Chapter 21 That jade pillar was clearly…
When Leng Cuizhu got out of bed, she felt sore all over.
She couldn't find a reason.
It can only be attributed to practicing the pipa too much.
She rubbed her numb fingertips and ran her fingers over the red marks.
...I'll practice less these next few days.
Leng Zhen was going to the pharmacy to help with consultations and wouldn't be back for lunch. She stuffed a few sesame cakes into the medicine basket and told Leng Zhen to eat them when she was hungry.
“Okay,” Leng Zhen said, slinging her medicine basket over her shoulder. “Mother, wait for me to come back tonight.”
He was dressed in a dark, close-fitting outfit, which was not only dirt-resistant but also made his figure look light and handsome.
"Okay, I'll wait for you."
Leng Cuizhu stood at the gate of the mansion and waved to him, watching him walk further and further away until he turned the corner and disappeared completely from the alley.
She rubbed her sore shoulders, turned around and went back to her room for a nap.
Leng Zhen wasn't home at noon, so she simply ate a few pastries for lunch. While she was pondering where to build the swing in the yard, a large group of people barged into the house and headed towards the backyard without saying a word.
"Hey, who are you?" she called out to the leader.
“Madam,” the constable pulled out a token, “we are here to search your house on orders from the county government.”
"ah?"
She looked at the token handed to her by the constable: "Where...are you going to search?"
The constables ignored her and led their team to the backyard.
She followed a group of people to the attic where Leng Zhen lived. Several men kicked the door, and she rushed up to protect it.
"etc!"
"Why do you think you can search me whenever you want... My family and I haven't done anything wrong."
The constable sighed: "Someone went to the yamen to accuse your son of theft."
theft?
Leng Cuizhu frowned, puzzled: "When...when has he ever stolen anything? How could that be..."
She couldn't believe Leng Zhen could do such a thing. She stammered, unable to speak, and in her anxiety, a few tears welled up in her eyes. She held her forehead, not knowing what to do.
The clear sunlight shone on her cheeks, and tears that were about to fall condensed in her slightly sunken tear troughs, like white bones shrouded in mist, and withered grass adorned with flowers.
"Sigh, so we need to search first before drawing conclusions." The constable's tone softened. "Madam, let's just say he's only suspected of theft. Once we clear his name, that's fine."
"He really didn't steal anything..."
A man in an orange shirt walked out from the front yard, followed by several constables.
Seeing Leng Cuizhu's worried expression, the man squeezed through the crowd and took her hand.
"My wife, don't worry."
"If your child deserves justice, I will certainly give him justice!"
Leng Cuizhu looked up and saw that the man was the same one she had met on the street earlier, the one who had been with Yin Yuan.
She remembered that the young man was from some county government office.
The county government office was called Chen Xun, I think?
She pouted, her eyes blurry with tears: "Lord Chen..."
Seeing this, the man lowered his voice: "I have brewed some hot tea in my carriage, why don't you join me for a cup?"
Chen Xun smiled, his handsome features and dashing demeanor evident in his pursed lips: "Standing outside, it's so cold. While you're worried about the child, shouldn't you also take care of yourself?"
With worries in their hearts, Leng Cuizhu and Chen Xun left the mansion together, where a carriage was parked.
The coachman placed a footstool, and Chen Xun carefully helped her into the carriage.
The carriage was spacious, with a small table in the center, covered with cups and saucers of various sizes.
Leng Cuizhu found a corner to sit down.
After Chen Xun boarded the train, he sat down next to her.
"What's your zodiac sign, my wife?" Chen Xun asked as he poured her tea. "I'm a snake."
Leng Cuizhu took the teacup, her fingertips tracing the rim: "I was also born in the Year of the Snake."
"Is the gentleman twenty-three this year?"
Chen Xun stroked his beard.
"yes."
"...I can't tell."
She lowered her head and sipped her tea. The tea was at the right temperature and tasted like green tea.
She took a few sips, then tucked the teacup into her hand and turned her head to look out the window at the scenery.
His gaze settled on the medicine basket by the roadside.
"how……"
"What's wrong?"
Chen Xun raised an eyebrow and handed her a handkerchief: "Wife, please use this."
"……Thanks."
Leng Cui wiped the water stains from her lips and wrung out a handkerchief in her hand.
Why does that medicine basket look so much like Leng Zhen's?
No, it's Leng Zhen's.
"My lord, could you tell me... what kind of person reported this to the authorities?"
The man grinned, revealing a pair of shiny tiger teeth: "My wife will find out soon enough."
