In the main hall of the Bamboo Grove Courtyard in the Pingyang Marquis Mansion, a faint medicinal smell lingered. After taking her medicine, Lady Tong was supported by a maid to lie down and intended to close her eyes and rest.
Zining knelt beside the bed and massaged Lady Tong's temples with a moderate force. "My lady, don't worry too much. Everyone in Shengjing City knows that our eldest miss is the most gentle and virtuous. Once the news of the eldest miss's burn spreads tomorrow, the blame will naturally fall on the Yongguo Duke's Mansion."
"I've always trusted your work," Lady Tong replied casually. "Any news from the Yongguo Duke's Mansion?"
Zining said, "It's said that they went back to their rooms to rest as soon as they got back to the mansion."
Lady Tong snorted. "They had a good time at the Autumn Banquet, so they're naturally satisfied. Poor our Yu'er has to suffer such an unjust accusation. No wonder they're barbarians from the north of the desert. Their actions are so crude and reckless."
Zining said, "My lady, do you think the fourth miss of the duke's mansion is just pretending to be stupid? Maybe she was jealous of our eldest miss's elegance and beauty at the banquet and planned to ruin her."
At this thought, a sharp glint flashed in Lady Tong's eyes.
"You may be right. Tomorrow, send someone to find out whether that girl from the duke's mansion is really stupid or just pretending. If she's pretending, I won't let it go."
Zining replied, "Yes," and seeing that Lady Tong was already sleepy, she withdrew.
Lady Tong had taken medicine before going to bed and soon fell into a deep sleep.
But for some reason, after she fell asleep, she was trapped in a strange dream.
"Mother... Mother... I'm in so much pain. Wuwuwu..."
Sobs echoed in her ears. The cries sounded so aggrieved and suppressed that they instantly tugged at her heartstrings.
She looked around, trying to find the person who was crying to her, only to find herself on a desolate mountain where she couldn't even see her own hands. The shadows of the trees loomed all around. Even in the dream, she couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine.
"Mother! Mother, save me quickly!"
The cries rang out again, as if the person was extremely frightened. Without hesitation, Lady Tong gritted her teeth and chased in the direction of the sound. But it was so dark all around that she accidentally tripped and fell to the ground.
Since it was a dream, she didn't feel any pain. But when she got up, clusters of fireflies lit up around her, illuminating the surroundings. Only then did she realize that there were corpses lying all around her!
Ah!
Lady Tong was so terrified that she scrambled away. But every time she ran a short distance, she would trip over something. More and more corpses appeared around her, and only then did she realize where she was.
This was the mass grave on the outskirts of Shengjing City!
"Mother... It hurts so much. I really hurt so much..."
"Woof, woof!"
The sobs didn't stop, and what made Lady Tong even more scared was the fierce barking of dogs that followed.
After confirming that this was the mass grave, Lady Tong couldn't possibly leave her child here. She ran and ran, getting closer and closer to the sound. But when she rushed out of the woods, she was so scared that she collapsed to the ground at the sight in front of her.
There was a mountain of corpses in the distance that seemed to stretch on endlessly. A pack of wild dogs were feasting on one of the corpses. She saw that the delicate fingers of the corpse had been bitten off by the vicious dogs, and the skin had been torn off by their fangs. There was not a single intact part of the body.
As the dogs were gnawing on the corpse, they accidentally turned it over. The perfectly intact face of the corpse was facing Lady Tong. It was her second daughter, Su Yuanyuan, who had married into the Lu Mansion as a concubine to Lu Chuan!
The once lively and playful eyes of her second daughter were now filled with endless grief. Staring straight at Lady Tong across the mountain of corpses, two lines of bloody tears streamed down.
"Mother... Daughter is in so much pain... I really hurt so much..."
"Mother... Why didn't you save me?"
"They say that our bodies and hair are given by our parents, but Yuan Yuan is in so much pain. Mother, can you feel it?"
"You all... Have such cruel hearts!"
...
"My lady? My lady?! Wake up quickly. You had a nightmare, my lady?!"
Suddenly, her body was pushed hard, and a sharp pain came from her philtrum. Lady Tong shuddered and groggily woke up from the dream. She took a deep breath, but it felt as if there was a boulder in her chest, making it hard for her to breathe.
"My lady is awake! That's great! Quick, pour a glass of water for my lady!"
Lady Tong watched the maids bustling in front of her, but she couldn't hear what they were saying.
She pressed hard on her chest, trying to breathe deeply with her mouth wide open, but the pain there became even more distinct.
She even felt that her palms, her limbs, were all faintly hurting, as if she was the one being gnawed on by the wild dogs in the dream.
Zining brought a glass of water to Lady Tong's lips. "My lady, drink some hot water to calm your nerves."
Lady Tong couldn't drink any water now. She grabbed Zining's hand tightly, and the hot water in the cup splashed on her hand. Although the temperature wasn't high, it made her more and more awake.
"Everyone except Zining, leave," Lady Tong said.
The maids looked at each other, but finally they packed up their things and left the room as Lady Tong had said.
Lady Tong held Zining's wrist tightly. Although she was sick, the strength in her hand was so great that it seemed as if she could break Zining's wrist in the next moment.
Zining knew that Lady Tong must have something to say that couldn't be known by outsiders. She said, "My lady, what on earth did you dream about? Why did you have such a strong reaction?"
Who would have thought that as soon as she asked this question, two lines of tears streamed down Lady Tong's face uncontrollably.
"Zining, that child came to me in a dream."
Who? Zining was stunned at first, but then she realized who Lady Tong was referring to.
"I dreamed that she was dead. Her body was thrown into the mass grave and eaten by wild dogs until there was nothing left of her bones. She even blamed me for not saving her..."
Lady Tong pressed hard on her chest, sobbing so hard that she could hardly catch her breath. "But how could I save her? Once she married into the Lu Mansion, she became a member of the Lu family. When the Lu Mansion was convicted and raided, as a family member of a convicted official, she couldn't be spared. She had to die as a member of the Lu family. If the Marquis Mansion had tried to save her, it would have been going against the imperial edict. Do you really think the Marquis Mansion should have fought against the emperor for her and ended up in the same fate as the Lu Mansion?"
"She blamed me for not loving her. Is it that I didn't want to love her? She defied her parents, disrespected her elder brother, and framed her sisters. She had long thrown away the etiquette, integrity, and shame that I had taught her. In order to ruin her elder sister, she didn't care about the reputation of the Marquis Mansion and did such a shameless thing at the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet. How could she have the nerve to blame me?"
All along, Lady Tong had always insisted that she was right. It was her second daughter who had first put the Marquis Mansion in an unjust position. She had only done what a wife of the Pingyang Marquis should do.
But when she thought of the content of the dream and the heart - rending cries, her heart felt as if it had been stabbed by a sharp awl, and the pain was unbearable.
"Zining, do you think I really did something wrong?"
Like a drowning person grabbing a floating log, Lady Tong hoped to get some comfort from Zining.