Chapter 5: Poisoned
“This w.a.n.g fei commands you to stop. ” Su Qi Qi shouted again in a low tone. Right now, she was just worried about Jing Man, how could her little body possibly bear the beatings.
The two words ‘w.a.n.g fei‘ still had the effect of making several of the men stop.
That’s right, after all, no matter what, Su Qi Qi was still the legitimate main Imperial Consort of Ding Bei Hou.
“Humph, useless things.” Hua Qian Zi was angered to the point of stomping her feet. Stretching out her hand, she s.n.a.t.c.hed a lash from one of the guards and ruthlessly whipped Jing Man who was trembling on the floor.
Each whip caused Jing Man to scream repeatedly.
“Hua Qian Zi……” Su Qi Qi shouted loudly, by now she could no longer consider her moves and desperately pounded on the door, but it was of no use.
Only people outside could open this door and she was a delicate woman, her strength was not great.
In the beginning Jing Man was still wailing as she rolled on the floor, but now it was silent.
Su Qi Qi looked through a crack in the door to see the tragic appearance of Jing Man, who had already stopped breathing. Her heart felt as if it were being flooded by freezing water, becoming colder, and colder.
“Throw it in the back mountain for the wolves.” Hua Qian Zi said loathingly as she threw down the whip in her hands and glared at Su Qi Qi with hatred.
No one could stop her from doing the things she want to do1.
(1) This is Hua Qian Zi’s thought, I think.
Slowly sliding to the ground, Su Qi Qi bit her bottom lip hard. Seeing someone she cared about being beaten to death, that feeling of extreme helplessness flooded her body and made her heart ache with raw pain.
“Jing Man…… I didn’t have the power to save you, I was useless.” Su Qi Qi sobbed quietly. From the time she was little, she had always endured. Even when it was unbearable she still had to endure because her mother had no power in the Xiang Residence. Even though her mother was the Main Wife, her mother was still bullied by the Second Wife.
Once, Su Qi Qi had also tried to get involved in the power struggle, but in front of Father the Second Wife would always admit her mistakes, then behind his back she would take revenge by making things difficult for Su Qi Qi’s mother. So Su Qi Qi also learned to suffer in silence, just like her mother did.
But now, there’s some things she no longer wished to endure.
That Hua Qian Zi is too poisonous.
In this firewood shed, for three days and three nights, Su Qi Qi woke up only to sleep, slept only to wake up again. Without food or water, her originally slender body became even thinner and weaker.
Because of Jing Man’s death, none of the servants dared to even approach the firewood shed.
The place became even more abandoned.
The weather was gradually getting colder.
The first snow fell, abundantly.
Exhaling a breath to warm her stiff, frozen fingers, Su Qi Qi could not sleep at all anymore. The weather was too cold, if she really fell asleep she might not be able to ever wake up again.
As she looked at the snow-blanketed world outside, the door of the firewood shed was hurriedly pushed open by a large man.
He walked in, without a word, picked Su Qi Qi up and started walking in the direction of the Laundry Department.
Su Qi Qi tugged the corner of her mouth slightly. She didn’t know why that woman would let her go, but, now, at least she didn’t have to die in that firewood shed.
She didn’t want to die, she still had her mother.
That delicate, fragile woman.
If she found out Su Qi Qi had died in Ding Bei Hou w.a.n.g Residence, who knows how she would fare!
The three yatous that shared the room with her quickly poured hot water and grabbed steam buns for her.
They also cared about Su Qi Qi, but they just didn’t have the nerve to bring food to the firewood shed.
The next day, she was still a laundry maid, so Su Qi Qi acted as usual, as if nothing had occurred the previous few days.
Without mentioning a thing.
When a group of women gather, they tend to gossip.
So……
“I heard w.a.n.g ye went out to handle some affairs and hadn’t been in the residence these past days.”
“No wonder Cousin Miss was that arrogant.”
A lot of people dislike Hua Qian Zi and opposed of her managing w.a.n.g Residence. They were also quite afraid of her.
“The moment w.a.n.g ye returned yesterday, she became a gentle, virtuous, n.o.ble daughter again.” Another yatou said with disdain.
“But…… I heard, this time w.a.n.g ye seemed to have gotten into an accident……”
The location of the Laundry Department was pretty isolated, usually the things spoken won’t spread outside, but the news from the front always makes its way here, so people fully enjoy gossiping.
“What happened……”
“Poisoned, and it’s really serious. All the famous doctors nearby were called.” A small yatou said as she shook her head: “Not a single doctor could treat it.”
“Then…… ask for the Miracle Doctor Zhu Ge Yu?”
“What’s the use in that? That Miracle Doctor is so arrogant, he won’t easily agree to come.”
Su Qi Qi pounded the garment in her hands. Because of the cold weather and the freezing water, both her hands swelled terribly, at first it was painful, but now it had already gone numb.
However, hearing this, her eyes turned to the side. Perhaps, she should not continue living like this.