chapter 6
Panic swept through the courtyard.
They hurried my husband onto the bed and sent for the family physician.
It was already too late.
My husband had departed this world before either of his parents could see him one last time.
“Husband, how could you bear to leave me…”
I wept as if my heart had shattered. Several times I tried to follow him in death, and masters and servants alike cried with me.
After all, everyone knew how deeply I loved my husband.
His old wet nurse wiped her tears.
“The First Young Madam and the First Young Master loved each other dearly. Under her care, he had recovered more than half his strength. Only yesterday, he said he would take her boating on the lake.”
My mother-in-law beat her breast and hurled every teacup on the table at Liu Ruying.
“This is my fault! I let this poisonous woman enter our home, and now she has destroyed both my sons!”
My parents-in-law forced Qin Zhaoyuan to write Liu Ruying a letter of repudiation.
He was always dutiful to his parents. With his brother’s death now between them, little affection remained.
“Please don’t cast me out, Husband! If I am repudiated, my father will have me strangled!”
“I cared too much for you. That was why I lost control.”
“Mother, Father, our families have been friends for generations. Please forgive me this once.”
She knocked her head against the floor again and again. Blood soon appeared on her brow.
I coughed lightly, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Sister-in-law, you have tormented me ever since you entered this house. I cannot imagine what I ever did to offend you so deeply that you would murder my husband.”
She glared at me. “It is all your fault! If your shameless cousin had not insisted on becoming my husband’s secondary wife, why would I have come here to argue?”
I had no cousin seeking to become a secondary wife.
But only a few days earlier, my mother-in-law had mentioned marrying one of her distant nieces to Qin Zhaoyuan.
As we spoke, Qin Zhaoyuan finished writing the letter.
“Pack your things and leave.”
Servants dragged Liu Ruying back to her courtyard. Her dowry was thrown across the ground while maids and matrons gossiped nearby.
“I heard the woman outside is already pregnant. She is only waiting for the discarded wife to make room.”
“Of course. The madam’s own grandniece must be better than this one.”
“Now that the discarded wife has killed the First Young Master, the title will pass to the Second Young Master. What marvelous luck he has.”
At that, their voices fell lower.
“Do you think the Second Young Master planned it all? Men dream of promotion, riches, and dead wives, don’t they?”
Liu Ruying repeated the word under her breath.
“Planned… So they were plotting against me from the beginning.”
She ran madly to the kitchen, snatched up a knife, and chased Qin Zhaoyuan through the residence.
The servants were busy reporting the death and arranging the funeral.
By the time anyone restrained her, Liu Ruying had slashed him several times.
I had waited outside. Only after she was under control did I step forward to take charge.
One master had gone mad, and another lay wounded. Every servant in the courtyard had frozen in terror.
“Take her to Mother and Father at once. Then send someone for the physician.”
The courtyard emptied in a rush, leaving only Xiaotao and me with Qin Zhaoyuan.
Two cuts marked his shoulder, and another crossed his back.
He looked weak, but the wounds were clearly not fatal.
Leaning against the corridor wall, he held out his hand to me.
“Yueshu, Eldest Brother is gone. Let me take care of you from now on.”
I smiled.
Then I picked up the knife.