Counterattack of the Concubine’s Invincible Daughter

33. Secret of the Dead

Translator: Snowball

“The dog fell to the ground and bled profusely. It was poisoned to death!” When Mammy Li recalled this scene, she couldn’t help but feel terrified.

Xu Min immediately said, “You mean Yingxue brought a pot of poisoned seafood soup to your kitchen and wanted to give it to you originally. Later she changed her mind and fed the dog. Until then you realized that the soup was poisonous?”

Mu Yingxue knew that she said the above to confuse the public. It was best to direct the source of the poison to her. If so, in the end, Mu Yingxue herself would be the one who framed Xu Min with the poison.

Mammy Li nodded as expected and didn’t forget to emphasize, “Indeed, Madam. Miss Yingxue also said that you told the cook to make the soup…”

Before she could finish, Xu Min interrupted her angrily, “Me? When did I ever tell everyone to prepare extra dishes for the fourth branch? Which bastard is so bold to do this in my name?!”

Mu Yueli couldn’t help saying, “No matter how she quibbled, I believe it’s Mu Yingxue who did it!”

Mu Yingxue glanced at Mu Yueli and admired her scheming plots and acting skills.

At this time, Mu Shuilan growled in a low voice, “There is no evidence. Yueli, don’t talk nonsense. There is no way that Yingxue could do this.”

Mu Yingxue looked at her in surprise, confused why Mu Shuilan took her side instead of Mu Yueli at this moment. What did she mean by speaking up for her? She didn’t believe that there was so-called justice in the Mu’s Mansion.

Mu Yueli was obviously very obedient to Mu Shuilan and agreed obediently. But in the end, she still couldn’t help saying, “Sister Shuilan, as the saying goes, you cannot tell one’s mind from her appearance.”

Mu Shuilan glanced at her and did not speak again.

After listening to Mu Yueli’s explanation patiently this time, Xu Min calmed down and asked Mu Yingxue, “Why did you tell them that I added dishes for you? Who told you so? Or are you still blaming me for what happened between you and Little Jingle last time?”

This question gave Mu Yingxue no chance to explain. Xu Min was convinced unilaterally that the adding dishes thing was a scheming against herself. Mu Yingxue had to admit that she had underestimated Xu Min before. In this way, Xu Min not only left Mu Yunxiao out, but also naturally led the clue to Mu Yingxue, because it was very likely that Mu Yingxue plotted against her because she still held grudge against her for what happened last time.

“Mother, that’s too much for me to bear.” She said calmly, “It’s true there were extra dishes that day. Otherwise, given the living standard of my mother and I, how could we get a bowl of seafood soup with valuable ingredients? As for who told me that it was your order. No, nobody told me that. I just learnt it from Mammy Li.”

Xu Min felt that something was wrong, frowning, “What do you mean?”

Mu Yingxue smiled and said, “I thought it was a reward from father, but now I know it’s not. I’m really relieved to know this. The soup is obviously poisonous. How could my father kill his daughter like this?”

“How dare you!” Xu Min hurriedly shouted, “Why are you taking your father into this? Your father is not home, so he doesn’t know any of this.”

Mu Yingxue was unmoved. “You are right, Mother. I shouldn’t have listened to the rumors. Now that Mammy Li has explained this, I’m well aware that Mother did this for me kindly.”

Xu Min was a little dizzy for what she said, and it took her a long time to realize that Mu Yingxue was putting the blame on her. She shouted angrily, “Mammy Li clearly said that she didn’t get the command from me. I know exactly if I have ordered that. Don’t talk nonsense!”

She then turned to Mammy Li and asked, “Which cook on earth is the one adding dishes in my name?”

Mammy Li further explained in haste, “At that time, Miss Yingxue kept pressing us why the soup was poisonous. But we got no clue about that! It was not until she asked Mammy Rong did we finally have the answer. According to her, it was Madam who had instructed her alone to send the seafood soup along with other dishes to the fourth branch…”

“Bang!” The teacup fell to the ground. Xu Min was so angry that she paced back and forth in the stage she stood. “How dare you, Mammy Rong! The cheap slave deserves to die. How dare she slander me! Did anyone motive her or pay her to frame me in this way?”

She acted so well that Mu Yingxue believed even the owners of the Golden Rooster Award and the Hundred Flowers Award1 were not as good as her. Mammy Li quickly played a supporting role and added, “However, Mammy Rong said that she didn’t put the poison into it, but what Miss Yingxue brought back was a pot of poisonous soup…”

She was almost saying that Mu Yingxue had done that on purpose. What a vicious woman! Mu Yingxue had reason to believe that many people on the scene were starting to suspect her because of their two-man show. Under their guidance, these people would believe that she firstly colluded with Mammy Rong to add dishes in the name of the matriarch, and then framed Xu Min for poisoning her on the excuse of the incident; afterwards, she killed Mammy Rong virulently to make herself the innocent one.

Presumably, that’s what wanted the rest to believe.

“Mu Yingxue, you are such a vicious girl! Adding dishes without permission is fine, but you dare kill people to keep her mouth shut?” Mu Yueli would never let go of any chance to humiliate her, blow her, and frame her.

