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Chapter 85 - Shao was adept at plotting
Chapter 85 - Shao was adept at plotting
Chapter 85 Shao was adept at plotting
Madam Luo had her eyes wide open and stared at Mammy Tang surprisingly. Because in her memory, Mammy Tang seldom talked something bad about the masters, and she had never said something so determined and solid like now.
“Hong Jiang, what are you taking about? What do you mean ‘ruin Yi’s reputation’ and ‘Shao was adept at plotting’? How could you say such things?” Madam Luo tightened her eyebrows angrily and added, “I know that you had suffered this time, but it’s not appropriate to describe Shao like this. You see, Yi herself had already let it go.” Madam Luo’s words suggested that Mammy Tang was too petty.
But Mammy Tang shook her head firmly, “Madam, forgive me if I am being beyond my duty. But there’s something I must say. As for Third Miss, she’s too young to understand. So, we can’t count on her judgment on this.” Hearing this, He Danggui lowered her head in shame. Mammy Tang added, “Besides, I was not saying this for being angry about Fourth Miss. On the contrary, the reason why I expressed my true feelings is for Fourth Miss’s own good! Madam, you’re doing no good for her to protect her like that. Sooner or later, she’s going to marry someone. And then she will have no elders like you to protect her. So, if you continue helping her like now, she would have no ability to keep herself safe in the future!”
Madam Luo kept silent for a while and nodded, “Well, tell me what exactly she did wrong and how she plotted Yi.”
Mammy Tang sighed and said with a low voice, “Among the clothes I sent to Third Miss, the gauze coat with magnolia flowers was with some cactus’s spikes on it. Fourth Miss did that. However, even if Third Miss was hurt by those spikes, the pain wouldn’t last long. There would be no real damage and she would still be the valuable lady. But there’s another thing I must tell you. Those itching power named “Diaoshanyao” were put on Third Miss’s underwear! Please think about this. If we didn’t notice those power on her clothes yesterday, and Third Miss changed that new suit before she got on that sedan. Then … It was clear that she would feel extreme itches inside the sedan!”
Speaking of this, Mammy Tang saw the astonishment in Madam Luo’s eyes, so she spread her hands which were still red and swollen because of the itching feeling, and said, “As for how suffering this Diaoshanyao Powder is and how painful this itching feeling is, I can’t be describe these with words! And my rough hands became like this only because of getting so little of this power. If Third Miss’s soft and delicate skin got this powder all over her body through her clothes, she would even remove her underwear despite her strong will! Madam, this time, Third Miss has 8 guards from our mansion to protect her. Once they heard Third Miss’s crying from the sedan, they would go check Third Miss and then see Third Miss’s body, which would ruin her reputation!”
Madam Luo’s heart was trembling on these words. She shivered her lips but nothing came out. He Danggui’s face became so pale and she covered her mouth tightly with her right hand. Her whole body shook unconsciously. So, Madam Luo comforted her with patting.
“Madam, I have been followed you since we were kids. I was determined to serve you forever, but if something unimaginable like this happened to Third Miss, I should be responsible and feel shameful to stay in Luo’s Family afterwards.” Mammy Tang said to Madam Luo sadly, “Madam, I know you love Fourth Miss more than Second Miss, but this time you should really open your eyes and be fair! Even if you are not doing this for getting justice for Third Miss, it is important to think about the reputation of the East Yard of Luo’s Mansion!”
“How so?” Madam Luo held very tightly of the cushion on her chair, frowned seriously and thought, “Hong Jiang is right. If this really happened to Yi, what should I tell Chuanxiong? Yi is her only child. If her reputation was influenced badly, I would rather not send someone to pick her up home!”
“In my opinion, as the female decider of the family, Second Mistress Luo must have been occupied for the house issues, so she might neglect the education of Fourth Miss. And that’s why Fourth Miss learnt these malicious tricks under the guidance of some stroppy servants. What’s worse, it has been a while since Fourth Miss became like this. According to Fourth Miss’s maid who is under our custody, there was a time, when Third Miss just moved here half a year ago, Fourth Miss got herself a leading biddy who can write. And then under Fourth Miss’s command, that biddy wrote an article to insult the female teacher Wang Xianli. As for the content, it suggested the teacher didn’t obey women’s duties and morals and doesn’t deserve to be a teacher. The next day, Fourth Miss gave this article to Wang Xianli, however, in Third Miss’s name! And then Wang Xianli just left angrily.”
Madam Luo couldn’t help being shocked, “I thought… Didn’t she leave because of Yi?” She turned to He Danggui and asked, “Yi, is that true? At that time, they all said it was you who made your teacher leave. Why didn’t you tell us you’re innocent?”
“That is exactly what I’m about to say next,” Seeing He Danggui was in total astonishment and confusion, Mammy Tang decided to answer the question for her, “This is why I said Fourth Miss is adept at plotting. Before the day she gave the article to Wang Xianli, she poisoned Third Miss so that Third Miss wouldn’t be able to talk! Third Miss couldn’t write a few words and her throat got hurt by the poison. Of course, she couldn’t prove her innocence!”
Madam Luo shook He Danggui excitedly. She opened her eyes wide out of astonishment and asked, “Is Hong Jiang telling the truth? Did Shao really poison you?”
