Chapter 121: Rumors
Fu Tingyun's expression was calm, but Yu Wei, who knew her well, could sense the raging fury in her heart.
Was it because of what had happened to her and Zhe Liu?
Yu Wei's emotions were in turmoil.
"Miss, I—I'm fine now!" she said hurriedly, stumbling over her words in her nervousness. "Someone like me isn't worth your sorrow." As she spoke, her eyes reddened again.
Fu Tingyun opened her eyes.
Her dark pupils shimmered with unshed tears, making them appear even deeper and brighter.
"And then?" she asked in a low, hoarse voice.
Yu Wei lowered her gaze. "Then... Jian Cao fell ill... Housekeeper Li said they couldn't afford to lose any more lives, or there would be no way to explain it..."
Among the maids serving in her chambers, only Yu Wei and Jian Cao had been purchased from outside. The parents of Yi Tong and the others were all Generational Servants of the Fu family. Over several generations, they had intermarried, forming a web of kinship. If anything unusual happened, word would spread quickly. If the maids in her room contracted a Virulent Disease, one or two deaths might be manageable. But if too many died—especially if they were all from her quarters—and coupled with her own "death from illness," some parents or siblings among the servants would inevitably grow suspicious and investigate the deaths of their daughters or sisters. If any clues were uncovered, the Fu family might be accused of mistreating their servants, tarnishing the reputation of benevolence they had built over generations. That was the last thing the Fu family wanted."We called a doctor to examine Jian Cao. Through the curtain, with a handkerchief placed over her wrist, he diagnosed it as sudden fever and prescribed remedies to dispel wind and reduce heat. But after taking the medicine, Jian Cao not only showed no improvement, but quickly..." Yu Wei murmured, "Coincidentally, someone in the estate caught a cold, and Mother Li claimed we had infected them. The rumors grew wilder and more exaggerated. I was terrified... What if... we all died with no one to investigate... One evening, for some reason, Sister Yi Tong suddenly came to my room and whispered, 'They've cast aside all restraint now. The young mistress is in danger. Whoever gets the chance must escape and warn her.' Then she slipped away as quietly as she came. Remembering her words, when no one gave me water, I drank my own urine; when no one fed me, I ate cockroaches... In my daze, I heard someone say that even Xue Rong, the young girl in our room who hadn't yet grown hair, had died... I couldn't even lift a hand, thinking I was done for, only hoping Sister Yi Tong could escape and that the young mistress would seek justice for us... Outside were cries and shouts everywhere. A group burst into the woodshed where I lay. Torches flickered before my eyes. I tried to speak, to beg for help, but someone said, 'This one's got the Seasonal Epidemic, throw her out quick...' When I woke again, I was surrounded by corpses. An old man was rifling through the dead when I called for help. He fled in terror but soon returned, dragging me from the pile of bodies and giving me some water. I was so grateful," she said, her expression growing vacant, "The old man placed me among a heap of items stripped from the dead, pushing me on a wheelbarrow, stopping and going, occasionally giving me water and food. As I gradually recovered, he stopped feeding me, his gaze lingering on me occasionally, filled with greed—like the way he'd look at the silver sycee he polished daily. I'd seen that look in my father's eyes too... So I played dead. He resumed giving me water and food, once muttering something like 'if she doesn't fetch ten taels, it's a loss'... I pretended to drift in and out of consciousness. He kept feeding me, and I slowly regained strength... One day, as he was giving me water, I suddenly bit his neck..."
She lowered her head.
Fu Tingyun slowly sat down in the Grand Tutor chair.
Only the crackling of burning charcoal filled the room.
"Later, I took all the valuables from his body, along with some water and food, hiding them in my clothes. I hid by the post road for five or six days before encountering a kind refugee family. That's how I learned I was in Mengjia Town, not far from the estate. I found my way back to the estates.
"The estates were deserted. The furnishings inside were either smashed or gone; even the beds and altars too heavy to move had been destroyed. I remembered there was a granary and managed to open it. The granary was empty, save for some scattered wheat grains on the floor. Over seven or eight days, I painstakingly gathered every grain—enough to fill a large bowl. With that bowl of wheat 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.
Even with Zhao Ling protecting her, she had barely survived—how much worse it must have been for Yu Wei.
At this thought, warmth spread through her heart.
Zhao Ling...
Whispering his name silently, the grievances weighing on her seemed to lighten.
"When the wind grew cold, a heavy rain began to fall," Yu Wei said after a while, wiping her eyes. "Some people returned to the estates. I knew I couldn’t stay there any longer, so I secretly went back to Huayin City. But when I asked around, everyone said the young lady had already 'passed away from illness' in the summer, and the mistress had fallen ill from grief. She was taken away by the master to his official post." Her expression grew agitated. "I knew something was wrong, but at the time, everyone was talking about the disaster. When I pressed further, I heard things like, 'The Fu family’s Ninth Miss didn’t die—she eloped with Zuo Junjie,' or 'The Fu family’s young lady wasn’t ill—she was abducted by those migrant bandits. The Fu family had no choice but to say she died of illness.'"