There was a smile at the corner of Mu Yingxue’s mouth. However, her face was cold as she asked back, “Watch your mouth! Who did I kill and why did I do that? Tell me, did you see it with your own eyes, or someone else did?”

Once she became wry, her imposing manner and oppressive aura would be beyond that of a young lady in the harem. In Liu’er’s eyes, her miss was beautiful and pretty cool at the moment, which stunned all the people present.

“Besides…” She stared at Mu Yueli and continued slowly, “Adding dishes without permission is a big deal. To be clear, only the Marquis and the matriarch of the family have the right to order that. Oh, Sister Shuilan is able to do that, too.”

Mu Yueli was forced by her imposing manner. For a long while, she lost her words to reply. Mu Shuilan, on the other hand, was very unhappy to get involved. She did not want to be distinguished from her baseborn sisters clearly, at least not now.

Xu Min was not glad to hear her daughter implicated, but she did not intend to punish Mu Yueli right now. She just wanted to get rid of Mu Yingxue and Ouyang Ruo as soon as possible.

“Yingxue, any explanation about this?” She asked.

Mu Yingxue said in a clear voice, “Mother, do you really believe Mu Yueli’s groundless speculations?”

Xu Min snorted. “I do have reasons to believe her.”

Mu Yingxue knew what she meant, so she didn’t continue the topic, but said to the others, “Everyone does everything for a reason. Madams, ladies, in case you are unaware of my living condition. The food and clothing distributed to fourth branch are barely enough to satisfy our basic needs. The servant in charge didn’t do her job well in the past days, so people in my branch did have a hard time recently. Given the fact, it’s reasonable that I might make friends with the cook so that I can get more food privately.”

“Since it was private, why didn’t I eat them all to prevent others from exposing, but took a pot of poisonous soup to the kitchen? I don’t think I have a penchant for self-disclosure.”

“As for poisoning and framing Madam Xu, that would be ridiculous. Why should I do that? Killing the matriarch so that father could hate my mother and me?”

“You said that I killed Mammy Rong to shut her mouth for good? Humph, if I have to kill a person just for a private dish, does it mean that I have to kill everyone in the Moonlight Pavilion since I go there every day and enjoy the food and drinks Prince Sheng offers?”

She said it so reasonable that the rest didn’t know what to say for a while.

Her sharp speech guided the public’s opinion in the direction that Xu Min didn’t expect to see, so she hurriedly said, “Yingxue, stop your quibbling. If you didn’t kill Mammy Rong, how would you explain the posthumous letter she wrote?”

The corners of Mu Yingxue’s mouth curled upwards because Xu Min finally got to the point.

“Mother, could you please take out that posthumous letter and show it to us? What is written on it?”

She had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

Xu Min snorted and said, “Hongling, take it out.”

Hongling agreed and took out a piece of cloth wrapped in silk, which was folded neatly, from her sleeve. It was the so-called “posthumous letter” of Mammy Rong.

She shook off the cloth and showed it to the crowd.

Everyone looked at each other and didn’t understand the meaning of the red lines on it. Xu Min, however, was quite confident. She explained to the crowd, “Mammy Rong can’t write, but she happened to be able to write the word “girl”. According to our investigation, it’s a ‘girl’ on it indeed. As for these strange lines, if you look carefully, you will find that they are four paratactic lines…”

Hearing this, everyone became more confused and cast their eyes on her, having no idea what she meant.

This time, Xu Min announced the answer frankly, “The word ‘girl’ plus the four paratactic lines. Putting them together, it means ‘the fourth girl’ in total. Who is the fourth miss in our mansion?”

Everyone turned to look at Mu Yingxue.

Mu Yingxue smiled and stared into Xu Min’s eyes. She asked, “Mother, are you saying the ‘fourth girl’ written on the cloth is the one who murdered Mammy Rong?”

Xu Min asked, “Isn’t it?”

Mu Yingxue sneered and said, “No, this speculation is not unreasonable. However, although I don’t know much about math, my mother had taught me counting. Why are the number of the lines I saw different from that you saw? Am I too dazed to recognize them clearly?”

Xu Min asked, “What do you want to say?”

Liu’er couldn’t help explaining, “Miss Yingxue means there are six vertical lines on this piece of cloth. Why do you insist there are four?”

“What did you say?” Xu Min was shocked, having no time to reprimand this servant for interrupting her masters while talking. She turned back to look at the contents on the rough cloth in Hongling’s hands. At this moment, Hongling’s face was also pale and she stared at the cloth as if she had seen a ghost. Her expression indicated obviously, “I only painted four.”

Xu Min couldn’t believe her eyes. How could it be possible? However, it was clear that six vertical lines were drawn on the blue cloth, not the “fourth girl” but the “sixth girl”!

As soon as Mu Yueli recognized them, her legs gave way and she collapsed in the chair.

 

Translator’s note:

1. Golden Rooster Award and the Hundred Flowers Award: the most prestigious film awards in mainland China.