She blinked her eyes and vaguely made out the face of the person in front of her.
"Your Highness? Why are you here?" Wan Ruo asked weakly.
Si Hongxi helped Wan Ruo up. Looking at the red - eyed Wan Ruo in front of him, he felt heartache. He asked with concern, "Miss Ruo Ruo, what's wrong with you? Who bullied you? Tell me, and I'll seek justice for you!"
Hearing this, Wan Ruo was silent for a while. She shook her head helplessly and said, "No one bullied me. You came just in time. Could you do me a favor and send some men to help me retrieve a body?"
Retrieve a body? Si Hongxi's eyes showed confusion. Had someone else been killed?
"Who? Where? How did the person die?" Si Hongxi asked in quick succession.
"At the City God Temple in the north of the city. A woman persecuted by that scoundrel Li Xinghuai..." As Wan Ruo said this, she couldn't help feeling grief - stricken. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she tried hard to hold them back.
Could it be...
"Mu Qing, do you have the portraits of Mu Qing and Zhao Qinglian with you?" Si Hongxi asked.
"Your Highness, I've always had them with me... Could the woman be..." Mu Qing guessed what was going on with a high probability when he heard the prince's question.
"Good. Then let's go and have a look together!" Si Hongxi said with a determined look in his eyes.
He led his subordinates and followed Wan Ruo to the City God Temple.
In the dilapidated temple, they indeed found a body hanging from the beam.
When Wan Ruo saw it, the woman was dressed like a beggar, just like the day she gave the woman a bun. There was no mistake. It was really her!
She got a bit excited and was about to step forward when Si Hongxi stopped her.
"Someone, take the body down!"
At Si Hongxi's order, his subordinates quickly took the body down.
By now, the body had stiffened and emitted a pungent smell.
Si Hongxi handed a handkerchief to Wan Ruo and covered his own nose and mouth. He stepped forward and compared the body with the portrait.
This person was indeed Zhao Qinglian!
"Judging from this, it should be a suicide?" Si Hongxi guessed.
Beside him, Wan Ruo looked at the dead woman. There was still the safety talisman she had given the woman in her pocket.
Wan Ruo calmed herself down and said after regaining her composure, "According to what she said, Li Xinghuai's death might be related to the vengeful spirit of an unborn baby... She was raped by Li Xinghuai and got pregnant. But Li Xinghuai, that brute, forced her to have an abortion before the baby was born. It's very likely that the vengeful spirit of the unborn baby couldn't be reincarnated because of its strong resentment, so it came back for revenge. We have to find the body of the unborn baby!"
"Did she say where the body of the unborn baby was?" Si Hongxi asked curiously.
"It should be in a deserted house nearby..."
"Someone, take this body back first and keep it properly. The rest of you come with me to look for it!" Si Hongxi ordered.
Then they searched in the deserted house for a long time. They searched from dawn to dusk, almost ransacking the whole dilapidated house, but they still couldn't find the body of the baby.
Seeing that it was getting late, Si Hongxi said gently to Wan Ruo, "I'll take you back first. I'll send people to search more carefully tomorrow!"
Wan Ruo nodded.
On the other side, in the Prime Minister's Mansion.
Mrs. Zhang was still tossing and turning in bed because of what had happened the previous night. She hadn't slept at all the whole night. When she woke up in the morning, her eye - circles were dark, and she was still feeling extremely uneasy.
She turned around and happened to see Qin Manman standing in front of her bed, staring at her with big eyes.
It gave Mrs. Zhang a big scare. Being already guilty, this scare made cold sweat break out on her back.
"Manman, why didn't you say a word when you came in? It's really scary!" Mrs. Zhang said nervously.
"Did you go into my room and move the things I've been worshipping?" Qin Manman asked straightforwardly.
Mrs. Zhang was startled and felt a bit guilty. She pretended to be calm and said, "I don't understand what you're talking about... Did you come here early in the morning just to question your mother about this?"
Seeing that Mrs. Zhang didn't answer directly, Qin Manman changed her strategy. She softened her tone and tried to persuade her kindly, "Mother, I'm not joking with you. If you've moved the thing in my room, please return it quickly. Otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable!"
Hearing what Qin Manman said, Mrs. Zhang's heart skipped a beat.
But she still refused to admit it and said bravely, "I really don't know what you mean. What kind of strange thing are you worshipping? It's so dangerous. Why do you worship it? Mother is doing this for your own good. That dangerous thing is gone. As long as you're okay, that's enough. Have you had breakfast? Mother will go and tell the servants to cook for you now!"
