"Old Madam Ren, this was found hidden in a crevice beneath the artificial rockery." Granny Gui bowed her head as she presented the bundle.
Old Madam Ren’s gaze swept over Madam Lin and Ren Yaoyu before signaling Granny Gui to open the bundle.
Granny Gui placed the bundle on the kang table, turned her back to the room, and began unwrapping it. Suddenly, a sharp, fearful gasp escaped her lips.
Old Madam Ren frowned and glanced over, then her pupils abruptly contracted, her face turning ashen.
Everyone in the room craned their necks curiously toward the kang table. Spread out on the table was an autumn-scented cloth, and in its center lay a white cloth doll. The doll, roughly the size of two adult palms, was covered in chaotic symbols drawn in red cinnabar. At first glance, it was a shocking sight—no wonder even the usually composed Granny Gui had gasped in fright.
Everyone present recognized it as a curse object, the kind that circulated among the women in the inner courtyards.
It was made by wrapping dried yin-yang grass in white cloth, shaping it into a human form, sewing in the birth characters of the person to be cursed, and painting curse incantations with dog’s blood.
Old Madam Ren’s cold, stern gaze fell upon the two maidservants, who had already dropped to their knees with a thud, trembling in fear. "How dare you engage in such filthy practices within the mansion!"
The two maidservants prostrated themselves, shivering as they begged for mercy. "Spare us, Old Madam, spare us..."
Great families abhorred such sinister and unorthodox methods, especially those in charge, who could never tolerate such behavior. If servants were involved, they would be sent to the authorities and publicly flogged with a hundred strokes.
A hundred strokes from the magistrate’s court were essentially a death sentence.
First Madam’s expression was equally grim. "How foolish of you! How could you do such a thing? Our Ren Family absolutely cannot tolerate servants using such underhanded methods! You... ah..."
The maidservant with a mole on her face seemed to snap out of her daze. Suddenly, she turned toward Ren Yaoyu, whose face had gone deathly pale, and crawled forward on her knees, throwing herself at her feet. "Eighth Miss, save us! Eighth Miss, please save us—"
Madam Lin, already seething with anger, kicked the maidservant in the chest and shouted, "Shut your mouth!"
But the maidservant steeled her heart and cried out recklessly, "This belongs to Eighth Miss! I was only following orders to bury it. I know nothing about what’s inside!"
The other maidservant, who had been sobbing uncontrollably, hastily chimed in between sniffles, "Old Madam, how would we dare use such a thing to curse our masters? We were truly only following orders!"
If they dragged Eighth Miss into this, the Ren Family, for the sake of its reputation, would not send them to the authorities.
Old Madam Ren turned her cold gaze to Ren Yaoyu. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
Ren Yaoyu’s legs had gone weak. At the question, she burst into loud, wailing sobs.
Madam Lin, now furious beyond measure, stepped forward and kicked both maidservants to the ground, no longer caring about her own dignity as she cursed them. "You traitorous wretches! How dare you throw such filth at your own mistress? Have you grown tired of living?"
But Ren Yaoyu, already on the verge of a mental breakdown from the tension in the room, cried out, "I was just having fun! I... I... I didn’t use dog’s blood—I used cinnabar... Third Sister won’t die..."
Yet these words amounted to an admission that she had made the object.
Ren Yaohua, whose name had been mentioned, looked stunned and instinctively glanced at the cloth doll on the kang table.Madam Lin was so enraged by her own daughter that she nearly fainted backward, truly wanting to slap her and curse her as a "fool!" But now, no matter how much she scolded, it was too late.
Seeing the complex expressions on everyone’s faces as they looked at her and her daughter, Madam Lin barely suppressed the fire in her heart and turned to Old Madam Ren with an apologetic smile. "Mother, Yu'er is young and doesn’t know the seriousness of things. It was just a playful quarrel between sisters, but somehow it escalated to something like this. She was merely influenced by those beneath her and didn’t truly understand what she was doing. This is also my fault for not disciplining her strictly enough. Please forgive her this once."
