Cao Lihuan’s eyes abruptly widened, a gurgling sound rising in her throat. With all her strength, she flung out a hand, knocking the bowl from Siqiao’s grasp. It shattered on the floor with a sharp crack. “You… you… you…” she snarled, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier!”
Siqiao remained smiling, her expression unchanged. “I was afraid you’d be angry, Taitai. But now that Sister Hui’er is with child, such happy news naturally must be shared with you.”
Ignoring Siqiao’s sarcastic tone, Cao Lihuan struggled to sit up, her head spinning and vision blurry. After a long moment to recover, she ordered, “Go summon that little slut Hui’er to see me!” When Siqiao remained standing motionless, she snapped, “Hurry up and go!”
Siqiao gave a cold laugh and left.
Cao Lihuan leaned her head against the bedpost, resting for a long while as she gasped for breath. Before long, Hui’er arrived. The moment she stepped inside, the stench of medicine mixed with a foul, sour odor assaulted her senses. Covering her nose and mouth with her hand, Hui’er nearly retched. Siqiao hurried forward to support her, her face wreathed in an ingratiating smile. “Oh dear, Sister Hui’er, you’re such a precious person now. Are you feeling unwell? Sit down, sit down! Let me pour you a cup of hot tea to settle your stomach.”
Hui’er waved a handkerchief in front of her nose. “No need, no need. Go to my room and brew a cup using this year’s new tea leaves. And bring a plate of those fruit-filled golden cakes with pepper and salt too.”
“Of course, right away,” Siqiao replied cheerfully, lifting the curtain as she departed.
Hui’er sat down near the door, keeping her distance. Lifting her gaze, she saw Cao Lihuan slumped against the headboard, glaring at her with venomous eyes—red-rimmed, sunken cheeks, sallow complexion, and sharply protruding collarbones. Her hair was disheveled, giving her the appearance of a female ghost. Startled, Hui’er composed herself, then crossed her legs and asked, “What did you summon me for, Taitai?”
Cao Lihuan scrutinized Hui’er from head to toe. Her round, moon-like face had grown fuller, and her already plump figure had become even more ample. Her jet-black hair was adorned with Yellow Frost hair ornaments: a Silver Thread Eight Treasures Hair Bun, Pearl and Jade Flower Ornament, Agate Gold Hairpin, and Purple Fading Gold Earrings dangling from her ears. A beautiful jade pendant hung at her chest, and each wrist bore two bracelets. She wore a Lilac Colored Five-Colored Woven Gauze Vest, revealing sleeves of moon-white cloud pattern, beneath which was an Emerald Orchid Scattered Gold Skirt. Her face was delicately made up with Palace Powder Rouge, brightening her slightly yellowish complexion to a radiant snow-white—she now carried herself like a dignified lady of a respectable household!
Clenching her teeth, Cao Lihuan hissed, “Hui’er, I’ve treated you like my own sister. Whether it was food, drink, or clothing, I always made sure you had your share. You ungrateful, shameless slut—how could you seduce the master behind my back and treat me like this!”
Hui’er snorted coldly. “Treated me like your own sister? Don’t flatter yourself with such high-sounding nonsense! I used to be foolish, thinking you were genuinely kind to me. But upon reflection, everything you ever gave me was just what you didn’t want or care for—hand-me-downs to feign generosity. When did you ever give me something you truly cherished? If I occasionally acquired something nice, you’d still find a way to coax it away from me, all while claiming it was for my own good!”
“Perhaps I’ve wronged you in some ways,” Cao Lihuan retorted furiously, “but you seduced the master, abandoning your mistress to suffer alone! Do you have no conscience at all?”Hui'er stood up, took a few steps forward, pointed at Cao Lihuan's nose, and declared loudly, "I have no conscience? Cao Lihuan, feel your own conscience! I served you after all, if not with merit then with toil. I'm almost twenty years old, and my family finally found me a match—not a top-tier family, but a farming household with some property. I came to beg your favor, but you obstructed and evaded, secretly went behind our backs to the man's family to reject the marriage, got me drunk, and offered me to that old wretch Han Yaozu to defile! Just to win over that old thing and profit from it. Cao Lihuan, I hate you to the bone, day and night I long to chew your flesh to vent my hatred!"
