"Yinghong is my dowry girl." Duan Niang stroked the right side of her face and said quietly: "At the beginning, when the Sheng family came to propose, the old man was no longer the little catcher when the girl was there, and he was also a figure with a head and a face in Luoyang City. My dad is naturally delighted.

First, he once served in the same government as the old man, and he knew the old man's personality.

Second, my father and my mother-in-law also knew each other in the old days, and knew that my mother-in-law was not the kind of ordinary woman who would treat her daughter-in-law harshly and take a fancy to her family's opinion. If I marry into the Sheng family, my lord and mother-in-law will definitely treat me well.

But after all, I want to marry an upstart in Luoyang City, and my father is afraid of people's discussions, so he takes out all his belongings to buy me a dowry. I was afraid that I would be wronged, so I bought Yinghong from Renyazi and used it as a dowry maid for me.

The girl knows Duan Niang, Duan Niang was born in a small family, and she has been used to doing everything by herself since she was a child. Even if there is a maid beside him, he is not very accustomed to being this lady.

Obviously, Yinghong is my dowry girl, but in private, I treat her as a sister. She is also very concerned about my affairs, and she takes care of me very well on weekdays. The lord also knows this. So, not long after I entered the house, my lord chose two more girls for me. ”

Duan Niang said, and the original hatred in her eyes also dissipated a little. It is not difficult to guess from the corners of her slightly raised mouth that after she married Xiao Shengzi, she also had a good time.

"After learning that I was pregnant, I was most happy about Yinghong. After the accident, the only one who was sad for me was Yinghong. But I never thought that after they took away my child, they would not even let go of the only girl I knew by my side. ”

"Xiao Shengzi told me that Yinghong was driven out of the mansion by you."

"Does the girl believe it?"

"Naturally, I don't believe it. Because you told me that the child in your womb was bought by Lihua to see you, and it was the doctor who bought you to do something in your tocolytic. As your personal maid, even if Yinghong is guilty of negligence, this responsibility should not be completely borne by her. To put it bluntly, she is a girl, how could she have thought that the doctor would unite with the concubine to do something in your tocolytic pills. And according to what you know about Duan Niang, you are not the kind of person who will easily anger the girl. Therefore, what Xiao Shengzi said to me is not credible. But you don't seem to have a defense. ”

"What the master saw, heard, and knew the truth was all told to him by Lihua. At that time, even if I said it, the master wouldn't listen to it, and even if he did, it would be useless. ”

"Yinghong, she shouldn't just be kicked out of the house, right?"

"It would be nice if I was just driven out of the house." Duan Niang said, and stroked the right side of her face: "After losing the child, I fell seriously ill because of blood loss and grief. I was groggy all day, and I didn't care about the things in the yard. I only know that at that time, I would always dream inexplicably. ”

"What kind of dream?"

"A very strange dream. Each time, I would hear a woman's voice calling me, and then I would get up from my bed and walk out into the yard. The courtyard was dark, but the moonlight was white. The woman stood at the crescent moon door and beckoned to me. I tried hard to see her face, but I couldn't see it every time. Her face, hazy, seemed to be covered with a white veil.

I walked over and she reached out and took mine. Even in my dreams, I can clearly feel that her hands are very cold and cold, the kind of cold that makes people chill from the bottom of their hearts. I don't know why, but I don't feel scared. Not only was I not afraid, but I even had a feeling that this woman was an old man I knew.

I followed her out of the Sheng family and through a misty path to an abandoned back garden. In that back garden, she let go of her hand and pointed to the corner. I hesitated to walk over and find a well in the corner. The well was covered with a large stone. The stone, it looked so heavy, at least with my own strength that I couldn't move it away.

Just as I was wondering, the stones on the wellhead suddenly moved away, revealing a swarthy wellhead that was bubbling cold.

The woman appeared across from me and pointed her hand into the well. Say it, and the girl may not believe it. Even in my dreams, I could feel a hint of fear. I was worried if the woman would push me into the well. ”

"Nope! On the contrary, I believe what you say. Because I also dream from time to time, and I dream of quite horrible scenes, and I feel the same fear as you. ”

Duan Niang breathed a sigh of relief.

"As soon as that fear arose, I felt a little guilty in my heart. I don't think I should think so badly of her. So, I followed her and looked down into the well. ”

"What do you see?"

