Chapter 16: Merciless, Heartless
After coming to a decision, Li Wei Yang displayed an expression filled with hesitation and worries. She intentionally stammered, “Qi yiniang . . . Qi yiniang . . . what’s wrong with her?”
Hua Mei recognized Wei Yang’s curiosity and hurriedly responded, “San xiaojie, Qi yiniang’s illness is going to worsen when winter arrives, afraid she won’t be able to endure past the year. . .” As she spoke, she was carefully studying Li Wei Yang, not missing any changes in expression.
The smile on Wei Yang’s face gradually disappeared, replaced by a crest-fallen look. “Qi yiniang is my birth mother but all I can do is watch her suffer . . .”
Hua Mei reminded, “San xiaojie, now that you’re doing better, shouldn’t you help out Qi yiniang? At the very least, you should go and visit her.”
Li Wei Yang blinked a few times. “But right now Qi yiniang is heavily ill. I heard father had instructed no one is allowed to visit in case one might be infected by the illness.”
Hua Mei smiled and said, “San xiaojie, you can sneak out at night to visit her, isn’t that right? I’ll help you scope out the area in case someone arrives. If someone does come, I’ll immediately notify you. Then nobody will know right?”
Li Wei Yang continued to be reluctant. “If father knew I broke the rule, he’s going to be very angry.”
“I have no rights to persuade you, but San xiaojie, just think about it. Qi yiniang is your birth mother! Even if laoye knew, there’s nothing he can do about it,” Hua Mei said.
Hua Mei wanted to encourage her to visit her birth mother in order to infuriate her father? No way, it couldn’t be that simple.
Wei Yang laughed, as if she finally understood. “Hua Mei, you’re so clever! Let me think about the time and I’ll tell you when later.” Watching as Hua Mei disappeared, the look in Wei Yang’s eyes turned frosty.
Behind the curtains, Bai Zhi slowly appeared. “San xiaojie, you must not listen to her!”
Li Wei Yang glanced at Bai Zhi and asked, “Why not?”
Bai Zhi paused for a second but she truly did not want to see her young miss get into trouble so she said, “Xiaojie, please don’t mind me for saying this, but everything that Hua Mei has said, it is too suspicious.”
It seems Bai Zhi was not that simple-minded and naïve. Li Wei Yang grinned and said, “Greed has no boundaries. There are some people who can’t live without seeing me suffer.” Then she tossed the pair of beautifully sewn shoes aside.
Bai Zhi startled. “San xiaojie, you already knew. All the more, you mustn’t go!”
Li Wei Yang tapped rhythmically on the table as her smile broadened. “No, we must go!”
That afternoon, Li Wei Yang told Hua Mei that they were going to pay Qi yiniang a visit at around 7pm. However, when the sun had just set at around 5pm, Li Wei Yang had taken Bai Zhi and the two of them silently left their yard from the back doors.
“San xiaojie, didn’t you told Hua Mei to meet up at 7pm? Why are we—”
Li Wei Yang grinned. Her eyes were sparkling with wiles. “If we waited until then, we would only be stepping into their traps!” Visiting her birth mother was a must, but the time in which they visited Qi yiniang had to be carefully mapped out. The timing had to be perfect so that Da furen didn’t have a way out, thinking that her scheme had been successful, and at the same time, it should give her enough time to find a leeway should anything go wrong.
Li Wei Yang and Bai Zhi made their way towards Nan Yuan carefully and silently, without bumping into anyone on the way. Nan Yuan was extremely peaceful and isolated. There were weeds growing on both sides of the walls and there were only three rooms in the yard. There were barely any servants at Nan Yuan.
There was a strong stench of medicinal herbs as one neared the door. Li Wei Yang had changed into a servant’s clothing before she left and had purposely lowered her head, trailing after Bai Zhi. When Bai Zhi entered the courtyard, she saw a servant girl coming out to welcome them. The servant girl was wearing a faded cotton attire with dirty stains here and there.
Upon seeing Bai Zhi, the servant girl’s eyes widened in surprise. “You are—”
Bai Zhi smiled and opened the container in her hands for the servant girl to take a look inside. “I’ve been instructed by San xiaojie to deliver this chicken soup to yiniang.”
The servant girl was horrified. Isn’t there already someone in there, why is there another delivery? The servant girl quickly replied, “These two jiejie, Zhao mumu also said she came to visit yiniang under San xiaojie’s instructions. She’s currently talking inside!”
Zhao mumu? The mumu working in her courtyard? It was as if Li Wei Yang suddenly stopped breathing. She had a strange feeling about this. Leaving the other two behind, she lifted the curtains and quickly stepped inside. In the room, there was only a bed and about two wooden vanity dresser. On the table was an old flower vase. The windows were tightly shut, making the atmosphere very oppressive.
