Chapter 812 - The Funeral Procession
“What’s wrong? Madame must be heartbroken. Come on, take good care of Madame,” Lin Mengya said, giving Madame Hui a seemingly respectful but actually complicated smile in return.
Under the watchful eyes of the others, Lin Mengya did not give Madame Hui any chance to put on a show of her close relationship with Yao Lu.
Therefore, Madame Hui, who found it inappropriate to do so, just glared at Lin Mengya and threatened her in a low voice, “Just wait and see!”
“Madame, please get in the sedan chair quickly. Stop crying, as it will do harm to your health. If Shaoshi Yao in the other world learns this, she will feel extremely distressed,” Lin Mengya said, unaffected.
From the moment Madame Hui showed up, she had come up with the countermeasure.
Seeing that Madame Hui, helped forcefully by several strong palace maids, seemed to be feeble when walking, she squinted her eyes slightly, thinking there was going to be a wonderful show today.
“Don’t waste time,” Lin Mengya told the servants around her lightly.
After looking around, she did not find anyone suspicious.
Getting her order, the funeral procession continued playing the funeral music and moving to the royal cemetery according to the established route.
“Master, we’ve gotten rid of the last one.” There came a voice.
In an inconspicuous alley in the outer capital city, a few strangers slowly got out from the depths of the alley.
Behind them, there were several people, whose lives were uncertain, lying on the ground.
Despite their ordinary clothes, their weapons were scattered around them.
“Okay. Keep an eye on the funeral procession and don’t let anyone suspicious approach them. If you see any unusual people, kill them on the spot,” the man surrounded by those strangers said.
He was wrapped in a large black cloak from head to foot.
Only his voice with a trace of coldness from the hell could be heard.
“Okay,” those people replied and left skillfully.
Soon, he was the only living person left in the narrow alley.
She was quite a trouble-maker!
Long Tianyu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Although he was aware that Lin Mengya was never an ordinary woman, he didn’t expect that she would make waves wherever she went.
But it didn’t matter. As long as he stayed by her side, he would help her get rid of anyone who got in her way and do anything she wanted to do.
He glanced at the funeral procession that was playing the funeral music and going away, thinking he had made great efforts to catch up with her and would make her pay for this sooner or later!
As his black robe fluttered, he disappeared into the alley silently.
Lin Mengya, who was not far away, had no idea that her destined beloved in her life had caught up with her after pushing aside all obstacles.
“What did you say? Madame Hui doesn’t bring anyone here. Baisu, are you sure?” In the carriage, Lin Mengya asked with a frown, looking at Baisu who also showed a confused look in front of her.
Baisu nodded. In fact, she was also puzzled.
Logically speaking, Madame Hui must come with an evil intention this time.
However, apart from the few people brought along by Madame Hui, no other attendants were discovered around the funeral procession.
Could it be that Madame Hui really took the risk alone?
“It’s strange. Thinking about it, Madame Hui was so calm in the hour of peril and seemed to be sure that we couldn’t do anything to her. It turns out that I did not have to specially ask His Majesty to send a group of elite soldiers to hide in the funeral procession. It seems that she intended to put up a bluff!” Lin Mengya said.
This was the only reasonable explanation she figured out after she thought it over.
Could it be that Madame Hui just came to check out the situation?
Nevertheless, no matter if it was true or not, Madame Hui would not be able to get any benefits anyway.
“Miss, what do you mean by saying that?” Baisu asked.
Although she had no idea what Lin Mengya was talking about, she was somehow confident in Lin Mengya.
Lin Mengya said, “You have no idea of that. Anyway, we’d better be careful. Madame Hui, who shows up in a hurry after hiding in the Divine Witch Shrine for a long time, must be up to something. Send some capable people to keep an eye on her, and don’t let her attendants make any trouble.”
Baisu nodded immediately. In fact, she had arranged this before Lin Mengya gave the instruction.
Lin Mengya lifted the curtain and looked out of the window.
She could see anyone appearing on the empty street at a glance.
Perhaps she had thought too much.
The funeral procession went all the way to the cemetery specially built for the imperial concubines.
Although it was a cemetery, it was just a little better than those lonely graves.
Of course, those people buried here were at least low-ranking imperial concubines with titles.
Those insignificant imperial concubines presumably had been wrapped in straw mats and thrown out of the imperial palace.
The tomb had been prepared with everything needed supplied.
After a slightly complicated ceremony, the dark brown coffin was put in its final resting place.
Above the ground, a few men dressed strangely were chanting in low voices.
Lin Mengya did not understand their language, but they looked extremely solemn and sounded dignified.
