Dongmei was not the first maid to be hanged by Li Fu, there was another one named Xiaohui before her.

Xiaohui had just turned 12 years old when she died.

That year, Li Shen was in high school and was appreciated by the emperor and given a good official position. When I went out of the city, I saw Xiaohui kneeling on the ground. In tattered clothes, there was a roll of straw mats beside him, and two rotten stinky feet were exposed in the straw mat.

Li Shen rode on a horse to look at Xiaohui, Xiaohui also raised his face to look at Li Shen, and when their eyes collided, Li Shen asked: "Who is wrapped in the straw mat?" ”

Xiaohui said, "It's my mother." ”

Li Shen asked again: "How did you die?" ”

Xiaohui said: "Sick and dead." ”

Li Shen sighed, dropped a few pieces of loose silver, and said, "My father also died of illness, and when he died, he was also buried wrapped in such a roll of straw mats. ”

After speaking, he was about to ride away, but Xiaohui quickly got up and stopped in front of the horse.

Li Shen looked at Xiaohui and frowned, "All the broken silver on my body is for you." ”

Xiaohui pointed to the sign next to the straw mat that sold her body to bury her mother.

Li Shen sighed again and said, "I didn't give you the silver to buy you. ”

Xiaohui raised a pair of eyes and stood stubbornly.

After a moment of stalemate, Li Shen compromised, he looked at Xiaohui's eyes and asked, "Where do you want to bury your mother?" ”

Xiaohui said: "Buried in a clean place, with flowers and grass. ”

Worried that Li Shen would misunderstand, Xiaohui explained: "We are very poor, and we have been begging in the city when my mother was alive. We are very weak and can't grab good places, so we can only stay in those places where there are few people and smelly. Now that my mother is dead, I want her to live in a good place where you can see and smell the flowers. ”

Li Shen nodded, turned over and dismounted, and said, "I know, don't worry, I will help your mother find a place like this." ”

Li Shen did it, and Xiaohui followed him back home.

At that time, there was already a waiting girl beside her mother, so Li Shen placed Xiaohui next to Wan'er.

First, his mother had a bad temper, and Li Shen was worried that if he sent Xiaohui to his mother, this poor child would be scolded by his mother twice in three days. Second, his wife Wan'er also needs someone to take care of her, although she doesn't need it.

Xiaohui committed suicide after Li Shen took a break from Wan'er, and the suicide tool used was a stripped red belt. That red belt was the first thing Wan'er gave her after Xiaohui entered the mansion. Xiaohui cherishes it very much, because she is a kind and grateful girl.

Wan'er left, Xiaohui couldn't think about it, so she hung herself with the red belt that Wan'er gave her...... This is said for outsiders to hear, only the people in the Li Mansion know that Xiaohui did not hang herself, but was beaten to death, as for who was killed, the people in the mansion knew it, but they didn't dare to say it.

"Who killed him?"

Xin Xiaoru asked in a low voice, her eyes locked on Xing Ruyi, lest she miss something.

Xing Ruyi looked back at her and asked, "Who do you think it will be?" ”

Xin Xiaoru pursed her lips and replied, "Old Madam Li." ”

Xing Ruyi did not answer.

On the wedding night, Li Shen did not return to the new house. Although Xin Xiaoru is a first-time wife, she also knows what it means that her husband did not enter the cave room on the wedding night. However, she didn't care, and neither did the people in the Li Mansion. Such a big thing happened, it would be a little strange if Li Shen was still in the mood to have a round room with the bride.

On the second day, as soon as the sky was bright, Xin Xiaoru sat up from the bed. She sat in front of the dresser, looking at herself in the bronze mirror, feeling a little strange in a trance. She touched her face, sighed, got up, took off her red clothes and changed into a festive everyday casual clothes.

According to the rules, she was going to greet her mother-in-law early this morning. She didn't know if her husband, Li Shen, would come and take her with her later, but before that time came, she had to pack herself up first.

A wooden comb engraved with begonia flowers rested next to the bronze mirror, Xin Xiaoru stared at it for a while, and reached out to take it. I was about to comb my hair, but I felt something trickle down the wooden comb. When I looked at it again, it was a drop of red liquid with a temperature.

