6
Killing Parents, The Ominous Person
Bai Jingchu nodded with certainty.
Everyone in the room fell silent.
No wonder there were rumors that the Young Marquis Yan was perverse in bed—it turned out he was impotent.
“Did you look carefully? Was there anything unusual, like small bumps or blisters?”
Bai Jingchu hesitated. “The Young Marquis forbade me to speak of it.”
Madam Bai Chen’s face darkened. “Are you keeping secrets from your own mother?”
Bai Jingchu timidly replied, “The Young Marquis wouldn’t let me look. He gave me money to buy snacks and told me to say he was fine if Mother asked.”
Madam Bai Chen gasped sharply and pressed further, “He wouldn’t let you look, so you just didn’t?”
Bai Jingchu mumbled softly, “I stole a glance. There was yellow and green on the tip.”
Yellow and green? Wasn’t that pus?
Madam Bai Chen’s expression instantly changed. As feared, the worst had come true—what were they to do now?
Bai Jingshu’s face also turned deathly pale, her hands and feet turning cold. “Mother, I won’t marry him! Please, speak to Grandfather and call off this engagement!”
Madam Bai Chen sighed softly. “My poor child, I’ve only just found you again—how could I bear to push you into a pit of fire? If that Young Marquis Yan truly lacks self-respect, I would break off this engagement even if it means turning against his noble household. But if you seek another match, you may never find such a prestigious family again. We must think this through carefully. Let me gather more information first.”
Bai Jing’an seemed about to speak but hesitated, then pointed at Bai Jingchu and asked, “What about her?”
“What else can we do? If this is true, she’s likely tainted and unlucky herself. Tomorrow morning, send her to the lower estate to fend for herself.”
Bai Jing’an was determined to find a way to keep Bai Jingchu. He knew perfectly well that although the Old Madam had survived the crisis today, she could relapse at any moment and still needed Bai Jingchu’s assistance.
“I think there’s no need to rush. If she’s truly infected, symptoms will appear within three to five days, proving the rumors true. Isn’t that better than chasing shadows and rumors everywhere?”
Bai Jingshu immediately retorted, “Grandfather has always favored her. Three years ago, when he learned she was sent away, he left in anger to cultivate at Yuanshan Temple and rarely returns to the capital. If he hears of this, he’ll surely reprimand us severely.”
“Yuanshan Temple is a hundred miles from the capital. If we don’t tell him, how would he know?”
“But Mother, don’t forget the fortune-teller’s reading of her birth characters three years ago. Bai Jingchu’s fate is harsh—she brings misfortune to her parents, which is why her birth parents died young. If she stays, the household will be thrown into chaos.”
“Superstitious nonsense shouldn’t be taken too seriously,” Bai Jing’an argued firmly.
“But not long after, the Bai family nearly faced extermination. We sent her to Chief Eunuch Li’s residence, and the old eunuch immediately suffered a stroke and became paralyzed. Meanwhile, our household prospered, and Father was promoted step by step. This proves Bai Jingchu is an ill omen and must not be kept.”
Only then did Jingchu realize that her banishment three years ago was due to malicious rumors spread behind her back—no wonder the Bai family had been so heartless.
And now, the moment she returned, Bai Jingshu was quick to label her as ill-fated, trying to isolate her and make her utterly despised.
In the end, Madam Bai Chen weighed the options and made a decision: “It’s late now. Let her stay for tonight. We’ll send her away tomorrow.”
“Mother…” Bai Jing’an still wanted to persist.
Madam Bai Chen had already lost patience and ordered Bai Jingchu to be taken away immediately, unwilling to spare her another glance.
Granny Bai, who had been waiting eagerly outside the room, lifted the curtain and rushed in as soon as she saw Madam Bai Chen finish questioning. She knelt on the floor with a thud:
“Madam, this girl has gone mad! She attacks anyone she sees. Today, she grabbed this old servant and beat me until I was covered in wounds. If she is to stay, she must be tightly bound and locked in a room to prevent her from causing trouble.”
The gashes on her face were gruesomely exposed, startling both Madam Bai Chen and Bai Jingshu.
Bai Jing’an spoke truthfully: “Mother, do not listen to her twisting the facts. Her injuries were a punishment from Young Master Yan for her insubordination.”
“This old servant is not lying! This mad girl has terrifying strength and injures people at the slightest disagreement.”
As she spoke, Granny Bai rolled up her sleeves to show Madam Bai Chen her wounds.
