"Duan Niang, did you find that well?"

"It's easier said than done to find that well. According to the dream, the well was in an abandoned back garden, but when I asked all the maids beside me, no one could tell where there was such a back garden in the city. ”

"It's a garden, it's in a house after all. The maid in the house, with a low status, usually acts in the house. They don't know, and they don't wonder. ”

"Miss Ruyi is very right. Duan Niang thought that she was quite familiar with this Luoyang City, and she didn't know where there would be such a deep well in the city. The maids couldn't say it, and I didn't feel sorry for them. It's just that in my heart, I have always put such a thing on hold, and all day long, I am depressed and unhappy, and I am more and more unwilling to speak.

It's strange to say that when I didn't recognize Yinghong, I would repeat that dream every night. But since I recognized her in a dream, that dream disappeared and never happened again.

Until one night, around the time of the third watch, I was woken up by a cold wind. When I opened my eyes, I saw the moonlight shining like silver on the wall through the window lattice. On the wall, the shadow of a woman is remarkable. I rubbed my eyes and recognized it as Yinghong. At the time, I didn't feel scared, I just wanted to know, where did she go? Was it victimized? Her body, is it still in that deep well?

When I got up, I found that the room was as bright as day. The shadow was illuminated by the moonlight, and it became clearer and clearer. She is Yinghong. Unlike when I saw her in a dream, she was covered in wet, and her originally smooth black hair was wet on her shoulders. She was still wearing the clothes I was familiar with, and she stood there stiffly.

I whispered her name, and she looked up, and I saw a face whiter than the moonlight. ”

"What the hell are you."

"Hell yes. It's also a bit ridiculous to say. My father is a fast catcher, and my mother died early, I have followed him in the yamen since I was a child, and I have seen a lot of dead people. But I never believed in ghosts and gods. My father used to tell me that there is a god who is three feet above his head, and this person cannot do bad things.

I asked him why there were no ghosts if there were gods.

My father said, "The gods live in the heart." In the same way, this demon also dwells in the heart. As the old saying goes, the body is not afraid of shadows. Don't do bad things for people, and don't be shocked when you knock on the door in the middle of the night. Speaking of which, each other is born from the heart, and this ghost is also born in his own heart. But when I saw Yinghong, I felt that what my father had said to me before was wrong. If Yinghong was born from my own heart, I would not want to think of her so embarrassed. So, I know, I really hell with it.

But I'm not afraid, I know that Yinghong came to me not to hurt me. ”

"I also believe that Yinghong will not hurt you." Xing Ruyi said, looking at Duan Niang's right face.

Duan Niang's right cheek twitched slightly, but she didn't seem to feel it, she just talked about the past to herself.

I tried to get closer to her, but she waved at me and pointed out the door.

I stopped and watched as Yinghong moved from the wall to the door. As if in a dream, I followed her out into the yard.

Passing through the crescent gate, bypassing the cloister, and following the familiar path in Fuzhong, we stopped in front of Lihua's courtyard gate.

The door, as if blown open by the wind, I involuntarily walked in, and then walked to Lihua's bedroom. The light was on in the bedroom, and neither the lord nor her was resting, I looked at Yinghong, put my ear to the wall, and then heard a conversation. ”

"A conversation? On the day of the third watch. ”

"Yes! If it was normal at this time, the old man must have fallen asleep. I don't know if it's because in Lihua's room, the lord actually survived until the third watch. Don't hide it from the girl, at that time, Duan Niang's heart was astringent. But since Yinghong led me to the outside of Lihua's bedroom, it must not be so that I can listen to the wall between the master and Lihua, and let me know that the master is better to Lihua than to me. ”

"It must have something to do with her disappearance, right?"

Duan Niang nodded: "Not bad!" I heard the master talking to Lihua. The words repeatedly mentioned a courtyard. The courtyard seems to have been newly bought by the master, and it was originally intended to be given to Lihua as a courtyard. Lihua originally agreed, but now, for some reason, she regretted it. The old man probably also felt that she was a little repetitive and making a temperament, so he talked to her for a long time that night, and even talked a little angry. ”

"Do you know this yard?"

"Since Lihua entered the mansion, Duan Niang has stopped asking about many things in the mansion. Whether it is because of the third master or Lihua herself, I see the master's love for Lihua. Mo said that it was just a courtyard, that is, the master gave her the entire Sheng family, and I was not surprised. ”

"In other words, you don't know about Xiao Shengzi's plan to give Lihua a courtyard."

