Fu Tingyun’s expression was very calm, but Yu Wei, who knew her well, could sense the raging fire in her heart.
Was it because of what she and Zhe Liu had suffered?
Yu Wei’s heart was filled with mixed emotions.
“Young lady, I, I’m fine now!” she said hurriedly, stuttering a bit from nervousness, “Someone like me isn’t worth your grief.” As she spoke, her eyes reddened again.
Fu Tingyun opened her eyes.
Her jet-black pupils glistened with moisture, making them appear even darker and clearer.
“Then what happened?” she asked in a deep voice, somewhat hoarse.
Yu Wei lowered her eyelids: “Then, Jian Cao fell ill… Li Mama said they couldn’t have more deaths, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to explain…”
Of those who served in her quarters, aside from Yu Wei and Jian Cao, who had been purchased from outside, the parents of Yi Tong and the others were hereditary servants of the Fu family for generations, and they all had some marriage relations between them. If anything happened, everyone would know. If her maids contracted a terrible disease and one or two died, that could be explained away, but if too many died, and all were people from her quarters, coupled with her own “death from illness,” certainly some parents and brothers of the maids would become suspicious and investigate the deaths of their daughters and sisters. If they discovered any traces of evidence, the Fu family might acquire a reputation for abusing female servants, and the accumulated good name of several generations of the Fu family would be tarnished. This was what the Fu family most wished to avoid.
“They called a doctor to examine Jian Cao, separated by a curtain, with a handkerchief placed on her hand, only saying she had suddenly developed a fever. The doctor prescribed remedies to dispel wind and reduce heat, but Jian Cao not only didn’t improve after taking them but quickly…” Yu Wei murmured, “Coincidentally, someone at the estate caught a cold, and Li Mama said they had been infected by us. This rumor spread, becoming worse and more sinister. I was terrified in my heart… What if… we all died, and no one would investigate… One evening, somehow, Sister Yi Tong suddenly sneaked into my room and said, ‘They have nothing to lose now, the young lady is in danger, whoever has a chance must find a way to escape and inform the young lady,’ then she ran off as quietly as she had come. Thinking of Sister Yi Tong’s words, when no one gave me water, I drank my urine; when no one gave me food, I ate cockroaches… In a daze, I heard someone say that Xue Rong from our room, who hadn’t yet had her hair styled, had also died… But I didn’t even have the strength to lift my hand, thinking in my heart that I was finished, only hoping that Sister Yi Tong could escape, only hoping that the young lady could do justice for us, clear our names… Outside, there were cries and wails everywhere. A group of people rushed into the woodshed where I was staying, torches flickered before my eyes, I wanted to speak, to beg them to save me, but someone said: This woman has contracted the epidemic, quickly throw her out… When I regained consciousness, I was surrounded by dead bodies, an old man was rummaging through the belongings of the dead, I called out for help, he was so frightened he ran away, but after a while, he came back, dragged me out of the pile of corpses, and even fed me some water. I was extremely grateful,” she said, but her expression became somewhat blank, “That old man placed me in a large pile of things stripped from the dead bodies, pushed me in a wheelbarrow, stopping and starting, occasionally feeding me water and food. As I gradually recovered, he stopped giving me food, his eyes occasionally lingering on me with a gaze full of greed, like looking at the silver pieces he took out to polish twice daily. This look, I had seen in my father’s eyes too… So I pretended to be dead, and he began to feed me water and food again, once even muttering something like ‘if I can’t sell her for ten taels of silver, it would be a loss’… So I pretended to be sometimes confused, sometimes clear-headed, he continued to feed me, and I gradually became able to crawl… One day, when he was giving me water, I suddenly bit his neck…”
She lowered her head.
Fu Tingyun slowly sat down on the grand chair.
In the room, only the crackling sound of burning charcoal could be heard.
“Afterward, I hid his valuables, along with some water and food, in my bosom, and hid by the post road for five or six days before meeting a kind family who were fleeing from disaster. Only then did I learn that I was in Mengjia Town, not far from the estate. I found my way back to the country estate.”
“The estate was empty, the furnishings inside were either smashed or gone, and even the beds and incense tables that were difficult to move had been destroyed. I remembered there was a granary on the estate and managed to open it. There was no grain inside anymore, but there were some wheat grains scattered on the ground. I spent seven or eight days picking up those grains one by one, enough to fill a bowl. Relying on that bowl of wheat grains and the old elm tree in the courtyard, I survived.”
Perhaps recalling those difficult days, she covered her face and began to sob quietly.
Fu Tingyun turned her face away, her eyes moist.
With Zhao Ling’s protection, she had barely escaped death; how much worse must it have been for Yu Wei?
Thinking of this, she felt a warmth in her heart.
Zhao Ling…
Silently pronouncing his name in her heart, the accumulated resentment seemed to become less heavy.
“When the wind felt a bit cold on my skin, there was a heavy rain.” after a while, Yu Wei wiped the corners of her eyes and said softly, “Someone returned to the estate. I knew I couldn’t stay there anymore, so I secretly returned to Huayin City. But when I inquired in the city, everyone said the young lady had already ‘died of illness’ in the summer, and the Madam had also fallen ill due to grief over her daughter and had been taken to the official post by the Master.”
