Chapter 131: A Vicious Scheme
After wiping her hands clean, Mu Yunyao finally let Liu Liang enter.
“You mean Tan Bawang, the young master of Caiyue Pavilion in Huai’an City—the one I beat before?”
“Yes.”
Mu Yunyao lowered her eyes slightly, thinking it over in silence. What a coincidence. The people she had just rescued had been injured by Tan Bawang. Was it truly a coincidence, or had it been arranged on purpose?
“The attendant whose finger you cut off before would surely recognize you.”
“Yes. Just now, when I saw Master occupied with saving lives, I did not step forward to report it. Please punish me.”
Mu Yunyao glanced at him. Ever since the day she had asked about his identity, Liu Liang had become especially cautious around her, to the point that his respectful manner felt strange to her.
“I understand. Go and investigate what Tan Bawang has been doing since arriving in Jingling City.”
“Yes.”
After Liu Liang withdrew, Mu Yunyao thought for a moment, then went to the east side room.
Ding Yuelan’s injuries had nearly healed, but she had grown much quieter than before. From time to time, she would sit in a daze, lost in thought. Su Qing had tried to console her many times in private, but with little effect. Her embroidery, however, had improved by leaps and bounds. The patterns she now produced were nearly on par with Mu Yunyao’s.
“Miss Mu, what brings you here?”
Mu Yunyao looked at the peony Ding Yuelan was embroidering. The layered petals were vivid and lifelike.
“There is no need for Madam to rush your work so hard. Your eyes will not be able to endure it.”
Ding Yuelan gave a faintly bitter smile.
“It is only when I embroider that my heart becomes a little calmer. Did you come because you had something to ask me?”
“There is indeed something I wish to ask Madam, only…”
Mu Yunyao hesitated, worried about reopening old wounds. Yet if she did not ask, her mind would not be at ease.
Ding Yuelan seemed to understand her hesitation at once and led her farther into the room to sit.
“Please ask whatever you wish, Miss.”
She had already gone completely cold toward the Ding family. Though she still felt pain, it was no longer the soul-crushing despair she had once known.
“I wanted to ask whether the Ding family came into contact with anyone after its downfall.”
Ding Yuelan thought carefully.
“When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. After the Ding family collapsed, no one came to our door anymore. Especially after my father… after Master Ding suffered a stroke and became bedridden—even our relatives did not come to see him. I never noticed anyone contacting the family…”
She paused, then suddenly added,
“However, two days before Old Madam Ding decided to sell me into Ruyi Pavilion, she suddenly changed. She no longer looked worried or miserable. Instead, she was extremely pleased and kept saying that Heaven had eyes, that she had met a benefactor, and that once they reached Huai’an City there would still be a chance to rise again.”
“Thank you, Madam, for telling me honestly. In a little while, Ni Yun Fang will reopen. If Madam is willing, I have always kept the manager’s position for you.”
When Ding Yuelan shook her head in refusal, Mu Yunyao continued,
“Madam, people must always move forward. To waste the rest of your life over those who are not worth it—that is what would truly be unworthy. I hope Madam will think it over carefully.”
“...Thank you, Miss. I will think about it.”
Mu Yunyao nodded with a smile.
“Then I won’t disturb you further.”
After leaving the east side room, Mu Yunyao’s expression turned cool. The so-called benefactor from Huai’an City could only be Tan Bawang. That meant the disturbance from Ruyi Pavilion had most likely also been his doing, a behind-the-scenes probe. But what about Cai Qing? What connection did she have with Tan Bawang?
Cai Qing was tending to Nan’er and Little Mao. When she saw Mu Yunyao enter, she hurriedly rose and bowed.
“Greetings, Miss Mu.”
Mu Yunyao sat down in a nearby chair, her cool gaze settling on Cai Qing with unmistakable scrutiny.
“I have heard that Tan Bawang has taken a liking to you and intends to take you as a concubine?”
Cai Qing’s head jerked up. The moment her eyes met Mu Yunyao’s, she lowered them again like a startled animal, her gaze trembling violently.
