CH 96.1

“Crazy, that eunuch was crazy! Blergh!”

As Brother Yun was talking, he suddenly vomited. He pointed at the door and yelled through dry heaves, “Get out, you get out! I don’t want to see you.”

—

Bai Lixin propped up his cheek and looked at the bleak outside.

It was already the next morning, and today’s color was not good. Dark clouds lingered in the distance, and the chilling wind was raging.

Last night, he and Dijia listened by the wall. At the end, Hu Meier ran out crying, leaving Brother Yun alone in the room, vomiting.

From the content of their conversation, it was clear that Hu Meier and this Brother Yun were lovers. Hu Meier’s parents sold her to Lord Li, and in order to be able to live with the latter, she simply arranged for Lord Li to take him in.

They seemed to have had a great time in the beginning, at least for a period of time before Lord Li started whipping and abusing Brother Yun.

Later on, their affair came to light, and Lord Li soon discovered it.

That was the start of the abuse.

But were things that simple?

At the end, Brother Yun yelled that the last Lord Li was crazy. Bai Lixin felt that the words were left unfinished.

Although Dijia said he wanted to stay for the night, he didn’t dare act on his bravado, and actually left after sending Bai Lixin off.

That dog.

In his mind, Bai Lixin began to organize the few scattered clues he had gathered and rolled them into a circle.

Tragic death, eunuch, beast bite, fox fur, portrait, eighteen aunt, graves ……

While thinking, he opened the task bar.

[Task 1: Survive for 5 days and 5 nights. (Current progress: 1 day and 1 night)]

[Task 2: Find Lord Li’s murderer and find the true cause of death. (In progress: Progress 5%)]

The time in the right corner had reached 11:00 o’clock, and a servant respectfully walked up to Bai Lixin. “Master Xin, it’s time to go to the front hall for breakfast.”

Bai Lixin was sitting lazily by the window. His arm was on the half open window frame, and he was dressed in a lake blue colored robe, looking as warm as the moon in the water.

The servant sneaked a glance, and immediately blushed and buried his head in his neck.

It was really strange. This was obviously young master Xin, whom he had seen before, but he now felt different.

He really couldn’t pinpoint what felt different.

But he was strangely charming.

Although Master Xin’s eyes were still timid, it felt like those timid eyes were extraordinarily bright.

He was like a rabbit before, but was now like a fox.

It was strange.

The little servant gulped, and secretly raised his head. He found that Bai Lixin had turned around at some point and was looking at him wholeheartedly.

The bright eyes seemed to have a sea of stars flowing in them, and a glance seemed like they were sucking his soul into them.

He looked into them for a second, his legs trembled, and he hurriedly took a few steps backwards. His face and ears were flushed, and he was flustered. “Young master Xin.”

Bai Lixin leaned against the soft couch of golden sandalwood and looked down at the servant in front of him. “Raise your head.”

The little servant shrank his neck, but he still obediently raised his head.

“You must know that I lost my memory, right?” Bai Lixin looked at the young man in front of him, “I don’t remember you. Are you the boy who serves me exclusively or are you from another courtyard?”

The young servant’s eyes sank into Bai Lixin’s. The pair of absorbing eyes that were looking straight at him looked so gentle, but they also hid a sharpness that made him afraid, as if the other party would see through any lies he would make.

Not daring to keep looking into Bai Lixin’s eyes, the servant turned his head slightly. Under Bai Lixin’s gaze, he said nervously, “I was specially sent by the Lord to serve you. My name is Xiao Xizi, don’t you remember? “

Bai Lixin, “According to this, you are also considered one of my people?”

Xiao Xizi hurriedly nodded, “Yes, I have been cleaning this courtyard since you were locked up, young master Xin.”

Bai Lixin, “How long have you been at the Li residence?”

Xiao Xizi, “I entered this mansion at the age of 14, and have been here for six years now. At first, I was helping in the kitchen, but then the fourteenth concubine saw that I was capable, and she called me to serve her in her courtyard.”

“I was assigned to the woodshed after the death of the fourteenth concubine, and only a short time ago was I assigned to your courtyard.”

Bai Lixin, “Six years? So you should be considered an old man in this residence. I will ask you a few questions, and you better say everything you know. If I find out that you lied to me, I will drive you back to the woodshed. You don’t want to stay in that place where you get less money for more work, do you?”

Because of his character setting, even if Bai Lixin said words of threat, they became soft and coquettish in the ears of other people.

However, Xiao Xizi just felt like this voice was cotton candy wrapped in ten thousand pounds of steel. One by one, they smashed into his heart, making him unable to breathe well.

Xiao Xizi nodded quickly. “Master Xin can ask, I will tell you everything I know!”

Bai Lixin, “The first question, who was the Lord?”

Xiao Xizi, “This ah, I was quite small, so I don’t know many things from his past. But I heard people around say that the Lord was not native to this place. He was…an eunuch, an eunuch from the palace. Later, he left the palace and brought a lot of money to settle here.”

Bai Lixin, “Then the madam was also married here?”

