Chapter 102: The Clouds Part, and the Truth Is Revealed (2)

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Several oar ropes were tied along the bank of the lotus pond, used to moor the small boats that collected refuse. Chuxiu was suddenly shoved into the pond. After thrashing about and swallowing several mouthfuls of water, she barely managed to seize one of the ropes. Choking, she coughed twice, then clung desperately to it and scolded, “Zhuoyan, what are you doing?”

“Be quiet! Someone’s coming!”

Zhuoyan stood directly above Chuxiu on the bank. The hem of her cloak hung over the edge, almost touching the surface of the pond and nearly covering Chuxiu’s entire face.

Chuxiu reached up and brushed the cloak away from her face. She opened her mouth to demand an explanation, but heard Zhuoyan say in a trembling voice, “Third Concubine, Fourth Concubine, you’re here.”

Fourth Concubine? Was it Luanqing? Remembering Danxin’s earlier remark that something seemed amiss with Luanqing, the rebuke caught in Chuxiu’s throat. She pressed herself more firmly against the wall beneath the bank, gripped the oar rope with all her strength, and listened intently to the sounds above.

“You’re trembling? Zhuoyan, why are you shaking?” Before Luanqing could say anything, the Third Concubine asked with concern, “Are you feeling unwell?”

Zhuoyan remained rooted to the spot, as though deliberately shielding Chuxiu in the lotus pond behind her. Then she said furiously, “You conspired to murder the Marquis, didn’t you?”

“What are you talking about? Even if you’ve lost your mind, Zhuoyan, you can’t spout such nonsense.” The Third Concubine’s voice held both injured innocence and astonishment. “What kind of absurdity is this?”

“Absurdity?” Zhuoyan seemed to want to laugh, yet did not dare. Whether from fear or anger, her voice continued to tremble. “Third Concubine, stop pretending. You bribed local thugs to murder the Second Master, then pretended that he had caused trouble while drunk. That scheme has already exposed your intentions completely.”

“The Second Master’s death was your doing?” This time it was Luanqing who cried out. “You clearly promised me you would stop!”

After her words fell, no one answered for a long while. At last, the Third Concubine’s voice drifted over, eerie and vicious.

“That’s right. I did it. Yunqi was a fool, and he deserved to die.”

“He took the blame for you! He even became a cripple! And you still refused to spare him!” Zhuoyan deliberately raised her voice, evidently trying to make sure Chuxiu heard. Then, choking back sobs, she cried, “Wenxian! How could you be so heartless?”

“You can only blame the mother and son of the Second Branch for being too stupid and allowing themselves to be used!” The Third Concubine gave a cold laugh from the bank, stripped entirely of her former gentleness and composure. “Who do you think was responsible for the Heart-Severing Gu found in Yunqi’s residence that day?”

Before anyone could react, Wenxian answered her own question.

“It was Luanqing who secretly planted it there. Ha! Never imagined that, did you?”

“You’re monsters!” Zhuoyan spat bitterly.

“If we’re speaking of cruelty, you’re hardly innocent yourself.” The Third Concubine’s laugh was flat and cold.

By then, Chuxiu was soaked through, yet the chill in her heart and soul surpassed the coldness of the water. So that was how it was...

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“What are you doing? What are you doing?” Chuxiu was still lost in thought when Zhuoyan’s startled cry rang out from the bank. The figure above her head seemed to move two steps, as if trying to evade an attack.

Immediately afterward, Luanqing shouted, “Third Concubine! Don’t!”

But it was too late. The unmistakable sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out. Zhuoyan had not even had time to scream before someone clamped a hand over her mouth and nose, reducing her cry to a series of agonized, muffled moans.

Splash!

A heavy object fell into the water, sending waves and droplets across the lotus pond. They spattered Chuxiu’s face, yet she did not dare move. She could only bite down hard on her lips, terrified that a cry might escape her.

In the pond, Zhuoyan struggled in terror. The dagger at her throat flashed with a blinding silver light.