“It was only because Tan Bawang deliberately made trouble and beat Little Mao. I stepped forward to argue with him, and who could have guessed that he was harboring such wicked thoughts? That is why…”
“I already know all that. Nan’er told me. But I think there are still things in this matter that I do not know. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Cai Qing stood there clutching her skirt so tightly that her knuckles whitened. Sweat was already dripping from her forehead.
“I… I don’t understand what Miss means…”
“I heard from Nan’er that there is also a child named Lier under your care. Where is she now?”
Cai Qing bit down hard on her lip. Then she suddenly took two quick steps forward and dropped to her knees before Mu Yunyao.
“Miss, I beg you—save us!”
A chill spread through Mu Yunyao’s eyes. When Nan’er had first come up to speak to her, she had not thought much of it. But now, with one thing after another emerging, she could not help but feel that his approach back then had been deliberate. Nan’er was clear-hearted, timid, and shy. How could a child like that have found the courage to step forward and warn her on his own? The only possibility was that someone had instructed him from behind the scenes.
“Why should I save a liar?”
She had seen far too much of the Su family’s false and hypocritical eldest young lady. Looking at Cai Qing now, she saw flaws everywhere.
Cai Qing shook her head frantically.
“Miss Mu, I am not a liar. I never meant to deceive you. But if I had not been forced, how would I ever have dared approach you? It was Tan Bawang. Before this, he falsely accused Little Mao of dirtying his clothes and demanded one hundred taels of silver in compensation. If we could not pay, he said he would beat Little Mao to death. For people like us, even if we are beaten to death, it can be settled with a bit of silver. The officials would not care. In order to save Little Mao, I had no choice but to obey him and have Nan’er approach you.”
Mu Yunyao remained cold. Hearing this, she let out a faint mocking laugh.
“Nan’er trusts you as though you were his own elder sister. He would rather go hungry himself than keep even two pastries for his own stomach, and instead bring them back for you. How could you bear to use a child who trusts you so completely?”
“I was forced into it. If I had not done so, they would all have died…”
As she spoke, tears streamed down Cai Qing’s face.
“Though we are not related by blood, I helped raise them in the Charity Hall. In order to preserve their lives, I had no other choice.”
Mu Yunyao frowned but said nothing.
Cai Qing shuffled forward on her knees and knocked her head to the ground.
“This morning, Tan Bawang brought a matchmaker with him. He seized my hand and forced my thumbprint down, making me admit that I was willingly entering his household as a concubine. Then he secretly had Nan’er come here to beg for help. He had already calculated that you would soften and rescue me. After that, he seized Lier and gave me a packet of poison, ordering me to swallow it and kill myself when he later came here to make trouble, so that he could use my death to frame you, Miss. If I obeyed him, he would release Lier. If I refused, he would find a way to beat all of us to death. I truly had no other choice. I beg Miss to show mercy…”
After saying this, Cai Qing took a packet of powder from inside her clothes and laid it out, then bowed low to the ground, her posture humble to the extreme.
Mu Yunyao looked at the girl prostrate before her and let out a cold laugh.
“How am I to know whether what you are saying is true? Who can say that you and Tan Bawang are not secretly working together to drag me into a trap?”
“I would never joke with the lives of Nan’er and the others. Miss Mu, every word I have spoken is the truth. There is not a single lie in it!”
“If I had not come to question you, what did you intend to do?”
Cai Qing’s face turned pale. Under Mu Yunyao’s gaze, it was as if her thoughts had nowhere to hide.
“I… I would have found a chance to tell Miss…”
“No, you would not.”
Mu Yunyao rose to her feet. If not for the lingering flicker in Cai Qing’s expression, she might almost have believed her.
“Tan Bawang is not only threatening you with Lier. He must also have promised you quite a few benefits, mustn’t he?”
“No. He told me to swallow poison and die—what benefit could he possibly promise me? Even if there were benefits, I would have no life left to enjoy them…”
hm. i am not sure i like mr. tbw.
ReplyDeletethank you for translating!