Mantuo Manor

The hilly island lay about a quarter of a kilometer offshore, connected to the bank by an iron-chain walkway. Camellias bloomed in a riot of color beneath shady green trees, and terraces and towers nestled faintly around the hillside, like an immortal realm in the mortal world.

"Nanny Yan, Canhe Manor has sent camellias."

A young maid approached the large stone house. A foul stench rushed into her face, nearly making her stumble. She stopped seven or eight paces away and struggled to hold her breath, intending to leave as soon as she delivered her message.

"Those two detestable little girls again?"

The doorway was small, and Yan Ruhua practically squeezed her way out of the stone house. Her complexion was dull, her face rough as hemp, a red pimple grew on her nose, and dark circles ringed her eyes. She looked utterly exhausted. Carrying an iron staff, she spoke in a low, hoarse voice.

"Is it that little hussy Abi?"

The maid lowered her head and hastily replied, "It's Miss Azhu."

"Hmph, a maid is a maid. What's this 'Miss' nonsense? The Murong Family never has any sense of propriety!"

The maid hurriedly admitted her mistake. "Yes, I misspoke. It's the maid Azhu."

Yan Ruhua sneered and continued her tirade. "Even the servants have no shame, no understanding of rank. Relying on their youth and a little foxlike charm, they flaunt themselves and stand on tiptoe to reach a higher branch, thinking they can worm their way into being half a master."

The maid kept her head lowered, not knowing what to say.

"How are the flowers?"

"One hundred and eight pots, every plant bright and lovely."

Yan Ruhua took two steps forward and gave a strange laugh. "Whether they're bright or lovely isn't for her to say, nor is it for you to say."

"Yes... yes..."

The young maid was on the verge of tears. The smell coming off Yan Ruhua made her head swim, and she had just eaten her morning refreshments before coming. If she stayed any longer, she feared she would lose control and retch.

"Have her bring the flowers here. I'll inspect them one by one!"

"Yes... yes..."

As though granted a pardon, the young maid turned and left, clutching her chest and dry-heaving several times, her face deathly pale. Every trip to the fertilizer house felt as though her vital essence had been sucked away. Those with weaker constitutions would fall seriously ill after returning.

When the madam asked about it,

Nanny Yan even scolded them for being delicate, with a young lady's constitution and a maid's lot.

"Hmph!"

A cold light glinted in Yan Ruhua's tiny, mung-bean eyes. Looking at the colorful camellias around her, she sneered, the wrinkled skin on her face trembling slightly, then turned and returned to the stone room, dark as a cave.

Bang!

The wooden door shut without leaving a crack, like a lid sealing a jar of pickled cabbage.

Few people ordinarily visited the fertilizer house in the southwestern corner of Mantuo Manor, but many terrifying tales about it circulated among the manor's servants. Nanny Yan was eccentric and miserly, yet she alone could ferment top-grade flower fertilizer...

"This should be about ready."

Only a single oil lamp burned in the dim stone house.

Two male corpses lay on stone slabs, stripped naked, their entire bodies swollen. Green pus seemed to flow beneath their skin. Their features were distorted, their eyeballs like shriveled cherries.

Clearly, they had been dead for some time and were giving off a powerful stench.

"What a rich scent."

Yan Ruhua leaned over the stone slabs and sniffed from head to toe, as though treating them as two salted fish cured to perfection. A satisfied expression appeared on her face. With a strange laugh, she raised both arms. Her whole body was bloated, yet these two hands alone carried not a scrap of flesh.

"Yin and yang nourish the body, rotting corpses transform into poison~"

Her two withered claws suddenly plunged into the corpses. Green fluid splashed everywhere, and wisps of white smoke rose.

"Aaaah-"

Like a demon's shriek, it echoed through the sealed stone house.

Yan Ruhua threw back her head, her face twisted beyond recognition, her withered yellow hair falling loose. Utter unwillingness shone from her dead-fish eyes. Clenching her pointed teeth, she looked toward the only light in the stone house.

