Cao Lihuan’s eyes flew wide open. A gurgling sound came from her throat. With all her might, she flung out a hand and knocked the bowl from Siqiao’s hands. It fell to the floor with a crash and shattered. “You… you… you…” she cried angrily. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
Siqiao continued to smile. “I was afraid you’d be angry, Madam. But now that Sister Huier is with child, such happy news must be shared with you.”
Ignoring Siqiao’s sarcastic tone, Cao Lihuan struggled to sit up. Her head spun and her vision blurred. It took her a long moment to recover. “Go and summon that little slut Huier to see me!” she ordered. When Siqiao remained standing there, she snapped, “Hurry up and go!”
Siqiao gave a cold laugh and left.
Cao Lihuan leaned her head against the bedpost to rest, panting heavily. Before long, Huier arrived. The moment she stepped inside, she was hit by the smell of medicine, mixed with a foul, sour stench. Huier quickly covered her nose and mouth, gagging. Siqiao hurried forward to support her, her face wreathed in an ingratiating smile. “Oh dear, Sister Huier, you’re such a precious person now. Are you feeling unwell? Sit down, sit down. I’ll pour you a cup of hot tea to settle your stomach.”
Huier waved a handkerchief in front of her nose. “No need, no need. Go to my room and brew a cup of this year’s new tea. And bring a plate of the fruit-filled golden cakes with pepper and salt as well.”
Siqiao smiled. “Of course, right away.” She lifted the curtain and left.
Huier sat down by the door, keeping her distance. She looked up and saw Cao Lihuan slumped against the headboard, glaring at her viciously. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face sallow, her cheeks sunken, making her collarbones jut out sharply. Her hair was disheveled, giving her the appearance of a female ghost. Huier was startled but quickly composed herself. Crossing her legs, she asked, “What did you call me here for, Madam?”
Cao Lihuan looked Huier up and down. Her round, moon-like face had grown even fuller, and her already plump body had become heavier. Her jet-black hair was adorned with golden hairpins and ornaments—a silver-thread eight-treasure chignon, pearl and jade hairpins, agate and gold hairpins. From her ears dangled purple gold earrings, and a beautiful jade pendant hung from her neck. On each wrist, she wore two bracelets. She was dressed in a lilac-colored jacket embroidered with multicolored patterns, with sleeves of moon-white silk showing beneath. Below, she wore a skirt of turquoise blue embroidered with golden threads. Her face was powdered with palace rouge, making her slightly sallow complexion appear bright and snow-white. She looked every bit the dignified lady of a respectable household!
Cao Lihuan gritted her teeth. “Huier, I’ve always treated you like a 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 and betray me like this?”
Huier sneered. “Treated me like a sister? Don’t flatter yourself with such high-sounding words! I used to be foolish, thinking you were kind to me. But when I think about it carefully, everything you ever gave me was something you didn’t want or like, just to make yourself look good. When did you ever give me something you truly cherished? If I happened to get something nice, you’d always find a way to coax it out of me, claiming it was for my own good!”
Cao Lihuan fumed. “Even if I’ve wronged you in some ways, how could you seduce the master and abandon your mistress to suffer? Have you no conscience?”Huier stood up, took a few steps forward, pointed at Cao Lihuan’s nose, and raised her voice: “I have no conscience? Cao Lihuan, feel for yourself whether you have any conscience! I served you all this time—if not with merit, at least with hard work. I’m almost twenty, and my family finally found me a match. Though not a wealthy family, they were farmers with some property. I came to you seeking your blessing, but you blocked and delayed me, then secretly went behind our backs to the groom’s family and called off the engagement. You got me drunk and offered me to that old lecher Han Yaozu to be defiled—all to win his favor and profit from it! Cao Lihuan, I hate you to the bone. Day and night, I dream of chewing your flesh to vent my hatred!”
Cao Lihuan was startled but stubbornly argued, “I did it for your own good! 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…”
Huier shrieked, “Bullshit! That Ogress in his household is no easy match! If Han Yaozu is so wonderful, why don’t you become his concubine? That old wreck—the sight of him makes me sick!” After screaming twice, Huier stepped back, her chest heaving rapidly. The two of them glared at each other like tigers eyeing their prey.
Just then, Siqiao brought in tea and pastries, then quietly withdrew.
