Chapter 50 Explanation
As General Xie crossed the veranda, he heard the sound of porcelain breaking behind the rockery. He paused, only to see Madam Xie quickly approach. "It must be those unruly servants," he said.
Before he could finish his words, shrill cries suddenly erupted from the direction of Caifang Garden.
General Xie's pupils suddenly shrank, and he shook off his wife and ran away.
Caifang Garden was in a mess.
Nanny Chao led seven or eight servants and rushed in. In a few seconds, they pinned Concubine Zhang and Nanny Ling to the ground and tied them up.
After all, Xie Wu Yu was the young lady of the mansion, so the servants did not dare to act rashly. They could only form a human wall to block her in the corner.
"You are a bunch of traitors!" Xie Wu Yu stamped her feet in anxiety, and the silver crabapple hairpin in her bun became crooked.
Nanny Chao turned her back to everyone, and while adjusting her clothes, she stabbed the silver needle hidden in her sleeve into Aunt Zhang's lower back.
"Ah—" Aunt Zhang's cry was choked in her throat before it could even come out, and cold sweat instantly broke out on her forehead. Nanny Chao leaned close to her ear in a sinister voice, "Madam said she wanted to make you know what it means to be unable to live."
Before he could finish his words, the gate suddenly roared with a resounding kick. General Xie, wrapped in the night wind, strode in, his black satin boots stained with sawdust. His face, ashen in the moonlight, shone like a piece of raw iron, startling the maids so much that they hurriedly let go and stepped aside.
"Dad!" Xie Wuyu took the opportunity to rush to Aunt Zhang's side, tears streaming down her face. "Hurry up and look at Aunt Zhang! Aunt Chao is pricking her with a needle!"
Aunt Zhang collapsed in her daughter's arms, her fingertips, usually as white as water chestnuts, now bluish-white. She managed to raise her head and call out "General," a few strands of hair clinging to her face from the cold sweat, making her look even more pitiful.
Nanny Chao slumped to her knees, her palms spread wide: "Master, please understand! I can't even hold an embroidery needle, how dare I?" Before she finished speaking, Madam Xie came panting, holding up the hem of her skirt, her golden hairpin swaying: "Master, please don't be soft-hearted!"
General Xie's hand, stretched out towards Aunt Zhang, froze in mid-air. His Adam's apple twitched twice, and he suddenly pulled out two crumpled pieces of paper from his pocket and threw them at Xie Wuyu.
"Did you write this?" The voice seemed to be squeezed out from between teeth.
Xie Wuyu looked down and saw the crooked handwriting on the letter paper was all too familiar. Aunt Zhang gently tugged at the corner of her clothes behind her. She bit her lip and nodded, tears "plop" on the yellowed paper.
"Look, Master! She admitted it herself!" Madam Xie's voice was so excited that it changed its tone. Her nails painted red pointed directly at Xie Wuyu, "Such a shameless bitch!"
“Bang!”
General Xie's palm, as big as a palm fan, rose with a rustling sound, but stopped abruptly before it touched his daughter's cheek. Concubine Zhang, finding strength from nowhere, suddenly rushed forward and hugged his arm, "General, if you want to hit someone, hit me! Yu'er is so delicate and tender."
"You're still protecting her!" Madam Xie stamped her feet in anger, and the gold and jade hairpin on her temples almost slipped off. "Zhang, you've failed to educate your daughter properly. You've allowed her to have an affair with a man outside your family. According to the family rules, you should be punished..."
"A stranger? What stranger?" Aunt Zhang suddenly opened her almond-shaped eyes wide, as if she had just realized something.
She struggled to stand up and leaned closer to the letter in the dim light of the lantern. Suddenly, she exclaimed, "Oh!" "Isn't this the letter Yu'er wrote to Young Master Luo?"
Madam Xie took advantage of the situation and covered her mouth with a handkerchief, sneering, "Sister Zhang, have you seen this carefully? This girl Wu Yu actually dared to have a private correspondence with Luo Jince, the young master of the Luo Mansion—no, I'm afraid this bitch is deliberately trying to seduce you, young master."
