Chapter 4: Zheng, what did I hear
The woman was none other than Madam Zheng, the biological mother of the original owner, Jiang Yunxi, and the Secondary Madam of the Heir to the Marquis of Pingyang. She glanced around, but there was no one there.
Then what had been the voice she heard just now...?
“Suju, did you hear anything?”
Suju shook her head. “Madam, this servant didn’t hear anything.”
Madam Zheng was astonished. “You didn’t hear it? You didn’t hear a woman’s voice?”
Suju shook her head again. “This servant truly didn’t hear anything.”
Madam Zheng frowned. The voice continued to ring in her ears.
【That vile Nanny Kong, that old hag! If you wanted to have an affair with Steward Ma, couldn’t you do it in your own home? Why did you have to sneak around in the Marquis’s Residence?
I caught you in the act, and because you were afraid I’d expose you, you decided to kill me.】
【How dare you two commit regicide!】
【You’ve already harmed me so badly that I’m unconscious, yet you still won’t let me go.
You actually came back to silence me a second time, and now you’re trying to poison me with rat poison.】
【If I really die, I’ll haunt you even as a ghost!】
【Is anyone there? Hurry and send someone! Save this poor child!】
【Heavens above, earth below, open your eyes! Strike this murderous pair of adulterous dogs dead!】
【My dear father and mother, come save your daughter!
I don’t want to be killed by my enemies a second time!】
【This lousy System is useless too! It said it would think of a way to save me, then vanished without a trace!】
【I don’t want to die twice in one day!】
Madam Zheng’s expression changed drastically. Even if she had been a fool, she would have understood who the owner of that voice was by now.
It was her Yunxi.
Although she didn’t understand why the maid couldn’t hear it while she alone could, this was not the time to worry about that.
Someone was trying to poison her Yunxi with rat poison.
Madam Zheng lifted her skirts and hurried forward in great strides.
Suju was stunned. What was wrong with the Secondary Madam? Why had she completely abandoned all concern for propriety?
It seemed that Fifth Miss had been running a high fever and remained unconscious for so long that even the Secondary Madam had lost her composure.
Jiang Yunxi felt the hand on her face withdraw.
“Why is Fifth Miss sweating so much?”
Another voice rang out, clearly belonging to a young woman.
“Nanny Kong, the Young Miss has had a high fever that won’t go down. She’s been breaking out in cold sweats constantly.”
“Then let this old servant wipe her sweat for her.”
The moment she heard that, Jiang Yunxi was terrified out of her wits.
【Ahhh! Nanny Kong, that poisonous old hag, is going to wipe my face with a handkerchief contaminated with rat poison.
If she rubs it over my nose or mouth, won’t I be doomed to remain unconscious forever?!】
【Someone help! Save me! Murder!】
【System, Main System, I hope your nineteenth-generation ancestors are doing well! I’m throwing in one extra generation—no need to thank me.】
Although she couldn’t open her eyes and see anything, Jiang Yunxi seemed to have developed a third eye. She could almost picture a fierce-looking old nanny with a face full of flesh and a vicious expression, wearing a benevolent smile as she held a handkerchief.
【Young Miss, Nanny loves you!】
【Love my head!】
【You wretched Nanny Kong, send my regards to your second—】
The door was suddenly shoved open with a tremendous bang. It rebounded, only to be held open by someone.
At the same time, a woman’s furious shout rang out.
“Stop! Stay away from my daughter!”
Hurried footsteps sounded. Jiang Yunxi heard someone rush over, shove Nanny Kong away from the bedside, and pull her into her arms.
Her face was abruptly buried in a soft bosom. That softness...
At that moment, Madam Zheng’s heart was pounding violently, as though it might leap straight out of her mouth.
The nanny standing beside her daughter just now had been Nanny Kong, the Old Madam’s personal attendant. She had even been holding a handkerchief and was about to press it against her daughter’s face.
She must be the “vile Nanny Kong” and “old hag” mentioned in that voice. And that handkerchief...
That voice had truly been Yunxi’s.
Nanny Kong had been shoved back several steps without warning. She only managed to steady herself by grabbing the bedpost.
She frowned as she looked at Madam Zheng, who was holding Fifth Miss.
