The Hand of Confession – Chapter 71

Volume 3: Days of Working at the Manor

Vivian

Strange Sister Lou

Outside, there’s a not-so-long corridor, and the walls at both ends are covered with lots of oil paintings.

These oil paintings are a bit different from those outside—what’s painted on them are not various beautiful women anymore, but the four young ladies of the manor.

The four young ladies are either sitting or lying down, eating, or studying, wearing clothes of different colors and styles. The only thing these clothes have in common is that they are all very exquisite, making each young lady look like “lotus out of water” or “flowers that outshine the moon” (these are traditional Chinese expressions used to describe beautiful women).

Shen Maomao is about to have her trypophobia act up again. She tries hard not to look at these paintings and softly says, “Does the baron have some kind of illness?” She isn’t cursing him; she truly thinks this.

Who would hang oil paintings of every adopted daughter on the wall, and the current adopted daughter has so many paintings?

No matter how you think about it, this baron seems like a big pervert.

There are doors at both ends of this corridor; the one in front is brightly lit, probably leading to the hall, while the one behind is unlit, and it’s unclear where it leads.

Lou Jingmo didn’t go to the banquet hall right away; instead, she started thinking about exploring the castle.

She walked to the back door and saw three big locks on it.

These locks are nothing like the small, broken lock at the farm gate; they are sturdy and strong. Lou Jingmo held the lock head, gently shook it twice, and then let it go.

Shen Maomao quietly asked, “Did you find anything?”

Lou Jingmo shook her head and pressed her ear against the door, listening closely.

The music in the corridor was still loud, so even if there was any sound inside, it would be hard to hear. Shen Maomao was curious about what she was listening to, so she mimicked her and put her ear to the other door, closing her eyes to concentrate.

At first, there was no sound, but just when she was about to leave, a scream came through. It wasn’t very loud because of the distance, but it was extremely piercing. The scream was especially long, like a young girl using all her strength to make it.

Shen Maomao’s head jerked back from the door as if it had been burned. The scream suddenly disappeared, leaving only the music from the banquet hall ahead. But seeing Lou Jingmo’s serious listening expression, it seemed that if she put her head back, she could hear that sound again.

Golden Retriever asked her, “What’s wrong, Sister Rabbit? What did you hear?”

Shen Maomao couldn’t describe the chilling, creepy scream she just heard, so she stepped aside and said, “You listen for yourself.”

Golden Retriever curiously put his ear to the door. After just a few seconds, his face turned pale, and he stepped back, “Oh my… what’s in there?”

Shen Maomao motioned him to be quiet with a “shh.”

Golden Retriever glanced at Lou Jingmo and wisely kept his mouth shut.

Lou Jingmo listened at the door for quite a while, and the more she listened, the worse her expression became, until her face was as dark as the bottom of a pot.

Shen Maomao and Golden Retriever exchanged a glance, both seeing confusion and puzzlement in each other’s eyes. Shen Maomao even leaned forward again to check if what Lou Jingmo heard was different from what they heard. However, Lou Jingmo reached out, pulled her back by the forehead, and quietly said, “Stop listening, let’s do what we came to do.”

Shen Maomao blinked and kept her curiosity to herself, not asking any more questions.

The three of them walked in a single file, with Lou Jingmo putting her arm around Shen Maomao’s shoulder. She glanced back once but quickly turned forward again. Her eyes were lowered, hiding a deep ocean within them.

Lou Jingmo’s grip on Shen Maomao’s shoulder was a bit too strong, causing her some discomfort.

Shen Maomao blinked but remained silent.

The door at the other end of the corridor wasn’t locked and had no guards. Golden Retriever, who was in front, gently pushed the door open a crack and peered inside.

It turned out to be a kitchen.

With a little thought, Shen Maomao realized that Freckles must have escaped from here.

The kitchen was bustling with activity. The head chef stood behind the stove, quickly shaping delicate pastries, which were then sent into the steamer by another person. The steam filled the upper half of the kitchen, so from a distance, only walking legs and the blurred shadows of people’s upper bodies could be seen.

At the same time, a tray of pastries was being carried out, and a maid waiting nearby took the silver tray and turned away to deliver the pastries to the banquet hall.

If not now, when else would you sneak in?!

Lou Jingmo nudged Shen Maomao and whispered, “Act natural, just go in.”

“What about you guys?” Shen Maomao asked.

Lou Jingmo replied, “We’ll think of another way. Be careful and make sure not to confront the other you directly.”

Shen Maomao nodded, and Lou Jingmo and Golden Retriever stood on either side of the door, pressing their bodies against the corridor walls. Seeing that the two were well hidden, she pulled the kitchen door open and walked in confidently.

