Yunchu’s Vengeance - Chapter 97
Chapter 97 - Madam He's Identity
A month ago, He Xu had been forced to leave the capital due to mounting debts. From that moment onward, Yun Chu had arranged for people to keep a close watch on him.
"After He Xu left the capital, he traveled straight in the direction of Jizhou," the page boy reported with his head lowered. "His ancestral home wasn't actually in Jizhou, but rather in Willow Village, located more than thirty li outside of Jizhou City. Once I arrived at the village, the younger folks didn't know anything, but using my wits, I swapped the surname He for He—wait, switching He with He—ah, let me rephrase: I swapped the surname He for He (Note: Chinese homophone characters or variants), or rather, I searched using a different spelling until I found out that there truly is a woman named He Lingying, who is He Xu's own younger sister."
Yun Chu's hand paused.
No wonder she had searched the entire capital high and low without finding any trace of the He family; it turned out their surname was actually He.
"I went to find the village chief to gather information. The moment I brought up the He family, the village chief wore an inscrutable expression, smoking his dry tobacco without uttering a single word. When I offered him silver, the village chief directly shut the door and refused to chat with me ever again... I stayed in Jizhou for half a month, growing close to the group of old grandmothers in the village before I finally managed to pry out a thing or two. The He family had moved into the village twenty-some years ago, consisting entirely of elderly women, matrons, and children under the age of seven. Every single one of them bore injuries, a truly tragic and horrifying sight. During the very first month after moving to the village, seven or eight people from the He family fell ill and died..."
"The younger generation of the He family—meaning He Xu's generation—was wiped out until only the two siblings remained. Exerting the strength of the entire clan, they managed to find a good marriage match for He Lingying, but this humble servant was incompetent and failed to find out which household He Lingying was married into."
Chen Defu was struck with profound shock. "Madam, over twenty years ago, didn't a prominent family bearing the surname He vanish from the capital? Could it be..."
Over twenty years ago, Yun Chu had not yet been born, but she had heard her family members mention this incident.
At that time, the head of the He family—Lord He—held the position of Minister of Works in the imperial court. That year happened to coincide with a severe drought, and seven or eight southern provinces suffered greatly. The imperial court allocated two hundred thousand taels of silver for disaster relief, yet when this sum of silver finally reached the south, less than twenty thousand taels remained... Countless disaster victims starved or parched to death, countless people were displaced, and massive crowds of commoners gathered to ignite uprisings... In short, the consequences were catastrophic.
Once the turmoil subsided, the imperial court thoroughly investigated the relief funds. The moment they investigated, the situation turned out to be monumental—every level of the Ministry of Revenue was riddled with corruption, rotten from the inside out.
Although the head of the He family, serving as Minister of Works, had not openly engaged in embezzlement, he accepted kickbacks from the corrupted officials. Working in collusion from top to bottom, they completely pulled the wool over the Emperor's eyes.
The imperial court was shaken, and the Emperor flew into a rage. The deeper the investigation went, the more appalling it became: every single male above the age of seven within the three degrees of kinship of the entire He family was sentenced to decapitation. The women and children under seven were imprisoned for a full half-year. When they were finally released, out of such a massive family, a mere thirty-odd people remained alive, and the imperial court banished them back to their native registry.
Along the journey to Willow Village in Jizhou, another dozen or so of those thirty-odd people died, leaving barely twenty-odd individuals by the time they reached their destination.
Even upon arrival, life was no better; otherwise, the youngest generation back then wouldn't have been reduced to just He Xu and his sister surviving.
A cold sneer surfaced on Yun Chu's lips. "So Madam He in our estate turns out to be the daughter of a convicted official."
Madam He's father had been a minor official in the Ministry of Revenue, and her grandfather had been the Minister of Revenue. Over twenty years ago, the He family could be said to have enjoyed boundless glory and prestige.
The moment disaster struck, the entire clan collapsed... She finally understood why Xie Shian held such deep-seated resentment toward the reigning Emperor. With so many of his clansmen perishing at the Emperor's hands, Madam He harbored bitter hatred toward the imperial court and the Emperor, naturally passing that hatred down through her daily teachings. That was why Xie Shian harbored animosity toward the Emperor at such a tender age...
Chen Defu was thoroughly frightened. "The master took a woman of the He family as a concubine. If those with ulterior motives were to find out, I'm afraid..."
