The maid pushed open the door, and Lady Bai walked step by step into the dim room against the light.
The smell of blood in the room had not completely dissipated. Concubine Su sat stupidly on the bed. Blood was still slowly seeping from her forehead wrapped in gauze, but she seemed not to feel it at all. She just sat there blankly, her eyes lifeless.
Hearing Lady Bai's arrival, she just moved her eyes slightly and then became still again after a moment, like a soulless puppet.
Lady Bai stood three steps away from the window and looked at her coldly. After a long while, she threw a porcelain bottle at her. "Take this."
Concubine Su slowly lowered her head, picked up the bottle and glanced at it. She let out a soft laugh. "If you're going to poison me now, why did you bother to save me earlier?"
"Do you think everyone is as vicious as you?" Lady Bai said indifferently. "If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't need to use poison."
It seemed that the word "vicious" had stabbed Concubine Su. She tightly grasped the porcelain bottle, and hatred welled up in her eyes. "Me, vicious? I've been in this mansion for thirty years. When have I ever disobeyed you? I knew that the Marquis only had eyes for you, so I stayed in the mansion obediently like a living dead! Am I vicious?"
Suddenly, she burst into laughter, laughing so hard that tears almost welled up.
"If I were vicious, I would have poisoned Chen Tingfeng when you gave birth to him!"
Lady Bai stepped forward and slapped her hard, laughing out of anger. "Who do you think you are? The heir of the Marquis Mansion. Do you think you can kill him just like that?"
"I thought you were a smart person, but I didn't expect you to be so stupid," Lady Bai stared at her coldly. "Do you think that without Shaochuan and Fu Zhen, you can gain status? How ridiculous."
"A concubine is just a concubine. Once you become a concubine, you'll have to swallow your anger for the rest of your life!" She looked down on her with a contemptuous tone. "I used to be nice to your daughter because I thought you were obedient. But it seems I've been too kind to you, so kind that you've developed so many inappropriate thoughts."
In other families, a concubine like Concubine Su, who used to be Lady Bai's maid, could be beaten or killed without anyone to argue for her.
"Don't forget, I'm still in charge of this mansion," she said with a half - smile, and then added lightly. "A mother and daughter are naturally one. If you can't atone for your sins, your daughter will surely atone for them for you."
Concubine Su suddenly looked up at her, her eyes bloodshot. "What are you going to do? What are you going to do to Bing'er?!"
Lady Bai flung her away. "With a mother like you, do you think she'll be able to be reborn cleanly?"
Once a person is dead, there's nothing left.
But what a dead person can't do, a living person can. Otherwise, why would there be so many ghost marriages in this world?
It was as if a basin of cold water had been poured down from the sky, freezing Concubine Su all over. Her former anger had now vanished, replaced by helpless fear.
Her head was still dizzy, but she cried and crawled off the bed. She no longer looked distorted and sinister as before. "My lady, I was wrong! It was all my fault. It has nothing to do with Bing'er, my lady! Kill me or cut me up, but don't hurt Bing'er. She's my life, my lady..."
Her cries were really moving, but to Lady Bai, they were like a fishbone stuck in her throat. She raised her hand and slapped her again, knocking her to the ground with blood oozing from the corner of her mouth. "But Zhenzhen is my life!"
Lady Bai coldly grabbed her neck. "I wouldn't even hurt a hair on her head. Even when Shaochuan argued with her, the first one I scolded was Shaochuan. Who do you think you are, daring to harm her like this!"
"Your daughter is precious, but Zhenzhen is even more precious." Lady Bai flung her away. Looking at her miserable and painful appearance, she let out a soft breath, dusted off her sleeves, and said condescendingly. "Well, I'll give you two choices."
"One, swallow this medicine, kowtow three times in front of Zhenzhen, and I'll send you to accompany your daughter. You can guard her tomb for the rest of your life. The other," she laughed softly. "Your daughter's body is still intact. Didn't you want her to return to the mansion? I'll dig up her grave, burn her to ashes, and bring a handful of her ashes back to you. Let her be a lonely ghost and accompany you forever. How about that?"
"No, no!" Concubine Su quickly crawled over and grabbed Lady Bai's feet. "Don't touch Bing'er, my lady. I beg you, don't touch her! It's all my fault. I'll take the medicine right away. I'll go and kowtow to Second Miss to admit my mistake!"
After saying that, she frantically searched on the ground. When she saw the porcelain bottle in the distance, she crawled over to it, opened the bottle, and gulped down the medicine.
She didn't care about the bitter taste in her mouth. She crawled back crying and grabbed Lady Bai's dress, her voice full of hope. "I've taken the medicine, my lady! Don't touch Bing'er, don't touch her..."
In this era, people believed in burying the dead in the ground for peace. Only those without a tomb would become lonely ghosts.
If they really dug up Chen Luobing's grave and burned her to ashes, it would be like a cruel torture in this day and age.
She would never have the chance to be reborn again. She would be trapped in the world as an invisible lonely ghost forever, with no home to return to.
This was like having her heart torn out for Concubine Su.
Concubine Su's abdomen began to ache. She opened her mouth to vomit but spat out a mouthful of blood.
Lady Bai watched her coldly and waved for the maid to come in. "Clean her up and take her to Second Miss to kowtow and admit her mistake."
Concubine Su was dragged away like a dead pig. Lady Bai didn't want to see her anymore. She turned around and walked out of the door. The sun shone down from above. She closed her eyes and stood there for a while until the warm sun dispelled the coldness from her body. Then she opened her eyes again.
"Let's go," she said.
By the time Concubine Su was taken to kowtow, her mind was already a bit muddled. The maid forced her to kowtow three times heavily before dragging her away.
Chen Tingfeng held Fu Zhen and received these three kowtows.
Fu Zhen glanced at Concubine Su being dragged out and whispered, "It was Auntie who did this, wasn't it?"
Only Lady Bai, whom she hadn't seen since she woke up, could deal with someone like this.
Chen Tingfeng hugged her tightly and replied in a low voice. "Mother asked me for a kind of medicine. She only said that I didn't need to interfere in this matter. She would handle it well. At first, I was thinking that if Mother showed mercy, I would surely skin Concubine Su alive."
Fu Zhen smiled faintly. "Auntie is a sensible person. She won't make things difficult for us."
The medicine was one that would make people crazy, but it was very toxic. The person who took it would suffer from abdominal pain and high fever for three days each. After the fever subsided, they would become a fool. They would forget everything, with an IQ like that of a three - year - old child.
Lady Bai directly sent her to Qingcheng Mountain. She ordered someone to build a thatched cottage beside Chen Luobing's tomb and had someone keep an eye on her.
She didn't need to be treated well. They just needed to keep her alive.
But they couldn't let her die either. That would be too easy for her.
Lady Bai just wanted her to live a miserable and wretched life in front of her daughter, hungry and poorly dressed, crazy and suffering for the rest of her life.