Chapter 4 : Murder
4: Murder
"Waaah, Young Miss! This servant truly has seen you again!"
"This servant knew it! Once we reached the underworld, I would surely see you!"
Fuling threw her arms around Qin Wan, sobbing loudly. "Young Miss, don't be afraid. This servant has come to accompany you. With you gone, this servant had no good life left. Master and servant are of one heart. Even on the road to the Yellow Springs, we'll be together…"
Fuling's cries echoed through the entire western courtyard. Nanny Zhao stared, eyes wide. The servants outside the courtyard were stunned into silence. Hearing the commotion, Jiang‑shi frowned and stepped toward the courtyard gate.
Qin Wan patted Fuling's back. "You're not dead."
Fuling's sobs cut off. She lifted her tear‑stained face, looking at Qin Wan in confusion. Qin Wan's thin lips moved slightly. "I'm not dead either."
Fuling froze, then her mouth fell open in surprise. Suddenly, she felt something was off. She slowly turned her head and instantly saw the crowd outside the courtyard. Her breath hitched. She instinctively grabbed Qin Wan's wrist.
"Young Miss… this… how did you…"
"I merely experienced a transient cessation of pulse and breath, a state near death, which is often mistaken for true death."
Qin Wan looked at Fuling, her voice slightly raised. These words clearly carried beyond the courtyard gate.
Outside, a wave of understanding gasps swept through the crowd.
A light dawned in Fuling's eyes. "Really? Young Miss… Young Miss merely had a transient cessation of pulse and breath? Transient cessation…" Fuling's brow furrowed slightly, not fully understanding what 'transient cessation' meant. But seeing Qin Wan alive and well before her was all the satisfaction she needed.
Then, Fuling suddenly touched her own neck. Turning her head, she saw the rope she had used to hang herself lying on the ground.
"But how did I… I clearly…"
She had clearly hanged herself. Why was she, aside from a sore neck, completely fine?
Qin Wan looked at Fuling, a flicker of calculation in her eyes. How should she explain this?
"The Ninth Young Miss died and came back to life, and she even saved Fuling…"
"She… could she be possessed by a Bodhisattva…"
"An ordinary person wouldn't die and then come back to life."
Seeing with their own eyes that Fuling had truly come back to life, the crowd outside couldn't help but start discussing again.
Qin Wan's revival was already a marvel. Her saving a dead Fuling was a marvel within a marvel. To bring the dead back to life… wasn't that the power of gods and Bodhisattvas?
Fuling heard these words. She looked at Qin Wan in astonishment. "Did Young Miss save this servant?"
Qin Wan gave a slight nod. This maidservant who had followed her for years would naturally know if the original Qin Wan had any medical knowledge. From Fuling's surprised expression, it was clear the original Qin Wan did not.
Fuling was still dazed when a figure stepped across the courtyard threshold.
Fuling shuddered and struggled to kneel. "Old Madam!"
Qin Wan turned her gaze and immediately met a pair of eyes filled with deep suspicion and hostility. Besides suspicion, they held unmistakable disgust. After only a moment, Qin Wan lowered her head.
Jiang‑shi in the courtyard was scrutinizing Qin Wan carefully.
The distance was not great. Aside from being unable to see the expression in Qin Wan's dark eyes, from head to toe, Qin Wan indeed looked like a living person. But why? Was it truly this 'transient cessation of pulse and breath' she spoke of?
How would a young girl like her know such things?
Even stranger, she had actually revived her hanged maidservant!
Seeing Jiang‑shi staring at Qin Wan, Fuling grew anxious. She tugged Qin Wan's sleeve and whispered urgently, "Young Miss, the Old Madam is watching you. You mustn't be discourteous…"
They, master and servant, lived here under another's roof. They absolutely could not be disrespectful to the Old Madam.
Qin Wan met Fuling's worried gaze and sighed. "Grandmother."
The moment she uttered these three words, Jiang‑shi's eyes shifted subtly in the distance.
Jiang‑shi looked Qin Wan up and down but remained silent, as if still determining whether Qin Wan was human or ghost. Lin‑shi stepped up behind her. "Mother, should we call for a physician to examine her…"
"We have these venerable masters here. What need is there for a physician?"
Jiang‑shi spoke very slowly. Lin‑shi's lips twitched, but she said no more.
