Chapter 29 - Show Started: A Strangled Maid (1/2)
When Wei Yuewu saw several servants coming over, she narrowed her eyes slightly. Then she stood up and walked with the others to the back garden.
The head maidservant was now encouraged by the large company and she volunteered to lead the way for Wei Yuewu.
The Octagonal Pavilion was noted for being the only pavilion with such a structure in the back garden and it was located at a corner of the back garden. Situated behind an artificial hill, the site was half hidden from the view by the rockery. No wonder such a secluded place struck fear into the head maidservant’s heart. Moreover, snow was still falling down and the cold wind continued blowing. It was indeed not a good time to visit the pavilion in the back garden.
The group of them took a side path around the pavilion. It was about half past three in the afternoon, still a quarter left before the appointed time. Wei Yuewu was not in a hurry. She even stopped several times to watch the snow scene.
She was the mistress. If she wanted to appreciate the snowy landscape, the maids and maidservants didn’t dare to raise any objection. They just followed the pace of Wei Yuewu. If she stopped, they stopped; if she walked, they walked. By and by, they got closer and closer to the Octagonal Pavilion.
Wei Yuewu observed the sky and judged it was about the time…
“Sixth Young Lady, the Octagonal Pavilion is over there. I heard that it was built by the Marquise Hua Yang when she was alive.” The head maidservant enthusiastically explained to Wei Yuewu as she pointed at the pavilion not far away. Hardly had she finished her words when she suddenly remembered that Marquise Hua Yang was precisely the mother of the Sixth Young Lady in front of her!
She immediately lowered her head and didn’t dare to speak another word because she had no idea what kind of person the mistress was and whether she would care about the mentioning of her deceased mother.
“Let’s go over to the pavilion by that way. The wind here is too strong.” Wei Yuewu pointed to another direction where there was the artificial hill as if she didn’t hear what the head maidservant had said. By taking that path, the pedestrians would have to pass the artificial hill to reach the pavilion.
Or to put it another way, with the artificial hill screening them in the front, the large group of people wouldn’t be immediately discovered by people in the pavilion.
Since Wei Yuewu was their mistress, and since she had established her authority over the servants in her courtyard, none of the servants would dare to underestimate the thin, weak young lady. Therefore, when Wei Yuewu decided which way to take, nobody raised any objection. The large group thus turned around and made a detour towards the artificial hill.
The moment they reached the artificial hill, the head maidservant of the kitchen heard a faint groan. The hair on her skin immediately stood up and her limbs trembled. She subconsciously listened again, and the faint groan of a girl floated through the wind to her ears.
This time, not only the head maidservant, but everyone presented heard the groan. All the servants turned pale from fear, a few of them even too frightened to hold their clubs!
It was in the middle of winter, and night was falling on. Besides, this place looked so gloomy. Was it possible…Or was there really something…
In the Octagonal Pavilion, Shuiyun was held up by a maidservant. She lay in one of the corners, breathed faintly, and let out faintly discernible groans. The maidservant looked around the quiet surroundings and dragged Shuiyun to the corridor and put Shuiyun in a leaning position against a pillar.
One wouldn’t notice anything strange about Shuiyun upon coming in from the entrance of the pavilion!
The maidservant stretched out her hands and strangled Shuiyun with fierce strength while prattling, “Don’t look for me after you die. I’m only doing what I was told to do. It’s just because of your ill fate that you provoked the Second Lady and Second Young Lady. Anyway, you are so weak now and you won’t be able to survive. You will start your next life earlier if you die earlier, and you can avoid more painful sufferings.”
Shuiyun was leaning there unconscious. Her eyes were closed. When she was strangled, she only gave two low cries without waking up. Shortly after that, her breathing seemed to stop.
“Someone, catch that murderer.” By the time, Wei Yuewu had just turned out of the artificial hill. She pointed at the woman whose hands were still squeezing Shuiyun’s neck and bellowed with a long face.
The maids and maidservants who were following behind had been terrified by the low moans. They thought that they had bumped into something evil. When they saw that it was not some evil existence playing tricks with them and that someone was committing murder, they immediately rushed over.
Some hurried to pull that maidservant away from Shuiyun, some landed a few fierce strikes on her and others went over to check Shuiyun.
“Isn’t she… isn’t she the maid Shuiyun who serves the Second Young Lady?” Someone cried out in astonishment. Shuiyun was Wei Yan’s chief maid, and she often sent orders to the kitchen for Wei Yan. Therefore, the servants in the kitchen knew her very well. Some of them even cooked special dishes for her in order to curry favor with her. In short, she enjoyed much better treatments than other personal maids.
Basically, she was known to all servants in the mansion.
“Ah, isn’t this woman Nanny Qian who served the Second Lady?” Someone exclaimed again. The trusted servants of Lady Li enjoyed the same domineering status among the servants as Shuiyun in the mansion. This Nanny Qian happened to be such a person, and was known to every single servant in the mansion.
One would easily figure out that such a task could only be done by a most trusted servant. Otherwise, Lady Li wouldn’t be able to rest assured.
Wei Yuewu lowered her eyes to hide the coldness in her eyes. Even her breathing seemed to be tinged with icy coldness.