chapter 24

The sound of coughing. Late in the night, Aunt Fang tossed and turned in bed. Voice hoarse, she said, “Bing Qing, get me a cup of water!”

A long while with no answer.

“Yu Jie!” Aunt Fang called out for another person. “Get me a cup of water!”

Again, no one answered.

Usually, these two would attend to her closely. She would not need to yell for them. Just a light cough, and they would rush and compete for the chance to bring her water or tea. Now, they had disappeared.

“You two are ungrateful things. It was a waste for me to have always trusted you so much!” Aunt Fang yelled for a long time, tears flowing down her cheeks to no end. “Now, now you can’t even bring me a cup of water to drink—”

Before she had finished speaking, a teacup approached her lips.

The water was cool, devoid of tea leaves. However, Aunt Fang had been thirsty all night and did not mind it. She grabbed the teacup, and gulped it down.

“Are you satisfied?”

“Give me another—wait!” This was not the voice of either Bing Qing or Yu Jie. An instant later, Aunt Fang raised her head. A face as beautiful as a lotus came into view. Although she did not have on makeup, she was more prepossessing than seven out of ten people.

“If you have had your fill, then answer a few questions for me.” A slight smile danced on her lips.

“Wei! Ying! Luo! You actually dare to show yourself in front of me!”

“If I didn’t come, perhaps you wouldn’t have the chance to take even a sip of water.” Wei Yingluo sighed, faint and short. “How pitiful. Originally after half a year, you would have been released from the palace. Now you have been expelled. Your pension is gone. One would fear even your family would be too afraid to let you return.”

Thinking about her dreadful future, Aunt Fang could not help but tremble. Lips quivering, she said, “Why are you harming me like this? And your belly. Just what is going on with your belly…?”

This matter had caused her to toss and turn in bed, yet in the end she could not come up with an answer. If she had not been completely sure Wei Yingluo was pregnant, she would not have brought Wu Shulai to the scene.

“Oh, you’re talking about that?” Light laughter spilled from her lips. She brushed a hand over her slightly protruding belly. Her tone was natural, as if she were talking about someone else. “A few days ago, I took some powdered kaolinite¹ from the palace artisans and ate a bit of it. There’s no harm in doing this, but will make the belly swell quickly. I only acted like I was pregnant a little, yet you all fell for the trap, and couldn’t wait to push me to a death…”

Upon hearing those words, Aunt Fang’s body grew cold.

Although she had said eating a small portion of kaolinite would not harm the body, it was still kaolinite. Death by eating the earth used to make a Guanyin statue had happened before. Who knew what would occur after injesting kaolinite?

A person who could be so ruthless to themselves would be even more ruthless to their enemies.

“As for why…” Wei Yingluo flipped her finger, hooking an exquisite plum flower knot that doubled as a pouch. “Do you remember this?”

Aunt Fang stared at it. “This, this is the knot I lost a few days ago. You little thief—”

“You’re the thief!” Suddenly, Wei Yingluo grabbed her hair, forcing Aunt Fang to look at her. The previous obedient facade Wei Yingluo had worn vanished. Her real face had revealed itself. A truly terrifying… revenge-seeking face. “Look at my face. Look at it clearly. Who do I look like?!”

“You look like Wei Yingluo. No, no, you are…” Aunt Fang stared at the face before her, terrified. “You are… Wei Yingning!”

Wei Yingluo had found it strange since the beginning.

If it were Jinxiu going against her, it would be due to jealousy. Why did Aunt Fang also join in?

It wasn’t until Wei Yingluo picked up the plum flower knot that she understood… Before her elder sister had entered the palace, Wei Yingluo had trouble falling asleep, too worried for her sister. So she personally made this plum flower knot for Wei Yingning.

And so, the answer revealed itself.

“Speak!” Wei Yingluo aggressively yanked at Aunt Fang’s hair. Her appearance was ferocious, resembling that of an unwilling and fierce ghost that clawed its way out of hell. “Tell me all about Wei Yingning’s situation! Or else, I will seek out General Manager Wu and reveal how you abused the palace maids. At that time, you won’t just be kicked out of the palace!”

“No, no. I’ll talk. I’ll tell you everything,” said Aunt Fang, closing her teary eyes as she had admitted defeat. “In the past, when I had first heard your name, I found it familiar. Later on, after pondering over it, I realized once Wei Yingning entered the palace, she changed her name. Then we all got used to calling her A’man…”

Perhaps it was fate. When Wei Yingning entered the palace, she was also supervised by Aunt Fang.

The two sisters had also been similar in their actions. Both woke up before the crack of dawn. Both embroidered different types of flowers on Aunt Fang’s collars and sleeves.

“Afterward, she caused a scandal and I found something to blackmail her with. I, I used this to extort her of all her money and valuable things. Even the money she received afterward would be kept in my custody.” Aunt Fang pointed at a corner of the wall. “There, behind that plank of wood on the wall is where I hid everything.”

Wei Yingluo threw her aside. She quickly pried the wood board. Inside was a blue cloth bundle marked by age. She opened it. There wasn’t even a cent inside, only two sets of old clothes and a cracked jade medallion that wasn’t worth much.

“It’s been a while. The money… has been all spent.” Aunt Fang shuffled herself into the corner of the bed and rolled into a ball, arms holding her knees to her chest. Shivering, she said, “Don’t report me. After I leave the palace I’ll find a way to repay you the money.”

Wei Yingluo was not interested in money. She stared at the old clothes, as if in a trance. It felt like the clothes still kept her sister’s body heat. She hugged them to her chest like they were something precious. Like she was hugging her sister…

“You said with your own lips that my sister created a scandal.” Her back faced Aunt Fang, voice low. “What kind of scandal?”

