Chapter 147 Dong Xinlan hanged herself from a beam
Madam Luo thought that made sense and asked Mammy Tang if she had a right person. Then Mammy Tang mentioned Third Lord’s remarried wife Ms. Liang.
A few days ago, Madam Luo got the letter from Third Lord. It said that Lu Feng Escort would send Ms. Liang and his son Baiji back to home. Besides, it said that Ji’s skills of writing, riding and archery all made great progress in the past year. However, there weren’t good academies in north, so Third Lord wanted his son to study in Chengxu Academy in Yangzhou City.
Although those in “Women Institute” in Chengxu Academy must pass a strict exam, “Men Institute” was an institute with universal education that just needed some money to go in. Recently, Sun Yanbin of Sun’s Mansion in Yangzhou City, who was the Second Place in the exam of literature and the Third Place in the exam of martial arts, was from the Men Institute in Chengxu Academy. It was a great honor to Chengxu Academy which seemed to make Chengxu Academy beyond Yinghui Academy in capital. That was the main reason that Third Lord planned to send his son to Chengxu Academy.
The remarried wife of Third Lord Ms. Liang was 27 years old and married into Luo’s Family more than 5 years, but she didn’t give birth so far. And Second Master Luo Baiji, the child of Third Lord and his first wife, had been living with his wet nurse all the time and wasn’t raised by Ms. Liang. So, Mammy Tang got a perfect idea. Yi who didn’t have her mother around her and Ms. Liang who hadn’t her baby yet, just liked two semicircles that could consist of a complete circle. They were perfect to each other!
When Madam Luo was ready to agree Mammy Tang’s proposal, Miss Ji suddenly knocked on the door and came in. She said, “According to Liu Li Tang, First Younger Mistress Luo killed herself!”
“What! Elder Sister-in-law killed herself, didn’t she?” He Danggui was a little shocked. She paused a second while she was cutting hair. She asked, “Mammy, then why you still have the time to come my room? Why don’t you go to Second Aunt-in-law’s room to discuss how to announce the death to Fuzhou City?”
“Um.” Mammy Tang choked off a moment and said, “Although First Younger Mistress Luo tried to kill herself, she didn’t succeed. In fact, according to Qiaoshu, First Younger Mistress Luo suddenly drove everyone out of Liu Li Tang and put out every light. After a while, there was a sound like a stool falling to the ground. Then they ran into the room and saw that First Younger Mistress Luo hanged herself from a beam. Her face was pale and sallow, and she looked like her soul had already gone to the hell!”
“… And?”
“And she was saved.”
He Danggui was still surprised, “Since she was saved, Mammy shouldn’t be here either. The room Elder Sister-in-law lived must be a mess now. And I remember that you have said that the natal family of First Younger Mistress Luo will come to Yangzhou City to visit lakes next month. We will be ashamed of letting them to see First Younger Mistress Luo’s sallow face and a blood stain on her neck.”
Mammy Tang nodded and clapped her hands. She said, “We know that. You’re very right!”
“You mean…”
“Oh, actually,” Mammy Tang told the whole story, “First Younger Mistress Luo missed Zhu very much when she was in sickness, and she wanted to take care of Zhu around her. But Doctor Wu said that Zhu has turned for the better since he lives with you. So, Madam Luo let me ask you that if you’re willing to take care of First Younger Mistress Luo in Liu Li Tang with Zhu?”
He Danggui combed her hair with her fingers and smiled. She said, “Go to Liu Li Tang to take care of her… Of course, I do, but what about Elder Sister-in-law and Zhu? We’ll wait for their decisions.”
Mammy Tang saw Third Miss agree that, so she couldn’t but be happy. She said, “Then the thing is done. By the way, Madam Luo let me ask you what you have heard last night. The word was said by Madam Luo when she moved close to your ear… When you were drinking tea with the assassin.”
“Oh, that word.” He Danggui tilted her head and said, “I heard vaguely something like ‘green flagstone’. I was very nervous at that time, and all things in my mind was how to pour tea steadily. So, I had no time to talk to Madam Luo.”
Mammy Tang relieved and said, “You didn’t hear it clearly, did you? Then forget it. And that thing doesn’t place at that green flagstone now.”
