Chapter 347: Request
A farm outside Kyoto.
The carriage from the Minister of Rites' Mansion stopped in front of a green-painted gate, covered in a cloud of yellow dust.
"Madam, we're here." The coachman jumped off the carriage, reported to the old lady in the carriage, and turned to knock on the door.
The old lady sat in the carriage with a gloomy face. She didn't say a word, but she pinched the silk handkerchief with her old hands, using such great force that she almost poked a hole in it.
The door was knocked three or five times, and soon footsteps and voices were heard from inside, "Who is it?"
The driver put down his hand, waited until the footsteps approached, and said, "The old lady is here, why don't you open the door quickly!"
When he said this, the people inside were stunned for a moment. "Old lady? What old lady?"
As he was talking, the person inside opened the door from the inside, stuck his head out, looked at the driver outside suspiciously, looked him up and down, and asked unkindly: "Who are you looking for?"
The driver sneered and stepped aside to let the carriage behind him pass.
The old lady sat in the carriage, lifted the curtains on the window, and looked at the woman who came to open the door with sinister eyes, "Tell Wang Yuan to come out and see me!"
Wang Yuan, the manager of this farm.
Hearing the old lady calling the steward by his name, the woman shuddered in her heart and subconsciously shrank her neck. She felt a little scared. She didn't know who this fierce-looking old lady was, but she didn't dare to offend her. "Just wait!"
With a snap, she closed the door and ran away.
The old lady's already unhappy expression suddenly became even uglier as the door was closed.
Since this manor didn't have any nice scenery, she had never been here since it was built. She just sent one of her confidants to look after it after it was built.
This confidant is Wang Yuan, who is the manager of this farm. He would bring local specialties to Beijing during the holidays and report back to her about the things happening on the farm.
It's just a village, what could happen? Every time we meet we just greet each other.
The old lady looked at the green-painted door with her deep and turbid eyes, feeling a strong sense of uneasiness in her heart.
On both sides of the green-painted gate, there are New Year's couplets. She can recognize who wrote the words on the couplets at a glance.
It's her husband.
The man who had long passed away.
Is someone copying her husband's handwriting?
It goes without saying who that person is.
Back then, the illegitimate son's studies were personally supervised by his husband, and he taught him how to write stroke by stroke.
Just as the old lady was lost in thought, the tightly closed door was opened again, and Wang Yuan came out with a panicked smile on his face. He trotted straight to the carriage and knelt down.
"I deserve to die. I didn't know the old lady was coming. I failed to welcome her. Please forgive me, old lady."
Behind Wang Yuan, there were many servants from the farm. When they saw Wang Yuan kneeling down, they all knelt down as well, including the woman who had just opened the door.
The old lady glanced at these people, said nothing, and got out of the carriage.
Seeing that the old lady did not bring any followers, Wang Yuan hurriedly stood up to support her.
The old lady walked to the door and pointed at the words on the gate, "Who wrote this?"
Wang Yuan swallowed subconsciously, "During the New Year, a man came to sell Spring Festival couplets. Some were for the front door, some were for the doors inside the house, and some were for the rice jars and vegetable cellars. I saw that the words were well written and auspicious, so I bought a lot."
The old lady glanced at him sideways, said nothing else, and walked into the yard.
She didn't go into the house. As soon as she entered the yard, she gave the order straight to the point, "Call all ."
Wang Yuan didn't understand what was going on, so he hurriedly called out. In the blink of an eye, all thirty or forty servants and maids from the huge farm were called over, filling the entire yard.
The old lady glanced around sharply, but did not find the familiar face, nor did she see who had a disfigured face.
"Is everything here?" asked the old lady.
Wang Yuan stood in front of him and said, "All of them are here, not one is missing ."
The old lady didn't beat around the bush with him, "Where is Zhou, the concubine that the master had with him back then?"
When Wang Yuan heard this, he hurriedly said, "Madam, Aunt Zhou has passed away for many years. When she passed away, it was me who went to your house to announce her death. Have you forgotten? You asked me to prepare a good coffin for her."
The old lady stared at Wang Yuan without blinking, her eyes seemed as if she wanted to eat him.
Wang Yuan felt a chill down his spine and dared not say anything more .
The old lady suddenly smiled and asked, "Where is it buried?"
Wang Yuan's heart shuddered, and he lowered his head, "He is buried in the wasteland behind this manor. There are many graves over there, where the people of the manor were buried after they died."
"Go dig out the coffin for me." The old lady's expression did not change when she said this.
Wang Yuan's expression changed drastically, "Madam, this..."
The old lady looked at him and sneered, "Go, take your men and go now, dig out the coffin, and bring it to me directly. I want to see the body of my good sister."
Wang Yuan lowered his eyes, and the submissiveness faded away. Instead, a layer of coldness surged up. He raised his head and looked at the old lady calmly, "Old lady, this is not appropriate. Let the dead rest in peace."
The old lady immediately snorted and laughed, "She is just a lowly servant of my Xu family. Even after her death, her indenture is still in my Xu family. If I am not at peace, why should she be at peace? You are the housekeeper of my Xu family. I sent you here. What? Are you going to rebel against me?"
Wang Yuan looked at the old lady and said, "I dare not. I will obey your orders on other matters, but this person has been dead for many years and has been buried. Why does the old lady have to dig her out again?"
He clearly refused to carry out the order.
The old lady ignored him and turned to the other servants in the courtyard, "You are all from my Minister of Rites' Mansion. Your food and drinks every month are provided by my Minister of Rites' Mansion. Even the clothes you wear are from my Minister of Rites' Mansion. Do you want to disobey my wishes like him?"
After she finished speaking, the servants in the yard fell silent, and no one dared to respond.
After a moment of silence, the woman who opened the door for her raised her head and looked at the old lady, "You can't dig up someone else's grave just because you are the master. Isn't that a lack of virtue?"
As soon as these words came out, Wang Yuan looked at the woman with a cold gaze.
The woman turned a deaf ear to him. She looked at the old lady with resentment in her eyes, "That's the concubine, and you're the legal wife. So, when she was alive, her son deserved a bad death, and she deserved to be driven to the farm. Now that she's dead, does she deserve to be dug up too? What's the logic behind this? Going to the Xu family as a concubine, being controlled by the Xu family in life, and not being able to rest in peace even in death?"
As soon as she finished speaking, a man in black suddenly dropped from the sky and picked her up.
