Chapter 14: Farce
Her mother, Lady Liu, had been dragged away. Her brother had been kneeling all morning and was now about to be beaten. Zhong Yun immediately threw herself in front of him, wailing, “If Father truly wishes to leave no path for the second branch to live, then just strike me dead!”
Zhong Changxun’s face was pale as he whimpered weakly, “Sister Yun, get out of the way. Father just doesn’t like me.”
“Who is not leaving you a path to live? Let me tell you, the cook and the maid who did the dirty work confessed everything you made them do as soon as they heard we were going to report it to the authorities!
“What grudge do you two have against Cui Jingkong to come up with such a vicious plan! And you even tried to frame your second elder sister’s innocence…”
Zhong Jide listened to their back-and-forth. If Cui Jingkong hadn’t quickly stood up to support him, he would have clutched his chest and fainted.
Seeing that the situation was lost, Zhong Yun wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, stood up, and said, “Yes, Father has already made his decision. What more do you want us to say? If Father wants to blame someone, then blame me. I was possessed.”
Then her tone changed. “But I only wanted to play a prank on them. Others told us that the drug only makes people sluggish and foolish. Father has called the doctor. Don’t you know? I would never have such a malicious heart to ruin someone’s reputation!”
The two drugs had to be taken or inhaled together to be effective. Otherwise, looking at each one individually, there was nothing particularly wrong with them.
Zhong Yun’s face was filled with confusion, but her palms were sweating. After Cui Jingkong had coldly rebuffed her that day, she had calmly considered it for two days and deemed it unfeasible. Not only was the plan to drug him full of holes, but her father’s high regard for Cui Jingkong could not be ignored. She might end up losing more than she gained.
However, after seeing that limping woman and Cui Jingkong standing at the academy entrance that day, Zhong Yun had changed her mind.
She was not resigned.
She had wasted two whole years on Cui Jingkong. For an unmarried young woman of marriageable age, those two years were so important!
What she had once thought was a tacit understanding with Cui Jingkong was like a slap in the face, leaving her dizzy and with a dull, throbbing pain in her chest, as if her skin had been split open.
So that was it. It wasn’t that he was deliberately avoiding suspicion, but that he had never cared about her. Only then did Zhong Yun understand that this cold and emotionless face could also thaw for another woman. The other’s visit had made his brow unconsciously relax, and he had even shown a faint smile.
That so-called widowed sister-in-law of his, dressed in simple clothes, with a plain appearance, and even an unsightly limp—how could Cui Jingkong be so blind as to develop feelings for this woman, even to the point of violating moral principles!
But who could have predicted that it would cause such a huge mess? Cui Jingkong had fainted in the study and was sent for treatment, while the Second Miss was safely locked alone in his guest room. When she was found, not a single hair was out of place.
But at that time, the cooks in the kitchen had suddenly shown symptoms of taking a combination of the two drugs! When Zhong Jide arrived at the kitchen, several men were lying on the ground, bare-chested, groaning—the scene was chaotic and indecent.
Given the scope and number of people involved, Zhong Jide had thought it was a poisoning by an enemy and had insisted on reporting it to the authorities late last night. But seeing Zhong Changxun’s guilty expression, he had sensed something was wrong. After some twists and turns, he had uncovered half the truth of this farce.
The baseless accusation of poisoning the servants had also been pinned on them without any distinction.
“As for the matter between Second Sister and Scholar Cui, if Father wants to scold me, I will accept it. But the rest has nothing to do with me—why would I poison the other servants?”
Zhong Yun’s defense had barely left her lips when an old doctor with sparse hair and a beard walked in with his medicine box, clattering.
The doctor had come in a hurry last night, and the common antidotes for mountain herbs he carried with him were all useless. He had only come back this morning to take a closer look.
The old doctor cupped his hands in a salute to Zhong Jide and said, “The servants in your household were not poisoned, but had ingested a mixture of sage and green spirit flower, which is commonly used in pigsties for breeding boars. When used on humans, it is a potent aphrodisiac.”
