Chapter 319

Chapter 319: Caught Despite Xie Yunting's reassurances, a few craftsmen still harbored misgivings and went back after collecting their wages from Cui Lingrong. Still, six out of ten craftsmen remained, choosing to trust Cui Lingrong and Xie Yunting. Xie Yunting said privately to Cui Lingrong, "We still need to resolve this matter, or else everyone won't be able to work in peace." Cui Lingrong thought for a moment. "Since someone is putting on this ghostly act, as long as we keep building, they'll definitely come again. Since it's fake, we'll eventually catch the one pretending." Catching ghosts required a Taoist priest, but they both knew this wasn't a real ghost. Xie Yunting nodded in agreement. "Then let's see who's bold enough to cause trouble on my territory!" Xie Yunting planned to disguise himself as a craftsman and stay overnight. "Sister Cui, why don't you head back first? Who knows what might happen—better to keep you away from any unclean things." "If I go back, they might think they haven't targeted me properly. Think about it—the weaving workshop is perfectly fine, and only the academy has trouble. That means this is aimed at me." Cui Lingrong had keenly sensed something was off. She said she would stay too. Whoever was doing this must be someone the workers recognized, and she might be able to spot something suspicious. That night, Cui Lingrong stayed at the neighboring estate. Nothing happened that evening. It wasn't until the second night that Cui Lingrong was woken from her dreams by Nanny Qiu. "Listen." Nanny Qiu froze in trepidation. Only after Cui Lingrong's breathing steadied did she hear a faint sobbing sound. She was afraid, yet she firmly believed someone was faking it. She walked to the window and suddenly threw open the wooden shutters. Perhaps the other party thought she wouldn't dare open the window. Cui Lingrong caught sight of a dark shadow fleeing from the corner of the wall. "Seize them!" Cui Lingrong shouted. She and Nanny Qiu rushed out, but by the time they got there, they saw nothing. Because it was too dark all around. "It's too dark over there—let's wait for the others to come!" Nanny Qiu grabbed her mistress's hand, afraid of an ambush lurking in the darkness. Cui Lingrong looked around. Nothing could be seen in the bamboo grove—only boundless darkness. By the time the servants arrived with torches, there was no trace of anyone, only a row of footprints on the grass. Cui Lingrong reacted quickly. "Everyone saw that, right? These are human footprints—not some ghost or monster!" Over the past few days, all sorts of ghost stories had been circulating around the estate, making it hard for anyone to sleep soundly. And Cui Lingrong had been right—as long as she was there, the other party would come for her. The servants had already gone chasing after the person. Cui Lingrong had lost all desire to sleep, so she sent Er Shun quietly to check on Xie Yunting. They waited until the sky began to lighten, but there was no word from Xie Yunting, nor any news from Er Shun. It wasn't until Nanny Qiu returned from gathering information that she said, "General Xie led men out in pursuit last night, and Er Shun went along too. Don't worry too much—General Xie is highly skilled in martial arts. With him on the case, few people could defeat him." With no one back yet, Cui Lingrong couldn't fully relax. She took her people to the neighboring academy to ask what had happened the night before. The steward came over and said, "Last night, the crying sound came again, but from far away. The General chased after it in the dark, taking only two men with him." Hearing that Xie Yunting had taken only two men, Cui Lingrong grew even more worried. Still, she trusted in Xie Yunting's abilities. In fact, Xie Yunting had already caught the person behind the ghostly act and was on his way back. Meanwhile, at the Lou family residence, Madam Bai listened to what Mama Zhou had to say and was not satisfied. "If we didn't scare off Cui, wasn't it all for nothing?" "Madam, even if Cui Lingrong is bold, she's just a woman. What woman isn't afraid of ghosts and spirits?" Mama Zhou still thought it had been effective. "Besides, four out of ten craftsmen have already left. When they go back, they're bound to spread word of the haunting. Word will spread from one to ten, ten to a hundred—Cui's academy won't be able to operate." Madam Bai nodded. "She built that academy for her reputation, so I'll ruin her reputation too!" "Yes, what happened to our young lady at the Jien Hall was most likely Cui's doing. What we're doing now is returning tit for tat. If—" Mama Zhou stopped mid-sentence, her senses sharp as she