Chapter 1014Her Fate: from a Noble Wife to a Humble Concubine
“Is she saved or not?” Rui’an Great Elder Princess abruptly stood up and asked anxiously.
Whatever heinous crimes Madam Jiang had committed, she was Shao Wanru’s elder. It would be bad if she bore the reputation of hounding an elder to death.
“Fortunately, nothing serious happened, and she was rescued. However, she is still in a coma. The imperial physicians are trying their best to treat her,” answered the palace maid.
Rui’an Great Elder Princess breathed a sigh of relief and sat down.
Shao Wanru reached out to hold her hand, gently nipping her cold fingers to comfort her.
She had already guessed what Madam Jiang was going to do.
With Madam Jiang’s high status, she would rather die than stand trial in court. It would humiliate herself and disgrace the entire Marquis Xing’s Mansion.
Not to mention whether Madam Jiang was willing to undergo that kind of insult, Old Madam was apparently reluctant to accept the result. Old Madam had always been very sensitive about the reputation of the Marquis Xing’s Mansion. How could she tolerate Madam Jiang ruining it?
When Shao Wanru recalled what had happened in the Marquis Xing’s Mansion yesterday and the past events, she felt it easy to understand her extreme behavior. Even since Madam Jiang got out of the Yuhui Nunnery, she knew full well this matter couldn’t be settled peacefully. Without Shao Wanru’s forgiveness, she couldn’t resolve her crisis. Therefore, Madam Jiang tried every means to make her go back to the Marquis Xing’s Mansion.
To force Shao Wanru to let go of her, Madam Jiang was ready to stir up any trouble.
Madam Jiang would do anything for this purpose, for instance, making use of Qiu Yu, who came to the mansion to investigate the case, and possibly many other things. She must have thought of the ultimate way to save herself: to commit suicide.
Only by threatening Old Madam with the last resort could she help Madam Jiang regardless of everything. Therefore, they did the mourning ceremony for Shao Wanru’s parents. If Old Madam hadn’t backed her up, Madam Jiang could not have done all of this alone.
However, yesterday, things didn’t go according to their plan. It was because Zhao Xiran unexpectedly intervened. Zhao Xiran must have added the medicine to that handkerchief and switched it with the one in Madam Jiang’s hands.
At first, Madam Jiang looked normal, but after Zhao Xiran came, she gradually behaved strangely. Zhao Xiran’s purpose was surely to convince others that Madam Jiang was out of her mind, so she planned to drug her. The others would know she was mad because of Madam Jiang’s crazy ramblings and deeds. How could Shao Wanru and others go after a poor and insane woman? Zhao Xiran just intended to get Madam Jiang out of trouble for the time being.
But in Madam Jiang’s eyes, Zhao Xiran schemed against her. When the imperial physician found out about the source of the medicinal smell, Madam Jiang slammed Zhao Xiran.
Before Old Madam entered the Palace today, she should have told Madam Jiang that if they insisted on investigating her for what she had done, there was only one way for her to go.
She had to offer up her life as penance for her sins.
However, with Madam Jiang’s character, she would never admit her defeat and kill herself. It would be best if she survived after bumping into a pillar.
Compared with Rui’an Great Elder Princess, Shao Wanru knew Madam Jiang better, so she never thought for a second that Madam Jiang would die.
Old Madam had been helped to a side hall to rest. The Empress Dowager frowned. It was indeed knotty to deal with Madam Jiang, who could no longer go to court and might die at any second.
“What do you think, Princess Chen?” The Empress Dowager turned to Shao Wanru. Madam Jiang was Shao Wanru’s elder, and for the Empress Dowager, Madam Jiang was a court official’s wife. Neither Shao Wanru nor the Empress Dowager wanted her death to tarnish their reputation.
“I’m at your command, Your Majesty.” Shao Wanru stood up, bowed sideways, and said. At this time, the Empress Dowager would give in, which didn’t surprise Shao Wanru at all.
