Though the maid did not know why her young master was so agreeable today, she was relieved to have escaped trouble.
Soon, Mother Li returned with the woman who had called her, laughing and chatting. “You wouldn’t believe it, when you told me the news just now, my heart skipped a beat and my legs went weak.”
“It’s all Xiao Li Zi’s fault for not explaining clearly. When I heard your grandson had fallen into the pond, I thought the worst. Fortunately, someone nearby heard the splash and rescued him. It was a close call. But you only have this one grandson, you must keep a closer eye on him from now on.”
Mother Li nodded quickly. Her grandson was her lifeblood, and she couldn’t afford any accidents. He had just fallen into the water and been rescued, and was only a little frightened. Who could guarantee he would always be so lucky?
As they entered the Li household, the two parted ways and went about their business. Mother Li went to the kitchen to check on her pastries and frowned involuntarily. She wondered who had sprinkled a bit of water on them. With Madam’s attendant, Dong Mei, about to arrive to collect the pastries, and no time to make new ones, and her recent excursion from the estate being something she couldn’t let Madam know about, as she hadn’t asked for leave, she quickly found a handkerchief to wipe the surface of the pastries clean and put them back in the steamer for a while longer.
About fifteen minutes later, Dong Mei arrived as scheduled. Mother Li packed the pastries into a food box. Only when she was alone in the kitchen did the worry in her heart finally subside.
That afternoon, Wu Lian’er fell unconscious. The doctor was helpless. Soon, someone mentioned that Madam Li’s symptoms were very similar to those of the second young master of the Luo family. The second young master of the Luo family had been preparing for his funeral, but had gradually recovered.
Upon hearing this, Master Wu personally went to the Luo family’s gates. He wanted to inquire about the situation. Lives were at stake, and they did not conceal anything, answering every question truthfully.
Huang Shijie was studying in the academy when the tutor called him out. Seeing the Wu couple, he pretended not to know them, his face full of confusion. “May I ask who you are?”
Master Wu coughed to ease the awkwardness and then said kindly, “We heard you know a divine doctor. Our daughter is ill, and we were hoping you could contact the divine doctor for us to see if he could help.”
Huang Shijie immediately frowned, looking somewhat troubled. “It’s not that I don’t want to help you, but he wanders the four seas. I don’t know his exact whereabouts. I can usually contact him because he returns home once every six months, but we just saw him last month, so it will be another five months until we see him again.”
Master Wu grew anxious. His daughter was fading, and she couldn’t possibly hold on for five more months. By the time they contacted the divine doctor, it would be too late. “But why did Second Young Master Luo say that when he left, he instructed you to find him if there were any difficulties?”
Huang Shijie then seemed to realize something, and said with surprise, “Could it be that your daughter was poisoned? He left some detoxification pills with me and instructed me to only take them out when absolutely necessary.”
Master Wu’s eyes lit up. “Could you give me one?”
Huang Shijie hesitated, looking embarrassed. “The divine doctor instructed that besides taking it myself, if anyone wanted to take it from me, they would have to pay him five hundred taels of silver.”
Master Wu breathed a sigh of relief. While five hundred taels of silver was not a small sum, it wasn’t an exorbitant amount for their family. They could afford it.
Next, they exchanged money for goods, and soon Master Wu left, fully satisfied. The Luo family had not thrown away the prescription given by the divine doctor, which conveniently helped the Wu family. The medicine prescribed by the divine doctor indeed worked, and Wu Lian’er soon began to recover.
After learning from her father that she had been poisoned, she cast suspicious glances at Li Changqing and his two concubines. She thoroughly searched her own courtyard but found nothing, deciding to investigate the items that entered the house first.
At this moment, still frail from her illness, she sat in the kitchen courtyard, gathering all the staff and interrogating them one by one. Everyone denied it, their eyes wide with fear.
Wu Lian’er, with the principle of killing a thousand by mistake rather than letting one go, began to beat them one by one, starting with Mother Li. Mother Li had always been diligent in her duties. Only on the day Madam fell ill was there a small incident. Knowing that it concerned her Madam’s life, she would never show leniency and quickly confessed what happened that day truthfully.
As soon as she confessed, a kitchen maid also knelt down and said tremblingly that she had seen the young master leaving in a hurry that day, and described his every word and deed.
Although Wu Lian’er did not have much contact with Li Changqing, from the maid’s description, she had the feeling of a guilty conscience, as if he were trying to cover something up.
Having found the culprit, she led her people without hesitation to Li Changqing’s courtyard.
When Li Changqing saw his wife approaching with ill intentions, he had a bad feeling. Before he could speak, Wu Lian’er directly ordered her people to seize him and place him on a stool, and began to beat him.
The people she brought this time were all her trusted attendants, and they all obeyed her orders, showing no mercy just because he was the eldest young master of the Li family.
As the blows fell, causing unbearable pain, Li Changqing tried his best to lift his head and look at Wu Lian’er, saying with some defiance, “Son doesn’t know what he did wrong to provoke mother into such a grand display. Regardless, I am the eldest young master of the Li family. Even if family law is to be enforced, it should be done in a way that makes me accept it wholeheartedly.”
Wu Lian’er let out a disdainful snort. “Who do you think you are? Do I need to reason with you? Don’t think I don’t know about your sordid affairs. Speak, where did you buy the medicine?”
Li Changqing looked somewhat guilty and said evasively, “What medicine? No one in our courtyard has been sick recently, so we haven’t bought any medicine.”
Wu Lian’er slowly walked in front of him and crouched down, smiling sinisterly. “If you think you are the only son in the Li family, and all the family fortune will be yours, you are gravely mistaken. Do you know why I abandoned you back then? It was because he wanted to marry me. In your current state, you have no value and can be cast out at any time.”
Li Changqing’s heart tightened. How would he live if he left the Li family? His mother had remarried, and there was no home for him in this vast world. He couldn’t admit it.
Seeing that he was stubbornly refusing to confess, Wu Lian’er turned her gaze to Li Changqing and Liu Wenwen’s confidantes, looking at them threateningly. “If I recall correctly, your families are all working in the estate. I’ll see whether your families are more important, or your masters are more important.”
Although both of them were loyal, when comparing their masters to their own families, their families were naturally more important. After a moment of hesitation, they chose to confess.
Upon learning the truth, she directly ordered their legs to be broken. By the time Father and Mother Li rushed over upon hearing the news, it was too late.
Seeing that the deed was done and there was no use in saying more, they wisely chose to remain silent.
Soon, Wu Caiwei heard that the county magistrate had captured the old man with half a disfigured face in the city. He was skilled in using poisons, and had even poisoned several yamen runners at the scene of his arrest. A few days later, he was taken to the execution grounds and beheaded.