Chapter 16: rciless, Heartless
After coming to a decision, Li Wei Yang displayed an expression filled with hesitation and worries. She intentionally stamred, “Qi yiniang . . . Qi yiniang . . . what’s wrong with her?”
Hua i recognized Wei Yang’s curiosity and hurriedly responded, “San xiaojie, Qi yiniang’s illness is going to worsen when winter arrives, afraid she won’t be able to endure past the year. . .” As she spoke, she was carefully studying Li Wei Yang, not missing any changes in expression.
The smile on Wei Yang’s face gradually disappeared, replaced by a crest-fallen look. “Qi yiniang is my birth mother but all I can do is watch her suffer . . .”
Hua i reminded, “San xiaojie, now that you’re doing better, shouldn’t you help out Qi yiniang? At the very least, you should go and visit her.”
Li Wei Yang blinked a few tis. “But right now Qi yiniang is heavily ill. I heard father had instructed no one is allowed to visit in case one might be infected by the illness.”
Hua i smiled and said, “San xiaojie, you can sneak out at night to visit her, isn’t that right? I’ll help you scope out the area in case soone arrives. If soone does co, I’ll imdiately notify you. Then nobody will know right?”
Li Wei Yang continued to be reluctant. “If father knew I broke the rule, he’s going to be very angry.”
“I have no rights to persuade you, but San xiaojie, just think about it. Qi yiniang is your birth mother! Even if laoye knew, there’s nothing he can do about it,” Hua i said.
Hua i wanted to encourage her to visit her birth mother in order to infuriate her father? No way, it couldn’t be that simple.
Wei Yang laughed, as if she finally understood. “Hua i, you’re so clever! Let think about the ti and I’ll tell you when later.” Watching as Hua i disappeared, the look in Wei Yang’s eyes turned frosty.
Behind the curtains, Bai Zhi slowly appeared. “San xiaojie, you must not listen to her!”
Li Wei Yang glanced at Bai Zhi and asked, “Why not?”
Bai Zhi paused for a second but she truly did not want to see her young miss get into trouble so she said, “Xiaojie, please don’t mind for saying this, but everything that Hua i has said, it is too suspicious.”
It seems Bai Zhi was not that simple-minded and naïve. Li Wei Yang grinned and said, “Greed has no boundaries. There are so people who can’t live without seeing suffer.” Then she tossed the pair of beautifully sewn shoes aside.
Bai Zhi startled. “San xiaojie, you already knew. All the more, you mustn’t go!”
Li Wei Yang tapped rhythmically on the table as her smile broadened. “No, we must go!”
That afternoon, Li Wei Yang told Hua i that they were going to pay Qi yiniang a visit at around 7pm. However, when the sun had just set at around 5pm, Li Wei Yang had taken Bai Zhi and the two of them silently left their yard from the back doors.
“San xiaojie, didn’t you told Hua i to et up at 7pm? Why are we—”
Li Wei Yang grinned. Her eyes were sparkling with wiles. “If we waited until then, we would only be stepping into their traps!” Visiting her birth mother was a must, but the ti in which they visited Qi yiniang had to be carefully mapped out. The timing had to be perfect so that Da furen didn’t have a way out, thinking that her sche had been successful, and at the sa ti, it should give her enough ti to find a leeway should anything go wrong.
Li Wei Yang and Bai Zhi made their way towards Nan Yuan carefully and silently, without bumping into anyone on the way. Nan Yuan was extrely peaceful and isolated. There were weeds growing on both sides of the walls and there were only three rooms in the yard. There were barely any servants at Nan Yuan.
There was a strong stench of dicinal herbs as one neared the door. Li Wei Yang had changed into a servant’s clothing before she left and had purposely lowered her head, trailing after Bai Zhi. When Bai Zhi entered the courtyard, she saw a servant girl coming out to welco them. The servant girl was wearing a faded cotton attire with dirty stains here and there.
Upon seeing Bai Zhi, the servant girl’s eyes widened in surprise. “You are—”
Bai Zhi smiled and opened the container in her hands for the servant girl to take a look inside. “I’ve been instructed by San xiaojie to deliver this chicken soup to yiniang.”
The servant girl was horrified. Isn’t there already soone in there, why is there another delivery? The servant girl quickly replied, “These two jiejie, Zhao mumu also said she ca to visit yiniang under San xiaojie’s instructions. She’s currently talking inside!”
Zhao mumu? The mumu working in her courtyard? It was as if Li Wei Yang suddenly stopped breathing. She had a strange feeling about this. Leaving the other two behind, she lifted the curtains and quickly stepped inside. In the room, there was only a bed and about two wooden vanity dresser. On the table was an old flower vase. The windows were tightly shut, making the atmosphere very oppressive.
