“Qu Ling, how dare you hit my mother!”
It was Qu Lianzhi’s voice.
“Qu Ling, you’re asking for death!”
It was the twins’ voices.
Followed by more wails.
Qu Cheng listened, and it still seemed to be Qu Lianzhi and the twins’ voices.
His face darkened like ink, worried about the Old Madam’s condition yet unaware of what was happening outside.
“Marquis, rest assured, leave this place to me,” Imperial Physician Jiang said.
Qu Cheng glanced at the Old Madam lying on the bed with her eyes tightly closed, and cupped his hands respectfully. “I’ll trouble you, Imperial Physician.”
He strode out quickly and witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Song Shi had blood streaming down her forehead, with wet tea leaves still stuck to her face.
Qu Lianzhi lay on the ground, clutching a sharp golden hairpin.
The twins were piled together, Qu Heng pressing down on Qu Yi, with dark circles around their eyes.
Qu Ling stood unscathed behind Sushang, who was shielding her.
“Hou Manor is truly an eye-opener,” Sushang remarked, seeing such a household for the first time. “Is the whole family so eager to kill a defenseless young girl?”
Song Shi roared angrily, “She’s defenseless? Then how did I get these injuries on my head and arm?”
Qu Cheng raised his hand to strike Qu Ling, shouting, “You wretched creature, won’t you stop until you’ve turned this household upside down?”
Sushang swiftly pulled Qu Ling aside.
Qu Cheng’s palm struck empty air, turning his seven-part anger into ten. “Guards! Lock this wretched creature in the ancestral hall. Don’t give her any food or water.”
He then ordered, “Escort the young ladies and gentlemen back to their quarters!”
The chaotic noise gave him a headache.
Qu Lianzhi and the twins were quickly helped away.
As she left, Qu Lianzhi’s gaze was so venomous it seemed she wanted to devour Qu Ling alive.
“Father, am I a little bastard?” Qu Ling’s eyes welled with tears as she looked directly at Qu Cheng.
“Madam called me a little bastard, so am I one?”
Qu Cheng stood frozen.
“I never called you that,” Song Shi immediately retorted. “You’re the one who’s always held a grudge against me.”
She gritted her teeth.
Only at this moment did she realize she completely misunderstood the person before her.
Qu Ling acted entirely on whim, with no regard for consequences.
Though she seemed thoughtless, she always managed to harm Song Shi.
Any cautious person would have seized the opportunity at Princess Manor when the Princess ordered her to injure herself—pleading for mercy would have earned her a reputation for kindness and satisfied Qu Cheng.
But she refused.
She only cared about momentary satisfaction.
And just now, what harm was there in cursing her?
Who else would beat their legal mother like she did?
Was she tired of living?
Or did she truly not care about her future?
“Qu Ling,” Song Shi said, having lived so many years without ever suffering such losses, “do you really want to push things this far with me?”
She had nearly lost her sanity.
She was determined to kill this little bastard.
Qu Ling couldn’t be bothered to look at her, repeating her question, “Father, am I a little bastard?”
Just then, the steward arrived with some servants. “Marquis, should we really lock the eldest young lady in the ancestral hall?”
Qu Cheng simply stared silently at Qu Ling.
Father and daughter’s gazes met in the air.
“Why did you hit Madam?” Qu Cheng asked.
“She called me a little bastard,” Qu Ling replied. “If she curses me again, I’ll hit her again.”
Qu Cheng asked another question, “Why did you poison the Old Madam?”
“I didn’t,” Qu Ling shook her head. “I just returned from Jiangzhou. Where would I get poison? Besides, I don’t have the ability to poison Grandmother’s courtyard.”
Song Shi finally seized the opportunity. “It was you who deceived the Old Madam, telling her to pretend to be poisoned in order to frame me and take the household authority from my hands.”
She was furious.
That damned little bastard actually joined forces with that old hag. If she hadn’t planted her own people in Yun Song Hall, she might have truly fallen for their scheme.
Song Shi deeply regretted not killing Qu Ling back in Jiangzhou.
It was only because she had been cautious of the Princess that she missed her chance.
Fortunately, it wasn’t too late.
As long as that old thing in the room died, Qu Ling would follow soon after.
Very quickly, she would eliminate all these eyesores.
This Hou Manor could only belong to her children!
“How does Madam know what I discussed with Grandmother?” Qu Ling asked leisurely.
Song Shi was enraged. “Nanny Qi overheard your poisonous scheme and came to report it to me.”
“Since Madam knew in advance, why didn’t you stop Grandmother from taking the poison?” Qu Ling continued questioning.
Qu Cheng’s expression turned grave.
Indeed, if Song Shi knew, why did Mother still get poisoned?
His gaze toward Song Shi shifted suspiciously.
Song Shi sensed it too.
She cursed the sharp-tongued little bitch under her breath.
But she wasn’t panicked – as long as the Old Madam died, nothing Qu Ling said would matter!
“Was Madam also thinking that with Grandmother poisoned, you could both kill her and kill me?” Qu Ling pressed.
“Madam has always been skilled with poisons – first giving me medicine to disturb my mind, then giving Grandmother medicine to take her life. I’ve heard that Imperial Physician Mu from the Imperial Hospital is quite close with Madam,” she lifted the corner of her mouth. “Could it be that Father hasn’t had any more children all these years because Madam has been drugging him too?”
After learning about Imperial Physician Mu from the Princess, Qu Ling had come up with the perfect plan to drive a wedge between the couple.
Qu Cheng finally caught on and demanded sharply, “Song Shi, did you poison Mother?”
The situation had completely reversed.
Blood was still flowing from Song Shi’s forehead, but she had no time to wipe it, only pleading, “Does the Marquis not even trust me anymore?”
Qu Cheng’s face was dark with anger as he kicked over a table. “Trust you? How can I trust you!”
“It was because I trusted you back then that I wronged A Ling!”
The more Qu Cheng thought about it, the more he felt Song Shi wasn’t innocent.
“If you could bribe her wet nurse, could you also have bribed Nanny Qi?”
Qu Ling applauded inwardly.
Qu Cheng instructed the steward beside him, “Take people to search Nanny Qi’s quarters and see who she’s been colluding with.”
“Also, replace all the maids and nannies in the main courtyard completely. I don’t want to see anyone brought from the Song Family anymore!”
Poison.
Hadn’t Empress Dowager Song used poison to send off the previous emperor, then used poison again to seize the throne from the Princess?
Qu Cheng broke out in a cold sweat.
Would there come a day when he too would die at the hands of a Song woman?
All color drained from Song Shi’s face as she stammered, “Marquis…”
Qu Cheng turned to look at her, his gaze icy. “If you have nothing to hide, you naturally have nothing to fear from my investigation!”
“Ah… Old Madam…”
A panicked cry came from the inner chamber.
Qu Cheng strode quickly into the inner room.
Song Shi’s heart leapt with joy – the old hag was dead!
But Qu Ling simply smiled. It seemed the Old Madam no longer wished to continue the act.
In the inner chamber, Imperial Physician Jiang stood calmly to the side, silver needles in hand.
The originally poisoned Old Madam, with vigorous energy, struck Auntie Qi who was guarding her bedside with a jade ruyi scepter until her head bled profusely.