Chapter 64 - Misunderstanding or Premeditation?
Chapter 64 Misunderstanding or Premeditation?
The carriage passed through a lively district and stopped at Luoyin Temple on Tongluo Street, northwest of the capital.
“Miss, here we are.”
Su Muge quickly got off the carriage and walked into the temple.
The Luoyin Temple on the outskirts of the city was not large, but was frequently visited. Every first and fifteenth day in a lunar month, many people would come to offer incense.
As soon as Su Muge walked in, she was overwhelmed with a heavy smell of burning incense.
It was the fifteenth day today, so there were many pilgrims in the temple.
Su Muge went into the temple hall and looked around, but she could not find a single trace of Zhao inside.
Seeing a six or seven-year-old monk cleaning the temple hall, Su Muge stepped forward.
“Excuse me, master, I wonder if the madam of Su Mansion is here.” She asked. Visitors to the temple were all registered.
“Amitabha, this benefactress, both the two Mrs. Sus are taking a rest in the backyard.”
Su Muge raised her eyebrows, “Both?”
“Yes, which Mrs. Su are you looking for?”
“Both of them are from the same Su Mansion?” There were quite a few families surnamed Su in the capital.
“Yes, the two madams came by the same carriage.” The little monk answered.
Su Muge frowned slightly, realizing that An had come with Zhao.
“Young master, please just tell me where the two Mrs. Su are respectively.”
“The first and the last room in the backyard.”
“Thank you very much.”
Su Muge turned around and headed towards the backyard.
There were dozens of rooms in the backyard of Luoyin Temple, which were set for powerful pilgrims for a rest.
On entering the backyard, Su Muge found that Xingyu came out of a room, closed the door, and looked around sneakily before leaving hurriedly.
After confirming that she had left, Su Muge led Yueru to the door which was easily pushed open.
With simple furnishing in the room, they could immediately see a person lying on the bed.
As soon as Su Muge walked in, she held her breath and pushed Yueru out. “Someone put stupefacient drugs in the incense.”
Yueru was frightened and obediently stayed outside.
Su Muge swiftly opened up the window to let the fresh air in. They waited until the residual incense in the room was blown away, then Yueru entered the house and was stunned to see the person lying on the bamboo couch.
“Miss, it’s madam.”
It was Zhao who was lying on the couch.
Thinking of the stupefacient incense and the sneaky Xingyu, Su Muge was sure that Zhao was stupefied by Xingyu!
“Miss, is madam asleep?”
Suddenly, a series of footsteps came outside the door. Su Muge and Yueru took a look at each other.
“Hide!”
Before Yueru could react, Su Muge pulled her behind the closet in the room and hid themselves.
At this moment, the door was pushed open.
Seeing through the crack of the closet, they could see a man in the guard uniform of Su Mansion walked in.
He looked at Zhao lying on the couch with a smirk, rubbed his hands and was about to take actions.
Seeing this, Su Muge instantly stepped forward.
Her sudden appearance freaked him out. Before he could react, Su Muge fiercely struck the acupuncture point on his back neck.
“Ouch!”
With a sharp scream of pain, the man crashed down on the ground.
“Miss, what’s going on here?” Yueru looked at the man with her face pale.
Su Muge looked at the man coldly.
“I’m afraid someone is going to give my mother a ‘surprise’! Yueru, come here.”
Yueru leaned forward and Su Muge whispered in her ear.
While listening, Yueru’s eyes became increasingly wider and angrier. Her eyes steamed with fiery wrath.
“Miss, don’t worry. I know what to do.”
In the first room in the backyard of Luoyin Temple, An sat religiously on the futon, wearing a nattier-blue dress. She did not wear any gold ornament, and her long black hair was tied up high with a milk-white suet-jade hairpin. This jade hairpin looked simple in design but made An elegant among the noble ladies.
“Amitabha, let’s call it a day.”
Master Wuchen got up from the futon with his palms together, and An, who was sitting on his right, stood up after him.
“Thank you very much, Master.”
Besides An, there were four other madams in the room who also came to listen to the Master Wuchen’s sermon on Buddha.
“I heard that the eldest Miss of your mansion drowned in Shunyang prefecture. People thought she was dead and set up the mourning hall, but she came alive. Madam Su, is it true?” A young 25, 26-year-old lady in a navy-blue dress asked with a smile. She was Fang (maiden name), the daughter-in-law of the Minister of Justice. Since Lord Ding, the Minister of Justice, had had conflicts with Su Lun, she must be laughing at An for setting up the mourning hall without figuring out the Miss’s condition, which may indicate An’s wish for the Miss to die early.
It was known to all the powerful noble families in the capital that An married Su Lun as his second wife. It sounded nice to be a wife but she was virtually a concubine in honor. Therefore, An had always been looked down upon by those noble madams.
