The Grudge
The physician's legs gave out beneath him in an instant, and he dropped to his knees where he stood, answering between sobs.
"It had nothing to do with me! Grand Madam, I swear it had nothing to do with me! I was summoned here without warning. I told them there was nothing my medicine could do, but a matron of this estate insisted I need only stay a while. 'He is going to die regardless,' she said!"
He is going to die regardless?
Bai Jingyan's hands clamped down on the arms of her chair. A chill ran down her spine. Someone had just tried to kill Qi Zhengyu!
Was it because he had come carrying the campaign records inscribed on bamboo slips? Or... could there be some other reason altogether?
Her nails seemed about to punch clean through the armrest. The fury gathering on her face deepened by the breath, and when she spoke, her voice had risen.
"Go and find out which matron brought this physician here! The moment you find her, bind her and bring her back! If she refuses to obey, beat her within an inch of her life if you must — but drag her before this physician and make her confirm it to his face!"
"At once!"
One of the guards answered and raced out the door.
Without quite meaning to, Bai Jingyan's gaze drifted toward Madam Gi Yu, who had curled herself into the corner.
"Madam Gi Yu."
The woman scrambled forward and dropped to her knees before Bai Jingyan.
"Grand Madam, I... I know nothing at all!"
"You and I have never once met, and yet you know very well that I am the Grand Madam of the Bai family."
Bai Jingyan's voice was calm and cold, as though frost had settled over every word.
"When they brought the Bai family's concubine-born son here, what happened?"
Madam Gi Yu kept her head bowed, her eyes darting in panic. When she finally answered, her voice was the crawl of something cornered.
"Grand Madam, nothing happened."
Having seen what had befallen Qi Zhengyu, Bai Jingyan was showing the woman more patience than she deserved.
"Think carefully. My nanny has already gone to find out. When she returns and gives her report, if what she says differs from what you have told me, I trust you understand what the consequences will be."
"Grand Madam, I am only an ordinary woman! A matron of this estate told me my husband needed tending, so I came — that is all! I truly know nothing!"
The look in Bai Jingyan's eyes grew colder by the moment. Leaning back in her chair, she spoke slowly.
"Send someone to wait at the entrance of Qinghui Garden, and the moment they see Nanny Dong, have them bring her straight here. And tell my chief maid Chunhaeng to bring a hand warmer. It seems tonight will be a long one."
Madam Gi Yu trembled from head to toe and swallowed with great difficulty.
Before long, Nanny Dong entered with Chunhaeng in tow. Chunhaeng paid her respects, then stepped forward and placed the hand warmer in Bai Jingyan's hands.
"Go in and look after Qi Zhengyu. And see that the brazier is stoked high."
Bai Jingyan spoke as she accepted the hand warmer.
"Yes, my lady!"
Chunhaeng hastily lifted the screen and went inside.
"Nanny, did you learn anything from Nanny Zhang?"
Bai Jingyan turned to Nanny Dong.
"I did."
Nanny Dong hurried to her mistress's side.
"The Grand Princess meant to leave that concubine's mother behind at the estate alone, but the concubine-born son threw a tantrum and refused to board the carriage, he was so set against it."
Bai Jingyan looked at Madam Gi Yu.
"Madam Gi Yu. Did you know of this?"
The woman bowed herself nearly double.
"I know nothing of it!"
Bai Jingyan said nothing more and asked nothing further.
Beneath the eaves, a white lantern swayed in the wind. The courtyard was packed with people, yet it was so silent that the wind itself was the only sound to be heard.
Suddenly, a light came speeding toward the open garden gate. Bai Jingyan rose to her feet without thinking. She caught sight of Nuo Ping sprinting toward them with Physician Hong on his back — and right behind him, a young guard carrying Imperial Physician Huang.
At the sight of them, the heart that had been lodged in her throat finally settled, and she went out to meet them at the entrance.
"Physician Hong! Please, look at Qi Zhengyu — quickly!"
Physician Hong clambered down from Nuo Ping's back, breathing hard. When he saw Bai Jingyan standing there, pale as death, he raised his cupped hands in salute and followed her inside.
"Grand Madam, what has happened to Qi Zhengyu? Why has he collapsed again all of a sudden? When I left him, I promise you there was nothing at all wrong with him!"
