Chapter 4: Those Who’ve Eaten Blood Steamed Buns
Yue Tang came out from the side courtyard and happened to run into the wet nurse and maidservant bringing He Jianzhong’s eldest son.
The child was held in the wet nurse’s arms. He was fair-skinned and chubby, and was wearing fine silk clothes.
He was crying, and when facing Yue Tang, Yue Tang bared her teeth and made a two-finger gouging eyes gesture at him.
He immediately cried even louder, causing the wet nurse to hurriedly soothe him.
Yue Tang laughed.
He Jianzhong was originally just a chiliarch, a nobody even in the imperial capital region.
But after that night in the dense forest, he suddenly rose to become General of Martial Virtue.
Afterward, the entire He family gnawed on blood buns and began to enjoy wealth and honor; even the two-year-old child was wrapped in brocade clothes, with crowds of servants.
Yet that child, who had done nothing over the past three months, died under the He family members’ swords and ended up in the bellies of starving wolves.
Yue Tang brushed back her hair and walked to the corner of the courtyard to poke at the fire in the small stove.
The flame lit up the corner.
Dawn was about to break.
From the neighboring courtyard came He Jianzhong’s roar: “The facts are right in front of us. Whether to report to the officials or settle privately, for the sake of our many years working together, I’ll let you choose!
“In short, I have only one thing to say: she must die!
“She must pay with her life for Xu’er!”
The Zhang family members had already arrived.
This was a matter of life and death. The dead one was the He family’s eldest son, their own son-in-law; they couldn’t escape responsibility.
On the way there, the Zhang family members had already heard the whole story and were already feeling guilty: “There might be a misunderstanding in the middle. Bring her over and let me question her…”
He Jianzhong refused.
Zhang Shaode became even more servile: “The dead can’t be brought back to life. Even if you kill her, what then?
“She has already given birth to the He family’s eldest grandson for you. Can you bear to let the child lose both his father and mother?
“Whether you send her to the manor or let her go to the temple to practice cultivation, I’ll accept it, alright?”
He Jianzhong slammed the table: “Without parents, there are still grandparents! I just want her dead!”
Yue Tang poured new medicinal herbs into the medicine pot, added water, and set it on the stove.
When a water droplet fell into the fire with a sizzle, the butler dashed into the corridor in one stride, then panted as he rushed into the neighboring courtyard.
“Master! Eldest Young Mistress, she, she has taken her own life!”
The flame under the pot dimmed slightly, but with the added firewood, it burned even brighter!
“What?!”
Madam Zhang rushed out from the neighboring courtyard first.
Following closely were Zhang Shaode and his son, He Jianzhong and his second son He Hui.
Everyone ran toward the main house.
Dawn was breaking, and the horizon showed crimson morning glow.
“What happened now?!”
Madam He was startled awake and asked through the window.
Yue Tang walked to the doorway: “It seems something happened to Eldest Young Mistress. Does Madam need me to go take a look?”
“Go quickly!”
Facing such a great disaster, how could Madam He still care about choosing whom to send?
Yue Tang arrived at the main house.
In the unlocked room, all the windows were tightly shut. Zhang Shi lay wide-eyed in fury in a pool of blood under the corner of the table, with a large bloody hole in her temple still oozing blood!
Madam Zhang had already fainted atop her daughter’s corpse.
Zhang Shaode grabbed He Jianzhong’s collar: “You He fellow, give me back my daughter! Your He family drove my daughter to her death!”
He Jianzhong had his teeth knocked out and, with a mouthful of blood, asked the butlers: “What are you all doing? Why did you let her die?!”
He did want Zhang Shi to pay with her life, but before negotiating with the Zhang family, she had taken her own life—that was a different matter altogether.
The reason he waited for the Zhang family to arrive before executing Zhang Shi was precisely to prevent the Zhang family from making unreasonable trouble.
Who would have thought the feared thing would happen: Zhang Shi had been crying and shouting that it wasn’t her who poisoned, and then she turned around and suicided! How could the Zhang family not go mad? He Jianzhong also went mad!
