11
Catching a Cheater
Bai Jingchu nervously twisted the hem of her clothes and timidly asked, “Second Aunt, have I done something wrong again? Please don’t tell my mother. She favors my sister and will accuse me of lying—she might even beat me to death.”
Her words immediately reminded Second Aunt Bai: “You’re right. Your mother definitely wouldn’t take your word for it. Since Qingmo has already gone to report this, if Bai Jingshu doesn’t come, so be it. But if she does rush over, it will prove you’re telling the truth, and I’ll make sure she pays dearly for it! Someone, take Miss Jingchu inside. I have a plan.”
In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Bai Jingshu, unable to contain herself, arrived in a flurry of excitement, her eyes gleaming brightly as she brought Qingmo along.
Second Aunt Bai was inside the room, raising her voice in a scolding tone: “You heartless little beast! How dare you sneak onto my bed while I was away! And you, Second Master! Hurry up and get dressed, and kick her off the bed! How could you indulge her like this, hugging and holding her? Aren’t you disgusted by how filthy she is?”
It had worked!
Bai Jingshu’s heart swelled with secret delight. Without waiting for the servants to announce her, she barged in with Qingmo in tow. “Oh, Second Aunt, who has you so worked up?”
Second Aunt Bai’s scolding abruptly ceased as she hurriedly lowered the bed curtain. Behind the curtain, a faint silhouette was visible, and a pair of embroidered shoes rested on the footstool—moon-white in color, adorned with a single purple-red magnolia blossom.
“No one, no one,” Second Aunt Bai stammered. “I was just urging your Second Uncle to get up. What brings you here? Let’s talk outside.”
Her evasiveness only strengthened Bai Jingshu’s conviction that Bai Jingchu was behind the bed curtain. Second Aunt was still trying to protect Second Uncle’s dignity.
Bai Jingshu had no intention of letting this opportunity slip away. She was eager to broadcast the news far and wide. “Why are you so eager to send me away, Aunt? I heard from the servants that Jingchu came to your courtyard. I was worried she might cause trouble again and came to take her back.”
“Jingchu isn’t here.”
Instead of retreating, Bai Jingshu took a step forward and called out to the person behind the curtain. “Jingchu loves playing hide-and-seek. Could she be hiding behind the curtain? Second Uncle, you really shouldn’t spoil her like this.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?!” Second Aunt Bai’s face darkened as she snapped sharply. “Your Second Uncle drank too much at noon and is still sleeping it off. How could Jingchu possibly be here? You’re a young, unmarried girl—barging into our bedroom is already improper. How can you say such things?”
“Why are you so flustered, Aunt? I was only joking. Earlier, you said someone had climbed into Second Uncle’s bed while you were away. If it wasn’t Jingchu, then who was it?”
Second Aunt Bai snorted coldly. “I see now. You came here today specifically to pick a fight. How can you be so sure Jingchu is in this room? Or did you orchestrate this whole thing yourself?”
“So you’re admitting it?” Bai Jingshu feigned shock, raising her voice. “Heavens! This is incest! And you’re still protecting her?”
Slap!
Seeing how eagerly Bai Jingshu pressed the matter, Second Aunt Bai was convinced that Jingchu’s account was true. She swung her arm and struck Bai Jingshu across the face. “How dare you spout such lies!”
Bai Jingshu was stunned by the slap. “Bai Jingchu is the one who’s immoral and seduced Second Uncle! Why aren’t you hitting her? Why me?”
“Hit you?” Second Aunt Bai grabbed Bai Jingshu’s hair and delivered two more sharp slaps. “I’m hitting you for your shamelessness and wicked heart! For turning against your own family and plotting against your uncle!”
Second Aunt Bai was strong and sturdy—how could Bai Jingshu be a match for her? She was beaten until she saw stars, utterly unable to fight back.
Her hairpins went askew, and two red scratches appeared on her neck from Second Aunt Bai’s nails.
Qingmo stood nearby, unsure what to do. Bai Jingshu shielded her head, furious and flustered. “Are you stupid? The bed curtain!”
She couldn’t just take this beating for nothing!
Qingmo snapped to attention, stepped forward, and with a sharp rustle, pulled open the bed curtain.
Inside, Second Uncle Bai stood up, a snow-white cat cradled in his arms, and delivered a fierce kick straight to Qingmo’s chest.
“You wretched servant!”
Qingmo staggered and fell to the floor, then hurriedly knelt and kowtowed, begging for mercy.
Second Uncle Bai’s forehead bulged with veins of rage.