Chuxiu saw Zhuoyan’s pleading gaze turn toward her, but the other woman never managed to say a word. The body above the water convulsed violently several times before finally falling still. Only the blood pouring from her neck continued to spread, staining the surrounding water crimson, then gradually thinning and dissolving until it blended into the pond’s dark surface.

Before Zhuoyan’s corpse sank to the bottom, Chuxiu saw the woman’s contorted expression freeze forever, made all the more horrifying by the dagger glittering at her throat.

To watch a living person sink slowly beneath the water only a short distance away—Chuxiu knew she would never forget that sensation. And what made it worse was that Zhuoyan had died carrying another life within her.

“Why did you kill her?” Luanqing’s voice rang out again. She shouted at the Third Concubine, Wenxian, “You’re utterly heartless! First the Old Marquis and the Dowager Madam, then the Marquis. You even refused to spare the Second Master, who took the blame for you—and now you’ve killed Zhuoyan too!”

“If I hadn’t killed her, would you rather she exposed both of us?” Wenxian’s cold voice came from the very place where Zhuoyan had stood moments before—directly above Chuxiu’s head.

At that moment, all Wenxian had to do was lower her head to see Chuxiu hiding beside the bank in the pond. Yet she never looked down. Instead, she turned toward Luanqing and said icily, “Luanqing, from the moment you decided to help me, you lost your way back.”

Luanqing seemed to draw in a sharp breath. “If it hadn’t been for Third Master... I...”

On the day of the tribunal hearing, Yuewan had exposed the illicit relationship between Zhuoyan and Yunqi. To help Wenxian escape punishment, Luanqing had secretly slipped into Golden Dew Hall and added the Heart-Severing Gu to Yunqi’s medicinal pills, hoping that when the residence was searched, Yunqi’s guilt would be firmly established. The Second Branch had already harbored murderous intentions toward Yunci, so Luanqing had convinced herself that she was not truly harming an innocent man.

She had thought the pharmacy at Golden Dew Hall was secluded enough that no one would notice her intrusion. But just as she was leaving, she saw Yunxian approaching with men to search the residence. Not wishing to arouse his suspicions, and remembering that Yunqi was notorious for his lust, she had acted on a sudden idea: she loosened her collar, disheveled her hair, pretended to have been harassed, and walked openly out through the main entrance.

Yunxian had indeed drawn the wrong conclusion. Not only did he fail to ask why she had been at Golden Dew Hall, he had gone to great lengths to conceal the matter. A few days earlier, he had even summoned her privately to warn her against harboring disloyal thoughts.

At the time, Luanqing had felt a trace of sweetness in her heart. At least Yunxian was willing to protect her. Even if Wenxian had been using her, she had been willing to accept it. When she had first discovered Wenxian’s plot by accident, she had chosen, for Yunxian’s sake, to remain silent again and again, even helping to frame the Second Branch...

But she had never imagined that she would end up aiding evil and become unable to escape its consequences.

“Third Concubine, the Second Branch took the blame for your crimes. Why did you still have to wipe them out?” Luanqing’s usually detached voice now trembled with indignation.

“Chuxiu was softhearted and spared the lives of the mother and son of the Second Branch. Who knows what trouble they might cause in the future? Yunqi never admitted that he had planted the Heart-Severing Gu that day. He insisted he had not yet had the chance. If Xie Miaodan and Chuxiu grew suspicious one day and investigated the matter thoroughly, how could my branch survive?” There was not the slightest trace of remorse in Wenxian’s voice.

“How could Third Master have a mother as cruel as you?” Luanqing shouted angrily.

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“Oh? I’m the cruel mother who gave him life, yet you fell in love with him all the same, didn’t you?” Wenxian taunted her pointedly. “If not, then when you found your senior brother and learned that he had administered the poison at my request, why didn’t you expose me? Why did you sneak into Golden Dew Hall and give false testimony instead? If Yunxian hadn’t mentioned it to me afterward, I would never have known that you were already aware of the truth.”

