The main gate rattled violently.

Tingyu’s face instantly turned deathly pale.

She trembled and said, “Madam, Eldest Young Master, please don’t open the door. I beg you to stall for time. I cannot be taken back.”

These past few days at the Hu household had been like living in hell, a fate worse than death.

If she had to stay at the Hu household any longer, she would die there sooner or later.

Moreover, as a concubine who had escaped, if caught after fleeing, the principal wife had the right to execute her.

She couldn’t die—Yun’er was still so young.

Xie Shi’an shook his head. “Concubine Yu, this is the path you chose yourself. No one can help you. You must face it.”

“Indeed,” Yuan Shi advised. “You’re already a concubine of the Hu household, so you shouldn’t have any connection with the Xie Family anymore. Our Xie Family is already in such a state now that we cannot afford to offend anyone. If the Hu household were to cause any trouble, the Xie Family would truly be finished. Concubine Yu, please take pity on us orphans and widows of the Xie Family.”

Tingyu dropped to her knees with a thud. “Madam, please take pity on me too. I was forced onto Minister Hu’s bed by Xie Shi’an. I never wanted to leave the Xie Family… Things have come to this point, and I don’t want to blame anyone or implicate the Xie Family. Let me take Yun’er with me. Yun’er and I will leave through the back door. The Hu household won’t know…”

Yuan Shi turned her head away and sighed.

They had taken the Hu household’s money but were now hiding someone from the Hu household. This was inexcusable…

Xie Shi’an walked directly toward the main gate.

Tingyu threw her arms around Xie Shi’an’s legs. “Eldest Young Master, I’ve given you all my silver. I’ve given you everything you wanted. Please have mercy on Yun’er and give us mother and son a way to survive, will you?”

Just as she was speaking, Xie Shiyun ran out.

He immediately bit down on Xie Shi’an’s waist. “Elder Brother, I hate you! Don’t bully my concubine mother!”

Xie Shi’an felt a sharp pain in his waist, and a murderous intent swirled in his eyes.

He shoved Xie Shiyun away. “This is a choice your concubine mother made herself. She must bear the consequences.”

He quickly walked over and opened the Xie Family’s main gate.

At the door stood four burly matrons and four servants, who all surged inside together before closing the main gate behind them.

Tingyu watched in terror as the main gate slowly closed. There was nowhere left to escape.

The eight people who entered stared at her, and she instinctively shielded her child behind her.

“Well, well, Concubine Yu, you actually dared to flee privately!” the lead matron said coldly. “The laws of this dynasty clearly state that slaves and lowly concubines who flee privately are like deserters on the battlefield and can be executed on the spot! Someone come!”

A properly contracted legitimate concubine could not have her life or death decided by the principal wife, but this kind of lowly concubine who had delivered herself to their door and had a slave contract—beating or killing her was no serious matter at all.

Yuan Shi got a terrible fright. She had thought the Hu household was only coming to take the person back, never imagining they would actually execute a living person!

She hurriedly said, “You’ve misunderstood. Concubine Yu just came back to see her child. She wasn’t fleeing privately…”

“Child?” The matron laughed. “She has a child but still climbed into our master’s bed—what a shameless woman! Our mistress took pity on you and let you become a concubine, yet you still thought about your previous child and fled privately. A lowly woman like you living is simply a disgrace! You’ve disgraced the Xie Family, and now you’ve disgraced our Hu household too. Better to beat you to death for some peace and quiet!”

As the matron’s words fell, she clapped her hands lightly.

The four servants stepped forward and surrounded Tingyu and Xie Shiyun.

Xie Shiyun quickly stood in front of his birth mother, shouting loudly, “You’re not allowed to touch my concubine mother! I’ll report this to the authorities! I’ll go find my mother! My mother is the eldest daughter of the Yun Family, and she’ll take revenge on you!”

