“Don’t untie her. Keep the light shining on her face the same way, and only give her a little water to drink.” After leaving the room, Seventh Miss gave Nanny Hang instructions in a low voice. “Same as before—when she’s ready to tell the truth, call me over again.”
She paused, then added, “Tell her that if she lies again this time, she won’t be the only one facing misfortune.”
Nanny Hang mustered her courage to peek into the room, then acknowledged Seventh Miss’s orders with a respectful expression before entering the interrogation room. Seventh Miss also instructed Nanny Xiao Wang, “You and Nanny Hang will have to work a bit harder. Continue taking shifts to keep watch, but don’t exhaust yourselves.”
Seeing a trace of awe flash across Nanny Xiao Wang’s face, she couldn’t help but smile self-mockingly: a thousand clever methods couldn’t compare to a bit of violence when it came to intimidating people.
She left Xiao Songhua alone until evening before returning to the side courtyard.
A full seventeen or eighteen hours without rest seemed to have dealt a heavy blow to the young maid’s health. Her face was more swollen than it had been in the morning, and her eyes were more glazed than during the morning interrogation. She seemed to have completely forgotten about etiquette—when Seventh Miss sat down across from her, she even stared directly at Seventh Miss, as if she had forgotten how to write the words “basic courtesy.”
However, Seventh Miss was much more relaxed than she had been in the morning. There was even a hint of a leisurely smile at the corners of her lips. After sitting down across from Xiao Songhua, she was in no hurry to speak. Instead, she first flipped through the loose-leaf notebook, browsing through Xiao Songhua’s previous testimony at her own pace.
The room remained silent for a full incense stick’s worth of time before Xiao Songhua said in a low, dull voice, “What makes you so certain I was lying, Madam?”
Now she wasn’t even using the self-reference “this servant” anymore.
“Good.” Seventh Miss set down her brush and said indifferently, “I suppose you still haven’t completely accepted this in your heart. Fifth Sister truly misjudged you—someone as clever as you shouldn’t have been relegated to menial work.”
Xiao Songhua was slightly startled. She struggled to focus her eyes on Seventh Miss’s face, but the lamplight forced her to squint.
Seventh Miss casually extinguished one oil lamp and removed the white paper from behind the other, so that the light no longer shone directly into Xiao Songhua’s eyes, allowing her to gather a bit of rationality to hear what she had to say.
“From the moment you entered the room, your behavior and mannerisms revealed your nature. You’re a very clever and composed girl. People who know you all say you’re not frivolous and have always been able to keep your composure.” Seventh Miss spoke slowly. “If someone this composed had a clear conscience, she would hold out for at least three or four days before giving up hope and confessing to a crime she didn’t commit. But you’ve only been confined for a few hours and you’ve already yielded. This confession must be false.”
She meticulously analyzed and laid out her reasoning, dissecting Xiao Songhua’s behavior thread by thread. A flash of astonishment immediately appeared in Xiao Songhua’s eyes.
Her mental energy was already depleted, and she could no longer conceal her reactions. This trace of astonishment was caught by Seventh Miss.
“Of course, I don’t have much hard evidence to prove your guilt.” Seventh Miss studied Xiao Songhua thoughtfully as she spoke. “Even though you know very well in your heart that the death of the late Young Madam cannot be separated from you, if you could remain steady and endure torture without confessing, then I would have no way to deal with you. To be honest, I thought you would hold out for at least three days before considering confession.”
“But you yielded by the first watch of the night. Why is that? This matter raises many suspicions. The only clue I revealed to you was that I had already discovered your brother-in-law is a military officer in the Guangzhou area. Although this clue didn’t provoke an immediate reaction from you at the time, it clearly had a great impact on you. After I left, you pondered it all day and must have reached a conclusion: if you held out and didn’t speak, with this doubt already present, I would certainly investigate the Xiao family thoroughly.”
Seventh Miss paused before continuing meaningfully, “For an innocent person, she would hope I would investigate the Xiao family to prove her innocence. But if the Xiao family cannot withstand my investigation, then the torment you’re enduring has little meaning. Either way there’s guilt, and either way I’ll discover it, so you might as well deceive me first and direct me to investigate the Elder Young Madam instead. By muddying the waters this way, the Xiao family might still have a thread of hope. Am I right, Xiao Songhua?”
Despair was already flowing uncontrollably from Xiao Songhua’s eyes. She produced a bitter smile that looked worse than crying and said faintly, “Madam is the master, Xiao Songhua is a servant. Whatever Madam says is what it is.”
Even at this point, she still refused to lower her guard.
This girl truly was talented.
Seventh Miss let out a soft hum. “I was able to trace this to you not because I’m your master, but simply because I’m much more capable than you. Trying to deceive me? With your abilities? You cannot fool me.”
She slowed her tone. “Now, I’ll give you one last chance. Speak if you will. If not, I’ll speak for you.”
Seeing hesitation flash across Xiao Songhua’s face as she bit her lower lip and fell into thought, Seventh Miss actually felt relieved.
