Inside Songhe Hall of Yunzhou Marquis Manor.
The family sat gathered together, enjoying a sumptuous Mid-Autumn reunion feast.
Just as everyone raised their cups, about to drink together.
A servant girl with an anxious expression rushed in from outside Songhe Hall.
As soon as Hong Yu entered Songhe Hall, she didn’t even bother with formalities before saying, “Old Madam, Second Master, please go and see quickly, Madam really is about to pass away!”
Hong Yu was frantic with worry, yet the family seated around the round table were not the least bit hurried.
Old Madam Jin chanted “Amitabha Buddha” once.
Then she said slowly, “Striving for fame and fortune is ultimately illusory. The Second Master’s wife receiving this retribution is truly her own deserved fate.”
The Marquis Manor’s young lady, Han Lingyue, who was seated next to the Old Madam, smoothed the ornate golden hairpin at her temple.
She sneered contemptuously, “I said it before, Mother always has to compete with others in everything; one day her greed would come back to bite her. And now, not long after, she’s lying in bed unable to get up. What bad luck.”
Han Lingyue picked up a handkerchief and dabbed at non-existent tears at the corner of her eye.
Then she continued, “I never wanted to marry into the General’s Manor. I always wanted to find an honest, simple-minded farmer from the mountains and countryside, manage a few meager acres of land with him, then have a few children, and live with my family amidst green hills and clear waters.”
“It was Mother who back then insisted on threatening suicide to force me, severing my feelings with Qiaolang. When she did that deed of cutting off a marriage bond, she should have thought that there would be such a day in the future!”
Hearing Han Lingyue’s words, Hong Yu felt heartache and indignation on behalf of her own mistress.
Hong Yu said, “Young Lady, one cannot be without conscience. No matter what, Madam raised you up; how can you speak of your mother like this?”
“When Madam stopped you from being with that woodcutter, wasn’t it for your sake!”
“If you had really eloped with that woodcutter back then, where would you have today’s gold and jewels to wear, or be sitting here eating delicacies from land and sea with your family for Mid-Autumn!”
“You might have long been sold off somewhere by that woodcutter, suffering hardship and misery.”
Han Lingyue shot to her feet, “Shut your mouth, she is not my mother at all. Because she couldn’t bear children, Father and Grandmother adopted me and my two older brothers to her to raise.”
“If she was going to raise us, she should have done it properly, but look at what she did. For the sake of her own face, she forced me and my brothers to do things we didn’t want to do. Is that how a mother should be?”
In Han Lingyue’s view, on this Mid-Autumn festival, when everyone could sit together for a reunion meal.
It was precisely only Mother who lay in bed, sick and about to die, clearly because she had done too many wicked deeds in the past and was being punished by heaven.
Hong Yu, filled with anxiety, didn’t want to argue further with Han Lingyue. She turned her pleading gaze to the two young masters, “First Young Master, Second Young Master, you should at least go see your mother.”
“Even though you are not Madam’s birth children, it’s still true that Madam raised you. You should remember Madam’s nurturing kindness to you.”
The Marquis Manor’s First Young Master was named Han Zhang. Han Zhang sat there without moving, maintaining an air of heartlessness and indifference.
Han Zhang said coldly, “Little Sister is absolutely right. Mother having today is her own fault.”
“First she forced Little Sister to marry someone she didn’t like. Later she forced me to do things I didn’t like.”
“My dream was to spend my whole life in the company of flowers and plants, far from the world’s troubles. But what about her? Knowing full well I didn’t crave fame and rank, she insisted on forcing me to study.”
“In order to force me to read those damn books of sages, look at how many people she hired to watch me!”
“If she hadn’t pushed me so relentlessly, why would I now have to face those stubborn old men in the official circles every day?”
“If I didn’t obey her, she would beat and scold me! Indeed, since I’m not her own flesh and blood, she doesn’t know how to care. Her fate today is exactly her retribution.”
Fine, fine, fine! You’re all competing to be more noble than the next!
Hong Yu felt increasingly indignant and heartbroken for her mistress.
Hong Yu said, “Eldest Young Master, the mistress forced you to study and enter officialdom to secure you a good future.”
“To ensure you could take the top spot in the Metropolitan Examination, the mistress spent a fortune to hire countless renowned teachers for you.”
“Those people weren’t hired by the mistress to watch over you. The masters she invited are all great scholars of our time!”
“Those gentlemen who came to the manor to teach you are ones even the royal family might not be able to secure. Yet you belittle the mistress’s heartfelt efforts for you like this—you are utterly unworthy as a son.”
Han Zhang slammed the table hard. “Enough! Stop twisting words here. Her wrongdoing is her wrongdoing; don’t use flowery language to whitewash her disgusting actions.”
“She forced us siblings to do things we disliked just so she could have face among the noble ladies’ circles. It’s good that she’s dead now. At least without her, no one will force us anymore.”