Huier rubbed her chest, steadied herself, took two steps back, and sat down again. She picked up the teacup and took a sip, then looked back at Cao Lihuan with a smile on her face. “Cao Lihuan, you truly don’t know how lucky you are. Even if Ren Yu is incompetent and poor, he has one good quality: he’s loyal and devoted to his family, and he’s deeply sentimental. Even after you cuckolded him so blatantly and ended up in this wretched state, he still cares for you, trying to find doctors everywhere to cure you. 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, Huier picked up a pastry, took a bite, and continued with a smug, triumphant smile. “He dotes on me day and night. Whatever I want to eat, he’ll put on his shoes and buy it for me right away. He even massages my shoulders and legs, and at night, he’s so vigorous…” She covered her mouth with a handkerchief and giggled. “A hundred times better than that old fool Han Yaozu who couldn’t even plow a field. I don’t know what you ever saw in that old wreck.” She walked up to Cao Lihuan, bent down slightly, and whispered with a smile, “You won’t last much longer anyway. Your husband has already said that if you die and I bear him a child, he’ll make me his official wife. Cao Lihuan, I really must thank you. All the wealth and property you schemed and toiled to build will be enjoyed by my descendants.” Straightening up, she hummed a little tune and walked out.
Fury surged through Cao Lihuan’s heart. Huier’s words were a hundred times more vicious than carving out her heart and lungs. She spat out two mouthfuls of blood, her vision went black, and she fainted. That night, she woke once in a daze, screaming hoarsely for a long time, but no one came. Struggling to get up, she reached for the tea on the small table by her bed. Her hand trembled as she stretched forward, then her head tilted, her eyes fixed and staring, and she departed for the Yellow Springs.The next morning, Siqiao came to clean and discovered Cao Lihuan had already passed away. In a panic, she reported it to Ren Yu. Ren Yu couldn't help but weep bitterly over the corpse, wanting to arrange a proper funeral. However, Huier stopped him, saying, "In recent days, we've spent most of the family's savings on her treatment. I'll be giving birth in a few months, and your younger sister is about to marry. We should save some money. There's no need for an elaborate funeral—just pick an auspicious day, choose a burial spot, and bury her."
Ren Yu agreed verbally but felt it was improper. Secretly, he took some silver to buy a dignified coffin for the burial. With the sound of music and ceremony, he selected a burial site and laid her to rest.
Meanwhile, in the Han family's inner quarters, Lady Jiang sat upright in an armchair. Kneeling before her was a thin, plain-looking woman with a humble demeanor, her head bowed respectfully. Lady Jiang stirred the tea leaves with her lid, a smile playing on her lips. "Siqiao, you've done well. This time, you've finally relieved me of my deep-seated resentment. I will reward you handsomely."
Siqiao kowtowed and said, "I seek no reward, only that Madam redeem me from the Ren family, so I may live peacefully as a commoner in the future."
Lady Jiang glanced at her maid, who promptly took out a document and handed it to Siqiao. "Madam already spoke with the Ren family yesterday. This is your certificate of manumission—keep it safe."
Overjoyed, Siqiao kowtowed repeatedly in gratitude, saying, "I will leave for Yangzhou immediately and never return."
Lady Jiang, greatly pleased, rewarded Siqiao with ten taels of silver and a pair of silver bracelets.
Siqiao hurriedly accepted them, expressing endless thanks before departing.
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 Si Shunr lost his wife, Cao Lihuan had forced Siqiao to marry him. Si Shunr was addicted to drinking, gambling, and womanizing, and he beat his wife, tormenting her unbearably. Moreover, he had a lecherous nature, and since Siqiao was plain-looking, he treated her like dirt. With a harsh and demanding mistress in front and a violent, abusive husband behind, Siqiao had contemplated suicide multiple times but forced herself to endure.
Back when Lady Jiang had beaten Cao Lihuan into a miscarriage, her trusted maid had come to bribe Siqiao, instructing her to secretly add a few ingredients to Cao Lihuan's medicine, turning the miscarriage into a fatal illness. Later, 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 Lady Jiang to fulfill her promise by redeeming her from the Ren family and granting her commoner status. She hurried out of the alley, where a dark, stout, and short man was anxiously looking around. Seeing her, he quickly asked, "Is it done?"
Siqiao nodded, and the man smiled, taking her hand. "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 knew how to make Dough Figurines. He used to roam the streets near the Ren residence 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, eloping. Later, they settled in Yangzhou, making a living through small businesses—this goes without saying.It is said that after Huier gave birth to a daughter following ten months of pregnancy, Ren Yu elevated her to the status of his official wife, and they lived together peacefully. However, Huier had a profligate nature, caring only for food, drink, and dressing up, with no knowledge of how to manage a household. Now that she had become the mistress, she grew even more indulgent, consuming delicacies from land and sea and wearing silks and satins without restraint. Ren Yu, on the other hand, was a weak-willed man, always submissive and compliant. Neither of them was adept at managing finances, and they squandered more than half of the assets that Cao Lihuan had painstakingly accumulated. In the end, they were forced to sell the estate, though fortunately, they still had rental properties to generate income. The couple, feeling they had a secure source of money, grew increasingly idle at home without engaging in any productive work. They reduced what was once a prosperous and wealthy family into an ordinary, modest household of common means. Later, Ren Yu fell ill in middle age and died young. Huier remarried twice with her child, but ultimately, her whereabouts became unknown.
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