A large cloud of steam rushed out, and the people in the kitchen turned their gaze to the door, only to see a blurry black-and-white figure, which seemed to be a maid.

After just a glance, they looked away. After all, it was a busy time, and a maid wasn’t something worth getting worked up about.

Shen Maomao relaxed her tense body a bit. She didn’t close the door and simply stepped into the crowd. Soon, the people in the kitchen couldn’t tell which maid was the newcomer.

She wandered around the kitchen and found the line of maids waiting to receive pastries and food, so she neatly took a spot at the end of the line.

The line moved quickly, and soon it was Shen Maomao’s turn. The person handing out the pastries wore thick gloves. He took the pastries from a steamer and placed them on a silver tray, then turned to give it to the next maid.

As he turned, he widened his eyes in surprise, “You…”

Shen Maomao quietly explained, “Short on hands, I was brought in to fill in.”

He Yongchang nodded in understanding and handed her the tray.

Shen Maomao breathed a sigh of relief, holding the tray steadily with both hands and walked lightly towards the banquet hall.

The path from the kitchen to the banquet hall wasn’t far, and naturally, the walls along this path were also adorned with a few oil paintings. At this moment, the paintings were blank; the young ladies were out playing again.

These blank frames almost instantly reminded Shen Maomao of the fear she felt last night, dominated by death.

Fortunately, she wasn’t alone this time; there was another maid with a shadow carrying a similar tray, also heading to the banquet hall. Shen Maomao slowed her pace, and when the maid caught up to her, she cheerfully asked, “Hi, I’m new here and don’t really know the way. Can I walk with you?”

The NPC maid gave a shy smile and agreed.

Having company made Shen Maomao feel much more at ease. The road to the destination was still long, and her mind started to wander. She asked, “Don’t you think those paintings are really scary?”

Hearing this, the maid turned her head in confusion to glance at the wall and replied, “No, Miss Vivian’s beauty is still the same as always.”

Shen Maomao caught the key point.

Could it be that only players can see those blank paintings?

“Which year was Miss Vivian the young lady?” she asked, like a wool dealer who finally caught a sheep, eager to shear it bald.

The NPC maid paused and smiled at her, saying, “She was the young lady of the year before last.” She then pointed to a frame: “This is Miss Vivian. Her eyes are like flawless jade, and when she looks at someone intently, even girls can’t help but be captivated! Her beautiful blonde hair is just like…”

As she described, a spot appeared on the painting, like ink spreading. It was a green spot, twisting and morphing, finally solidifying into a pair of gentle green eyes.

Shen Maomao: “!!!” Holy cow!! Was this young lady eavesdropping on their conversation all this time?

After the green came gold, followed by flesh color, red…

Miss Vivian’s features and hair returned to the frame, with her red lips curling into a strange smile, scaring Shen Maomao enough to quickly interrupt the maid: “Okay! I understand how beautiful Miss Vivian is! We’ve already delayed here for a long time; we must hurry and deliver the pastries to the dining room. Let’s talk about this later when we have more time, okay?”

After her long string of words, the maid was stunned for a moment, then nodded: “Alright, we’ll talk again if there’s a chance.”

Shen Maomao glanced at the painting out of the corner of her eye and saw that the changes on it hadn’t stopped just because she interrupted the maid. The colors were still swirling on the canvas, and Vivian’s entire head had already returned to normal, followed by her body and arms.

She instinctively felt that something bad would happen if the painting fully restored, so she hurriedly urged the maid to speed up, practically running out of the corridor.

Only after she could no longer see Vivian’s painting did she breathe a sigh of relief. The NPC maid just assumed she was afraid of being punished for being late and didn’t ask further questions. Without exchanging any more words, they rushed to the banquet hall.

The doors of the banquet hall were open, with maids constantly going in and out, delivering pastries and wine for the ball.

Candlelight flickered, and nobles in the dance floor were wearing various exquisite masks, matched in pairs, dancing ballroom dances.

Shen Maomao and the NPC maid had already parted ways. She weaved through the crowd, placing the pastries in the designated spots, then began to glance around the hall.

She had no idea what these people wore before putting on masks, so she couldn’t tell which were the four young ladies or who the baron was.

The only thing that caught her attention was that not everyone had a shadow.

There were many people dancing, but only about half had shadows on the floor.

Shen Maomao looked up, seeing everyone with a dance partner. The gentlemen either held the waist or supported the shoulders, leading their partners in graceful movements; then she glanced back at the floor: half of the shadows were dancing with empty air, while the rest didn’t even have a shadow.

Damn.

Shen Maomao cursed under her breath.

This whole hall was like a ghost den…

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