Cao Lihuan was startled and argued forcefully, "I did it for your own good. Back then, Han Yaozu told me he wanted to take you as his concubine. Han Yaozu is a respectable county magistrate—being his concubine is a hundred times better than being a farmer's wife..."
Hui'er shrieked, "Bullshit! That ogress in his household is hardly easy to deal with. If Han Yaozu is so wonderful, why don't you go be his concubine? That decrepit old man—just the sight of him makes me sick!" Hui'er screamed twice, stepped back, her chest heaving rapidly, and the two of them glared at each other like tigers watching their prey.
At that moment, Siqiao brought in tea and pastries, then quietly withdrew.
Hui'er rubbed her chest, composed herself, took two steps back, and sat down again. She picked up the tea bowl and took a sip. Then she looked back at Cao Lihuan, a smile spreading across her face, and said, "Cao Lihuan, you truly don't know when you're well-off. Even if Ren Yu is incompetent and pathetic, he has one good quality: he's honest and family-oriented, and deeply sentimental. Even though you cuckolded him shamelessly and turned into this ghostly state, he still cares for you, thinking of ways to find doctors to cure your illness. But now, your husband is mine."
Cao Lihuan shook her head and screamed, "Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!"
As if she hadn't heard, Hui'er continued while picking up a pastry and taking a bite, her face wearing a smug and boastful smile: "He dotes on me day and night. Whatever I want to eat, I just have to say the word, and he'll slip on his shoes and buy it for me right away. He even massages my shoulders and legs to serve me, and at night he's quite vigorous..." She covered her mouth with a handkerchief and giggled, "...a hundred times better than Han Yaozu, that old goods who can't plow the land. I really don't know what you saw in that old thing." She walked up to Cao Lihuan, bent down slightly, and whispered with a smile, "You don't have many days left anyway. Your husband has already said that if you die and I bear him a child, he'll make me his proper wife. Cao Lihuan, I really must thank you properly. All the family wealth you schemed and toiled to build will be enjoyed by my descendants." Having said this, she straightened up, hummed a little tune, and left.
Cao Lihuan was so enraged that Hui'er's words felt a hundred times more vicious than having her heart cut out. She immediately spat out two mouthfuls of blood, her vision went dark, and she fainted. During the night, she woke once in a daze, screaming for a long time with no one answering. Struggling to get up, she reached for the tea on the small table by the bed, her trembling hand stretching forward for what seemed like an eternity before her head tilted, her eyes fixed in a stare, and she departed for the netherworld.Early the next morning, Siqiao came to tidy up and discovered Cao Lihuan had already passed away. In a panic, she reported this to Ren Yu. Ren Yu couldn't help but weep bitterly over the corpse, wanting to arrange a proper funeral. However, Hui'er stopped him, saying, "In recent days, we've spent most of our family savings on her medical treatment. I'll be giving birth in a few months, and your sister is about to marry. We should save some silver. There's no need for an elaborate funeral—just pick an auspicious day, select a burial spot, and bury her."
Though Ren Yu agreed verbally, he still felt it was improper. Secretly, he took some silver and bought a dignified coffin for the burial. With the sound of funeral music, he selected a spot and laid her to rest.
Meanwhile, in the Inner Chambers of the Han residence, Madam Jiang sat upright in an armchair. Kneeling before her was a thin, plain-looking woman with a respectful, bowed head. Madam Jiang stirred the tea leaves in her covered cup, a smile playing on her lips as she said, "Siqiao, you've done well. This has finally relieved the hatred in my heart, and I will naturally reward you handsomely."
