“How could you treat Old Madam like this?” Lü Liu stared at Wei Qingyan in shock, wanting to block the way but not daring to, mostly out of fear.
When Old Madam woke up, there was no one attending to her. After weighing the situation, Lü Liu felt this was an opportunity.
But she never expected the newly arrived young lady to be so bold as to lay hands on Old Madam.
It seemed she had chosen the wrong side again.
Wei Qingyan’s gaze was cold and clear. “Where is the old nanny who fell ill with Old Madam? Bring her here.”
Lü Liu wanted to stand firm, but after hesitating for only a moment, she turned and headed toward the side chamber. Several other maidservants hurriedly followed her.
Nanny Guo had woken later than Old Madam and, having not been as well cared for as Old Madam in daily life, had not yet recovered her strength when Lü Liu and the others dragged her over.
Having served by Old Madam’s side her entire life, she had never been treated like this before. Furious, she cursed, “Let go of me, you worthless scoundrels! Are you trying to rebel…?”
Lü Liu had no time to retort. Having firmly decided to offend Nanny Guo this time, she was determined to stand on the young lady’s side.
But when she brought Nanny Guo over, where was the young lady?
Wei Qingyan returned to Fengxiao Yuan, where A Lu was waiting in the courtyard with Xiaoxiao.
“Eldest Miss woke up right after you left and has been waiting here for you,” A Lu explained.
Wei Qingyan crouched down and pinched Xiaoxiao’s cheek. “Go back inside first. Aunt has something to discuss with A Lu.”
“Okay,” the child replied obediently before turning and heading back into the room.
“Go interrogate Nanny Guo. Ask her why Old Madam wanted to harm her own granddaughter.”
Yesterday, Nanny Guo had been unconscious, so Du Xueyi had been unable to question her. Today, with him not in the residence, Wei Qingyan entrusted the task to A Lu.
After a pause, she added, “Perhaps the deaths of Old Marquis and Madam are also inextricably linked to her. Interrogate her thoroughly.
Also, before your Marquis returns to the residence, do not allow anyone in the residence to leave.”
A Lu’s mind went blank, his heart pounding like a drum. For a long moment, he couldn’t utter a single word.
The young lady’s words sounded strange, but the information they carried was immense.
She said Old Madam had harmed the Marquis’s sister, and that even the deaths of the Marquis’s parents might be related to Old Madam.
How could that be possible?
That was Old Madam’s own son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. Had she gone mad?
Despite some of the things the Marquis had uncovered yesterday, A Lu still found it hard to believe. Yet his body was already running out of the courtyard.
An hour later, he emerged from Old Madam’s courtyard, his face filled with shock and horror.
When Du Xueyi returned to the residence in the evening, A Lu recounted everything he had learned from Nanny Guo’s interrogation. “Marquis, what do you plan to do?”
He still hadn’t fully processed the information. How much more difficult must it be for the Marquis, who was directly involved?
A Lu’s heart ached for his master.
Du Xueyi’s face turned from black to white, then from white to green. He exhaled heavily and finally forced out a sentence, “Invite the young lady to Old Madam’s courtyard.”
He had thought what he had uncovered was already plenty, but he never imagined Old Madam’s evil deeds went far beyond that.
Those she had harmed, who had not turned into Guiyuan like Lady Fang—did they die without ever knowing why?
The thought of this possibility filled Du Xueyi with a mix of rage and hatred, as if his entire chest were about to explode.
A Lu glanced at him with concern. Just as he turned to leave, he saw Wei Qingyan walking toward them, holding Xiaoxiao’s hand.
Du Xueyi saw her too. He turned his back, took two deep breaths, and struggled to suppress his emotions.
Then he stepped forward, forcing a smile as he crouched down before Xiaoxiao. “Did you have fun going out with Aunt today?”
Xiaoxiao hesitated for a moment before nodding softly, “Yes.”
Du Xueyi raised his hand, wanting to pat her head, but quickly lowered it again, forcing another smile. “Then from now on, Father will take you out often.”
He didn’t notice that his voice trembled as he spoke.
Xiaoxiao shrank back timidly toward Wei Qingyan.
Wei Qingyan looked at Du Xueyi’s face, which seemed more pained than joyful, and a trace of pity flickered in her eyes. “It’s alright. It’s not too late. You and your daughter still have a lifetime ahead.”
“Yes.” Du Xueyi quickly lowered his head, hiding the emotions he could no longer conceal.
But it was too late—far too late. The family he had lost would never return.
