Yunchu’s Vengeance - Chapter 105
Chapter 105 - It is His Turn to Choose
The night was dark, and the stars were sparse.
Madam He was locked inside the woodshed situated in the secluded corner of the courtyard.
In this quiet and isolated space, her mind grew sufficiently clear, and she slowly pieced together just what was going on.
This was undoubtedly a joint scheme orchestrated by Concubine Yu and Concubine Tao. Those curse effigies must have been crafted by Concubine Tao, while that master was likely hired using silver provided by Concubine Yu. The Mistress must have been fully aware of their plot and deliberately fueled the flames to push things along...
Once the Master returned to the manor, he would surely grant her justice.
As she was pondering this, she heard the sound of the door lock shifting. Guiding her vision by the moonlight filtering in from outside, she saw two figures step inside.
One was An'er, and the other was Ping'er.
A look of joy flashed through her eyes.
Ever since returning to the Xie family, the children had rarely sought her out proactively in order to avoid arousing suspicion.
Every time she had run into trouble in the past, the children had never once come to visit her. To be completely honest, as their biological mother, her heart had felt more or less a sense of desolation.
Yet right now, seeing the two siblings appear inside the woodshed, that trace of desolation vanished completely into thin air in an instant.
She knew it! In the children's hearts, she, their biological mother, was irreplaceable.
"Why have the two of you come?"
Madam He stood up and hurried forward to welcome them.
Xie Ping stood behind Xie Shian, gripping the handkerchief in her hands so tightly that her knuckles turned white, utterly at a loss for what to say.
Xie Shian spoke, his voice tense, "Your situation—both the Old Madam and the Mistress know everything."
Madam He's body swayed violently. "An'er, what did you just say? I didn't catch it clearly. Repeat it for me."
"Your grandfather was He Tao, the Minister of Revenue from over twenty years ago. You are a descendant of the He family, and the three children you gave birth to are all descendants of a convicted official," Xie Shian said, his voice scraped raw and hoarse to the extreme. "Even though the imperial court did not completely exterminate every last member of the He family, it will absolutely never allow the descendants of a convicted official to pursue an official career, nor will it ever permit Eldest Sister to marry into the imperial family... Because of your identity, our futures are doomed to be ruined."
Madam He felt as though her heart had been gripped tightly by someone, making even drawing a breath a difficult task. "H-How could anyone have found out?"
She had hidden herself so thoroughly, changing her surname and dwelling far away from her ancestral lands—just who on earth had managed to investigate and uncover her true identity?
She was well aware that a descendant of the He family could never step foot into official service, let alone marry an imperial prince. Because of this, she had never dared to act openly as the children's mother.
She had endured in silence for all these years, voluntarily handing her three children over to someone else to raise—why had her efforts still fallen short at the very last step?
Her knees grew weak, and she collapsed backward against the wall.
Xie Shian walked over, steadied her arm, and helped her sit down upon the straw mat spread across the floor of the woodshed. "Those embroidered pieces you sold out there were spotted by someone with discerning eyes. Right now, they are investigating the Xie family and looking into your identity."
Madam He's lips trembled.
Not long ago, all the private funds she had managed to save had been completely stripped away by that wretched woman Concubine Tao, and the silver she had stored away in the money shop had been gambled away entirely by her good-for-nothing brother. Penniless and unable to take a single step without hardship within the Xie estate, she had genuinely been left with no other choice before she took those embroidered handkerchiefs and screens out to exchange them for money...
Why, even after more than twenty years had passed, could someone still recognize the needlework techniques of the He family?
"Mother."
Xie Shian suddenly called out in a low voice.
This single word—Mother—dragged Madam He's memories back across many years. Back then, she was Xie Jingyu's external concubine, and all three children were raised right by her side.
Ping'er was sensible, An'er was clever, and Weiqi'er was mischievous. They were all her children, spending their days gathered around her and calling her mother.
Ever since the children had returned to their ancestral lineage and acknowledged their formal heritage, apart from Weiqi'er occasionally letting slip the title of mother, she had never heard that form of address from the lips of An'er and Ping'er again.
Madam He's eyelashes fluttered, and tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.