“That’s not true,” Xiao Xizi shook his head after thinking about it, “The master came here with the madam. The Lord was quick-tempered, but the madam had a very good personality. She treated everyone around her very well. The Lord often smiled before the death of the madam, but he became a completely different person after.”

Bai Lixin, “How did the madam die? Everyone’s expressions didn’t look quite right when we talked about the madam’s death yesterday.”

“The madam, she…” Xiao Xizi paused, and hesitantly glanced at Bai Lixin. When he found the other party listening carefully, he continued, “Madam suffocated to death.”

Bai Lixin raised his eyebrows, “Suffocated to death?”

“Three years ago, Fengcheng suffered the coldest winter. Snow covered the mountains and charcoal fires were very scarce. The madam was afraid of the cold, so she always put a pot of charcoal in her room at night to keep warm.”

“The charcoal that night was a bit damp, and the smoke was a lot as it burned.”

“When the maid came in the next morning, the madam was already dead.”

“She had inhaled a lot of smoke, and her face was blue when she died. I heard that her eyes were even protruding. The death was tragic.” Xiao Xizi could not help but shiver. “The Lord was so shocked after seeing it, and kept saying it was a claim on life. Not long after that, the Lord became obsessed with Taoism, no longer cared about the family business, and left everything to the second madam.”

“There is a point of doubt,” Bai Lixin frowned slightly, “Smoky charcoal fire irritates the eyes and chokes the nose. A normal person would avoid it at first contact. Didn’t the maids discover it when they started the fire? And the charcoal fire was lit all night long. Didn’t any maids go in to add charcoal to keep it burning?”

“They left the madam alone in the room, only to be discovered in the morning?”

Xiao Xizi shuddered as if recalling something bad, and his face became somewhat pale. “The maids also…also died.”

“There were originally four sisters serving in the madam’s courtyard. The four would take turns keeping watch every night while the madam slept.”

“But that night, they all died in the madam’s room.”

“And like the madam, their faces were also purple and their eyes wide.”

“The madam died on the bed while the four died in strange positions.”

“When we found them, they had scratches all over their bodies, and their hands were around their necks, as if they strangled themselves to death. They even had hideous and horrible expressions.”

“At that time, several concubines fainted from fright, and it took a long time for them to come around. The ground was so cold at that time, some with weak bodies died, while others fell ill.”

Xiao Xizi’s voice was trembling, and he patted his cheeks hard in order to calm down.

Bai Lixin’s hand held his cheek while the other gently tapped on the table.

The rhythmic sound broke through the film of memory, pulling Xiao Xizi back from the memories.

Bai Lixin, “Did they call the police at that time? How was it handled later?”

Xiao Xizi, “The police were called, and they came. The room was found locked, and there was no sign of forceful entry. The police said that although bizarre, it didn’t look like a homicide. The Lord also admitted that the charcoal was not good this winter, so the matter was hastily closed. The Lord sent a large pension to the families of the maids, and the corpses were hastily disposed of.”

“If that charcoal was not good,” Bai Lixin’s fingers lightly tapped the table, “What about the charcoal in the other concubine’s rooms? How did they survive it?”

Xiao Xizi looked down at his toes, and he spoke in a suppressed voice, “Actually, even though our broken charcoal was quite good, there wasn’t much soot.”

So was the problem in the pot in Madam’s room?

Bai Lixin, “One more question, are you saying the Lord lost so many wives because of that strange charcoal fire death?”

He looked down at Xiao Xizi’s panicked expression and pointed to the bench beside him, “Sit down and talk.”

Xiao Xizi walked over to the bench in a daze. He sat for a second and then suddenly shot up to his feet. “This, I am a slave.”

“The ancient Qing Dynasty has already ended, how can slaves still exist. Everyone is trying to earn money to make a living, who is not a human being?” Bai Lixin fingertips gently pointed across the air, “if I’ve allowed to sit, you sit.”

“Okay, thank you, Master Xin.” Xiao Xizi looked around and stiffly sat back down. He cleared his throat before continuing to speak. “It wasn’t because of that incident that so many concubines died.”

“The Lord came here years ago and married a total of eight wives. Some of them were originally reserved for the eldest young master to start a family with, and Master Yun was the last one at that time.”

“After that incident, the third and fourth concubine fell sick and died one after the other. The seventh concubine persevered, but not long after the beginning of spring, she also died.”

“Since the death of the madam, the Lord’s mood changed. In three years, he got eleven more wives, including you. I don’t know if there’s something unclean in the house, but those concubines died in quick succession.”

“We are not supposed to talk about the Lord’s affairs, but sometimes we can’t help but gossip about it in private.”

“We also guessed who would go first when we were in private, but we didn’t expect our guesses to really come true.”

Bai Lixin, “You mentioned how so many concubines died. I was at the mountain last night for the Lord’s wake, but how come I didn’t see the thirteenth concubine’s tomb behind the Lord’s?”

“Thirteenth concubine?” Xiao Xi Zi hesitated for a moment, “there is no thirteenth concubine.”