However, as she focused on what was happening inside, the scene startled her. Zhao mumu was feeding soup to the sickly furen laying on the bed. Without thinking, Li Wei Yang hurried forward and roughly smacked the bowl of soup out of Zhao mumu’s hands.
The soup spilled all over Zhao mumu who was infuritated. “Who dares?!”
Li Wei Yang coldly snorted. “Zhao mumu, have your eyes gone blind that you don’t even recognize me?”
Recognizing the person in front of her, Zhao mumu panicked. Didn’t Hua Mei say San xiaojie would come a few hours later? Why is she here at this time?
“Who told you to feed this soup to Qi yiniang?!” Li Wei Yang’s voice was firm and stony, sounding nothing like a fragile thirteen year old girl.
Zhao mumu was overwhelmed by her aura and stammered, “It’s . . . It’s . . .”
“Wei Yang? Are you really Wei Yang?!” The furen laying on the bed froze before snapping out of her daze and reached for Wei Yang’s hands.
Qi yiniang was truly a delicate person. Although she was still quite young, her appearance had aged and she looked sickly. There wasn’t enough meat on her. She was so skinny that the jade bangle on her wrist could fall out any minute.
It was the first time Li Wei Yang met her birth mother. Her eyes reddened unknowingly. Without replying to Qi yiniang, she quickly blinked her eyes a few times, pointed to the ground and said, “Zhao mumu, who gave you the guts to do such a brazen thing that you are attempting to murder Qi yiniang?!”
Zhao mumu was about to lie but then noticed a few ants had died on the ground next to where the soup had spilled over. Obviously their deaths were caused by the poisonous soup. There was nothing she could say as she turned and ran for the door.
In an icy tone of voice, Li Wei Yang commanded, “You two, catch her for me!”
Bai Zhi and the other servant girl exchanged a glance. Immediately the two cornered and grabbed a hold of Zhao mumu, one on the right, one on the left. Zhao mumu struggled violently in between. Meanwhile Li Wei Yang walked up to her and gave her a harsh slap across the face. The sound resonated in the room.
“This is for daring to murder Qi yiniang!”
Zhao mumu was angry and in pain as she screamed, “San xiaojie! I was sent to care for you by Da furen! You can’t hit me!”
Not only do I want to hit you! I will also get rid of you! In a flash, Li Wei Yang had made a decision as she picked up the flower vase on the table and raised it high over Zhao mumu’s head. Zhao mumu looked at the vase with a horrified expression. Even though Wei Yang’s hand was raised high over Zhao mumu’s head, but when she was facing those pair of frightful eyes, she couldn’t deliver the deathly hit. Logic told her she had to be decisive about this but deep down in her conscious, it was not an easy thing to take away someone else’s life with your own two hands.
“San xiaojie, if you lay a finger on me, you won’t be able to take responsibility—” Zhao mumu noticed Wei Yang’s hesitation.
But it was for these words that had helped Wei Yang with her heartless decision.
Using all of her strength, she smashed the flower vase on Zhao mumu’s head. Immediately blood seeped out of Zhao mumu’s head, her eyes widened and her body became limp. The two servant girls panicked and let go of Zhao mumu as Zhao mumu’s bloody corpse fell to the ground.
“What is there to be afraid of?! She was the one who came here wanting to murder Qi yiniang. This is the ending she asked for!” Li Wei Yang’s face was pale as a ghost as she set down the flower vase. After a while, she regained her composure as she stared at the other three people in the room. They were still frozen in horror.
Bai Zhi calmed down then lowered herself to check Zhao mumu’s pulse. “It looks like . . . It looks like she has stopped breathing!” she announced shakily.
Li Wei Yang stared icily at Zhao mumu. This old mumu had listened to Da furen’s instructions to come here and murder Qi yiniang. If she had arrived according to the time set with Hua Mei then her birth mother would have died by the time she came. If she had been merciful earlier and let Zhao mumu lived, there was no doubt that Zhao mumu would run to Da furen and told her everything that had transpired. When that happened, there would be nothing left for the two of them except death. Therefore, she was not wrong.
“Xiaojie, what should we do now?” A sweat dropped from Bai Zhi’s forehead, landing on her eyelash. San xiaojie’s strong personality was not normal like others. She had already decided to serve xiaojie; therefore, she will not do anything to betray her young miss.
Li Wei Yang was about to talk when Qi yiniang, who had seen everything on the bed, quickly said to her servant, “Cui’er, go find a bag and put her corpse in it. Then tie it to a heavy rock and throw it into the lily pond behind the window. You must be decisive and quick, do you understand?”