Chapter Eighty-Eight: Playing the Part in Public While Concealing a Hidden Blade, Part Four — Bonus Chapter for Reaching One Thousand Votes

Seeing that Shen Yu truly meant what he said and was raising his fist to strike her face, Zhuo Yan instinctively shut her eyes and cried out. A chorus of voices immediately rose in restraint by her ear.

Yet after a long while, the expected blow still did not fall.

In the hall, one sharp intake of breath after another sounded in waves. Zhuo Yan cautiously opened her eyes and saw Shen Yu’s fist halted mere inches from her face, his whole body trembling with held-back force. The veins on his forehead stood out; through gritted teeth he said, “For Wan Zhi’s sake, I will not lay a hand on you... but I warn you, put away those filthy thoughts! Do not ruin an innocent woman’s honor!”

Zhuo Yan seemed cowed by the threat. Frightened, her face went deathly pale, and she dared not speak again.

“Enough! What a disgrace this is!” Seeing the hall descend into chaos, the Dowager Madam could only say to Shen Yu, “Young Marquis, please step aside. You have always acted with integrity and have taken care of the Yun household for the marquis, even going so far as to live long in Fang Prefecture. I know full well the sincerity of that kindness.”

Then she narrowed her eyes at Zhuo Yan. “You know well how to divert everyone’s attention. First you falsely framed Qian Yun, and now you want to sully the chastity of the marquis’s wife? With such thoughts, how dare you claim you meant no harm?”

“This servant is truly wronged!” Zhuo Yan tried to break free of Shen Yu’s grip, but he held her too tightly. She could only plead, “This servant knows her place. How could she do such a murderous thing?”

“How could you not? Because your ambition is greater, and your heart more vicious!” At that moment, a clear female voice suddenly rang out from outside the hall, steady in tone yet youthful in sound.

Everyone turned toward it. A strikingly beautiful young girl, dressed as a maid, hurried in and knelt to announce in a loud voice, “This servant Yue Wan of the Cloud-Robe Pavilion has urgent news for the Dowager Madam!”

“You are from beside Xiang Rong?” The Dowager Madam, hearing the words “Cloud-Robe Pavilion,” asked her.

“This servant is the eldest young lady’s first-ranking maid, Yue Wan.”

“What is it? Speak properly.” The Dowager Madam warned in a low voice, “Though Zhuo Yan is a servant, she bears the marquis’s child. If you falsely accuse her with reckless words, it is a capital offense.”

Yue Wan remained unflinching. “This servant has not falsely accused Zhuo Yan. She truly harbors evil intent. Moreover, the child in her womb is not the marquis’s bloodline, but rather... conceived in secret with the second master!”

At this, the entire hall was thrown into shock. Everyone looked at the second branch’s Hua Wuying, who herself stared back in astonishment and alarm, her right hand trembling as she pointed at Yue Wan and shouted, “How insolent! Who gave you the courage to slander the second master!”

“This servant is not slandering anyone. Zhuo Yan and the second master truly had an illicit affair. This servant saw it with her own eyes. I expect the second master’s close attendants knew as well; when they met in secret, those very people helped cover for them.”

Yue Wan paused there, drew a long breath, and continued, “Zhuo Yan and the second master have been involved for a long time. They conspired to kill the marquis’s child, then use the infant in Zhuo Yan’s womb to confuse the rightful bloodline, seize the heir’s position, and take control of the Yun household. There is no one more vicious than Zhuo Yan. I beg that the cause of Madam Xia’s death be investigated again. She most likely did not drown, and it was probably connected to Zhuo Yan as well!”

The accusations were truly monstrous: murdering the marquis’s wife, muddying the legitimate bloodline, seizing the heir’s place... and then, would they not next place Yun Qi’s child upon the seat of the Marquis of Lixin?

It was an unbelievable motive, and yet so bold, so plausible, that one could not help but believe it. Moreover, as for Yun Qi’s character...

For a moment, no one in the hall dared speak. But once Yue Wan had spoken, and in light of everything that had happened today, the crowd inevitably believed her in part. Perhaps this was the nature of the human heart: when faced with secrets and schemes of such evil, most people unconsciously wished to believe.

By then, Zhuo Yan had completely lost her composure. Panic flashed across her face. Though Shen Yu still held her fast, she struggled desperately and screamed hoarsely at Yue Wan, trying to conceal her fear: “Nonsense! You are spouting blood! Bitch!”