Madam Jiang abandoned her pride to make a hell of a fuss. Although it would not imperil her life, her suicide sounded urgent. This time, she no longer needed to take her trial in the court, but so what? She was responsible for the death of Zhao Xiran’s baby. Her miserable life started at the moment when she jumped up to push Zhao Xiran violently.
The Marquis Xing’s Mansion would go from bad to worse. This consequence was even better than what Shao Wanru had expected: she thought Madam Jiang would be punished for those crimes and driven away after Marquis Xing divorced her.
A slow and painful death would be a better punishment. In her previous life, they wore Shao Wanru out with endless dirty tricks, making her feel like she was being cut hundreds and thousands of times by a blunt knife. Though not lethal, each sinister attack from them would put Shao Wanru in greater misery and despair…
This time, neither angry nor annoyed, Shao Wanru behaved properly. Somehow, her calm and gentle appearance made people feel at ease.
The Empress Dowager reached out and pulled her over, heaving a sigh. “Good girl, I know that you have been wronged. Don’t worry. Madam Jiang gets away this time, but I won’t let her hurt you again in the name of righteousness!”
“Imperial Grandmother…” Shao Wanru gazed at Empress Dowager, like a child looking at mom with pure adoration, the rims of her eyes slightly red.
Shao Wanru looked quite young and sometimes even appeared a little childish. When she wanted to show a sedate and dignified bearing, she looked like a child pretending to be mature. The Empress Dowager, recalling how harsh the Marquis Xing’s Mansion had been to her, felt sorrier for her. “This girl is indeed pitiful. No wonder my grandson takes great care of her. Everyone will feel tender and protective toward such a pitiful girl who can concede for the sake of the general good.”
The Empress Dowager thought to herself. However, if Chu Liuchen learned the judgment in her heart, he would feel amused again. Pitiful? For the general good? None was the image of Shao Wanru in Chu Liuchen’s eyes!
When Chu Liuchen met his beloved girl, he knew she was merciless and decisive. If she only had paid attention to the interests of the whole, she would not have knocked over the bridal sedan chair on the spot. Nevertheless, Chu Liuchen appreciated her pleasingly direct manner the most. Shao Wanru, knowing whom to love and whom to hate, was never willing to deceive herself. Anyway, why would she hypocritically play the wronged part to safeguard the so-called general interests?
“Madam Jiang is ill-behaved with evil motives and mentally unstable, so she is no longer qualified to be Marquis Xing’s wife. From now on, she will be demoted to a concubine,” the Empress Dowager declared coldly.
Usually, a wife wouldn’t be degraded to a concubine. If such a disgraceful thing happened to a family, the whole family would be criticized and despised by others. Also, the charge of spoiling a concubine and killing a wife might damage a man’s official career.
But this time, the Empress Dowager personally relegated Madam Jiang, Marquis Xing’s wife, to a concubine, so no one dared to gossip about it.
The corners of Shao Wanru’s mouth lifted silently. Whether in her previous or present life, Madam Jiang was determined to exterminate the first branch root and all to enjoy the title of nobility and no end of wealth and honor. The noble title and glory of the Marquis Xing’s Mansion remained there, but all of this would have nothing to do with Madam Jiang.
No one knew how frenzied Madam Jiang would become upon learning what had happened when she woke up.
However, since she was already insane in the public’s eyes, she might as well go on pretending to be mad in the inner court of the Marquis Xing’s Mansion!
In the past, the Marquis Xing’s Mansion shared the same fundamental interests with Madam Jiang. But now, as an inferior concubine, how could she dominate in the Marquis Xing’s Mansion?
Though Madam Jiang spent most of her life scheming, she came to a tragic end, which was nobody’s fault but her own. Moreover, the constant entanglements between her and Zhao Xiran had just begun. Zhao Xiran was not like Shao Wanru in her previous life. Of course, her interests and Madam Jiang’s became the same for the time being, but Shao Jing didn’t…
The Marquis Xing’s Mansion would go through violent upheavals!