Although the imperial court had neither exiled the women and children of the He family nor explicitly forbidden members of the He family from leaving their native registry, the descendants of a convicted official were still half-criminals. Wandering around a thousand li away was one thing, but to wander all the way to the capital and even marry an imperial official—if this were leaked to the Censorate by someone with malicious intent, and an imperial censor submitted an impeachment memorial, it would be more than enough to spell disaster for the Xie family.
Yun Chu shook her head.
He Lingying was merely a weak woman; even if she married an imperial official, the imperial court wouldn't make a big deal out of it. The ultimate price Xie Jingyu would pay would at most be a demotion by one official rank.
However, if it were discovered that she was a descendant of the He family—with one relative married to an imperial prince and another enrolled in the Imperial Academy...
The He family held a blood grudge against the imperial family, yet went to such painstaking lengths to get close to members of the royal family. How would the Emperor view this?
If this matter were meticulously plotted, it could easily bring down the entire Xie family in one fell swoop.
What needed to be done right now was to transition He Lingying from being Madam He into the biological mother of the three children: the eldest young master, the second young master, and the eldest young miss.
Departing from the hot spring estate and returning to the Xie residence,
Yun Chu headed straight to Xie Jingyu's courtyard. This was his study; ever since their marriage, he had continually lodged here.
By the time she arrived, the maidservants were somewhat surprised, because ever since that period began, Yun Chu had never once set foot in this courtyard.
"All of you, withdraw."
At Yun Chu's command, the maidservants hurriedly nodded and filed out in an orderly fashion.
The study was lined with shelves of books, and on the desk lay a memorial that Xie Jingyu had half-written. Yun Chu picked it up for a glance, finding nothing out of the ordinary.
She searched around and, tucked between the pages of several books, unexpectedly discovered a ledger.
She pulled out the ledger. The delicate, graceful handwriting clearly belonged to a woman:
"In the spring of the 13th year of Shuntian, at Yuquan, gave birth to the eldest young miss. Midwife fee: five taels."
"In the autumn of the 14th year of Shuntian, at Yuquan, gave birth to the eldest young master. Midwife fee: seven taels."
"In the autumn of the 18th year of Shuntian, at Jizhou, gave birth to the second young master..."
The Xie family's ancestral home was precisely located in Yuquan, Jizhou. After Xie Jingyu passed the imperial provincial examinations, he had moved to Jizhou, and only came to the capital after attaining the title of Jinshi... All of these timelines matched up perfectly.
As for this handwriting, with a slight comparison, one could easily tell it belonged to He Lingying.
Yun Chu smiled faintly. Xie Jingyu truly did not guard against her in the slightest, leaving such vital evidence casually lying right on his bookshelf.
She slipped the ledger into her sleeve.
At that exact moment, Tingshuang's voice rang out from outside paying respects: "Greetings, My Lord."
Xie Jingyu furrowed his brows. "Why are you here?"
Tingshuang kept her head lowered as she replied, "Madam came to see the master to speak about a matter, but upon finding the master absent, she entered to rest for a brief moment."
Even as she spoke, the door pushed open.
Yun Chu stood behind the door, her gaze landing directly upon Xie Jingyu's hands.
Xie Jingyu hoisted up a gift box. "This is a stalk of ginseng sent by Magistrate Hu."
He raised his other hand. "And this is tea leaves provided by Magistrate Zhou."
Yun Chu twitched the corners of her lips.
It seemed that after becoming the future father-in-law of the Prince of Anjing, Xie Jingyu's days were gradually growing more prosperous by the day.
"What did Madam wish to discuss with me?"
Placing the gift boxes down onto the desk, Xie Jingyu turned his gaze toward Yun Chu.
"During morning greetings, Auntie Yu came crying to me with grievances, wishing to take Yu Ge'er back," Yun Chu began. "Yu Ge'er also seems to have fallen ill. What are the master's thoughts on this matter?"
Xie Jingyu frowned. "Since Yu Ge'er has already been assigned to Madam He, he should remain under Madam He's tutelage. If he has fallen ill, simply summon a physician to treat him."
"That was my thought as well," Yun Chu said with a smile. "Speaking of which, Madam He and our Xie family share quite an affinity. This morning, Concubine Tao even remarked that Madam He and Ping Jie'er look precisely identical. If outsiders who knew nothing of the situation were to catch a glimpse, they would likely assume Madam He is Ping Jie'er's biological mother."
Upon hearing these words, Xie Jingyu froze completely in place, his heart plunging as though dropped into an ice cellar.
He should have realized long ago—a daughter grows to resemble her mother, and the older Ping Jie'er grew, the more she would mirror that face belonging to Madam He…