detected someone outside the door. She deliberately paused. As it turned out, it was the eldest daughter-in-law, Madam Xia, who had arrived. Madam Xia had come with displeasure—she felt her mother-in-law's temperament had grown stranger and stranger lately. "Why are you here?" Madam Bai glanced over with displeasure. "Mother, how could you send people to the Prince Wu's residence to speak ill of younger sister?" Madam Xia truly didn't understand. "Our Lou family doesn't have many capable people to begin with. It took great effort for younger sister to connect with Prince Wu's household, yet you went and undermined her. Why would you do such a thing?" "Heh, you've come to criticize me too?" Madam Bai's face turned cold. "She doesn't have the ability, yet insists on licking Prince Wu's boots. Aren't you afraid that one day Prince Wu's household gets raided and our Lou family goes down with them?" Madam Xia frowned at her words. "You... how can you even say such things?" If word of this got out, the Lou family wouldn't survive. Old Master Lou had already passed away. Madam Xia's husband was merely a seventh-rank official, and the other brothers were even less accomplished. Any of those powerful figures could crush half the Lou family with a snap of their fingers. "That's what I said. Are you going to teach me how to speak?" Madam Bai shot a glare at her. "Mother, my dear mother, please, for the sake of how difficult things are for our family, can you just stop making a fuss?" Madam Xia pleaded. She was afraid her mother-in-law would truly offend her sister-in-law. She had come in person today to apologize, and when her sister-in-law said she was heartbroken, Madam Xia couldn't argue a single word in response. But Madam Bai not only refused to listen to Madam Xia, she also used filial piety to pressure her. "Madam Xia, have I been giving you too much face? How dare you speak to me like that?" She slammed her hand heavily on the table. Madam Xia flinched in fright, but she had endured long enough. "Mother, no matter what you're thinking, or whether you truly can't bear to see your younger sister do well—I'll say this right now: if you keep stirring up trouble, I'll take the children and return to the Xia family!" Madam Xia felt her mother-in-law had grown senile. She would have to speak with her husband about this later. Her sister-in-law was also a member of the Lou family. Offending her like this was as if her mother-in-law couldn't bear to see her sister-in-law succeed. Madam Bai, having been lectured by her daughter-in-law, pointed at Madam Xia. "She... she, she, she actually dares to threaten me?" "The eldest young mistress doesn't mean it that way. She just doesn't understand the situation. But how did she find out about the Prince Wu's mansion matter?" Mama Zhou thought to herself. It wasn't as if they had gone to Prince Wu's mansion themselves—they had sent someone else. "Hmph, who else could it be? That Miss Lou you're always talking about!" Madam Bai grew even more disgusted with Lou Wanxian. "You go to the Zeng family and tell that ungrateful wretch that I'm cutting ties with her. We're done—no more contact from now on!" The more Madam Bai spoke, the angrier she became, and suddenly she started coughing. Mama Zhou had no choice but to go fetch a physician. As luck would have it, she ran into Mama Zhao, who served Zhao Susu, at the medicine shop. She had wanted to probe why Wang Hechun's Wife had come to pick up medicine, but instead accidentally bumped into her. "Watch where you're going!" Wang Hechun's Wife snapped irritably as a packet of medicine fell to the ground. "My apologies, truly my apologies. I'll compensate you," Mama Zhou said. "These are all precious medicinal ingredients. How are you going to compensate me?" Wang Hechun's Wife looked her up and down, feeling she looked familiar but unable to place the name. It was only when Mama Zhou introduced herself that Wang Hechun's Wife realized who she was. "So you're from that fallen household. Fine then, compensate me—this packet of medicine costs ten taels of silver!" Just as she finished speaking, Zhao Susu walked in impatiently and urged, "I sent you to pick up medicine. What are you doing taking so long?" Wang Hechun's Wife immediately shifted the blame. "It's this careless woman here. I was just making her pay for it!" She moved to her mistress's side and quietly whispered who Mama Zhou was. When Zhao Susu heard it was someone from that concubine-born aunt's household in the Lou family, she looked the woman up and down and said contemptuously, "Forget it. I wouldn't take money from filthy things like that. You take it and toss it to any beggar you like."