Fang’s words were like a sharp knife pierced into An’s heart.
Her delicate face was still wearing a dignified smile, but her hands in her sleeves were unconsciously clenched!
“I was negligent at the time …”
“Ah…”
Before An could finish, she was interrupted by a horrified scream which came from the direction of Zhao’s room.
Li Mama stepped forward with blinking eyes and said, “Madam, the scream seems to have come from the eldest Madam’s room. Could it be an accident?”
An showed a hint of anxiety on her dignified face. “Hurry, go and see what happened.”
The women in the room looked at each other and followed up.
As soon as they went outside Zhao’s door, they heard some horny sounds inside.
“This is sister Zhao’s room. How could sister, how could she do that!”
An stood outside the door with a shocked face. The sound in the room was loud enough for everyone outside to hear clearly. Most of the pilgrims coming to the temple were married madams who had gone through sexual life, so they knew clearly what was going on inside!
“What a shame!” A Madam behind An was so angry that her face turned red. It was more than shameless for a woman to do such a thing in the Buddhist temple.
The backyard of the temple was originally quiet and serene, so the sound had attracted much attention.
“No, it’s impossible, Madam. I don’t believe the eldest Madam will do that. She must be framed up!” With great anger, Li Mama quickly ran forward and pushed the door open.
It seemed that Li Mama wanted to prove Zhao’s innocence, but the wide-open door allowed everyone outside to see everything happening inside.
It was clear that two naked people were so absorbed in their passionate entanglement that they were unwilling to separate even after Li Mama had rushed in.
“Who, who dares to defile sister Zhao like this? !”
An also seized the chance and slipped in while repeatedly emphasizing Zhao’s identity.
“I am afraid it’s the tacky countrywoman that couldn’t resist the temptation and did such a shameful thing in front of the Buddha!”
“She should be trapped in the pig cage and thrown into the river!”
Whoever could rest in the backyard must be a noble madam in the capital. How could they tolerate such things to happen?
“Sister, how could you do this to My Lord!”
Hearing the sharp voice of An from inside, everyone was sure that the person in the room was Zhao!
The madams standing outside put on a disdainful look.
“Such a dirty countrywoman!”
“Absolutely!”
Having seeing this, Su Muge slowly walked into the crowd holding Zhao by her arm, who had just woken up and was still in a slight daze.
“What’s up? Why are so many people gathering here?” Su Muge stepped forward and asked, appearing confused.
“Zhao, the eldest Madam of Su Mansion, was found to have an affair stealthily in the temple!” A madam explained.
On hearing this, Zhao, who was held by Su Muge, instantly turned pale.
Su Muge put on a grave look and glared at the madam. “Madam, what are you talking about? My mother has been staying with me just now. You better make it clear by saying ‘have an affair’?!”
With Su Muge’s glare and yell, the madam was astonished and gawked at Zhao who was held by Su Muge. Su Muge had been famous in the capital recently and it was no secret that her mother was Zhao.
“The, the eldest Miss, why are you here?” The maid of An was startled to hear Su Muge’s voice and looked back at her.
“Hongyu, what is going on here? My mother is with me all the time. How can you stigmatize her with a crime of having affairs? !” Su Muge’s voice was loud enough to make all the bystanders hear clearly.
Fang had encountered Zhao when she came to offer incense before, and at a glance, she recognized that the woman standing beside Su Muge was Zhao. She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Oops, it’s such a big misunderstanding. Madam Su has just been clamoring that the eldest Madam of Su Mansion was having an affair in the temple. It turns out to be a mistake. The person inside is not the eldest Madame Su at all. The real one is standing here!”
Seeing that the situation had turned against them, Hongyu rushed into the room to inform An.
Hearing this, An looked at the two people on the bed in surprise. Seeing the woman’s face, she was so astonished that she couldn’t speak a word.
“Madam, that’s, that’s Xingyu!” Li Mama also came back to her sense.
An suddenly realized that. She took a deep breath to quickly adjust her expression; then she turned around and walked out with red eyes.
“Sister, it’s so good to see you here intact. I was so scared just now. I thought … it was your room after all. I have never expected that your maid should do such a thing …”
Zhao was even more confused by An’s words; up till now, she still had no idea what happened.
An’s words were also a slender! She meant that even though it was not you who was having an affair, but it was your maid who followed you around!
How could Su Muge let her get her way with that? “Madam, what do you mean? If it weren’t for your praise of Xingyu as a sensible and obedient maid, I would never have picked her to serve my mother. But now she has made such a scene. How could it be my mother’s fault? !”
Only then did An notice that Su Muge was standing beside Zhao. Once again, she clenched her hands in her sleeves unconsciously.
How was this little bitch here? !
“Ah … Ah!”