Chapter 34 - Conspiracy: A Wolf Dog Sent In Overnight
Observing Wei Yuewu’s firm refusal, Chen Nianshan did not insist on her suggestion. She looked at the stains on Wei Yuewu’s clothes, unable to figure out a solution for the time being.
Wei Yuewu raised the corner of her clothes and frowned slightly. Indeed, it was impossible for her to meet anyone in such a condition.
“Alas, look at me, I was so stupid. Sixth Young Lady, let me ask someone to send cloak. No one will notice the stains on your dress when you wear the cloak.”
After a moment of silence, Chen Nianshan suddenly said smilingly as if realizing something.
This seemed to be the best way to solve the problem. Wei Yuewu nodded with resignation, hitched up her dress and agreed. Her gaze silently slid across Jin Ling’s face. Jin Ling, who was standing a little behind Chen Nianshan, knowingly blinked at her mistress.
Jin Ling had been originally standing behind Wei Yuewu, but because of the spilled broth incident, she was now standing in a position very close to Chen Nianshan.
The two decided that Chen Nianshan would go back to her yard first to change and meanwhile ask one of her maids to bring Wei Yuewu a cloak. As it was inconvenient for Wei Yuewu to walk around the mansion in her current state, she would follow a maid to a nearby yard to rest. She would then go to Chen Nianshan’s yard after putting on the cloak.
After Chen Nianshan left, Wei Yuewu followed the maid assigned by Chen Nianshan and slowly walked forward to find a place for a rest. Jin Ling was following closely behind.
After a few steps, Wei Yuewu pointed at a pavilion in front of her and said, “The scenery over there is pretty good. I’ll go and take a look.”
“Sixth Young Lady, our young lady ordered me to take you to the yard ahead to rest. There’re only a few steps left. Sixth Young Lady, why not follow me there and go back to enjoy the scenery later?”
The maid leading the way cast a look at the pavilion and persuaded.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll wait here for your young lady’s cloak.”
Wei Yuewu said as she shook her head with a smile. She started walking to the pavilion.
“Sixth Young Lady, it’s windy over there and there’s nothing to block the wind. I didn’t expect that you should want to enjoy the scenery. If you really want to enjoy the scenery, I’ll have someone set up a wind-block screen here right now. Sixth Young Lady, please wait in the yard for a moment.”
These words made perfect sense. The winter was different from the spring. If one wanted to enjoy scenery in a pavilion, it was best to set up a screen and prepare a stove. Only in this way would people be able to protect themselves from being frozen. Then, there would be no risk of unexpected results when enjoying such an elegant entertainment.
However, the anxious expression on the maid’s face was far too real. A mocking smile appeared at the corner of Wei Yuewu’s lips. This maid sent by Chen Nianshan was just an ordinary one, and yet she was so concerned about Wei Yuewu. This was rather incomprehensible.
A faint light flashed in Wei Yuewu’s watery eyes. She stopped upon hearing the advice. “Alright, I’ll go to the yard ahead and wait there.”
As she expected, the maid revealed a relaxed expression. The maid turned to their original path and quickened her pace. “Sixth Young Lady, the yard is just over there. You can go in and I’ll have someone prepare a screen at the pavilion.”
The yard was quite near, and after taking another detour, they arrived in front of the entrance.
The door of the yard was ajar. There was not anyone else in sight. It was very quiet. Wei Yuewu nodded at the maid and was about to step in. The maid was overjoyed when she saw this, and a trace of exultation flashed in her eyes.
Just then, she suddenly felt a pain in the back of her head. She lost control of her body and fell to the ground slowly, revealing Jin Ling who had been standing behind her. It was Jin Ling who knocked the maid unconscious.
“Miss, what should we do now?”
Jin Ling asked as she clapped her hands.
“Let’s go in.”
Wei Yuewu nodded and reached out to push the door.
Jin Ling’s expression changed. She was so shocked that she instantly stopped Wei Yuewu. “Miss, don’t. That wolf dog brought into the mansion yesterday must be inside.”
Yesterday, she and Shufei saw with their own eyes a big wolf dog being pulled into the mansion of Marquis Jing Yuan. If Marquis Jing Yuan bought a big wolf dog on usual days, that was quite normal. Maybe Mo Huating liked this kind of wolf dog. However, since the dog was brought in at such a crucial moment as yesterday, this could not fail to attract Jin Ling’s attention.
She was totally alarmed especially after she went to investigate the seller of the wolf dog. She found out that Marquis Jing Yuan had specifically asked for a wolf dog that had been starved for several days.
The marquis knew that the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang would come to cancel the engagement today, but yesterday, he deliberately picked a big wolf dog that had been starved for a few days. In whatever perspective, Marquis Jing Yuan didn’t seem to have good intentions.
The broth that had just been spilled on Wei Yuewu was so savoury that it could be smelled from afar. They wondered what kind of meat it was. How could it be so savoury?
After relating the situation to the wolf dog that had been starved for several days, Jin Ling could in way let Wei Yuewu take any risk.
Seeing Jin Ling so nervous, Wei Yuewu smiled and waved her hand, indicating that she was fine.
She calmly walked to the door and picked up the corner of her greasy dress with one hand. She carefully lifted the dress up by the hem to the height of the door handle, and carefully smeared the greasy dress on the door handle. She wiped the dress back and forth so carefully that the originally greasy corner of the dress became almost half dried.
