Four Delicate Offenders – CH 005

Chapter 5. The Young Lady Was Crushed To Death By A Falling Roof Beam.

The outskirts consisted of open fields, and the journey remained normal until they entered the city. The scene was completely different; everywhere were ruins, and the cries of children and women filled the air. Having just experienced a catastrophe, everyone stood there in shock, their hands hanging limply, their faces blank and bewildered.

The carriage could go no further; collapsed brick walls lay across the road, and people wandered about in panic. Yunpan and Qin-Dan had no choice but to go down and walk around. The more they saw, the greater the shock became.

Fortunately, the tall, sturdy buildings deep within the city had survived. The thirty-two famous restaurants and shops were still there. The most severely damaged were the ordinary houses in the wards. The ward walls had collapsed, and many people were unable to escape and were crushed to death. Their bodies were covered with straw mats or blankets and left by the roadside.

Fearing that Yunpan might be frightened, Qin-Dan carefully shielded her behind her. After walking about half a mile, the ground began to tremble again. Screams erupted instantly, and the crumbling walls collapsed with a deafening roar, silencing everyone. Fortunately, the aftershocks were weak and passed in the blink of an eye. After regaining their composure, they quickly quickened their pace and continued on their way.

The Founding Marquis’s residence was deep within Zhuque Street. Coming down from the Shuixian Bridge, one had to pass several mansions. The gates of those noble families were all tightly shut, presumably to assess the damage and prevent disaster victims from taking advantage of the chaos to flood into their homes.

Yunpan looked around and realized that in the face of natural disasters, people were truly like ants; pride and self-respect were all useless burdens.

“Save my child! Where is the physician…where is he…?” A woman staggered up to them; the little girl in her arms had her clothes stained crimson with blood. She frantically pleaded, “Have you seen Physician Yang? Young Lady… Young Lady, do you know anything about medicine?”

Qingdan waved her hands hastily, “We do not know anything about medicine. Go look for a physician elsewhere.”

The woman hurriedly walked away, the child’s hand falling limply, blood dripping from her fingertips into the dust, leaving tiny, pitted welts.

Suddenly, thunder rumbled overhead. As if the heavens were not satisfied with the commotion, a torrential downpour began. At that moment, she disregarded everything else, lifted her skirt, and ran home. The Marquis’s Mansion was also tightly shut. The gates appeared undamaged, but she wondered what had happened to the backyard.

Qin-Dan knocked on the door, but no one answered. Growing anxious, she peeked through the crack and shouted, “Open the door!”

After a long while, a servant unlatched the door, poked his head out, and said gruffly, “This mansion has no place to take in refugees. Go somewhere else, go away!” He then tried to slam the door shut.

Qin-Dan was furious and yelled, “You blind bastard! Open your eyes and look! It’s the young lady of the mansion returning! Open the door!”

The servant roared back, “The backyard is damaged! The young lady was crushed to death by a falling beam! The mansion is preparing to put her in a coffin! If you dare to spout any more nonsense, I will have you tied up and beaten to death! Now get out of here!”

Yunpan’s mind went blank. She could not understand how she could have been killed by a falling beam while standing there perfectly fine.

Looking closely at the servant, Yunpan realized his face was unfamiliar; she’d never seen him before. “Where’s the gatekeeper?” she asked.

The servant rolled his eyes and said, “What do you mean, ‘Where’s the gatekeeper?’ I’ve always been the one guarding this gate. You think you can fool me?”

Qin-Dan, like a scholar encountering a soldier, was furious, her face turning ashen. She stamped her foot and said, “You scoundrel! Once we find out what happened, I will break your legs! Where’s Liu-niang? Call her out to identify her; you will know immediately.”

But the servant would not listen. “Who do you think you are? Do you think you can just see the people in this mansion whenever you want? Liu-niang is crying her eyes out right now; she has no time to deal with you. Are you leaving or not? If you do not leave, I will call for help!”

Qin-Dan persisted, “Where’s Juan-Bai? Call him here!”

“There’s no one named Juan-Bai in this mansion.”

“Where’s Nanny Pan?”

“There’s no Nanny Pan.”

It seemed like all her paths were blocked. Yunpan had never imagined that one day she would not be able to enter her own home.

Seeing that reasoning would not work, Qin-Dan tried to rush inside, but suddenly five or six strangers rushed out from both sides, grabbed her, and pushed her onto the porch.

“Get out! Get out!” The servant bared his teeth menacingly and slammed the door shut with a bang.

Yunpan stood there, stunned, suddenly not even knowing who she was.

***

In the Pixiu Courtyard, half of the western room had collapsed, revealing a huge hole in the roof. The rain poured down, a torrent of water drenching the young lady’s boudoir like a waterfall.

In the other half of the room, which remained undamaged, Liu-niang, along with Xuepan and two personal maids, was ransacking the place. They searched under the desk, under the dressing table, in the jewelry box, and even in the embroidery bed, but no matter how hard they looked, they could not find the slave indenture contract.

Furious and annoyed, she gritted her teeth and said, “Is it hidden in the heavens? I refuse to believe that someone can carry the document with them when they go out to a grand banquet.”

The Founding Marquis’s residence had not suffered severe damage in the earthquake; only two stables collapsed, and a row of servants’ quarters was destroyed. The rest of the buildings, except for the Pixiu Courtyard, were intact.

It was quite a coincidence that a corner of the Pixiu Courtyard collapsed in the earthquake, and the maid named Mu-Xiang was trapped underneath. When Liu-niang ordered her to be dug out, her face was a bloody mess, but as she looked at her, a bold idea came to her. She ordered the servants to dress Mu-Xiang in Yunpan’s clothes.

