Chapter 106: The Death of Concubine He
He Shi slowly stopped weeping.
She looked at her two children with sorrowful expression and said, "I wonder how Wei Ge'er is doing..."
"Don't worry, I will arrange for someone to take care of Wei Ge'er," Xie Shi'an spoke up. "It's getting late. Drink it."
He Shi took the porcelain bottle and smelled the rich fragrance. She believed what her children had said - that this poison wouldn't cause suffering, that after one sleep, everything would be over.
But she was unwilling.
The He family had not yet been restored.
Her children had not yet grown up.
She hadn't even seen her beloved one last time.
He Shi closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and drank all the sweet poison in the bottle.
Just as the poison entered her stomach, the firewood room door was pushed open.
Yun Chu walked in.
With a complex expression, she said: "An Ge'er, Ping Jie'er, leave the matters here to me. You two are tired, go back and rest."
Xie Ping had personally witnessed her birth mother drinking the poison and was completely broken. Her body kept trembling. Hearing Yun Chu's words, she didn't dare look at He Shi again, grabbed her maid's hand, and quickly retreated.
Xie Shi'an was merely putting up a strong front. What he needed to do was done, and he couldn't bear to watch He Shi take her last breath.
He stood up, staggered unsteadily, leaned against the wall to straighten himself, and walked out.
Ting Shuang and Ting Feng guarded the door, closing the firewood room behind them.
Although He Shi had drunk the poison, she indeed felt no pain. Her eyes fell on Yun Chu, and she suddenly let out a bitter laugh: "The decision was made by Old Madam, the poison was given by the master, the poison was fed by An Ge'er and Ping Jie'er. Madam, you've kept yourself remarkably clean in all this."
"Didn't I come to collect your body?" Yun Chu looked down at her from above. "They say when people are about to die, their words become kind. He Lingying, I have some questions for you. Answer them properly."
Hearing her maiden name, He Shi felt dazed again.
She sneered, "I've ended up in this state partly due to your handiwork, Madam. Do you think I would answer your questions?"
"If you can guess I had a hand in it, you're not completely foolish," Yun Chu curled her lips. "Let me also tell you that Xie Shiwei angering Marquis Xuanwu also had my encouragement. What do you think? Surprised?"
"You!"
He Shi truly hadn't imagined this matter was also related to Yun Chu.
She wished she could strangle the person before her.
Yun Chu looked at her and said slowly, "If you don't answer my questions properly, Xie Shi'an and Xie Ping will end up exactly like Xie Shiwei."
He Shi gritted her teeth: "When exactly did you know they were my children?"
She had sensed long ago that Madam was deliberately targeting several children, but no one had believed her.
No wonder Madam seemed to have suddenly become a different person. Who in the Xie residence hadn't been punished by Madam? So Madam had known all along that the Xie family had deceived her.
Yun Chu didn't answer her question, instead asking: "Four years ago, the son and daughter I gave birth to - where did they actually go?"
He Shi's heart shook, and she lowered her head: "Weren't Madam's children reburied beside your Yun family ancestral hall? Why ask me?"
After saying this, she felt her legs growing weak, as if they could no longer support her body. The feeling of life slipping away was so clearly transmitted..."The price for stubbornness once is Ping Jie'er's dowry." Yun Chu spoke with detached calmness. "I'll give you one more chance."
He Shi bit her lip until it bled.
"Still refusing to speak?" Yun Chu smiled faintly. "If you won't treasure this final opportunity, then don't blame me for what happens to An Ge'er and Ping Jie'er..."
"I'll speak! I'll speak!" He Shi collapsed weakly onto the straw mat, her voice losing its previous vigor. "The Midwife handed Madam's children to the Master. The Master personally carried them out of the Xie residence. Besides the Master, no one knows where the children were abandoned."
Yun Chu closed her eyes. "At that time, the children were still alive, weren't they?"
He Shi let out a self-mocking laugh.
So Madam knew everything all along. Since Jade Lord had abandoned living children, how could Madam ever spare him?
Yet before her death, Jade Lord hadn't even come to see her once. Why should she still worry about that heartless man!
"Yes, the children were still alive." He Shi felt breathing becoming difficult. "Madam, I've told you everything you asked. Please promise me, even if you cannot treat An Ge'er and Ping Jie'er well, at least... at least don't ruin their futures. I beg you, Madam..."
With her last remaining strength, she grabbed Yun Chu's ankle.
Yun Chu gently lifted her foot, and He Shi rolled onto the straw mat like a fallen leaf.
Lying on the mat, she gasped desperately for air, then suddenly began coughing violently. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, her eyes widened to their limit, and just like that, she breathed her last.
Yun Chu sighed.
Xie Shi'an and Xie Ping had jointly forced He Shi to her death, yet even in her final moments, what she cared about most were those two children.
Looking at He Shi's unclosed eyes, she shook her head and walked out of the woodshed.
As she stepped out, she raised her eyes and saw Xie Jingyu standing at the small courtyard gate.
"Husband, you've come." Yun Chu spoke. "Concubine He kept saying she wanted to see you one last time. Dying without fulfilling this wish, she couldn't close her eyes in peace."
Xie Jingyu's eyes reddened.
He and He Shi had known each other since youth, having gone through so many years together. How could he bear to watch her transform from a living person into a corpse?
He had failed He Shi, and he had failed Yun Chu. He didn't know how to face any of this.
He turned and walked away.
Yun Chu said calmly, "Husband, are you certain you won't go in to see her?"
Xie Jingyu paused mid-step but didn't turn back, directly leaving instead.
Yun Chu's gaze turned icy.
Why had she married such a selfish and cowardly man.
She instructed the matron in the courtyard: "Prepare a simple coffin and bury her."
The servants dared not even breathe loudly, quickly going to handle the matter.
Xie Jingyu returned to his study and sat for over two hours before the palpitations in his heart finally slowly subsided.
He rose and went back to the woodshed, only to find it empty. Upon asking, he learned He Shi's body had already been taken outside the city walls...
That night, Xie Jingyu hardly slept, for whenever he closed his eyes, he saw He Shi's blood-filled eyes staring at him mournfully and accusingly.
He regretted not seeing He Shi one last time, regretted not allowing her to rest in peace...
Waking in the morning, his head throbbed with pain so severe he couldn't even attend morning court, hastily sending a servant to request leave.
After lying on his couch for a while, a servant came to report: "Master, Madam is here."
Xie Jingyu felt somewhat afraid to face Yun Chu.He had deceived her by saying that An Ge'er and the other children's mother had died, which made Yun Chu devote herself wholeheartedly to the children. It wasn't that He Shi's death meant he no longer needed to explain the matter.
There had never been any marital affection between them to begin with, and now, even that was completely gone.
He was afraid—afraid that Yun Chu would seek a divorce.
If she truly proposed a separation, should he agree or not?
Did he even have the right to refuse?
Just then, the door to the room was pushed open, and Yun Chu entered: "The servant said you were ill and had taken leave from court. Why haven't you called for a physician?"
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