Chapter 15: The Strange Circumstances of Her Death
Page 1 of 3
“Quick, hurry and fetch Mother—”
Seeing the fear on Lu Wanhe’s face, seeing her tremble like a frightened bird, Yueya could not help smiling in satisfaction.
Qiao’er, a maid in Lu Wanhe’s courtyard, had accidentally offended her a few days earlier. Lu Wanhe had punished her by making her kneel, then locked her in the woodshed, where she was starved to death.
Yueya ran all the way to Begonia Court and repeated to Madam Li Xianyue, with plenty of embellishment, the story she had prepared in advance.
Li Xianyue hurried anxiously to Treasure Moon Pavilion.
Before long, Li Xianyue and the others arrived in a great commotion.
“Where is the body?”
Yueya pointed toward the bed and replied in a trembling voice, “On the bed…”
Li Xianyue frowned and said impatiently, “Why haven’t you dragged the body down yet? Don’t let her soil the eldest young lady’s bed. A pack of useless fools!”
When Lu Wanhe saw Li Xianyue arrive, she immediately found someone to rely on. She threw her arms around her mother and burst into sobs.
“Mother, Qiao’er has become a vengeful ghost! She came back to take revenge on me!”
Li Xianyue glanced at Chunchan’s ghastly corpse and forced down her own terror. Patting Lu Wanhe’s back, she said slowly, “Wanhe, don’t be afraid. There are no such things as vengeful ghosts in this world.”
“But, Mother, I’m truly frightened. If it wasn’t a vengeful spirit seeking revenge, how else could Chunchan have died so horribly?”
Lu Wanhe looked up, tears brimming in her eyes, and whimpered.
Li Xianyue knitted her brows. After glancing at Chunchan, she said solemnly, “Chunchan belonged to Lu Lanxi. She had no quarrel with Qiao’er. Even if Qiao’er wanted revenge, she would never seek out Chunchan. Someone must be pretending to be a ghost in order to torment you.”
Li Xianyue had always indulged Lu Wanhe. As the legitimate eldest daughter, Wanhe was expected to rise above all others. Who would dare frighten her? What if something happened to her…
“Good child, your mother is here. I will see justice done for you.”
Lu Wanhe raised her hand and wiped away the tears on her cheeks before cursing, “That wretched Chunchan! I told her to keep a close eye on Lu Lanxi, yet she died in my bedchamber instead. She was useless in success and disastrous in failure. She deserved to die. Someone drag her away, chop her into pieces, and feed her to the dogs!”
Damn that Chunchan! She had frightened Lu Wanhe half to death—she had nearly wet herself. Chunchan had almost made her lose face entirely. She deserved her fate and did not deserve the slightest pity.
Yueya was stunned inwardly. How ruthless! How vicious! It would not be an exaggeration to call Lu Wanhe a venomous snake or a poisonous scorpion.
Li Xianyue gritted her teeth and ordered, “Do not alert the master yet. Send someone to investigate whom Chunchan offended and who could have dealt such a cruel blow.”
Li Xianyue arranged for Lu Wanhe’s bedchamber to be cleaned, then took her daughter back to Begonia Court to spend the night.
Page 1 of 3
Page 2 of 3
After soothing Lu Wanhe into sleep, Li Xianyue hurried back to her own room, her expression anxious.
When the night had deepened and all was silent, she finally shed her façade and collapsed heavily into the chair beside the table.
Her personal maid, Nanny Lan, poured her a cup of hot tea and handed it over.
“Madam, the night is cold. Have some tea first to warm yourself.”
“Lan, do you believe that vengeful ghosts truly exist?”
Li Xianyue was somewhat frightened. She had lived nearly half her life, and her hands were stained with no small amount of blood. If vengeful spirits truly came seeking their lives, ten lives would probably not be enough to satisfy them.
“This servant naturally does not believe it. Besides, Qiao’er brought her death upon herself by committing an offense. The eldest young lady cannot be blamed. She is beautiful and kind, with the bearing of a phoenix-blessed woman. Heaven will surely protect her.”
