Upon hearing Guo Yanrong say this, Yan Qing’s expression tensed. “What strange thing?”
“On the night your mother hanged herself, I couldn’t sleep due to some personal matters weighing on my mind. So I went out to get some air. As I passed by your mother’s courtyard, I saw two people come hurrying out from inside.” Guo Yanrong’s face took on a startled, shaken expression as she recalled the scene. “Those two people were absolutely not servants from your mother’s courtyard. What were they doing in your mother’s courtyard in the dead of night?”
“Did you recognize them?” Yan Qing’s brow furrowed.
“I did.” Guo Yanrong nodded. “They were both long-serving members of Madam’s household — people Madam had brought into the Yan Family when she first married in. I felt something wasn’t right, so I quietly followed them. When they turned into a side path, I hid behind a decorative rock. I heard one of them say: ‘Did you take care of it properly?’ The other answered: ‘Don’t worry — it’s completely taken care of.’ After that, the two of them exchanged a glance and quickly disappeared into the darkness. Afraid they would discover me, I stayed hidden behind the rock for over ten minutes before I dared come out.”
Guo Yanrong sighed at this point. “I didn’t think too much of it at the time. It wasn’t until the next day, when I heard that your mother had hanged herself, that I was gripped by fear. What I began to wonder was: could those two people and what they said about having ‘taken care of it’ — could they have been…”
Guo Yanrong didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, she looked at Yan Qing with eyes seeking recognition and agreement.
“Sixth Miss has been following Chief Shi in solving cases and understands these matters far better than I do. So I have simply told you what I saw and heard that night. As for whether they had anything to do with Third Concubine’s death, I dare not presume to draw conclusions.”
Yan Qing had not expected that there would be this kind of twist surrounding Wen Wan’s death — and that it would involve Madam Yan.
“Why are you only telling me this now?” Yan Qing’s eyes narrowed slightly, as though two beams of light were piercing straight into Guo Yanrong’s eyes — a gaze so piercing and brilliant it was impossible to evade.
Guo Yanrong averted her gaze slightly, her voice lowering. “I won’t hide it from Sixth Miss — I know everything about the conversation between Madam and you today. Madam wants to drive us out of the Yan Family. She is determined to give us no path to survive. Yan Ling has not yet married. Your second and third brothers have not yet taken wives either. If we were driven out of the Yan Family at a time like this, what would become of us? We’d rely on those few businesses with their dwindling trade — every day spending more than we earn, and before long we’d have to start selling off the shops and the jewelry.”
Guo Yanrong said this and covered her face, beginning to weep. “I am telling Sixth Miss all of this only because I want to ask Sixth Miss to give us a way to live.”
“This family has never been mine to control,” Yan Qing said.
“Sixth Miss, the Master listens to you most of all. As long as Sixth Miss says a word on our behalf, we won’t be driven out.”
“Does Second Concubine also believe that Father will certainly die?”
“Ah — with that illness, how could he survive? Sooner or later this family is going to fall apart.”
“Just as Second Concubine says, you only witnessed two of Madam’s accompanying servants appearing in my mother’s courtyard. As for whether they did anything, you did not see it with your own eyes.” Yan Qing spoke in an even tone. “Everything requires evidence. Based on Second Concubine’s word alone, I have no way of determining whether my mother’s death had anything to do with Madam.”
“I, I…” Guo Yanrong had not expected Yan Qing to react this way. She had assumed Yan Qing would believe her without question and turn to stand on the same side as her against Madam Yan. “Their appearing in Third Concubine’s courtyard in the middle of the night could not have been for anything good. What’s more, Third Concubine was so favored back then — Madam must have had her eye on her long before. I believe Madam had reason to harm Third Concubine.”
Guo Yanrong’s agitated outburst met Yan Qing’s utterly composed response — like a fist striking cotton. She had put in a great deal of effort, but Yan Qing remained completely unmoved.
Guo Yanrong assumed that because Yan Qing had no emotional connection to Third Concubine, she was indifferent to what had happened to Wen Wan. So she continued: “Sixth Miss, there is one more matter I feel I must tell you.”
Yan Qing said nothing — she only sat there quietly, holding her teacup.
If she was not mistaken, what Guo Yanrong was about to say concerned the leg ailment she had suffered in her earlier years.
Guo Yanrong steeled herself and said in a low voice, “Not long after Third Concubine died, Miss fell gravely ill. When you recovered, you were left with a disability. For over ten years, Miss was confined to a wheelchair — unable to enjoy the freedom of walking and running, unable to play happily like other children. And not only that, but also subjected to contempt and ridicule from your brothers and sisters. Sixth Miss, what kind of life have you lived all these years? I have always watched it with my own eyes and felt the pain in my heart.”
Yan Qing reflected inwardly that Guo Yanrong had always been skilled at reading the wind. Back when she had her disability, she was nonetheless cherished and cosseted by Master Yan. Guo Yanrong herself was also a concubine with a low standing in the Yan Mansion — so she had not dared bully her openly. But her two sons and her daughter had certainly not held back from tripping her up behind the scenes.
