The Mute Wife Who Brings Prosperity-Chapter 509 - 476: The Secret of the Su Family Ancestral Hall (Part 1)
Granted the treatment of a legitimate daughter, Su Yu’s range of activities broadened significantly. Having nothing to do after lunch, she strolled in the garden.
The Su Family was thriving, and it wasn’t uncommon to encounter young masters and misses from other branches on the way. Su Yu smiled gently and greeted everyone warmly according to their ranks.
Those who saw her had no more than a few looks: contempt, disdain, and mockery.
It was as if they were looking at a pheasant in a dragon robe, not a single person responded to her, and some even avoided her as if she were the plague.
Once having faced death, one takes many things lightly.
She often heard the words "wild girl," "unknown origins," "disgrace to the family," and "pheasant" coming to her ears.
Faced with the sarcastic remarks from the legitimate and illegitimate daughters and sons, Su Yu chose to smile in return.
However, she thought to herself, does the Su Family even have a family tradition?
She placed her right hand on her brow and looked into the sky, which was so clear and blue with not a speck of impurity. It was a fine, cloudless day, and Su Yu planned to find a deserted pavilion to sit in.
Just then, the group of young masters and misses who had been whispering about her became suddenly excited, all looking in one direction, their mouths filled with respectful cries of "Big Brother."
Su Yu looked in the direction of the sound and saw the most favored eldest young master of the Su Mansion, Su Hongqi, wearing a tight purple robe with a continuous bead pattern, a sword with a complex design at his waist, clearly not an ordinary item, and stepping in six-hexa black leather boots, his steps were steady, walking like the wind.
In the face of the enthusiasm from the young masters and misses, his expression remained almost indifferent, with his hands behind his back as he headed straight towards Su Yu.
Su Yu had no choice but to greet him and pay her respects.
Su Hongqi glanced at her quickly and then withdrew his gaze. His deep voice carried a hint of displeasure, "I heard from Father that you saved Little Four at Mile Mountain and were seriously injured?"
Su Yu lowered her eyes and replied appropriately, "When I went out of the city for Father’s errands, I happened across assassins. The situation was too perilous, so I just..."
Before she finished speaking, Su Hongqi’s icy voice cut down, "You better hope it was by chance, otherwise, if I find any trace, I will not let you off!"
Su Yu’s lowered lips curled slightly, imperceptibly.
It seems Mother was right; even after such a great sacrifice, the people of the Su Mansion would not feel grateful.
No matter, it doesn’t matter if others don’t believe her; as long as Little Four believes her, no matter how much suspicion the rest of the Su Family has, they wouldn’t dare to truly harm her.
After Su Hongqi left, the group of young masters immediately swarmed around, chattering zealously, "Big Brother, you are Duke Su’s right-hand man, why waste your breath on a wild girl of unknown origin, it’s too degrading."
"Exactly, just because she saved Little Four doesn’t mean she can rise like a phoenix, ugh, a lowlife will always be a lowlife, never presentable."
Su Yu listened intently, thinking the so-called family tradition of the Su Family was not much; her biological father was Duke Su. If she was a lowlife, what does that make her father?
Su Hongqi did not join in the insults and ridicule, but he didn’t stop them either, his implicit approval was overly obvious.
As if she hadn’t heard, Su Yu took a stroll, snapped off two magnolia branches, and took them back.
The plan of the Lu Family to plant mines in the Duke Mansion had all been told to her by Aunt Qiu. Her earlier stroll was indeed with the intention of scouting for locations. However, with Su Hongqi present, the Duke Mansion’s security was tight, day and night, yielding no results from her wandering.
Su Yu came out during the day, and at night it was Aunt Qiu’s turn.
Aunt Qiu had good eyesight and quick reflexes, able to safely avoid patrolling guards. She set her sights on the ancestral hall.
The Su Family’s ancestral hall was on the western side.
Usually, if there were no major family affairs, only two old servants responsible for cleaning could come and go freely, giving it a deserted look.
In fact, the hidden defenses here were stricter than elsewhere, making one suspect that treasures might be hidden inside the ancestral hall.
Aunt Qiu, with her not inconsiderable skills, easily noticed that guardians had been recently added near the ancestral hall.
Unable to fight four hands with two fists, she dared not to rashly approach any further and had to return without success.
She went again the next night and unexpectedly found one of the old servants carrying a food box in his hand as if he had just delivered a meal to someone.
Aunt Qiu watched from the shadows, frowning.
Could there possibly be someone hidden inside the Su Family’s ancestral hall?
So then, what kind of person could be worth such a major effort by Duke Su, hiding as well as continually increasing the guards?
Afraid of being discovered if she lingered too long, Aunt Qiu quickly left, then swiftly changed out of her nightwear and waited in ambush for the old servant on his way back, pretending to encounter him accidentally.