Li Xianyue loved listening to Lan speak. Her daughter was certainly a woman destined for greatness. Even if evil spirits truly existed, they would naturally not dare provoke her.
And if any evil spirit did dare harm Wanhe in the slightest, Li Xianyue would find a way to scatter its soul and ensure it could never be reborn.
“Chunchan’s death was far too strange. There was not even the slightest sound. It is truly inconceivable. In any case, we must be more vigilant. Beginning tomorrow, increase the number of guards in the residence and have them patrol in shifts. Be especially diligent at night. We cannot allow another murder to occur.”
“This servant understands.”
“And another thing. Wanhe was frightened tonight and lost her composure, speaking nonsense. Tomorrow I will have a proper talk with her. No matter when or where, she must remain calm and never fall into another person’s trap.”
Nanny Lan said softly, “Madam, the eldest young lady has already handled matters very well. Given the state Chunchan was in, anyone would have lost their composure.”
“This servant will help you wash and prepare for bed. You should retire early. Staying up too late is not good for you.”
Li Xianyue nodded.
Jade Pavilion.
After finishing everything, Lu Lanxi felt wonderfully satisfied.
She lay sprawled across her bed. Every time she imagined the terror on Lu Wanhe and Li Xianyue’s faces when they saw Chunchan, she felt a rush of pleasure.
She intended to torment them slowly, destroying them both in body and in spirit.
—
Autumn Ripples Court.
Ye Nanzhi heard the rumors the household servants were whispering about. She frowned. Blood had flowed from every orifice—clearly, the victim had been poisoned far too deeply.
Could Lu Lanxi have done it?
Suspicious, she did not wait for dawn before setting out for Jade Pavilion.
Page 2 of 3
Page 3 of 3
Perhaps Ye Nanzhi had made too much noise. Lu Lanxi suddenly opened her eyes in alarm, sensing a gust of wind rushing toward her.
“You wicked girl. It really was you.”
Seeing Lu Lanxi lying on the bed as though nothing had happened, Ye Nanzhi was consumed by rage.
Meeting her mother once again, Lu Lanxi felt none of the submissiveness or fear she had shown in her previous life. Only fury remained. Yet no matter how deeply she hated Ye Nanzhi, she could not kill her own birth mother.
She had long ago guessed that Ye Nanzhi would come. She simply had not expected her to arrive so quickly.
She said indifferently, “What have I done? Concubine Ye, it is so late. Why are you not asleep? What brings you here?”
“What did you call me? Has it been so long since I disciplined you that you have forgotten your place?”
Ye Nanzhi was furious. What had gotten into Lu Lanxi? How dare she not call her Mother?
“Lanxi would not dare. Madam taught me that there must be a distinction between high and low status. I can only address you as Concubine, not Mother. I merely do not wish to put you in a difficult position by forcing you to stand between us.”
Lu Lanxi’s insincere submissiveness caused Ye Nanzhi to doubt herself. Could she have been imagining things?
“You have become obedient to an absurd degree. Chunchan’s death was strange. Tell me—did you poison her?”
“What do you mean, Concubine? Chunchan is dead? When did that happen?”
Lu Lanxi sat bolt upright, feigning immense surprise.
“You truly didn’t know?”
“I had only just returned and lain down when you came storming in. If I may ask, who did Chunchan offend? Who would want her dead?”
Ye Nanzhi stared at Lu Lanxi for a long while. Could Lu Lanxi truly not know that Chunchan had been sent by Lu Wanhe to spy on her?
If Lu Lanxi had not killed her, then who else in the Lu family knew such poisonous sorcery?
“Set Chunchan’s matter aside for now. Tell me—what happened to you today?”
“Oh, I simply decided to stop indulging Zhuang Huaijin.”
“Though I am a concubine-born daughter, I am still a daughter of the Lu family. How could I allow an outsider to trample me at will? Did you not teach me from childhood that, aside from members of the Lu family, anyone else could be killed or beaten as necessary? Zhuang Huaijin publicly humiliated your daughter. By doing so, he was striking at your face. I had to teach him a lesson, or he would truly believe that I had no mother to rely on and that you were weak and easy to bully.”
Page 3 of 3