She remembered clearly a fragment of the original body’s memories: her second and third brothers had pushed her into an almost abandoned courtyard, dragged her off her wheelchair, taken the chair away, and locked the gate. The original owner of this body was timid, and at the time had been frightened into crying uncontrollably. But unable to walk, she could only crawl toward the exit with her hands — only to find the gate locked, leaving her unable to get out. It wasn’t until nightfall, when Master Yan had people search nearly every corner of the Yan Mansion, that she was finally found in the deserted courtyard. Master Yan had asked her who had done it, but she hadn’t dared name her second and third brothers — afraid of being subjected to even worse retaliation. She had swallowed every ounce of bitterness in silence.
It was also because of the abuse she had suffered in childhood that her personality had grown increasingly introverted and timid.
Guo Yanrong could not have been unaware of what her sons had done. Had she even once rebuked them sternly or tried to stop them, they would not have been allowed to go on bullying her again and again.
The things of the past belonged to the original owner of this body, yet they had long since merged with her own being — so certain grievances and resentments were not forgotten, felt as keenly as if they were her own.
Seeing that Yan Qing’s expression seemed to soften slightly, Guo Yanrong pressed on while the moment was ripe. “A while ago I happened to overhear a conversation between Madam and Fifth Miss. Fifth Miss said: ‘To think that Sixth Miss could have come to this, had I known back then, I should have given her a stronger dose of poison when I had the chance and killed Sixth Miss outright.'”
Yan Qing’s brow furrowed as she waited for what Guo Yanrong would say next.
Guo Yanrong continued: “I knew I had heard something momentous. I was about to leave, but I still crept down under the window to listen to what they were saying. It turned out that the illness Sixth Miss fell gravely ill with back then was caused by Madam bribing a physician to put something in Miss’s medicine. With long-term ingestion, it would cause many serious complications — including the leg ailment Sixth Miss suffered at the time. Madam’s intention was to turn Miss into a simpleton. Once the Master faced a simpleton, he would eventually lose patience and give up on her — and even if Miss grew up, she would have nothing to compete with anyone for. Then everything in the Yan Family would still belong to Madam.”
Yan Qing was not without her suspicions that her earlier illness had been deliberately caused. But hearing it spoken aloud by Guo Yanrong, she still felt a wave of shock.
She had spent many years as a forensic examiner and had witnessed the full spectrum of human nature — good and evil alike. But in the depths of these grand and secluded residences, it was truly a pageant of every shade of human character.
The great households ran deep with intrigue — ruthless struggles for power and position without scruple, capable of every form of framing and false accusation for the sake of personal gain, even arson and murder.
Had she not come into this body, the original owner would likely have been dead hundreds of times over.
“Sixth Miss, every word I have said is true. If even one word is false, may heaven strike me down with thunder and lightning.”
“So even if I believe you, then what? Can I go and convict Madam on the strength of your word alone? Second Concubine, I understand that you want to protect your branch of the family — but please also trust Father. Father will not stand by and let his own sons and daughters drift without shelter. When the time comes, he will naturally make his arrangements. Second Concubine, Father is only ill right now — he has not truly passed. Madam has not yet the power to control everything on her own.”
“Sixth Miss, I only want to ask you to give us a way to live. I’m not asking for great wealth and glory — only that your two brothers can take wives, and your fourth sister can be properly married off.”
“Second Concubine, Father will make these decisions for you. All I can do is care for Father properly and help him overcome this illness.”
“Sixth Miss…”
“Second Concubine, I understand that you want a clear and definitive answer from me — that you want me to go and plead with Father on your behalf. But I will tell you plainly: Father has his own arrangements. Do you understand?”
Guo Yanrong was still somewhat reluctant to accept this, but she knew that once Yan Qing had spoken such words, there was little room left for negotiation.
After Guo Yanrong left, Murong cleared the teacups and refreshments from the table.
“Miss, Second Concubine looked quite dissatisfied. She told you all those old stories today simply to draw you into forming a united front with her against Madam.”
“I made my meaning clear enough to her. Father will have his own arrangements — it’s not a matter where a few words from me can guarantee their branch wealth and glory. They are all children of the Yan Family; Father won’t stand by and let his sons and grandchildren drift without shelter and come to a bad end. That said, I do understand her concerns. All these years she has been suppressed by Madam, and her children have had no standing in the Yan Family. Her worries are not unfounded.”
“Hopefully Second Concubine can understand Miss’s good intentions.”
“She may not understand. She will likely think my words are nothing but a brush-off.” Yan Qing shook her head. “Let it be — she can think whatever she likes.”
With Master Yan’s illness weighing on her mind, Yan Qing had no energy to spare for anyone else. Right now, the most important thing was curing Master Yan — nothing else came close.
She was no saint, and had no obligation to arrange things for everyone. She only wanted the people she loved to be safe, healthy, and to live long lives.
The next day, Master Yan’s color had improved a little more than the day before. At lunchtime, he drank a little over half a bowl of congee.
When the Yan Family’s accountants came to report on the accounts, Yan Qing stepped out to the courtyard for some air.
“Sixth Miss.” A young maidservant came quickly to Yan Qing’s side. “Sixth Miss, Madam is asking you to come over for a moment.”