"What will become of the Madame? She is still so young—is she to be left a widow in the Earl's Mansion, raising two children all by herself?"
"It’s all the Earl’s fault, too. He knew nothing of water control, yet he insisted on taking charge of the flood management. Now, he’s just abandoned the Madame and gone like this..."
As consciousness returned, Meng Yihuan clearly heard the two maids sobbing and whispering in the room. She frowned slightly, and a moment later, she slowly opened her eyes. When she turned her head and saw Qiuxin, a maid whose face looked more than a decade younger, her heart constricted.
"Qiu... Qiuxin? How are you..."
"Madame! You’ve finally woken up!" Seeing her move, Qiuxin’s face lit up with joy, and she hurried toward the bed.
"And Lanyu? Didn't you marry Huzi and stay home to look after your husband and children?" After a startled glance at Qiuxin, Meng Yihuan turned a puzzled gaze toward the maid in the green dress standing to the side.
Lanyu’s face flushed instantly, and she shyly covered her cheeks. "Madame, Huzi-ge and I haven't even... haven't even begun to see each other yet!"
This...
Watching their reactions, Meng Yihuan felt a jolt of shock. She forced herself to calm down, observed her surroundings carefully, and then reached for a mirror to look at her own reflection. Only when she saw the white mourning cloth on her forehead and her own flawless, youthful skin did she realize she had returned to twelve years ago—the year Si Yunhui and Xue Wanrou had faked their deaths to escape the Earl's Mansion!
"Where is the Earl? Has he been buried?" Once the reality set in, Meng Yihuan grabbed Qiuxin’s arm, demanding an answer with frantic intensity.
Qiuxin spoke in a soothing tone: "Madame, please grieve in moderation. Do not cry yourself into a faint again. As for the Earl, you may rest easy. Old Madame Si and the Second Madame are managing the funeral; they are already on their way to the cremation site."
What? Cremation!
Meng Yihuan’s heart tightened. Recalling the events leading to her death in her previous life, she knew that Si Yunhui’s death today was a sham, and a month later, Xue Wanrou would also "fall ill and pass away." From then on, they would flee the Earl's Mansion to live in their own private paradise, dumping the crumbling mess of the mansion onto her. She had been forced to toil and struggle for the family’s sake, raising their children for them! In the end, when everything was finally stable, they had returned to enjoy the fruits of her labor, inciting the very children she had bled to raise to stab her to death with their own hands.
Such a monstrous, blood-deep hatred—now that she was reborn, how could she ever let them have their way again?
"Order a sedan chair immediately! I am going to the crematorium at once!" Meng Yihuan commanded sharply. Since Si Yunhui’s death was faked, the cremation today must also be a lie. They were so fond of "dying," so this time, she would make sure they truly died for good!
"Madame, your health is poor. Before Old Madame Si left, she explicitly instructed me to take good care of you and ensure you rest. She said that as for the Earl’s burial, she—"
Seeing Meng Yihuan’s haggard appearance, Qiuxin tried to stop and persuade her, but Meng Yihuan cut her off with a stern voice: "Qiuxin! I am your mistress. Prepare the sedan chair immediately!"
***
Outside the capital, the sun scorched the earth.
The pyre had already been set at the crematorium. Servants from the Earl's Mansion knelt below, wailing, while Old Madame Si and Xue Wanrou went through the motions before retreating to a nearby sedan chair.
"Wanrou, I shall leave now and wait for you at Mother’s villa for a month. Once you fake your own death and escape as well, I will take you to travel across the mountains and rivers."
Si Yunhui held Xue Wanrou’s hand, his face bright with joy. Beside them, Old Madame Si snorted coldly, her expression dark. "Yunhui, have you truly been bewitched by her? Is there room in your eyes only for a woman and not your own mother?"
Although she was helping her son fake his death to fulfill their desires, she had never truly liked Xue Wanrou; she had merely relented because her son insisted on her, and because Xue Wanrou had already borne him a son and a daughter.
"Mother, you are the most important person in my life. How could there not be room for you in your son’s heart? It is only because Wanrou’s pregnancy can no longer be hidden, and that wretched woman Meng Yihuan ruined her body and cannot conceive again. Since we cannot swap her child this time, we have no choice but to go into hiding. Besides, Zheng'er and Lier are in the mansion to show you filial piety—don’t be angry anymore, Mother!"
Seeing his mother’s displeasure, Si Yunhui rubbed against her shoulder, acting like a spoiled child.
Old Madame Si glanced at Xue Wanrou’s belly and sighed helplessly. "Fine, fine. Who else but you could be carrying his child? Now that the second branch’s fool is dead, and Yihuan is barren, I cannot let my grandson go unborn. Just don't forget to visit your mother often after you leave. Mother will miss you!"
"Don't worry, Mother. We will return often, and you can just come to the villa to see us in secret."
"Mother, we will also keep you in our thoughts and bring you—" Before Xue Wanrou could finish her sycophantic words, a loud commotion broke out nearby.
"Stop what you are doing! Extinguish that fire this instant!"
Accompanied by the hurried, heavy sound of a sedan chair being set down, Meng Yihuan’s clear, sharp voice rang through the woods.
Old Madame Si and the others were shocked. "Meng Yihuan! How did she suddenly arrive here?"
"Mother, I’ll hide first. You go and check; don’t let her discover anything." Sensing something was wrong, Si Yunhui jumped out of the sedan chair and ducked into the nearby forest.
Old Madame Si and Xue Wanrou scrambled out of the carriage.
"Yihuan, why have you come here so suddenly? Did I not tell the maids to take good care of you at the mansion? Mother is enough to handle the Earl’s funeral affairs."
"Mother, if I hadn't come, I fear our Earl’s Mansion would be punished by the Emperor!" Meng Yihuan looked at Old Madame Si with a terrified expression.
Old Madame Si was startled. "What do you mean by that?"
Why would the Emperor punish their mansion? They had fallen on hard times over the years, but they hadn't done anything to provoke the throne.
Meng Yihuan looked anxious. "Mother, my husband cannot be cremated yet! He has an object bestowed by the Emperor on his person that must be removed first, otherwise, we would be guilty of burning sacred imperial items!"
"What? This..." Old Madame Si froze.
If it were truly an imperial item, it certainly could not be burned. But she knew her son would have taken any imperial items with him; he wouldn't be stupid enough to leave them in the clothing on that pyre. She was worrying about how to explain this, but Meng Yihuan gave her no chance, bypassing her to stop the cremation.
"Yihuan, what are you doing? Come back here at once! The corpse is already starting to burn; you cannot go up there! Someone, stop her!" Old Madame Si was terrified and ordered the servants to intercept Meng Yihuan. She could not let Meng Yihuan get close enough to discover that the pyre was empty.
Seeing Old Madame Si’s servants moving to block her, Meng Yihuan curled her lips into a cold sneer.
"Whoever dares to stop me from saving an imperial item is acting against the Emperor! Do you all wish for the entire Earl’s Mansion to be executed by his order? If you don’t want to die, help me put out this fire at once!"