"Ahh

Xin Xiaoru stood up with a scream, and the wooden comb in her hand fell to the ground and let out a wail.

Outside the door, someone walked in and screamed when they saw the wooden comb that had fallen on the ground.

Xin Xiaoru looked up and recognized that it was Xia Mei who was screaming.

Xia Mei, formerly known as Xia Chunhua, is also a maid bought in the house, and entered the house at almost the same time as Dongmei. Because Mrs. Li felt that her name was rustic and unworthy of the bearing of the Li Mansion, she changed her name to Xia Mei. Xia Mei is not Dong Mei, she has neither Dong Mei's heart and eyes, nor Dong Mei's clever mouth, so she is the one who is the least popular among the four girls in spring, summer, autumn and winter. Xin Xiaoru entered the mansion, but the Xin family did not give a girl, so Mrs. Li assigned this most unpopular Xia Mei over. Xia Mei and Dong Mei are also one thing different, that is, Xia Mei is kind, and she can't hold things up in her heart.

"Why are you called?"

Xin Xiaoru only asked, and Xia Mei knelt on the ground with a thud.

"Why are you kneeling?"

Xin Xiaoru asked again, her eyes falling on the wooden comb.

Xia Mei lowered her head and said in a voice: "It's Xia Mei's fault, you shouldn't have left the old things of the previous lady in the lady's room." ”

"Is that the comb?"

Xia Mei nodded.

"Did the lady from before like begonias very much?"

Xin Xiaoru asked again, but Xia Mei turned white. After a while, she slowly told Xin Xiaoru something.

Wan'er likes begonias very much, and Li Shen also knows that Wan'er likes begonias. After the mansion was built, Li Shen asked someone to plant a lot of begonia trees in the mansion, but before they could bloom, they were uprooted by the old lady one after another, and now all that is left is the one in the back garden.

Not only that, but the old lady was also angry with Wan'er because of these begonia trees, and after learning that Li Shen gave Wan'er a wooden comb carved with begonia flowers, she asked Dongmei to call her to her own room.

"What are you doing in the room? But scolded her? ”

Xia Mei nodded first, then shook her head.

"It's fine if it's just scolding, but the old lady is not just scolding." Xia Mei pursed her lower lip, feeling that her lips were a little wooden. She closed her eyes, and it seemed as if the scene of the day had appeared in front of her again. After the old lady summoned her into the room, she first scolded her, and used up all kinds of ugly and vicious words. Later, he also asked his wife to kneel on the ground, and asked Dongmei to take off her wife's shirt and comb her back fiercely with this wooden comb carved with begonia flowers. Dongmei has a lot of strength, and when she combed her wife's back, she gritted her teeth, and the result was ...... Madame's entire back was bloodied. ”

"What about the master, does he know?"

Xia Mei shook her head.

"At first, Madame endured it, but as the blood on her back increased, Madame's screams became louder and louder. The old lady was so angry that she asked Dongmei to plug her wife's mouth. Later, the lady fainted from pain, and lay on the ground with her back naked.

We all thought that now, the old lady should let the lady go. As a result, no. The old lady did not allow us to lift her up from the ground, and it was better for us to give her medicine and let her fall asleep on the ground all the time.

It took a long, long time for the lady to wake up, but the old lady refused to give up, and let her continue to kneel. As soon as the lady knelt up, the man fainted again. The old lady estimated that it was time for the old man to go back to the house, so she asked the lady to return to the room, but at that time, it was already too late. ”

"What's late?"

"The child in Madame's womb can't be saved."

"Kid?"

"Yes. At that time, Madame already had a child, but Madame herself did not know. The child was gone, and the lady was heartbroken, but the old lady still ran to the lady's room to scold her, saying that she was stupid and couldn't even keep the Li family's blood. The lady was damaged, and the doctor who came to the doctor said that it would be difficult for her to give birth in the future, so the old lady used this as an excuse to ask the lady to stay away from the master, and also arranged for the master to take a concubine. Later, the old man listened to the old lady's resignation. ”

"And now? I mean, where is that lady from before? ”

Xia Mei shook her head and said, "I don't know! We don't know when the lord divorced his wife, nor when he left the house. ”

Xia Mei had just finished speaking, but the wooden comb on the ground suddenly turned over.