Reborn, the daughter of the Marquisate went crazy

There's a dead body in the dry well in the deserted courtyard in the northwest corner?!

The little maid's words were like a thunderclap, striking everyone's head. Madam Xie, her mother and her son looked at each other, their hearts sinking.

Old Madam Xie's face was as gloomy as water. She slowly stood up. Xie Jingyuan quickly stepped forward to support her. Xie Jingliang was not willing to be left behind. The three of them, together with a large group of maids and old women, walked towards the deserted courtyard.

Arriving at the deserted courtyard, Xie Jingyuan and Xie Jingliang quickly walked to the well and looked down. The light at the bottom of the well was dim and they could not see clearly, but they could vaguely see that there seemed to be a person lying face down at the bottom of the well.

Xie Jingyuan hurriedly called over several servants, who frantically and with great effort finally managed to get the corpse out.

The corpse was indeed a woman, but her clothes were tattered, her body was covered with scars, her cheeks were swollen, and her hair was covering her face, so her features could not be seen clearly. Although the weather had been cool recently, the stench of the corpse could still be smelled.

Xie Jingyuan ordered: "Push the hair away from her face."

Several servants pushed and shoved each other. Finally, a thin servant couldn't get away anymore, so he stepped forward with his weak legs, and tremblingly pushed away the hair covering the woman's face, revealing a pair of wide-open eyes.

The boy was so frightened that his face turned pale. He knelt on the ground with a plop and began to kowtow frantically, chanting "Namo Amitabha" all the time!

Xie Jingyuan frowned and waved his hand in disgust. The other servants immediately pulled the kowtowed servant away.

Xie Jingyuan then looked at the woman's face carefully. The face was completely distorted and it was impossible to tell who it was.

Just at this moment, a white maggot crawled out of the woman's mouth. Xie Jingyuan hurriedly looked away, but his stomach began to churn, and waves of sour and nauseous feeling kept hitting his throat.

He took a deep breath, trying his best to suppress the nausea, and said in a deep voice: "Second brother, come here and identify it. Is this Man'er from your second house?"

Xie Jingliang came forward and looked at her for a long time, but he couldn't tell. In all these years, he had never really looked at Xie Qingman, let alone seeing her completely changed appearance. He pondered for a moment before hesitatingly saying, "Brother, this doesn't seem to be Man'er."

A trace of surprise flashed across Mrs. Xie's face. She said in a deep voice, "If it's not Man'er, then who is it?"

The young maids were already terrified. Madam Xu bravely looked at the corpse and whispered, "Madam, this person's clothes look familiar. Could she be a maid from some other house?"

Old Madam Xie nodded slightly. It seemed that this was the only possibility now. She ordered, "Send someone to notify each courtyard to count the maids in the courtyard to see if any are missing." Madam Xu took the order and left.

About half an incense stick later, Nanny Xu came back panting, shook her head slightly at Old Madam Xie, and replied, "Old Madam, the maids from each courtyard are here."

Old Madam Xie frowned. The sudden appearance of an unexplained death in the mansion was not a good sign.

Everyone looked at each other, not daring to breathe, not knowing what to do next.

Suddenly, a little maid quietly walked up to Madam Xu and whispered, "Madam, that corpse looks a bit like Xiaohong..."

"Xiaohong?" Madam Xu pondered for a moment, then slapped her head and said with sudden realization, "Yes, it's Xiaohong! No wonder the dress looks familiar. That day when she was trying a case in Songhe Hall, Xiaohong was wearing exactly this dress."

Madam Xie's eyebrows shot up in anger, her face livid. She said in a deep voice, "That day, I ordered An to sell Xiaohong far away, and An also reported back that she had sold Xiaohong to Yuanzhou. Why did she die in the Marquis' Mansion?!"

Her eyes flashed with angry flames, and she gritted her teeth and said, "Go and call An!"

After a cup of tea, An finally arrived. The person who invited her only said that the old lady had invited her, but did not say what it was. The further she walked towards the deserted courtyard, the more uneasy she felt. Could it be that the secret was exposed?

She deliberately slowed down her pace, secretly thinking of an excuse to come up with, but she still couldn't come up with a solution until she walked into the deserted courtyard and saw the gloomy faces of her mother-in-law and husband.

Madam Xie pointed at the corpse and said sternly, "Tell me, who is that person? Why did she appear in this well?"

She was furious, not because An killed Hong'er, nor because An concealed the truth from her, but because she was so stupid that she did such a dirty thing but didn't know how to finish it. She threw the body into the dry well in broad daylight. Now that the servants saw it, she had to give an explanation before she could calm down.

An looked at the corpse and was startled by the pair of eyes that were still open. She hurriedly moved closer to Old Madam Xie and said in a trembling voice, "Mother-in-law, I don't know what's going on. Madam Zhou clearly reported that she had sold Hong'er..."

Old Madam Xie secretly resented An's stupidity, but since An had said so, she had to follow An's steps and ordered sternly, "Go and tie up Madam Zhou and interrogate her why she murdered Xiaohong and deceived the master."

Madam Xie glanced at Xie Jingliang and said in a deep voice, "Jingliang, you go and handle this!"

She closed her eyes, secretly hating her second daughter-in-law for being stupid and her second son for being slow, and they still needed advice from an old woman like her.

Xie Jingliang glared at An and left.

The stench from the corpse gave Old Lady Xie a headache. She didn't want to stay here for another second. She said in a deep voice, "Jing Yuan, order someone to dispose of this corpse."

She turned to look at Aunt Xu and ordered in a cold voice, "Since this is not Man'er, continue to search for Man'er."

After arranging things here, Mrs. Xie walked out, but after taking two steps, she saw Xie Tingxuan, who looked decadent with greasy hair, untidy beard, and disheveled clothes.

Xie Tingxuan ignored Madam Xie and rushed straight towards the corpse on the ground, sobbing: "Hong'er, Hong'er, my Hong'er, why did you die? Why didn't you wait for me, wuwu..."

But when he saw that horrible face clearly, he couldn't help but feel nauseous. How could this still be his charming Hong'er?

He quickly turned his head and looked at his grandmother and mother in confusion. His grandmother's face turned pale, and a trace of guilt flashed across his mother's face.

He immediately understood that it was his mother who killed Hong'er!

Xie Tingxuan suddenly stood up and shouted at An: "Why did you kill my Hong'er?"

An was shocked and said sternly, "Xuan'er, what are you talking about? Stop talking nonsense!" But her eyes were evasive, and she looked fierce but weak.

The maids and servants who went to search for Xie Qingman came back one after another and reported:

"Madam, there is none in Bixian Pavilion."

"Not in Qixiu Garden."

"..."

Old Madam Xie narrowed her eyes, her suspicion fixed on An, and she wondered, could Man'er's disappearance also be An's doing? An had never really liked this concubine's daughter, and she'd just ordered Man'er to be detained in the courtyard, and she'd already rushed to take action? Truly foolish and cruel!

Over there, An was still trying to soothe the irritable Xie Tingxuan, unaware that her mother-in-law had already regarded her as a vicious and foolish woman...