At this moment, He Jianzhong took another punch to the face from Zhang Shaode and couldn’t help roaring: “This is her committing suicide out of guilt! She knew she couldn’t escape, so she sought death!”
“You still dare to spout nonsense? Then I’ll beat this old bastard to death first!”
Zhang Shaode’s second punch came flying.
Zhang Shi’s brother was also furious, handed his mother to the servants, and then swung his fist at He Jianzhong!
How could He Hui stand idly by?
He rushed up to break up the fight, but who listened to him? First his left cheek took a punch from Zhang Shi’s brother, then he got kicked by Zhang Shaode.
Unable to take it, he swung back!
With Zhang Shi still lying in the pool of blood, the two families were already punching and kicking, fighting together!
Yue Tang turned back to the main chamber and carefully recounted everything she had seen and heard.
Madam He was both shocked and angry: “Outrageous! Outrageous! The Zhang family is bullying us too much!”
Yue Tang said: “The Zhang family is turning the tables against us. Does Madam need to send someone to report to the officials?”
“……Go quickly! Hurry and report to the officials! We can’t let them act so arrogantly!”
The maidservant didn’t dare disobey and hurried off.
Madam He collapsed on the couch and wailed: “That poisonous woman killed my son, and she still has the face to commit suicide? How does the Zhang family have the face to demand justice?!”
Yue Tang sat on the edge of the couch and said in a low voice: “Madam, steady yourself. I’ve heard that Master has had smooth official fortune these past few years and great luck, making the He Residence prosper day by day. If something were to happen to you now, this vast family estate would only benefit others, wouldn’t it?”
Hearing this, Madam He had no choice but to muster some spirit.
The He Residence had great luck, and that luck was thanks to her.
That year, she used her dowry money to snatch two top-quality old wild ginseng roots to save the Marquis’s Mansion young master’s life, and later the Marquis of Guangling thought of employing He Jianzhong when issuing the secret order to ambush Princess Yongjia.
He Jianzhong took on that assignment and later successfully killed Princess Yongjia, earning merit that propelled him from chiliarch to fifth-rank general.
Being able to have Princess Yongjia die at the hands of the He family and make the He family prosper—that was all the good fortune she brought!
If she were to pass away, would He Jianzhong definitely remain a widower for her?!
He was only in his early forties; if he remarried a concubine to fill the house, wouldn’t she have just been making wedding clothes for others?
Thinking of this, Madam He sat up and gazed deeply at Yue Tang: “Who would have thought—you’re actually a sensible person.”
Yue Tang sighed: “Having earned Madam’s trust, I naturally think of everything from Madam’s perspective.
“It’s just that Madam has been ill for some time now. It was only just getting better, and then this incident happened. Who knows if it’s offended some deity?
“I’ve heard that offended ghosts and gods, or wronged spirits, will use every means to retaliate when a person’s body is weak.
“Madam has treated me kindly. Tomorrow, I will definitely go to Xiangguo Temple again to light incense for Madam.”
“……Wronged spirit?”
Madam He, who had just relaxed, tensed up all over again.
Out of nowhere, where did a wronged spirit come from?
Could it be Princess Yongjia?!
That princess, born on the same day as the current emperor, doted on immensely by the former emperor and empress, was also prophesied by a high monk alongside the emperor to carry baleful influence in the womb.
To avert the ominous prophecy, the emperor went to his maternal uncle’s residence in Jiangling as a youth, while she moved out of the prince’s mansion at age six to live outside the capital. Thereafter, except for imperial clan summons, she never appeared in the capital again, and even her wedding was held low-key in the outskirts of the capital.
The child she bore with her son-in-law was both their eldest son and had been approved by the former emperor as the future heir of Prince Duan’s Mansion!
Yet such a nobly precious mother and son both died unjustly at the hands of the He family members. If there were wronged spirits, it could only be them, right?
