Bi Zhu could never have imagined that her every move had long been under someone’s watchful eye.

When she slipped silently to the grove near Lan Xiang Courtyard, a pair of eyes had already been trained on her in the shadows.

Bi Zhu waited in the grove, glancing about warily, until the sound of light footsteps approached. Then a woman dressed in blue cotton cloth darted into the grove.

That woman was exceedingly cautious — she first looked around in all directions, only entering the grove once she was certain there was no danger.

Seeing her, Bi Zhu said nothing, simply transferring a small box into the woman’s hands. The woman opened it, looked inside, gave Bi Zhu a nod, and the two parted without exchanging a single word.

The woman in blue moved swiftly to San Yitai Du Linghua’s Xuehua Courtyard. Because Du Linghua’s name contained the character for ‘flower,’ and because she had once been a celebrated courtesan, the Marshal had planted many flowering plants and shrubs around her courtyard. These plants had multiplied over time into a great garden, and every summer when the flowers bloomed in abundance, it was a sight of extraordinary beauty.

Connected to this garden was a bamboo grove. The woman in blue now slipped into the bamboo grove and waited briefly behind a massive decorative rockery before a middle-aged woman entered. The two exchanged the box without a single word spoken, just as before.

Having completed this sequence of actions, the woman in blue left the Shi Mansion through the back gate without difficulty, raised her hand, and a rickshaw drew to a stop.

“Miss, where to?” the rickshaw puller asked cheerfully.

“To the Meng Mansion.”

“Right away.” The puller took up the shafts and turned into a lane.

Before long, the woman gradually realized the route was wrong, and called out urgently: “Aren’t you going the wrong way? This isn’t the road to the Meng Mansion.”

The rickshaw puller gave a sly laugh, a glint of cunning flashing in his eyes: “Just sit easy, Miss — this road is absolutely right.”

The moment that woman in blue left the Mansion, word was immediately reported to the First Madam.

The First Madam was dressed in a water-blue cheongsam with a phoenix-collar neckline, a cup of tea in her hand, a maidservant kneading her shoulders from behind.

Listening to Yingtao’s report, the First Madam gently lifted the lid of her cup and blew away the steam: “Everything has been arranged properly?”

“Madam, rest easy — everything is in order, only waiting for it all to come to light.”

“Du Linghua has been insufferably spoiled for so many years. I thought once she lost her looks with age, the Marshal would stop favoring her — but who knew she’d be so resilient, getting pregnant at her age.” The First Madam took a sip of tea, and the coldness in her gaze could have frozen the hot liquid solid by comparison. “This time, she has only herself to blame. Had she lived quietly without so many schemes, I would still have let her pass her days decently after she fell out of favor. Now, neither she nor that unborn child can be kept.”

“San Yitai really has shown the Madam no respect all these years — in food, clothing, and living arrangements, nothing is inferior to the Madam’s.” Yingtao said indignantly. “In this Mansion, everyone except not calling her ‘Madam’ treats her as the true mistress of the house.”

“No hurry, no hurry.” The First Madam smiled. “She’ll soon be unable to cause any more trouble. And as for Luo Huaimeng and her whole brood of base creatures — once this business is settled, the inner chambers will finally be at peace. You go keep watch — don’t let anything go wrong now.”

“Madam, rest easy — we’ve been keeping watch all along.” After all their planning, they could not afford to fall short at this critical juncture.

That evening, Yingtao came again to the First Madam’s room.

“Madam, everything has been done. Zhao San’s wife watched with her own eyes as San Yitai drank the medicine, and she drank every last drop.”

“When will the gu poison take effect?”

“Tonight.”

An excited gleam lit the First Madam’s eyes; she was already growing impatient.

“Has the Marshal returned?”

“The Marshal came back long ago and had dinner at San Yitai’s. He is now in the study dealing with official affairs.”

“I see.” The First Madam smiled coldly. “As long as he’s back — the only worry was if he wasn’t.”

At eight o’clock in the evening, many of the lamps in the Shi Mansion had gone out, and the courtyards fell into stillness, broken only by the occasional calls of summer insects.

The path toward the study was a stone-paved lane lined on both sides with the wutong trees the Marshal loved most. Just then, someone carrying a lantern rushed along it at speed.

The Marshal was still poring over official documents. Outside, his aide knocked on the door, snapped a salute, and announced: “Marshal, a maidservant from San Yitai’s quarters reports that San Yitai has suddenly begun suffering abdominal pain.”

“What?” The Marshal leapt to his feet at once, and the aide quickly switched on a flashlight to light the way ahead.

San Yitai’s courtyard was ablaze with lanterns and in utter commotion.

When the Marshal arrived, San Yitai was propped up at the head of the bed, whimpering and moaning softly.

“Linghua, what has happened?” The Marshal rushed to her side, his heart aching as he took hold of Du Linghua. “Why has the pain come on so suddenly?”

When Du Linghua saw the Marshal, she burst into tears at once.

Nearby, Caixia said anxiously: “Marshal, our Yitai was perfectly fine at dinner, but suddenly began suffering abdominal pain just now. She nearly fainted from the pain at one point — if it continues to come and go like this, the child…”

“Has a physician been sent for?” The Marshal cut her off.

“Yes, yes — the physician is coming right away.”

In a moment, more people entered from outside.

“San Yitai, what has happened to her?” The First Madam came in with her maidservant Yingtao, a look of alarm on her face. “How could she suddenly be in such pain?”