The matron’s smile deepened. “Your Xie Family drove away the eldest daughter of the Yun Family, yet you still want the Yun Family to stand up for you? Is that possible? Enough nonsense. Do it!”

Fists and feet fell like rain. Tingyu cried out in piercing screams of pain.

She felt Xie Shiyun shielding her from the front and quickly pushed her son away. “Yun’er, go to the back courtyard, return to your room, don’t stay here, hurry… Ah, it hurts… Please spare me, it hurts so much…”

Yuan Shi pulled Xie Shiyun into her arms. “Yun’er, be good, listen, go to the back courtyard!”

“Grandmother, I beg you to save my concubine mother! My concubine mother is being beaten to death!” Xie Shiyun wailed and cried. Seeing that Yuan Shi only sighed, he quickly went to find Xie Shi’an. “Elder Brother, Elder Brother! I’m begging you, hurry, save my concubine mother. From now on, whatever you tell me to do, I’ll do it. I’ll listen to Elder Brother. I beg you, Elder Brother!”

Xie Shi’an remained unmoved, just standing there.

Yuan Shi covered Xie Shiyun’s eyes, her hands covered in tears.

At this moment, Concubine Jiang rushed out from the back courtyard, holding a hundred taels of silver in banknotes, pleading, “The silver that was originally used to purchase Concubine Yu—I’ll return it to you. Please spare her life, I beg you!”

She and Concubine Yu had become Xie Jingyu’s concubines at the same time, so the two shared some bond. She really couldn’t bear to watch Tingyu die like this.

Who would have thought the matron would spit. “Can a hundred taels of silver restore our Hu household’s reputation? Today, this lowly woman must die!”

Only after she died would outsiders not know that their master had actually taken another household’s concubine as his own concubine. If such an absurd matter got out, the Hu household would not only be laughed to death by others but would also face impeachment from the Censorate.

The matron’s eyes turned vicious.

The servants struck even harder. Tingyu’s agonized screams gradually grew weaker.

Xie Shiyun had already cried himself silent.

Tingyu opened her eyes wide, looking in her son’s direction, silently calling out, “Yun’er, Yun’er…”

She regretted it—regretted scheming with Xie Shi’an to climb into Minister Hu’s bed… She should have taken Yun’er and left the Xie Family early on, found a place where no one knew them, and lived a simple life under assumed names. Why had she embarked on this path for the sake of those eighty thousand taels of debt…

Yun’er was only just over four years old. Without her protection as his birth mother, how would he get through the days ahead?

“Concubine Mother, Concubine Mother…”

Xie Shiyun broke free from Yuan Shi’s embrace and threw himself onto Tingyu, but was pulled away again.

A servant kicked hard, striking Tingyu’s head.

“Pff!”

Tingyu spat out a mouthful of blood.

Her entire body instantly lost consciousness, unable to move on the ground, though blood continued to flow from the corners of her mouth.

Xie Shiyun was so frightened he cried until he fainted.

The matron pulled Tingyu’s slave contract from her sleeve, tore it into fragments, and threw them onto Tingyu’s body. “Such a trivial matter—your Xie Family had better not speak of it outside. Hurry up and find a place to bury her. What a disgrace!”

The matron dusted off her hands, and together with the group that had come with her, opened the door and left directly.

“Quick, quick, quick, she’s not dead yet.” Concubine Jiang crouched down, trying to help the person up. “Madam, quickly fetch a physician. She can still be saved.”

Yuan Shi covered her mouth and burst into tears. “She keeps vomiting blood. Her insides are injured. She can’t be saved…”

Besides, if they saved her, wouldn’t that offend the Hu household? The loss would outweigh the gain…

Concubine Jiang pressed her lips tightly together.

Tingyu clearly still had breath, hadn’t died yet, but the Xie Family was already giving up on her.

Could it be that next time, it would be her turn…

She was about to speak when a shadow fell before her—Xie Shi’an standing in front of her. “Concubine Jiang, where did you get this hundred taels of silver?”