Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 277 Hidden in the Deep Hall

"Fortune telling?" Diwu Wei asked in confusion, "Can we find the soul of Queen Xi?"

"I saw with my own eyes that her soul was killed by Xiao Hong using a magic weapon." Ren Yuan emphasized.

"You only know one side of the story." Chen Qingzhi said slowly, "At the beginning, when the queen's mother, Princess Xunyang, was pregnant, she dreamed that she would give birth to a son. When Queen Xi was born, a red light shone in the room, and objects without light shone on their own. Everyone in the family was very surprised, so they asked a wizard to take a look."

"The wizard said that Queen Xi was the reincarnation of a dragon girl, so her radiance was unusual. If we just sit back and do nothing, she would become more and more mysterious and cause trouble to her family. So the wizard performed a purification ritual by the water and put her divine light into a mirror. Since then, the queen has been no different from an ordinary person..."

"After the emperor ascended the throne, he missed Empress Xi very much. One time, he talked about this with Master Zhendao... that is, Master Tao, and I was also there. Master Tao said that dragons have four souls and nine spirits, so their spirits are much stronger than ordinary people. At that time, the wizard actually used the soul-capturing mirror to take away her one soul and two spirits, which turned her into an ordinary person." After a pause, Chen Qingzhi whispered to the two of them:
"Master Tao also said that if we find this soul-catching mirror, it might be possible for the queen to reshape her soul and come back to life."

"Is it so miraculous?" Ren Yuan and Diwu Wei were amazed: "Did the emperor find it?"

"No, and Gou Chen Si is not allowed to look for her." Chen Qingzhi shook his head and said, "The emperor said that the queen has gone to the Western Paradise. It would be too selfish to disturb her because of my longing for her. Let her sleep forever..."

"..." Ren Yuan and Diwuwei looked at each other and thought to themselves why the emperor was a bit like Ye Gong who loved dragons but was not.

"So I think there might be a trace of Queen Xi's soul somewhere." After Chen Qingzhi finished speaking, he said to Ren Yuan: "Go find Lingzhi for divination."

"Yes." Ren Yuan responded.

"You don't need to report the results. Just do it on your own." Chen Qingzhi smiled at Ren Yuan and said, "I believe in your judgment."

"Yes." Ren Yuan and Diwuwei responded and left.

~~
After leaving Zuoyin Garden, Ren Yuan asked, "What does Chen Shuai mean? It seems like he is sure that we can figure it out."

"Mr. Chen has his own considerations, you just need to follow his instructions." The Fifth Dimension said with a smile.

"Why, the owner of the building isn't going either?" Ren Yuan looked at the fifth dimension and said.

"Well, I haven't slept for two days. I have to go back and catch up on some sleep." The Fifth Dimension stretched and said perfunctorily: "Just do whatever you want. I trust your judgment."

After saying that, he left leisurely.

"No..." Ren Yuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. If he didn't know Chen Shuai and Diwuwei's personalities very well, he would have thought they wanted him to take the blame.

But obviously, the two of them would never be so wicked, so Ren Yuan came to the Hun Tian Terrace again.

Chen Lingzhi was not at all displeased with Ren Yuan's arrival. After hearing his purpose, he smiled and said, "I have already calculated it."

"Really?" Ren Yuan was not too surprised and asked hurriedly, "What did you calculate?"

"I got four lines of poetry." Chen Lingzhi replied: "The hall is hidden deep inside, with four walls of bricks and stones. The water is hidden and no waves can be seen, only the shadows form a pair."

"What does this mean?" Ren Yuan asked.

"This isn't hard to understand, is it?" Chen Lingzhi asked with a smile.

"The first sentence says that the thing is hidden in the big house, and it means that the parents are there. The second sentence says that it has four brick and stone walls. So it is a small room in the big house?" Ren Yuan made a blind guess:
"The last two sentences mean that the small room is filled with water, and the water surface is calm, so it can be used as a mirror?"

Chen Lingzhi couldn't help laughing and asked, "What kind of room would be filled with water?" "I know!" Ren Yuan's eyes lit up, "Bathroom! Could it be that Queen Xi is in the bathroom?"

“Hahaha.” Chen Lingzhi bent over with laughter, wiped his tears and said, “It’s a well, brother.”

"I still think a bathhouse is the best." Ren Yuan muttered quietly, "Who would build a well in their own house?" Ren Yuan smiled bitterly and said, "Even wealthy families would at most build a well shed..."

"I know there is a well. It's right in the hall." Chen Lingzhi said with certainty.

"Where?" Ren Yuan asked.

"Guangzhai Temple." Chen Lingzhi replied: "I just confirmed with the princess that there is indeed a well in the palace. She has already rushed there from the palace. You should also hurry to meet her."

"Okay." Ren Yuan responded, and left the yamen without stopping, rushing towards Guangzhai Temple.

~~
After hurrying and hurrying, he finally caught up with the princess and arrived at the gate of Guangzhai Temple.

Guangzhai Temple was originally the emperor's residence. After Xiao Yan ascended the throne, he turned it into a Taoist temple, and its abbot was the famous Tao Hongjing...

Later, the emperor abandoned Taoism and followed Buddhism, and converted it into a temple, with Tao Hongjing still as its abbot...

Ren Yuan waited at the door for a while, and then he saw an inconspicuous carriage coming from a distance. The driver was the burly and strong Lord Xiahou Chuang.

He glanced around again and found that there were many secret agents following them, probably to protect the princess.

He stepped forward and saluted. Xiahou looked at him deeply, then opened the car door and said in a muffled voice, "Go in."

As soon as Ren Yuan got on the car, he saw Princess Yongkang, who looked about twelve or thirteen years old, hugging her pillow and crying silently. Her eyes were red like a rabbit and her eyelids were swollen like peaches. It was obvious that she had been crying for a long time.

"Princess..." Ren Yuan called softly, and his emotions were instantly pulled back to last night's dream.

"A Yuan, do you think I'm a fool?" Princess Yongkang asked hoarsely, sobbing, "Since I was a child, I thought I was the one who killed my mother. Every time I saw that my father had no queen and my sisters had lost their mother, I felt guilty to death."

"A few days ago, I reattached the head of the murderer who killed my mother, which made me one year younger." The more she spoke, the more pathetic she felt, and she cried bitterly.

"Princess, you are too hard on yourself." Ren Yuan hurriedly comforted her softly, "Xiao Yuyao is your biological elder sister from the same father and mother. How could you not believe her before you knew the truth? You must believe whatever she said."

"Yes!" Xiao Yuhuan nodded heavily.

"By the same token, before you knew the truth, could you not save your sister?" Ren Yuan said softly, "Besides, if we hadn't been to her dream, we couldn't imagine that a person could be that bad. If we hadn't seen it with our own eyes, who would believe that a daughter would actually kill her own mother in order to cover up her adultery!"

"So it's not your fault at all. Blame it on your elder sister for being such a jerk." Ren Yuan concluded, "What you need most right now is to comfort yourself, not blame yourself."

"Yes, you are right." Xiao Yuhuan nodded while sobbing, her eyes gradually became sharper as she said, "What I need most now is revenge!"

"Yes, this revenge must be avenged." Ren Yuan nodded heavily.

"Let's go in." Xiao Yuhuan wiped the tears from her eyes, exhaled a long breath and said, "Let's see what secrets are hidden in the well in the palace!"

(End of this chapter)