Chapter 4

I searched everywhere nearby, but found no trace of my mother.

With nowhere else to turn, I returned to Springview House and found Madam Huang.

When it came to finding people, she had a thousand times more reach than I did.

She did not hesitate. She immediately sent people out to search.

Then she told me not to worry. Perhaps some unexpected matter had merely delayed my mother.

Clinging to that faint hope, I waited.

About another hour passed before the searchers returned.

The man’s expression was grim. My heart plummeted.

“Madam Liu is dead.”

Those four words shattered every scrap of courage and hope I possessed. Darkness swallowed me.

Strange lights and twisted images filled my vision. Every moment I had shared with my mother unfurled through my mind like one painted scroll after another.

At last, the images froze on my mother at her youngest and most beautiful. She stood in the distance, smiling and waving as if she were saying goodbye.

I tried to run to her, but something tripped me. Helpless, I watched her dissolve into a sky full of stars. Then I jolted awake. It was already the next day.

Madam Huang sat beside my bed. When she saw that I was awake, she told me everything.

My mother had gone to a pastry shop. There, she accidentally bumped into Song Zhixin, the Grand Tutor’s daughter, causing the jade pendant at Song Zhixin’s waist to fall and chip against the ground.

Song Zhixin flew into a rage and ordered her servants to break one of my mother’s legs.

It should have ended there.

But later, Madam Song arrived. She took one look at my mother and ordered her beaten to death on the spot.

No one knew why. Madam Song merely declared that Song Zhixin’s jade pendant had been bestowed by the emperor, so damaging an imperial gift was a capital offense.

No one dared intervene. My mother was beaten to death in the street before everyone’s eyes.

“Child, accept your fate. Some of us are born lowly, while others are born noble. People are not all the same.

“If you need to cry, then cry. You will feel better once you let it out…”

Madam Huang spoke to me gently but gravely.

I did not cry. I lifted my head and stared at her. “Madam… you know what happened between my mother and the Song family, don’t you? Will you tell me?”

Her eyes flickered. “You want revenge?” she asked uncertainly.

I nodded.

Madam Huang was horrified. “Have you lost your mind? How is that any different from throwing your life away?”

I smiled bleakly. “Even if I die, I will see justice done for my mother.”

I met her gaze, my resolve absolute.

Madam Huang sighed helplessly. At last, she began. “Your mother truly suffered all her life.”