后院 houyuan – the rear courtyard or backyard of an estate, where the women live
师太 shitai – Grandmaster, great expert
Qu Ruo Li – Yun Qian Meng‘s mother; the late Yun furen
However, Yun Qian Meng appeared to treat the matter as if it had nothing to do with her. Only, her calm eyes that were like still water radiated coldness, causing the Taoist priest to momentarily lower his head in guilt……
“Nonsense, how can da xiaojie be a demonic spirit?! You were asked here to save a person, how could you randomly frame da xiaojie?!” When Su Qing noticed Yun Qian Meng’s calm manner, her originally joyous heart momentarily tightened. Not waiting for Yun Xuan Zhi to react, she took the lead to speak, suddenly pinning down as fact that Yun Qian Meng was the malicious spirit!
When Liu Han Yu, Yun Yan and Mi mama all heard Su Qing use this method to falsely accuse Yun Qian Meng, their faces successively showed angry expressions!
In particular, the Taoist priest had only spoken about the northwest direction, and hadn’t clearly said that it was in Qi Luo Yuan!
What’s more, even if it was in Qi Luo Yuan, there were many servants living in the courtyard. But, Su Qing clearly named Yun Qian Meng, evidently directing all the suspicion towards her!
Liu Han Yu couldn’t help but raise her eyes to take a look at Yun Xuan Zhi. She only saw that his eyebrows were tightly creased, his deep eyes darting between Taoist priest Yi Zhen and Yun Qian Meng, obviously considering the truth of this matter!
Su Qing naturally also noticed Yun Xuan Zhi’s expression and looked at how useless Yi Zhen was. To think that he was actually unable to raise his head against a little girl’s stare! She then advanced a step, wanting to open her mouth, but was cut off by Liu Han Yu!
“laoye, our xiangfu’s houyuan is wide; there are numerous courtyards in the northwest. Taoist priest Yi Zhen only vaguely pointed in that direction, so we can’t hastily come to a conclusion! da xiaojie is your blood daughter, and also Empress Dowager’s niece. This kind of false accusation, we can’t simply anything that other people say!” Liu Han Yu looked somewhat worried as she gave Yun Qian Meng a deep glance, before she continued in a soft-spoken manner, “What’s more, nubi has heard from others that ghosts and spirits won’t come out during daytime, bright daylight is indeed their worst fear after all! You see, da xiaojie has been standing here for a long time, how can it possibly be like what Su yiniang said?!”
Hearing Liu Han Yu’s analysis, Yun Xuan Zhi couldn’t help but take another look at Yun Qian Meng. He only saw that she was calmly standing under the banyan tree while the warm rays of the sun grandly fell onto her body, her jade-like face showing a glossy luster under the sunlight. Thinking back to how Yun Ruo Xue had a mother like Su Qing to support her, but Yun Qian Meng didn’t even have a mother to protect her, some feelings of remorse grew in Yun Xuan Zhi’s heart!
At that moment, Yun Xuan Zhi’s severe gaze shot towards the Taoist priest, Yi Zhen, his gloomy eyes showing his rage. Also seeing that Su Qing still had something to say, he spoke in a deep and low voice, “Things that have no basis or foundation, cannot be simply said!”
Hearing Yun Xuan Zhi refute her words, Su Qing’s face stiffened and her heart tied into a knot. She secretly glared at Liu Han Yu before sneakily sending a meaningful glance towards Yi Zhen!
Yi Zhen was still savoring the aftertaste of Yun Qian Meng’s beauty when he heard Yun Xuan Zhi disagree with his verdict. With resentful feelings, he fearlessly said, “xiangye, ben daozhang is only telling things as they are. Coming here this time was not to seek wealth, but to help others avoid calamities! Only, all matters on Earth have always like so; if you believe, it is there; if you don’t, it is not! If xiangye doesn’t believe this old priest, we will just leave! Still, I will offer a bit of advice to xiangye; if the spirits are not eliminated, then future misfortune is certain!”
As Yi Zhen spoke, he, once again, pretended to accidentally look at Yun Qian Meng. But now his line of sight was being blocked by Mu Chun, only letting him see the edge of a pale orange skirt, resulting in him regretfully retrieving his gaze!
Su Qing also cleverly stopped mentioning Yun Qian Meng’s name, but brought up Yun Ruo Xue instead. Her face full of tears, as she bore the appearance of a warm, caring mother, sobbing and speaking with difficulty, “laoye, nubi is only anxious! It’s true that da xiaojie is your daughter, but Ruo Xue even though born as shu, is still your own flesh and blood! How can you bear to see her appear crazy like this forever?”
As she finished, Su Qing seemed to be gasping for air, her eyes darkened as she almost fell onto the floor. But luckily, Yun Xuan Zhi reacted quickly to support her body, and brought her shuddering body into his embrace. Only, his tightly pursed lips still hadn’t stated his final decision!