Siqiao kowtowed and replied, "I seek no reward, only that Taitai redeem me from the Ren family, allowing me to live peacefully as a commoner in the future."
Madam Jiang glanced at the maid beside her, who then took out a document and handed it to Siqiao, saying, "Taitai already spoke with the Ren family yesterday. This is your Manumission Record—keep it safe."
Overjoyed, Siqiao kowtowed repeatedly in gratitude, declaring, "I will set off for Yangzhou immediately and never return."
Pleased, Madam Jiang rewarded Siqiao with ten taels of silver and a pair of silver bracelets.
Siqiao hurriedly accepted them, expressing endless thanks before leaving.
As she stepped out the back door of the Han residence, she let out a long sigh. She had harbored intense hatred for Cao Lihuan. It turned out that after Cao Lihuan's attendant servant boy Si Shun'er lost his wife, Cao Lihuan had forced Siqiao to marry him. Si Shun'er was addicted to drinking, gambling, and womanizing, and he beat his wife, tormenting her unbearably. Moreover, he had a lecherous and incurably ill son. Siqiao, being plain-looking, was treated like dirt by him. With a harsh and demanding mistress in front and a violent, abusive husband behind, she had contemplated suicide multiple times but forced herself to endure.
Back when Madam Jiang had beaten Cao Lihuan into a miscarriage, her trusted maid had come to bribe Siqiao, instructing her to secretly add certain ingredients to Cao Lihuan's medicine, turning the miscarriage into a fatal illness. Afterwards, they probed into how much wealth Cao Lihuan possessed. Siqiao naturally revealed everything, and working together from inside and out, they schemed to take all of Cao Lihuan's jewelry and clothing.
Now that Cao Lihuan was dead, Siqiao asked Madam Jiang to fulfill her promise by redeeming her from the Ren family and granting her Manumission Record to become a commoner. She hurried out of the alley, where a short, stout, dark-skinned man was anxiously looking around. Seeing her emerge, he quickly asked, "Is it done?"
Siqiao nodded, and the man smiled, taking her hand as he said, "Then let's hurry and take a boat to Yangzhou."
Siqiao looked at the man, a smile spreading across her face, and nodded, following him away. This man was a Sugar Painting artist who also made Dough Figurines. He used to roam the streets near where the Ren family lived and, seeing Siqiao being beaten and scolded, would often comfort her kindly. Gradually, they developed feelings for each other. Now that Siqiao had obtained the document, the two immediately set off together in elopement. Later, they settled in Yangzhou, making a living through small businesses—this goes without saying.Hui'er gave birth to a daughter after ten months of pregnancy, and Ren Yu officially made her his principal wife. Their life together was peaceful for a time. However, Hui'er had a wasteful nature, caring only about fine food, drink, and dressing up, with no knowledge of how to manage a household. Now as the lady of the house, she became even more indulgent, consuming delicacies and wearing silks without restraint. Ren Yu, being incompetent and submissive, offered no resistance. Neither was skilled in managing finances, and they squandered most of the assets that Cao Lihuan had painstakingly accumulated. Eventually, they had to sell the manor, relying only on rental income from remaining properties. The couple, feeling secure, grew increasingly idle and neglected productive work, reducing what was once a prosperous family to an ordinary urban household with modest means. Later, Ren Yu fell ill and died young in middle age. Hui'er remarried twice with her child, ultimately disappearing without a trace.
Thus concludes the subplot involving Cao Lihuan. Everyone, I'll be traveling from today until next Sunday, so updates might be irregular. My old laptop crashed, so I specially bought a new one to bring along, planning to write whenever I have free time! Daily updates aren't likely, but there should be some new content during this period. I've been working overtime lately and still coming home to update, often staying up until one or two in the morning—it's been quite exhausting. Let me take this chance to relax and rest a bit. Thank you all! Group mua! Thanks to Twilight Star and yu21yu21 for the Peace Talismans, and thank Daisy for the long review!
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