Yang Ying thought for a mont and said, "Later, carry this basket and pretend to pass by the family shrine, let the roast chicken inside be slightly exposed to tempt that old woman. In any case, try to get that old woman to eat a chicken leg or have a cup of hot tea."
In the hot tea, Yang Ying also put the sedative that Yun Jiao gave.
The maid nodded, picked up the basket, and left.
After a while, Yang Ying tucked the bundle inside her cloak and also went toward the family shrine.
Fortunately, it was winter, and with so many clothes on and a cloak covering them, the large bundle inside the cloak was completely camouflaged.
The weather was cold, aside from a few servants occasionally passing by, there was hardly anyone moving about.
When Yang Ying was not far from the shrine, she hid behind a tree and saw her maid squatting beside the old woman, who was devouring the chicken leg.
In just a short while, the old woman finished the chicken leg and stared at the maid’s basket, seemingly wanting more.
The maid said sothing with a smile and then walked away with the basket.
The old woman sat by the door, smacking her lips as if savoring the taste of the chicken leg. Not long after, her head tilted back, and she fell asleep.
Yang Ying’s heart was racing, she looked left and right, and there wasn’t even a ghostly figure around.
She ran to the shrine entrance, pushed open the door, and slipped inside.
This was the first ti Yang Ying ca to the Yan Family shrine. Upon entering, she saw only a few morial tablets placed on an offering table.
The Yan Family prospered starting with Grandmaster Yan’s generation. Grandmaster Yan passed the imperial examination in his twenties and had a smooth career. Previously, his family was very poor, not even knowing his great-grandfather’s na, so there were not many ancestors that needed worship.
Yang Ying glanced around; the main hall of the shrine was not big, and the only hidden place was under the offering table where the tablets were placed.
She lifted the drape on the offering table, crawled inside, and found a box.
The box was locked, but Yang Ying dared not look more closely. She stuffed the bundle behind the box, then crawled out from under the offering table.
She dusted her skirt, carefully closed the door upon exiting, and the old woman was still asleep. Yang Ying looked around again, and seeing no one, she quickly left.
A good while later, another old woman ca over; when she left ho earlier that morning, her young grandson wasn’t feeling well, and she felt uneasy, slipping away to check on him.
Seeing the old woman dozing at the door, she didn’t wake her and tucked her hands into her sleeves, also dozing against the door fra.
Returning to her own courtyard, Yang Ying’s heart was still pounding.
She held her chest and instructed the maid, "Go to the street and buy a bottle of hair oil."
She paused, "See if you can go out, if you really can’t, then forget it."
The maid was brought by Yang Ying from her maiden ho and was extrely loyal. Knowing there was hair oil in the house and the tasks today were odd, she still went out.
Heading to the back door, the maid spoke to the gatekeeping servant. The servant squinted, saying, "I rember you, didn’t you just leave the mansion with your master earlier? Why go out again? No way!"
The maid knew the servant wanted Silver again but rembered Yang Ying’s instructions, sighed, and went back inside.
Ah Qiu, who was hiding in a tree opposite the Yan Mansion’s back door, saw the maid’s face, quickly slid down the tree, and ran toward the Princess Mansion.
The Princess imdiately sent soone to deliver a ssage to Imperial Censor Liu. Liu received the ssage and took a sedan to the Imperial Palace.
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