Chapter Eleven: Leaving the Mortal World

"Manqing..." Lin Tang heard herself speak with difficulty. Her fingertips trembled, and hesitantly, but finally with a kind of broken tenderness, she gently placed them on Gu Manqing's black hair, which was wet with tears and disheveled.

"You've suffered..." A thousand words stuck in my throat, ultimately condensing into these four pale and powerless words.

Lin Tang recalled her father's increasingly gaunt face as he lay on his sickbed, coughing up blood but still forcing himself to say, "Let's ask someone to inquire around the Jiangnan region again, just in case... just in case Manqing was sold there?"

She remembered Aunt Gu's eyes, which had once been bright and sparkling but had become as empty as two dry wells. Before leaving, Aunt Gu held her hand tightly, stuffed the cold old house key into her palm, and repeated weakly, "Guard...guard for Manqing...wait for her to come back...my Manqing...will come back..." Then her withered hand suddenly lost its strength and slipped down.

How cruel fate is!

Her long-lost sister, whom she had been searching for, re-entered her life as Qiao Yuan's mistress, carrying with her deep-seated hatred and humiliation.

Those sharp words, those deliberately provocative actions, those malicious and arrogant things she once thought "Cheng Qing" was... were all Man Qing's lamentations as she wrapped her own flesh and blood in thorns in the abyss of despair.

Lin Tang felt as if an invisible hand had gripped her heart tightly and then crushed it, causing her so much pain that she could barely breathe.

"Get up," Lin Tang's voice was hoarse with forced restraint as she tried to pull Gu Manqing up from the cold ground, her fingertips turning white from the force.

"From now on, you will live here. Aunt Gu's house will be your home."

Gu Manqing wiped away her tears and stood up. "Sister Jintang, this...we'll talk about it later. There are more important things to do right now..."

Gu Manqing reached into the hidden pocket on the left side of her cheongsam and, with trembling fingertips, pulled out an envelope with crumpled edges.

She stuffed the envelope into Lin Tang's hand. "Sister, this is something I stole from Qiao Yuan's study drawer last night when he went to the dance hall. You...you take a look inside."

Lin Tang took the envelope, unfolded the letter, and recognized the handwriting as Qiao Yuan's, but it had a deliberate stiffness. At the end, there was a bloody red cross: "If Lin Tang insists on divorce and wants half of the Lin family's property, then have A Chen instruct A Xiu to drug her, put her in a sack, take her to the Shiliupu Wharf, stuff her into the cargo on Old Zhou's boat, and sink her into the river at night."

“Impossible…” Lin Tang’s tears fell onto the paper, blurring the ink. “Even if Qiao Yuan hates me, he wouldn’t…” She suddenly seemed to remember something, grabbing Gu Manqing’s arm, her nails digging painfully into her. “You said… A-Chen was involved too? He had A-Xiu drug him for…”

“Yes.” Gu Manqing’s tears streamed down her face. “Last night, I went to deliver hangover soup to Qiao Yuan. As I passed by the study door, I overheard him telling A-Chen, ‘Once Lin Tang falls asleep, tie her up and stuff her into a cargo box. Old Zhou from the Sixteenth Wharf will handle it; there won’t even be a ripple.’ A-Chen even asked, ‘Should we leave her a whole corpse?’ Qiao Yuan laughed and said, ‘What do you mean by a whole corpse? If she’s alive, she’ll join forces with the Chen family to kill me sooner or later!’”

Suddenly, Ah Xiu let out a short scream and rushed over to grab Gu Manqing's wrist: "You're lying! Brother Ah Chen said that Master Qiao did it for Madam's own good, to prevent her from getting involved in the feud between the Chen family and the Green Gang!"

She said urgently, "Madam, don't believe it! She...she must have made up this lie to sow discord between you and Master Qiao because he doesn't dote on her!"

Lin Tang swayed, and she almost fell if Gu Manqing hadn't supported her.

The three women were crying together when, just then, the brass ring at the courtyard gate was suddenly knocked.

Ah Xiu wiped away her tears and went to open the door, but froze on the spot as soon as she opened it a crack.

“Mr. Chen…” Ah Xiu stammered as she stepped aside.

Chen Kan stepped across the threshold and saw that the hall was in chaos: Lin Tang was sitting on a chair, her fingertips still clutching a crumpled letter, her tears soaking the pages; Gu Manqing was squatting at her feet, her hands on her knees, her shoulders heaving.

"What's wrong?" Chen Kan frowned, walked to Lin Tang's side, reached out to wipe her tears, but paused, and instead gently held her shoulder, "Jin Tang, don't cry, tell me what's wrong."