For reasons unknown, a powerful sense of unease suddenly welled up inside her heart. This utterance of mother brought that foreboding terror to its absolute peak.
She reached out and gently touched Xie Shian's face. "An'er, in the future... in the future, don't call me mother anymore. With an identity like mine, I will only ever hold back your future prospects... Let your father send me away. I cannot drag all of you down with me..."
"Will everything truly be fine just by you leaving? The Old Madam said, said..." Xie Ping bit down hard on her lower lip, pausing for a long time before she finally forced out, "If you truly care for our sakes, then you should... you should..."
The final few words stuck in her throat, refusing to come out no matter what, as if her windpipe had been blocked solid by something.
Xie Shian suddenly recalled the story his mother had told him two months prior.
It was a tale about a farm wife who raised three children who were not her own flesh and blood, yet she poured her heart and soul into raising them all the same.
Yet one day, the farm wife became embroiled in a treason plot, and those three children, for the sake of their clan, turned around and killed the farm wife who had acted as their adoptive mother.
At the time, his mother had asked him whether those three children were in the right or in the wrong...
How had he answered back then?
He could no longer remember.
Now, it was his turn to make a choice.
He found it hard to believe that he required not a single shred of hesitation before making the choice that proved most advantageous to himself.
For the very first time, he realized that he was nothing more than such a selfish, cold-blooded monster.
He pulled a porcelain vial out from his sleeve. "This was given by Father. Drink it down, and within the span of an incense stick you will slowly drift off to sleep, passing away peacefully without pain..."
Madam He's pupils constricted violently.
She finally understood what the unease in her heart had been pointing to—it was the child she had carried in her womb for ten months who was now about to feed her poison.
She could have accepted it if it had been anyone else—even if it were the Old Madam.
Why did it have to be An'er and Ping'er?
"No!!"
Unable to contain herself, Madam He let out a piercing shriek.
"Mother." Xie Shian, however, remained exceptionally calm. "Hundreds of members of the He family perished in that case over twenty years ago, and a centuries-old aristocratic clan like the He family was wiped out just like that. Today, when the He family is mentioned, how many people in the capital even remember them? In the last final testament left behind by our great-grandfather before his passing, it was written clearly in black and white that he hoped the descendants of the He family would one day clear the He family's name and restore its former glory. It was precisely because I held onto this conviction that I was able to top the imperial county examinations at the tender age of twelve..."
Madam He burst into heartbroken sobs.
When the calamity befell the He family, she had already reached an age where she could remember things clearly. As the youngest legitimate granddaughter of the He family, she had been exceptionally cherished by her grandfather.
She knew her grandfather's dying wish, but she had always considered herself incapable of achieving it. As for that good-for-nothing wastrel He Xu, restoring the He family was even more of an impossibility.
All of their hopes rested entirely upon An'er...
If An'er's identity as a descendant of the He family were to be exposed, then An'er would be barred from entering the Imperial College, forbidden from taking the imperial examinations, and utterly disqualified from pursuing an official career...
Madam He's weeping echoed outward from the interior of the woodshed.
Standing at the foot of the steps, Yun Chu listened to every single word spoken by the mother and her children with crystal clarity.
She thought back to her past life, when under a similarly moonlit night, she had been persuaded by Xie Shian to drink poisoned wine, urged to lay down her life for the sake of the Xie family.
At that time, the matter concerning the Yun family had yet to reach a conclusion; how could she possibly have been willing to die? And so, several of her children had rushed forward to pin her down, forcing that deadly poison down her throat...
What she had been forced to drink was toxic vulture wine; once the poison entered her intestines, the agony tore through her limbs, bones, and every single internal organ.
The poison Madam He was about to drink was painless, allowing her to slip away into death without a sound—in comparison, it could almost be considered a form of fortune.
Madam He, however, did not feel fortunate in the slightest.
Driven to her death by her very own biological son and daughter—just how many sins must one have accumulated in a past life to suffer such heart-rending torment?
Seeing that Madam He remained motionless, Xie Ping stepped forward, picked up the porcelain vial, and removed the lid. A gentle fragrance drifted out into the air as she said with a trembling voice, "Are you waiting for us to force you to drink it?”