However, as she focused on what was happening inside, the scene startled her. Zhao mumu was feeding soup to the sickly furen laying on the bed. Without thinking, Li Wei Yang hurried forward and roughly smacked the bowl of soup out of Zhao mumu’s hands.
The soup spilled all over Zhao mumu who was infuritated. “Who dares?!”
Li Wei Yang coldly snorted. “Zhao mumu, have your eyes gone blind that you don’t even recognize ?”
Recognizing the person in front of her, Zhao mumu panicked. Didn’t Hua i say San xiaojie would co a few hours later? Why is she here at this ti?
“Who told you to feed this soup to Qi yiniang?!” Li Wei Yang’s voice was firm and stony, sounding nothing like a fragile thirteen year old girl.
Zhao mumu was overwheld by her aura and stamred, “It’s . . . It’s . . .”
“Wei Yang? Are you really Wei Yang?!” The furen laying on the bed froze before snapping out of her daze and reached for Wei Yang’s hands.
Qi yiniang was truly a delicate person. Although she was still quite young, her appearance had aged and she looked sickly. There wasn’t enough at on her. She was so skinny that the jade bangle on her wrist could fall out any minute.
It was the first ti Li Wei Yang t her birth mother. Her eyes reddened unknowingly. Without replying to Qi yiniang, she quickly blinked her eyes a few tis, pointed to the ground and said, “Zhao mumu, who gave you the guts to do such a brazen thing that you are attempting to murder Qi yiniang?!”
Zhao mumu was about to lie but then noticed a few ants had died on the ground next to where the soup had spilled over. Obviously their deaths were caused by the poisonous soup. There was nothing she could say as she turned and ran for the door.
In an icy tone of voice, Li Wei Yang commanded, “You two, catch her for !”
Bai Zhi and the other servant girl exchanged a glance. Imdiately the two cornered and grabbed a hold of Zhao mumu, one on the right, one on the left. Zhao mumu struggled violently in between. anwhile Li Wei Yang walked up to her and gave her a harsh slap across the face. The sound resonated in the room.
“This is for daring to murder Qi yiniang!”
Zhao mumu was angry and in pain as she scread, “San xiaojie! I was sent to care for you by Da furen! You can’t hit !”
Not only do I want to hit you! I will also get rid of you! In a flash, Li Wei Yang had made a decision as she picked up the flower vase on the table and raised it high over Zhao mumu’s head. Zhao mumu looked at the vase with a horrified expression. Even though Wei Yang’s hand was raised high over Zhao mumu’s head, but when she was facing those pair of frightful eyes, she couldn’t deliver the deathly hit. Logic told her she had to be decisive about this but deep down in her conscious, it was not an easy thing to take away soone else’s life with your own two hands.
“San xiaojie, if you lay a finger on , you won’t be able to take responsibility—” Zhao mumu noticed Wei Yang’s hesitation.
But it was for these words that had helped Wei Yang with her heartless decision.
Using all of her strength, she smashed the flower vase on Zhao mumu’s head. Imdiately blood seeped out of Zhao mumu’s head, her eyes widened and her body beca limp. The two servant girls panicked and let go of Zhao mumu as Zhao mumu’s bloody corpse fell to the ground.
“What is there to be afraid of?! She was the one who ca here wanting to murder Qi yiniang. This is the ending she asked for!” Li Wei Yang’s face was pale as a ghost as she set down the flower vase. After a while, she regained her composure as she stared at the other three people in the room. They were still frozen in horror.
Bai Zhi cald down then lowered herself to check Zhao mumu’s pulse. “It looks like . . . It looks like she has stopped breathing!” she announced shakily.
Li Wei Yang stared icily at Zhao mumu. This old mumu had listened to Da furen’s instructions to co here and murder Qi yiniang. If she had arrived according to the ti set with Hua i then her birth mother would have died by the ti she ca. If she had been rciful earlier and let Zhao mumu lived, there was no doubt that Zhao mumu would run to Da furen and told her everything that had transpired. When that happened, there would be nothing left for the two of them except death. Therefore, she was not wrong.
“Xiaojie, what should we do now?” A sweat dropped from Bai Zhi’s forehead, landing on her eyelash. San xiaojie’s strong personality was not normal like others. She had already decided to serve xiaojie; therefore, she will not do anything to betray her young miss.
Li Wei Yang was about to talk when Qi yiniang, who had seen everything on the bed, quickly said to her servant, “Cui’er, go find a bag and put her corpse in it. Then tie it to a heavy rock and throw it into the lily pond behind the window. You must be decisive and quick, do you understand?”
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