“That courtyard has been cordoned off, and the servants have been dismissed. You did not go inside, so how do you know about Chaolu and the others?”
The three children hadn't left the manor these past few days, and Chaolu and Chunni didn't even live in the same place, yet it was precisely the three of them who contracted the disease.
Ye Zhen pointed the wooden stick at Granny Chun's other arm, "Tell me, did you do it?"
Granny Chun was in so much pain that she almost fainted. Her eyes were bloodshot as she said, "Perhaps it was when the young mistress's two younger sisters came from the countryside that they brought the plague into the mansion and passed it on to Chaolu."
To protect them, the young mistress is now trying to frame this old servant... Ah..."
Another arm was broken.
Ye Zhen's voice was icy cold, "Granny Chun, answer my question, or I will slowly crush every bone in your body."
"A wild goose leaves a trace; whatever you've done, I'll eventually find out. It'll just take some time, but you can withstand a few more attempts by me to expose you."
In special times, violence is the most direct and effective way to deter.
If it weren't for the concern that Granny Chun might also get infected, since blood is easily contagious, Ye Zhen would have wanted to tear her to pieces.
She had a small notebook of her mother's, which was mixed in with the military books her master had carried to the army camp years ago.
The journal contained many strange symbols, and Ye Zhen could barely understand one page of it.
Because the characters on that page were similar to those in Oobuchi's handwriting, only they were incomplete.
The record is about smallpox vaccination and prevention.
Ye Zhen doesn't know if Ye Wantang obtained this manual in her previous life and learned from it, but in this life, Ye Zhen decides to give it a try.
But the old lady is a potential problem, and the other servants also need to be kept in check first.
Therefore, she wanted to use Granny Chun to expose the old lady's conspiracy in public and take the opportunity to intimidate others.
Granny Chun's two arms were both broken, and she fainted from the pain.
The old lady was angry, shocked, and somewhat fearful.
"Ye Zhen, you've gone mad! How dare you treat Granny Chun like this..."
"Someone, splash him awake."
Ye Zhen ignored her.
Fu Guang decided to stay and help Ye Zhen. When he learned that the old lady was causing trouble, he followed her and personally fetched water.
Granny Chun was awakened by the splashing, her body trembling uncontrollably, and she was in great pain all over.
She was frightened and looked at the old lady.
The old lady glared angrily at Ye Zhen, but before she could finish her scolding, Ye Zhen coldly told Granny Chun, "Three, two, one."
Granny Chun lost another leg.
Some of the timid servants dared not watch anymore, while others suspected that Ye Zhen was slandering Granny Chun and deliberately making an example of her to intimidate them.
Granny Chun was in so much pain that she wished she could die immediately, and she could indeed feel her life slipping away bit by bit.
The old lady had no intention of saving her, and in the end, she cried out, "Young mistress, spare me! I'll talk..."
"Ye Zhen, you must not force a confession out of me."
The old lady interrupted Granny Chun, launching an attack before she could reveal the truth.
"Does Grandmother know why Granny Chun knows about the children's situation?"
Ye Zhen looked at the old lady and said, "It's not too late for Grandmother to label me after Granny Chun has spoken."
The old lady was startled. She was indeed flustered by Ye Zhen's brutality. Not to mention Granny Chun, even a man might not be able to withstand Ye Zhen's methods.
She could clearly hear the sound of bones breaking; Granny Chun could not bear the pain.
If only Mannu were here, she would be the most loyal and unyielding among the foreign slaves.
The old lady inappropriately thought of the barbarian servant. Realizing the timing was wrong, she quickly came to her senses and explained, "She is an old servant of the household, so what's wrong with her being well-informed?"
But Granny Chun dared not delay, because Ye Zhen's wooden stick was now pointing at her other leg.
"Young mistress, please spare us! It wasn't smallpox, just a common smallpox. It was because I stuffed the infected handkerchief into their bedding that they got infected."
She gasped for breath, not daring to look at the old lady, and continued, "This old servant didn't want to either, but the old lady gave instructions..."
"nonsense."
The old lady interrupted her, "Ye Zhen, did you use such severe torture on her just to target me?"
"Do you know that I am the matriarch of the Marquis's household, the Marquis's own mother? This is insubordination and unfilial piety."
Ye Zhen seemed not to hear the old lady's clamor. She ordered someone to bring Chaolu's quilt without touching the bedding, and then looked at Chun Mama with even colder eyes.
Granny Chun hurriedly added, "The old lady said that if everyone thinks it's smallpox, she can punish you for your poor management and take back your management rights."
Ye Zhen asked, "Where did those handkerchiefs come from?"
Smallpox has not yet been detected in Beijing, so the epidemic should not have reached the city yet.
The old lady and Granny Chun didn't know it was smallpox, so the handkerchief probably wasn't something they got from a patient with the disease, but rather something someone gave to them.
"I don't know him. The old lady asked me to go to the herbal medicine shop in the south of the city to get medicine..."
Granny Chun's breathing grew weaker and weaker. "The other party deliberately knocked my medicine away and then took the opportunity to switch it with another one."
After I brought it back, the old lady told me to secretly stuff the handkerchief into their bedding.
The old lady's heart raced. "It's not me."
She denied it.
The old woman used a bamboo pole to lift the dewy quilt and put it on the ground. Ye Zhen gestured for everyone to cover their mouths and noses, and then used a knife to cut open the quilt, revealing a white handkerchief.
Upon closer inspection, the handkerchief also had yellow and brown stains, which should be the pus from sores on patients with the epidemic.
The evidence is conclusive!
Granny Chun was the old lady's person. In the face of severe punishment, it has always been the servants who took the blame for their masters, and very few dared to shift the blame onto their masters.
Today, the old lady once again made a fuss about leaving the mansion, and she brought up the matter of Chaolu and the others. Everyone already knows whether what Granny Chun said is true or false.
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