If Qin Wan had merely been in a state of suspended animation and revived, a physician should be summoned immediately for treatment. Yet Jiang‑shi refused, saying they had the masters. Clearly, Jiang‑shi believed Qin Wan's revival was likely the work of evil spirits or ghosts.
After a slight pause, Jiang‑shi continued her slow, deliberate instructions. "Pass the word. The young masters and young ladies are not to approach the western courtyard. And all of you… the Ninth Young Miss merely fell ill. If I hear anyone gossiping idly, they will be sold off immediately!"
The servants immediately bowed their heads in assent, not daring to look again.
Jiang‑shi swept another glance at Qin Wan, her eyes holding the same revulsion one might show for filth. Then she turned and walked away. "Lock this place up. No one opens it without my order! We will decide further after the masters complete their rites."
Jiang‑shi's back was slightly stooped, her voice soft, yet every word she spoke weighed heavily on everyone's hearts. No one in the household dared defy her. Seeing her leave, Nanny Zhao also scrambled out in a panic. The moment she stepped out, the courtyard gate was tightly shut from the outside.
Qin Wan frowned slightly. From the words she had heard in her blurred consciousness, she already knew this Ninth Young Miss was not well‑regarded in the Qin Manor. Now it seemed the situation was even worse than she had imagined. Though not a direct descendant of the Third Household, she was still a mistress. Yet her living quarters resembled a servant's room. And Jiang‑shi's attitude made her dislike abundantly clear.
The Ninth Young Miss's circumstances must have been truly pitiable.
"Waaah, this is wonderful! Both this servant and Young Miss are alive! This is truly wonderful!"
Fuling cheered, crying and laughing at once. She clung to Qin Wan's arm, repeating the words over and over.
Seeing her like this, Qin Wan's eyes filled with confusion.
It was good to be alive. But she was not the Ninth Young Miss.
"Young Miss, you must never be so foolish again! So what if Young Master Huo doesn't like you? Young Miss will surely find a better husband. Please, don't be foolish for Young Master Huo's sake again. Wuwu, if Young Miss abandoned Fuling, what would Fuling do?"
Young Master Huo? Qin Wan's brows lifted slightly. She had indeed heard Nanny Zhao mention that this Ninth Young Miss had jumped into the lake because of this Young Master Huo. Qin Wan pressed her lips together and looked at Fuling, nodding. "I won't."
Of course she wouldn't. Why would she commit suicide over a man?
Fuling smiled. She didn't seem to think their current situation was bad at all. Instead, she looked with distaste at the burial robes Qin Wan wore. "Quickly, quickly! Young Miss, change out of these clothes at once! They're too inauspicious. We'll burn them! Surviving a great calamity means great fortune follows. Both Young Miss and Fuling will have great fortune. Young Miss, let Fuling help you change…"
Fuling's care for Qin Wan was meticulous. Qin Wan herself, however, felt somewhat dazed. Even though she had regained consciousness earlier, only upon waking, witnessing the various faces of the Qin Manor, and saving Fuling, had she truly accepted that she was alive.
Now, with everyone gone, she suddenly felt lost and uncertain.
Her parents had died tragically. She alone had come back to life. If she had any reason for living, it was only these four words: to clear their names and seek vengeance. But was this still the same Great Zhou Dynasty? Would she have the chance to clear their names and seek revenge?
Fuling paid no mind to Qin Wan's distraction. She pulled Qin Wan up and led her inside the room. Though the courtyard was simple and shabby, the interior was tidy and elegantly arranged. Fuling pulled Qin Wan straight to the bronze mirror.
"Change out of them, change out of them. So unlucky. They even set up a mourning hall. At the time, this servant begged the steward to call a physician to save you, but they insisted you were already dead. Thankfully, Heaven has eyes. I knew the people in this manor couldn't be relied on…"
As she spoke, Fuling began removing the high‑collared burial robes from Qin Wan's body.
As the robes were taken off, Qin Wan felt a sudden chill. She instinctively glanced casually into the mirror. But abruptly, her gaze fixed on her own neck. Facing the mirror directly, she saw clearly a few suspicious marks on her throat.
Qin Wan narrowed her eyes, examining them carefully. Then, her frown deepened.
Wasn't this Ninth Young Miss supposed to have died by jumping into a lake? A drowning victim, why would there be strangulation marks on her neck?!
Her breath caught. In an instant, Qin Wan's hands and feet went cold.
Or perhaps… this Ninth Young Miss hadn't died by jumping into the lake at all!