Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Madam Chen’s face went deathly pale. No matter how slow she was, she knew her son had been poisoned.

She scooped up her youngest son and yanked him down from the heated brick bed.

Xiao Jinghe was held upside down, head toward the floor and feet in the air, as Madam Chen shook him with all her might.

Xiao Yan no longer had the leisure to stand off to the side and enjoy the show. Just moments ago, he had been about to praise his son for being clever enough to snatch the roast chicken through his own ability. Now his legs had gone weak.

He stepped forward to help Madam Chen, trying to make their son vomit up what he had eaten.

But the poison had already seeped into his blood and bones. Food could be forced out, but how could poison be forced out? Unless they drained every drop of blood from his body.

Looking at her youngest son’s tightly shut eyes, feeling his limbs gradually stiffen beneath her hands, Madam Chen went mad and threw herself at Pei Wanqing.

Ever since something had happened to Xiao Jinghe, Xiao Jingxing and his two brothers had shielded the women of the Main Branch behind them, wary that Madam Chen might lose her mind and turn on them.

Now, Madam Chen did not get her way. Xiao Jingxing blocked her to the side.

“Get out of my way! Your Main Branch killed my He’er! I want all of you to pay with your lives! Pei Wanqing, you vicious, black-hearted woman! You poisoned my son! You’ll die a horrible death! Your Main Branch is so malicious. I curse you all to have your line cut off and to fall into Avici Hell after death…”

“Madam Chen, is your brain just for decoration?”

Old Madam Xiao was enraged by Madam Chen’s curses. She stepped out from behind Xiao Jingxing and snapped at her.

Madam Chen froze for a moment under Old Madam Xiao’s furious glare.

Afraid that Madam Chen would keep making a scene, Old Madam Xiao seized the chance to continue.

“When the roast chicken was brought in, our Main Branch never so much as touched it, let alone poisoned it. When we left the manor, we didn’t even bring out a single copper coin. Where would we get poison from?”

“If your boy hadn’t been so ill-mannered and greedy enough to snatch food, this disaster would have fallen on our Jin Bao. Jinghe became the scapegoat, and that has everything to do with you as his parents. What does it have to do with our Main Branch?”

“If you had taught him even a little discipline on ordinary days, would he have ended up like this today?”

Every word from Old Madam Xiao rang like a bell, jolting Madam Chen out of her frenzy.

She suddenly covered her face, crouched on the ground, and began to sob.

In her heart, she knew perfectly well that this was not the Main Branch’s fault. But her child was dead, and she simply wanted someone to vent her grief on.

“What are you all making a racket about? Too full after eating? We’re setting out early tomorrow. All of you, shut up.”

Zhu Laosan pressed one hand to the whip at his waist, his sharp gaze sweeping across the room.

At the sound of Zhu Laosan’s voice, Madam Chen suddenly remembered what that bailiff had said when he came to deliver the meal.

She rose from the ground and, heedless of everything, charged straight at Zhu Laosan.

“Give me back my son’s life! You poisoned my son! You’re the murderer!”

Zhu Laosan was caught off guard, but luckily he reacted quickly. He drew his whip and lashed it down at Madam Chen’s head.

With a shriek, Madam Chen rolled to the side.

“Lunatic!”

There was not a trace of warmth in Zhu Laosan’s eyes, only icy coldness. When he saw a half-grown child lying stiffly on the floor, foam at his mouth and blood running from all seven orifices, then thought of Madam Chen’s madness just now, he instantly understood. Someone had poisoned him.

“You had someone bring that roast chicken! My son died from eating the roast chicken you had sent over! You’re the one who poisoned him!”

Zhu Laosan frowned slightly. Xiao Jingmo caught that tiny change in expression, and a thoughtful look flashed through his watery eyes.

“Don’t talk nonsense. I never had anyone send over roast chicken. And even if I slaughtered your entire family right now, what could you do to me? Since ancient times, how many people have died on the road to exile? Don’t tell me you have no idea.”

Zhu Laosan looked around at everyone in the room again before his gaze finally landed on the table.

On the table sat a bowl of plain porridge and an empty plate. It looked as though that plate had held the roast chicken.

He warned the Xiao Family once more, then turned and left the room. The door was immediately locked behind him.

After this farce, Pei Wanqing no longer dared feed that bowl of porridge to Jin Bao.

No one else in the room envied the Main Branch’s treatment anymore either. They only felt that the food was all arsenic, and that the black-flour buns in their hands were far sweeter.

Madam Chen huddled in a corner with her son’s corpse in her arms and stopped making trouble.

The Xiao Family Main Branch chose the innermost spot. Xiao Jingxing and Xiao Che, father and son, slept on the outside, keeping the rest of the family protected within. That way, if anything happened, the two of them would be the first to notice.

“Father, from what Zhu Laosan said just now, it sounds like he wasn’t the one who had that roast chicken delivered?” Xiao Jingxing asked in a low voice.