Three words surfaced in Hong Yu’s mind.
Ingrate! A complete ingrate!
Hong Yu then looked at the second young master, Han Zhi.
Han Zhi spoke before Hong Yu could open her mouth. “Don’t look at me; I won’t go see that venomous woman either.”
“Just as Eldest Brother and Younger Sister said, she is a wicked mother who only cares about her own reputation and disregards the feelings and lives of us, her children.”
“She forced Eldest Brother to read books he didn’t like. She forced Younger Sister to marry someone she didn’t love. And she forced me to enlist in the army. If I hadn’t been lucky, I would have died on the battlefield!”
“She’s finally going to die! I’ve been looking forward to this day for so long. Eldest Brother and Younger Sister are right—her fate today is her retribution. Don’t even think about making me go see her!”
Hong Yu was so angry she could hardly speak. Her lips trembled for a long while before she managed to squeeze out indignant words:
“You… you are all too much! The mistress treated you so well, yet you are so ungrateful. Aren’t you afraid of being struck by lightning?”
Han Qingfeng, the Marquis of Yunzhou, grew furious. “How dare you! How can a mere servant speak to her masters like this?”
Hong Yu showed no fear. “This servant’s life may indeed be lowly, but even I know one should repay kindness.”
“If it weren’t for my mistress marrying into the Yunzhou Marquis Manor with a generous dowry and single-handedly supporting the vast manor, the Yunzhou Marquis Manor would have long since collapsed, and all of you would have been begging on the streets.”
“Each of you eats what belongs to my mistress and uses what belongs to my mistress. My mistress truly asks for no repayment, but that doesn’t mean she can be trampled upon by you as you please.”
The old lady of the Marquis Manor, who had never openly argued with anyone before, slapped the table. “Outrageous! Utterly outrageous!”
The old lady seemed on the verge of fainting from anger, her breathing becoming rapid.
She grabbed her son’s arm. “Qingfeng, since she insists you go see your wife, then you should go.”
“We just want to sit down and properly celebrate a festival, yet your wife insists on competing even over this. Fine, go and see what exactly your wife is up to?”
Hong Yu, after all, was the personal maid who had accompanied Song Yao, the mistress of Marquis Manor, when she married into the household.
No matter how much anger Han Qingfeng, the Marquis of Yunzhou, harbored in his heart, he couldn’t truly do anything to Hong Yu.
The Marquis Manor still needed the Song family to manage its affairs. If the Song family were truly provoked, it would bring no benefit to the manor.
Han Qingfeng said, “Alright! Mother, I will go see Song Yao right away.”
“Cough, cough, cough…” Accompanied by the sound of coughing, everyone in Songhe Hall turned their heads.
A frail woman, bundled up tightly, was being supported by two maids as she entered.
Song Yao was experiencing a final surge of vitality before death! Otherwise, she would not have been able to come to Songhe Hall in person, supported by her maids.
Seeing her arrival, Han Qingfeng questioned Hong Yu, “Is this what you meant by ‘the mistress is on the verge of death’?”
Hong Yu ignored Han Qingfeng’s question. She quickly stepped forward, “Mistress, why have you come? Your health…”
Song Yao mustered all her strength to take a deep breath and waved a hand at Hong Yu. Then, she turned her gaze to the family members for whom she had always given her all.
Song Yao’s eyes swept over the faces of her three children one by one, “Do you truly believe your mother is wicked?”
Han Zhang, Han Zhi, and Han Lingyue first exchanged glances with one another.
Han Zhi stood up from his stool and approached, saying, “That’s right, you are wicked.”
“I never wanted to become a general; it was you who destroyed my dreams. What I yearned for was the world of martial arts, not the battlefield.”
“If you hadn’t sent me to the military camp, I would now be wandering the martial world and traveling through landscapes—how wonderful life would be.”
“Song Yao, for your own selfish desires, you tried to turn us siblings into your puppets. You are utterly unworthy of being a mother.”
Hong Yu wanted to retort, but Song Yao stopped her.
A sorrowful smile appeared on Song Yao’s pale face.
With a faint smile, she turned her head to look at the elderly Madam Jin: “Mother-in-law, your title of Lady of Imperial Mandate was also something I fought for on your behalf. Surely you don’t share the same view as the three children, thinking that I am wicked?”
The elderly Madam Jin had already regained her composure. She said, “Song Yao, one must know contentment in life. What is forcibly sought often brings disaster. You are always competitive and eager to win, and your behavior is unbecoming, which detracts from the dignity befitting the mistress of Marquis Manor.”
The elderly lady’s evasive answer, in fact, revealed everything.
Only now, on the brink of death, did Song Yao finally see the true faces of this entire family.
Who, after all, was the one with unbecoming behavior?!
She then turned her gaze to her husband, Han Qingfeng, “Marquis, tell me then, am I truly so wicked?”