Now that matters had come to this, all Luanqing could do was let out a remorseful sigh.

The so-called wandering sorcerer whom the Second Concubine had found years ago had actually been a member of the Jiang clan—Luanqing’s senior brother. Last May, when Yunci had entrusted her with returning to Jiang territory to seek an antidote to the love poison, she had unexpectedly reunited with the senior brother from whom she had been separated for many years.

As they exchanged news of their lives, Luanqing mentioned that she was now living in the Yun residence. Only then, after his initial surprise, had her senior brother revealed that he had twice accepted large sums of money to administer love poison to the two successive Marquis of Lixin.

What was more, he had already taught the method of planting the Heart-Severing Gu to his second employer—

A woman who appeared gentle, with a cinnabar-red mole between her brows, and who spoke in a soft, honeyed voice.

Who else could she have been but the Third Concubine?

Luanqing was recalling how she had learned the truth when Wenxian began to giggle again.

“I have that fool Hua Wuying to thank! She was the one who found your senior brother first and called him some sort of wandering sorcerer. I had no choice but to turn her scheme against her, hire your senior brother to administer the poison a second time, and then shift the blame onto the Second Branch.”

“Twenty years later, you used the same trick again!” Before Wenxian could finish, Luanqing cut in. “You knew Yunqi had gone to my senior brother and intended to poison the Marquis. So you let Yunqi act, while secretly learning the method of planting the Heart-Severing Gu yourself. Then, when I returned to Jiang territory to seek an antidote to the love poison, you used the opportunity to send the Marquis and Chuxiu to their deaths!”

“You’ve already guessed everything, so why ask me?” Wenxian replied calmly. “If Yunxian hadn’t told me before leaving for Jiang territory that you were homesick and intended to travel with him, I wouldn’t have known you were interfering again. Fortunately, you had enough sense to keep quiet—and you had fallen in love with Yunxian. Otherwise, I would have eliminated you as a future threat!”

“The heart of a woman is the most venomous of all. You’re too cruel!” Luanqing finally lost control of her emotions. “You poisoned two successive Marquises of Lixin. That is simply—”

“Simply what?” Wenxian interrupted, bitterness rising in her voice. “If I weren’t ruthless, how could Yunxian become Marquis of Lixin? Before Xie Miaodan married into the family, how deeply the Old Marquis cherished me! But afterward, everything changed. A man’s vows are the least trustworthy things in the world. And Yunci—a useless cripple—was still able to become Marquis of Lixin! What did he have to rely on? His legitimate birthright, and nothing else! As long as he and Yunqi died, the title would belong to my Yunxian!”

“But your calculations were wrong. The succession faction’s proposal was rejected, and the Dowager Madam adopted an heir for the Marquis.” Luanqing voiced the thought that tormented her. “Will you continue trying to poison the heir, Yun Cheng?”

“Poison him? Ha!” Wenxian gave another cold laugh. “I have plenty of opportunities to act. The love poison will no longer work, but just watch. Sooner or later, the Yun clan will belong to my Yunxian! Yunli betrayed me all those years ago. I will never let him have his way after death!”

“If Third Master and Miss Muge knew what you had done, I wonder how heartbroken they would be.” Luanqing sighed softly.

“As long as you keep silent, how will Yunxian ever know? And even if he did, could he really expose his own mother? Have I not spent twenty years plotting for his sake? In what way is Yunxian inferior to Yunci?” Wenxian spoke with furious indignation.

“At the time, I made one terrible mistake. I thought that framing Yunqi would bring the matter to an end. I told myself that, since he was vicious by nature, taking the blame would hardly be unfair...” Luanqing’s voice was heavy with guilt. “I never imagined that my hands would now be stained with blood too, and that Zhuoyan would die carrying another life.”

Hearing this, Wenxian pretended to comfort her.

“Don’t worry. Yunxian is not entirely indifferent to you. As long as you keep the secret, once he becomes Marquis of Lixin, you can be together openly and honorably. When that day comes, I certainly won’t stand in your way.”

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