“OK. I’ll forget it.” He Danggui drank a sip of Distilled Osmanthus Drink and asked, “Mammy, Jiugu, do you want to drink more? Don’t mention it. I made a lot.”
The two people shook their hands at the same time. Jiugu explained, “Although it smells good and tastes delicious, my stomach doesn’t feel well these days. I hope Third Miss doesn’t mind that I can’t drink more.”
He Danggui smiled, “Jiugu, don’t be a stranger. It’s my fault that I can’t treat you well. Ah, I’m about to tell Chan Yi to heat up some water to make tea. Who knows where she is now? Maybe she is taking a rest somewhere. I’ll get her to heat up water right now!” The truth was Mammy Tang let Chan Yi and other maids go away when she came in. So, He Danggui was really telling a blatant lie.
With this, Mammy Tang pulled her back to the stool, “Don’t worry. Third Miss. We have other things to talk, and we always have time to drink hot tea.”
Mammy Tang’s words reminded herself of lacking water in Tao Yao Yard. She went here sometimes just not having hot water to drink. But Third Miss who lived here must heat up water to drink and bath every day. So, Mammy Tang considered a second and said, “Second Madam takes charge of heating up water, so we can’t interfere in. So, your drinking water still needs you to heat up. Anyway, a few people needn’t too much water, and I’ll transfer several maids to help. As for the water to bath… Although I don’t have the power to let you bath at a hot spring, there are lots of water in Madam Luo’s Ganjiu hot spring, and she can’t use them all. So, how about this? I’ll ask maids to pull two carts of water by buckets in the morning and noon every day, and then you can bath by this.”
The more He Danggui listened, the more shock she got. How luck she was! In spite of her good ears, she couldn’t help reaffirming, “Two carts a day? The hot spring only Madam Luo can use? Are you sure?”
Ganjiu hot spring was the best one among the three hot springs in Luo’s Mansion. It not only had comfortable temperature and concentration, but kinds of beneficial medicinal herbs were put in. According to Mammy Tang, the reason was “Madam can’t use them all”, but it was wasted for years. Why could she suddenly get the benefits? In the previous life, Dong Xinlan, Ms. Zhao and Ms. Liang all wanted to use the water, but all failed… Was it for awarding her? Ho-ho.
Mammy Tang smiled and narrowed her eyes into a slit. She patted Third Miss’s shoulder and said, “Exactly! Well, let me help you get a haircut.” After saying, she picked up a scissors to cut and finally noticed the much strands of hair had been on the floor since she came into the room. She was surprised and said, “Ah, why did you cut those hair? That’s not auspicious!”
He Danggui still forced herself to lie, “My hair is too long to wash, so I cut them half off. Since there is hot water, it’s so convenient that I needn’t cut my hair anymore.”
Mammy Tang felt pity for her. Just like the old saying that a child without mother around her would live like a grass. Third Miss needed to cut her beautiful hair, just for inadequate hot water… When Third Madam came back to home, Mammy Tang would help Third Madam adopt Third Miss as a daughter and let Third Miss get some maternal love from Third Madam.
Seeing Third Miss’s thin body, Mammy Tang felt sympathized to her. Her impression to Third Miss was even much better after last night. She had always thought that Third Miss was quiet and coward. But it was unexpected that she was a tough girl when something happened. When Mammy Tang saw the assassin chop the table from a distance, she, an old experienced servant and was willing to die for her owner, scared a lot… What a beautiful, smart and kind Miss! No wonder Childe Ning wanted to marry her.
“As for your monthly allowance, meal, clothes and daily use,” Mammy Tang continued, “I represented Madam Luo to instruct the administrators, and you’ll never lack these. Actually, Second Madam doesn’t know the thing, so she must be a little unhappy when she knows. But I heard that she went back to her natal family in a hurry yesterday. Sun Yanbin, Fifth Master of Sun’s Mansion, who was the Second Place in the exam of literature and the Third Place in the exam of martial arts, came back from Northern Zhili Area (areas directly administered by the capital)! What an excellent person in both literature and martial arts!”
He Danggui tilted her head and said, “The Second Place in the exam of literature and the Third Place in the exam of martial arts?” Strange! She never heard about that in her previous life.
