Everyone looked up in the direction of the voice.
Song Yinghuai stood in front of the latticed gateway. Dressed in a flowing moon-white Buddhist robe spotlessly clean, with a kind and handsome face, he held a string of 108 red sandalwood Buddhist beads in his hand. An awe-inspiring righteousness emanated from his body, making even ghosts and gods keep their distance.
Especially with the light shining through the gateway on his broad shoulders and back, it was like a faint holy light, radiating ripples of brilliance.
Not only Bai Lu and the others, but even Cai Yu was mesmerized.
However, seeing Song Yinghuai's frosty face from afar, Cai Yu's heart skipped a beat. After regaining her senses, she hurriedly left along the small path in the flower bushes.
"Your Highness!" Bai Lu instantly seemed to have seen the Buddha. Leaving Tao Yao and the others behind, she wailed and stumbled towards Song Yinghuai, completely forgetting the difference in their master-servant status. "Help me, Your Highness! There's a ghost! There's a ghost!"
Rotten leaves and stinky water still hung from her hair bun, and her whole body emitted a sour smell.
Song Yinghuai frowned slightly and sidestepped to avoid the rushing figure.
Bai Lu missed and fell outside the door. She almost fainted from the pain and lay on the ground unable to move for a long time. She just murmured in a low voice:
"Your Highness, Your Highness, save me..."
Song Yinghuai raised his eyes and looked at the white figure flashing through the flower bushes. His gaze was as sharp as a torch.
He bypassed Bai Lu directly and strode forward with a flick of his sleeve to the small path in the flower bushes where the white figure had disappeared.
A piece of white silk was hanging on the dewy flower branches. Presumably, it was left by the ghost girl when her clothes were caught by the branches in a hurry.
A faint fragrance of nightshade wafted in the air. This smell was all too familiar to him.
His brows furrowed. "Han Fen, go and find Cai Yu and take her to the Meditation Courtyard."
A flash of anger crossed his face again. "Ji Ming, take Bai Lu and the others down. Let them change their clothes and then bring them here."
In the Meditation Courtyard.
Song Yinghuai sat on the red-lacquered dragon-head armchair. Slowly twirling the Buddhist beads, he closed his eyes slightly. It took him a long time to suppress the anger surging in his chest.
Previously, in order to eliminate his desires, he had gone to the secret room to meditate and chant scriptures. He had sat there for most of the night.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he came out of the secret room, he heard shrill screams coming from the outhouse. The screams were so loud that they even drowned out the ringing of the copper bells around the Lotus Sound Pavilion.
The spies from the Eastern Depot took advantage of the chaos and landed around the Lotus Sound Pavilion to investigate the situation.
Fortunately, it was just a group of young maids causing a ruckus. If those eunuchs had found a handle...
The night was deep and the Lotus Sound Pavilion was completely silent. Only the occasional chirping of insects could be heard.
Cai Yu had just sneaked back into her room and taken off her white clothes. She rushed to the washbasin and casually wiped her face when she heard a knock on the door.
Han Fen's gruff voice came from outside. "Miss Cai Yu, His Highness wants you to go to the Meditation Courtyard."
Cai Yu replied in a hushed voice, trying to control her breathing. She quickly opened the door and followed Han Fen in a hurry to the Meditation Courtyard.
At this time, the room was brightly lit. Bai Lu and the others had changed their clothes and were brought in by Ji Ming. They were already kneeling on one side.
After Cai Yu arrived, Bai Lu and the others glared at her fiercely.
She acted as if nothing had happened and automatically ignored their gazes. She knelt down and pretended to be completely unaware. "Your Highness, what's going on?"
Song Yinghuai's gaze fell on her chest, which was rising and falling rapidly due to her hurry. Then it slowly moved up to her slightly flushed cheeks.
A few strands of wet bangs were sticking to her cheeks, and there were still a few crystal water droplets on her fair and delicate skin.
Under the lamp, he could even clearly see the fine fluff on her face.
It was like a few drops of clear dew on a ripe peach, extremely charming.
Song Yinghuai put down the Buddhist beads in his hand and asked, "Why is your face all wet?"
Cai Yu bit her lip. "I was sleeping just now. Guard Han knocked on the door and said that His Highness urgently summoned me. I ran a bit too fast. It's sweat."
