Chapter 05
“Father, cough, cough, cough, why are you here? Am I hallucinating because I’m starving to death?”
Jiang Wei slumped to the floor, waving her embroidery handkerchief and coughing weakly, as if she were about to cough up her very heart, liver, spleen, and lungs. The crowd that had squeezed into the room looked at each other. What the? This second young lady looked even frailer than the eldest young lady.
What puzzled them even more was that, after only a single night, Jiang Wei had transformed from a hideously ugly, obese woman into a plump, delicate-looking young girl. It was bizarre.
Jiang Yan suspected she was seeing a ghost. “Aren’t you mute?” That was impossible; the medicine she had prepared was incredibly potent. As long as she had swallowed it, she should definitely be mute. Unless… she hadn’t drunk it. Jiang Yan cast a suspicious look at the Third Concubine, Chen Yiyi, who was standing at the very back. But Chen Yiyi wouldn’t betray her for the sake of her son and her former fiancĂ©.
“Sister, that’s such a strange thing to say. Would a maid in this mansion dare to poison a young lady unless ordered by the mistress? Oh my, Sister, are you trying to poison me?” Jiang Wei asked, shrinking in terror behind Shen Peirong.
“Sister, you’re joking. We are sisters born of the same mother, how could I harm you with poison?”
“Sister is right. I know you love me the most. Seeing how fat I was, you ordered the maids not to send me any food, intending to starve me thin.”
Jiang Dahai frowned. “Xiaoyan, there cannot be a next time. If you starve your sister to death, who will take your place to marry that sickly wretch of the Gu family?”
Just as expected of a scummy father, Jiang Wei thought. He didn’t even bother to avoid her when saying such things, treating her either as air or as a deaf person.
Jiang Wei curled her lips. “Fortunately, the Third Concubine was kind and brought me a bowl of chicken soup. Unfortunately, my ‘countryside stomach’ couldn’t handle such high-class goods. After drinking it, I vomited and had diarrhea all night long. I lost 20 pounds, enough to flush out all the clay (Guanyin clay) I ate in the countryside. Have you ever seen Guanyin clay? Itâs the kind of dirt that stays in your body, causing you to bloat and swell until you eventually die.”
“Guanyin clay?” Shen Peirong shrieked. “I have your sister send money to the countryside every month! How dare they make you eat Guanyin clay?”
Regardless, she was her own daughter. Hearing that her youngest child had been eating dirt in the countryside, Shen Peirongâs mind flashed to the scene from her dream last night: Jiang Wei, covered in blood. She was furious, and her head began to throb again. Strange, she thought, my headaches have been getting more frequent lately, and I feel like I’m being drained dry.
“Perhaps the person delivering the money died on the road. Regardless, I haven’t received a penny in three years. My foster family cursed me, calling me ‘unfilial trash born of a mother but raised without one.’ Cough, cough, cough…” As she spoke, Jiang Wei coughed up two mouthfuls of pitch-black blood.
The excuse was flimsy, and Shen Peirong could roughly guess what was going on, but because she was biased, she refused to believe her own intuition. “Enough! Since you’re back, you are not allowed to mention the past again.”
Jiang Dahai was full of anger. “Did you break into Xiaoyanâs room yesterday because you resent her, and move all her belongings away?”
“Wrongly accused! Father, from yesterday until you arrived, I was locked in my room by the maids. I couldn’t even step out, let alone let a fly in. Plus, there were maids guarding the door the whole timeâI even had to relieve myself in the room! How could I possibly go out? If you don’t believe me, ask them.”
The maid replied, “Master, the Second Miss has indeed not left her room since she returned yesterday.” The Second Concubine and the Eldest Miss had ordered her: if the Second Miss escaped, she might as well be dead. From last night until now, she had stood her post firmly; not even a fly could have entered or exited the Second Miss’s room.
Jiang Dahai, who had personally ordered Jiang Wei to be locked up, turned his head away awkwardly. Jiang Wei leaned in close to him. “Father, I have a question.”
“Speak.”
“You said the things in Sister’s room were stolen at night, but how did she only discover it this morning? Don’t tell me… she didn’t sleep in her room last night?”
Shen Peirong frowned. “Xiaoyan, where did you go after helping me with acupuncture last night?”
