Chapter 58 My Death Was a Must?!
Madame Lu eventually gave in. She kneeled on the ground in front of Qiu Yelan, slapping herself 10 times and begging for her mercy. Madame Lu must regret deeply that she agreed to talk with Qiu Yelan alone.
She went back to her residence with a gloomy face. Her intimate old maidservant immediately ordered one maid to prepare hot water for washing up.
Cui Xin got a towel for Madame Lu. Madame Lu screamed while Cui Xin was helping her with face washing up. Hearing her scream, Cui Xin immediately kneeled on the ground. Madame Lu slapped her heavily and said angrily, “So hard? You also intend to kill me, don’t you?”
In general, Cui Xin was one of her favorite maidservants. She knew that Madame Lu would lash out at anybody whenever she was furious. She must hold back her tears. She kneeled on the ground and kowtowed over and over again, saying to Madame Lu, “Sorry, my grace! Sorry.”
“You want to kill me and then you can give your oath to that little b*tch. And then you will have a rich life, won’t you?” said Madame Lu, angrily. She was so angry that she lost her temper and kicked Cui Xin on her chest. She continued, “You, betrayer!”
Hearing of her words, Cui Xin realized that she would have a tough time. Madame Lu beat her like she was Commandery Princess. She kneeled on the ground, begging, “Please, my Lord. I don’t have the idea to betray you at all.”
Madame Lu looked at her angrily, saying, “Do you think I will believe your sweet words! Now, my son has quitted his t.i.tle. But she is a genuine Commandery Princess….”
Her tone was so serious that Cui Xin thought that she would kill her if possible. Cui Mei, Cui Xin’s best friend entered the room while Cui Xin was thinking about how to survive the disaster. Cui Mei reported to Madame Lu, “My Lord, Prince is here.”
“Get out of my room! I definitely will kill you later!” said Madame Lu to Cui Xin. As for her son, she felt guilty. He had to quit his t.i.tle because of Madame Lu. Being afraid of making him wait too long, Madame Lu shook her hand and asked others to carry Cui Xin out. She washed her face herself, thus she would not look fragile in front of Qiu Mengmin. Being ready, she said, “Send Prince in.”
Qiu Mengmin entered. He looked pale and hurry.
Looking at his son, Madame Lu said with care, “My son, it is all my fault. I should have protected you from that.”
“Mother, it’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself. It’s my fault,” said Qiu Mengmin, smiling bitterly. He did the salute hastily and hastened to sit down on a chair before his mother said so. He faltered to the chair.
Qiu Mengmin was always steady in handling everything. Despite his rude bearing, Madame Lu, however, would not blame him because of what he was suffering. She regretted, “If I knew that he would become an ungrateful and vicious person, I should have…” A cruel sight radiated from her eyes, “My Jinzhang would not have been killed by her!”
Qiu Mengmin paused and said, “Jinzhang was killed by her?” And then he smiled and continued, “It’s useless now. She is not the girl n.o.body cares or admire before now. There is no evidence to charge her. So, keep all the things just in our minds. That’s all.”
“Fortunately, the new Prince is your son!” said Madame Lu. She felt wronged. After taking a short pause, she said, “For your record, who do you plan to transfer your t.i.tle? Yang Family stepped out in the Imperial Court this time. To my knowledge, I think we should pay close attention to Yinzhi, however, he is so young and he is a dumba.s.s, and the most important thing is that b.i.t.c.h is living in our house. I think it is not appropriate to transfer your t.i.tle to Yinzhi.”
Madame Lu thought Yang, that b.i.t.c.h, was born in a high-rank official family and now she was the legitimate Princess. She always could not behave herself. If her son was chosen to be the new prince, how can she, as the mother-in-law, control her in the future? And Qiu Hongzhi had been living with Madame Lu for a number of years. He must be on Madame Lu’s side.
Qiu Mengmin said bitterly, “In fact, I cannot get a.s.sured even if Qiu Hongzhi will be saved. He has been indulged in books for years already….”
Madame Lu was pleased to hear that her son did not want to transfer the t.i.tle to Qiu Yinzhi. She said, “Hongzhi is a nice boy. He is no match for that b.i.t.c.h. She was born to be a devil.” She sighed and continued, “Fortunately, the Family of his father-in-law is an eminent family, and Qiu Hongzhi’s wife is a clever woman and she will marry Qiu Hongzhi in the coming months. If they can help each other and keep alert. There is no remote chance for that b.i.t.c.h to hurt them.”
“I am afraid that Lian Family will stay.” sighed Qiu Mengmin.
“What? How can they…” said Madame Lu, frowning.
