Chapter 17: The Plot is Exposed
Chapter 17: Chapter 17: The Plot is Exposed
Liang Wan gently stepped aside. Feng Qingyue lunged at thin air and nearly face-planted. Stumbling, she spun around, looking utterly wretched. "You set this whole thing up!"
She hadn’t forgotten bumping into Liang Wan outside the kitchen. If there was a problem with the ginger soup, Liang Wan had to be the one who tampered with it, deliberately causing a scene at the banquet to get her punished!
Liang Wan raised her eyebrows. "I was merely returning the favor."
Truth be told, she hadn’t held back in the slightest. SPLASH—she had dumped all the medicine Mrs. Zhang gave her into the bowl, terrified the dose wouldn’t be potent enough for Cui Hao to enjoy himself to the fullest.
As for Princess Lanling "coincidentally" passing by, well, that just took bribing a maid with a bit of silver...
Rage twisted Feng Qingyue’s pretty face into something hideous. "I tried to help you out of the goodness of my heart, and you frame me like this?"
"Listen to yourself. Were you really helping me, or were you helping yourself?" Liang Wan laughed in disbelief. Did Feng Qingyue still think she was an idiot?
Honestly, she hadn’t planned to expose them so soon. It wasn’t until she heard Qing Yue’s cries for help from the riverbank in the distance that her suspicions were aroused and she decided to test the waters. After all, without Feng Qingyue’s help, it would have been incredibly difficult for Cui Hao to enter Yulin Garden! Yet not only had he shown up, but he also knew exactly where she and Feng Qingyue were supposed to meet.
Feng Qingyue was pulling the strings behind the scenes while playing the innocent fool in public.
Liang Wan stared at her coldly, her fingernails biting painfully into her palms. "Is Cui Hao the only man left in the world? If you fancied him, you should have said so earlier! Why didn’t you? Was it because your family background wasn’t good enough, or your social status too low?"
In her previous life, her days after marriage had been bitterly hard. The embroidery she stayed up late to make didn’t sell well; commoners couldn’t afford it, and she had no connections to the wealthy nobles. Seeing this, Feng Qingyue kindly offered to introduce her to the female relatives of some official families.
Everything had seemed normal at first. Then came the visit to Li Changshi’s residence. Unexpectedly, the Lady Chief Historian was out. Claiming she had urgent matters back home, Feng Qingyue left her alone to wait. She waited and waited, but when she woke up next, she found herself completely naked beneath Li Changshi, caught red-handed in bed by the Lady Chief Historian.
It was a clear frame-up, yet they turned the tables and accused her of deliberate seduction. The Lady Chief Historian relentlessly tied her up, dragged her before Cui Hao and her Mother-in-law, and humiliated her ruthlessly. Living was pure agony, so she found a rope and hung it over a rafter.
When Feng Qingyue rushed over, she put on a spectacular act, hugging her and weeping bitterly, vowing that they couldn’t let the wicked get away with it and that she would definitely seek justice for her. But given their lowly status, how could they possibly sue a court official? Feng Qingyue then offered to introduce her to the Emperor.
And she had foolishly believed it—trusted her without a shadow of a doubt! Thinking back on it now, she found her past self ridiculously stupid!
First it was Zhang Shi, then Li Changshi, and finally the tyrant... Step by step, they had pushed her into an abyss of eternal damnation!
But what about them? She still remembered the day Feng Qingyue had just given birth. Cui Hao, ignoring all taboos, squatted by the bed and held her hand, while her Mother-in-law cradled their newborn, beaming with joy. The whole family was happy and harmonious, an incredibly heartwarming scene—while she stood at the doorway like a spare part...
This beautiful harmony was bought by trampling over her body and crushing her soul!
Liang Wan lowered her head and let out a string of laughs. They really had played a brilliant hand!
Her laughter deeply pierced Feng Qingyue, who lunged forward with seething hatred. But before she could reach her, Cui Hao grabbed her and yanked her back. "Don’t touch her!"
Exasperated, Feng Qingyue screamed at him, "Cui Hao!"
Cui Hao turned his head, his eyes fixed only on Liang Wan. Her gaze was filled with nothing but contempt and disgust, looking at him as if he were some nauseating piece of filth.
