When Caiyu slumped headfirst into the thick brocade quilt, a palm supported her forehead, slowing her fall. Then she slowly turned her cheek and nestled into the quilt.
Otherwise, in her current dazed state, it was not impossible that she might suffocate in the quilt as soft as a cloud later. It would be a laughingstock if word got out.
In an instant, the side hall returned to complete silence.
The next moment, in the empty hall, Song Yinghuai's rapid and gritted - teeth voice sounded: "… Fairy, you want to kill me."
It was disordered, rapid, and troubled.
Saying that she wanted to kill him was not an exaggeration.
Just now, Caiyu had shyly and timidly called out "My Lord" again and again. At the same time, with her back against his chest, her pubis rubbed against his sensitive part. For a moment, Song Yinghuai really felt that he was about to explode.
After all, he was at an age with strong desires. Practicing Buddhism and being under house arrest was partly to commemorate the souls who died for him in the great defeat at Nao'erhai six years ago, and partly...
In the dim light of the side hall, Song Yinghuai's chest heaved unevenly. The line of his jaw was taut, and the sweat drops from his temples trickled down his cheeks, one by one rolling onto his bobbing Adam's apple and then flowing into his moon - white Buddhist robe.
Song Yinghuai sat by the bed for a while. He waved to cover Caiyu's back with a corner of the brocade quilt before striding away.
Ordinary people dared not enter Song Yinghuai's bedroom without a summons, and the same was true for the connected side hall outside the bedroom.
Therefore, Caiyu slept drowsily until evening before waking up.
It took her a while after opening her eyes to recall what had happened before she fainted.
She anxiously groped for her clothes and checked her skin and body.
The virginity mark on her arm was as bright as a blood - red dot.
While Caiyu heaved a sigh of relief, a sense of loss welled up.
They had gotten to this point, yet Song Yinghuai had knocked her out.
Caiyu suddenly sat up in shock. "No, does he have some mental illness?"
Her mother had said that with her beauty, there were few men in the world who would not be infatuated with her. If there were, they must be eunuchs from the Eastern Depot or true Buddhist disciples.
However, Caiyu clearly remembered that the place she had pressed against before fainting was firm and powerful.
Song Yinghuai had no physical problems. She had also seen the crazy and demonic him on the Mid - Autumn Festival night. He was definitely not a true Buddhist disciple without desires.
What on earth...
Caiyu thought until her head ached, but Song Yinghuai never showed up again.
Helpless, she had no choice but to leave the side hall first and return to the servants' out - building for the time being.
Before leaving, she sighed and scorned the extravagance of this hall again. She even thought that if she could live in this side hall for a long time, wouldn't she have more opportunities to be close to Song Yinghuai?
However, when she stepped into the front yard of the out - building, she found that there were clothes and dressing cases strewn all over the yard, and they were all her belongings!
Bailu walked out of her room, followed by four little maids, Taoyao, Zhuyue, Huaping, and Xiangye.
Taoyao was still holding a fine satin embroidered dress in her hand. With a "snap", she cut a hole in the dress with a pair of scissors and threw it at Caiyu's feet.
"What do you mean?" Caiyu asked calmly, looking at the arrogant faces of the five of them.
Taoyao had suffered a setback with Nanny Li in the morning and hated Caiyu the most. She immediately said,
"Sister Bailu has taken a fancy to your room. She wants to live here. Since you didn't come back for so long, we had to do it for you and throw your things out first!"
Caiyu's cold gaze fell on the scattered items on the ground. Anger flashed across her delicate face. Her eyebrows knitted tightly as she said in a deep voice,
"There are thirteen empty rooms in the out - building. Even if each of you sisters chooses one, there's no need to grab this shabby room of mine, right?"
"Shabby room?" Bailu curled her lips and said arrogantly, "I just took a fancy to this shabby room of yours. So what?"
Bailu wasn't stupid. Although there were many empty rooms in the out - building, Caiyu was a senior maid, so the room she lived in must be the best and largest one.