“Despite his old age, it was enough for Lian Chen to ask his sons and grandsons to go with him, why did he also ask his nephew to come to the capital city? Guess what he intends to do?” said Qiu Mengmin, putting his head in his arms. Madame Lu could not see the facial expressions but she could feel his anxiety. Qiu Mengmin continued, “I am afraid that he wanted to fetch a rank by taking advantage of the power struggle. Lian Chen’s father has been dead long ago leaving nothing for his offspring. Lian Family went back to Lanxi for the funeral (at the time, the immediate family members had to stay at home and commemorate the dead person for 27 months), and had no chance to save their t.i.tle any longer. Over the past few years, there were no Jinshi in the family. They, of course, would not like to stay in the countryside as a countryside official. They would grasp every chance they could to get promoted.”
Hearing what her son said, Madame Lu even did not know what to respond for a while. For a moment, she said, “Even though Lian Chen is your elder, I don’t think that Empress Dowager will allow him to do anything he wants. How can they allow him to bully or humiliate somebody else because of his age?”
“If you are out to condemn somebody, you can always trump up a charge,” said Qiu Mengmin, disappointedly, “Empress is not a rational person. With her support and Lian Chen’s status, Lian Family will be the pain of our family’s a.s.s. We should try to avoid any spat with them face to face.”
Qiu Mengmin’s words reminded Madame Lu of the days when old Princess was still alive. She couldn’t help cursing, “Why did not Lian Family members all die in one day? For so many years, not only have the young been living like beggars but also the elder has been alive. That old dumba.s.s even moved into the capital making trouble for me. I curse her to death now.”
Qiu Mengmin kept silent for a while and continued, “Even not allowing for Lian Family. I also felt anxious. If Yinzhi gets my t.i.tle, he would be in trouble in the coming days! If Hongzhi gets my t.i.tle, I don’t think that Yang Family will agree with it. Am I right, mother? They must be hostile to Hongzhi.”
His explanation caused Madame Lu anxious. She said, “Well… Despite they supported you, if you are in trouble, their daughter, grandson and granddaughter surely will be involved in this trouble too. Our family is prestigious. Why will they interfere with our business?”
“But I only have two sons. I should have had more,” said Qiu Mengmin, lightly.
— But the fact was that Yang Family could achieve the goal without interfering. What Yang Family needed to do was to get rid of Qiu Hongzhi when Qiu Mengmin and his wife went back to the countryside with Madame Lu. And then, naturally, the t.i.tle of Duke of Xihe, would be Qiu Yinzhi’s at no costs.
Madame Lu said angrily, “Despite Hongzhi has no support from other families, his wife’s family will support him! I don’t think that Ding Family will sit on their hands watching their daughter be a widow.”
“We will leave in three days. However, Hongzhi will get married after May,” said Qiu Mengmin, exhaustedly, adding, “Darui is a nation with an open mind. Girls can marry again if permission. If something bad happens to Hongzhi. I am afraid that Ding Family will choose somebody else to marry their daughter. To them, it is a happy ending.”
As girls could marry somebody else if permission, Ding Family, of course, would not try their best to defend Qiu Hongzhi. During the power struggle, Ding Family, as in-laws, had been silent from the beginning. They might be glad to witness Qiu Hongzhi was killed by Yang Family. Thus, they could stand by watching others battle.
“Ugh! It’s all my fault!” sighed Madame Lu, frowning.
Qiu Mengmin smiled bitterly, “Mother, don’t say that. We are family.”
Qiu Mengmin and Madame Lu looked at each other sighing. And then Qiu Mengmin noticed that there were fingerprints on his mother’s faces. He asked astoundingly, “Mother, what happened to your face….”
Although Madame Lu hated Qiu Yelan intensely, she did not want to tell her son what had happened to her a few minutes ago. She did not want to lose her face. She said vaguely, “I missed your father and cried for a while. I might not get cleaned.”
Hearing his mother mentioned father, Qiu Mengmin felt like getting an electric shock through his body. He did not know what to say. And then he changed the topic abruptly, “Anyway, mother, I am guessing that after we leave, something severe will happen to the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe.”
“What is your plan?” asked Madame Lu carelessly. Suddenly she realized something implicated in his son’s words. She raised her head and asked, “You?”
“I don’t care about the t.i.tle,” said Qiu Mengmin, not looking at his mother’s eyes. He continued to say, “But, either Hongzhi or Yinzhi cannot safeguard the family. Mingzhu and Jinzhu are still young. They are not engaged yet. If I leave the house… they may….”