Fu Tingyun was stunned.
How could such rumors have spread?
The story about eloping with Zuo Junjie at least had some basis, but being abducted by bandits—where did that come from?
Frowning slightly, she listened as Yu Wei continued, "No matter how much I asked, I couldn’t get any more information. I wanted to find someone from the Fu family to ask, but everyone from our household had gone to the capital with the mistress. The stewards who stayed behind didn’t know me, and I was afraid of being discovered. So I lingered near the Fu residence until I ran into Granny Mi, my wet nurse’s sworn sister." Her face softened with gratitude. "Granny Mi quietly took me to a secluded spot in the back alley, gave me a tael of silver, and told me to leave Huayin as soon as possible. She also said that all the young lady’s attendants had either died of illness or been married off far away. Only Yi Tong was spared because her betrothal had been arranged long ago, and her fiancé’s family didn’t reject her despite her having contracted the seasonal epidemic. Her father begged the elder master for mercy, and she was allowed to marry."
"As soon as I heard Sister Yi Tong was still alive, it was like grasping at a lifeline. I hurriedly asked Granny Mi where she had married."
"Granny Mi said Sister Yi Tong had married into the Huo family in West Village, not far from here. But she warned me not to go looking for her—Sister Yi Tong was married now, and her parents and siblings were still working for the Fu family. If I sought her out, I’d only bring her trouble. She told me to leave Huayin County quickly and never return."
Yes, no matter how much Yi Tong might miss her, she couldn’t disregard her parents who raised her or her siblings who were like her own flesh and blood.
Fu Tingyun’s gaze dimmed.
"But I had nowhere else to go, so I couldn’t give up. I went to West Village," Yu Wei said. "Sister Yi Tong was already pregnant. When she saw me, she cried for joy. In front of Brother-in-law Huo, she introduced me as a distant relative who had fled the famine and come to visit her after hearing she had married. Brother-in-law Huo was kind and honest—he even went out to buy a pound of pork to treat me and gave up the kang bed for Sister Yi Tong and me to talk..." Her expression grew uneasy. "Sister Yi Tong told me that the Fu family had built a cenotaph for the young lady. In truth, Azure Cloud Temple had been raided by migrant bandits. All the servants the madam had sent to attend the young lady were killed.""What did you say?" Fu Tingyun could no longer maintain her composure, exclaiming in horror, "All the people the madam sent to serve me are dead?"
Her thoughts immediately turned to Zhao Ling.
After regaining consciousness, she had asked him about Hanyan and Lü'e. The fleeting strangeness in his eyes and his vague reply had unsettled her deeply.
Could there be more to this than meets the eye?
Fu Tingyun's mind was in turmoil. She fired off questions rapidly: "How did Yi Tong know about this? What else did she say? If all the people the madam sent to serve me are dead, what about Guo Hui and Guo Zhi from Azure Cloud Temple? Are they dead too?"
Weiyu shook her head: "Sister Yi Tong said it was Guo Hui and Guo Zhi who came to the Fu family to report the deaths. When the two nuns arrived, it was the mother-in-law of Yi Tong's elder brother's sister-in-law who informed the madam. The maid attending the madam at the time was Yi Tong's cousin's sister-in-law, Dao Xiang. The two nuns insisted the madam dismiss all attendants as soon as they entered. Within less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the madam left in panic with the two nuns to see the old madam. Soon after, the master arrived too. All the servants were made to wait in the courtyard, yet they could still hear the old madam's scolding and the madam's sobbing. When the master emerged from the old madam's quarters, he was drenched in sweat, with dust on his knees from kneeling... That very night, Dao Xiang heard from the madam the news of your 'death from illness.'
"Fearing Yi Tong might be implicated, Dao Xiang immediately sent word to her sister-in-law. Yi Tong's cousin rushed to Yi Tong's parents' home overnight. Yi Tong's parents quickly summoned her two brothers back, intending to bring Yi Tong home from the estates to recuperate. But the more they discussed it, the more complicated the matter seemed. At daybreak, Yi Tong's brothers began making inquiries everywhere. First came news of your 'death from illness' at Azure Cloud Temple, followed by reports that the temple had been raided by migrant bandits, and that Housekeeper Chen and others had been killed by them. Yet both Dao Xiang and the mother-in-law of Yi Tong's elder brother's sister-in-law clearly remembered that Guo Hui and Guo Zhi had only visited once. How could news of your death and the bandit attack on Azure Cloud Temple come one after the other?"
Fu Tingyun's face turned deathly pale, as if all strength had drained from her body, leaving her limp and weak.
Was Zhao Ling the killer?
Housekeeper Chen had forced poison down her throat—it might make sense if he had killed her in the heat of the moment. But what about Hanyan and Lü'e? Why were they dead too?
※
To find out what happens next, stay tuned for the next chapter!
O(∩_∩)O~
※
(End of Chapter)
OpenNovel