With just a few words, she had reduced the matter of a curse to a trivial squabble between sisters.
Seeing Old Madam Ren’s stern face and silence, Madam Lin turned her gaze to Ren Yaohua, whose expression was cold and indifferent. She spoke in a gentle tone, "Yaohua, this time it was your younger sister who acted foolishly. As the elder sister, please be magnanimous and don’t hold it against her. She’s just childish and meant no harm. Fifth Aunt personally apologizes to you."
Ren Yaohua, however, was not swayed by her words. With a mocking expression, she replied, "Fifth Aunt, I don’t quite understand your words. If I forgive Eighth Sister, I am magnanimous, but if I don’t, I am petty? As an elder, you lower yourself to apologize to a junior like me, and if I don’t comply, I am disrespectful to my elders? That’s quite a heavy accusation, and I’m afraid my head is too small to bear it."
A flicker of shame and anger flashed in Madam Lin’s eyes, but since her daughter was at fault today, she had no choice but to swallow her anger. Just as she was about to say a few more soothing words to calm the situation, Granny Gui let out a surprised "Huh?" and pulled out the cloth strip from behind the doll, the one inscribed with the birth characters. At a glance, she was horrified and instinctively glanced toward Old Madam Ren.
Noticing her action, Old Madam Ren also looked at the cloth strip in her hand. Her face instantly changed, and she turned angrily to Ren Yaoyu, shouting, "You beast! Kneel down!"
Ren Yaoyu, who had been sobbing, trembled in fear at Old Madam Ren’s sudden outburst and immediately knelt on the floor.
Madam Lin, who had been speaking with Ren Yaohua, was taken aback and turned back. "Mother..."
"Don’t call me mother! Look at what kind of monster you’ve raised!" Old Madam Ren was so furious she gasped for breath, picking up the doll and hurling it at Madam Lin, striking her squarely in the face.
Madam Lin was stunned, then felt deeply humiliated, her eyes instantly reddening.
This was the first time since marrying into the Ren Family that she had faced such reproach from Old Madam Ren.
As a young lady in her own family, she had been doted on by her elders and had never suffered the slightest grievance. After marrying into the Ren Family, Old Madam Ren had treated her like a daughter, always supporting her among her sisters-in-law.
But this time, she had been struck in the face in front of First Madam and so many juniors.
Madam Lin felt so wronged that tears fell like golden beans. She lifted her sleeve to wipe her face, about to voice her displeasure, but when her eyes fell on the doll on the floor, her body stiffened, and she was unable to utter another word.
Everyone in the room also saw clearly the doll on the floor with the inscribed birth characters. For a moment, the room fell dead silent.
The birth characters were written in cinnabar ink, shocking to behold, but they were not Ren Yaohua’s birth characters.Ren Yaohua was born at the weishi hour (1–3 p.m.) on the sixth day of the eighth month in the Gengwu year. The hour written on the cloth doll was correct, but the year was Gengyin.
Everyone in the Ren household knew that Old Madam Ren treated Third Miss Ren Yaohua with special favor not only because Ren Yaohua resembled her in her youth, but also because Ren Yaohua shared the same birth date and even the same hour as Old Madam Ren.
The birth details written on this curse cloth doll were clearly those of Old Madam Ren.
Ren Yaoqi observed everything from beginning to end. The surprise on the faces of Madam Lin and her daughter, as well as Ren Yaohua, seemed genuine.
Now she finally understood why, in her previous life, Madam Lin had insisted that Ren Yaohua had framed Ren Yaoyu.
Judging by Ren Yaoyu’s reaction, the cloth doll was indeed made by her, but the birth details she had written were Ren Yaohua’s. Somehow, they had ended up being changed to Old Madam Ren’s.
In the end, Ren Yaoyu was despised by Old Madam Ren because of this, while Ren Yaohua regained her eligibility to reside in Glory and Splendor Courtyard. Who else could have had a stronger motive to frame Ren Yaoyu than Ren Yaohua?
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