Hearing this, Madame Lu felt terrible. Despite Qiu Mengmin had been saying that “It’s not your fault, mother.” The implication of his son’s sentences just now demonstrated that in his deep heart, he blamed his mother.
“Then, you stay here,” said Madame Lu, sadly. No response from Qiu Mengmin. Madame Lu realized that she was right. She continued, “Yuqing and Lizhang will be around me. We move out and you stay here to safeguard Hongzhi and others — and you visit me when you are free.”
“Mother, please don’t say that. It is the son’s responsibility to support the elders. It is a rule. You only have one son. That is me. I surely will be rebuked by people if I leave you alone.”
Madame Lu sat still on the chair. And then she burst into tears, saying, “You mean I must die?” Qiu Mengmin had been talking about his suffering after entering. He almost burst out: it is all your fault, and the whole Family’s sufferings are all from you. It was clear that Qiu Mengmin was still unwilling to lose his t.i.tle because of Madame Lu.
But now he objected Madame Lu’s proposal to have her daughter taking care of her.
Qiu Mengmin wanted to kill three birds with one stone. He was eager to retain his t.i.tle. He also did not want to disobey his mother. At the same time, he could keep his image of integrity among people. How could it be possible if she is still alive?
She raised him with plenty of sufferings, and he had been a good boy for his whole life. But now he implied that he wanted his mother to die for his t.i.tle and family. Thinking of this, Madame Lu felt heartbroken. Her heart was so wretched that she did not want to see her son anymore. There was only one thought that kept spinning in her head, die!
“Plop!”
Qiu Mengmin kneeled before her. Madame Lu wiped tears, saying bitterly, “Okay, Okay! I am your mother. All I do is for your better life. As you want me to die….”
“Mother, don’t say that again!” yelled Qiu Mengmin, holding her hand. He said in a low voice, “How dare me to kill you! I… I just want you to stage a play with me!”
Madame Lu was upset about her fate. So, she said mockingly, “Oh? What play?”
“The truth is, mother, Qiu Yelan, that b.i.t.c.h, wanted to sow dissension between us. She tried to force you to…” said Qiu Mengmin with rage, adding, “What did she think of me? I am not a man who will sacrifice his mother for seeking wealth. We survived the suffering of living in the countryside many years ago. But now, although we cannot use the a.s.sets of the Prince’s Mansion, we can use it secretly living far away from the capital. We still can have a wealthy life then. If no Empress is protecting her, I even want to kill her thousands of times!”
Hearing of this, Madame Lu was furious with wide-open eyes. “That b.i.t.c.h! How dare she sow dissension between us and trap me to death! What a mean woman!!!” said Madame Lu. She then took a deep breath and continued, “Despite Empress… I still think that we should kill that b.i.t.c.h!”
“Yes, mother, I agree with you one hundred percent,” said Qiu Mengmin, immediately. “But, as you know, that b.i.t.c.h is a wily fox. We have no chance to kill her in two or three days. But on the other hand, we must leave within three days.”
“Then what’s your play?” said Madame Lu.
Qiu Mengmin took out a porcelain bottle, saying, “This is, kind of, poison. Take two spoons of it or less will cause no harm to your body. Even if you take two spoons, there is still a chance to be healed. I… want to grasp this opportunity and prolong our leave. Anyway, I want to leave after Hongzhi marries the girl in Ding Family! And then, I am sure that Ding Family won’t stand by, see what’s going on and do nothing.”
“It sounds good,” said Madame Lu, feeling relieved. She took the bottle — She felt relieved knowing that her son would not want her to die. This was her first time to take poison, she was a bit little scared. She said, “No more than two spoons, right?”
“Mother, if you don’t trust me. I will prove it!” said Qiu Mengmin, grasping back the bottle and poured a little on his palm. He took it!
Madame Lu was shocked totally!
She hurriedly seized the bottle and said, “Are you out of your mind? When did I say I don’t believe you?”
Qiu Mengmin turned pale after taking the poison but he could still kneel steadily on the ground. It proved that the poison was not strong.
Madame Lu felt relieved. She began to denounce Qiu Mengmin, “Are you crazy! I am even willing to die for you. Why do I distrust you? I just plucked it out of the air.” She was so worried about her son that she asked him to see a doctor immediately.
“Yes, mother,” replied Qiu Mengmin. He felt uncomfortable despite nothing severe happened to him. He struggled to stand up and say goodbye to his mother, “Mother, it’s all on you now!”
“Go and have a rest. No problem!” said Madame Lu, hatred flashing out of her eyes. She grasped the bottle tightly and said, “That b.i.t.c.h will be notorious, I swear!”