Xiao Zisheng followed the Marquis of Pingyang and Lady Tong to the ancestral hall of the marquis's mansion.
Since the body was to be kept in the hall for forty - nine days, the ancestral hall was brightly lit by candles. From outside the door, one could faintly see a blackwood coffin inside.
After entering the ancestral hall, a guard put three lit incense sticks into Xiao Zisheng's hands.
Xiao Zisheng leaned forward and inserted the incense into the incense burner. Looking at the memorial tablet of "Beloved Daughter Su Yuanyuan" in the candlelight, he tightly grasped the armrests of his wheelchair and said,
"Uncle and Aunt, I have something to say to Yuan'er. Could you please leave for a while?"
The Marquis of Pingyang and Lady Tong didn't notice anything amiss in Xiao Zisheng's words. He and Su Yuanyuan had been childhood sweethearts, growing up together. It was only natural for Xiao Zisheng to have feelings for Su Yuanyuan and want to say something to her in private.
Unlike Lady Tong, the Marquis of Pingyang clearly knew that the bones in the blackwood coffin were not Su Yuanyuan's. He moved his lips, hesitated for a moment, and finally agreed.
The couple left the ancestral hall together, leaving the space for Xiao Zisheng.
After the door of the ancestral hall closed behind him, Xiao Zisheng quietly looked at the blackwood coffin in front of him and whispered to the guard beside him, "Open the coffin."
The guard was startled and couldn't help saying, "Your Highness, it's midnight now, when the yin energy is at its strongest. Opening the coffin will disturb the deceased. It might not be a good idea."
Xiao Zisheng said word by word, "I order you to open it!"
The guard swallowed hard. Suppressing his fear, he stepped forward and was about to push open the lid of the coffin. To avoid being noticed by the Marquis of Pingyang and Lady Tong waiting outside, the guard was extremely careful. It wasn't until he was sweating profusely that he silently opened the coffin.
At the sight of the neatly arranged bones inside, the guard shivered.
"Y - Your Highness, it's opened."
Xiao Zisheng couldn't stand on his own legs, let alone get up to check the situation inside the coffin. His face tense, he said, "Carry me up. I want to take a look at the bones inside."
The guard did as he was told. With the guard's help, Xiao Zisheng climbed onto the blackwood coffin with difficulty. By the bright candlelight in the room, he saw the appearance of the bones clearly.
His brows furrowed instantly. A storm raged in Xiao Zisheng's heart. He murmured almost inaudibly,
"These are not Yuan'er's bones."
Before Yuan'er passed away, she had already come of age for half a year. Even though Xiao Zisheng didn't know how to conduct an autopsy, he could tell at a glance that the bones in the coffin were too delicate, like those of an eight - or nine - year - old child. They were definitely not Su Yuanyuan's.
What was going on?
After the guard helped him back onto the wheelchair, Xiao Zisheng looked rather gloomy as he was deep in thought.
Why did the Pingyang Marquis's Mansion find a set of strange bones and offer them as if they were Su Yuanyuan's? But judging from Lady Tong's appearance just now, she was truly extremely sad. It was the Marquis of Pingyang who seemed hesitant to speak, as if he had something to say.
Collecting himself, Xiao Zisheng said to the guard, "Close the coffin. Remember, don't let anyone notice anything unusual."
The guard nodded and stepped forward to put the lid of the coffin back in place. After everything was done, Xiao Zisheng asked the guard to open the door and take him away.
As soon as he left the ancestral hall, he saw the Marquis of Pingyang and Lady Tong waiting outside. After thinking for a while, Xiao Zisheng said, "It's getting late. Auntie looks a bit unwell. You'd better go back and rest early. Cousin Zeqian is a blessed person and will surely be fine."
"Uncle, I'd like to discuss some matters about the grain shipment with you."
The Marquis of Pingyang had no objection. After having someone take Lady Tong back to the Bamboo Grove Courtyard, he followed Xiao Zisheng towards the main gate of the marquis's mansion.
When they reached a deserted place, Xiao Zisheng raised his hand to signal the guard to stop. The Marquis of Pingyang also stopped accordingly.
Xiao Zisheng waved his hand to dismiss the guards around him. Seeing this, the Marquis of Pingyang's attendants also retreated with the guards.
When there was no one around, Xiao Zisheng came straight to the point. "The bones offered in the ancestral hall are not Yuan'er's."
The Marquis of Pingyang looked up in surprise. He didn't expect Xiao Zisheng to be so perceptive and notice something wrong. Nodding, he said, "What's inside is indeed not Yuan'er's bones."
Meeting Xiao Zisheng's inquiring gaze, the Marquis of Pingyang's throat felt bitter as he explained, "Some days ago, your aunt always had the same nightmare at night. In the dream, she saw what happened to Yuan'er after her body was thrown into the mass grave. In that dream, Yuan'er's body was dragged and gnawed on by wild dogs in the mass grave. They even regarded her as food and... gnawed her beyond recognition."
As if his heart was being tightly grasped and twisted by a big hand, Xiao Zisheng gasped for breath. In pain, he tightly grasped the armrests of the wheelchair and hoarsely asked, "Is this dream real?"
The Marquis of Pingyang shook his head. "I don't know either. After your aunt had that dream, she became absent - minded and restless. She had been ill recently and hadn't fully recovered. Now, with the nightmares every night, her body has become even weaker. In order to appease Yuan'er's soul, she asked Qian'er to go to the mass grave to find Yuan'er's bones. But no matter how hard Qian'er looked, he couldn't find them."
"So, we had to go to the Prince of Cangjun."
Xiao Zisheng suddenly raised his head, his voice getting a bit louder. "The Prince of Cangjun? Cang Xuan? What did you go to him for?"
The Marquis of Pingyang said, "Cang Xuan is good at stargazing and divination. We planned to ask him to help figure out the location of Yuan'er's bones."
Xiao Zisheng asked further, "And then?"
The Marquis of Pingyang said, "Cang Xuan divined three times, but the result of each divination was 'empty'. He said that it was because we had abandoned Yuan'er in her lifetime. We let her fall into trouble but couldn't reach out to help. So, the kinship between us and Yuan'er had been severed. Even after death, Yuan'er didn't want to return to the marquis's mansion."
"So, you just found a set of bones in the mass grave and regarded them as hers?" Xiao Zisheng's voice suddenly turned cold.
"No, it was your aunt." The Marquis of Pingyang shook his head. "She was deeply affected. After leaving the Prince of Cangjun's mansion, she insisted on going to the mass grave and regarded those bones as Yuan'er's. Your Highness, you know that if we told her the truth, she might..."
Xiao Zisheng understood. If they broke Lady Tong's illusion, she might go crazy or even lose her life.
Now, Lady Tong believed that they had found Su Yuanyuan's bones. She whole - heartedly planned to keep the body in the hall and bury Su Yuanyuan, which was a kind of consolation for her.
Xiao Zisheng didn't know what to say for a moment.
Lady Tong was Su Yuanyuan's biological mother. He understood her feelings. However, this also meant that his guess was correct.
This thought made his eyes light up a bit.
Yuan'er, I didn't expect that after half a year, we would meet again.
Suppressing his inner excitement, Xiao Zisheng asked, "Uncle, I'd like to go to Yuan'er's room and take something that belongs to her. Is that okay?"