Then Shen Yu tightened his grip on Zhuo Yan, preventing her from rushing forward to strike Yue Wan. As she thrashed, the sleeve of her robe lifted a wave of strange fragrance. Something stirred in him; he at once seized both her hands to inspect them and thundered, “Even now you still dare argue! What is hidden in your nails?”

What could be hidden in one’s nails? Zhuo Yan looked down at her ten carefully lacquered fingers. In the past, when she was still a servant, she had not dared to keep long nails, nor to paint them. But now that she was relying on her pregnancy to stand half a step above the servants as a mistress, she had let her nails grow, shaping them slender and rounded, then coating the tips with bright vermilion polish so they looked most pleasing to the eye.

What was wrong with these vermilion nails?

Zhuo Yan had not yet understood when she saw Shen Yu clamp down on all ten of her fingers. Before she could react, he said in a low voice, “There is oleander powder left in your nails!”

Oleander powder! How could that be? She could not even tell what oleander looked like; how could she possibly...

“No! No! This is slander! Slander!” Enduring the crushing force on her wrist, Zhuo Yan screamed in terror, “This is a deliberate frame-up! Someone is trying to frame me! How can you be sure it is oleander?”

Shen Yu’s face was all ferocity, his hand tightening again. “I am a physician, trained under the divine healer Qu Fang. How could I fail to recognize this poison?” His dark eyes fixed on Zhuo Yan as he demanded fiercely, “From the dining hall at Clear-Silk Hall until now, has anyone come near you? Otherwise, who could have hidden oleander powder in your nails?”

Only then did Zhuo Yan understand. Rolling her eyes as she searched her memory, she looked at Shen Yu in astonishment. “At this moment, no one has come close to me except you.”

Shen Yu’s handsome face had already turned icy. Hearing this, he gave a cold laugh. “Then by your account, I was the one who put oleander powder into your nails? I am the one who meant to harm Wan Zhi’s child?”

“No! That is not what I meant!” Zhuo Yan hastily denied it.

Shen Yu and Zhuo Yan were still locked in dispute when Qian Yun spoke coolly, “You never used to keep your nails long. Recently, not only have you let them grow, you have also painted them to conceal it. Was that not because you had long planned to hide something in your nails and harm others?” Her eyes were fixed directly on Zhuo Yan, as though paying her back for the shameless accusation she had just made.

“No! It isn’t like that. I only... I only like to wear nail lacquer...” Zhuo Yan hurried to explain. As she spoke, her gaze swept over Yue Wan, who knelt in the center of the hall, and for a moment her expression turned to dawning realization. Then she shrieked, “It is the third branch! First they harmed Chu Xiu’s child, then they pinned this on me and the second master... The ones who profit most are the third branch!”

The third branch!

In an instant, Wen Xian’s face changed drastically. She hurriedly stepped into the center of the hall, then knelt beside Yue Wan in great fear and trepidation. “Dowager Madam, please see clearly! My son and I of the third branch have always been loyal. We have absolutely no rebellious intentions!”

The Dowager Madam’s chest heaved without stopping, and she was nearly left breathless. After a long moment, she took up the Buddhist prayer beads she always wore on her wrist and hurled them fiercely at Zhuo Yan. They struck squarely in the middle of her forehead and fell to the ground with a sharp crack.

“Bitch! At a time like this, you still think there are not enough people dragged into this!”

Unable any longer to suppress the shock and fury in her heart, the Dowager Madam stood abruptly from the seat of honor, trembling as she pointed at Zhuo Yan and raged, “First Qian Yun, then Young Marquis Shen, and now the third branch! You are nothing but a mad dog biting everyone in sight!”

Amid this storm of furious accusation, Zhuo Yan was left speechless and could no longer utter a word. She only shook her head frantically, trying to hide her guilt.

Then Yue Wan said again, “Zhuo Yan and the second master have colluded for a long time. This time the two of them conspired to kill the marquis’s child, then used the fetus in Zhuo Yan’s womb to muddy the legitimate bloodline and scheme for the Marquis of Lixin’s title. By the same logic, Madam Xia’s death must also be connected to them. I beg the Dowager Madam to investigate thoroughly!”

Yue Wan’s words were forceful and ringing, but the Dowager Madam was not a woman who acted on impulse. She studied Yue Wan carefully before asking, “Why should I believe you? You are the maid at Xiang Rong’s side, yet now you want to bite the second master in return? You must know that the two of them are siblings by blood!”