Su Qing’s words, fell into Yun Qian Meng’s ears, and only led her to coldly laugh in her heart!
What she had just said didn’t seem to involve herself, but was in reality, reminding Yun Xuan Zhi about how important she and Yun Ruo Xue were in his heart!
Even though Yun Qian Meng was the di daughter, she wasn’t doted on by Yun Xuan Zhi; instead, Yun Ruo Xue despite being just a shu daughter, had taken up all of their father’s love and affection!
Furthermore, if Qu Ruo Li hadn’t been married to Yun Xuan Zhi as the main wife at the time, then she was afraid that right now, the di eldest young miss of the xiangfu would be Yun Ruo Xue!
Raising these old topics, and pretending to be weak at the same time, Su Qing was likely trying to ignite the old fires that Yun Xuan Zhi had buried deep in his heart, and then from there, direct them towards Yun Qian Meng!
Thinking so, Yun Qian Meng restrained the anger at the bottom of her heart. Her eyes full of concern, she spoke to remind Liu Han Yu, “Liu yiniang, hurry up and ask the mama to help Su Qing back into her room to rest! The wind outside is chilly, be careful so that Su yiniang doesn’t catch a cold!”
“nubi hasn’t……” Su Qing saw that Yun Qian Meng wanted to push her away and thought to stand right up, but, remembering all of her efforts and acts just now, Su Qing had no choice but to allow Liu Han Yu to strongly drag her back to her own room!
“Father, Meng’er had an audience with the Emperor in the throne room not long ago, and could be said to have walked under the eyes of the dragon! If it truly is as Su yiniang says, could it be that the Son of Heaven can’t even push down a single demonic spirit?” Speaking up to this point, Yun Qian Meng paused for half a beat to wait until Yun Xuan Zhi had taken her words to heart before continuing, “Furthermore, the houyuan in our xiangfu is where the womenfolk live. How can men simply enter and leave? Even though this time for er mei’s illness, we had no other choice, but if this was spread outside, in the end, the reputation of us three sisters will be harmed! Wouldn’t it be better to go to Pu Guo An, and ask Jiu Xuan shitai to divine meimei’s fate to see if it’s really a conflict with demons and spirits?!”
However, before Yun Qian Meng’s words even reached the ground, Su Qing’s loud wails came from the inner rooms, “My poor Xue’er, mom has already begged your older sister, but she is really too heartless, actually doesn’t want to use the priest that is available, and purposely wants to go look for a shitai from over a hundred miles away! Seeing your condition, I don’t even know if we can wait until the day shitai arrives…… laoye, Xue’er and I will kowtow to you here! If anything happens to Xue’er, I won’t continue to live by myself either, you take good care of yourself! Qing’er can’t serve you anymore!
Finishing, they could only hear loud noises from inside the room. The servants inside and Liu Han Yu all tried to restrain Su Qing from striking the wall when they suddenly heard Wang mama say, “yiniang, why do this? How can da xiaojie fold her hands and see somebody die? What’s more, laoye still hasn’t said anything!”
When Yun Xuan Zhi saw that his peaceful home had become like this, his face showed impatience. Even though his heart agreed with Yun Qian Meng, because Yun Ruo Xue’s matter was so pressing, he had no choice but to decide, “Meng’er will stay here in Feng He Yuan, Taoist Yi Zhen, follow me to Qi Luo Yuan!
Ending his speech, he took the lead and stepped out of Feng He Yuan……
When Yun Qian Meng heard Yun Xuan Zhi’s decision, cold laughter flashed in her eyes. She then gave Shui’er and Bing’er a meaningful glance before telling them, “You two should go and send father out!”
“Yes, xiaojie!” Shui’er and Bing’er received Yun Qian Meng’s hidden hint and immediately turned to chase after Yun Xuan Zhi. Only, they carelessly bumped into some of the apprentices that were holding tools……
Yi Zhen was somewhat regretful that Yun Qian Meng wasn’t coming along and greedily savored a look at Yun Qian Meng for one more moment, before finally turning to leave in a hurry……
“xiaojie!” Shui’er and Bing’er had sent off Yun Xuan Zhi and returned to Yun Qian Meng’s side. They quietly called her and gave her a look of confirmation!
Yun Qian Meng saw that they completed thier assigned tasks then lightly smiled, nodded, and said, “Follow me into the room to see Su yiniang!”
There were servants keeping watch at Qi Luo Yuan, and Yun Xuan Zhi was also there. Even if Yi Zhen really wanted to do something, she feared that he won’t be able to find even half an opportunity!
But still, she had just sent him a huge gift, and didn’t know if his fate was strong enough allow him to step out of the xiangfu after today!
As expected, within ten minutes, Qian mama came running from Qi Luo Yuan until she was gasping for breath. Before catching her breath, she urgently said, “da xiaojie, xiangye wants to execute that Taoist Yi Zhen!”