Yunchu’s Vengeance - Chapter 128
Chapter 128 - The Old Matron Passes Away
Old Matron Xie's figure staggered, and she almost fell to the ground.
Clutching her chest and leaning heavily on her walking cane, the old lady hurried into Xie Shiwei's courtyard.
She saw her most prized great-grandson, Xie Shi'an, huddled on the ground with his hands pressed against his forehead, fresh blood oozing between his fingers and dripping drop by drop onto the earth.
The glaring, vivid blood made the old matron's head ring, pushing her to the brink of fainting.
"You unfilial wretch! How did our Xie family ever produce such a monstrous wretch!"
Mustering her remaining strength, the old matron lunged forward, bringing her cane down mercilessly on Xie Shi'an—wait, no, on Xie Shiwei's head.
Xie Shiwei, already quite tall for an eight-year-old, reached out, grabbed the cane right out of the old matron's hands, wrenched it away with all his might, and smashed it fiercely onto the ground.
Beside herself with rage, the old matron thought: how dare this unfilial wretch actually fight back!
Stepping forward, she grabbed Xie Shiwei by the ear. "Kneel down! Kneel down right now, or today I'll beat some sense into your wretched hide!"
"I won't kneel! I absolutely refuse to kneel!" Xie Shiwei roared. "The one who should be kneeling is him! He murdered his own biological mother, he should be the one kneeling to atone for his sins! What did I even do wrong? I just scratched the Marquis of Xuanwu's heir and made him bleed a tiny, pathetic drop, so why must I suffer all this..."
"You rebellious scoundrel!"
Trembling all over, Old Matron Xie raised her hand and struck him across the face.
Xie Shiwei ducked out of the way, gave her a fierce shove, and bolted for the door.
With her cane snatched away and Mama Zhou preoccupied with checking on Xie Shi'an's condition, the old matron lost her footing after the hard shove. With no one there to catch her, her entire body tipped backward.
Thud!
A heavy, resounding crash echoed through the courtyard.
Xie Shi'an snapped his head up, only to see the back of the old matron's head strike the stone pavement, staining the paving tiles crimson within seconds.
Xie Shiwei was so terrified he stood frozen, completely forgetting to run.
Just as Xie Jingyu stepped into the courtyard, he witnessed this exact horrifying scene.
He immediately lunged forward and pinned Xie Shiwei to the ground. "Tie this rebellious wretch up and throw him into the woodshed!"
The manservants, jolted out of their paralyzed fright, rushed over to pin Xie Shiwei down, gagged him, and dragged him away toward the woodshed.
Mama Zhou abandoned all concern for Xie Shi'an, scrambling and crawling over to the old matron's side. She saw that the old matron's eyes were wide open and her complexion had turned a sickly ash-gray.
Trembling violently, she placed her fingers beneath the old matron's nose, then recoiled in absolute terror. "N-No, it can't be... The old matron has stopped breathing..."
Hearing this, the strength vanished from Xie Jingyu's left leg, and he collapsed onto the ground.
He tried to stand up, only to discover that his left leg and left hand were completely unresponsive, utterly devoid of strength.
A wave of overwhelming panic swept through his entire body. Supporting himself with his right hand, he struggled to his feet, dragged his dead weight of a left leg over to the old matron's side, and crumpled down onto his knees.
He reached out to test her breath, but could not feel the slightest trace of air. The wide-open eyes of the old matron reminded him of the countless dreams where Lady He's two blood-filled eye sockets stared back at him.
His hand moved upward, gently covering the old matron's eyes.
Trembling from head to toe, tears broke free, falling drop by drop before he finally broke down in loud, ragged sobs.
"Father, this is no time for crying," Xie Shi'an said, pressing a hand to his injured forehead and lowering his voice. "So many people in this courtyard saw that it was Wei'er who pushed the old matron. They will all conclude that Wei'er caused her death. If word of this gets out, the Xie family—the Xie family is finished..."
Wei'er would be arrested and interrogated.
The Censorate would impeach his father for failing to discipline his children properly.
As a junior member of the Xie household guilty of unfilial conduct, he himself would be implicated, and everyone would brand him as unfilial as well...
Xie Jingyu raised his head to look at Xie Shi'an.