She had joined the pavilion later and didn't want to be inferior to Caiyu. As soon as she came, she planned to put Caiyu in her place and let the other maids and servants in Lianyin Pavilion know.
She, Bailu, was sent by the former princess. From now on, she would be the top maid in this pavilion. Caiyu not only had to take a back seat to her but also to Taoyao and the others!
Bailu looked at her sideways. "If you're not convinced, go and complain to the prince! Anyway, aren't you capable? I'd like to see how much face you have in front of the prince and whether he'll stand up for you!"
Caiyu frowned tightly. Looking at the aggressive five of them, the other little maids in Lianyin Pavilion were all craning their necks to watch the show.
Two fists can't fight four hands. A wise man doesn't fight when the odds are against him.
Suddenly, Caiyu frowned and stared coldly as she took a step forward. Bailu and the others were startled and took a step back in unison.
Bailu grabbed the door frame and said in fear, "You... Don't do anything stupid! I'm warning you, there are more of us..."
However, Caiyu gave her a sympathetic smile. She squatted down and slowly picked up the scattered items on the ground while smiling faintly,
"Why would I do anything stupid? I'm even grateful to you all."
Bailu and the others stared at her in surprise and listened to Caiyu's "nonsense" seriously:
"I heard that the prince was given his own mansion at the age of ten. He built this Yanwang Mansion in Yanjing, but he had been training in the army all the time. Before, this huge mansion was managed by Uncle Yao Shixiong, the prince's cousin.
"Uncle Yao was a handsome and romantic man. He kept many beautiful women in the mansion. One of them was Lin Wuniang, a woman from a scholarly family in Yan. Unfortunately, she offended Uncle Yao and was demoted to a servant. She lived in this room."
Bailu and the others looked blank.
So what?
Caiyu looked mysterious and described vividly, "But Lin Wuniang was a woman of some status. She was so proud that she refused to live in a servant's room. That night, she hanged herself in this room."
Caiyu pointed at the beam behind Bailu and the others, her eyes sharp as if she could see through them and the beam behind:
"Right on the beam behind your heads, Lin Wuniang hanged herself there..."
Bailu and the others were instantly terrified. Their necks turned stiffly, and they all made the creaking sound of joint movement.
Although they were all old servants in the mansion, they were all born into servants' families who had moved from Shangjing to Yanjing with Princess Yao six years ago.
They had heard some stories about what had happened in the Yanwang Mansion in Yanjing before, but they had never heard it in such detail.
Could it be... that someone had really died here?
Had Lin Wuniang hanged herself in this room?
Bailu's face turned deathly pale. Her knees went weak, and she barely stood still by holding on to the door frame. She trembled and asked,
"You... You're talking nonsense! How do you know this... We've been in the mansion for so long and never heard of it..."
"I didn't know either when I first entered the pavilion..." Caiyu said regretfully, "If I had known, I would never have chosen this room!"
Caiyu was telling the truth.
This was indeed the room where Lin Wuniang had hanged herself.
"I just didn't know before, so on the first day I moved in, I had a nightmare..."
Caiyu's expression became extremely strange, making Bailu and the others break out in cold sweat. "Every night, I would dream of a woman in white hanging on the beam in the room, swaying back and forth... Her tongue stuck out of her mouth for about three feet long!"
Caiyu gestured, and Bailu and the others let out a scream in unison.
"Her eyes were bloodshot, and her face was pale. Every night, she stared straight at me..." Caiyu described in detail, trying her best to scare them to death. "It seemed like she was saying, 'It's so cold on the beam... It's so cold on the beam... Come and accompany me...'"
Bailu and the others were on the verge of tears.
Just then, the autumn wind blew at night, and the wooden door creaked in time.
Xiangye was usually afraid of ghosts and was the most timid. Startled by the creaking sound of the wooden door, she covered her ears and jumped three feet high from the door of the room to the yard!
"Help! Don't come for me!"