Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Faced with Xia Ximo’s interrogation, Lady Fan turned as pale as paper. Her lips trembled, yet she could not utter a single word in rebuttal.
She stared blankly at the orphan girl before her, her heart consumed by panic and dread.
“You… you aren’t Xia Ximo. Who are you… a human or a ghost?”
The Xia Ximo of the past was a sickly weakling, someone anyone could bully and humiliate.
How could she know these things?
And how could she speak with such cold authority?
Outside the window, the wind and snow raged; the night was still long.
Xia Ximo stood before Lady Fan, her eyes as calm as a placid lake, without a single ripple of emotion.
Her voice remained frigid as she offered a response that seemed entirely unrelated.
“Years ago, you were the one who pushed Mu Lin into the water.”
The sudden mention of a name that had been buried for years caused even Steward Zhou, standing to the side, to startle in shock.
Lady Fan felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her lips quivered. “What… what nonsense are you talking about?”
Seven years ago, Mu Zheng’s only son, Mu Lin, had supposedly lost his footing while playing and drowned in the pond in the rear garden.
His birth mother-the Concubine, Lady Liu-fell gravely ill from the shock and had been half-mad ever since.
It appeared to be a tragic accident, but only Lady Fan knew what had truly happened in the rear garden of the Mu Manor that night.
Xia Ximo stared into the distance, describing the scene as if she were witnessing it firsthand. “That night, Mu Lin finished his lessons and went to the rear garden to pluck a branch of magnolia, intending to bring it back to Lady Liu.”
“You happened to be walking in the garden alone at the time. Mu Lin disliked you; though he saw you from afar, he didn’t want to come over and pay his respects.”
“So, you called out to him.”
That night, the six-year-old child had hidden the white magnolia behind his back and walked over reluctantly.
Lady Fan had frowned in displeasure, asking, “Why did you try to hide when you saw me?”
Mu Lin could only give a formal bow and explain softly, “I… I didn’t see you, Madam.”
Though he was the son of a secondary wife, he had always been unwilling to call the Matriarch, Lady Fan, ‘mother.’ Mu Zheng had indulged him, even turning around to advise his wife to be more magnanimous.
Recalling this, a nameless fire rose in Lady Fan’s heart. Her face had hardened as she snapped, “Mu Lin, how have you learned to lie at such a young age? Do you think I won’t tell your father about this?”
Mu Lin knew his father doted on him and didn’t take her threat seriously; a flicker of disdain even crossed his eyes.
Looking at those eyes that so closely resembled Lady Liu’s, Lady Fan was suddenly overcome by jealousy. She demanded, “What are you hiding in your hand? Give it to me!”
Seeing this, Mu Lin took several steps back and retorted, “This is for my mother!”
That one sentence completely pushed Lady Fan over the edge.
She stepped forward, originally intending to simply snatch the magnolia from Mu Lin’s hand to vent her frustration.
However, the young child turned stubborn, shielding the flower and refusing to let go.
In their struggle, neither noticed how close they were to the deep pond.
Until-with a splash, water sprayed everywhere, and magnolia petals scattered across the ground…
Recalling that scene, Lady Fan felt as if the massive boulder in her heart was crushing her once again.
Terror flooded her eyes.
She stared at Xia Ximo, her fear curdling into desperation.
“No… I didn’t push him. He… he fell in himself! Don’t you dare slander me!”
There had been no outsiders in the rear garden that night.
After Mu Lin fell into the water, he struggled and cried for help for a long time before finally going silent.
It wasn’t until the next morning, when his body floated to the surface, that the servants found him.
As the Matriarch, Lady Fan immediately punished the servants responsible for watching Mu Lin and sent them all away.
The incident became a taboo within the Mu Manor, one that no one dared to mention again.
Seven years ago, Xia Ximo hadn’t even entered the Mu Manor yet. How could she possibly know the details so clearly, as if she had seen them with her own eyes?
A cold wind blew past, making the candlelight flicker and casting jagged shadows across the floor.
Lady Fan felt a chill spread through her entire body, and she instinctively gripped the prayer beads in her hand tighter.
“The dead do not slander.”
