Chapter 238: The Grand Lady Has Done Every Manner of Evil

There was no dinner, so Nanny Fan and the senior maids rummaged up a few pastries and brought them out for Second Madam and the others to fill their stomachs.

Second Madam had no appetite.

Cheng Zhao asked Nanny Fan, “Are there any pastries left? Give a few to everyone in the courtyard. Don’t save them—we’ll surely be able to leave tomorrow.”

Nanny Fan assented.

There weren’t many pastries prepared for Jiangyun Courtyard, so each maid and old servant received only two.

Cheng Zhao urged Second Madam to eat as well. “If they summon us in the middle of the night, Mother won’t have the strength to deal with it on an empty stomach.”

Second Madam nodded and forced down two pastries with some tea.

Zhou Yuanqi also ate his pastries quietly.

Without him joking around, Second Madam’s thoughts returned to the Grand Dowager Lady, and her spirits grew heavy.

“I spent my whole life suffering under her. I was always thinking about how free I’d be once she was gone. I never imagined she would be murdered,” Second Madam said.

She sighed deeply.

The last time Eldest Madam Song had died, Second Madam had cried.

This time, she could not.

She had no tears left to shed. Her low spirits came partly from surprise, but mostly from fear.

The Grand Dowager Lady had been the Zhou family’s “main pillar.” Second Madam had endured all her torment without leaving because of the prestige attached to the Duke of Chen’s residence.

Now, among her children, only Zhou Yuanshen was married and had established himself. Two others remained without prospects, and Second Madam had no idea what the future held.

Her heart was in turmoil.

When people had lived in a familiar environment for too long, they grew accustomed to it. A sudden change could leave them at a loss—even if that change might ultimately be for the better.

Second Madam now felt as though she were suspended in midair, unable to reach either above or below.

Fortunately, Cheng Zhao and Zhou Yuanqi were beside her, giving her some sense of reality.

“...It must be retribution. Eldest Uncle’s wife was murdered too. Father even said Aunt Zhou died the same way,” Zhou Yuanqi suddenly said.

Second Madam stared at him in surprise. “Your aunt? She died of an illness.”

“Father didn’t say that.”

Second Madam was even more astonished. “When did your father say that? He never told me.”

“He said it to Third Brother years ago. I was sitting beside them practicing calligraphy,” Zhou Yuanqi said.

“Years ago? How long?”

“Three or four years ago.”

Second Madam said, “You were only four or five then. You actually understood what you heard and remembered it?”

“Mother, when I was four, I could already recite the passages my tutor read. You were so pleased. Why, then, do you assume I can’t understand or remember family gossip?”

Second Madam fell silent.

After a moment, she asked, “What did your father say about your aunt’s death?”

“Father said Aunt Zhou and the Tenth Prince were both young. As husband and wife, they often had disagreements and occasionally exchanged angry words. Every time, Grandmother would berate Aunt Zhou.

“Later, the Tenth Prince took a fancy to one of Aunt Zhou’s maids. Aunt Zhou refused, but Grandmother took charge and gave the maid to the Tenth Prince.

“Aunt Zhou quarreled with Grandmother over that for quite some time. Then the maid took her own life, but Grandmother claimed that Aunt Zhou had killed her. The Tenth Prince took the opportunity to blame Aunt Zhou as well.

“Aunt Zhou was always ill. Before the Tenth Prince returned to the capital, he had even worried that she would have difficulty bearing children. He had already begun to look down on her. After he returned to the capital and ascended the throne, Aunt Zhou fell ill and died soon afterward. She didn’t burden the Tenth Prince in the slightest,” Zhou Yuanqi said.

Second Madam said, “Are you saying...”

“Those were Father’s words.”

Second Madam suddenly remembered something. “We only returned after the emperor ascended the throne. I remember that when your grandmother and the others were returning to the capital, your father tried to persuade your aunt to wait two years and return with us.

“But your aunt refused and even quarreled with your father. I was angry at the time, so I went out and argued with her too. She didn’t look well then. She wept bitterly while cursing me, almost as if she were out of her mind.”

Cheng Zhao sat beside them, piecing together what had happened from Zhou Yuanqi and Second Madam’s conversation.