“Just moments ago, I didn’t believe it—I thought Jingchu was talking nonsense. But now it’s clear: you were the one who put her up to this, without a doubt!”
Bai Jingshu finally broke free from Second Aunt Bai’s grip. Hearing that her scheme had been exposed, she immediately tried to wash her hands of it. “What do you mean, I put her up to it? I don’t understand what you’re saying, Uncle.”
“Jingchu!” Second Uncle Bai called sternly.
Bai Jingchu bounded in from outside, a piece of pastry clutched in each hand. When she saw Bai Jingshu, she stuffed one of the pastries into her mouth and mumbled indistinctly:
“Sister, the characters you wrote for me were wrong! They’re clearly different from the ones on Uncle’s plaque!”
“Who wrote anything for you?” Bai Jingshu flatly denied it.
Bai Jingchu pulled a dried piece of paper from her sleeve. “It’s these four characters right here.”
Bai Jingshu blurted out, “Didn’t you already throw it in the water basin and soak it?”
Bai Jingchu looked embarrassed. “But I’m so foolish—I forgot what the characters looked like as soon as I turned around. I had to fish it out and let it dry. Luckily, it wasn’t completely soaked through.”
Bai Jingshu’s face instantly turned pale.
“Someone!” Second Uncle Bai roared angrily, his voice sharp and severe. “Take Miss Jingshu to the ancestral hall and summon the Madam and the Eldest Young Master. I must uphold our family’s discipline in my elder brother’s stead!”
Ancestral Hall.
As soon as Madam Bai Chen and Bai Jing’an arrived, Bai Jingshu, who had been kneeling before the ancestral tablets, shuffled forward on her knees and lifted her badly swollen face.
“Mother, Brother, your daughter has been wronged to death! You must stand up for me!”
Second Aunt Bai had struck with such force that she had nearly scratched Bai Jingshu’s face.
Madam Bai Chen’s expression instantly filled with heartache and displeasure. “What is the meaning of this? Who would dare lay a hand on you? I wouldn’t even dream of touching a single hair on your head.”
Second Uncle Bai stepped forward. “She has done something disgraceful. Are we, as her elders, not allowed to discipline her?”
He then recounted the day’s events to Madam Bai Chen.
Second Aunt Bai also spoke up angrily, “Everyone knows Jingchu was just sent by your family to the Marquis’s residence for a trial marriage! It’s highly likely she’s contracted some filthy disease! Yet Bai Jingshu deliberately incited her to climb into our bed—isn’t that using a knife to kill without dirtying her own hands? What grudge do you hold against us, that you would go to such lengths to humiliate our branch of the family?”
Bai Jingshu continued to argue stubbornly, “I did no such thing. It’s all Bai Jingchu’s nonsense, framing me.”
Madam Bai Chen glanced at her beloved daughter’s flushed face, then walked directly over to Bai Jingchu. Her gaze was sharp as needles, cold and piercing. Suddenly, she raised her hand and slapped Bai Jingchu hard across the face.
Bai Jingchu was caught off guard and hastily dodged to the side, yet still got her cheek scratched by Madam Bai Chen’s fingernails.
Not only was Bai Jingchu stunned, but even Second Aunt Bai was taken aback: “It was Jingshu who made the mistake, why are you hitting Jingchu?”
“She’s nothing but a troublemaker! She must have been whispering poison about Jingshu in your ears, turning you all against her! Jingshu would never have incited her like this! Today, I’ll beat her until she changes her tune!”
With that, she snatched up a ruler from nearby and, without another word, brought it down hard on Jingchu.
The evidence was clear, the facts undeniable. She knew full well that Jingshu could not escape blame, but such a grave accusation must never be admitted.
Only by forcing Bai Jingchu to retract her words could the second branch be prevented from holding Jingshu accountable, calming the situation for today and preserving Jingshu’s reputation.
As for the second branch, they were merely enjoying the spectacle of the eldest branch’s troubles. Though they felt some sympathy for Jingchu, they had no intention of stepping in to stop it.
It would be a lie to say Bai Jingchu wasn’t hurt.
She never expected her adoptive mother to defend Bai Jingshu so shamelessly, without any regard for right or wrong.
Go ahead, go mad! The crazier, the better!
You want to protect Bai Jingshu? Then I’ll make sure she’s utterly disgraced!
After all, those with nothing to lose fear nothing. As a disgraced palace maid, a trial marriage servant, and now branded a madwoman—my reputation already in ruins—what do I have left to fear?