"A corpse." Duan Niang's eyes showed deep fear: "A corpse floating in a well. I couldn't make out her face, but I could tell from the clothes she was floating on the water that she was a young woman. Frightened, I clutched my chest and took a few steps back. Before he could do it, the corpse that had been floating in the well suddenly floated out of the well.

Oh no, not floating, but directly at the wellhead. She was no longer lying on her side, but standing in the well. The hair was scattered, and the tongue drooped downward, and in the moonlight, it looked red. She was so wet that I could even hear the sound of water dripping.

I panicked and fell back, and then I would wake up from my dream. The strange thing is that every time I wake up, I just hear the sound of the watch outside. ”

"How many days?"

"Five watches! Every time I wake up from a dream, it's the fifth watch. The first time, I thought it was a nightmare. But once, twice, even many times, I realized something was wrong. The woman in the dream seemed to be telling me something.

So, every time I was about to go to bed, I kept reminding me that if I still dreamed, if the woman still appeared, I must see her face clearly. ”

"Did you see that?"

Duan Niang shook her head: "As usual, after hearing the voice calling me, I got up and walked to the courtyard. Everything was exactly the same as when I first dreamed it. It's still the dark night, it's the pale moon, it's the misty path, it's the abandoned back garden and the deep well in the back garden. However, this last time, instead of looking at the female corpse in the well, I looked motionlessly at the woman standing opposite me who had never seen her face clearly, and who led me to the back garden. ”

"What do you see?"

"Clothes. I noticed that she was wearing exactly the same clothes as the female corpse in the well, and I recognized them as red.

When I first entered the house, my lord treated me very well, and he was worried that I would be reluctant to buy more for myself, so he would always buy it from outside and give it to me. Among them, there are many fabrics used to make clothes. I don't care much about dressing, and I don't study fabrics. Usually, Yinghong will be in charge. Throughout the year, she helped me take care of it properly, and never let me lose my identity as the hostess of the Sheng family.

As for me, I'll also ask her to pick some of those fabrics and use them to make new clothes for her. But she refused every time. Said that she was just a girl next to me, and those fabrics were too expensive to wear on her. I said that she reluctantly asked for a plain horse and made herself an autumn dress.

Because the color was too plain, she embroidered some light flowers by herself. Therefore, I recognize that dress, and I also know that there will be no second body in the whole of Luoyang. ”

"What else do you see besides clothes?"

"Bracelets! Silver bracelets! It was when I got married, I gave her. ”

"So, the person you see is your personal maid Yinghong."

"At first, I also wondered how I could have such terrible dreams when my Yinghong stayed in the yard with such a good decent. So, when I woke up from the dream again, I quickly ordered someone to call Yinghong over. But the girl next to me is struggling. I asked again and again, and they told me that Yinghong had disappeared since my accident. Everyone in the house was speculating, saying that she was worried about being scolded by me, so she secretly took the money and fled. ”

"You don't believe it!"

"How can I believe such outrageous statements?" Duan Niang stared directly at Xing Ruyi's eyes: "Although Yinghong was the dowry girl that my father bought for me before I got married, I also know her personality after getting along for a long time." Mo said that she would not choose to run away when I had an accident, and I didn't believe it just because she secretly took the money.

I am a fast daughter, although my temperament is not as free and easy as that of a girl, but I am also a little rough. The dowry that my father gave me, as well as the gold and silver jewelry that my lord bought for me after entering the house, were all ordered by Yinghong for me. If she is really a greedy person for money, why didn't she take those things from me secretly?

Besides, I've been to her room. All the items are well where they should be, and even Yinghong's futon is neatly folded. Clothes were there all year round, and there was nothing missing except for the one she was wearing. Let's ask, a girl who absconds in fear of crime, doesn't even organize her package? Or did she flee in such a hurry that she didn't have time to sort things out? ”

"Then have you ever asked the girl in the yard?"

Duan Niang shook her head: "As a daughter of fast catchers, you have to learn some skills to catch fast people." If those girls say that, it means that they won't tell me the truth. As for why they didn't tell me the truth, I can guess. One is that he didn't dare, and the other is that someone told him. So, I could only pretend to believe their words and secretly investigate. ”