Black Lotus Concubine's Case-solving Notes

Feng Jia led Song Huai out for a long distance before Zhou Muqi finally exhaled the breath that had been trapped in his chest. He said to Xie Xiyi, "Who is that woman? Why is she so scary?"

Xie Xiyi looked at Feng Jia's back and murmured, "She is the ninth lady in the mansion, Xie Lanzhao."

Zhou Muqi took a deep breath and said, "She is Xie Lanzhao? The bastard from Shicheng who forced Xie Yunyao to go to Dingyuan?"

"She is no longer a concubine's daughter," Xie Xiyi's voice became longer and longer, "She is now adopted by my aunt, and like us, she is a legitimate daughter of the mansion."

Zhou Muqi just stayed there completely.

In other words, that person took away Xie Yunyao's original position?

Zhou Muqi couldn't believe it. In her opinion, concubines' daughters were all lowly and submissive, no different from the slaves in the mansion. As long as she acted coquettishly to her father, or made a random frame-up, she could make those concubines suffer.

So she looked down on those raised by concubines from the bottom of her heart, but she never thought that there would be one as capable as Xie Lanzhao among the concubines' daughters.

Zhou Muqi and Xie Xiyi were close friends, so she naturally supported him. After her fear faded, she regained her former arrogance and domineering attitude and said, "I heard that Xie Lanzhao's mother was a famous prostitute in a brothel?"

Xie Xiyi nodded absentmindedly. She was still worried whether Xie Lanzhao would cause trouble for her next.

Over the past month, her friend seemed to be less lively and carefree than before. Zhou Muqi saw this and guessed that it might be related to Xie Lanzhao just now. She said angrily, "She is just a prostitute's daughter. Why are you afraid of her?"

"You don't understand!" Xie Xiyi frowned, "My ninth sister is very capable!"

"So what!" Zhou Muqi held her hand and comforted her, "No matter how powerful she is, she is alone. But behind you, besides the Prime Minister's Mansion, don't forget, there is also the Dongling Taiwei Mansion! Your mother's family!"

Xie Xiyi's face slightly changed. Because of her father's matter, her mother had been at odds with her maternal family for a long time. This was her shortcoming, so she couldn't tell Zhou Muqi about it. She just said, "Forget it."

Anyway, she is going to discuss marriage with the General's Mansion this year. If she marries there, with the support of the General's Mansion, she naturally won't have to be afraid of Xie Lanzhao. But now, it is better to keep her head down.

Zhou Muqi, however, had the opposite idea: "With a villain like Xie Lanzhao, the more you try to keep things quiet, the more she will bully you! The more you confront her head-on, the more she will give in!"

Zhou Muqi's eyes flashed with viciousness: "Yiyi, just wait and see, I have my own way to deal with her!"

……

Feng Jia chose a meditation room closest to the pine tree. Just as she was about to go in, she caught a glimpse of a master and a servant walking out of the room next door. It was Zhao Qing, the daughter of the Minister of Revenue. She had already chosen a room before Feng Jia.

Feng Jia withdrew her gaze and stepped into the Zen room. Song Huai followed her in. She turned her head and looked around vigilantly. Seeing that no one was coming, she bolted the door from the inside.

"Did you find anything?" Feng Jia poured her a cup of tea on the table.

Song Huai took a sip and then shook his head: "I lost it."

After a pause, she continued, "But you guessed right, young lady. The other party is very agile and is indeed a martial artist, and his martial arts skills are not low."

Feng Jia nodded, his eyes darkened: "This temple is a little strange. When you follow the little monk to fetch water later, pay attention to your surroundings to see if you find anything else."

Song Huai could see that Feng Jia had done it on purpose. Helping the little monk fetch water was fake, but the real purpose was to give her a reason to snoop around. So he nodded and said, "I understand."

"Why did you come into conflict with Xie Changrong just now?"

When mentioning Xie Changrong, Song Huai showed disgust on his face: "Originally, I was waiting for you in the back mountain as you requested, but I didn't expect to run into that Tenth Lady, which led to the following events."

"I was the one who implicated you," Feng Jia said frankly, "because you are my maid, so she deliberately provoked me. I'm sorry for that today."