He Danggui seemed to remember some miserable memories. A sense of terror flashed in her big beautiful eyes. After a long time, she shook her head and murmured slowly, “I…I don’t know… But after my first day at school, there were ten more days I couldn’t make a sound. I thought I was just catching a cold… Actually, that was nothing. I was not much of a talker, so being unable to talk was not a big deal for me…”
“Silly girl, listen what you’ve said!” Madam Luo held He Danggui to her arms and felt self-blamed, “It was my fault. I didn’t send someone to ask Wang Xianli about why she really left. Otherwise, we would have known it was not you. She left because of an article, but you couldn’t even write!”
Mammy Tang immediately added, “Besides this time putting itching powder on Third Miss’s clothes, writing an article in Third Miss’s name and chasing away many female teachers, Fourth Miss had also put the Diaoshanyao Powder on Third Miss’s combs, hairpins, desks, books and so many other things to hurt her. What’s worse, she often added crotons and uncooked green soya beans and soybeans into Third Miss’s food, which made Third Miss suffer from diarrhea and sickness. So, Third Miss’s body became weaker every day!” Speaking of this, she pointed at He Danggui’s small yellow face.
“Yi, is what Hong Jiang just said true?” Madam Luo stared at He Danggui and questioned with a pale face, “Yi, did Shao really hurt you like this before?”
He Danggui blinked her eyes, swallowed a mouth of stress and answered with fear, “Actually… It was not that bad like Mammy Tang described. I only had diarrhea 2 or 3 times. Since then, I always picked crotons, green soya beans and soybeans out every time before I ate, so that I would not have a stomachache again! I knew my sister. She was just naughty. It was all small tricks!” He Danggui’s naive face made Mammy Tang extremely angry, but she continued, “Grandma, please don’t blame her. She has a kind heart. She always asks about my feelings and cares about me a lot. When I had nothing to eat, all the food I got were from her!”
“Have nothing to eat?” Madam Luo’s eyes almost popped out, “What was all that about?”
Immediately, Mammy Tang stood out and said, “Oh, Zhu suddenly died before, so I completely forgot to take care of the food problem! Madam, the Administrator of the kitchen, Wang Qi’s wife, hadn’t been sending food to the West Lateral court where Third Miss stayed in the mansion for half a year! During this period, she grafted 400 liang silver in total of the monthly allowance, which was given by our mansion to Third Miss. And she set up an underground gambling house with that money! In addition to that, they even grafted a huge amount of money from all the servants’ monthly allowance!”
Madam Luo screamed out loudly, “Wang Qi’s wife? You’re telling me that she has grafted for half a year? How could no one tell me anything about it? And an underground gambling house? We have banned gambling years ago, and that was even included in our family’s rules. How dare they do this flagrantly?”
Mammy Tang sighed, “I did some research. Wang Qi’s wife and her niece Wang Xiaoda set up the gambling house under a waste cellar behind the West Lateral court. They called almost all the servants in the mansion to gamble there. Even if those gamblers lost and refused to give money, they would just cross over their names on the list, then their monthly allowance would belong to Wang Qi’s wife and her niece.”
Without enough time, Mammy Tang didn’t investigate this thoroughly, and the so-called ‘‘I did some research’’ actually came from Third Miss. Mammy Tang didn’t want to steal Third Miss’s efforts. The reason she said so was because Third Miss was always not in the mood at crucial times, which was very disappointing. So, she had to rely on herself to tell Madam Luo the truth. Mammy Tang took a glance at He Danggui and saw she was playing the edge of her clothes, seemingly to annoy with herself being disappointing. Alas, kids were not reliable to deal with such important events.
And then Mammy Tang said, “Most of the servants were bored at nights, so they all gambled once or twice. So, since the first time they got aboard the gambling boat and got off with nothing left, they dared not to report the gambling house. First time they lost everything, and 2 months later, they would be seduced to gamble again with their new monthly allowance, wishing to win the money back, but how could they? That gambling house was built on the basis of cheating! If things went on like this, those servants would soon have no money to either support their families or feed themselves. So, they had to turn to their masters. It’s fine if they come to the masters to borrow some money. As for those who schemed secretly, do they think the masters are stupid to be fooled by them…?”
Madam Luo patted heavily on the sedan and said, “Well, well, well. It was just a couple of years since I gave up my power in charge. How come things like this get to me half a year later?!”
Seeing Madam Luo was pissed off so badly, Mammy Tang comforted her and said, “We can deal with these evil servants when we get back home. If you say the word, none of them would be able to escape. Those who dared to bully the masters would suffer what they deserved. But now I think our priority should be Fourth Miss. For her own good, I suggest she should be punished. Madam, you know me, if there is a better way, I would not expose her behaviors to you. Fourth Miss was spoiled since she was a kid. Besides Second Miss, everyone loved her the most, and this helped build her obstinate characteristic. It’s fortunate that she is only 9 years old now. She can still be a nice girl as long as we correct her minds in time.”
Madam Luo took a deep breath and managed to calm herself. With all these years’ enjoyment and leisure, she hadn’t heard so many horrifying events in one time, and each of them happened underneath her nose, which shocked her the most. She remained silent for a while and looked at Mammy Tang, “Hong Jiang, what do you suggest me to do with Shao then?”