Liu Rumei let out a gasp of shock upon seeing her son injured. Breaking free from restraint without a second thought, she threw herself before her child.
“Concubine Liu, don’t be ungrateful when given face!”
“This time, the Grand Tutor has shown great mercy by sending this old servant to bring you and your son back to the capital. Within three days, you both must enter the residence.”
“If you refuse to cooperate, don’t blame this old servant for being impolite!”
Liu Rumei held her son Ji Wenbo tightly, tears welling uncontrollably in her gentle eyes.
She looked up at Zhang Momo and declared word by word: “Ji Xueli and I are husband and wife who worshipped heaven and earth together! I am not a concubine!”
After the initial brief shock, Liu Rumei had finally figured out the situation.
This vicious servant woman had called her “Concubine Liu” from the start. If her guess was correct, Ji Xueli must have already established a family in the capital.
As for status, Liu Rumei truly didn’t care at all.
Now that her health was deteriorating day by day, she didn’t know how many days she had left to live.
If Yun Su and Wenbo could go to live in the capital, then she as their mother could rest in peace.
However, if she acknowledged the concubine status, her Yun Su and Wenbo would become illegitimate children.
Although she was just a village woman, she knew enough to understand that noble families didn’t treat illegitimate children as human beings.
Liu Rumei couldn’t let this happen!
At this moment, Zhang Momo snorted coldly and spoke with an unpleasant expression.
“Concubine Liu, this old servant calling you ‘concubine’ is already giving you face, and that’s only because you bore the Grand Tutor a son and a daughter.”
“You’re nothing but a village woman, yet you dare to covet the position of the Grand Tutor’s wife? I spit on you!”
“Why don’t you take a piss and look at your reflection to see what kind of wretched appearance you have!”
After saying this, Zhang Momo suddenly reached out and grabbed Liu Rumei’s hair, then yanked it backward forcefully!
“Ah!”
The violent pulling of her hair sent excruciating pain through Liu Rumei’s scalp, as if it were being torn off entirely, making her groan involuntarily.
Years of hard labor combined with chronic poisoning had left Liu Rumei’s body frail and weak.
Faced with Zhang Momo’s brutal pulling, Liu Rumei had no strength to resist.
Zhang Momo wore a contemptuous expression as she dragged Liu Rumei by the hair toward the open space outside the house, as if hauling a dead dog.
“Ah! Let go of my mother!”
Ji Wenbo’s eyes turned crimson red. Watching his mother being abused, he let out a hysterical roar!
Immediately, he staggered up from the ground, determined to fight Zhang Momo and her group to the death regardless of consequences.
The young boy clenched his fists tightly, his thin and small frame trembling uncontrollably from extreme rage.
At this moment, he was like a terrified young beast, charging recklessly toward Zhang Momo!
“Ouch!”
Caught off guard, Zhang Momo was suddenly head-butted in the waist by Ji Wenbo and couldn’t help but cry out in pain.
Almost simultaneously, Zhang Momo instinctively reached to support her waist and subconsciously released her grip on Liu Rumei’s hair.
Liu Rumei’s upper body, which had been forcibly dragged off the ground, fell heavily to the ground with a “thud.”
Weakly lying on the ground, despite her efforts to push herself up, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t rise.
Seeing this, Ji Wenbo quickly stumbled over and threw himself upon Liu Rumei.
“Mother, what’s wrong? Mother!”
Seeing his mother on the verge of death, Ji Wenbo was already frightened out of his wits.
The young boy threw himself to his knees beside his mother, his hands flailing helplessly, unsure of what to do.
“You little brat, how dare you bump into me!”
Zhang Momo roared furiously, her face flushed with rage. As she spoke, she snatched the horsewhip right out of the coachman’s hands.
“No, don’t hit my child! Hit me instead, don’t hurt my child!”
“Mother, don’t worry about me!”
Liu Rumei mustered the last of her strength and threw herself over her son, shielding him with her own body.
Meanwhile, Ji Wenbo desperately tried to protect his mother with his own frail, small frame.
Mother and son clung tightly to each other!
A contemptuous sneer spread across Zhang Momo’s fleshy face.
She glared fiercely at the mother and son embracing each other, a flash of cruelty flickering in her eyes. “Since you’re so devoted to each other, you can take the whip together!”
With that, Zhang Momo curled her lips into a haughty smirk, raised the horsewhip high, and brought it down viciously upon Liu Rumei and Ji Wenbo.
“Ah!”
A piercing scream suddenly tore through the dark night sky.
Liu Rumei held her son tightly, shielding him beneath her body, and closed her eyes, bracing for the pain to come.
Yet, the expected agony never arrived.
Liu Rumei snapped her eyes open to see her daughter’s massive, swollen body standing like a mountain before them.
At that moment, Ji Yunsu’s face, bloated and puffy from the poison, was terrifyingly cold.
One of her hands casually gripped Zhang Momo’s wrist, the one holding the whip. It seemed effortless, but Zhang Momo was already sweating profusely from the pain, her fleshy old face twisted in agony.
Before Zhang Momo or anyone else present could react, Ji Yunsu gave the wrist a sharp squeeze!
With a loud crack, Ji Yunsu snapped Zhang Momo’s whip-holding wrist.
“Ah! Ah!”
Zhang Momo screamed in unbearable agony.
With a thud, the horsewhip fell to the ground.
Ji Yunsu then tossed the shrieking Zhang Momo aside like garbage.
Zhang Momo spun around like a top, making a full 360-degree turn before her ankle gave a sickening crack, and she collapsed onto the cold ground.
The excruciating pain from the broken bones in her wrist and ankle made Zhang Momo tremble uncontrollably.
“Elder Sister!”
Seeing his sister descend like a deity to rescue him and their mother, the young boy couldn’t help but cry out excitedly.
Instantly, Zhang Momo’s cunning, triangular eyes widened in terror!
According to reliable information she had received earlier, Ji Yunsu had already succumbed to the poison and died yesterday. How could she still be alive?!
In her shock, Zhang Momo blurted out almost instinctively, “Ji Yunsu, you’re still alive?!”
Ji Yunsu’s gaze was as sharp as a blade. Staring at Zhang Momo’s fleshy old face, she spoke word by word.
“This top deserves a whipping!”
Before anyone could grasp the meaning of Ji Yunsu’s words, they saw her lightly hook the fallen horsewhip with the tip of her foot.
Instantly, the whip was effortlessly tossed into the air.
Ji Yunsu reached out casually and caught it firmly in her hand.
Crack!
Ji Yunsu casually lashed the whip against the ground.
The crack of the whip striking the ground was deafening, stinging the eardrums of everyone present.
Then, Ji Yunsu raised the horsewhip high, aiming at Zhang Momo who had fallen to the ground.
“Wh-wh-what are you doing?! I’m from the Grand Tutor Manor, the Madam’s trusted confidante! Wh-what do you think you’re doing?”
Zhang Momo was terrified by Ji Yunsu’s action, her face turning deathly pale, her words stumbling out in stutters.
On Ji Yunsu’s swollen face, the corners of her mouth suddenly curved into a faint, careless arc as she uttered indifferently, “What do you think?”
As the words fell, the smile on Ji Yunsu’s lips vanished instantly.
Crack!
A whip lashed down fiercely!
“Ah!”