"Though my body falls into hell, I shall have no regrets after a hundred deaths~"

Above the oil lamp, an old painting hung on a wall long coated with grime.

A pretty young girl in red silk and a green hairpin stood gracefully, in the finest years of her life, smiling at her.

An unknown stretch of time passed.

The corpses on the stone slabs had shriveled into two dried skeletons.

"Hahaha~"

Yan Ruhua looked at her hands, covered in bluish blotches, then turned around. Channeling power into both hands, she seized an unconscious woman. Dark marks immediately covered the woman's tender, fair skin, like a fruit ripened in an instant.

"It worked... at last, it worked!"

The wooden door opened again, but the sky had already dimmed. A ring of sunset-red clouds floated in the distance. Blue waves stretched for fifty kilometers, lake light mingling with mountain scenery, while nearby camellias bloomed in a profusion of colors, surpassing even a blessed immortal grotto.

Carrying her snake-headed iron staff and wearing silk gloves, Yan Ruhua looked at the nearest pot of camellias outside the door. Its variety was called "Sixteen Beauties." No more, no fewer, not one added or missing: sixteen flowering branches swayed in the evening breeze.

"Sixteen Beauties... exactly sixteen years..."

She plucked a red blossom and tucked it into her gray, withered yellow bun. Her expression was strange, impossible to tell whether she was crying or smiling.

"Greetings, Nanny Yan!"

Four sturdy women arrived as scheduled, gathering outside the fertilizer house.

"Come with me."

All four already served under the fertilizer house and were utterly cowed by Nanny Yan. Not daring to say much, they headed southeast in silence. After three or four kilometers, a winding path led into seclusion. No one was around, and fine camellias grew on either side of the narrow trail.

This was a secluded spot.

Yan Ruhua stopped and looked at the sky. Only one last wisp of golden cloud remained hanging in the distance.

"Nanny Yan, just what are the madam's orders?"

The bearded, sturdy woman could not help asking.

Yan Ruhua smiled faintly. "The madam has given no orders. I have a matter of my own to ask of you."

The bearded woman promptly thumped her chest. "What are you saying? Your business is our business. Which blind little wretch offended you, Nanny? We'll go tear her mouth apart right now and teach her why the manor's camellias are so red!"

The other three drew their steel sabers and spoke in unison.

"Teach her why the flowers are so red!"

"Put them down, put the sabers down..."

Yan Ruhua smiled warmly, as though even someone with her cold face and cold heart was moved by the four women's deep affection and loyalty.

"This isn't something that calls for blades."

The bearded woman smiled. "Tell us, Nanny. Who is it?"

"That person... she's here, right behind you."

All four were crude, brainless sorts. Suspecting nothing, they quickly turned around to see who in Mantuo Manor, apart from the madam and the young lady, had such heaven-defying gall as to offend the overseer of the fertilizer house!

"Thup, thup, thup, thup..."

Yan Ruhua's figure flickered. She struck each of the four women once at the waist, then returned to her original spot.

The blows were light, like children playing.

"Nanny Yan..."

The bearded woman turned around. Still bewildered, she suddenly screamed and collapsed, clawing and scratching as though stung by venomous wasps, in unbearable agony. It also felt as though a red-hot branding iron had been pressed against her waist, making her wish she could peel away a layer of skin.

The other three were the same.

"Since my business is your business, you should all have a taste of the suffering I endured."

Yan Ruhua slowly sat down on a stone beside the path and laid her iron staff across her side. At her leisure, she watched the four women, like crucian carp thrashing in a pan of oil. Casually, she plucked a white camellia, placed it in her palm, and crushed it to pieces.

"Otherwise, how could I trust your sincerity?"

The bearded woman had a little presence of mind. Amid her suffering, she squeezed out the words.

"Our lives are in your hands, Nanny. Whatever your orders, through mountains of blades and seas of fire, in heaven or beneath the earth, we will obey..."