Chapter Nine: The Maid Who Feigned Madness to Survive

Steaming heat filled the washroom as Song Yiqiu personally rolled up her sleeves and carefully wiped her body with the green bamboo in the bathtub.

The warm water washed away the grime, revealing his thin, bony figure.

His back was covered with whip marks, both old and new, and burns that hadn't completely faded and scabbed over.

Song Yiqiu's hands trembled violently, and her eyes instantly turned red.

Tears silently dripped into the bathtub, mingling with the hot water.

Her voice choked with sobs:

“Silly Qingzhu, I clearly returned your contract to you before I left. You are free, so why… why don’t you leave this cannibalistic place? Why stay and suffer…”

The green bamboo in the bathtub still had a blank look in its eyes, as if it couldn't understand her words, and just smiled foolishly.

Excitedly slapping the water's surface with his hands, he exclaimed, "Hehe, water...water...flower...flower..."

The splashing water wet Song Yiqiu's chest and cheeks.

Song Yiqiu felt no anger whatsoever. Looking at Qingzhu's appearance, she felt a piercing pain in her heart.

If only I had discovered it sooner...

She could no longer hold back; she bent down and gently embraced the battered body in the water, filled with self-reproach.

"I'm sorry... Qingzhu, I'm sorry I came back late and made you suffer..."

Tears streamed down her cheeks and onto Qingzhu's shoulder. Suddenly, she heard a very soft call in her ear:

"Miss……?"

Song Yiqiu was suddenly startled and looked up in disbelief.

The foolish smile on Qingzhu's face disappeared, replaced by a torrent of tears.

Those eyes, which were originally empty, were now clear and bright, full of grievance, and they were staring at her excitedly without blinking.

"Qingzhu! You..."

Song Yiqiu was so shocked she could barely speak.

"You're not crazy? You were just... testing me?"

Qingzhu quickly lowered her head, instinctively trying to remain respectful, but her excitement made her sway unsteady.

"This servant...this servant is not entirely sure it is Miss herself. This servant is afraid...afraid it's another test from them, so..."

Song Yiqiu was overwhelmed with mixed feelings, both surprised and frightened, and quickly interrupted Qingzhu:

"It's alright! It's good to know you're okay!"

She gripped Qingzhu's cold hand tightly, forcing a smile that betrayed lingering fear.

"Thank goodness... thank goodness I wasn't late."

But soon, her eyes turned cold, and her tone became serious:

"Qingzhu, tell me, what exactly happened? The day I returned home, I asked my mother for you, and she insisted that you had stolen valuables from the mansion and had already been sold off!"

"Why are you in Second Brother's Huanyun Garden? And why have you been tortured into this state? And... are you pretending to be crazy?"

Upon hearing the word 'mother', Qingzhu took a slight step back.

He glanced warily toward the doorway and whispered:

"Miss, this is not the place to discuss this further."

She quickly dried herself, put on a clean dress, walked to the door, listened carefully to make sure no one was outside, then took Song Yiqiu's hand and quickly walked into the innermost bedroom.

After closing the door to the inner room, Qingzhu turned around, looked at Song Yiqiu, took a deep breath, and uttered a sentence that almost shook Song Yiqiu's soul to its core:

"Miss... the old lady... the old lady didn't die at the hands of bandits! She... she was killed by people in the manor!"

Song Yiqiu stood frozen in place, her ears ringing. The vicious and smug words that Song Sangyu had spoken before her death in her previous life overlapped with Qingzhu's words at this moment.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival when I was ten years old, my mother, Song Shenshi, took the whole family to my grandmother's villa in the suburbs for a family reunion.

Before the banquet even began, a large number of 'bandits' suddenly stormed in...

In the chaos, she watched as her grandmother fell into a pool of blood while protecting her.

That scene became her nightmare for seven years.

My grandmother, Shen Zhaohua, was a founding heroine and the only female general to be granted a title based on her military achievements.

All of her children, except for their mother Shen Ruyi, died in battle.

For some reason, the grandmother strongly opposed the mother inheriting the title.

His Majesty, moved by the loyalty and bravery of the Shen family, decreed that the grandmother's title could be inherited by her grandchildren, but only on the condition that they serve in the frontier for seven years and prove their worth through military merit.

Although the older brothers wanted the title, they knew the harshness of the frontier and passed the buck to each other, knowing it was no good place and fearing they would be chosen.

To demonstrate 'fairness,' her father, Song Qingming, took out a bamboo tube and persuaded her to draw first. She drew the red bamboo stick...

She trusted her family and had no doubts about it. She went to the frontier where life was extremely difficult and stayed there for seven years!

It wasn't until her father was dying in her previous life that he coldly told her that all the divination sticks in that container... were red.

This title, from beginning to end, was only prepared for Song Sangyu.

"Miss...Miss! What's wrong? Don't frighten me!"

Seeing Song Yiqiu's swaying body, Qingzhu hurriedly supported her and called out to her anxiously.

Song Yiqiu suddenly snapped out of her daze and grabbed Qingzhu's arm tightly with her other hand:

"Grandmother...who killed Grandmother? Who was it?"

Qingzhu winced in pain, but could only shake her head with tears streaming down her face.

"I don't know exactly who instigated it. Not long after you left that year, I went to Madam's room to deliver tea, and I overheard Madam and Master arguing outside the window... They seemed to be talking about the 'bandits' that happened on the Mid-Autumn Festival night..."

"They kept saying 'it must be dealt with thoroughly,' 'we absolutely cannot let anyone find out,' and 'it's all for Sang Yu's sake..."

"I was terrified and tried to sneak away, but I accidentally bumped into a flowerpot..."

"Although the lady did not immediately lash out, she soon found a pretext to sell off all the old servants in the mansion who might know something about the inside story, especially those who had followed the old lady and had been to the other courtyard. Some of them were even secretly executed!"

Qingzhu's voice was filled with fear:

"In order to survive, I had no choice but to pretend to be crazy and make them think I was no threat. Later, because... because I was still somewhat pretty, the second young master took me in as the lowest-ranking maid, where I suffered all kinds of torture and barely managed to survive until now..."

"Miss, the old lady died unjustly! She must not have died in vain!"

Song Yiqiu's heart was ice-cold.

From birth, her mother, Shen Ruyi, regarded her as a thorn in her side, simply because she was more like her grandmother, with a strong personality, unlike Song Sangyu who knew how to act cute and charming.

If it weren't for her grandmother's insistence on protecting her, she probably would have died in an accident long ago!

She looked at the tear-streaked Qingzhu before her and took a deep breath:

"Of course! My grandmother will not have died in vain! I will not let any of those involved get away with it! I will find out the truth and make them pay for their crimes in blood!"

At this point, she suddenly remembered another crucial question:

"Qingzhu, Song Sangyu...when exactly did she enter the manor?"