Now, Xiaoxiao was his only remaining family in this world, and he had nearly lost her too.
All because he had mistakenly trusted that demon.
Wei Qingyan gave him a moment to compose himself before having A Lu stay with Xiaoxiao. She and Du Xueyi then entered Old Madam’s courtyard.
Du Xueyi had already learned from A Lu that Old Madam had been knocked unconscious by Wei Qingyan.
Picking up the teapot from the table, he walked to the bedside and looked at the grandmother he had once known so well, now feeling nothing but strangeness.
Remembering all she had done, he poured the cold tea over Old Madam’s face.
“My dear grandson, you’ve finally returned! If you hadn’t come back, your grandmother would have been bullied to death!”
Upon waking and recognizing Du Xueyi, Old Madam first felt joy, but then, noticing the teapot in his hand, her joy turned to anger. “Have you gone mad? I am your grandmother!”
“You are not,” Du Xueyi said coldly. “You are not my grandmother.”
Old Madam’s heart sank, and she shouted angrily, “You ungrateful fool! Have you lost your mind? Have you forgotten who raised you after your mother passed away early, and while your father lay ill in bed? Who held this family together, planning everything for your sake?”
“How could I forget?”
Du Xueyi suddenly slammed the teapot onto the floor, his emotions erupting completely. “But wasn’t it all your doing?
What wrong did my sister ever do? She was only three years old—how could you bear to sell her to such a place? You are a woman yourself!
How could you pretend to comfort my grieving mother, playing the role of a kind mother-in-law, while secretly poisoning her, causing her early death?
And Father—even if he wasn’t your own flesh and blood, he never knew his true origins. In his heart, you were his birth mother.
He respected you, loved you, and was the most filial son imaginable. Why did you poison him, leaving him weak for years, his ambitions unfulfilled, dying with regret?
In the letter Lady Fang left me, besides writing about Xiaoxiao, she wrote about you—she treated you as her own grandmother. How could you treat her that way? How could you?”
During yesterday’s interrogation, he had learned from the servants that the medicine his father took daily had been tampered with—and the source of the problem was none other than his grandmother.
Shocked and bewildered, he couldn’t understand why.
Back then, his grandfather had followed the Late Emperor in founding the empire, achieving many military feats, but died in battle just a month before the dynasty was established. In recognition of his grandfather’s contributions, the Late Emperor granted his young father the title of Marquis Anyuan.
Influenced by his grandfather, his father had always harbored ambitions to serve the nation. He was no ordinary talent either—at sixteen, he joined the army and earned praise from the Late Emperor.
At eighteen, when Wudan invaded, his father volunteered to lead the campaign, hoping to fulfill his ambitions. But he suddenly fell ill, never able to return to the battlefield, and spent the rest of his days as an idle Marquis Anyuan.
Du Xueyi couldn’t comprehend why his grandmother would harm her only son.
Today’s trip out of the city was to find an old friend of my grandfather’s. At first, the old man refused to say anything.
It wasn’t until he revealed that Father’s death was caused by Grandmother that he finally told the truth.
It turned out that Father was born to a concubine but was raised under Grandmother’s name. To protect Grandmother’s dignity, Grandfather gave a large sum of money to send the concubine away and publicly claimed that Father was Grandmother’s own child.
Du Xueyi’s expression twisted with hatred as he grabbed Old Madam by the throat. “You couldn’t have children of your own, so wouldn’t it have been better for you if Father had succeeded? Why did you have to harm him? Why did you harm Mother and my sister? Why did you harm my wife and daughter? None of them ever treated you poorly. Why did you do this? Tell me!”
Old Madam choked for a moment as he tightened his grip.
The fear of her secret being exposed was quickly replaced by rage. Since Du Xueyi knew everything, he must have gathered enough evidence. There was no way for her to deny it.
But, when it came to that person, what did she have to fear?
Thinking this, she actually laughed lightly. “So you found out? I thought you would never know the truth in this lifetime.”
She turned her head to look at Wei Qingyan, who was sitting quietly nearby. “You told him, didn’t you? My grandson is just as foolish as his father, always so filial to me, never suspecting me.”
Wei Qingyan’s dark eyes met hers. “Waves rise only when there is wind; water calms only when there is no tide. Do not think that karma goes unseen. Lady Guan, your retribution has come.”
“Retribution? Hahaha…” Du Laofuren laughed loudly. “If there really is retribution in this world, guess why I could never bear children of my own?”