“Replying to the First Mistress and Second Miss, my headache flared up last night, and after the Eldest Miss finished with you, she performed acupuncture on me. Seeing it was getting late, I had her stay over in my room.” To prove she really had a headache, Chen Xiaolian deliberately rubbed her temples, putting on a look of discomfort.
Shen Peirong frowned. It wasn’t a good thing for Xiaoyan to be so close to the Second House. What was strange was that the Second House always acted against her, yet they treated Xiaoyan like their own daughter. They gave her all the best food and toys. Even Jiang Yunhe didn’t enjoy such treatment from the Second House.
Remembering the words from her dream last nightâwhere her father told her that Xiaoyan was the Second Houseâs daughterâher eyes darted between Chen Xiaolian and Jiang Yan. She was horrified to discover that Xiaoyan, who used to look like her, now resembled the Second House. On the contrary, Jiang Wei, who had lost weight, looked remarkably like her. No, she corrected herself, not like me, but like my late father.
Jiang Yan had discovered her appearance changed when she looked in the mirror this morning, and the jade pendant around her neck was gone. She had searched the First Mistress’s room and her mother’s room, but found nothing. Although she had already bound the jade pendant to herself, without its augmentation, the effectiveness of the fortune she siphoned would weaken. In other words, she had to keep siphoning constantly to maintain her luck and control them.
Seeing his beloved woman uncomfortable, Jiang Dahai shifted the blame onto Jiang Wei. “Your sister has always been kind to people. Apart from you, no one in this mansion would go against her.”
“Father, you certainly have a high opinion of me. I heard that the bed, the vanity, the wardrobe, and even the undergarments in Sister’s room were stolen. Do you really think a weak girl like me, who hasn’t eaten in two days, could carry a wardrobe and a bed?”
Jiang Dahai was speechless. Forget a young girl like Jiang Wei; even he wouldn’t be able to move a wardrobe by himself.
Jiang Wei took the opportunity to throw more mud. “Father, could the thief be Sister’s secret lover? Otherwise, who would steal a young lady’s undergarments?”
The Second Concubine shrieked, “Bah! The Eldest Miss is pure and virtuous; sheâs not like a fool like you, born of a mother but raised without one!”
Jiang Wei looked aggrieved. “Mother, the Second Concubine is scolding me to your face! She called me ‘unfilial trash whose mother is dead’!”
Shen Peirong was angry. “Second Concubine, you are overstepping your bounds! Jiang Wei is my daughter, the Second Miss of the Jiang family; it is not your place to criticize her.”
“First Mistress, Second Miss, I was wrong.” Chen Xiaolian lowered her head and rolled her eyes. Shen Peirong, what are you being so arrogant about? Aren’t you being played like a puppet by my daughter and me?
Jiang Yan shed tears of grievance. “Mother, it was the younger sister who slandered my reputation first.”
“Sheâs from the countryside; why are you getting angry with her?”
Strange, Shen Peirong thought. Before, her heart would ache whenever she saw Xiaoyan looking aggrieved, and she would want to give her everything. But now, she didn’t seem to like this “petty” behavior of Xiaoyan’s. Feeling a bit guilty, Shen Peirong tried to protect her eldest daughter, warning Jiang Wei, “Xiaoyan is your sister. From now on, you are not allowed to speak ill of her, understand?”
“Understood, Mother. It was my guess that was wrong. Sister is a refined lady, surely she has no secret lover. Then there is only one possibility for her room being emptied: her maternal grandfather turned into a vengeful spirit and emptied her room!”
“Nonsense!” Jiang Dahaiâs mouth twitched. “Your grandfather was upright and honorable during his life; how could he do such an immoral thing after death? Besides, this is the New Society. Jiang Wei, you are not allowed to engage in feudal superstitions!”
“Then you tell me, Father, what happened? Don’t forget, Grandfather was murdered on his way to pick me up. It is very likely that he became a vengeful spirit!”
“Absurd!” Jiang Dahai turned to Shen Peirong, angry. “Look at the daughter you raised! She hasn’t learned even a bit of the refinement expected of a lady; all she does is talk back and engage in feudal superstitions.”
“It’s not this, and it’s not that,” Jiang Wei countered. “Could it be that Sister moved everything out of her room herself, just to cry ‘thief’?”