“Ah. Don’t move your head or I can’t cut them properly.” Mammy Tang said while holding a scissors to cut, “It can be assumed that Second Madam can’t be very mad at you because of her promising brother. And it was Madam Luo’s idea that you live in Fourth Miss’s yard. It’s not your fault. Second Madam treats you strictly but also cares for you. You should learn to understand her.”
“That’s right.” He Danggui’s hands were squeezing in her sleeves. She said, “I’m back for a few days and don’t meet Second Aunt-in-law yet. Every time I think of it, I feel sad. How about meeting her by congratulating her brother?” Everyone in Luo’s Mansion knew that Second Madam disliked He Danggui very well. In the previous life, when He Danggui wanted to pay respects to visit Second Madam, she couldn’t even be allowed to meet her but was sent away. One day, there was happy laughter and cheerful voices in the poetry tea party at Bao Qin Ge. She asked a maid to report, waiting for an hour, but no one let her in. Then, she couldn’t help sneaking in. Looking at them through the hollow part of the wall, she admired those peers who were laughing and playing together.
While Second Madam was a vicious woman, it was her who didn’t want to meet He Danggui. However, she complained to Madam Luo that every Master and Miss respected her very much and visited her at intervals. Even little Zhu knew to play with her with his garlands. Except the arrogant Yi, Yi never gave her morning or evening visits every day. With this, Madam Luo shook her head and taught He Danggui how to respect her elders and be a sweet girl to make her Second Aunt-in-law love her more.
Now, He Danggui initiatively asked for visiting Second Madam in front of Mammy Tang who could be a witness.
“You want to visit her, don’t you?” Mammy Tang hesitated with a frown and said, “How about waiting for a few days? Recently, Second Madam is in excitement, and many guests… We had better not disturb her.” The “we” meant only Third Miss.
He Danggui smiled and looked down. She always thought people in Luo’s Mansion in her previous life were blind. They could see that she wasn’t allowed to visit Second Aunt-in-law, but it wasn’t that she was not willing to visit. They still blamed her for disrespect. It turned out that they knew that well. They weren’t blind in eyes but in minds. He Danggui said, “I’m okay with that, and I will just wait for some days. Now, I can congratulate her in my mind… By the way, how old is the Uncle Sun? Where does he study literature and martial arts? How outstanding he is.”
Seeing that Third Miss decided not to meet Second Madam in a reasonable way, Mammy Tang was satisfied and explained to her patiently, “Fifth Master, Sun Yanbin in Sun’s Family, is 24 years old and two years older than First Master, but he is a promising man. Regardless of his family’s objection, he gave up literature for a military career in his early years. He joined the Northwest army and killed enemies in the battlefield for years. Before the New Year, he came back home and became a private adviser around a Master Geng. Then after he studied at Chengxu Academy for just a year, he took the literature and martial arts imperial examination. He passed them in one shot! We can’t imagine this kind of person shows up in our family.”
“Master Geng?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s his official position?”
“I’m not clear.” Mammy Tang shook her head and asked in reply, “Why do you inquire this? You definitely don’t know whoever he is.”
He Danggui knew she said something wrong, so she smiled and said, “Since I can’t meet Second Aunt-in-law, how about visiting my Second Sister? Her Fifth Uncle achieved success, so she must be excited in her sickbed.”
“Sickbed?” Mammy Tang was strange and stopped her cutting. She said, “I don’t know Second Miss is in sickness!”
He Danggui was stranger than her and said, “What? The Second Sister broke her legs yesterday. We were all present. How can you don’t know it?”
Mammy Tang was embarrassed. She forgot that people saw Second Miss ran away when Madam Luo and Third Miss were seized. But Third Miss missed the scene, so she believed Second Miss broke her legs. What a silly girl. Smart people knew that she was pretended.
But Mammy Tang didn’t intend to tell her the truth. The one reason was Sun’s Family was honorable now, so Luo’s Family must take care of the people in Sun’s Family. So, skipping this kind of embarrassing thing wasn’t bad. The other reason was Second Miss was a little girl. How could people expect her fighting with the assassin? Second Madam trained her to learn Guqin, Go, calligraphy, painting and tea art but not sword.