At this moment, after more than ten hours without sleep, whether mentally or physically, Xiao Songhua had probably reached the brink of collapse. She likely no longer had the energy to assess whether Seventh Miss’s words were true or false, and could only follow the train of thought she was given.
“You overheard the information about wang bu liu xing and saffron, didn’t you?” She pressed with another question, staring intently at Xiao Songhua. “At that time you were at the inner room door, about to deliver a bowl of medicine to the Young Madam, but Doctor Zhong was still in the room, so you didn’t enter. Just then Old Nanny came in and saw you, beckoned you over, and asked about the Young Madam’s daily routine. While you were giving perfunctory answers, you were listening to Doctor Zhong speaking to the Young Madam, saying ‘Medicines like wang bu liu xing and saffron, if the Young Madam takes them, heavy bleeding that won’t stop is the least of it—if things go badly, there could even be danger to her life. She absolutely must not even let them touch her lips…'”
As she narrated, a tremendous fear suddenly spread across Xiao Songhua’s face. She raised her head and stared at Seventh Miss in shock, opening her mouth with trembling lips, unable to speak for a long while.
Seventh Miss smiled coldly. “Guess who I heard this from?”
“Was… was it Fifth Young Miss?” Xiao Songhua blurted out, but immediately showed regret as soon as the words left her mouth.
“Correct, it was Fifth Young Miss.” Seventh Miss picked up her tea bowl and took a sip of warm tea. “I’m sure you’re also aware that the person currently managing the household is no longer Fifth Sister-in-law. Who do you think Fifth Young Miss has always been closer to? If I need her to testify against you, do you think she would agree?”
Anyone who wasn’t a fool would know the answer to this question.
The despair on Xiao Songhua’s face grew thicker. Seventh Miss continued reasoning for her, “If I’m willing to stop at the Xiao family, the happiest person would naturally be the Duke. With just a word from Fifth Young Miss, your death sentence could be decided. When the time comes and you’re handed over to the Yang family, have you heard how heartbroken and furious the Elder Madam was back then?”
If the Xiao family were proven to have orchestrated Fifth Miss’s death, the entire family would certainly face the Elder Madam’s wrath. Their fate would be beyond what the words “family destruction and death” could describe.
“I won’t hide this from you either—even if you speak up now, you won’t have a good outcome. You’ll either be sold or sent to the estate to do hard labor. You can’t expect a better result than that.” Seventh Miss had no intention of using honeyed words. She spoke slowly. “However, your cleverness has at least earned you one opportunity. As long as you tell everything you know without reservation, I can guarantee your whole family won’t die. This much I can accomplish. You should understand that as long as a person doesn’t die, there’s always a chance to make a comeback.”
This time, she finally saw genuine temptation in Xiao Songhua’s eyes.
Seventh Miss knew when to stop. She said nothing more, only lowered her head to sip her hot tea and once again flipped through the loose-leaf notebook before her.
After an unknown amount of time, Xiao Songhua’s hoarse voice finally spoke again.
“I want water.” Her voice grew louder. “I want food, I want to sleep properly…”
Seventh Miss raised her eyes, meeting Xiao Songhua’s swollen eyes, and showed a sympathetic smile.
“I can give you all of that.” She said, “But you know very well what you need to do first.”
She called out loudly, “Someone come.”
Nanny Hang immediately entered the room. Seventh Miss raised her chin toward Xiao Songhua and said quietly, “Untie her.”
She noticed a shadow at the doorway and turned to look, only then discovering that Xu Fengjia had been standing at the door for who knows how long.
However, Xiao Songhua had no attention to spare for anything else. Even when Xu Fengjia walked into the room and stood beside Seventh Miss, she couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge him. She only vigorously rubbed her face, moved her limbs, yawned greatly, and then said wearily, “It’s true that I overheard that wang bu liu xing and saffron could cause bleeding…”
Her voice gradually grew lower, her head nodding repeatedly—she had actually fallen asleep. Fortunately, after a moment she startled herself awake and continued, “At the time I wasn’t deliberately trying to listen. I was just concerned that the medicine in my hands should be drunk while hot, but given the Young Madam’s temperament, she might not be willing to drink it obediently. Doctor Zhong was in the room, so it wasn’t appropriate to disturb him. Plus Old Nanny was chattering away beside me, so I could only hope for movement from inside the room… hoping Doctor Zhong would finish quickly so I could go in and deliver the medicine.”
“That’s how I inadvertently overheard those few sentences, and they stuck in my mind. It happened that I wasn’t supposed to be on duty that afternoon, and I had some winter clothes I hadn’t retrieved from home, so I told Sister Guyu and went home to get them.”
Xiao Songhua’s gaze became somewhat vacant. She rubbed her eyes again, and even her speech became slurred. “When I got home, Mother happened to be sitting at the door mending clothes. We exchanged a few words. I told Mother what Doctor Zhong had said as a joke, never expecting Mother to take it seriously immediately. She went out right away without saying where, and when she came back, she had brought a small package of medicinal herbs. She wanted me to add them to Yang Fifth Miss’s medicine when I had the chance. I asked her what it was, but she wouldn’t say. She only instructed me to be extremely careful and absolutely not let anyone notice. She also said that if this matter was done well, our family would benefit endlessly in the future.”