That was great. More and more things in Shao Wanru’s memory would turn up, and everything would become more evident in disputes…
Shao Wanru knelt, gently placing her hands on Empress Dowager’s knees, and pleaded, “Your Majesty, but my Second Uncle has done nothing wrong, and my Third Aunt is in poor health. If Madam Jiang is no longer in charge, no one will take care of the inner court for Second Uncle. This… This is not good. Your Majesty, please forgive Madam Jiang…”
“Madam Jiang has done so many vicious things to you. Why are you still kindly interceding for her? Although your Second Uncle didn’t do anything wrong, he shouldn’t have let his wife’s bad behaviors go unchecked. Has he ever taught his wife any morals in private? Now that his former wife is demoted as a concubine, we should help and let him marry a principal wife as soon as possible!” Rui’an Great Elder Princess sighed with emotion and said, “You are overly kindhearted!”
“Marquis Xing should take another daughter of a noble family as his legal wife!” The Empress Dowager concluded.
“I’ve been degraded to a concubine?” Madam Jiang sat at the head of the bed. Her eyes flashed a hint of gloom and madness under the dim light.
Before she passed out, she was in the main courtyard where she used to live. But now, she woke up in a shabby room. Except for an old maid that she brought here from the Yuhui Nunnery, no one was around.
“That’s true. When receiving the imperial edict came from the Palace, the master asked some servants to move you here. You will be Concubine Jiang from now on.” The old maid sat on a round stool before her with an anxious expression. “If I had known you’re so incapable, I wouldn’t have chosen you in the first place. You told me it would be no big deal this time and there would be a good chance instead. So, Concubine Jiang, please enlighten me: what kind of opportunity is this?”
“I…” Madam Jiang’s face was livid, but she couldn’t say a word. After a long while, she gritted her teeth and finally ordered the old maid. “Ask First Young Master to see me!”
At present, only her son was the closest person to her in the mansion.
“First Young Master? Concubine Jiang, have you forgotten what you did last time? He is accompanying his wife. You pushed First Young Madam so hard that she lost her baby, which was also your son’s baby. Remember?” The old maid mocked and wondered. “She gave her son’s wife a violent push, causing her to have a miscarriage. How could she shamelessly look for her son?”
“Is that a big deal? They can have another baby in the future. Zhao Xiran is a bad one too. How could she dare to plot against me? I slapped her. So what? She didn’t stand still and fell. I didn’t expect her to brazenly blame me for it,” Madam Jiang said exasperatedly and slammed the cold and hard quilt.
This quilt couldn’t be compared with the comfortable ones she had used before. It couldn’t keep the heat well and felt stiff in her hands, and there were several holes in it. How could someone like her use such a shoddy quilt? Madam Jiang knew the servants in this manor began to treat her with neglect. No maid dared to slight her when she controlled the mansion, but now, they were bold enough to turn the knife in her wound.
“Madam, if that was what you thought, I have nothing to say to you. To tell you the truth, I heard that an old concubine used to be living here. Since her death, this place has been unoccupied for some time. I heard from people in this manor that she died a tragic and violent death, so no one lived here. They sent you to live in such an ominous place, and I think they aren’t afraid of you suffering from unnatural death. Since there are people guarding outside the courtyard, you can’t leave this place at will,” the old maid said grumpily.
Originally, she planned to enjoy some good days with Madam Jiang. However, it never occurred to her that her life would be even worse than before. If she had known it earlier, she would have stayed in the Yuhui Nunnery. At least, she would have been free, and the Marquis Xing’s Mansion would have sent her some money to live on.
“The old concubine who had died here? An untimely death?” Madam Jiang thought about it and immediately figured out who it was: an old concubine of the previous marquis. It was rumored that she hanged herself under the ceiling beam of the main room. When the servants came in, her dead body was still swaying in mid-air.
Thinking of this, Madam Jiang couldn’t help looking up toward the beam in the middle. Under the ceiling beam, a yellowed ribbon was starkly there. It dangled in the flickering dim lights as the wind blew through the room, leaving many ghost-like shadows on the walls.