"Are you looking out the window waiting for someone?"
"Oh, no."
She lowered her head to drink tea, as if she wanted to bury her entire face in the teacup, which was about the size of her thumb's mouth.
Her embarrassment only eased after she slowly finished drinking the tea.
"Are you familiar with the children at home, my wife?"
"...familiar."
She felt very confused.
Where can you find a mother who isn't familiar with her own child?
Lord Chen's excessive enthusiasm made her very uncomfortable.
"He must be very happy to have such a wonderful mother like his wife."
"As for me, I lost my mother when I was young."
The man sighed deeply, “A mother can lose her child, but a child cannot live without a mother.”
Leng Cuizhu nodded: "That's true."
"Has my wife finished drinking?"
Chen Xun asked her a question, and she answered with a simple, "Uh, okay."
The man took the teacup she handed back, bent down and placed it on the ground, then put all the teacups on the table on the floor, kicked the tabletop open, revealing a hidden space underneath.
Leng Cuizhu stood up and looked around, only to find herself staring at the man trapped in the hidden compartment.
"Zhenzhen!"
Leng Zhen's hands and feet were tied, and her mouth was stuffed with a rag so she couldn't make a sound.
He was huddled in the narrow, dark compartment, curled up in humiliation.
She reached out to pull Leng Zhen out, but suddenly withdrew her hand, glancing at the expression on the man beside her.
Chen Xun: "My lady, if you want to pull me, then do so. Could it be that I've tied up the wrong person?"
"no……"
She turned her head away and struggled to pull Leng Zhen out of the dark cellar, untying the ropes binding him.
A sudden chill ran down my neck, like a rabbit being grabbed by the neck, unable to move.
"I didn't give permission to untie you, did I?"
She withdrew her hand.
Leng Zhen cowered on the ground, her eyes fixed on the man in front of her, letting out a few painful whimpers.
It would have been better if he had just huddled in the dark compartment. Now, his cheeks were pressed against the floor, and he was lying on his stomach like a dog. The extra rope around his waist hung down from his back to his legs. When his body trembled, the rope swayed like a dog's tail.
Even more embarrassing.
Try not to look at the cold green candle.
Lord Chen was not so gentle; he kept nagging and criticizing.
"You have hands and feet, why would you steal?"
Does your mother know you're doing this?
"Won't she be furious with you for doing this outside?"
Leng Cuizhu: "..."
It's been so noisy, it's so annoying.
The constables reported that they had found twenty catties of mud and three catties of clothes and jewelry in Leng Zhen's room.
Leng Cuizhu admitted to everything. Indeed, none of the jewelry was hers; none of it was something she had never seen before.
As for the several large baskets of soil... perhaps they were dug from the yard, and Leng Zhen used them to grow medicinal herbs.
Surely no one would steal the soil?
Chen Xun: "That's right, the owner really did lose this much."
"No...you...uh!"
Leng Zhen's face was half-dry from tears, her eyes were bloodshot and red, and tears welled up in her eyes and fell to the floor.
The rag in his mouth was soaked with saliva and wrinkled beyond recognition.
Leng Cuizhu had never seen Leng Zhen look so aggrieved.
"Sir, what if someone has framed us..."
Chen Xun: "But my wife, there is not only physical evidence, but also witness testimony."
When she and Chen Xun arrived, the main hall of the yamen was filled with bailiffs on both sides, and the seat under the plaque in the middle that read "A Clear Mirror Hangs High" was empty, but the guest chair next to it was occupied.
Leng Cuizhu followed behind Chen Xun, and even with her head down, she looked extremely awkward.
...I always feel like others are watching me.
After Chen Xun sat down behind the three-foot-long desk, Leng Cuizhu dared to raise her eyes and unexpectedly met a gaze.
Yin Yuan sat on a guest chair, staring at her expressionlessly, his entire gaze fixed on her. It seemed he had been watching her ever since she entered the hall.
He was dressed in a black python robe, which made a strand of white hair on his shoulder stand out even more. A jade pendant was tied at his waist, which he was holding and stroking in his hand, staring at her with a chilling expression.
Why is Yin Yuan working here?
She hurriedly lowered her head, unwilling to look at the man's face.
Having not seen each other for so long, she didn't miss Yin Yuan; in fact, she wished they would never meet again. How could someone with a new love yearn for an old one?
Therefore, meeting again would only result in mutual loathing.
Why bother?
"Wife, why don't you sit down?"