Xiao Che frowned slightly. Right now, even he could not tell whose side Zhu Laosan was on.

But one thing he was certain of: the person who had poisoned the food tonight was someone else entirely.
“Father, Big Brother, I don’t think it was Zhu Laosan. I watched him. He knew nothing about what Second Aunt said. Someone is clearly trying to pin the poisoning on him. It looks like Zhu Laosan isn’t one of their people.”

Xiao Jingxing thought of the three condemned prisoners.

“Could it be those three death-row convicts? This is only the first night we’ve stopped to sleep, and they’re already this eager to make a move. We’ll have to be even more careful from now on.”

The roast chicken tonight had been suspicious from the start. Xiao Jingmo didn’t believe for a second that the bailiffs would be kind enough to give their family roast chicken, so he had kept his guard up and never intended to touch it. Who would have thought someone else would be in such a hurry to come courting death?

Pei Wanqing was still shaken. She held Jin Bao in her arms and soothed her softly. Jin Bao was young to begin with, and now she was dazed and drowsy, her big eyes half open and half shut, her eyelids growing heavier by the second.

[“Big Brother, the poisoning failed. They’ll definitely be more cautious from now on. It’ll be hard to poison them through anything they eat or drink. We’ll have to think of another way.”

“Second Brother, your method won’t work. Watch Third Brother. Tonight, I guarantee they’ll die without a sound.”

The third brother, Yousha Ke, narrowed his eyes. His mung-bean-sized eyes were filled with malice.

“Third Brother, what are you planning? Tell your brothers.”

The second brother, Li Duanjiang, was intrigued. His poisoning attempt tonight had only been a feint. He had known the odds of success were low, but he had still managed to kill one person, so his poison had not gone to waste.

The third brother grinned and said mysteriously, “Out here in the wilderness, the thing we have most of is venomous snakes. Once they’re all asleep, I’ll go catch a few. You two just wait for my good news.”

The three of them could not help bursting into loud laughter.

“The people above told us to act after we left the capital territory. If we let them die here, will that be…”

At that, the second brother hesitated again.

“It doesn’t matter. They’ll die sooner or later anyway. The sooner we finish the job, the sooner we’re free. Then we can take the money and enjoy ourselves. It’s been a long time since any of us touched a woman.”

“Big Brother, I think that marquis’s wife isn’t bad. She’s still got her charm. We’ve never slept with a noblewoman from a high-ranking family before. I wonder what she’s like in bed…”

The third brother looked lecherous, rubbing his hands together as a large bulge already swelled in his trousers.

“Once we succeed tonight, we’ll take turns getting a taste. As your big brother, I’ll let you two go first.”]

Jin Bao was so startled that she sat straight up from Pei Wanqing’s arms.

The movement was rather large, startling the four Xiao father and sons who were discussing countermeasures. Even Old Madam Xiao and Nanny Chen, who had been preparing to rest, looked over.

Xiao Jingmo was quick-witted. One look told him that Jin Bao had discovered something again, and he was the first to lean in.

“Little Sister, did you see something?”

Xiao Jingmo’s voice was extremely low, low enough that only their family could hear.

Jin Bao blinked. Her eyes, which had been heavy with sleep, were now wet and full of fear.

Hearing Second Brother’s question, she immediately nodded her little head.

At that, everyone in the Xiao Family turned solemn.

Xiao Che glanced at Nanny Chen and gave her a look.

Nanny Chen slipped down from the heated brick bed and paced around nearby, thumping her legs, stretching her arms, and pounding her back, while her eyes remained warily fixed on the others. If there was the slightest movement, she would immediately cough as a warning.

On this side, Jin Bao used scattered words to piece together the images she had just seen.

“Bad men. The bad men who killed Uncle. They want to release poisonous snakes, and they want to grab Mother too.”

Anger burst from Xiao Jingmo’s star-like eyes. Those beasts. They dared to harbor filthy thoughts about his mother. They deserved to die.

Xiao Jingxing clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked.

Xiao Che silently nodded to Pei Wanqing, giving her a reassuring look.

Old Madam Xiao’s chest rose and fell unevenly. She was clearly furious as well.

“I’ll go kill them first.”

Xiao Jinghao was the youngest. The moment he heard this, he made to jump down from the heated brick bed, but his second brother, sharp-eyed and quick-handed, caught him and dragged him back.

“Calm down. We don’t know how many open attacks and hidden arrows are waiting for us along this road. With a temper like yours, you aren’t helping the family. You’re putting everyone in danger.”

Xiao Jinghao lowered his head in shame. He knew he had been impulsive just now.

“Second Brother, then what should we do now?”

Xiao Jinghao raised his head again and looked at his second brother.

Xiao Jingmo was the Xiao Family’s strategist. Though young, his intelligence was almost uncanny.

“Everyone, lean in. We’ll do this…”

Xiao Jingmo lowered his head. The whole family gathered around him. Only after quite a while did they disperse and each lie down to sleep.