Liar!
There was still some makeup residue on her face that hadn't been washed off.
"Your Highness! Cai Yu is lying! It was her who pretended to be a ghost to scare us!" Bai Lu and the others gradually understood what had happened after the incident. They were both angry and aggrieved as they accused. "She said that there was a dead person in that room and it was haunted! She just wanted to occupy that room, so she deliberately pretended to be a ghost to scare us!"
Cai Yu looked surprised. "You really met a ghost? I told you that the room was haunted, but you just didn't believe me. Now you believe it, right?"
She looked at Song Yinghuai pitifully. "Your Highness, I was the first one to live in that room. Bai Lu and the others threw my things out and wanted to occupy my room. I kindly told them that the room was haunted, but they thought I was just scaring them..."
"I had no way to persuade them, so I packed my things and moved to another room. Then I fell asleep. Who would have known... I'm really innocent. I didn't get any benefit but got myself into trouble."
"You're talking nonsense!" Tao Yao was furious. "Where did the ghost come from? And it could even set up traps and strings to trip us all up?"
"Your Highness, Sister Bai Lu got a leg injury while serving the old princess. Her knees would ache on rainy days. Cai Yu's room has a good orientation and the climate is dry. It's the most suitable for her to live in!"
Tao Yao raised her voice and scolded. "There are so many rooms in the outhouse. Why don't you just choose another one? Why do you have to pretend to be a ghost to scare people for just one room!"
She cried to Song Yinghuai. "Your Highness, Cai Yu set up traps and drenched us all. Sister Bai Lu's leg injury flared up again just now! If the old princess knew about this, she would definitely be heartbroken. The old princess watched Sister Bai Lu grow up!"
This was true. Bai Lu had been with Concubine Yao since she was five years old. She was a servant born into the family.
Her mother was Concubine Yao's personal maid, so although Bai Lu's status was that of a servant, she was raised like half a mistress.
Moreover, she was good-looking. Concubine Yao had originally intended for her to be Song Yinghuai's concubine.
She had never suffered such a loss before.
After Tao Yao finished speaking, Bai Lu knelt on the ground and let out soft sobs. Her voice was weak and pitiful, making people feel sorry for her.
"Your Highness, please seek justice for us." Bai Lu pleaded pitifully.
Han Fen stood aside and sneered disdainfully. This was exactly what they called "the villain sues first."
However, having served His Highness for so long, the mansion had always been peaceful. Even when various forces secretly sent beautiful women into the mansion, they were all smoothly dismissed.
But unexpectedly, Cai Yu suddenly came along and everything became chaotic.
During the day, Nanny Li was punished. She knelt in the Zhaonan Studio until it was dark and didn't dare to get up. It was only when the old princess saw that Nanny Li didn't return to the Wanxiang Hall for a long time and sent someone to look for her that they found out what had happened.
Nanny Li knelt for two hours and almost fainted. The old princess quickly sent someone to carry her back.
Just when things had just calmed down a bit, the maids started arguing again. Pretending to be a ghost, splashing dirty water...
Those traps even damaged the monitoring devices in the pavilion.
A femme fatale, a femme fatale...
Song Yinghuai didn't respond to Bai Lu. Instead, he looked at Cai Yu who was kneeling on one side and said coldly, "What about the traps in the courtyard?"
Cai Yu straightened her back and lowered her eyes, looking calm.
"Your Highness, it was indeed I who set up the traps. But I didn't do it to scare them. My father liked to teach me all kinds of strange and ingenious skills since I was a child. I was bored in the Lotus Sound Pavilion, so I made them myself. I wanted to catch some little birds for fun on weekdays or catch the mice that went to the kitchen to steal food. I didn't expect them to run into them..."
Cai Yu knelt down and kowtowed. "Your Highness, I set up traps in the pavilion without reporting to you first. I'm willing to accept the punishment."
"But I didn't pretend to be a ghost to scare people, and I didn't deliberately frame them."
As soon as she finished speaking, the anger in Song Yinghuai's chest burned even more fiercely.
He tightened his grip on the piece of white silk in his hand and said coldly with a straight face:
"Very well. You all don't serve your master wholeheartedly. Instead, you focus on scheming against each other. You frame me, and I slander you. Mother is right. The Lotus Sound Pavilion has become a bit too slack!"