“What else but adultery?”

“Nonsense!” Wei Yingluo quickly said, furious. “My sister isn’t that kind of person!”

Aunt Fang hunched her shoulders. “If, if you don’t believe it, then ask Granny Zhang.”

Wei Yingluo furrowed her brows. “Granny Zhang also knows about this matter?”

On the contrary, Aunt Fang looked at her with surprise. “Why do you think she took care of you? It’s because your sister was her most favorite seamstress. If you want to ask about A’man, you shouldn’t be asking me. You should go to her—”

Before she could even finish her words, Aunt Fang’s room was already clear of the other person. There was only the two doors to the room that had been forced open. And they were still squeaking

The palace maid dormitory, Granny Zhang’s dorm.

Two teacups lay on the table. Because they had been sitting there for a while, the tea was no longer hot, the right temperature to drink. Granny Zhang sat by the side of one of the teacups, closing her eyes to rest. It seemed she was waiting for someone.

Knocks sounded on the door.

“The door isn’t locked. Come in.” Granny Zhang slowly opened her eyes. “Sit down. Have some tea first.”

Wei Yingluo stood at the door, breathing hard. She had run all the way here. Her throat felt like it was on fire. She drank down one cup of tea and finally had the energy to speak.

“Granny.” She set down the teacup. Stared at Granny Zhang, who was pouring her another cup. “Wei Yingning was my elder sister.”

After the cup was full, the previously dry green tea leaves unfurled and expanded, giving off a refreshing scent of tea. Slowly, Granny Zhang said, “I’ve told you this before. Don’t mention this name or else you’ll violate a taboo.”

Wei Yingluo stared at the second cup of tea. A moment later, she said in a light manner, “So you knew it from the start. You knew everything from the start. But why… Why haven’t you told me anything?”

“What do you want me to tell you though? Did you want me to tell you what A’man did wrong? Or how disappointed I was of her?”

“Everyone said that my sister had committed a crime. But what crime was it? Why did she have to give her life in exchange?” Wei Yingluo pushed away the teacup before her. She got off her seat and walked to Granny Zhang’s side, leaning against the other party’s knees. She lifted her small face, tears streaming down it as she looked at Granny Zhang. As if she were a young granddaughter who had been wronged, shaking her grandmother’s hand incessantly. “Granny, Granny, please tell me why. Please!”

Granny Zhang truly could not win against her in an argument. A deep sigh escaped her lips. “Someone informed General Manager Wu that she did not return to the dormitory all night. That she was definitely committing adultery². She wasn’t as lucky as you. Hidden behind the artificial mountain in the imperial gardens, General Manager Wu discovered her blood-stained underwear…”

“Elder sister was a very chaste person. She definitely would not do something like this!” Wei Yingluo did not believe one word of it. “She was definitely framed!”

“I also hoped she had been framed.” Granny Zhang looked at the little girl leaning on her lap with a pitying gaze. “However, she told me herself that no one forced her. That she had been willing.”

Wei Yingluo was shocked to her bones. She only felt that the sky and earth had flipped upside down. With every word Granny Zhang had said, it felt as if another crack appeared underneath her feet, many arms reaching from the earth toward her, bent on dragging her in.

“There was no other choice. We could only follow the rules, and she was punished to death by rod.” Granny Zhang stroked her hair. She said in a consoling way, “Still, death did not seem to be in her fate. Back then, the empress dowager fell ill and did not want to see blood in the palace. So her punishment was decreased to fifty strikes and expulsion from the Forbidden City. Now… how is she doing?”

“…She died.” Wei Yingluo could not hold back the sobs any longer. “Everyone said that she was too ashamed to see others and hanged herself. But I checked the wounds. There were green bruises on her neck. She was strangled by someone!”

Terror struck Granny Zhang. She suddenly grabbed Wei Yingluo’s shoulders. “She was strangled to death?”

Wei Yingluo nodded as she cried, her tears flowing down her cheek due to this action.

“That can’t be right. That can’t be right…” The distance Granny Zhang had walked was more than the rice most people have eaten. In an instant, she sniffed out something wrong. “If she had willingly been with another person in the past, then how could she have ended up like this? I fear this matter might be hiding something…”

“Yes. That’s why I entered the palace.” Wei Yingluo wiped away the tears on her face. “I cannot just let my sister die in such an unclear way. I must find out the truth and give her justice! Granny, please help me. And also help her!”

“How do you want me to help you?” Granny Zhang felt helpless. “It’s already been so many years since the case. In fact, there hasn’t been any clues left behind…”

Clues?

Wei Yingluo thought for a moment. Suddenly, she took out a jade medallion from her chest pocket. “Granny. Look at this jade medallion.”

This was one of the last possessions left of Wei Yingning. Because Aunt Fang was greedy for wealth, and the medallion was cracked and worthless, she had kept this hidden behind a wooden plank of wall. As such, no one had been able to get this medallion. It had been kept in the dust for many years, until today, when it finally saw the light of day.

Granny Zhang received the jade medallion and took a look. Her brows immediately furrowed.

The whole time, Wei Yingluo had been watching her face. As such, she did not miss her change in expression. Her heart trembled. Three parts excited and seven parts hopeful, she asked, “Granny, you recognize this jade medallion?”

Granny Zhang shook her head. “Fuchahala.”

It was a Manchurian name. Wei Yingluo did not understand it. She could only wait for Granny Zhang to explain it to her.

“I don’t recognize this jade medallion. However, I recognize the name on it.” Granny Zhang slowly lifted her head, a complicated look in her eyes as she stared at Wei Yingluo. “Fuchahala is the owner of this jade medallion. The emperor’s good friend, brother-in-law, and imperial guard, Fucha Fuheng.”