Chapter 38: Pranking Ed

  Upon arriving at Netherfield, Charlotte and the others saw a group of uninvited guests as soon as they got off the carriage. Mr. Bingley was very reluctant to meet his two sons here, but had no choice but to greet them. After meeting Mr. Bingley, the two of them intentionally or unintentionally sized up Lydia, so Lydia took the initiative to walk over and greet them.

  "You two are Ed's sons, right?"

  "Yes, you are Mrs. Lydia, nice to meet you, and from now on we brothers will take care of you!"

  Just take care of that old lecher and Charlotte is not pleased with Ed's over-familiar behavior.

  "Thanks, but I'm still young and don't need it, just take good care of the elderly instead."

  Originally Lydia thought I was an old man! Regardless of Ed's darkening face, Lydia said to herself,

  "Right, since you're here, why don't you join us?"

  Ade didn't let his sons answer, interrupting them by saying

  "No, let them focus on their own affairs, having me by your side is enough."

  The eldest son hastily said

  "We actually have other things, bother Mrs. Lydia."

  Something's up and they come running over, are these two brothers out of their minds or what? Edvard can't stand all the annoying guys, Lydia doesn't want to force them to stay either, so she just lets them do as they please.

  After the two brothers left, Ed helped Lydia clean up the room and went back to rest.

  "Mother, don't you think it's strange that these two brothers are acting like this? Since they're busy with their affairs, shouldn't they have just sent someone instead of coming themselves? Doesn't this seem a bit showy?"

  "It's a bit weird, anyway they're all gone, don't think too much about it, just have fun and play for two days here, you've been suppressing yourself for too long."

  Lydia stroked her daughter's hair with a heart of compassion, for the girl had been taking care of herself with great difficulty during this period. According to Emily, the girl had also worked as a laundry maid at Edward's house for over a year. The poor child had suffered so much, and now that she was better off, she would never allow her daughter to suffer even a little bit again!

  Charlotte smiled slyly and leaned in close to her mother's ear, whispering something that made Lydia raise an eyebrow and smile. She scratched Charlotte's little nose, and Lydia laughed, saying...

  "Don't overdo it, know your limits!"

  "Oh, don't worry, Mother! He won't get hurt. I'm just scaring him a bit, warning him not to have any ideas about you. Besides, if he's an upright person, he wouldn't fall into my trap in the first place. If he does, it's his own fault for having ulterior motives."

  In the new villa, for several days, Ed led Lydia on a tour, during which he was very attentive. When boating on the lake, he put a cloak on Lydia; when climbing the bell tower, he found someone to carry Lydia; while strolling in the flower garden, he picked roses and gave them to the beauty, even carefully removing the thorns from the rose stems. All these actions moved outsiders to feel admiration and envy for Lydia's good fortune. Charlotte was anxious - this old man was obviously a master of romance! If things went on like this, her mother would be completely deceived!

  The day after tomorrow, Ed will leave the manor. Although he was very active during the day, he became particularly quiet at night and never visited his mother. This made Charlotte feel relieved, as she had planned to scare him with someone's help, but now that he didn't come, it saved her trouble.

  Ed thought that after a few days of getting along, Lydia should have accepted him by now. Tonight was the full moon, and he planned to make it a night to remember with Lydia. He had made an effort to look his best, but his age still showed, making people hesitant to compliment him. Under the servant's assistance, Ed put on his tailcoat and arrived at the garden where Lydia lived. He instructed the servants following him to wait outside, then entered without knocking.

  In the room Charlotte and her mother were chatting and laughing when a servant rushed in.

  "Madam, Ed is coming in!"

  Charlotte suddenly stood up, and that old man still had his mother's idea! See how I teach him today.

  "Mother, pretend to be asleep, don't wake up no matter what happens, let me play a horror show for this old man."

  Lydia was uneasy and repeatedly reminded Charlotte to pay attention to her measurements, while Charlotte comforted her mother and led the servant to make up.

  As Ed got closer to Lydia's room, his excitement became harder to contain, suppressing the thrill that twitched on his face. He walked down the corridor leading to the beauty's room, the dimly lit corridor had many rooms on both sides, and the wall lamp at the end of the door made people imagine all sorts of things. A gray shadow flashed into Lydia's room, Ed rubbed his eyes, indeed someone had entered before him.

  A surge of anger at having something stolen from him rushed to his head, Ed rushed over and pushed the door open. The door wasn't closed, and now he could see clearly that the figure was a sturdy man. What he came for was obvious! How dare someone covet the woman he had set his sights on?

  Charlotte hid in the dark and saw Ed coming, immediately picked up the road knife and jumped out, shouting **** at the servant's abdomen. The servant pretended to be injured and covered his abdomen in pain, with blood flowing out of the door. Witnessing Charlotte killing someone and still smiling strangely at herself, Ed exclaimed, Charlotte walked towards him with a bloody big knife.

  "Ahh!!! Don't come over! Don't come over!! Save me!! Charlotte has killed someone!!"