The young lady had perished in the earthquake, so anyone claiming to be Jiang Yunpan outside was an imposter. She absolutely could not let her in. For so many years, Liu-niang had been wary of the County Princess and that legitimate daughter, fearing what? What she feared most was the written document they held. With it, they could easily sell her off. Now that Yunpan could not return, she could search the Pixiu Courtyard at will. As long as she found that document, everything would be over.

Sometimes she also blamed herself, blaming herself for being young and impulsive, for not thinking things through more thoroughly. She had thought that once she entered the mansion, everything would be easy to manage. Who knew that Princess Yuyang was a stubborn stone, impossible to warm? No matter how hard she tried to please her, she could not trick her into revealing the indenture contract.

Now that she had a foothold in the Marquis’s Mansion, as long as that indenture contract remained, she would be a servant for life, never able to rise above her circumstances. This time, Heaven had taken pity on her and given her an opportunity; if she did not seize it, would she not be wasting Heaven’s goodwill?

Xuepan was also searching diligently, but after a long time, it was all in vain. She waved a few pieces of paper in her hand. “I only found some alum certificates and twenty taels of silver notes. For the legitimate daughter of a Marquis’s Mansion to have only this much wealth, no one would believe it.”

Liu-niang glanced at her. “Keep searching.”

Xuepan pouted, realizing that she had never truly understood her mother.

Previously, she had always thought her mother was weak and submissive, as if everyone in the Marquis’s Mansion could trample on her, and even after the Princess’s death, she still had to flatter Jiang Yunpan. This time, however, her mother’s actions surprised her. She realized that her mother had been playing the fool all along; beneath her gentle exterior lay a ruthless and vicious beast.

However, Xuepan still could not understand her mother’s actions. “Using a dead maid to impersonate her, will it really work? What if she goes to a family she knows and testifies for her? If she even goes to the capital to find Father, will Mother’s plan not fall apart?”

Liu-niang’s hands did not stop for a moment, shaking the contents of the drawer onto the floor, saying, “Impersonation can only last for a while. Unless she’s truly dead, it cannot be hidden. I only need this much time, one night or two…” She raised her head, a smile playing on her lips. A mocking laugh surfaced. “The whole city is in chaos right now; everyone’s too busy taking care of themselves to bother with other people’s affairs. Nobody’s going to take her in. A noble lady wandering around for days and nights—what good is there in such a delicate young woman? Let alone the possibility of her being kidnapped by bandits, even if she finds her father and returns safely, her reputation will be ruined after being missing for a few days. Ask around in Youzhou, who would dare marry such an obscure woman? In any case, her life is ruined, and she will never have the face to bully me again.”

Xuepan was stunned, never expecting such a deep scheme.

“Since that’s the case, why not just kill her outright?”

Liu-niang was startled. “Kill her? You are going to kill her?”

Xuepan indeed fell silent, embarrassed.

Liu-niang looked away. Although her daughter was her own, she sometimes felt her daughter was a bit obstinate.

“The County Princess just died, and now her legitimate daughter is dead. Even if your father makes me his official wife, you and your siblings will be criticized and will not be able to find good marriages. Besides, she went to the Flourishing Flower Banquet today; many people saw her. If anyone takes it seriously, it’s a life, and we cannot afford the consequences. This is the best way. We can say the maid stole her clothes, and I mistook her for someone else. Even if there was an oversight, there’s no criminal law for that. Let her suffer indignities for a few days, so she’ll know how powerful I am. After this, she’ll never be able to hold her head up high again, and she’ll never be able to act like the legitimate daughter of a marquis in front of me again!”

Xuepan smiled, “Mother is indeed shrewd.”

At least it was a compliment. Liu-niang scoffed, “Even if not for myself, I will plan for your future. I’ve already found a pretext to send the maids who serve her closely to the estate. As for Chen-Xiang, let her work in my room; she will not cause any trouble.”

But they could not find the indenture contract, no matter who they asked. Even Chen-Xiang did not know anything about it, only saying that she served the young lady and did not inquire about anything else.

Xuepan was somewhat discouraged and turned to ask the two maids, “Have you found it?”

The two maids shook their heads. Looking around, she practically turned the entire Pixiu Courtyard upside down but found nothing. Did she really have to dig three feet into the ground and tear down the walls?

Xuepan, exasperated, threw down her hands. “Forget it, I will not look anymore. Maybe it was crushed by the roof or soaked by the rain. Anyway, she will be a ‘featherless’ phoenix when she comes back; she cannot cause any trouble.”

Though she said that, she was still worried. If she could find the indenture contract and destroy it herself, it would give her an explanation for the years of anxiety she had endured.

“Could she have hidden it somewhere else…” Liu-niang looked at the scattered items on the floor, feeling disheartened. As expected of the daughter of the County Princess, she was always wary of Liu-niang’s family. Since it was not in this room, it must be hidden outside. Suddenly remembering that the newly appointed servant had just come in to report, she quickly turned to her trusted nanny in the corridor and instructed, “Quickly go up and see if she’s still there.”

The nanny agreed but stopped in her tracks, hesitatingly asking, “If she’s there, should we invite her in?”

Inviting her in would create chaos in the room, and she’d cause a huge mess! Besides, her carefully planned scheme was about to achieve its intended effect; why ruin it now?

Liu-niang glanced at her sideways. “That’s not what I meant! I suspect that if she cannot get in, she will think of another way. Send someone to follow her, see where she goes, and who she meets.”

The nanny agreed, grabbed her umbrella, and hurried to the side gate, then went around, standing far away at the corner of the house, looking towards the front gate. But after watching for a long time, through the pattering rain, she only saw the imposing gate standing guard; there was not a single person around.