With a piercing gaze, the Dowager Madam looked at Yue Wan and analyzed it with complete calm. “To convict the Yun household’s second master on your word alone would be far too childish. Now I must instead question your motive. How do I know you were not acting under someone’s orders, fabricating testimony to frame him?”

Seeing that the Dowager Madam did not believe her, Yue Wan bit her lip. As though making a tremendous decision, she said, “Dowager Madam, please see clearly! The eldest young lady also knew about the second master’s affair with Zhuo Yan, but she did not know about their scheme. In order to cover for the second master, the eldest young lady even went to Zhiyan Pavilion, wanting to have Zhuo Yan transferred to the Cloud-Robe Pavilion, fearing that one day their affair would be exposed! This servant originally did not want to involve the eldest young lady... but since the Dowager Madam does not believe me, why not summon her and ask? Then you will know whether this servant’s words are true or false.”

At that, the Dowager Madam had no further misgivings and said in a low voice to the hall steward, “Go to the Cloud-Robe Pavilion and invite the eldest young lady here!”

“Dowager Madam, allow me to go.” Shen Yu suddenly volunteered. “Please permit me to go to the Cloud-Robe Pavilion, so no one on the road will leak this matter. The eldest young lady is fiercely devoted to protecting her brother; she may think of some other excuse on the way!”

“Very well. I trouble Young Marquis Shen to make the trip.” The Dowager Madam agreed at once.

Shen Yu cupped his hands and accepted the order, then glanced once at Hua Wuying, the second madam, who was still uncertain and shocked. Turning around, he left the hall.

In no more than the time it takes to drink a half cup of tea, Shen Yu returned with Yun Xiangrong.

With a thud, Yun Xiangrong fell to her knees the moment she entered and begged the Dowager Madam for pardon. “Mother, forgive me! Xiangrong knows her mistake...”

“Oh? And what mistake is that?” the Dowager Madam asked coldly.

Yun Xiangrong did not dare lift her eyes. Her gaze brushed over Yue Wan, who knelt beside her, and she replied in a low voice, “Zhuo Yan... truly had an affair with my second brother. I discovered it. I originally thought that since Sister-in-law Xia was already dead, Zhuo Yan had no real duties left in Zhiyan Pavilion, and if she kept meeting with my second brother, it would be easy for people to find out... so I wanted to help cover for him.”

Yun Xiangrong sighed, knowing she could no longer conceal it. “Two months ago, I went personally to Zhiyan Pavilion to look for Sister-in-law Chu Xiu, hoping to have Zhuo Yan transferred to the Cloud-Robe Pavilion for duty. But Sister-in-law Chu Xiu said that you had ordered all servants in Zhiyan Pavilion not to be reassigned elsewhere, so the matter was dropped. I had meant to find another chance to ask you, but who knew that...”

She did not go on. The hall suddenly fell silent.

After a moment, Hua Wuying was seen stumbling backward as she nearly collapsed, tears in her voice. “Xiangrong...”

“Mother...” Yun Xiangrong tried to rise from the floor to help Hua Wuying, but with the Dowager Madam present, she still paused, hesitating for an instant. In that brief moment, Wen Xian had already reached out to support her, though she said nothing.

By then Hua Wuying was utterly beside herself, as if she could no longer breathe. The heavy powder on her face had long since been ruined by tears. “Xiangrong, this cannot be true...”

Tears had already fallen down Yun Xiangrong’s cheeks. “It is my fault. If I had said it earlier, it would not have come to this... Now Sister-in-law Chu Xiu has lost the child, and how can I ever face Big Brother’s spirit in heaven!” As she spoke, she covered her face with both hands and knelt on the floor, weeping bitterly.

“In that case, you also knew this child of Zhuo Yan’s was the second master’s?” The Dowager Madam’s expression had already become unspeakably grim. “You clearly knew she was carrying not the legitimate heir, yet you still hid it!”

Yun Xiangrong shook her head through her tears. “Before, I only knew the two of them were involved and wanted to shield my second brother. I did not know Zhuo Yan was already pregnant. Later... later I heard of it and did suspect it, but I never imagined my second brother could be bold enough for such a thing...”

Crying as she defended herself, Yun Xiangrong said, “Zhuo Yan was a maid brought as part of Sister-in-law Xia’s dowry. If she became Big Brother’s bedmaid, that would have been entirely normal. In my private heart, I still hoped she was carrying Big Brother’s child, so that I might lessen my own guilt...”

At those words, the Dowager Madam slowly closed her eyes. Her voice was filled with sorrow and disappointment. “Wuying, what a fine pair of children you have raised.”