Lin Tang didn't say anything.

But Cheng Qing had already stood up and stuffed the letter into Chen Kan's hand: "Brother Bai Mu, Qiao Yuan wants to kill Sister Lin Tang."

Chen Kan took the letter, quickly scanned it, and frowned deeply.

"this……"

Chen Kan keenly discerned something from the letter and subconsciously glanced at Gu Manqing, who was looking at him timidly. Her lips moved, and she called out, "Brother Bai Mu..."

"she is……"

Lin Tang said softly, "She is Manqing."

“Manqing…” Chen Kan was stunned, staring at Cheng Qing in disbelief.

Gu Manqing lowered her head slightly and said softly, "Brother Bai Mu, I got lost back then... Later, I finally returned to Jiangcheng. I just wanted to live a better life, so I followed Qiao Yuan. I just never expected that Qiao Yuan's wife would be Sister Jintang..."

Chen Kan was still feeling overwhelmed and stood there, unsure of what to say.

Chen Kan still harbored doubts, but he had no time to dwell on them at the moment. He simply asked, "What you just said, is it true?"

Lin Tang's last glimmer of hope vanished.

"Husband and wife?" Lin Tang suddenly sneered, tears still streaming down her face. "He never treated me like a wife! In his eyes, I was just a pet he kept, nothing more than a trophy. Now that I'm leaving, he naturally wants to get rid of me!"

Ah Xiu shook her head and cried, "No, Madam, it's not like that. Brother Ah Chen said it's not like that..."

Gu Manqing looked at Axiu with a hint of pity in her eyes: "Axiu, how long have you been in the Qiao family? How long have you known Achen? What makes you believe his words!"

Ah Xiu's tears fell, and she covered her face, crying, "What should we do? What should we do, Madam? What should we do?"

Lin Tang calmed down, wiped away her tears, and said, "Whether it's true or not, we'll know once we go and see for ourselves. Chen Kan, since he wants us to go to the Shiliupu Wharf this afternoon, why don't we go now? He's going to have Lao Zhou clean up the mess for him, so we might as well go sooner rather than later."

Chen Kan nodded, "That's fine too."

Lin Tang then looked at Gu Manqing and said, "Manqing, I will go to the dock with Chen Kan. Manqing, since you told me your identity today, you don't need to go back. Stay with me in this old house! If you are afraid of danger, I think Chen Kan has a way to send you overseas. You can study peacefully there and live a good life like Aunt Gu..."

Gu Manqing was taken aback, but said, "No, I won't implicate my sister... If I go back now, Qiao Yuan probably won't have time to discover that I stole the letter. If anything happens over there, I can inform you and Brother Bai Mu."

"But……"

Chen Kan interrupted her, "Jintang, if you can't even protect yourself here, how can you protect Manqing? You might as well let her go back. At least she's still Qiao Yuan's concubine for now, which is enough to keep her safe. If you want to go see the docks, then go!"

He sighed deeply, looking quite helpless, "You're never giving up on him until you're in front of the car!"

Lin Tang heard this, bit her lip slightly, but ultimately remained silent.

Tears streamed down Gu Manqing's face as she said, "Brother Bai Mu is right! With Qiao Yuan, I can protect myself and keep you informed. But me... how can someone like me, tainted by the perfume of the dance hall and the filth left by Qiao Yuan, be worthy... how worthy to step into the house my mother left behind? How worthy to stay by my sister's side? I came here today to reveal my identity so you would trust me and not take this risk... If that's the case... then I'm leaving... Sister, just pretend I was never here!"

After saying that, Gu Manqing suddenly turned around and rushed out.

Lin Tang, whose legs were weak, was startled and could only reach out in vain, her fingertips barely brushing against the cold hem of Gu Manqing's cheongsam.

"Jintang!" Chen Kan, who had been watching coldly, instinctively rushed forward. He stretched out his long arm and caught Lin Tang's falling waist at the critical moment. The huge force made him stagger before he regained his balance.

Lin Tang leaned her entire weight against his arm, her thin shoulders heaving violently, but her gaze was fixed on Gu Manqing's resolute back, as if she wanted to nail her to the spot.

"Don't go... Manqing... Listen to me..." Lin Tang struggled to break free from Chen Kan's support and chase after him, but Chen Kan's arm was tightly wrapped around her, with an undeniable force.

"Let her go!" Chen Kan said coldly. "Jin Tang, if you can't protect yourself, how can you protect others!"

Lin Tang's struggle weakened, tears fell, filled with utter confusion and sorrow, her fingertips unconsciously gripping Chen Kan's sleeve, as if it were her only support at that moment.