"If General Luo knew about this, how could I hold my head up in the court? I really don't know who gave me the courage."
Before she finished speaking, Aunt Zhang suddenly raised her face, her hair disheveled but her eyes bright, "General Rong, I asked the third young lady to write these two letters for me. Is there anything wrong with that?"
The teacup in Mrs. Xie's hand fell on the green brick with a clang. She didn't care that the scalding tea splashed on the hem of her skirt. The ecstasy in her heart almost burst out of her throat - this bitch actually admitted her guilt so easily!
"Master, listen to this! I've long said that Wu Yu is young and naive. It must be Concubine Zhang who instigated this."
"shut up!"
General Xie roared like thunder, his eyes red as he stared at his concubine kneeling on the ground. He couldn't understand why the usually gentle and polite Zhang would destroy her precious daughter, and he couldn't understand why she would do such a shameful thing when she knew of her deep friendship with General Luo.
"Fei'er..." A sweet and fishy feeling welled up in his throat, and veins popped in General Xie's hand as he clutched the letter. "Why?"
"Father, you are wise!"
Xie Wuyu no longer cared about boudoir etiquette and stood up, her skirt lifted, to defend herself. Madam Xie glanced across the courtyard gate, secretly annoyed that Xie Wuqi hadn't come to her aid yet, but her words became even more stern: "Third Miss, don't cover up for your aunt! She's using your innocence as a stepping stone to seize the position of mistress. What a vicious heart."
"If this gets out, the Censorate's memorials will flood the General's Mansion! If the Emperor blames us, our entire family will be dead!"
"If the general can't bear to do it, I am willing to take this evil and sell it to the Northern Frontier! And that child Wu Chen, I'm afraid she has already instigated her to become a bad temper!"
General Xie's chest heaved violently, the tassel of the sword at his waist trembling. Concubine Zhang suddenly stumbled to her feet, her plain undergarment, soaked with cold sweat, sticking to her back, revealing her bony shoulders.
"Since Madam has determined that I am guilty, may I ask where you got this letter?"
"Of course it was intercepted by me!" Madam Xie twisted her jade prayer beads, her nails almost digging into the lotus pattern on the Buddha's head. "When the third lady delivered the letter to the corner gate..."
"Only these two?" Aunt Zhang suddenly interrupted, a strange smile appearing on her pale face.
Mrs. Xie's heart was pounding, and she forced a cold smile: "It seems that he is a habitual offender! Zhang, you are really a sinner!"
"Who on earth is committing this evil?" Aunt Zhang suddenly turned to the main seat, tears falling like pearls on the bluestone floor. "General, please look, since Madam said she intercepted the letter, why didn't she ask for the reason before resorting to lynching? If it weren't for you, General, I'd have become a lonely soul in a mass grave!"
"You keep saying you're serving the General's family, but every word you say is forcing the General to deal with us mother and daughter. Am I overstepping my bounds, or is it that Madam can't tolerate Wuchen and Wuyu standing in the way of the Second Young Master?"
Xie Wu Yu cried so hard that she was out of breath, and staggered to help Aunt Zhang.
Aunt Zhang pressed the back of her hand, pinching her daughter's palm with her nails. "Go and get the sandalwood box with the crabapple carved on it from the bottom of the dressing box."
"My life is worthless," Aunt Zhang suddenly raised her voice, tears dripping down her chin onto the blue brick floor, "but Madam is slandering Yu'er for having an affair with a man outside her family. Is she trying to force us mother and daughter to jump into the moat?"
Xie Wuyu understood, wiped her face with her sleeve, and ran to the main house. Her embroidered shoes creaked on the broken porcelain shards on the floor, and she didn't care that the hem of her lilac skirt was stained with mud.
"Pretending!" Mrs. Xie's hand was shaking as she held the jade bracelet. She was about to speak when Aunt Zhang interrupted her.
