Chapter 1011 - 1013: Someone Jumped into the Well_1
Jianqi seldom saw Bai Ruozhu this furious and immediately ordered the dark guards below to investigate.
Bai Ruozhu herself also began to ponder, many maids and guards at home had come from Beiyu City, and upon arriving in the Capital, she hadn’t yet managed to purchase new servants. If there was an internal enemy, it would be the old-timers.
Could it be they were tempted by benefits?
Although she had arranged for dark guards to protect her family, their duty was to protect, and when she was not at home, most of the dark guards would hide in the Main Courtyard to safeguard her parents and Dengdeng. Therefore, they would not keep a close watch on her own yard, and only the guards at each place would guard the Yard.
Finding the internal enemy was one aspect, but resolving the immediate crisis was of paramount importance.
Losing the Birthday Banquet gifts from the Empress Dowager, even though she was a lenient person, could not prevent malicious individuals from taking advantage of this to create trouble, using the rules to pick at her faults.
Guizhi asked with a worried face from behind, "Ruozhu, could there be trouble?"
"It’s all right, you go tell my parents that I might return late. Tell them not to worry, I have a way to handle it," Bai Ruozhu said as she prepared to head out.
At that moment, a dark guard hurried over, saluting her and saying, "Master, someone in the old lady’s yard attempted suicide by jumping into a well, but luckily we were inspecting the Yard, and we rescued the person in time."
Bai Ruozhu was startled. The yard assigned to the Liu Family housed only the Liu Family and Tao Ren. A few days ago, when the Liu Family insisted on staying at the Bo Family residence, Bai Ruozhu asked Tao Ren to stay and take care of her. Therefore, that yard was currently empty; how could someone have attempted to jump into a well there?
"Who is it?" she asked urgently.
"It seems to be a maid named Tao Ren," the dark guard replied.
Bai Ruozhu raised an eyebrow, "Nonsense, Tao Ren is still at the Bo Residence. Let me go have a look."
She quickly walked towards the old lady’s Yard, with Guizhi hurriedly following her.
Upon entering the backyard, the sobbing of a woman could be heard. The well was at the back of the Yard, and the person had been rescued but the guards didn’t dare to casually bring her inside the house.
In Ancient Times, people believed it was a bad omen for someone to commit suicide at home. It was one thing to die in someone else’s Ear Room, but if it happened inside their house, people would be unwilling to live in that Yard any longer.
Bai Ruozhu quickly made her way to the back of the Yard. The old lady’s Yard wasn’t big, just a Main house and two smaller Ear Rooms, it didn’t take much effort to reach the backyard.
A young girl dressed as a maid was sobbing. She was utterly immobilized, evidently, her Acupuncture points had been sealed by a guard.
"Eldest Young Miss, we were afraid she might harm herself again, so we sealed her acupoints," Cui Fan had already arrived and hastily explained to Bai Ruozhu.
Bai Ruozhu looked at the maid, her eyes fierce as she questioned, "Why do you claim to be Tao Ren? Do you think by saying that, you can prevent others from suspecting why you are here?"
The maid cried even harder. Unable to move her body, her lips trembled, revealing her extreme fear.
"Is that right, Dongqing?" Bai Ruozhu’s voice suddenly rose.
This maid was the second batch she had purchased, also with a clean background, devoid of any relatives to hold her back, yet unexpectedly she turned out to be an inside traitor to the family.
"Speak the truth, why did you betray me, stealing my things to give to others?" Because she didn’t keep too tight a rein on the household maids, and even allowed them to go out and play once a week, and to rest for half a day, she remembered that the afternoon the day before yesterday was Dongqing’s half-day off.
It seems it was the day before yesterday that she stole the bracelet, and then took advantage of the opportunity to go out to hand it over to the Yang Family.
Dongqing cried even harder, but refused to speak, her eyes filled with guilt when she looked at Bai Ruozhu.
"You think just because you won’t open your mouth, I have no means to make you talk? My son-in-law was once in the Imperial Court, and he has given me a drug that can make a criminal confess the truth. It’s best you speak for yourself, to avoid suffering," Bai Ruozhu said coldly, though in her heart she had no intention of using torture.
Although she loathed the maid’s betrayal, she still remembered her service to the family and didn’t want to be too hard on her.
Moreover, intuition told her that Dongqing was not a person greedy for wealth and luxury; there must have been some sort of compulsion.
Bai Ruozhu waited a long while, and just when she felt she had no choice but to use the drug to force a confession, Dongqing finally spoke.
"Miss, I have wronged you, betrayed the faith you placed in me. I don’t ask for your forgiveness, knowing my guilt is unforgivable. I only beg that you save my little brother, he is just a ten-year-old child who knows nothing," Dongqing sobbed out her plea.
"Your brother?" Bai Ruozhu was somewhat surprised. When she bought people from Ge Yapo, they were thoroughly vetted; Dongqing had fled from disaster, and all her family members had succumbed to illness one after the other. She had sold herself to pay for her mother’s burial.
Could it be Ge Yapo lied? But Bai Ruozhu felt that although Ge Yapo couldn’t be considered a good person, she was a trustworthy businesswoman.
"I always thought my little brother had died as well. When we fled from the disaster, his face turned blue and he stopped breathing, so my father buried him by the roadside. Later on, my parents died from illness one after the other. But some days ago, someone brought my little brother to see me. Although he had gotten taller and put on some weight, I recognized him at once, and the birthmark on his body was unmistakable."
"At that time, I couldn’t believe it. How could someone who died come back to life? He said his master happened upon him and found that he had not truly expired, so he revived him and even taught him some medical skills. He has been wanting to find me, and eventually, he followed his master to the Capital City."
"Who is your brother’s master?" Bai Ruozhu felt it curious. Could it be some Divine Doctor?
"I don’t know, he didn’t say his name. Later, he came to me again, asking me to steal the Miss’ bracelet, or else he would kill my little brother." Dongqing’s sobs were racking, "He even showed me a bloody severed finger, saying that if I didn’t do as he said, next time I would see not just a half finger but my brother’s head."
"Miss, I know I’ve wronged you, and you’ve always treated me well, but I couldn’t bear seeing my brother killed; he is the last of my family’s bloodline. If my life could be exchanged for his, I would accept it. I really can’t stay in the Bai Family out of shame, and I’m also afraid of being discovered, so I snuck into this yard today, planning to end it all."
By the end of her speech, Dongqing’s eyes were filled with desolation, showing she truly harbored a death wish and held no hope for survival.
Bai Ruozhu took a deep breath; she didn’t know whether to sympathize with Dongqing or hate her. She had a younger brother too; if Xiaosi were taken hostage and used to threaten her, she might also comply meekly; therefore, she could understand Dongqing’s actions. But she couldn’t forgive Dongqing for betraying her. Didn’t she, as a master, deserve the trust of her subordinates? Didn’t Dongqing believe that she could help save her brother?
"You should have told me right from the start, and I would have found a way to save your brother. Yet you chose to trust someone else over me. Do you really think by doing these things your brother will truly be safe? Being in the hands of a master who would casually cut off his finger, what kind of life will he face in the future?"