The Ninth Concubine's identity and background were rather too mysterious.
I had seen the Ninth Concubine earlier, when that fat bitch was punishing Xiuzhu.
At the time, I had only thought she was young and beautiful. But thinking back now, beyond her beauty, there had been something unusual about her bearing. I could not quite say what, but something the steward had just said made it click.
The steward had said someone had seen the Ninth Concubine dabbling in the practices of wandering occultists in her room, and everyone thought there was something sinister about her.
Thinking back now, that unusual bearing of hers had actually been a gloominess, much like that of people such as Du Ruhai and Wang Guofu.
And the steward had said the Ninth Concubine looked somewhat like the Seventh Concubine. Coupled with her particular concern for Xiuzhu, they all thought the Seventh Concubine had returned for revenge.
I had felt that way before, too. I simply had not known that the Ninth Concubine resembled the Seventh Concubine.
I suspected the Ninth Concubine had never died at all. If she really knew the practices of wandering occultists, I thought faking her death might not have been impossible for her.
Besides, only if the Ninth Concubine had still been alive could we explain why thirty-nine bodies had appeared at the scene after disaster struck the Luo Residence.
Otherwise, there was no explaining why there had been an extra body when, after the deaths of the Ninth Concubine and Xiuzhu, there should only have been thirty-eight.
That extra body should have been the Ninth Concubine, who had faked her death.
But if the Ninth Concubine had faked her death, why had she died later anyway?
The strange happenings at the Luo Residence were becoming quite a puzzle. The