Lin Mengya had learned that it was the ancient language the ancient priests chanted in order to open the gate to the heaven.
Although nowadays plenty of people did not understand the language, the chanting was a routine part of every funeral held in the Lieyun Empire.
An impoverished family would at least bury a piece of paper recording these incantations with the coffin.
Watching Madame Hui chanting skillfully and weeping beside the tomb, Lin Mengya, who was standing at the end of the procession, became curious about the unique ceremony of the Lieyun Empire.
She asked, “Baisu, what religion do the people of your country believe in?”
As far as Lin Mengya knew currently, in addition to totem worship, the Lieyun Empire presumably worshiped some special supernatural beings, such as the King of Various Venomous Insects, the Witch Empress and the heaven where the deceased was destined to go.
Baisu glanced at Lin Mengya and explained patiently in a low voice, “In our country, each and every family worships the King of Various Venomous Insects and the Witch Empress. Legend has it that the King of Various Venomous Insects established the final resting place of all the people in the Lieyun Empire. However, people living on earth could not get there because they did not have the magic power of the King of Various Venomous Insects. The merciful Witch Empress could not bear to see the Lieyun people live such a miserable life, so she left the King of Various Venomous Insects and descended to the world to help every dead person to return to the resting place established by the King of Various Venomous Insects.”
Baisu said in a low voice, but in an extremely pious tone.
It seemed to be the faith of every Lieyun people.
Lin Mengya was very curious about the Witch Empress and the King of Various Venomous Insects.
Why did the statue of the Witch Empress have the same plum blossom mark as that one on her waist on the part between its eyebrows?
Could it be that her family had anything to do with the Witch Empress?
Lin Mengya furrowed her brows.
Although she did not really believe in fate, she involuntarily wondered if there was some unseen flow leading her here to dispel her doubt.
After they spent a long time completing the ceremony, the coffin containing Yao Lu’s past disappeared from sight, accompanied by Madame Hui’s heartbreaking cries.
The deceased people here were buried in a way different from that of the Jin State.
All of the graves were constructed into large rectangular pits that were several meters wide.
After the coffin was buried, the pit was sealed with a large iron plate cast in copper.
Then, people built a small grave mound with blue bricks and erected a tombstone.
This was the first time Lin Mengya had seen this kind of burial, but it was quite solemn.
Seeing the pit sealed with a copper plate, Lin Mengya felt relieved.
At this moment, Yao Lu had been picked up.
No one knew if it was really Shaoshi Yao in the coffin.
Since the funeral had been completed, it was time to deal with Madame Hui.
Lifting the hemline of her dress, Lin Mengya walked elegantly and composedly up to Madame Hui who was still wiping off her tears.
historical
Madame Hui didn’t seem to have recovered from grief.
Nevertheless, Lin Mengya found her not sincere at all.
It should be noted that sincere grief was more than tears.
“Madame, you should take care of yourself. If Shaoshi Yao learns your deep feeling for her in the other world, she will feel gratified,” Lin Mengya said.
Each of them, who were pretending, had her own thought.
With plenty of people around, it was not appropriate for Madame Hui to continue pretending.
She glanced sadly at Lin Mengya with tears in her eyes, shook her head and said, “I had a close relationship with Shaoshi Yao, but now she passed away ahead of me. It’s really... really...”
Lin Mengya sighed and waved. Some palace maids immediately came up to help her up.
Madame Hui got up feebly with the help of the palace maids.
However, they did not follow the funeral procession out of the cemetery to wait there.
Instead, they took Madame Hui to an inconspicuous small palace.
Although it was a palace, it was just a courtyard a little larger than an ordinary one.
As they walked, Madame Hui found something was wrong.
“Where are you taking me?” She asked with a hint of doubt.
But her voice was loud, and she did not sound as weak as before.
“Madame, why do you say that? At the sight that you cried bitterly, I intend to take you here for a rest. Do you think that I have an evil intention?” Lin Mengya said, turned around and blinked innocently.
Madame Hui almost believed that she really got her wrong.
However, now that Madame Hui had been surrounded by Lin Mengya’s attendants, Madame Hui, who was not stupid, could certainly guess that Lin Mengya was not as simple as she said.
“I’m not tired. Let’s hurry back to the imperial palace. I’ve been out for a long time. His Majesty presumably misses me a lot,” Madame Hui said, stopped in her tracks, looking a little hesitant.
Lin Mengya, who was walking in front of her, turned around and said with an increasingly amicable smile, “What’s wrong? Do you think you’ll be able to return by now, Madame?”