As she spoke, her expression became agitated, “I knew there was something strange about this, but at that time, everyone was discussing the disaster. When I inquired further, there were rumors like ‘Fu family’s Ninth Miss didn’t die, but eloped with Zuo Junjie,’ ‘Fu family’s Miss didn’t die of illness, but was abducted by refugees, so the Fu family had to say the Ninth Miss died of illness’…”
Fu Tingyun was very surprised.
How could such rumors have spread?
The talk of eloping with Zuo Junjie at least had some basis, but being abducted by refugees, where did that come from?
She frowned slightly, hearing Yu Wei say: “I couldn’t find out more than that. I wanted to find someone from the Fu family to ask, but all the people from our quarters had gone to the capital with the Madam, and I wasn’t familiar with the stewards who remained. Fearing discovery, I could only linger near the Fu household, and eventually met my wet nurse’s sworn sister, Auntie Mi.” As she spoke, her face showed gratitude: “Auntie Mi secretly took me to a quiet place in the back alley, gave me one tael of silver, and told me to quickly leave Huayin. She also said that the people around the young lady had either died of illness or had been married off to distant places. Only Yi Tong, because she was already engaged, and her fiancé didn’t mind that she had contracted the epidemic, her father had begged the First Master for a favor, allowing her to marry.”
“When I heard that Sister Yi Tong was still alive, it was like grasping a lifeline. I hurriedly asked Auntie Mi where Sister Yi Tong had married.”
“Auntie Mi said Sister Yi Tong had married into the Huo family in Chengxi Village, not far from here. She also told me not to go find her, as Sister Yi Tong was already married, and her parents, brothers, and sisters all served in the Fu household. If I went to find her, it would harm her. She urged me to quickly leave Huayin County and never return.”
Indeed, no matter how much Yi Tong cared for her, she couldn’t disregard her parents who had given birth to and raised her, and her siblings who were like her own limbs.
Fu Tingyun’s eyes darkened slightly.
“But I had nowhere to go at that time and couldn’t give up, so I went to Chengxi Village,” Yu Wei said, “Sister Yi Tong was already pregnant. When she saw me, she wept with joy. In front of Brother-in-law Huo, she only said I was a distant relative who had fled the famine to this place and had come specially to see her after hearing she was married. Brother-in-law Huo was honest and kind-hearted, he specially went to the market to buy a catty of pork belly to entertain me, and even vacated the kang bed for Sister Yi Tong and me to talk…” As she spoke, her expression became uncertain, “Sister Yi Tong told me that the Fu family had set up an empty tomb for the young lady. In reality, Biyun Temple had been looted by refugees, and all the people the First Madam sent to serve the young lady had died.”
“What did you say?” Fu Tingyun could no longer remain calm and exclaimed in shock, “All the people the First Madam sent to serve me died?”
She immediately thought of Zhao Ling.
After she regained consciousness, she had asked him what had happened to Han Yan and Lu’E. The fleeting, strange look in his eyes and his vague answer… made her heart palpitate.
Could there be some inside story to this?
Fu Tingyun’s heart was suddenly in turmoil, and she asked rapid-fire questions: “How did Yi Tong know? What else did she say? If all the people the First Madam sent to serve me died, what about the two nuns, Guo Hui and Guo Zhi, from Biyun Temple? Did they also die?”
Yu Wei shook her head: “Sister Yi Tong said it was the two nuns, Guo Hui and Guo Zhi, who came to the Fu family to report the death. When they came, it was Yi Tong’s elder brother’s sister-in-law’s mother-in-law who went to inform the First Madam. The little maid serving by the First Madam’s side at that time was Dao Xiang, the younger aunt of Yi Tong’s cousin. As soon as the two nuns entered, they asked the First Madam to dismiss those serving around her. Then, in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the First Madam, panicked and distressed, went with the two nuns to the Madam Dowager’s place. Soon after, the First Master also came. All the servants retreated to the middle of the courtyard, but they could still hear the Madam Dowager’s scolding and the First Madam’s crying. And when the First Master came out of the Madam Dowager’s room, he was dripping with sweat, with dust on his knees from kneeling… That very night, Dao Xiang heard the news from the First Madam that you had ‘died of illness.’
“Dao Xiang, fearing that Sister Yi Tong would be implicated, had someone send a message to her sister-in-law that night. Yi Tong’s cousin then rushed to Yi Tong’s parents’ house that same night. Yi Tong’s parents hurriedly called back Yi Tong’s two brothers, wanting to bring Yi Tong back home from the country estate to recover from her illness. But the more they discussed, the more they felt this matter was not simple. At daybreak, Yi Tong’s two brothers sought information from various sources. First, the news spread that you had ‘died of illness’ at Biyun Temple, then came the news that Biyun Temple had been looted by refugees and Chen Mama and others had been killed by the refugees. But Dao Xiang and the mother-in-law of Yi Tong’s elder brother’s sister-in-law both clearly remembered that the nuns Guo Hui and Guo Zhi had only visited once. How could the news from Biyun Temple spread one after another about your death from illness and the looting of Biyun Temple by refugees?”
Fu Tingyun’s face turned deathly pale, feeling as if all the strength had been drained from her body, leaving her completely limp.
Was it Zhao Ling who killed them?
Chen Mama had poisoned her, so it was understandable if he accidentally killed Chen Mama, but what about Han Yan and Lu’E? How had they also died?