Empress’ Game: Make-up Master Chapter 41 - Playing Ghost

She quickly put her things under the table, then jumped out through the window.

Her footsteps were silent. She circled the hidden places in the courtyard and found everything fairly normal. Nothing inside. Was something outside trying to come in? Thinking this, Wu Sheyue walked toward the wall in the direction of the sound.

At the corner of the wall, two sneaky figures were feeling their way forward.

Wu Jinghua groped along the wall in great annoyance. She remembered a section here had collapsed. How had it already been repaired? Really… Grandmother is far too willing to spend money on her. She angrily pounded the wall.

Behind her, Chuntao was holding a pile of things and keeping watch. Hearing the noise, she couldn’t help calling, “Second Miss, we…”

“Shh! Don’t talk!”

Chuntao said dejectedly, “But it’s so late. They should be sleeping deeply, right? Besides, we can’t climb over the wall.”

“This way won’t work… Let’s try the front gate.”

Wu Sheyue stood by the wall. She vaguely heard voices. Not very clear, but she could roughly guess what was happening.

She immediately ran two steps to the gate, carefully and quickly removed the bolt, then turned and ran back to the room.

Just as Wu Sheyue hid inside, the gate was pushed open a crack. Wu Jinghua shoved Chuntao in, and the two slipped into the courtyard like thieves.

Wu Jinghua looked at the renovated courtyard and spat on the ground with no regard for her image. “Bah. That little seductress. Even after changing faces, she still isn’t anything good.” Even now, she still lived in the same courtyard as her concubine mother. In the entire family, only Wu Liuyun had her own courtyard. Now Wu Sheyue had this “privilege” too.

But Wu Jinghua ignored the fact that Wu Sheyue could live independently because her concubine mother had died.

Chuntao was much less bold than Wu Jinghua and timidly reminded her, “Second Miss, let’s keep our voices down.”

Wu Jinghua looked left and right, then pushed Chuntao again. “You go. Take this over.”

Without even a lantern on such a dark night, Chuntao had already lost her nerve. She said reluctantly, “Is it possible… after all this trouble, she won’t hear us at all? Or if she hears, she’ll hide inside and stay silent?”

“So what if she doesn’t come out? Then we’ll scare her to death. And isn’t she closest to that Ning’er? If she doesn’t come out, we’ll go next door and beat Ning’er. She’s only a maid. So what if she dies?”

Chuntao felt something odd in her heart. She’s also a maid.

On the other side, after Wu Sheyue entered the room, she swiftly took off her outer clothes and lay on the bed. In a weak, lowered voice, she called, “Bailian, Bailian?”

Over the past two days, Bailian had been ordered around by Wu Sheyue until she had no temper left. Every night she had to get up two or three times to serve her. Hearing the familiar summons, Bailian crawled up half-asleep. Her lips silently cursed twice, then she pushed open the door from the side room and asked, “Miss, what is it?”

Wu Sheyue’s voice was weak. “I feel awful…”

Bailian was now much more awake. Seeing Wu Sheyue like this gave her a bit of revengeful pleasure. “Miss, where are you uncomfortable?”

“My throat hurts. Go get me water.”

“Yes.” Bailian went to the table to pour water, but the kettle was empty. “Th-there’s none left. This servant will go get water.”

Wu Sheyue sat up slightly. “Go. Ah—remember, get water from the main kitchen. That well is sealed.”

“…Yes.” In the darkness, Bailian made no effort to hide her eye roll, then pushed the door open and went out.

Outside, tree shadows swayed, mottled shapes cast on the wall. Flowers and grasses moved in the slight wind. Looking into the dark expanse before her, Bailian felt frightened. In her heart, she cursed Wu Sheyue all the more, enduring her fear as she walked a few steps forward.

The strange shadows around her were impossible to make out. Ordinarily, she didn’t find this place so eerie. Why was it so terrifying at night?

When people are afraid, they imagine more. Bailian only felt all the hairs on her body stand up. Especially when she thought of how that place over there had once been Yin Qiuming’s mourning hall, her heartbeat quickened.

She stood at the doorway for a long while without moving. After taking a few steps, she wanted to run back—but a gust of wind blew past, and the door behind her actually closed.

Bailian shivered and was finally frightened. She turned to run back. But something seemed to come down over her head and cover the sky.

“Ah—” Her scream had only just begun and hadn’t yet burst from her throat when she was struck over the head with a stick and knocked unconscious.

Wu Sheyue stood at the window, watching outside through a crack. Her face was as calm as water, without the slightest ripple.

The one who put the sack over Bailian was Wu Jinghua. The one who struck was Chuntao. She trembled as she held the stick, not knowing whether Bailian’s small sound had alerted anyone. Wu Jinghua cautiously looked around, not daring to breathe. When the surroundings remained quiet, she finally felt at ease and asked, “How is it? Did you see who it was?”

“It should be Ning’er.”

“Go. Drag her away quickly. If someone else comes, we’ll be in trouble.”

The two wrapped Bailian tightly in the sack, each grabbed one foot, and dragged her out through the gate.

Wu Sheyue returned to the table and took out the prop head from beneath it. In the darkness, the pigments looked extraordinarily strange.

She wrapped up the things and swiftly left the room again.

Chuntao and Wu Jinghua hadn’t eaten anything good these past two days and didn’t have much strength. It took great effort to drag the person to a flowerbed outside the gate.

Wu Jinghua wiped sweat from her forehead. “That wretched girl. How many good things does she usually eat? She’s so heavy.”

Chuntao was also exhausted, but at the moment she felt a thrill. She said excitedly, “I thought at most we’d make strange cries outside and scare them a little. I didn’t expect she would come out before we did anything. We didn’t prepare these sacks and sticks for nothing.”

Wu Jinghua sneered. “Heh. When someone wants to die, you can’t stop them.”

“Miss, should we do it here or drag her farther?”

Wu Jinghua glared viciously at the woman at her feet. She could beat Wu Sheyue and her maid to death and still not vent her hatred. As she thought, her eyes shifted. Perhaps there was a more satisfying method than beating or killing.

“Wait… we don’t necessarily have to work so hard. I already have an idea.”

“What idea does Miss have?”

“Go to the front and see if you can call someone over.”

“Ah? This…” Call someone over for what?

Wu Jinghua saw Chuntao’s stupid look and became displeased. “If I tell you to go, go. If I could call someone myself, I wouldn’t need you. Father still hasn’t allowed me out.” She pulled Chuntao close and whispered in her ear, “Go to the front and find a—”

As Chuntao listened, her eyes widened. Heavens, this method is far too cruel. “Yes. I… I understand!”

“Go quickly. Once it’s done, we’ll hurry back.”