When he first arrived in Jinye City, he had suffered endless mockery and hit brick walls at every turn. Amidst a sea of cold stares, only she had treated him with courteous respect, and only she had looked at him with eyes full of approval and admiration. She was a noble lady from a scholarly family, worlds apart from him, yet she had favored him and him alone. She had no idea how intensely her affection had inflated his ego.
But now, ever since she walked into the room, she hadn’t even looked him in the eye. He would rather she fly into a thundering rage like Feng Qingyue, give Chun’er a beating, and then vent all her fury on him. But she did not. She didn’t even want to exchange a single word with him.
This stark contrast was unbearable. Shoving aside Feng Qingyue, who stood in his way, he stared intently at Liang Wan. "Have you really changed your mind and fallen for that Lu Xiu?"
Feng Qingyue nearly fell over from the shove, a venomous glint in her eyes. "Don’t be an idiot, they’ve been sleeping together in secret for ages! Like master, like servant!" She sneered, grabbing his arm relentlessly. "What, are you having second thoughts now? Don’t you forget, this was your idea in the first place!"
Cui Hao reacted as if branded by a hot poker, his eyes bloodshot. "Shut your mouth!"
Feng Qingyue laughed out of extreme anger. "What gives you the right to stand here?"
Cui Hao instantly drained of color, rendered utterly speechless.
WAAAA! Chun’er suddenly let out a wail and collapsed on the floor, sobbing loudly. Mrs. Zhang stood frozen to the side in shock.
Liang Wan swept her gaze over them one by one, curled her lips into a smile, and headed for the door. No matter how hoarse their screams grew or how much chaos erupted behind her, what did it have to do with her?
They couldn’t handle this little bit? She had merely ripped away their fig leaf; she hadn’t even done anything yet... But there was no rush. They would take it slowly, one by one!
Outside the Little Bamboo Pavilion, Liang Wan continued up the stone path. The gentle breeze blew in gusts, making the bamboo leaves rustle—RUSTLE RUSTLE. It was so quiet all around that only the sound of her footsteps could be heard. She didn’t know where she was going, let alone where she should go.
The pillars that once supported her were crashing down, one after another.
Who could understand? No one would ever understand that Yulin Garden held the few beautiful memories from her unbearable life, and just how precious those memories were to her. In such a filthy life, how many times had she broken down? How many times had she wanted to end it all? But she hadn’t. She had gritted her teeth and pushed through, purely to avoid implicating them.
She couldn’t remember how many nights she had woken up from nightmares, curled into a ball of sheer terror. She would be completely alone in a pitch-black room, the air as cold as a winter river, making her shiver uncontrollably. Aside from hugging her tear-soaked pillow in solitude and repeatedly recalling those happy moments, nothing else could bring her even the slightest bit of warmth.
Who would have thought that even Yulin Garden, a place overflowing with maidenly friendships, was full of deceit!
She didn’t know how long she walked. Only when she could walk no further did she lean against a bamboo stalk and slowly slide to the ground. To live an entire life, only to find out that absolutely everything was a lie!
Absurd. It was truly absurd!
Clutching her chest, she gasped for air as tears fell unstoppably from her eyes. She genuinely couldn’t figure it out—how could anyone live such a failed life?
"What’s wrong? You couldn’t handle discovering your sweetheart hooking up with a maid?" a soft taunt suddenly rang out deep within the secluded bamboo forest.
When Liang Wan raised her eyes, Liang Jiao had already stepped in front of her. She stood with her arms crossed, her bright, watery eyes brimming with disdain. A sneer played on her cherry-red lips, looking nothing like the smiling and submissive Fourth Lady of the Liang Mansion.
"I noticed Chun’er secretly messing around with that Cui Xiaolang ages ago, but unfortunately, you were blind! You couldn’t even see them making eyes at each other right in front of you!" Liang Jiao chuckled again as she spoke, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "So what if you’re the number one beauty of Jinye City? You’re nothing but a wooden beauty, worse than even a mere maid!"
Liang Wan lowered her head and nodded. Even though Liang Jiao’s words were harsh, it didn’t change the fact that she was telling the truth. She really had been blind, played for a fool by everyone!
Wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, Liang Wan leaned against the bamboo stalk and smiled at her. "What’s the matter? Are you done pretending?"