  "Ah!~~"

  Charlotte was just about to shout for the servant to get up when Ed's scream suddenly stopped, and Charlotte's heart skipped a beat - wouldn't she be scared to death?! Turning her head, she saw that the blood hole on Ed's chest, which he had been covering, was continuously spouting blood. Just as Charlotte turned around, there was already no one behind Ed. Something wasn't right! Charlotte ran over to help the servant up.

  "Hey! Stop pretending! Get up quickly! You get up!"

  No matter how Charlotte called the servant, he remained still and lifeless. She felt a sense of foreboding in her heart, and a terrible thought suddenly occurred to her. Charlotte's hands trembled as she reached out to feel the servant's neck for a pulse - there was none! He really was dead! Charlotte gazed at the servant's pale face in horror, then looked down at the large knife in her hand, stained with fresh blood.

  Bang!

  The big knife was thrown out fiercely, Charlotte hugged her head and turned pale.

  "No, I won't die, ah!"

  Lydia had been restless for a while, and upon hearing Charlotte's scream, she finally couldn't help but rush out. The small living room was littered with two corpses. Charlotte cried uncontrollably, looked up at her mother, and like all children who have done something wrong, begged for her mother's forgiveness and protection.

  "Mother, it's the knife that's bad, not me on purpose, they're all dead! Waaahhh..."

  Lydia's heart was like a block of ice, constantly churning out cold air, her two lips trembling, she had to say something, Charlotte needed her to bring a sense of security.

  "It's okay, be good, you go quickly."

  Yes! Charlotte left, I'll substitute for her! Anyway, she's also at fault in this accident.

  "Hurry up and get out of here! Mother will take care of it."

  After finishing speaking, Lydia rushed into the bedroom. Charlotte stopped sniffling and stared blankly at the congealed blood on the floor. After a while, Lydia hung a small package on Charlotte's body and pushed her outwards.

  "Take advantage of it before dawn breaks, run as far as you can. Later someone will come to ask, I'll cover for you!"

  Dragged out of the room by her mother, Charlotte was treated roughly by Lydia for the first time, and inexplicably felt a sour heart that made her cry again.

  "Charlotte! This is no time for tears! You must be strong! Can't just cry every time something happens!"

  He scolded her with his mouth but still cared about her in his heart.

  "Alright, alright, stop crying and hurry up and escape!"

  "Mother, walk with me!"

  Charlotte cried and held onto her mother, refusing to let go. Lydia also wanted to cry out loud, she didn't want to be separated from her daughter, but without her taking the blame, her daughter would be in even greater danger, she couldn't selfishly escape with her daughter.

  Lidia roughly pulled Charlotte's hand away and raised her own hand high.

  Bang!

  Charlotte covered her cheeks and stared at her mother in disbelief.

  "This slap is a lesson for you not listening! If you don't leave now, don't call me mother from now on!"

  Boom! Crack!

  A thunderbolt exploded in the night sky, and a torrential rain poured down outside the window. Charlotte's heart seemed to be raining too. Lydia's resolute back looked icy and hard. Charlotte retreated and plunged headlong into the stormy rain. Without her mother's support, Charlotte ran desperately through the wind and rain-soaked night. The rain washed away her tears, mixing with the mud, leaving a trail of footprints that wouldn't attract attention.

  "Here! The little man heard someone shouting for help here!"

  Not long after Charlotte left, a group of people burst into Lydia's residence. They were initially stunned by the scene at the entrance, and once they confirmed that Ed was dead, the leader of the group became less courteous to Lydia.

  "Mrs. Lydia, aren't you going to explain why Mr. Ed died in your room? The murder weapon is this knife, did you kill Mr. Ed?! And the servant was also killed by you for protecting Mr. Ed! Am I right?"

  Facing the incoming person's momentum and pressing questions, Lydia had to take a deep breath to hold back her urge to hit someone.

  "Yes, I am the one who killed him, take me away, I confess!"

  Charles couldn't bear it anymore and blocked his way.

  "Wait! Let's not talk about whether she had a motive to kill or not, can this weak and small woman really kill two men? And she is still recovering from her injuries. It's just speculation, there are no witnesses or evidence, you can't arrest someone so casually!"

  The leader said with displeasure

  "We are Mr. Ai's family, not the police, what evidence do we need?! Now only she is suspicious, take her away instead of me? And I warn you, this is our family affair, you'd better not interfere! Be careful not to get burned!"

  Seeing Charles speechless, the leader spoke again

  "But you have a point, Lydia is so weak and small, there must be someone helping her! Where's that maid? Didn't she escape in fear of punishment?"

  "No, it's not like that! I was afraid of implicating her, so I told her to leave. This matter has nothing to do with her!"

  They sent people all over looking for Charlotte but gave up after Lydia's repeated confessions.

  Charles watched from the side, feeling that this case was full of doubts. Lydia was obviously lying, and it was impossible for her to be the killer. The leader had been eager to force a confession from the start, and had let Charlotte, such an important suspect, slip away unclearly. What was going on behind the scenes? And what was "adding fuel to the fire" hinting at?