Madam Luo was a little angry at first, but after Mammy Tang’s persuasion, she thought Second Miss was her own granddaughter, so the only thing she could do was to instruct her granddaughter slowly when she was naughty and insensible. As for her first granddaughter Luo Baiying, Madam Luo was in a big fury. She loved the granddaughter more than Shao since First Miss was in childhood. The minor reason was they had same disposition. The major reason was her mistake caused the granddaughter’s disease that First Miss couldn’t marry others. So, she had been trying to make up for First Miss. But looked what First Miss did in the crucial moment! How cruel and selfish the First Miss was! She would never forgive the granddaughter!
On the other side, Luo Baiying knew she had offended Madam Luo much when she came back to Wu Shang Yard last night. At Luo’s Family, her father was too busy to see her, and her mother wasn’t close to her. Now she offended Madam Luo who loved her most. So, she was so regretted that she couldn’t stay still. She sat, stood and went in circles all the time. She shouldn’t have gone to Xin Rong Hall. Who wrote that note to guide her to there? Shit! She lost the love of Madam Luo now, so her life in Luo’s Family would be harder. But marriage couldn’t be her solution. What she could do was gradually accumulate private savings for her future.
Mammy Tang didn’t want to tell the broken legs of Second Miss in detail, so she just said that He Danggui could play with her in a few days. Actually, that didn’t work. They were about to study together in academy.
“Third Miss, Jiugu and I came here for another thing.” Mammy Tang thought of another important thing, so she skipped the matter of Second Miss, looking down to carefully notice the expression of Third Miss, “You know what? Childe Ning and Childe Feng left without saying last night.”
He Danggui’s face showed a proper shock, “What? Left?”
Mammy Tang didn’t get any message from her face, so she asked her directly, “Third Miss. Does the Childe Ning, Ning Yuan, like you? What kind of business his family does except jewelry?”
He Danggui’s heart skipped a beat. Did Ning Yuan break his promise? Did he say something he shouldn’t say to Madam Luo before he left? Or did he find that silver needle wasn’t poisonous? So, he decided to ruin her reputation to revenge, didn’t he?
“Ho-ho. Ning Yuan?” He Danggui squeezed her hands hard in her sleeves and said, “Oh. That Childe treated my losing memory disease last time. I seemed to listen from him. The most impressed thing in his mind was our hospitality to guests. And he not only likes me, but Madam Luo and Wei. As for the business of his family... Mammy, you must be confused. I don’t know at all.”
“Look at this, Third Miss.” Mammy Tang took out the scroll of painting which was held by Jiugu all the time and spread it slowly. She asked, “The person in the painting is you, right? And at the corner of the painting has a poem Jiangchengzi. Is that a famous love poem?”
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“What?!” Ming Ri asked Ming Yue with anger, “The lord gave the jade pendant with Azure Dragon to that bitch? It’s an imperial treasure! What if something bad happens because someone else gets it?”
“Shh. Keep your voice down.” Ming Yue patted him and said in a low voice, “Our lord is healing himself inside. What if he hears something like bitch and queries us? You will expose that you led officials to surround Luo’s Mansion.”
“I don’t care. I did that, so I should be responsible for it. And I dare to do and dare to let the lord know!” Ming Ri said coldly, “Ming Yue, it’s our lord’s order that you come back to Daning to place Song You under house arrest. And Lord Jin, Zhu Gang, wanted his sister-in-law Xie Qiaofeng, Earl Yongping’s second daughter, to be our lord’s princess. You come to mediate with Lord Jin. I’m worried about our lord being here alone. He must go to meet that bitch. I’ll stay here to watch him.”
Ming Yue nodded and said, “OK. Take care. When I finish the things in Daning during half of a month, I’ll take Childe Chang to meet you.”
“Take care.”
“You too.”
Then the two friends stared at each other and hugged for long time. Zhu Quan, who was healing himself in the secret room, still didn’t know that his subordinates had already selected a princess for him. After all, he had considered in a league with Lord Jin several months ago. Now his subordinates wanted to solve this for him and give him the big surprise. But the proper princess he loved was intending to tear his painting into pieces now.
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