Xia Ximo walked to the lamp, picked up the snuffers to trim the wick, and continued, “You had a guilty conscience, so you filled in the pond. You intended to turn it into a magnolia grove to appease the dead soul. Unfortunately, for every tree you planted, one died.”
“After all, those who die with unresolved grievances harbor the heaviest resentment. There is no way you haven’t felt it over these years.”
Lady Fan bit her lower lip, her trembling fingers clicking the prayer beads one by one, yet she found herself unable to speak.
In truth, she had been plagued by nightmares for years.
In a recurring dream, the magnolia flowerbed in the back garden would always transform back into the pond of the past.
Mu Lin, drenched from head to toe, would stand on the bank holding a white magnolia, calling out to his mother in a haunting voice.
Most unsettling of all, upon waking, the room would always be filled with the thick, cloying scent of magnolias.
Even when it was not the season for them to bloom.
At the thought of this, Lady Fan couldn’t help but close her eyes and begin chanting Buddhist sutras. Only by feeling the individual beads roll across her fingertips could she find a sliver of peace.
However, at that moment, the string snapped without cause, and the prayer beads scattered across the floor.
Panic-stricken, Lady Fan felt as though she had lost her final lifeline. Forgetting her status as the Matriarch, she scrambled onto the floor, crawling to pick up the beads.
Xia Ximo watched coldly as a single bead rolled to her feet, then spoke again.
“Don’t be in such a hurry. There is another lost soul waiting to confront you.”
Lady Fan looked up in shock.
The young girl before her was clearly frail and weak, yet those deep, dark eyes possessed a power that could strike terror into one’s soul.
“A ghost!”
She shuddered, finally realizing she needed to get away from this place.
“Someone! Help! Guards!”
Lady Fan screamed with all her might as she struggled to crawl toward the exit, but the swirling cold wind around her felt like spectral hands, tripping her legs and refusing to let her leave.
Yet, no matter how she shrieked, there was no response from outside the door.
Having lived her entire life within the confines of the inner manor, she had never witnessed such a bizarre scene. Terrified to the point of collapse, she could no longer hold herself up. She knelt at Xia Ximo’s feet, wailing and sobbing.
“I beg of you, Ximo, I was wrong. Please, let me go.”
“I was possessed by a moment of madness to do such things.”
“What do I have to do for you to let me go?”
The once dignified and proper Matriarch was now like a crazed woman from the streets, kowtowing and begging for mercy without a shred of dignity.
Xia Ximo remained unmoved.
She simply said coldly, “Four years ago, my maid, Ying’er, disappeared. You told me she had betrayed me and fled the manor in secret.”
Lady Fan’s back stiffened. Her wailing stopped instantly, leaving her in a dazed silence.
Chun Ying’er had grown up with Xia Ximo. After the General’s Manor fell, she was the only one willing to follow her old mistress. She was loyal and kind-hearted; even within the Mu Manor, she recognized only Xia Ximo as her master.
Four years ago, Chun Ying’er discovered that Lady Fan had used a deception to mislead the Marquise. Filled with indignation, she wanted to seek justice for her young miss.
Lady Fan viewed her as a stumbling block and ordered her food to be laced with a poison that would strike her mute.
But Chun Ying’er was of a fierce temperament. Even when she could no longer speak, she caused a great disturbance within the manor.
That night, Lady Fan summoned several guards to bind her and drag her into the woodshed in the back courtyard.
“I only spared your wretched life because you were a servant of the General’s Manor. If you refuse to behave, don’t blame me for what happens next!”
Lady Fan had appeared in person to warn her, thinking she could intimidate the girl.
Chun Ying’er refused to yield. She spat at Lady Fan on the spot, her eyes filled with nothing but loathing.
In a fit of rage, Lady Fan signaled to those beside her. The guards immediately understood and began to rain fists and kicks upon the defenseless girl.
Chun Ying’er soon drew her last breath…
Xia Ximo’s cold voice broke the silence once more.
“But I know she died long ago. She was beaten to death, and her body was tossed into the dried-up well in the back courtyard.”
“Am I right?”
“Madam Mu?”
Under her gaze, Lady Fan’s rigid back completely collapsed.