Chen Xun pointed to a chair that had been placed next to Yin Yuan: "Please sit there, my wife. There aren't many chairs in the main hall, so please make do."
"……good."
She dared not trouble anyone else, gritted her teeth and sat down in that chair, the gazes clinging to her following her every move.
She lowered her head as much as possible, but could still catch glimpses of the unsightly figure beside her out of the corner of her eye, so she simply closed her eyes.
"Bring the suspect up."
Several constables dragged Leng Zhen, who was bound hand and foot, up the steps and forced him to kneel on the stone steps.
"Mmm..."
Chen Xun toyed with the wooden tablet on the table: "Alright, take the rag out of his mouth and let him talk."
As soon as the bailiff removed the rag from Leng Zhen's mouth, Leng Zhen cried out, "Mother!"
"Mother, save me! I've been framed!"
Leng Cuizhu didn't really want to get involved in this matter.
In the past, Yin Yuan wanted to drown Leng Zhen, but she was soft-hearted and went to great lengths to beg Yin Yuan. She even jumped into the lake to save Leng Zhen, but in the end, she ended up benefiting others.
As Chen Xun said, a child cannot live without a mother, but a mother can live without a child. She is herself first, and then she is a mother.
"Let's see what the evidence says."
Leng Zhen opened her mouth wide, her arms trembling as she supported herself on the stone steps, and suddenly roared, "Someone is trying to frame me! They're framing me! Don't you even understand that?"
"No...you definitely know what you're pretending for, right?"
He glared at Yin Yuan, who was sitting upright, and sneered, "Don't you know what he's thinking?"
Chen Xun flicked his sleeve: "Hey, hey, stop, stop... what nonsense are you talking about?"
“Young master, you are not allowed to make a sound, Leng Zhen. I am warning you this time. Now, if you have any explanation, then speak it out, but you are not allowed to make a sound or curse at others.”
Leng Cuizhu clenched the handkerchief in her hand.
She and Yin Yuan had only been in the county for a short time, and she had never gone out with Yin Yuan. It seemed that Chen Xun was unaware of her secret relationship with Yin Yuan.
So Yin Yuan has always kept quiet about this?
She glanced up at the man beside her, then met his indifferent, dark eyes. She paused for a moment, then looked away. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Yin Yuan finally turn his head back and stop looking at her.
"..."
"No need for explanations, just look at the witnesses."
Yin Yuan lowered his eyes and stroked the jade ring on his finger, his gray hair falling gently over his shoulder.
Leng Zhen: "What right do you have to point fingers here? Is being an official something to be proud of? You're doomed."
Chen Xun slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "How dare you! How dare you comment on Lord Yin so casually!"
You can insult me all you want, but you can't insult Lord Yin!
"Moreover, he is sitting here today as the plaintiff. You wretched child, you sneaked into the Yin residence and stole his wife's clothes and jewelry. Your intentions are despicable! He hasn't even said a word to reprimand you, and you've already taken advantage of his kindness? How ridiculous!"
After saying this, Chen Xun smiled and said to Yin Yuan, "My lord, don't get angry with this kind of person... He's just an eyesore of a petty thief. My lord, have some tea, drink some tea to calm down..."
Leng Cuizhu, standing to the side, didn't quite understand.
Leng Zhen stole Madam Yin's things? What's going on... Did Yin Yuan report this to the authorities?
How come I don't know anything about this?
She kept quiet and didn't say a word.
"Alright, someone come here and bring up the witnesses."
Leng Zhen suddenly realized something, turned her head and looked out of the hall in horror, her eyes wide open.
He cried out to Yin Yuan, "Father, I am your own child, your only child!"
"After you and your mother had your tryst, did you abandon me?"
"If you feel that I stay at home all day and am getting in your way, you can just tell me, and I will obediently go out and not interfere with your time with your mother!"
He smiled brightly, tears sliding down his lips and accumulating in his shallow dimples.
"At the very least, don't bring such sordid matters to your wife's door and ruin your relationship with her."
After he finished speaking, the hall fell silent; no one dared to speak first.
After all, who would have thought that Lord Yin, who outwardly never took concubines and only stayed with his childhood sweetheart, actually had an illegitimate child outside the marriage?
The whispers swirling around her made Leng Cuizhu panic. She couldn't understand why Leng Zhen would reveal her relationship with Yin Yuan in front of so many people.
My face was burning.
“Ah, this… this…” Chen Xun stammered.
"Who asked you?"
Yin Yuan stared at Leng Zhen kneeling on the stone steps and said coldly, "Knowing that you are in trouble, why are you still alive?"