The handle gave off a faint, alluring fragrance of meat.
After finishing her work, Wei Yuewu carefully pulled down her dress. Then she pointed at the knocked-out maid and ordered Jin Ling, “Drag the maid away.”
She walked around the door and continued moving forward. The mansion of Marquis Jing Yuan was spacious, but with only one master and one lady living here, there were many unused yards.
Seeing that Wei Yuewu hadn’t recklessly rushed in, Jin Ling heaved a sigh of relief. As she was quite strong, she easily lifted up the fainted maid by one pull, and placed half of the maid’s body on her shoulder. She then quickly followed Wei Yuewu.
Not far ahead, there was another spare yard as expected, and similarly, not a single servant was around. Wei Yuewu pushed the slightly-opened door, but not a single person could be seen inside. Wei Yuewu sneered in her heart. Mo Huating and Chen Nianshan did calculate everything well. The two yards were really close to each other. If something happened to her in the first yard, and if there were people in this yard, some servants would definitely come out of this yard to help her.
Now that everyone had been sent away, even if something happened to her, it had nothing to do with the mansion of Marquis Jing Yuan. Moreover. Chen Nianshan could say she had asked the maid to take her to this yard, however, Wei Yuewu herself mistakenly went to a wrong yard where the wolf dog was kept.
Therefore, Wei Yuewu had no one to blame but herself if something really happened.
In the hall, Mo Huating was attentively entertaining the Madam Dowager and Lady Tu. He kept on apologizing, saying that it was really his fault to have put Wei Yuewu in danger. After such a series of polite words, he totally left no room for the Madam Dowager and Lady Tu to find any chance to talk about the cancellation of the engagement.
The Madam Dowager still had misgivings about the part Wei Yan had played, so she couldn’t go deeper for the time being.
However, Lady Tu was not the Madam Dowager, so she didn’t have many scruples. Seeing that Mo Huating was still dragging on, she became impatient. Her face turned cold and was about to speak when she saw an old maidservant hurriedly staggered in. The old maidservant anxiously reported without caring about the sweat on her head. “My lord, please go quickly to the backyard. Something bad happened there.”
Mo Huating’s face darkened and he anxiously asked, “What happened? Who’s in trouble?”
“It was Sixth Miss Wei… Sixth Miss Wei accidentally entered the yard that has the wolf dog…” The woman panted for breath because she had run too fast.
“What? How is Yuewu now?”
Upon hearing this news, Lady Tu couldn’t sit still any longer. She sprang to her feet.
The Madam Dowager’s face darkened and looked at Mo Huating.
“Madam Dowager, Lady Tu, don’t worry. I’ll go and see what happened right away.”
Mo Huating frowned. After apologizing to the Madam Dowager and Lady Tu, he turned around and walked out.
The Madam Dowager and Lady Tu were in no mood for sitting. They hurriedly followed Mo Huating to the backyard with a large group of maids and old maidservants.
This old maidservant had been arranged beforehand to deliver the news. As soon as she saw the maid leading Wei Yuewu in that direction, she hurried to report it.
The wolf dog inside had been starved for a quite a long time. It couldn’t help going crazy when it smelled the fragrance of that special meat! The meat smelled fragrant to humans, and even more so to dogs. The meat was also cooked with dogs’ favorite fodder. Dogs’ noses were much more sensitive than humans’. When humans could smell the fragrance, it was out of question that dogs could smell it as well.
As soon as Wei Yuewu pushed open the door and the smell drifted in, the loosely-tied wolf dog would definitely pounce at her.
The master had no intention of taking the life of this Sixth Miss Wei. If she were late in reporting the news and the young lady lost her life, no one would be able to shoulder responsibility!
The old maidservant had run out of breath and sweated profusely. In fact, not all of her performance was faked.
When Mo Huating arrived at the gate of the yard, he discovered that the door was ajar and there was no sound inside. He involuntarily panicked.
Could it be that Wei Yuewu had been bitten to death by the wolf dog?
He really did not intend to kill Wei Yuewu this time. Moreover, he had even planned to make a show of his deep affection toward her.
Wei Yuewu being chased by the wolf dog would definitely be in messy clothes. Even if she received a few bites from the dog, had her face scratched, or broke her arm, he would show that he didn’t mind, as long as she was still alive. He would still marry Wei Yuewu as he had always intended and make her his wife. In this way, the “misunderstanding” that was caused when he went to pick up Wei Yuewu would be erased.
People would no longer suspect that he had anything to do with the murder of Wei Yuewu.
As for how long Wei Yuewu could live afterwards, that was another matter. He had thousands of ways to kill her. If the two families didn’t cancel the engagement, the relationship between the two mansions couldn’t deteriorate. Then he would be able to make a satisfactory explanation to Marquis Hua Yang.
As for Wei Yan, he could ask her to wait another one or two years at the worst.
Such was Mo Huating’s plan. However, there was no sound inside the door for the time being. Somewhat panicked, he hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed the handle and pushed open the door. All was quiet. There was no sound at all in the yard. It was so eerie that Mo Huating felt a little frightened.
No matter what, once Wei Yuewu entered this yard, something would definitely happen. How could there be no sound at all? He put his hand on the door handle. There was nothing unusual about it. He decisively pushed the door open and walked towards the side door. The wolf dog was symbolically tied there.