Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Pei Wanqing immediately pulled Nanny Chen’s indenture contract from the stack.
She had already torn up Jin Bao’s the moment they got into the carriage.
“Nanny, I’m entrusting my daughter to you. She was never entered into our clan genealogy. Take her and leave the Marquis’s Mansion at once. Run for your lives.”
Pei Wanqing hurriedly packed a bundle and shoved it into Nanny Chen’s hands.
Inside were banknotes and jewelry, more than enough for Nanny Chen to raise Jin Bao in comfort for the rest of their lives.
“No! Baby doesn’t want to leave Mother. Baby will protect Mother.”
Jin Bao clung to Pei Wanqing’s leg and refused to let go, her big eyes brimming with tears.
Nanny Chen refused to leave as well. She dropped straight to her knees.
“Madam, this old servant grew up in the Pei family. When Young Miss married, this old servant followed her all the way from Jiangnan to the capital. Without Young Miss, where would this old servant have a home? Young Miss, please don’t drive this old servant away.”
Pei Wanqing looked at the old woman and the little girl, her eyes red. If she had any other choice, how could she bear to send them away?
“Madam, Old Madam has come around. She wants to see you.”
The nanny serving Old Madam Xiao hurried inside.
Pei Wanqing was overjoyed. Her mother-in-law had actually awakened at a time like this.
Ever since Old Madam Xiao had fallen unconscious, she had remained muddled, sometimes better and sometimes worse, unable to recognize anyone. Now she was asking for Pei Wanqing by name. Could this be a final burst of clarity before death?
Or perhaps, after those filthy things had been dug out, Old Madam Xiao had recovered?
Old Madam Xiao had always been hale and hearty before. She must have fallen unconscious because of those objects.
Pei Wanqing suppressed the shock and doubt in her heart.
Seeing that Jin Bao refused to leave and Nanny Chen was even more determined to stay, she let it go. Everything was fate.
“Baby, Mother will take you to see Grandmother.”
Jin Bao nodded. As long as Mother did not drive her away, she would listen to anything Mother said.
The moment Pei Wanqing stepped out, she heard wailing, smashing, and shouted reprimands coming from the front courtyard, all tangled together in her ears.
The Marquis’s Mansion had fallen into complete chaos.
Along the way, servants fled in every direction, leaving scattered belongings all over the ground.
Pei Wanqing had no attention to spare for anything else. She hurried toward Pine Crane Hall.
Pine Crane Hall was located in the northwest corner of the Marquis’s Mansion, farthest from the main gate. The Imperial Guard had not searched this far yet, so Pine Crane Hall still had a brief moment of peace.
“Mother, I heard you’ve recovered?”
Old Madam Xiao felt as if she had slept for ages, nearly unable to wake. Every day, she had seen the long-departed Old Marquis.
“Wanqing, why is it so noisy outside? Has something happened?”
Pei Wanqing hesitated. Old Madam had only just recovered. If she heard about the confiscation and exile and could not withstand the shock, Pei Wanqing would become a sinner of the Marquis’s Mansion.
But paper could not wrap fire. In a little while, the Imperial Guard would search this place too.
After weighing her words for a moment, Pei Wanqing tried to phrase it as gently as possible.
“Mother, our family has rendered such great service that it has threatened the throne and drawn the Emperor’s suspicion, so…”
“Is it confiscation and exile, or extermination of the nine clans?”
Old Madam Xiao’s voice was calm, carrying the steadiness and sorrow of someone tempered by years of hardship.
Pei Wanqing jerked her head up and looked at Old Madam Xiao.
“You needn’t look at me like that. These old bones of mine have lived through plenty. When your father-in-law was still alive, the first signs were already there. I have long been prepared. There is no need to hide it from me.”
Pei Wanqing let out a breath, and her respect for her mother-in-law deepened.
“Confiscation and exile…”
Pei Wanqing all but sobbed the words. She was unlike Old Madam, who was the daughter of a military family. She was merely a young lady from a Jiangnan noble house. Aside from having a lively temperament, when had she ever experienced anything like this?
“Do not cry. The Xiao Family has only heroes who die in battle, not cowards who cower like curs. Come with me to the front courtyard.”
Pei Wanqing wiped away her tears and followed behind Old Madam Xiao with Jin Bao in her arms.
On the way, when members of the Imperial Guard tried to come forward and seize them, Old Madam Xiao drove them back with one sharp, intimidating glare.
“Mother? You…”
When Xiao Che saw Old Madam Xiao walking steadily toward them, the shock in his eyes was plain to see.
The three young masters of the Xiao Family crowded around Old Madam Xiao as well, weeping with joy.
No one had expected that, in this dark hour of confiscation and exile, there would still be one piece of good news to offer them a little comfort.
“Men, search them. They are not to take so much as a needle or thread.”
The Imperial Guard Commander stood high on the steps.
The entire Marquis’s Mansion was brightly lit. The torches cast a sallow glow over every face, illuminating the sorrow of a great house on the verge of collapse.
“What are you doing? Don’t touch me.”
A soldier stepped forward, grabbed Pei Wanqing, and was about to put his hands on her.
“Are you deaf? The Commander ordered a body search. Heh heh…”
“Don’t bully Mother! Baby will bite you!”
In Pei Wanqing’s arms, Jin Bao bared her teeth at the soldier, like a tiny wolf pup trying to look fierce.
The soldier threw his head back and roared with laughter.
Splat.
A crow happened to fly overhead and let loose a huge dropping, smearing it all over the soldier’s face and mouth.
“Hee hee, doggy eats poop.”