"It's a good thing you weren't executed."
A bailiff stepped forward and presented a sealed letter, which was then handed to Yin Yuan to open.
"This is a testimony written by Yin Yinwan herself, every word of which is true." He glanced at it and handed the secret letter to the person next to him without making a sound.
Leng Cuizhu looked at the letter handed to her, hesitated for a moment, and finally took it.
"...?"
Chen Xun withdrew his hand and said softly, "Wife, please let me take a look after you're done reading, thank you."
The paper said that Lady Yin had been losing jewelry intermittently for a month, and the losses increased over time. Later, even her clothes started to go missing.
Even items like bellybands and undergarments that I don't wear often... I've lost several of them.
Before announcing the verdict, Chen Xun specifically ordered someone to gag Leng Zhen so that he could not utter a sound.
Although she couldn't speak, Leng Zhen's bloodshot eyes were enough to express her emotions.
Leng Cuizhu's mind was a complete mess; all she wanted was for the farce to end quickly and for her to go back.
The handkerchief in her hand was almost crumpled to pieces.
Chen Xun: "In that case, let's keep him in jail for six months!"
Half a year?
Leng Cuizhu looked up in surprise.
Leng Zhen collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.
"etc."
Yin Yuan turned his head and stared at her, his gaze sweeping over her face and then landing on the handkerchief in her hand, without uttering a word.
Leng Cuizhu was truly upset.
She turned away, ignoring Yin Yuan.
The outcome is none of her business. Leng Zhen is already eighteen and should be responsible for his actions; she can't keep indulging him forever.
However... half a year is indeed a bit long.
Yin Yuan slowly shifted his gaze: "First, give him thirty lashes, then lock him in jail."
"Imprisoned for one year."
Upon hearing this, Leng Zhen completely broke down, forcefully spitting out the rag from her mouth, along with a pool of blood.
His voice was hoarse: "Yin Yuan, Leng Cuizhu, you two whores and sluts, I'll go to hell! Why couldn't you just shoot it on the wall back then? Why did you have to get me pregnant and give birth to me? How have I wronged you two sluts?"
"So what if I really stole it? What does it have to do with you whether I steal it or not? What's wrong with stealing your wife's things? I didn't steal your wife. You can't even control your own lower body and don't know what the world is like in bed, so why do you care about me? Hurry up and fuck your hair to death."
"Utter foul language! How dare you speak like this!" Chen Xun slammed his fist on the table and stood up. "Guards, drag the sinner Leng Zhen away! Beat her with a cane until she's a bloody mess!"
In the end, Leng Cuizhu didn't see how Leng Zhen was beaten with a cane. She only heard intermittent cries coming from somewhere until she walked out of the yamen.
The cries grew weaker and weaker until they disappeared.
Chen Xun came out of the lobby and called out to her.
"My wife, don't be too sad."
"I will have the people inside take good care of Leng Zhen. As for Lord Yin... perhaps he has his own considerations."
"Just now in the lobby, I spoke a bit harshly to your child. It wasn't intentional; I was just frustrated by his mistake!"
Leng Cuizhu looked embarrassed.
Chen Xun really doesn't want to offend anyone.
"Yes, my lord, I understand."
Are you going back now?
"Why don't we go to my residence for tea? I have some freshly bought Biluochun tea from yesterday; I'm sure you'll like it."
"No need, I don't like drinking tea."
The man persisted: "Then, how about red date and goji berry soup? I'll have the maid make it for us."
He glanced away and then abruptly shut his mouth.
The chattering behind her stopped. Leng Cuizhu frowned, turned her head, and noticed the man leaning against the wall in the distance first.
Yin Yuan straightened up and walked slowly toward her, step by step, ignoring Chen Xun beside her.
He naturally took her wrist.
Her hand, which was twisting the handkerchief, froze.
The handkerchief was given to her by Chen Xun to wipe her mouth.
For some inexplicable reason, in this eerie atmosphere, she reached out and handed the handkerchief to Chen Xun.
Chen Xun's face turned pale instantly: "Wife... you don't need to return it, I'll give it to you..."
Before she could retract her hand, Yin Yuan dragged her towards the carriage by the roadside. She stumbled a few steps and fell into his arms. The man half-carried and half-held her as he pulled her into the carriage and threw her onto the soft couch.
She was still clutching the handkerchief given to her by Lord Chen, and she gripped it even tighter in fright.
Yin Yuan leaned down and encircled her in the corner of the couch.