At a moment like this, his eldest son's first instinct was not grief over the old matron's passing, but a cold calculation of personal gains and losses.
For the first time, he realized that this son of his was truly selfish and self-serving to the absolute extreme.
Yet he was forced to admit that Shi'an was right.
If this scandal leaked, the Xie family was doomed.
He turned his head and saw four or five manservants and three or four maidservants standing in the courtyard, along with two or three older matrons stationed by the entrance.
With so many witnesses, it was impossible to silence them all.
"Father, great-grandmother has already passed away," Xie Shi'an said in a voice low and hoarse. "If great-grandmother knew her death would bring cataclysmic ruin upon the Xie family, she wouldn't be able to rest in peace anyway. Father, some matters must be cut short decisively."
Xie Jingyu's mind was a chaotic blur.
He had always prided himself on being a dutiful and filial man; otherwise, he never would have traded away his newlywed wife just to secure that life-saving miraculous medicine.
Before he could even process the reality of the old matron's departure, he was confronted with a mountain of tangled disasters. His head throbbed with a blinding, agonizing pain that felt as though it might split open.
"S-Shi'an, handle it however you see fit."
He surrendered the power of decision directly into Xie Shi'an's hands.
Xie Shi'an's head hurt as well, but it was merely a surface wound, leaving his mind razor-sharp and clear.
He spoke in a deep, resolute voice, "Have everyone who witnessed the old matron's death brought into this courtyard, and set fire to it—burn the courtyard down along with the old matron's corpse..."
Only dead people never leaked secrets.
They would announce to the outside world that a sudden fire had broken out in the Xie residence, and that the elderly matron, unable to escape in time due to her advanced age, had perished in the flames alongside the servants.
Xie Jingyu stared in sheer disbelief, gazing at Xie Shi'an and catching the chilling ruthlessness and resolve etched across his son's face.
He looked back down at the old matron, whose furrowed face had settled into a lifeless ash-gray.
In his childhood, while his father studied, his mother kept him company, but it was his grandmother who had raised him with her own hands. His affection for her could never be expressed in a few simple words.
He had once sworn an oath to ensure his grandmother lived out her twilight years in peace, to let her enjoy her old age in comfort, and to grant her a magnificent, honorable burial...
Yet now—
His grandmother had died with eternal grievances lingering in her eyes.
Her mortal remains were about to be subjected to fire.
She wouldn't even find peace in death!
...And yet, he had no choice.
Xie Jingyu closed his eyes tightly, parting his lips to speak.
At that moment, the sound of hurried, chaotic footsteps drifted in from the courtyard entrance.
Immediately following came Yun Chu's anxious voice, "How could something like this happen? The old matron—what happened to the old matron! Hurry, quickly go invite a physician!"
Xie Jingyu's heart sank heavily. Why had Yun Chu arrived now of all times...
Xie Shi'an took a sharp breath. "Mother, great-grandmother has already passed away; calling a physician is useless."
"What? The old matron is dead..." Yun Chu swayed on her feet, her voice laced with profound grief. "No, I refuse to believe she has just passed away like this! What are all of you standing around for? You, hurry and fetch a doctor! You, go to the Shende Hall and buy ginseng to restore the old matron's vital breath! And you, run and inquire about the whereabouts of the divine doctor..."
Several manservants in the courtyard were immediately dispatched by Yun Chu's commands.
Turning back, she gave further instructions, "Mama Zhou, and all of you, quickly carry the old matron to Anshou Hall!"
The remaining servants swarmed forward, lifting the old matron with clumsy, hurried movements, and rushed out of Xie Shiwei's courtyard toward Anshou Hall in a chaotic flurry.
Along the way, servants who had caught wind of the commotion came out to gawk. With the old matron being carried out covered in blood, nearly two-thirds of the entire Xie estate witnessed the spectacle.
Xie Jingyu's heart thumped frantically against his ribs, as though it were about to leap out of his chest.
He looked at Xie Shi-an—at this usually brilliant son of his—only to see a matching look of sheer helplessness in the depths of Xie Shi'an's eyes.
A dozen or so servants could be silenced with a fire, but with so many people across the entire Xie manor having seen it, they couldn't possibly burn down the whole estate... The news of Old Matron Xie's demise could no longer be contained!