As darkness fell completely, on this moonless night, lanterns were lit everywhere, and the entire Marquis's residence was brilliantly illuminated.
Outside the walls of Guanju Courtyard, figures kept flashing by.
Outside the east wall, Madam Zhou stood far from the lanterns, where the light and shadow flickered, illuminating only half of her face, which appeared very indifferent.
A breeze blew by, and she caught a faint scent of tung oil.
Granny Kang came over and whispered in her ear, "Madam, the firewood and tung oil are ready. It looks like it's going to rain. Are you sure it will work?"
Madam Zhou looked up at the sky, which was pitch black and she couldn't see whether there were clouds or not. But she said, "Granny, I was thinking that if it really rained, it would prove that she was not meant to die."
“But look, Granny, the sky has cleared up now, the wind is no longer damp, and the thunder and lightning have disappeared. This means she deserves to die.”
Granny Kang sighed and said very softly, "But Madam, she is your daughter."
These words sounded like they were being spoken to oneself, a feeling of unbearable guilt.
But when Madam Zhou heard this, a hint of reluctance flashed in her eyes, but it quickly disappeared.
“Granny, it is precisely because she is my own daughter that I must kill her. I cannot allow her to continue to do evil in the world; she will kill even more people,” Madam Zhou said.
Granny Kang looked at her and just sighed.
Madam Zhou continued, “She disrespected her grandmother, causing her grandmother to be sad and angry, which is the first fault; she obstructed her elder brother’s fine marriage, which is the second fault; she conspired with Cunsi to frame her elder brother, causing him to be disgraced, which is the third fault.”
"She punished the second wife... fine, let's say the second wife deserved it; but she personally ruined Ya Ya's face, Ya Ya is her own sister, how could she do that? She's a cold-blooded and heartless beast!"
As she spoke, Madam Zhou seemed to harbor a deep-seated hatred for Ye Qingxue.
"The Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion was built by her father through blood and sweat, but she doesn't care about it at all. She only wants to destroy the entire mansion. Granny, how can I tolerate such a daughter?"
Silence.
After a long while, Granny Kang could only sigh, seemingly unsure of what else to say.
Madam Zhou moved closer to her and continued, "Granny, perhaps I should have let her die when she was two years old. If that had happened, none of this would have happened."
"Perhaps, I should have risked my life to stop the Marquis back then and asked the Emperor to grant her and Prince Ding a marriage. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone mad and become so vicious."
"Shouldn't she give in to what her younger sister likes? Ya Ya is younger than her, what's wrong with her giving in to Ya Ya this once? She and Prince Ding don't have any feelings for each other, it's not like we're not going to find her a better marriage!"
Silence. Granny Kang chose to remain silent.
Madam Zhou grasped her hand, looked into her eyes, as if making a decision: "Granny, I'm saving the Marquis's mansion. Killing her will save the mansion!"
Yes, she absolutely could not let the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion be destroyed by Ye Qingxue.
She would absolutely not allow her adopted son, Ye Cunjin, to be ruined by Ye Qingxue and Ye Cunsi.
She didn't believe Ye Cunjin would do such a thing. She was certain that Ye Qingxue wanted to destroy the Marquis's mansion and eliminate its members one by one. Ye Cunjin was the sacrifice chosen by Ye Qingxue.
Ye Cunxi had already defiled Miss Lan, which was a moral failing. Therefore, he was turned by Ye Qingxue and joined forces with her to deal with the Marquis's mansion.
These two devilish cousins were probably born to bring disaster to the Marquis's mansion. They must both die in Guanju Courtyard tonight for the Marquis's mansion to recover.
Ye Qingxue would never have imagined that the old lady's confinement of her was just a facade.
The purpose was to lull Ye Qingxue into a false sense of security so that she could set fire to Guanju Courtyard that night and burn Ye Qingxue and Ye Cunsi to death.
The old lady also summoned about ten guards to her side to obey her orders, ensuring that no one in Guanju Courtyard would be able to escape tonight.
"Granny, you've been by my side for so long, have you heard any thunder and lightning?" Madam Zhou looked up at the sky again.
“Look, the wind is much drier now, even the heavens approve of what I’ve done.”
Yes, she was eliminating the scourge of the Marquis's mansion; she was upholding justice.
Madam Zhou summoned the leader of the men below and said, "There's already a commotion inside. Set it on fire now."
At the foot of the wall, there were firewood, straw and tung oil. The guards first poured the tung oil onto the firewood and straw, then climbed up the wall, carried the firewood up, lit it, and finally threw it into the Guanju Courtyard.
Bundles of burning straw or firewood, doused with tung oil, rolled into Guanju's courtyard like fireballs.
Madam Zhou, accompanied by Granny Kang and several guards, walked to the main gate of Guanju Courtyard and coldly watched the fire spread little by little.
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