"What sound?"

"Aware of Soso's voice." Zhu'er's pupils dilated slightly: "At first, I didn't hear it very clearly, thinking it was a small bug." When I was a child, I lived in the countryside, and the houses everywhere were mud houses, and at night, especially in the summer, I often heard that kind of sound. I rolled over and wanted to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. In addition, I drank some tea before going to bed, and when I heard that voice again, I suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. When I woke up, I didn't light the light. The moonlight was so good that I could see it clearly. As I remember, I took only a coat and put it on the sleeve of my right hand, and stopped. Because, I heard the sound of mopping the floor, followed by footsteps, very soft, light footsteps. ”

"The sound of mopping the floor?"

"Yes, it's like the sound of dragging something on the ground. I thought it was strange, so I tore off the sleeve that had been put on my arm and walked out with my clothes. The moonlight was white, and there was a man in the yard. ”

"Who is it?"

"I can't see clearly." Zhu'er pursed her lips again: "That person is carrying me, dressed in black, and I can't tell whether it's a man or a woman." Behind him was a bag, the bag was white, and I don't know what it contained. I thought it was a thief and wanted to shout, but at that moment, the man suddenly turned around. ”

"Who is he?"

"I don't know." Zhu'er shook her head slightly: "What I saw was not the person's face, but a mask, a very strange mask. ”

"Strange masks?"

"Yes, very strange masks. The mask was white, leaving only the place for the eyes, and in the moonlight, it looked like two black holes. It's not strange that the mask is white, and it's not strange that there are no patterns drawn on the mask, but it's strange that there is a mouth drawn on that mask, an open, black mouth. ”

"Black mouth?"

"Hmm." Zhu'er nodded: "It is said that Zhu'er can't be seen, and even if she does, she can't see it so clearly." But the strange thing is that Zhu'er saw it and saw it clearly. Later, Pearl's thought that maybe it was because the moonlight was good that night, or maybe it was because the man with the mask had a long neck, so that Pearl's neck was so long that Pearl's first saw his neck, and then saw his mouth painted on the mask. Male, that person is male. ”

As she spoke, Pearl's sudden shouting began.

"Neck, Zhu'er can see his neck clearly, it's a man's neck, it's a man's."

"Did he see you?"

"Probably not, when he turned around, Zhu'er was already hiding."

"You can hear him dragging things as he walks, so why can't he hear you open the door?"

"That's because ......"

"Because of what?"

"That's because someone else came out after Zhu'er." Zhu'er's voice returned to its original state: "The eldest prince and the second miss have investigated for so long, haven't they found that there is one less person in the courtyard of the third miss?" ”

"Who?"

"Zijuan, the girl Zijuan in the yard of the third lady who is responsible for chopping wood and boiling water."

"Purple Juan?" Yan Weilin gave Yan Qi a look, Yan Qi nodded, and went out.

"Also, a rough maid who chops wood and boils water, even if it disappears, no one will pay attention to it. Zijuan entered the house earlier than Zhu'er, and she is also small. Don't look at the name Zijuan, in fact, she is a somewhat ugly maid, with a round face and very dark skin, because she does rough work all year round, her arms and legs are thicker than ordinary girls. The third lady didn't like this purple juan and often let her stay in the firewood room. Therefore, even those of us who are in the courtyard of the third lady rarely meet her. I knew her well because she lived in the same room as me. ”

"Childe, I've asked, there is indeed a girl named Zijuan in the yard of the third young lady. This purple juan was picked up from the road when the housekeeper followed the master out to run errands in the early years, and like me and Yan Shu, they all grew up in Yan's family. ”

"She's missing?" Yan Weilin asked.

"It's gone, but it was only when they went out to inquire that they found out that this purple cuckoo was missing."

"Go ahead." Yan Suwen had never seen this purple juan, and he didn't have too many feelings for her, but when he heard that she was missing, he felt a little uncomfortable in his heart. A person, a living person, is unnoticed when he is alive, and he is silent when he dies.

When the man turned around, Zijuan came out. I wondered if I woke her up when I got up. She was a little confused, unlike me, and as soon as she stepped out of the bedroom door, she saw the masked man standing in the courtyard. When she came out, her eyes were still closed, as if she hadn't woken up. But soon, her eyes opened, because the man suddenly rushed over and grabbed Zijuan's neck with his hand. Zijuan didn't even make a sound, and her neck was twisted. ”

"That man broke Zijuan's neck with his bare hands?"

