Chapter 85: Night Visit to the Forbidden Land
Chen Ting left the table early. The old lady and the first wife knew the reason and naturally did not stop him. They just let him rest in peace - being able to spend three days of this month before going to the battle was better than being outside after the departure. At least the Rongguo Mansion was safe.
He left, but Shen Wangshu couldn't leave with him. There were only three masters in Xuanji Courtyard, not counting Chen Hao. If the general's wife also left early, it would be against etiquette.
Without Chen Ting, Chen Zhi immediately moved over and sat with Shen Wangshu to watch the singing and dancing on the stage - in addition, the concubines from the main house and the concubines' sons and daughters were preparing to perform lively shows, either reciting poems with their heads shaking, or playing music and singing... In short, it was very lively, and it could be seen that the old lady and Duke Rong, who were sitting at the top, were in a very good mood.
After Shen Wangshu got married, Chen Hao moved back to Xuanji Courtyard. He hadn't seen the eldest lady for a long time, so he was naturally affectionate with her for a while and stuck to her and refused to leave.
Chen Zhi toasted with Chen Wangshu out of boredom, and the aunt and sister-in-law were relatively quiet.
After Chen Ting left, the rest of the banquet seemed to become boring. She liked quietness to begin with, and the thought of Chen Ting having to take anesthetics alone in his small dark room to get through the onset of the disease made her feel uneasy. She wanted to fly back immediately and at least develop the little pill that could suppress the onset of the disease.
Just as I was thinking about it, I heard Chen Zhi suspiciously say, "I didn't notice it for a while, how come Yan Shuyun disappeared?"
Shen Wangshu, who was already worried about Chen Ting's condition, immediately came back to his senses. Seeing that her maid Yingying was still there, he immediately sent someone to ask. After a while, the little maid who poured wine came back and bowed respectfully: "To answer Madam, Miss Yingying said that their Miss Yan had a headache. She was afraid that she would lose her composure at the banquet, so she spared the old lady's pleasure and went back to rest first."
"Then why didn't her maid follow her?" Chen Zhi asked.
"Miss Yingying wants to stay. Let the old lady and the others know later." The little maid pouted. The fourth young lady from the main house was playing the zither, the squeaking sound like sawing wood. Regardless of whether it sounded good or not, everyone was giving her face and listening attentively. It was really hard to disturb her.
"That means Yan Shuyun just left a while ago." Shen Wangshu drank a lot of wine tonight. Chen Zhi toasted her one glass after another, and she took the glass one by one. In the end, the girl was fine, but she was a little drunk.
This body can't drink much. Shen Wangshu was dazed, and he seemed to hear Yingying whispering in his heart: [I don't know if the girl has been found... I can't stay here for too long, these people have become suspicious...]
Looking for a fight, what did you find?
Shen Wangshu suddenly came to his senses - Chen Ting left first and Yan Shuyun left right after him, and she had been asking about Chen Ting's condition in the past few days... This was too abnormal.
And according to her experience of reading countless articles, this kind of banquet is most likely to cause some small accidents due to the use of small drugs, so Shen Wangshu had already prepared the antidotes for various aphrodisiacs and love potions, and even some sleeping pills, which he kept in his sleeves in case of emergency.
Although Chen Ting left after drinking only a few sips of wine during the banquet, she also asked people to keep an eye on the little maid to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the opportunity, but accidents are always hard to guard against.
After Yan Shuyun and Chen Ting left the table together, who knew what would happen.
After a while, Yingying also took her leave. Chen Zhi held her chin and thought for a moment: "Cousin, based on the experience I heard from my little sisters, you'd better follow her..."
Before he finished speaking, he turned around and saw that Shen Wangshu had already gone to the eldest lady to take his leave.
It was almost the end of the hour of Hai now, and the old lady had already left the table to go back to rest, so it would not be rude for Shen Wangshu to leave now.
It was August, and the night breeze blew away Shen Wangshu's drunkenness. She didn't bring too many people with her, only letting the tight-lipped Lvliu follow her. She asked a few maids along the way and learned that Yan Shuyun was indeed going towards the main house where the couple lived.
Shen Wangshu touched the silver needle bag and various medicinal powders in his sleeves, and said lightly: "Miss Yan has a headache, why didn't she go back to her room to rest, and why did she run to our room?"
The maid who was being questioned saw that the general's wife didn't look very good, so she knelt down in fear and said, "I don't know!"
"Did anyone else go in?" Shen Wangshu asked.
“I didn’t see anyone else passing by.”
I wonder if Yan Shuyun has found out the "forbidden place" where Chen Ting spent his illness. If she went to that yard, it would be very bad...
Chen Wangshu was a little unsure, so he finally told Lvliu, "Go to the main courtyard."
She had to go to the small dark room in person - there was a hole in the back corner of the yard that no one had noticed, and this time she could sneak in without anyone noticing.
The two of them parted ways along the narrow path in front of the bamboo forest. Even after being married for so long, Shen Wangshu had never taken the initiative to approach this place.
She took a deep breath. Things are different now. At least now she won't be beaten out as a bad person with ulterior motives... right?
The shadows of the trees were dim in the bamboo forest. Shen Wangshu, taking advantage of the alcohol to embolden himself, encouraged himself and walked in alone - he soon found the closed yard.
Chen Ting spent those three days quietly like this most of the time. The previous incident was a sudden exception. Today, there were no Chen family soldiers guarding Xuanji Courtyard, and it seemed that anyone could push the door in.
Everyone in the Rongguo Mansion knew that any servant who dared to get close to this place when the general was ill would be dead, so no one came here on weekdays, and naturally they had a sense of awe towards this place.
But the new master and servant are different.
They don't have any psychological burden.
Shen Wangshu took a closer look and found that the inserted door valve had indeed been tampered with, and was even blatantly ajar - it had rained a few days ago, and there were several deep and shallow footprints in the yard.
"..." Can anyone really do it so obviously?
Shen Wangshu couldn't help but begin to doubt his own judgment. Could Yan Shuyun be so stupid?
But no matter what, I'm already standing at the door, so I might as well go in and take a look before leaving.
Shen Wangshu reached out and gently pushed the door open.
This courtyard is actually very large, but there is nothing in it except two big pine trees. It looks a bit desolate and even eerie because no one has taken care of it for a long time.
There was no light in the only room, and there was only one door to enter.
Before Shen Wangshu could prick up his ears to listen, a piercing scream that resounded through the sky came from inside the house——
"ah!!!"
It was a high-pitched female voice, very familiar, if nothing unexpected happened...
The woman in a pink dress was thrown out of the only door like a rag sack, her face full of tears and fear. She fell to the ground, trembling, and she didn't even bother to put her scattered clothes in place.
Shen Wangshu took a closer look and found that it was indeed Yan Shuyun.
…she just knew it.
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