"Last month, the eldest young master's breakup of his engagement with the Luo family caused a huge uproar in the city," said Madam Zhang, leaning against the blue brick floor as she straightened up. Her white jade earrings peeked out from her disheveled hair. "Wu Chen ran into Young Master Luo at the Imperial College. In his youthful arrogance, he exchanged a few words and ended up getting punched."
General Xie's eyebrows jumped when he heard this. He remembered that Xie Wuchen had a bruised nose when he returned home that day, and he just said he accidentally bumped into the door frame.
"The young lady from the Luo family is very polite. The next day, she sent her personal maid to apologize with ointment." Aunt Zhang said, glancing at Madam Xie. "Madam was also present at the time and praised Miss Luo for being worthy of being the legitimate daughter of General Fuyuan's mansion."
Mrs. Xie's lipstick-coated lips were pressed into a straight line.
Luo Zhaohan did come that day and handed the ointment to Aunt Zhang in front of her, which made her so angry that she smashed a glass lamp that night.
"I'm already worried enough about the young master's affairs," said Aunt Zhang, raising her pale face, the lines of her neck like a rain-beaten magnolia branch, "so I didn't dare to bother you with the children's quarrels."
General Xie's grip on the hilt of his sword loosened. Aunt Zhang was incredibly considerate; this was quite typical of her.
"Miss Ke Luo is really thoughtful. She actually wrote a letter in her own handwriting two days later." When Aunt Zhang said this, she suddenly heard hurried footsteps outside.
Xie Wu Yu rushed in holding a crabapple box, and the pearl hairpins in her hair were all askew.
"Look, Dad!" Xie Wuyu opened the box with shaking hands. Dozens of letters were neatly stacked. "These are letters from Sister Luo to my daughter. Each one has been reviewed by Auntie before she can reply."
General Xie casually pulled out a letter. The paper, reeking of the scent of agarwood, bore the elegant calligraphy of a hairpin flower in small characters. The signature was clearly inscribed, "Luo Zhaohan." He flipped through a few more, and unexpectedly found one bearing the Luo family's private seal.
"Nonsense!" Madam Xie snatched the letter away. "Who is Luo Zhaohan, to be exchanging letters with a commoner?" She held the shaking piece of paper close to the candlelight. "This handwriting...it's clearly a copy!"
Aunt Zhang suddenly laughed out loud, her laughter tinged with sorrow. "Since Madam doesn't believe it, why not invite Miss Luo to confront her face to face?" Turning to look at General Xie, her expression changed. "General, please understand. These letters were delivered honestly by the servants of the Luo family from the corner gate. The gatekeeper's account book even records the date of receipt."
Mrs. Xie's nails almost broke the letter.
Of course she had checked those letters—she had discovered that Xie Wuyu and Luo Jince had been exchanging letters, which was why she set up this trap. But now...
"Wait!" She suddenly caught the subject. "Even if the correspondence with Luo Zhaohan is true, how do you explain Luo Jince's letter?" She bent down and picked up the crumpled envelope on the ground. "'Remotely ask how sister Wu Yu is doing', the address is so affectionate, it's obvious, isn't it?"
This was exactly what Aunt Zhang had been waiting for. She suddenly knelt straight up and pulled a sealed letter from the bottom of the box. "This letter from Young Master Luo was sent inside an envelope from his sister." She held the letter above her head with both hands. "General, please look! The name of Miss Luo is written on the envelope."
General Xie paused as he took the letter. The wax seal was indeed Luo Zhaohan's usual plum blossom pattern, and the handwriting on the cover was the same as on the previous letter.
"Young Master Luo said in his letter that due to a previous misunderstanding with Wu Chen, he wanted to use the letter to mend fences with the Xie family." Concubine Zhang's voice became more steady. "I think if the children can resolve their differences, it will be a great help to General Yu in the court."
"Ridiculous!" Madam Xie smashed the teacup to pieces. "How could the Fuyuan General's Mansion, a family of such stature, need to curry favor with the concubine's daughter of a fifth-rank military officer? Zhang Fei, there's a limit to how much you can lie!"