Her sturdy arms bore not a single mark.
Granny Bai froze in disbelief. Turning her back, she lifted her short jacket, but there wasn’t a single bruise on her body.
Bai Jingchu lowered her eyelids, hiding the gloom in her eyes. Over the past three years, she had suffered countless injustices like this—did they really think she would leave any evidence?
Since this was her first day back at the Bai residence, she would make an example of Granny Bai to establish her authority among the servants.
Madam Bai Chen turned to look at Jingchu. Jingchu sniffled and evaded the main issue: “She hit me, and I fought back, but I couldn’t win.”
As she spoke, she also rolled up her sleeves, revealing a large purple bruise on her arm for Madam Bai Chen to see.
“Later, Granny Bai insulted Young Master Yan. The Marquis’s household accused our residence of indulging unruly servants and failing to maintain discipline! That’s why she was punished.”
Granny Bai waved her hands in panic: “This old servant would never dare! It was this girl who deliberately stirred up trouble, and I misspoke in the heat of the moment.”
Bai Jing’an scowled and rebuked her: “If you hadn’t been gossiping behind closed doors, how could Jingchu, who has just returned to the capital, know about such matters?”
Reading between the lines, Madam Bai Chen grew suspicious.
If she didn’t punish Granny Bai, would the Marquis’s household question whether her own Jingshu had the ability to manage the household in the future?
After a moment’s thought, she declared: “Although we should treat others with kindness, without rules, there is no order. Someone, take Granny Bai away and give her twenty strokes of the rod. Let this serve as a warning to all the servants in this household who are accustomed to deceiving their superiors and hiding the truth.”
Granny Bai, who had already been beaten twice by Bai Jingchu and Chi Yanqing, now faced the rod as well. She pleaded and defended herself repeatedly.
Jingchu had already been taken out of the Chonglou Courtyard.
Along the way, servants pointed and whispered. Some older women approached with ill intentions, probing about the humiliations she had endured over the past three years.
“I heard that Eunuch Li is viciously cruel, with all sorts of tormenting tricks in bed—like ‘lighting the heavenly lantern,’ ‘snake coiling the waist,’ and the ‘beauty’s spittoon.’ Tell us, what do those feel like?”
“Her skin is as fair as piled snow, and she’s as delicate as carved jade. I don’t believe that lecher Eunuch Li didn’t take advantage of her. Even though she’s untouched, she must have learned plenty of seductive tricks to lure men. After all, Eunuch Li used to be a ‘spring-urging official’ in the Office of Imperial Affairs.”
“What’s a ‘spring-urging official’?” a young maid couldn’t resist asking.
“What’s a little girl like you doing asking such things?”
“Look at her, all weak-kneed and simpering, swaying with every step—she must have pleased Lord Yan quite well today. To think of Lord Yan, such an elegant and noble figure, and this peach of a young lady hasn’t even been plucked yet, but she’s already taken a bite out of him.”
“Tch, if you’re so envious, why don’t you go yourself? But beware, syphilis is deadly. You’d end up covered in sores, with your nose rotting away.”
The crowd chattered recklessly, their words sharp and unrestrained. Jingchu stood encircled in the middle, her face blank and bewildered.
From the moment she was forced into the bridal sedan and carried into Eunuch Li’s private residence, it was destined that she would never escape this shadow.
And now, today, she had gained another equally disgraceful identity—a trial marriage maid.
Fortunately, her wet nurse, Mama Li, hurried over upon hearing the news and shooed away the gossiping women.
“Nanny Bai was disrespectful to my young lady earlier and is now being punished by the mistress with a beating. You all might as well go and see for yourselves what happens to those who overstep their bounds.”
The crowd sneered and dispersed with smirks.
Turning and seeing Jingchu, Mama Li’s eyes immediately welled up. She called her “my dear” over and over, looking her up and down with concern, asking if she was cold or warm, and then led her toward Xinyi Courtyard.
Wiping her tears, she instructed the sturdy maid, Xuecha, who was nearby, “It’s getting late, Xuecha. Go to the kitchen and fetch two buckets of hot water. I need to wash the young lady to make sure she doesn’t catch any of those filthy diseases.”
Xuecha wasn’t the brightest, but she was diligent and immediately scurried off.
Mama Li then turned back, her expression grave. “Young lady, please take off your skirt. Let this old servant check if you’ve been harmed.”
As she spoke, she stepped forward and began to untie Jingchu’s waist sash.