The old servant wore a gray cloak, and the wide hood covered her eyes and brows. She walked with a stooped back, and her gait was not as light as a normal person’s, seeming rather laborious, carrying a ram’s horn lantern in one hand and a food box in the other.
Upon seeing Aunt Qiu, the old servant’s eyes suddenly widened with shock under the hood, then her pupils slowly contracted as she lowered her head and continued forward as if no one was there.
With spies everywhere nearby, Aunt Qiu dared not make a sound. She deliberately diverted her path and, at the moment they brushed past each other, seized the chance to harshly collide with the old servant.
The old servant was somewhat frail, immediately toppling over onto the ground.
Aunt Qiu apologized, bending over to help her, asking if she was alright.
When she got closer, she could vaguely smell a faint, mysterious fragrance emanating from her.
Aunt Qiu couldn’t help but wonder why such an old servant would wear perfume?
The old servant avoided her, slowly getting up on her own, picking up the ram’s horn lantern and food box that had rolled aside, glaring at her before quickly trotting off as if fleeing.
It was only then that Aunt Qiu realized the old servant was mute, seemingly unable to hear as well.
Both deaf and mute, it probably wasn’t congenital.
Moreover, the look the old servant had given her wasn’t one of resentment but more of an urging for her to leave quickly.
Aunt Qiu grew increasingly suspicious, wondering what kind of figure inhabited the ancestral temple, requiring even the food deliverers to be unable to speak or hear?
A few days later, Aunt Qiu seized the opportunity to meet Lu Pingzhou again, asking if he knew the secret of the Su Family’s ancestral temple.
Lu Pingzhou toyed with the teacup in his hand, "You’ve been with the Su Family for so many years—you aren’t sure?"
Aunt Qiu truthfully answered, "I had suspicions before, but the temple is too heavily guarded, and I couldn’t get close. So, even until now, I’ve obtained no useful information."
Lu Pingzhou asked her, "How many sisters does Duke Su have, who share the same mother?"
"Three," Aunt Qiu answered. "The Empress ranks first, Grandma Lu ranks third, and the second sister married a student of the then Prime Minister Su, but unfortunately, she met an untimely end not long after entering the family."
Lu Pingzhou asked again, "Do you know how she died?"
"Sudden death."
Upon hearing this, Lu Pingzhou smiled ambiguously.
Aunt Qiu suddenly comprehended something with shock, "Could it be that Second Aunt isn’t dead at all, and the one residing in the Su Family’s ancestral temple is her?"
Lu Pingzhou did not respond, but his eyes said it all.
Aunt Qiu was more puzzled, "Why would Duke Su imprison his own sister?"
Lu Pingzhou replied, "That probably thanks to my family’s Grandma Lu."
As he spoke, his words were filled with hatred and disdain for Su Yi, with a sneer on his lips, "If not for her once using fragrance, I wouldn’t have known the Su Family had such an extraordinary person."
The more Aunt Qiu listened, the more confused she became.
Lu Pingzhou then explained it to her leisurely.
It turned out Su Yi also knew hypnosis, but her skill was not advanced, so she always had to use fragrance to confuse people before proceeding with the hypnotism.
When Lu Yanqing was exiled, the matter of Su Yi hypnotizing him was also exposed, but Lu Pingzhou didn’t let it leak out. He ordered a search of Su Yi’s room and found that among her fragrances, there was one particularly special; even a slight hint would linger four to five days after a bath. When asked, Su Yi said it came from the Western Regions.
Lu Pingzhou exerted considerable effort to investigate, but the secret people reported that there was no such fragrance in the Western Regions. He had suspicions back then but, lacking evidence, could only suppress the matter.
Duke Su’s second aunt’s husband was a brother-in-law of Lu Pingzhou’s, and they had some rapport. Once, when he visited the Lu Family and smelled the fragrance, he joked that it was just like the late lady’s body scent.
Lu Pingzhou discreetly took note and later shifted his suspicions to Duke Su’s second aunt, Su Yan.
Upon investigation, it was discovered that Su Yan naturally had a body scent. Her marriage to Prime Minister Su’s student, and even her sudden "death" after marriage, was orchestrated by the Su Family to make her "nonexistent," secretly imprisoning her to refine blood for fragrance.
Upon hearing this, Aunt Qiu was astonished, "Refining fragrance?"
Lu Pingzhou’s expression gradually turned solemn, "Do you think I would wipe out the entire Su Family for no reason? Once the fragrance is refined and given to the Empress to wear, she would be in contact with the Emperor daily, and by then, the whole world would be in chaos."
Aunt Qiu’s heart was filled with terror, no wonder Empress Su and the entire Su Family had been quiet for over a year now—not because they admitted defeat, but because they were preparing an even bigger conspiracy!