"I really don't know, and I've never heard anyone mention it."

"And after that?"

Later, the old man was probably annoyed, so he stopped talking. I stood at the base of the wall for a while, and then I went back. Yinghong followed me until she sent me back to the yard and she disappeared. Before leaving, she pointed in the direction of the Sheng family's old house, and I understood what she was talking about.

Early the next morning, I asked the maid to invite the master over. said that I wanted to go back to the Sheng family's old house to live for a while, and by the way, I adjusted my mood. Although he and I are no longer as close as they were when they were newly married, they have never rejected me in such matters. In the past, when I was in a bad mood, I would go back to the Sheng family's old house to live, or simply take Yinghong to live in the temple outside Luoyang for a while. On the one hand, it is to regulate the mood, and on the other hand, it can be regarded as praying for the mother-in-law. ”

"Xiao Shengzi, he agreed?"

"Things went more smoothly than I expected. Originally, I just planned to take the opportunity to go back to the Sheng family's old mansion to find the new yard that the old man said. See if there is an abandoned back garden in that yard, whether there is a deep well in the back garden, and whether there is a red hidden in the deep well.

Master, he already knew the reason for my serious illness at that time, and he didn't blame Lihua for the child's affairs, and he felt guilty about me in his heart. After I proposed to return to the Sheng family's old house for a while, he told me that he had bought a new house and that it was not far from the old house. If I like it, I can live in that house in the future. ”

"Xiao Shengzi, this is deliberately separating you and Lihua."

"Yes! That's when I thought about that. Master, he probably couldn't bear to let me be embarrassed by Lihua again, so he bought a new house. Originally, he wanted to move Lihua to the past, but Lihua was unwilling, and I proposed to go to the old house, so he took the opportunity to ask me to move to the new house. ”

"Is that the right thing?"

"It can only be said that everything is predestined. At that time, I was afraid that the old man would regret it, so I nodded and agreed, and offered to go to the house first. It was a half-abandoned old mansion, I heard that it was the mansion of a certain dignitary surnamed Li, and it was abandoned for some reason. The design of the house is quite exquisite, almost one step at a time, revealing the bearing of a noble family everywhere.

Accompanied by the housekeeper, I toured the whole house, and when I stepped on the path, I knew that this house was the old house that appeared in my dream. Sure enough, at the end of the path, there was a small door. The housekeeper told me that it was the back garden, but when the dignitary was in distress, one of his concubines hanged herself in the garden because she was afraid. The old man felt unlucky, and when he bought this house, he had the garden locked. He said that in the future, he would invite some monks to come over and do the practice. ”

"I feel unlucky, and why would I buy the whole house. Since he bought it, it means that he doesn't care about this. Xing Ruyi frowned: "And in my impression, Xiao Shengzi is not afraid or cares about these things." Could it be that when he became a great official, he became superstitious about the monk's rituals? ”

"The girl is the master's confidant and knows the master's personality well. The girl is right, the old man doesn't care about these things. If he cared, he would have told me about this garden. If he cared, he wouldn't have allowed me to move in in a hurry, but would have asked the monks to do the rituals before letting me move in. The housekeeper is also the old man of the Sheng family, and the reason why he said that must have his own reasons. ”

"Could it be that this housekeeper knows that Yinghong is in that well in the back garden?"

"I pretended to listen to the butler on the surface, but privately asked the maid next to me to pay attention to the butler's every move. Sure enough, that night, the housekeeper took two people and sneaked to the back garden, and stopped by the well. I watched the housekeeper retrieve Yinghong's body from the well.

It turned out that after Lihua caused me to lose my child, Yinghong was upset for me and went to Lihua privately. Lihua was furious, so she ordered someone to tie up Yinghong and beat her, until she was dying. But she still felt unrelieved, so she asked Yinghong to take Yinghong to the house that the old man had promised her, threw Yinghong into the well, and blocked the mouth of the well with stones. ”

"The housekeeper is Lihua's accomplice?"

"Say he's an accomplice, right? He wasn't involved in the whole thing. It's hard to say that he isn't, but he did help Lihua cover up the crime. Duan Niang sighed: "Yinghong's disappearance was the first to be discovered by the housekeeper." When he investigated, he found that Yinghong ended up going to Lihua's room. Immediately after, he found blood stains in Lihua's yard. But he chose to hide it, and even in order to please Lihua, he was willing to help her transfer Yinghong's body. ”

"One last question!" Xing Ruyi looked at Duan Niang's right cheek: "Yinghong, how did she get on you?" ”