Jin Bao covered her little mouth and nestled in Pei Wanqing’s arms, giggling.
The soldier was so furious he wanted to hit her. How dare she call him a dog?
“Enough. Don’t delay important business. Once we get our rewards, what kind of girl won’t we be able to have?”
The Commander snapped at him coldly. The soldier glared resentfully at Jin Bao and Pei Wanqing, then turned and left.
Pei Wanqing held Jin Bao even tighter. The Master had been right; her daughter was her benefactor.
“My Xiao Family will take nothing with us. Members of the Xiao Family, heed my order: remove all belongings, change into plain clothes, bind up your hair, and leave the estate.”
Old Madam Xiao’s steady, powerful voice rang through the entire courtyard.
The Xiao Family members removed their outer robes and accessories on their own, changed into mourning hemp, and, without needing the Imperial Guard to urge them, put on the cangues before being escorted to the imperial prison.
All the servants of the Marquis’s Mansion were to be sold off.
Nanny Chen’s indenture contract had already been torn up by Pei Wanqing, so she no longer counted as a servant of the Marquis’s Mansion and was spared the suffering of exile.
But Nanny Chen still followed the people of the Marquis’s Mansion to the prison, willingly choosing to be exiled with them.
Late at night, the dark, damp imperial prison was packed with members of the Xiao Family.
The clan members’ curses and accusations were like sharp blades, each one stabbing into Xiao Che’s heart.
“Your Marquis’s Mansion lived in luxury and never shared with us, but now that your property has been confiscated and you’re being exiled, you drag us down to suffer with you. Can you face your ancestors?”
“Xiao Che, why didn’t you just die? If you’d died on the battlefield, this disaster never would have fallen on us!”
“The Emperor treated you well. He searched everywhere for famous physicians to treat your legs, and you’re nothing but an ungrateful wretch who plotted rebellion!”
“No wonder your Marquis’s Mansion has always been plagued by bad luck. This is retribution. All of it is retribution!”
The one cursing the loudest was Xiao Yan of the Xiao Family’s Second Branch, the son of Old Madam Xiao’s sister-in-law.
“Don’t you dare scold my daddy!”
A soft, sweet childish voice rang out as a little girl planted her hands on her hips and stood in front of Xiao Che to protect him.
Jin Bao was a tiny little thing, all thin arms and legs, standing there like a little teapot as she glared at Xiao Yan with fierce, babyish anger.
“Well, well, where did this stinking little beggar come from? You dare meddle in your grandfather’s business? Get lost.”
Xiao Yan had been a spoiled wastrel since childhood, and even after becoming a father, he was still unreliable. All he knew was eating, drinking, and chasing pleasure all day.
“Wait. Did you just say Xiao Che is your father? Why don’t I remember him ever having a daughter? Could you be some outside woman’s child?”
As if he had discovered some incredible secret, Xiao Yan widened his mouth exaggeratedly and pointed at Xiao Che.
“Xiao Che, everyone says you’re loyal and righteous, that you and Pei Wanqing are a deeply devoted couple, but you actually keep a mistress outside. Truly-”
“Squeak, squeak-”
Jin Bao pouted. She knew Xiao Yan wasn’t saying anything nice. She clenched her tiny fists, her little chest rising and falling.
Just then, a big rat ran past her feet. She grabbed it by the tail and hurled it at Xiao Yan.
Her aim was excellent. It landed right over Xiao Yan’s mouth.
When it came to speed, nothing could beat Jin Bao.
Xiao Yan was so frightened by the sudden accident that his eyes rolled back.
Instinctively, he tried to open his mouth wide, but the moment he did, the rat started burrowing inside. When he tried to spit it out, the rat began biting him.
At the same time, his stomach churned violently. All the abalone, sea cucumber, hericium mushrooms, and bird’s nest soup he had eaten that night surged up into his throat at once.
Xiao Yan reached up and yanked the rat out with all his strength.
“Blegh… retch…”
The sound of Xiao Yan vomiting was clearly audible throughout the cell.
The clan members who had just been united with him in their hatred had no intention of helping him. One by one, they quietly shifted toward the corners in disgust.
Pei Wanqing pulled Jin Bao back into her arms and looked toward the cell opposite them, her voice trembling slightly with anger.
She had never been good at arguing. Every time she got into a fight with someone, she would be the first to go red with anger, her mind going blank from agitation. She would be full of emotion, but as for the right words, she could only think of them afterward. Every single time, she felt she had performed poorly.
But now, with Jin Bao in her arms, she found herself steadier than ever before.
“Xiao Yan, do you dare say you never took advantage of our Marquis’s Mansion?”
“Five years ago, you tried to seize a civilian woman by force. If not for the Marquis, you’d still be in prison eating rotten food right now.”
“That same year, you refused to repent and fought someone over farmland, breaking the leg of a seventh-rank official’s son. It was still the Marquis who paid compensation for you and cleaned up your mess.”
“Three years ago, you borrowed money from loan sharks and nearly had one of your arms chopped off. If not for the Marquis, do you think you’d still be standing here in one piece?”
“Without the Marquis’s Mansion, could any of you have lived in luxury?”
“And it isn’t just Xiao Yan. Every one of you squatting in this prison right now, who dares point to the heavens and swear you never relied on the Marquis’s Mansion to gain benefits?”
“When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. Since you’ve enjoyed the benefits, that means we’re all grasshoppers tied to the same rope. Now that trouble has come, you think you can just wash your hands clean? In your damn dreams!”
Pei Wanqing swore outright at the end, and felt as if her whole body had finally cleared.