“The bowl that Scholar Cui drank last night happened to have the same ingredients. As for the Second Miss, I smelled the scent of green spirit flower on her when I took her pulse yesterday, and now it seems that is indeed the case.”
Zhong Yun’s face instantly turned completely white. What was going on? Cui Jingkong’s bowl should have only contained sage!
Her words were instantly refuted. Zhong Jide turned away, his back clearly hunched. He let out a long sigh. “What else do you have to say? So scheming at such a young age, sigh…”
Zhong Changxun, who had been unaware of Zhong Yun’s intentions and had been afraid of slipping up, became anxious at this sight. “Father, we really didn’t poison the servants! We only…”
Zhong Yun didn’t let him interrupt. She couldn’t let the blame fall on her brother now. Zhong Changxun was her only support for the future. So she cut in, “If Father doesn’t believe me, then just punish me as you see fit.”
Zhong Jide closed his eyes and said in a deep voice, “I can’t control you, this daughter of mine. Pack your things and go back to Qingzhou on a chosen day!”
Qingzhou was the Zhong family’s ancestral home, but it was a place of many rules and rigid customs. Zhong Jide’s family had not been in contact with them for a long time.
At these words, Zhong Yun froze in place, in disbelief.
She had thought that at most, she would be confined for two or three months. She had never imagined it would come to this. She said sorrowfully, “Father is so cruel… In your eyes, the second branch truly doesn’t even count as human!”
“Nonsense!” The old madam sitting at the head of the table finally couldn’t bear it any longer. She slammed her hand on the table, making the teacup clatter. “It was you who caused my Ying’er to become a simpleton, and now you dare to turn the tables. Where is your shame!”
The old madam turned and questioned fiercely, “Zhong Jide, you said back then that if that Liu woman was carrying a rare male heir, I shouldn’t pursue the matter. I have swallowed my anger until now. Now, Ying’er has almost fallen victim to her vicious hands again. What else do you have to say!”
Back then, Old Madam Zhong had given birth to the Second Miss late in life, around the same time as Lady Liu. At forty, she had another daughter and doted on her. Until one day, Zhong Yun, while playing, had pushed her down. She had hit her head and had been a simpleton ever since she woke up.
But just then, Lady Liu’s belly had grown big again. Zhong Jide had few male heirs. He only had one legitimate son, who held different political views from him. He had grown increasingly dissatisfied with his father’s ways and had bought a house and moved out after getting married.
A simple-minded daughter was naturally no match for the only other male heir. Zhong Jide had favored Lady Liu and had glossed over the matter of the Second Miss.
After swallowing her anger for so many years, it was no wonder she was so furious at her age. She really couldn’t understand what she owed them!
Zhong Yun sneered, “How could Mother not know? In the capital, I was proficient in all the four arts. Yet the husband I was matched with couldn’t even compare to a simpleton. Now that we’ve moved to this countryside, I have no prospects at all!”
The old madam sneered, “No prospects? Why didn’t you say that when you pushed my Ying’er! Why didn’t you say that when your mother was fighting with me for control of the household! Now that you’ve cut off your own path, you know how to pretend to be obedient!”
She no longer wanted to argue with a young girl who could be her granddaughter. She just waved her hand and stood up to leave.
Cui Jingkong kept his eyes lowered the entire time. Only when Zhong Yun collapsed to the floor, her face as white as paper, did he follow Zhong Jide out of the study, one after the other.
When they were alone, Cui Jingkong lowered his head and cupped his hands in a salute. “I am grateful for the teacher’s care these past few years. From now on, it would be better for this student to move back to the west of the village and travel to and from the academy with my classmates every day.”
Zhong Jide’s gaze lingered on him for a moment before he wearily agreed to the request.
This kite, Cui Jingkong… was no longer under his control.