Although Madam Zheng was the Secondary Madam of the Heir, Nanny Kong was a trusted servant of the Old Madam and had never considered the Heir’s concubine worthy of her attention.
She gave a cold laugh. “Madam Zheng certainly has quite the imposing manner.”
“This old servant came out of the goodness of her heart to visit Fifth Miss on behalf of the Old Madam and help wipe her sweat, yet you nearly injured me.”
“Are you dissatisfied with the Old Madam, Madam Zheng? Are you planning to defy her?”
“You’re talking nonsense! I have no dissatisfaction with the Old Madam. It’s clearly you...”
Madam Zheng opened her mouth, wanting to repeat what Jiang Yunxi had said, but the moment she tried to mention it, no sound came out.
“Yunxi said...”
She tried several more times and finally understood. She could hear her daughter’s strange inner voice, but she was apparently forbidden from telling anyone else about it.
Just then, the voice rang out again.
【This is my mother? My real mother?
Mother, could you not hold me so tightly? You’re a little too well-endowed—I’m practically suffocating.】
【Don’t let Nanny Kong and her lover drown me, and don’t let the rat poison kill me, only for me to end up suffocating in your arms.】
Madam Zheng was now one hundred percent certain that what she was hearing was indeed her daughter’s inner voice.
She quickly loosened her hold on the girl, but didn’t dare let go completely.
She was afraid that Nanny Kong might use the handkerchief in her hand...
The handkerchief! Right—the handkerchief!
Her daughter’s inner voice couldn’t be revealed to others, so she couldn’t use it to bring down Nanny Kong and her lover. But wasn’t the handkerchief in Nanny Kong’s hand proof enough?
“Quick, come and seize Nanny Kong! Take the handkerchief from her!”
“Have someone examine it carefully and find out exactly what’s on it!”
The maids and older servants in the room froze.
Nanny Kong, however, was startled. How did Madam Zheng know there was something wrong with the handkerchief?
Feeling guilty, she tried to stuff it into her sleeve while saying, “Madam Zheng, what do you mean?”
“This old servant came to see Fifth Miss out of the goodness of her heart, yet you’ve ordered people to seize me and inspect the handkerchief in my possession?”
“Could it be that you suspect this old servant harbors ill intentions toward Fifth Miss?”
Nanny Kong’s stern voice and obvious guilty reaction immediately aroused suspicion in the maids and servants, who had initially thought Madam Zheng’s order was rash.
They no longer hesitated and immediately followed Madam Zheng’s instructions, surrounding Nanny Kong.
Nanny Kong naturally tried to escape. The rat poison on the handkerchief could not be explained away.
But even with all her strength, she was no match for so many people. She was quickly subdued.
“Madam Zheng, you’d better remember that I belong to the Old Madam. You dare—”
“Enough,” Madam Zheng interrupted her. “Tie Nanny Kong up and gag her. Isn’t the physician waiting in the room next door? Go and bring him here. Have him examine the handkerchief carefully.”
【Host, I’m back.】
【Host, the Main System agreed. From now on, you can borrow against your account. The limit is only one thousand, though.】
Just like in those Hong Kong movies—the police always showed up at the very last moment.
【System, why didn’t you wait until I was dead before coming back?】
【If I’d relied on you, the grass on my grave would already be three feet tall.】
【As expected of a useless System. When it really mattered, I still had to rely on my mother.】
Still, how did my mother know there was something wrong with Nanny Kong’s handkerchief?
Could it be that she caught Nanny Kong tampering with rat poison?
The System quickly scanned the situation and soon figured out what had happened while it was searching for the Main System.
Once it understood everything, it felt rather embarrassed. It was all the Main System’s fault—why had it gone off to deal with the aftermath in another time and space at a moment like this? It had caused quite a delay.
Fortunately, the host’s biological mother had rescued her. Otherwise...
To make amends, the System scanned Nanny Kong once more and uncovered even more of her secrets.
【Host, when Nanny Kong and her lover were harming you, they were seen by a craftsman who had come to repair the railing around the lake. He was the one who told people that you had fallen into the lake.
He’s currently debating whether to use this to blackmail...】