Chapter 5

After buying my mother, Madam Huang had indeed felt uneasy enough to investigate her in secret.

She did not dare claim she knew everything, but she knew most of the story.

From her, I learned that my mother and my father, Song Yanchang, had grown up together and had been betrothed since childhood.

My father’s family was poor, and both his parents were sickly. My mother earned every coin for his studies and his journey to the capital for the imperial examination by sewing stitch after stitch for others.

Before leaving for the examination, my father married her.

Then he went away for three years without returning. My mother stayed behind to care for his parents until both had died and been properly buried.

When she finally traveled to the capital to find him, she discovered that he had married someone else.

His new wife was the chief examiner’s daughter.

My father told my mother, “My mentor has shown me boundless kindness. I cannot betray his daughter.”

“Madam Liu, my official career is flourishing. No one can know what happened between us. Endure it for my sake.”

Powerless to resist, my mother went from wife to concubine.

She behaved with perfect propriety after entering the Song residence, but Madam Song was not an easy woman to live under.

Once, while my father was away on official business, Madam Song stormed into my mother’s courtyard with a group of servants. They searched the rooms and produced a pair of men’s undergarments.

Madam Song accused my mother of adultery and immediately had her sold.

She even instructed the slave broker to make certain my mother was sent to a brothel, where a thousand men could defile her.

When Madam Huang finished, I asked, “Madam… do you think my father knew Mother was innocent?”

The moment the question left my mouth, I realized how foolish it was.

How could Song Yanchang not have known? He was the Grand Tutor.

My mother had earned the money for his education, mourned and cared for his parents for three years, and endured every hardship for him. If she had wanted another man, she would have taken one long before.

Had Song Yanchang possessed even a shred of conscience, he would not have left her waiting in their village for three years.

Madam Song might have carried out the deed, but Song Yanchang had sanctioned it with his power and silence. He simply cared too much for his reputation to dirty his own hands.

Madam Huang tried once more to dissuade me. “Your father is the Grand Tutor, and his wife’s family is a powerful clan. Their daughter, Song Zhixin, will enter the palace next month as empress. Forget revenge. I doubt your mother would want you to do this.”

I looked at her and answered with deliberate calm. “Madam, I want to enter the palace. I know you can help me. And even if you cannot, the person behind you can. Haven’t you been gathering intelligence for him all these years?”

Madam Huang was right about one thing: I could not defeat Song Yanchang or the Song family. But someone else could. And the only person beneath heaven who could crush them was the man in the palace.

Uncertainty flashed in Madam Huang’s eyes. She had clearly never expected me to discover Springview House’s true purpose.

After a long silence, she said, “Give me a few days.”