Feng Jia pulled out a porcelain bottle from his sleeve and threw it over: "This is the golden wound medicine my second brother gave me. It has a miraculous effect on reducing inflammation and swelling of wounds. Take it and use it. Consider it my apology to you."

Song Huai didn't refuse, but couldn't help but laughed softly.

Feng Jia was puzzled: "You are so happy after being beaten?"

Song Huai suddenly raised his thumb.

Feng Jia looked at her with even more puzzled eyes: "What do you mean?"

"That move you just made was really satisfying! Did you see Xie Changrong's face? It turned white, then green, then green, then purple. Where is the arrogance she had in normal times? It really makes people happy!" When Song Huai first entered the Xie Mansion, he was assigned to Xie Changrong's yard. He suffered so many inhuman beatings. Now he can really get some relief and feels extremely happy.

Song Huai raised her eyebrows. This was the first time Feng Jia saw her smile so knowingly. The corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up as well: "I said, follow me, no one can bully you."

The two smiled at each other.

"By the way, you were traveling in the forest before. Do you know any sects that have great martial arts skills?"

Song Huai thought about it carefully: "There are many, but are there any characteristics?"

Feng Jia thought of the monk in white: "Those who practice martial arts have arms that are much thicker than those of ordinary people."

Song Huai thought about it and shook his head: "I can't remember it for the moment."

Feng Jia nodded and didn't ask any further questions.

"Girl!" Someone knocked on the door.

The two of them breathed softly in tacit understanding. Feng Jia turned around and saw a short shadow on the door.

"Who is it?"

The outsider said, "Is that Miss Nine? The old lady wants you to go to the front hall to watch the nunnery ceremony!"

Feng Jia opened the door and found that the second-class maid standing outside was the old woman. She couldn't help but ask, "Doesn't the Buddha Bathing Ceremony start tomorrow?"

The maid said, "My ninth lady, the abbot of Cheng'en Temple said that although the Buddha's Bathing Festival is tomorrow, preparations must begin today. The nunnery ceremony for new monks is being held in the front hall. Except for Miss Rong who was not feeling well, the fourth and eighth ladies have already gone."

Feng Jia looked back at Song Huai, who understood and stepped back. Then she said, "Lead the way."

The so-called nunnery is the introductory ceremony to Buddhism. It consists of more than a dozen steps, including shaving the head, washing the body, burning the head, returning the clothes, etc. The ceremony usually lasts for three or four hours. When Feng Jia arrived, the nunnery ceremony had not started yet, but the hall was already filled with onlookers.

The maid led her to stand next to Mrs. Meng.

"What have you been doing? Why have you been looking for so long?" Mrs. Meng stared at Feng Jia and scolded her in a low voice, "Xiaojiu, you are really becoming more and more unruly!"

The old lady and the Princess of Nancheng were standing in the front row. Upon hearing this, they looked back. The ladies in the front row also turned their heads because of the noise. For a moment, everyone's eyes were focused on Feng Jia.

Some of the noble ladies had never met the Ninth Miss from the Prime Minister's Mansion, but they had heard Meng talk about her bad deeds after "adding fuel to the fire" when they were traveling together just now, and they all showed looks of contempt and disgust.

The eldest lady deliberately embarrass her in front of everyone and make Feng Jia the target of public criticism. Seeing that the effect was achieved, she felt pleased, but before the corners of her mouth could even curl up, she heard her say.

"Mother, my tenth sister accidentally fell into the water. I was worried and stayed with her for a little longer, so I came late. Please punish me, mother."

Her voice was like the clear water flowing through a spring, clean and pure, and her tone was neither humble nor arrogant.

It turned out that he went to visit his sister who had fallen into the water. This was understandable. The women who had originally had contemptuous looks on their faces gradually lost their expressions.

The eldest lady naturally didn't evade the question so easily. She glanced at Feng Jia sharply and said, "How come I didn't know when you and the tenth lady became so close?"

"What is this mother saying?"

Feng Jia looked surprised, as if she didn't understand. "My tenth sister and I are both daughters of the Prime Minister's Mansion. Although we have some small quarrels from time to time, we are still sisters. Zhao Er would naturally go to visit my tenth sister in such a life-threatening event as falling into the water. How come in my mother's eyes, sisters are also divided into close and distant relatives, good and bad ones?"