Aunt Zhang ignored Madam Xie and stared up at General Xie, her voice filled with sadness. "General, you were worried about the young master breaking off the engagement with the Luo family. When I saw the letter from the Luo family, I wanted to help you share your worries like grabbing a lifeline. You can punish me or beat me, but the charge of having an affair with a foreign man—" She straightened her back with her neck stiff, "I deny it!"
When her gaze suddenly turned to Madam Xie, her usually gentle eyes were filled with ice. "When the bridal sedan was brought in, the general said in person that the mistress was doing nothing wrong in managing the household, and told me never to have any evil thoughts in my life. I've been visiting you morning and night for years, and I've drunk the contraceptive soup you gave me three times." Her throat rolled, and her nails dug into her palms. "But Madam, you should never, ever use Wu Yu's innocence as a pretext!"
Xie Wu Yu knelt on the bluestone slab, trembling all over, but saw his aunt suddenly break free from the ropes, and the golden hairpin in her hair fell to the ground with a clang: "If you want to set rules, just come to me, but look at these forged letters! How many eyes are staring at the General's Mansion outside? The eldest young master just canceled the marriage with the Luo family. If it is rumored that the second young lady secretly gave and received -" She suddenly laughed bitterly, "Madam, you are going to cut off the General's Mansion's chance of marriage!"
"Shut up!" Mrs. Xie's hand, clutching the handkerchief, trembled, and the tassels of the phoenix hairpins on her temples swayed into tangles. She looked at her husband for help, but found General Xie staring at the letters scattered on the ground in a trance.
Aunt Zhang took the opportunity to kneel down and grab the corner of the general's robe: "Master, please understand! If I really wanted to cling to the Liu family, why would I wait until today? Last month, Madam Liu sent me two hu of Dongzhu, and I returned it intact..."
She suddenly lowered her voice and said, "Madam, the other day, donated five hundred taels of money to Ci'an Temple. Can you guess whose Dharma name is written in the merit book?"
These words struck Madam Xie like a thunderbolt. She staggered, holding onto the back of the boxwood chair, and saw a sudden flash of fire in her daughter Xie Wuyu's eyes—the girl actually straightened her back, imitating her aunt's example.
"Ridiculous!" Madam Xie dug her fingertips into the carved huanghuali wood. "These letters were clearly sent from Caifangyuan."
Before he could finish his words, a servant came from outside and said, "The eldest young master has arrived—"
Xie Wuqi strode into the courtyard, the hem of his black official uniform still stained with the dust of Suzaku Street.
His eyes swept over the bound Concubine Zhang, passed over his half-sister with tears on her face, and finally landed on the stack of letters in his mother's hand. A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
The moment Mrs. Xie caught sight of Xie Wuqi, her eyes froze for a moment, and then her joy was evident in her words.
How could she forget that Wuqi and Luo Zhaohan had been childhood sweethearts for many years, and they had a deep friendship with each other. Wuqi would definitely be able to recognize Luo Zhaohan's handwriting.
As long as it can be confirmed that this letter was fabricated by Aunt Zhang, Caifangyuan will be completely defeated!
So, she held the letter paper tightly in her hand, with joy flashing in her eyes, and walked quickly towards Xie Wuqi.
Xie Wuqi rode non-stop since he retired and finally rushed back to the Wuwei General's Mansion as soon as possible.
He went to the study room, but found it empty. After asking his family, he learned that his parents had gone to Caifang Garden one after another. This made him recall his mother's unwavering words yesterday: she said that today would be the day when Concubine Zhang would never recover.
Now, he saw his mother was safe and sound, walking towards him with a smile on her face, while Aunt Zhang was tied up with ropes, kneeling on the ground in a mess. Xie Wuyu beside her was in tears, obviously having experienced a turbulent emotion.
He understood that his mother had truly won this time!
Xie Wuqi's slightly raised mouth corners revealed his sincere relief and joy for his mother. After all, over the years, his mother had always regarded Aunt Zhang as a thorn in her side!
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