Leng Cuizhu couldn't see the scene inside the carriage, nor did she want to look at the man; she closed her eyes and pursed her lips.
But she noticed that there were other people in the carriage.
"Tsk."
"The world is going to the dogs."
The woman in the carriage sighed and got off the carriage, clutching the rabbit in her arms.
At this point, Leng Cuizhu's last hope was gone.
She alone could not possibly resist Yin Yuan.
Unexpectedly, he simply kept her encircled on the couch and did nothing for a long time.
Leng Cuizhu opened her eyes groggily, her smooth hair falling down to her neck and slipperyly creeping into her chest.
Are you trying to force me to my death?
"Leng Cuizhu, are you still not satisfied even after this?"
He rarely looks so haggard.
Whether it was the strand of white hair hanging down her neck, his taut hand gripping her, or his lifeless, muffled whispers.
Leng Cuizhu didn't understand. What had she done to deserve such anger?
It was clearly Yin Yuan who had been pressuring her.
In those days, she was the only one who suffered. Yin Yuan always maintained an indifferent attitude.
"...I don't understand what you're saying."
Her entire face was turned back, forcing her to look directly at the man.
“You were extremely unwilling to kill Leng Zhen before.”
"Have you hardened your heart again now?"
A smile crept across the man's lips: "In that case, I'll kill him tomorrow."
"If it can't be controlled, nip it in the bud."
Her cheeks were pinched painfully, and she couldn't open her mouth, so she could only keep shaking her head.
"don't want?"
"Don't kill him or don't want me? Explain yourself."
"Speak."
Leng Cuizhu's face looked like it was about to be crushed, her features contorted in pain.
Yin Yuan has gone mad.
She had to find a chance to escape, otherwise she would not be able to withstand his relentless questioning.
"You've found someone else and you don't want me anymore, right?"
Yin Yuan released her hand, his fingertips sliding down her neck to unbutton her meticulously fastened cloak.
"Was it good to do it with him?"
"I know you've always looked down on me."
He lowered his head, took off the jade pendant from his waist, and tore off the tassel.
Leng Cuizhu suddenly realized.
That wasn't a jade pendant at all; those sections of beads strung together, a smooth and translucent jade pillar, were clearly...
She was terrified and hurriedly got up to run to the bedside, but before she could stand up straight, she was pulled back and pressed down on the couch, and the carriage jolted a bit.
"Madam, where are we going back to?"
"Of course we're going back home. Where else would we go? Back to your third aunt's or second aunt's house? If you don't want to work here, just say so."
The woman outside the carriage paused for a moment: "Untie one of the horses and give it to me."
"oh……"
Inside the carriage, Leng Cuizhu's skirt had been removed, revealing her naked body, with only a man's cloak draped over her back.
Her skin was taut all over, and it wasn't just her lips and teeth that were dry; she bit her lip and cried out after a short while.
The man in front of him hesitated for a moment.
The suffocating feeling disappeared, and she lifted her eyelids.
The jade pillar had been pulled out and placed beside her.
The man in front of her stuck out his tongue and licked his fingertips.
She tilted her head back, taking in and absorbing it inch by inch.
"The thought that other people have been to this place makes me want to vomit."
She closed her eyes, ignoring Yin Yuan.
Sweat beaded on his brow.
"..."
Her wrist was suddenly grabbed, and her right hand was forcibly pulled down until it reached the man's honey-coated fingers, which were slowly twitching.
"You touch it."
She didn't know what she was doing; her head was spinning as if it were submerged in water. She let the man pull her fingers and slowly insert them. Their fingers intertwined in the narrow passage, and he moved her along with him.
Tormented by intense shame, her taut skin relaxed, and sitting in the bumpy carriage, she felt as if she were floating on clouds, unable to hear any noise. The only sound was the gurgling of water, which flowed uncontrollably and dripped onto the floor.
Just as he was enjoying himself, the man withdrew his hand, glancing past the handkerchief on the couch that she had bitten a small hole in, and picked up the jade pillar.
Her parched lips and teeth were moistened, and she sighed very smoothly, but not every stroke of luck was so good.
There will always be something that gets blocked, as a form of punishment.
Yin Yuan stared intently, pushed it in a little, and only withdrew his hand after it stopped.
He lifted his eyelids.
Leng Cuizhu's lips were slightly parted, her mouth brimming with saliva.
She pouted and spat on the man's face.
The clear liquid slid down the man's brow, tracing the curve of his nose, and flowed down his cheek.
The water on his fingertips and the water on his face—for a moment, it was hard to tell which was more dejected.
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