Imperial Physician Huang, carried in on the young guard's back, climbed down as well. He had been jolted so badly on the way that even his official's cap sat askew, but he had no time to spare for his appearance — he straightened it roughly, took the medicine case from the guard's hands, and hurried inside after the others.
At the sight of the imperial physician, the kneeling physician began to tremble violently, his face draining of color.
Physician Hong had no sooner entered than he dropped to Qi Zhengyu's side without pausing even to sit, and pressed his fingers to the man's wrist. The moment his fingertips found the pulse, the color left his face.
"Why has he been poisoned?"
"What? Poisoned? Poisoned with what?"
Imperial Physician Huang, who had followed them in, hastily set down his medicine case and drew close to examine Qi Zhengyu's pupils. Then he pried the man's mouth open to check his tongue, leaned in until his nose nearly touched the man's lips, and sniffed.
"One Day Sleep!"
"One Day Sleep!"
Physician Hong and Imperial Physician Huang cried out in unison.
One Day Sleep. True to its name, the poison struck within a single day of entering the body, and its victim died. Of all lethal poisons it was among the gentlest — for after succumbing, the victim drifted into an endless dream and died in their sleep.
"The dose can't be large. The poison hasn't burrowed in too deeply either! Thank heaven it was caught early. Any later and even the color of his lips would have turned! Write out a prescription — I'll set the needles!"
Physician Hong barked the orders at Imperial Physician Huang.
Bai Jingyan's mind had gone numb. Qi Zhengyu had suffered this in the Bai household — before her very eyes.
Gritting her teeth, she bowed with deep courtesy to the two physicians.
"I leave him in your hands! Chunhaeng — all of you, follow Physician Hong's and Imperial Physician Huang's orders to the letter. Nuo Ping, come with me. I will question that physician myself."
With that, Bai Jingyan gripped Nanny Dong's hand hard and strode out, an air of killing intent about her.
The guard who had gone to investigate which matron had taken the physician in came rushing back and reported at once with a fist-palm salute.
"Grand Madam, the one who brought the physician into the estate is one Nanny Gi. She is said to have some matter to attend to and is not at the estate at present. Shall we go to her house and seize her?"
The moment Nanny Dong heard Nanny Gi's name, she hurried to Bai Jingyan's side.
"Nanny Gi is the very matron who went to the estate today and brought back the old master's concubine-born son. That same Nanny Gi returned first to pay her respects to the Grand Princess, and then brought Madam Gi Yu here as well. When this servant went to make inquiries today... even folk outside were saying that something had happened at Nanny Gi's house."
Nanny Gi. The concubine-born son. The Longevity Garden. The Grand Princess...
With the threads connected like this, how could Bai Jingyan possibly fail to see it?
What grudge could Nanny Gi hold against Qi Zhengyu, that she would try to kill him?
And yet — her grandmother? Why would her grandmother try to kill Qi Zhengyu, the benefactor of the Bai family?
The moment the thought formed — that it had been the Grand Princess who did this — it was as though scalding oil had been poured on her already churning heart, and even her hands shook.
With eyes deep and cold as still water, Bai Jingyan stared down at the physician still kneeling in the courtyard, shivering without pause.
"The One Day Sleep. Did you bring it?"
The physician jolted and pressed his forehead to the ground, kowtowing over and over.
"Grand Madam, spare my life! It had nothing whatsoever to do with me! The man was already like that when I arrived! Grand Madam, investigate properly, I beg you. I... I was told only to come and sit and watch! The matrons of this estate know everything!"
Suppressing her fury, Bai Jingyan looked at Madam Gi Yu, who was trembling just as hard, and asked through clenched teeth.
"Break every joint in that physician's fingers, one by one! If he does not tell the truth, break every last joint he has! Now!"
Nuo Ping stepped forward, pinned the physician to the ground with a foot, and drove his heel down hard into the man's back.
"Break them!"
"Grand Madam, spare me! Grand Madam, spare my life!"
Mad with terror, the physician screamed until his throat tore — but pinned beneath Nuo Ping's foot, he could not move so much as an inch.
Two guards closed in swiftly and pressed the man's hands flat. One of them raised a stone and brought it down, quick and hard.
The crack of splintering bone rang out, and the physician's agonized scream split the air above the Duke's estate.