After saying that, Mrs. Zhang quickly got out of bed and took the opportunity to escape from Qin Manman's sight.
Watching Mrs. Zhang's flustered back, Qin Manman's eyes gradually turned vicious.
Mrs. Zhang came to the courtyard and saw several maidservants whispering to each other. She quietly walked over to eavesdrop.
"Hey, have you heard? Yinglan's body was found this morning!"
"Yes, yes. I've heard about it too. I heard that her death was really strange!" "Yes, that's right!"
As soon as Mrs. Zhang came out, she heard the servants gossiping. It seemed that someone in the mansion had died last night?
One of the maidservants noticed Mrs. Zhang and quickly signaled the others to stop talking.
"What are you doing here? Why aren't you working!" Mrs. Zhang scolded.
Hearing Mrs. Zhang's scolding, the maidservants were frightened. "Yes!" They quickly took the opportunity to run away.
On the other side, Prime Minister Wei had just returned from the court and was still talking with Mrs. Su.
"The Prince of Pingnan seems to be investigating some strange cases recently. Since it's a secret investigation, few people know about it. I wonder what he's up to?" Prime Minister Wei said.
"My lord, what about the matters in our mansion..."
"For the time being, it's better to avoid getting involved in unnecessary things..." Prime Minister Wei hadn't finished speaking.
They heard the urgent knocking on the door from the servant outside and the shouting, "My lord! Something terrible has happened!"
"Come in. What's all this panic about?" Prime Minister Wei shouted angrily.
"My lord, another body has been found!" The servant said nervously.
What? Prime Minister Wei and Mrs. Su were both shocked!
This was already the second person who had died in the mansion. What on earth had happened last night?
"What's going on? Where was the body found?" Prime Minister Wei asked.
"My lord, in the well in the back courtyard. This morning, when the servant went to draw water from the well, they fished out a body. It's the servant girl Xiao'e!" The servant said nervously.
Prime Minister Wei frowned slightly. He pulled a long face and seriously instructed, "Don't panic. Just say she accidentally fell into the water. Give her family a sum of consolation money and bury her body. You can go now!"
"Yes!" The servant frowned slightly. Although he knew that things were not that simple, he didn't dare to say anything and retreated.
"My lord, two people died in one night. It's really strange. Such a thing has never happened in our mansion before!" Mrs. Su looked worried. She thought that it must be the bad luck brought by that family!
"Could it be that there's something unclean brought by that family? Moreover, I heard that Manman had a scar on her face before, but the scar on her face has miraculously disappeared in the past few days! It's really strange!" Mrs. Su guessed subtly, trying to see how the lord would react.
Is there such a thing?
Prime Minister Wei thought for a while and impatiently prevaricated, "Don't make wild guesses. Let's stop discussing this matter for the time being!"
As for Wan Ruo, Si Hongxi sent her back to Shan'an Fang. They stopped in front of the gate of Shan'an Fang.
"Thank you, Your Highness, for today. Please keep Zhao Qinglian's body for me for the time being. When we find the body of the baby, I want to bury them together. This was her wish!"
Si Hongxi was a bit worried about Wan Ruo's situation and nodded in agreement.
Wan Ruo bowed and was just about to leave when she found Bai Chen standing at the gate looking at her.
Bai Chen saw that Wan Ruo's eyes were red and swollen, showing signs of crying. He frowned slightly and picked Wan Ruo up in his arms.
This made Si Hongxi beside them jealous again!
"If you're still so willful, your feet might be useless. Do you like to be carried around by me every day?" Bai Chen said playfully.
What? Her feet were injured? I didn't even notice!
Hearing Bai Chen's words, Si Hongxi felt a pang of self - blame.
Seeing Si Hongxi's unhappy expression, Bai Chen felt secretly pleased. He said coldly, "Then I won't see Your Highness off!"
Then he turned around and carried Wan Ruo inside.
Bai Chen carried Wan Ruo back to their residence. Since the moment she saw him, Wan Ruo hadn't said a single word. She just buried her face in his arms, looking sad.
When Wan Ruo lay on the bed, Bai Chen grabbed her feet to apply medicine, but she didn't react at all.
Bai Chen frowned slightly. What was wrong with her?
He gently stroked her shoulder. Looking at the tear - streaks on Wan Ruo's face, he asked, "What's wrong?"