The Grand Dowager Lady had set her heart on using the Tenth Prince to rise to power.

She had not been certain that he would ascend the throne; she had merely preserved that possibility.

And she had pursued that hope by trampling her own daughter.

The Zhou family’s married daughter had been the first stepping stone.

By suppressing and humiliating her own daughter, the Grand Dowager Lady had won the Tenth Prince’s heartfelt gratitude and trust. Under her constant manipulation, he had come to feel nothing but disdain and loathing for his first wife.

Once he knew that all his elder brothers had died in the struggle for power, he would ascend the throne. He had been deeply unwilling to share his glory with the wife he hated.

Perhaps the Zhou family’s married daughter had been unable to swallow that injustice and had insisted on making them suffer too.

Cheng Zhao thought that, by then, her only thought had probably been to make them miserable. She had not considered her own life or future at all.

The Grand Dowager Lady and the Tenth Prince had kept pressuring and humiliating her.

When she followed them back to the capital, Second Master Zhou had sensed that something was wrong and tried to persuade her to stay.

The Zhou family’s married daughter had not wanted any more people dragged into that whirlpool. She had cursed the elder brother and sister-in-law who wanted to save her, unable to bear the thought of them falling into the same pit of fire.

She must have been in unbearable pain. That was why she had cursed them while weeping.

Cheng Zhao further guessed that Second Master Zhou had not truly understood Aunt Zhou’s condition. Second Madam and Zhou Yuanshen had both told Cheng Zhao that they had not lived with the Grand Dowager Lady and the others at the time.

They had lived separately. Second Master Zhou might have known what was happening on the Grand Dowager Lady’s side only through observation or scattered bits of information.

Once the Zhou family’s married daughter was dead, the Tenth Prince was free of his burden.

At that point, he would have felt even more grateful to the Grand Dowager Lady. The dead still left behind a lingering attachment. They had been only fifteen or sixteen when they married; perhaps they had once shared happy days.

In any case, through the blood of the Zhou family’s married daughter, the Grand Dowager Lady had completely secured the emperor’s loyalty.

Only after the Zhou family’s married daughter died did Second Master Zhou realize what had happened.

“...If that’s true, then the old woman deserved her retribution!” Second Madam said furiously.

Then she added, “It was far too easy for her. She died so quickly, without suffering for even a day. Why should she have been so lucky?”

Zhou Yuanqi asked, “Do you feel a little better now?”

Second Madam fell silent.

Seeing that she was still in a panic, Cheng Zhao leaned forward and hugged her tightly, pressing her cheek against Second Madam’s.

Second Madam was taken aback, but she allowed Cheng Zhao to hold her. The two remained pressed together.

In the latter half of the night, Zhou Yuanqi could no longer keep his eyes open and fell asleep first.

Cheng Zhao and Second Madam had no sleepiness at all.

Second Madam worried about her husband and son, afraid they were even now being tortured by that mad emperor. More than that, she feared the emperor might take his anger over the Grand Dowager Lady’s death out on Zhou Yuanshen.

Cheng Zhao could not sleep either.

She was thinking not only about the upheaval within the Zhou family, but about the entire imperial court.

Helian Xuan’s treacherous ambitions certainly did not end with inciting Lady Huan to kill the Grand Dowager Lady. If he intended to provoke the garrison forces and the princes into rebellion, then this realm was about to be torn apart by war.

Only in complete chaos would he have a chance...

Would he really do it?

It was easy to ignite the flames of war, but extinguishing them was far more difficult. In the best-case scenario, peace might return in three to five years. In the worst, decades of warfare could leave the realm fragmented and its people scattered.

Cheng Zhao even felt that Helian Xuan would do it.

There seemed to be a streak of madness in the Helian family. Two emperors had been like that; Helian Xuan might be the same.

In wartime, no one could remain untouched.

Cheng Zhao felt a tightening in her chest again and again, unable to fall asleep.

“Damn Helian Xuan!”

Neither Second Madam nor Cheng Zhao spoke to the other. It was nearly dawn before they managed to doze off for a while.

“Madam, Young Madam, the Duke has returned!”

Nanny Fan’s voice seemed to come from within a dream, yet also from right beside her ear. Cheng Zhao jolted awake.