"
After a while, Xu pinched the child's face, and the fine lines at the corners of her eyes smoothed out with a smile.
"good!"
The sun shines on the lake, creating ripples of golden light, and the reeds on the shore rustle in the wind.
The boatman was wearing a conical hat and his face could not be seen clearly. He was waving at Xu.
Xu carefully led the child onto the boat.
Yu Heyi grabbed Wanqi Si's sleeve and followed him with a hunched back.
The boat was already small, and with five people squeezed in, it seemed even more crowded.
The boatman whispered "Hold on tight" and headed towards the center of the lake.
Xu, who was in a dream, just glanced at the two people's arrival.
But the child she called "Yanyan" cast wary glances at them from time to time.
The boat slowly sailed towards the center of the lake. Willows on both sides of the lake hung down into the blue waves, and fish occasionally jumped out of the water.
As dusk deepened, the boat finally reached the center of the lake.
The setting sun dyed half the sky red and golden, and its afterglow sprinkled on the lake.
The child leaned against the side of the boat, reaching out to catch the spots of light on the water, with an innocent smile.
At this moment, a gust of cold wind blew up without warning on the lake, the weeping willows swayed violently, and the originally calm lake surface suddenly surged.
A chill ran down one's spine and into one's heart.
Xu, who was originally sitting in the middle of the boat, went to the child's side without knowing when.
The child was frightened by the cold wind and held on to the edge of the boat with his little hands.
"Yanyan, don't be afraid, mother is here." Xu stroked his back.
With his mother right behind him, he gradually let down his guard and relaxed his grip on the boat.
She squatted down gently and picked up the child.
Yu and Yi stood up almost reflexively. They looked at each other and saw the same surprise in each other's pupils.
I remembered Lixia said that when Xu took the child to row a boat, when the boat reached the center of the lake, she would push the child into the lake.
She wanted to use her spiritual power to quickly reach Xu, but she couldn't use spiritual power in this dream.
In the untimely cold wind, Xu slowly lifted the child in her arms.
The child didn't seem to sense the danger and was still playing with his fingers with his head down.
Xu raised her hand in the air, but before Yu Heyi arrived, she had already let go.
The child screamed and fell from the air.
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