Madam Gi Yu looked as though her soul had fled her body entirely. Huddled into herself, she did not even dare weep aloud. Beneath her, a pale yellow stain was spreading, soaking the ground.
Weeping with pain, the physician shrieked out.
"Grand Madam, spare my life! I'll tell you everything! I was not the one who fed him the poison! When I came, the man was already unconscious. I thought I had only to stand watch until he died. I had no idea he had been poisoned — none at all! I swear it on heaven! If I lie, may I die without leaving behind a single child! Every word is the truth!"
Then, all at once, the physician's eyes turned to Madam Gi Yu — and he cried out like a drowning man seizing a rope.
"It was her! It was that woman! Before that matron sent me here, she said something to this woman! Something about what to do when the man died... I didn't hear it clearly, but it was this woman who fed him the poison! I had nothing to do with any of it!"
Bai Jingyan turned her frost-steel gaze on Madam Gi Yu once more.
"Madam Gi Yu."
At the sound of Bai Jingyan's voice, the woman shuddered violently.
"Grand Madam, no! I did not feed him any poison! I... I can prove my innocence with my death!"
With that, she snatched the hairpin from her coiled hair and made to take her own life.
Nanny Dong cried out in alarm.
"Stop her, quickly!"
A guard darted forward and kicked the hairpin clean out of her hand.
Bai Jingyan's expression grew colder still.
"It seems death holds no terror for you. Then perhaps a life worse than death will."
Her reason had returned. This woman had been merciless to Qi Zhengyu — Bai Jingyan saw no reason to extend her any mercy in return.
Madam Gi Yu shook like an aspen leaf. Staring blankly at the hairpin flung far from her, she felt tears finally stream down her face.
Bai Jingyan sat back down in her chair.
"Qi Zhengyu is your husband. Why would you seek to harm him? Refuse to speak if you like — there are a hundred ways to pry your mouth open. Nails driven through your fingernails and toenails, for one. The ten fingers run straight to the heart — even the hardiest of men cannot endure it. Do you think you could?"
In that instant, all the strength left Madam Gi Yu's body; she felt as though she had frozen solid from crown to heel, her very blood turned to ice.
Her throat sealed shut, she crawled on her belly, weeping, toward Bai Jingyan's feet.
"Grand Madam, spare my life! Grand Madam, please, spare my life! I too... I too was dragged here against my will! I am not Madam Gi Yu! My name is Yulian, concubine-born daughter of Wang Mangeng, the village head! My father held my mother's life over my head. He ordered me to disguise myself as Madam Gi Yu, and once Qi Zhengyu died, to kill myself as though following my husband to the grave. If I did not obey, my mother would die! Grand Madam... I did not want to die. But I could not bear to watch my mother die either!"
Trembling, Yulian drew a small white porcelain vial from her bodice.
"This is what that matron gave me! She said that if the Grand Madam came here before the funeral procession departs tomorrow, I was to watch for my chance and force this down Qi Zhengyu's throat. Grand Madam... that is everything! I had no choice! I will not beg you to spare me. Only kill me swiftly, I beg you! Grand Madam, please — let me die at once!"
Bai Jingyan seized the white porcelain vial, cold light glinting in her eyes, and asked.
"And Madam Gi Yu?"
"Madam Gi Yu is already dead..."
Weeping, Yulian poured out the whole truth.
"The young master of the Duke's estate took a fancy to Madam Gi Yu and tried to force her to submit. But she refused him to the very end — and then, in her room, she dashed her head against the wall and killed herself. That young master ordered her corpse cut to pieces and thrown to the dogs, and my mother and I were made to watch it happen. My father said that if I pretended to be Madam Gi Yu, the whole affair could be buried, and my mother would live! If I refused... he said we would all die!"
In that instant, horror crawled over Bai Jingyan's skin and her whole body went numb. The hot blood that had been boiling with fury froze solid in a breath — colder than the deep-winter chill that freezes spilled water the moment it touches the ground.
So that was it. Her grandmother had tried to bury the concubine-born son's crime — and that was why Qi Zhengyu had to die.
So in her grandmother's heart, a son too base to be called a beast mattered more than a man who had staked his life and given his every loyalty for the Bai family.
How was what her grandmother had done any different from what the imperial house had done to the Bai family?