***
Although he had lived in the private academy for nearly four years, Cui Jingkong felt no attachment to this spacious, clean, and luxuriously decorated house.
He took very few things with him. Apart from his clothes and the paper, ink, brushes, and inkstones he had bought with his own money, everything else was left as it was. All in all, he only packed one bundle.
If he were still walking alone, it wouldn’t matter where he stayed. But now, he had a temporary place to rest, and there was someone inside waiting for him to return.
At the end of the school day, Cui Jingkong walked from the private academy back to the west of the village. It took him more than half a shichen. It was nearly dusk when he arrived home. He entered the door and called out, “Sister-in-law, I’m back.”
No response.
The young man’s figure froze. He casually tossed his luggage onto a nearby chair and ignored it. He pushed open the wooden door of the side room. On the small table by the window was a nearly finished pouch. The bedding was still on the bed, including the jewelry box that Feng Yuzhen treasured.
The two of them had had their occasional awkward moments, but it was nowhere near the point where she would suddenly abandon everything and run away.
He walked quickly outside. There was still no sign of her in the yard. He turned to look behind the house, his mind racing through the possibilities of where she could be.
Just as he rounded the back of the house, the noisy laughter of children from the west pierced his ears. “The cripple is walking, swaying from side to side! Hey, hey! She really fell! The cripple fell!”
Found her.
Cui Jingkong did not rush over. He simply walked back to the pile of firewood under the eaves and picked up the curved billhook that was leaning against the wall.
The moment his hand closed around the handle of the billhook, the prayer beads on his left wrist suddenly emitted an intense golden light, almost blinding.
The twelve amber beads, like iron heated red-hot in a furnace, tightened around his wrist. In the blink of an eye, Cui Jingkong’s left wrist was a mangled mess of flesh and skin. Blood from his wrist flowed down his hand and onto the back of the blade.
But he didn’t care. He still held it firmly.
***
By the stream, the woman was half-fallen on the ground, covering her face. The sleeves of her arms were rolled up, and a basket of wet clothes was beside her.
Stones were scattered on her legs, arms, and even her face. The riverbed had few small pebbles; instead, stones the size of a strong man’s fist were more common.
There were seven or eight of these half-grown children, around ten years old, all from nearby families. It seemed they had come to the riverbank to play and had happened upon Feng Yuzhen washing clothes.
Cui Jingkong made almost no sound, his footsteps lighter than the wind. He stood behind the boy who had his arms crossed and seemed to be the leader, and asked coldly, “What are you doing?”
The boy didn’t turn his head, too engrossed in his fun. “Are you blind? Can’t you see? We’re teasing the cripple.”
He threw another stone, hitting the woman’s right leg. Seeing her flinch in pain, he grew even more excited and was about to bend down to pick up another—
Something cold, hard, and sharp was pressed against his leg, through the fabric.
“A cripple? You like being a cripple?”
The tone was flat, but the boy’s hair stood on end. He whipped his head around and saw the famous Scholar Cui from the village, the one even his mother praised, telling him to study hard so he could be as successful as him, standing right behind him.
The young man’s lips were curved, but his eyes were extremely dark and cold, reminding him of the wild wolf that had once entered the village.
His legs couldn’t stop trembling, because further down, a billhook was wrapped around his calf, its sharp blade pressed against him. With just a slight push from Cui Jingkong, it could slice through the flesh of his leg.
“Aren’t you going to scram?”
The boy, who had wet his trousers in fear, let out a cry and ran away. The other children, who had been standing there dumbfounded, also scattered. Only after they had all run away did Cui Jingkong walk over to her.
Feng Yuzhen lowered her hands but didn’t look at him. On her fair face, two bloody scratches were still oozing blood.
Cui Jingkong stood in front of her, not speaking.
Until the widowed sister-in-law’s tears fell onto the back of her hand, pat, pat, forming a string of pearls.
The young man bent down, reached out, and wiped the mixture of blood and tears from her face. He asked in a very soft voice, “What’s wrong?”