The two guards shook their heads at Wan Ruo and said, "Never seen you before! Hurry up and leave!"
Wan Ruo was fuming. "Fine! You won't let me in, right? Great!"
She seemed to have come up with an idea and turned around to leave.
"You have your stratagems, and I have my ways to get around them! Haha..." Wan Ruo gave a sly smile.
Somehow she managed to find a ladder. She looked around and found a deserted spot, placed the ladder against the wall, and climbed up.
Just as she reached the top of the wall and was feeling smug, she heard a shout from below.
"Hey, you there! Get down here!"
Oh no, she'd been spotted by the guards!
Hearing the guards' shouts, Wan Ruo sat on the wall, looking very pleased with herself. She stuck out her tongue and said, "I'm not coming down. If you've got the guts, come up and catch me! Nyah nyah..."
"Get down here! Get down!"
The guard shouted while trying to climb up the ladder.
Seeing this, Wan Ruo quickly shook the ladder to stop him from climbing up. The guard almost fell and quickly retreated.
Seeing that they couldn't climb up, Wan Ruo was still gloating.
But the guard below prodded her with the ladder a few times. She lost her balance and fell off the wall!
"Ah..."
Wan Ruo closed her eyes in fear and covered her head. She thought she mustn't get hurt when she hit the ground. Protecting her head was the most important thing!
"Umph." She heard a muffled grunt. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw Si Hongxi holding her in his arms.
Wan Ruo let out a sigh of relief. Great, she'd been caught!
By this time, the guards in the courtyard had rushed over.
Seeing Si Hongxi holding Wan Ruo, they were all terrified and bowed, shouting, "My lord!"
This was bad. Not only had they let a stranger climb over the wall, but they'd also been caught red - handed!
Si Hongxi ignored them. Instead, he looked at Wan Ruo with a worried expression and asked, "Why didn't you use the main entrance? Why did you do something so dangerous?"
Wan Ruo felt a bit embarrassed and said, "Put me down first!"
Hearing this, Si Hongxi realized what he was doing. His face blushed a bit, and he put Wan Ruo down.
"I wanted to use the main entrance, but they wouldn't let me in. So I had to do this!" Wan Ruo shrugged helplessly.
Si Hongxi frowned slightly and demanded, "A guest was turned away from the door, and no one reported this to me. Why?"
Seeing someone standing up for her, Wan Ruo stuck out her tongue at the two guards and thought, Now you know who I am! You dared to bully me and not let me in!
Hearing this, the guards were panicked. Their bodies trembling, they explained, "My lord, we didn't know this young lady was a guest of the mansion. We just thought that you've been very busy and tired with the case these days, so we didn't want anyone to bother you casually. That's why... Please spare our lives, my lord!"
"Okay, okay. Just give them a warning. It's not a big deal!" Wan Ruo said to Si Hongxi.
Si Hongxi listened to Wan Ruo's words. With a gloomy face, he said, "Okay, I won't punish you this time, but there mustn't be a next time! Go!"
"Thank you, my lord. Thank you, Miss Wan Ruo!" The two guards quickly expressed their gratitude and then retreated.
"Oh, right. I came here specifically to find you!" Wan Ruo said seriously.
Si Hongxi took Wan Ruo's hand and said, "Come on. Let's go inside and talk."
Hey, if you're going, just go. Why are you holding my hand?
Once inside the room, Wan Ruo looked disgusted and said, "Yuck... Let go, let go. It's not good to be seen!"
"Do you hate me that much?" Si Hongxi asked with a heart - broken look as he saw how disgusted Wan Ruo was with him.
Wan Ruo quickly explained, "It's not that I hate you. It's just that men and women should keep a proper distance. Besides, you're a lord. You should be more careful. Right!"
Humph! Other women would be eager to cling to me if they knew I was a lord, but you're telling me about the proper distance between men and women!
Seeing Si Hongxi's eyes turn cold and fierce, Wan Ruo felt something was wrong. She quickly changed the topic and said, "Oh, right. Let's get to the point. I came to you about the case. I've made new progress!"
You came to me just for the case? Si Hongxi felt a bit heart - broken. He sat down helplessly and said coldly, "Go ahead. I'm listening!"
"I went to the prime minister's mansion with Shopkeeper Bai last night. We made a major discovery!..." Wan Ruo rambled on.
But Si Hongxi was a bit distracted.
Night visit to the prime minister's mansion? Si Hongxi suddenly remembered what Bai Chen had said, "She's okay. She was just too tired last night... Ah, it's all my fault. If it weren't for me, she wouldn't have..."
So the tiredness he mentioned was about this! Fortunately!
"Hey! I'm talking. Are you even listening? Hey!..."
Seeing Si Hongxi sitting there in a daze, Wan Ruo stepped forward and shouted at him. She also waved her hand in front of his eyes.
Suddenly, Si Hongxi grabbed her wrist, which startled Wan Ruo.
"Go on. I'm listening!" Si Hongxi looked at Wan Ruo and showed a relieved smile.
Looking at Si Hongxi's strange smile, Wan Ruo was very confused. This guy must be crazy, right?
"Then I'll continue. When we got to the prime minister's mansion, we really did find something strange. We found that Zhang and Qin Jiang were probably killed by a vengeful infant spirit. The tragic death of Li Xinghuai that you found before was also the revenge of this infant spirit. Li Xinghuai violated Zhao Qinglian and made her pregnant, but that bastard Li Xinghuai threw the baby out and left it in the wilderness! Zhao Qinglian almost died because of this! The resentment of the newborn baby was extremely strong. It should have bewitched Qin Manman to worship it. When Manman refused, it killed her parents! It should be like this!" Wan Ruo half - truthfully and half - falsely explained.
Hearing what Wan Ruo said, Si Hongxi did find that altar in Qin Manman's room today, but there was nothing on it!
"How did you know about Li Xinghuai's story?" Si Hongxi asked.
"Don't you dare not believe me when I tell you... It was Zhao Qinglian who told me! It was the day when I took you to collect her body. Her soul found me first and told me her story!" Wan Ruo explained.
No wonder she said she was going to the City God's Temple to collect the body that day. It seems to be true!
"Also, I have to take Zhao Qinglian's body. I want to bury her with her baby!" Wan Ruo said.
"Is there any connection between the previous cases and this infant spirit?" Si Hongxi continued to ask.
Wan Ruo thought carefully for a while and then said, "It's hard to say. I don't think the victims in the previous cases had any grudges against the infant spirit. So there should be no connection, right?"
"You said you want to bury Zhao Qinglian and her baby together. So, is the body of the infant spirit with you now?" Si Hongxi asked.
Wan Ruo nodded.
"I can promise you that you can bury Zhao Qinglian's body with the baby's body, but before that, I need to borrow the baby's body for a while!" Si Hongxi said, setting a condition.
Wan Ruo wondered what he wanted the baby's body for.