"Yes! I didn't verify it, but I heard the voice very clearly, and after that sound, Zijuan's head hung limply. The man didn't care about the cloth bag in the yard, but picked up the purple juan with his right hand and walked directly to the corner of the wall. ”

"Is it the well?"

"It's not! It's the other side with the loquat tree. If the second lady doesn't believe it, you can let him look for it, Zijuan should still be buried underneath. ”

"Was it buried by the masked man?"

"Hmm."

"And after that?"

The man first threw the purple cuckoo under the loquat tree, then returned, and dragged the sack that had rested on the ground to the mouth of the well. I didn't follow him because I was afraid, but I saw him busy at the mouth of the well for a while. About an hour later, he came out of the well, and went back to the loquat tree to bury the purple cuckoo. ”

"Since you saw it, why didn't you tell the third lady or the old man?"

"Because I don't know who he is, if he is from the mansion and can't keep it, he will kill me." Zhu'er said, her gaze fell on Yan Weilin's face: "The Yan family will die a few girls and servants every year, some of them are beaten to death, and some of them will die in an unknown way. At first, I wondered why no one had come to look into these things. Later, I understood that in the eyes of you lords, sons and young ladies, we girls are no different from ants. Have you ever heard that if you crush an ant, you have to report it to the official? ”

Yan Suwen did not refute Zhu'er's words, because she had seen with her own eyes the person who was beaten to death by her grandmother's order, and that person, even if he was guilty, would not be guilty of death.

"Zhu'er is cheap, but she is also afraid of death. Besides, Zhu'er also took some things in private, and she had her own selfish intentions in silence. Zhu'er looked at the shoes on the ground: "Zhu'er didn't lie about the shoes, these shoes are indeed not Zhu'er's, but Zhu'er bought them for Zijuan." Zhu'er was born with small feet, but Zijuan gave birth to a pair of big feet. The people in the yard didn't like Zijuan because they thought Zijuan was rude, but they didn't like Zhu'er either, because Zhu'er came from the countryside, and although they were the same girls, they felt that they were a head taller than Zhu'er and Zijuan. It's ridiculous, they are all cheap maidservants, but they still have to compare in private. ”

"What about the countryside, I'm also from the countryside."

"Second Miss's countryside is different from Zhu'er's countryside."

"Where is it different? Is it the difference in food, the difference in use, or the difference in the people you meet? I live in a small courtyard in the countryside, and if I don't count the medicine stove in my house, there are only two rooms in total, one is my father's mother's house, and the other is my room. The daily food is also home-grown, and the ones used are not more delicate than those girls in the Zhuangzi. In the country, I am no different from you. ”

"The phoenix that falls into the chicken nest is still a phoenix after all, and sooner or later it will have to return to the nest. The second miss said that you are no different from Zhu'er, but the second miss entered the city, she is the second miss of the imperial doctor Yan family, and now she is the wife of the prime minister, who is extremely noble and honored. Zhu'er is a poor girl in the countryside, but when she arrives in the city, she has just become a cheap girl. ”

"My second sister is all relying on her own today, if she is like you, Gu Xiang will never marry her."

"I've heard about the second miss. The second miss is indeed powerful, but if the second miss was born in my family, she may not be able to become the current second miss. ”

"Not necessarily!" Yan Suwen said in his heart: "After all, I can take a character born with a plug-in and a heroine's halo." Even if I wasn't born in the Yan family, I would still be able to become the current Yan Suwen. ”

"Forget it, everyone has their own fate, and they can't be compared." Zhu'er pursed her lips: "I have been hiding in the flower bush under the porch, and only after the man wearing the mask has left, I hurried back to the room." I was scared because I didn't know if the man would suddenly burst in and snap my neck with a click. I hid in the corner of the wall anxiously, and waited for a long, long time, until the courtyard was completely quiet, and then I dared to go to the window and take a look. ”

Zhu'er took a breath: "I just said, I took something." Originally, all I took was the Purple Juan's stuff. I know that Zijuan is dead, and I also know that Zijuan has grown up in the mansion since she was a child, she is an orphan, fatherless and motherless, the Yan family is her home, and the third miss is her only master. Although Zijuan is a girl like me, she is a native of the Yan family after all, and over the years, she has accumulated a lot of money and rewards in her hands, and I secretly took these things. ”

"It's not something under a loquat tree that gets on your shoes."

"I didn't go under the loquat tree, and when I took the purple cuckoo's things, I saw the pair of shoes I gave her in the box. I put on my shoes and went to the well with the courage to do so. I wonder what the masked man dragged along. ”

"What do you see?"