Hidden Shadow – CH 093

Chapter Ninety-Three: The Night Banquet (2)

“Grandmother, these are embroideries that Fourth Aunt brought from Suzhou. Are they not beautiful?” Mei Tingyuan spread her arms to show the Second Old Madam her new clothes.

The Second Old Madam was quite attentive, examining them carefully for a while before nodding repeatedly. “Beautiful. My granddaughter is beautiful; she looks good in anything.”

The excitement of the day had briefly made Mei Tingyuan forget the death of Mei Tingjun, and she reverted to her usual spoiled and innocent demeanor. “I even specially saved a bolt of fabric for Grandmother, intending to make you a dress.”

The Second Old Madam was overjoyed but said, “An old woman of my age, why bother with new styles?”

The things the eldest branch received were all brought back by people from the second branch who worked outside. There was nothing to boast about, and besides, with the Old Madam’s cold face, no one dared to approach her and cause discomfort.

However, the atmosphere could not be allowed to remain awkward, so Mei Ruyan tried to make conversation. “Oh, Grandmother, where are Wen-Cui and Wen-Bi? I have not seen them in a long time; I miss them.”

The Old Madam’s gaze swept indifferently over Mei Ruyan, and then she asked Ling-Xi beside her, “Where are they?”

“Reporting to Grandmother, Wen-Cui and Wen-Bi are eating in the courtyard with the other maids,” Ling-Xi replied.

The more senior servants of Mei Mansion all sat outside. A brazier burned in the courtyard, so it was not too cold, and the doors and windows of the banquet hall kept them relatively comfortable.

The large banquet hall was bustling with activity, hosting a feast for nearly a thousand people.

The steward announced loudly, “Let the banquet begin—” His voice trailed off, and when he finished, the hall and the surrounding area fell silent.

Mei Zhengyan stood up and spoke with inner strength. “It is thanks to everyone’s hard work that the Mei family is where it is today. I would like to offer you all a toast.”

Everyone quickly stood up, raised their cups, and repeatedly said, “We dare not accept such praise.”

Mei Jiu had never tasted alcohol before and utterly loathed its flavor. She frowned and took a sip, and the burning sensation brought tears to her eyes. Hesitating for a moment, she splashed the liquor behind her sleeve—a common tactic for women unaccustomed to drinking.

After finishing her cup, Mei Zhengyan exchanged a few polite words, and the banquet truly began.

Mei Ruyan, a woman of good drinking capacity, was currently feeling troubled. She finished her cup and poured herself another.

Just as she brought it to her lips, a hand gently tugged at her sleeve.

She turned and saw Mei Jiu looking at her with concern. Knowing this was not the place to drown her sorrows, she figured she could drink later. So she smiled faintly, took a small sip, and set down her cup.

As the banquet progressed, halfway through, a guard quietly entered and whispered something to Mei Zhengyan. Mei Zhengyan nodded and glanced towards the women.

A short while later, Mei Zhengyan and the elders suddenly noticed that the noise at the banquet had subsided considerably, especially from the servants outside the door.

Their sudden seriousness caused the surroundings to gradually quiet down.

A wind picked up outside, the fierce, cold wind making the lanterns in the courtyard sway precariously. The light cast on the ground flickered and dwindled, and lanterns kept going out, the faint sound of rustling in the wind audible.

Everyone sensed something was wrong; the huge banquet hall was eerily quiet.

Thump!

Someone collapsed to the ground.

“Go check on them. What happened?” Mei Zhengyan asked in a deep voice.

A guard went to check. “He’s fainted.”

Drunk? Impossible, the banquet had only just begun. Even if they drank non-stop, they would not be this drunk!

The thought had barely crossed Mei Zhengyan’s mind when more and more people began to faint.

“There’s a sleeping potion!” a guard shouted.

Everyone hurriedly took out antidotes. These were all prepared by Elder Qi, effective against common poisons, but although they had not fainted immediately after taking them, they still could not muster their inner strength.

The elders did not rush to rescue the people. Instead, they took a specially prepared “antidote” and quickly tried to expel the sleeping drug from their bodies. This antidote was rare and highly effective, but its effect on sleeping drugs was limited. Using it to counteract the drug would be a waste, but at this moment, the enemy clearly intended to massacre the mansion; why be stingy with a single pill?

Fortunately, some had not drunk much and quickly recovered.

Mei Zhengyan, as the head of the family, received many toasts. His vision was already blurry, but after taking the antidote, he began to feel the true qi in his dantian.

Apart from the people inside Mei Mansion, the women’s martial arts skills were low, and many fainted in the blink of an eye.

Mei Jiu, holding chopsticks, was shocked to see streaks of blood splattered on the doors and windows covered with Korean paper, turning them red. Beside her, Mei Ruyan was already swaying and about to fall.

Mei Jiu dropped her chopsticks and helped Mei Ruyan up, but she, too, had just drunk a small sip of wine. Although she had not fainted, she was completely powerless.

An Jiu was anxious: What to do, what to do…? The small amount of drug was nothing to An Jiu, so she simply controlled the body and dragged Mei Ruyan to the storage room behind the side hall, stuffing her into a large basket.

The Second Old Madam’s martial arts were extremely weak; she was already unconscious. Mei Tingzhu closed her eyes and used her internal energy to expel the sleeping pills, her forehead covered in sweat. Mei Tingyuan, like Mei Jiu, had only taken a small sip of wine, which was fine for her.

Many of the women had only taken a symbolic sip of wine, and the children had not touched a drop.

In their panic, they opened the door and fled outside.

The courtyard was already littered with corpses and flowing with blood. As soon as the door opened, arrows rained down like bees.

The women quickly shielded the children with their bodies.

In an instant, the screams of a woman and the cries of a child echoed through Mei Mansion.

Mei Zhengjing staggered over, drawing his sword and swinging it at the Old Madam.

“Sixth Brother, you’ve gone mad!” Ling-Xi drew her sword to block.

“Who are these people?!” Mei Zhengjing coldly demanded. “What deep-seated hatred does the Mei family have against you that you would slaughter the entire village!”

“Impossible, impossible…” the Old Madam murmured.

An elder had already forced out the sleeping potion, placing a hand on Mei Zhengjing’s shoulder and using his internal energy to help him remove it.

Mei Zhengyan, on the other hand, had recovered and was calmly directing the retreat, his heart filled with shock and anger—this attack was clearly a premeditated scheme orchestrated by an inside traitor!

Most poisons that could kill instantly had some odor; truly colorless and odorless poisons either required a process to take effect or were very difficult to extract.

The Mei family members always carried antidotes, and with their internal energy to expel the poison, poisoning was largely pointless unless they could kill instantly.

However, the sleeping potion was not considered poison, so the antidote was minimally effective.

These people first drugged the wine, then set the medicine hut on fire to remove Elder Qi. Even Elder Qi would not detect this colorless and odorless drug, but his presence was equivalent to having the antidote.

Mei Zhengyan directed his men to leave through the secret passage while instructing his guards, “Go to the clan academy and ask Headmaster Zhao for help. Send a signal to the Grand Madam!”

“Yes!” the two replied in unison.

Mei Zhengyan then said to the elder beside him, “Quickly take Zhengjing away. After you get out, go find Elder Qi.”

Only one could be prioritized for protection—the patriarch or the heir. The elder hesitated for a moment, then said, “Patriarch, you go first! Let Zhengjing stay!”