“I had doubts in my heart and wasn’t willing to agree right away.” Xiao Songhua yawned again. “I asked Mother who had given her the medicine. Mother said it was a noble person from the estate who couldn’t stand Yang Fifth Miss’s usual arrogance and wanted to humble her a bit. She also said that the medicine in the package would at most give Yang Fifth Miss a minor ailment and definitely wouldn’t cause any serious trouble, so I needn’t be afraid.”
“I entered the estate to work when I was very young, so I don’t know much about family affairs. Since Mother said this, I brought the medicine package into the estate. The very next morning, I went to Qingping Courtyard to fetch a large package of medicinal ingredients with a label saying it was various ingredients for Ten Complete Tonic Soup. I had an impulse and opened the medicine package, slipping in the small packet. No one saw me along the way. When I returned to Mingde Hall, the nanny in charge of brewing medicine snatched it from my hands and immediately opened it for use. I don’t even know if the medicine I put in was actually boiled together. I never expected that the next afternoon, after Yang Fifth Miss drank the medicine, she suddenly took a turn for the worse. I was scared to death and wanted to take the medicine away and pour it out. But Yang Seventh Miss stopped me. Not only that, she immediately called Doctor Quan to taste the medicine, and Doctor Quan detected wang bu liu xing and saffron… At that moment I was trembling from head to toe.” Fear appeared on Xiao Songhua’s face again, and she was almost speaking in delirium. “I knew Father and Mother had never been favored under Madam, and over the years they’d been trying to latch onto someone powerful, hoping to live a wealthy life like Old Nanny’s family. But I never imagined they would be so bold…”
“Fortunately, with all the chaos and confusion at the time, no one paid attention to us. Everyone was busy with Yang Fifth Miss’s funeral arrangements. That evening, I secretly snuck out, wanting to slip home and ask Father who was behind all this. Unexpectedly, Mother ran right into me. She asked if anyone had seen me do it. I said no—I was at a corner in the corridor, in a hidden spot to begin with, and on such a cold day, no one was wandering around in the corridors. Mother breathed a sigh of relief and instructed me again, telling me to hold firm and not tell anyone. I asked them again who had told them to do such an outrageous and unconscionable thing. Mother only said it was adult business and told me not to worry about it. She told me not to say anything, and no matter who asked, just say I didn’t know. Once this matter blew over, after three to five more years, our family would buy our freedom, and they’d buy me two or three maids so I could live like a young lady.”
“By the next morning, Madam had recovered her senses, and we were all locked up and interrogated one by one with beatings…” Xiao Songhua couldn’t help touching her hands. She became much more alert, as if awakened by the pain in her memories. “I held out too. I insisted I knew nothing. I also learned from the others around me, single-mindedly seeking death to prove my innocence. After more than twenty days, nothing was extracted through torture, and Madam seemed to give up. We were sent to the countryside to be kept under watch, but we didn’t suffer too much. Father and Mother came to see me from time to time. Although we couldn’t meet and talk face to face, they could send me things. Three years passed like this, and it seemed everything had been forgotten. But just at this time…”
What happened next naturally didn’t need to be said.
Seventh Miss didn’t concern herself with Xu Fengjia’s reaction. Seeing that Xiao Songhua had stopped talking, she pressed further, “You truly don’t know anything about who the person above your parents is?”
Xiao Songhua shook her head. “I don’t know.”
That made sense. For those in higher positions, a young maid like Xiao Songhua was just a chess piece that could be abandoned at any time. If she knew too much, wouldn’t that be even more troublesome?
“Then after I asked about your brother-in-law, why were you so panicked that you immediately concocted a lie to deceive me?” she asked sternly. “What exactly is your brother-in-law’s background!”
Xiao Songhua fell silent and stopped speaking. Seventh Miss sneered coldly, “Don’t think that in your current confused state, you can still fabricate a lie that will fool me!”
This final stern rebuke seemed to finally destroy Xiao Songhua’s psychological defenses. She sighed and said defeatedly, “Brother-in-law’s own background and origins seem to involve some secrets, but exactly what they are, my family has never told me.”
She began to sob quietly again. “What I did has nothing to do with my sister and brother-in-law. I don’t want to implicate my sister’s family because of this. Father and Mother had no choice—they deserve what they get. But Sister married out years ago and knows nothing, nothing at all…”
Seventh Miss pondered for a moment, then asked, “It’s understandable that you don’t know who that person is, but do you know if your family has any close friends or relatives—people with whom you have a close relationship but don’t usually visit openly, people whose care your family has received, but with whom you’re not publicly close?”
Xiao Songhua thought for a moment, then said softly, “If I had to say, it would be Wu Xun’s wife. She’s Sister’s godmother. When Sister was very young, she particularly liked her and recognized her as a godmother. But she’s a favored servant and also works in accounting, so she rarely visits our home…”