“We don’t know, Madam — the physician hasn’t arrived yet.”

The First Madam stepped forward to look at Du Linghua and took her hand in comfort: “Don’t panic first — it might just be an upset stomach from eating something bad. Once the physician gives her medicine, she’ll be fine.”

Du Linghua buried her head in the Marshal’s arms and said nothing.

The Marshal held her close, as tense as could be.

The First Madam looked at the Marshal’s expression, and rage tore through her heart — from the day she had married him until now, he had never once looked at her with such a gaze. Not even once.

The First Madam understood that when the Marshal had married her, it had been nothing more than a political alliance — he had no feeling for her whatsoever. And the reason he was so exceptionally fond of Du Linghua had a history behind it.

It was said that when the old Master was building his fortune from nothing in his early years, he had received financial help from a dancing girl, and it was that money that had allowed the old Master to build his army ever stronger, eventually carving out dominion over Bei Di.

The old Master had often instructed his only son that no occupation is low or high — a dancing girl’s status might be humble and often looked down upon, but such women also have genuine warmth and feeling.

And so, in the Marshal’s eyes, Du Linghua’s status had never once been considered low.

When Yan Qing and Er Yitai arrived, the Marshal was still holding Du Linghua and speaking to her in a low, soothing voice — his expression one of heartfelt concern and anxiety.

“Er Yitai has arrived.” Cai Yue quickly lifted the curtain, and a physician entered from outside. Word had it this was Shun Cheng’s finest obstetrician, a physician of great renown locally.

Dr. Wang ran a private clinic in Shun Cheng and never made house calls, and had come in person only because of the Marshal’s Mansion’s standing.

The Marshal stepped aside to let Dr. Wang examine San Yitai.

Dr. Wang took her pulse for a long while, his brow tightly creased the entire time.

“Doctor, how is she?” The Marshal asked impatiently.

Dr. Wang said: “Based on the patient’s pulse, I find nothing irregular.”

“It hurts.” San Yitai, upon hearing this, suddenly began writhing on the bed again.

“Doctor, please look more carefully — why does she keep crying out in pain?” The Marshal grew anxious.

“Marshal, I am not mistaken in my diagnosis — the patient truly has nothing abnormal. At least, that is what the pulse tells me.” He paused for a moment. “At least from the pulse.”

Dr. Wang truly could not diagnose any illness, and had no choice but to produce a prescription: “This way — let me first prescribe a fetal-stabilizing medicine for the patient to take. If the abdominal pain does not cease, there is nothing for it but to go to the hospital.”

Dr. Wang wrote out the prescription, and the Marshal immediately sent someone to fill and decoct it.

Once the medicine was ready, the Marshal personally fed it to San Yitai. It was thought that once she took the medicine she would recover, but instead the pain only grew more severe.

Cai Yue wept at the bedside: “What is to be done — the physician says San Yitai has no illness, yet San Yitai remains in pain. Could she be… possessed?”

The First Madam glanced at the Marshal, and her attendant Yingtao, reading the signal, spoke up: “Since the physician cannot diagnose the illness, and San Yitai continues in abdominal pain, I happen to recall something.”

Seeing everyone’s eyes turn toward her, Yingtao continued: “I have heard old hands around the Mansion speak of it — there is said to be an extremely vicious form of witchcraft in this world. The one who casts it places the gu poison inside the body of the afflicted person, causing unbearable abdominal pain. Within seven days, the victim will die suddenly.”

“Nonsense.” The Marshal’s brow creased. “Where do you come up with such wild things?”

Yingtao immediately knelt down: “Marshal, please calm your anger — I only said it because San Yitai’s symptoms seemed somewhat similar, and I spoke up on a bold impulse.”

The First Madam, hearing this, quickly added: “Yingtao is only worried about San Yitai — she means no harm. Dr. Wang is the most renowned obstetrician in all of Shun Cheng, and he has already said that San Yitai’s pulse is normal. Even going to the hospital would yield the same result. Since there is nothing physically wrong, it is not a bad idea to consider other possibilities.”

In this era, many still placed great faith in the practice of foregoing needles and medicine when ill, and instead burning incense and praying to gods and Buddhas, or going directly to a temple for folk remedies. Some happened to recover, while others only grew worse until they finally breathed their last.

“Marshal.” San Yitai heard this and at once clutched his sleeve, her face stricken with terror. “What is that gu poison she speaks of — could it truly be… and if it is, whatever shall we do?”

San Yitai burst into tears again as she spoke.

The Marshal immediately soothed her: “Don’t worry — even if such a vicious thing exists, I will cure you. Don’t be afraid.”

The Marshal’s face was full of care and devotion, which was positively galling to the First Madam to witness.

Yan Qing could not help but glance at the Luo Huaimeng beside her — she too was the Marshal’s concubine, so could she truly be indifferent to all this?

Yet Luo Huaimeng’s expression was perfectly composed, seemingly oblivious to everything around her, merely turning the string of Buddhist prayer beads in her hand, head lowered in quiet equanimity.

It struck Yan Qing that Luo Huaimeng’s feelings for the Marshal had long since faded away. Perhaps in years past there had been love, but now only indifference remained. She remained in this household, enduring to the end — for no other reason than her son. Whatever thread of feeling had once bound her to the Marshal had long since broken clean.

“Marshal.” The Marshal turned toward Yingtao. “You still know more — say it all.”