Setting a Trap
Therefore, whether for the sake of the Lady Su mother and her two children, or for the sake of the eldest son's family, they cannot be soft-hearted.
Thinking of this, she whispered to Lady Zhu, "Mother, do we have connections in the third branch of the family? If necessary, we can lend Third Aunt a hand. If Third Aunt fails, we might be implicated."
This matter can only succeed; failure is not an option.
Lady Zhu nodded. "Don't worry. Not only do I have people, but your grandmother and your father have also placed people in the third branch of the family."
She stroked Zhao Ruxi's head, her words filled with relief. "Luckily, you reminded us back then, and we were prepared. We've planted quite a few people in the third branch of the family."
All the effort and resources put in back then, it was all worth it to be able to use it now.
Although the old lady and Lady Zhu had far more experience in scheming within the household than Zhao Ruxi, and they had used every trick in the book to deal with Lady Wei, Zhao Ruxi still gave them a word of advice. "Even if you help, don't let Third Aunt know. Don't leave any leverage for others to use against you."
"I understand," said Lady Zhu.
She patted Zhao Ruxi's hand. "Don't worry about it. Focus on your studies, you don't need to worry about these things."
Zhao Ruxi nodded.
She said she didn't need to worry about it, and Zhao Ruxi really didn't. She couldn't possibly worry about it anyway.
After her coming-of-age ceremony, she resumed her arduous study habits, such as hanging her head from the rafters and pricking her thigh with an awl.
Lady Su was poisoned by Zhao Yuankun, and she didn't know when the poison would take effect and she would die. If Zhao Yuankun discovered something amiss and alerted him, she would be finished. She was no match for Zhao Yuankun in terms of either methods or mentality, so she had to strike first.
Zhao Yuankun was originally in the Earl of Suiping's Residence. In order to win over Lady Su and to prevent any mishaps in his own household, so as not to let the old lady and Lady Zhu cause trouble in his household, he pretended to be deeply affectionate towards Lady Su and did not take any concubines.
After the family split up and he became an official, he looked down on the Lady Su even more. But if he really wanted to get rid of the Lady Su, he couldn't do it without a reason and without any calm.
So he bought two very beautiful women from a slave trader to be his concubines, and then he spent the night in their rooms.
He knew how terrifying it was for women to be jealous and quarrelsome. He deliberately ignored Lady Su and indulged his concubines, which led to the two concubines becoming arrogant and domineering in the mansion.
Although Lady Su appeared gentle and weak, she was extremely calculating. She simply couldn't stand seeing her two concubines flaunt their power in front of her, especially since one of the concubines had gained favor and given birth to a son, leaving her and her son with no place to stand in the mansion. Therefore, a struggle between the two sides was inevitable.
Once a fight breaks out, with the maids stirring things up, the concubines will have to resort to underhanded tactics against Lady Su; he can also secretly poison Lady Su.
When Lady Su dies from poisoning, the more assertive of the two concubines will be the perfect scapegoat. The reason is readily available—she wants to become the legal wife, so she poisoned the legal wife.
He harbored ulterior motives and was no longer comfortable entrusting the entire household to Lady Su. Taking advantage of the need to hire servants when he was taking concubines, he personally purchased servants. The maids, old women, and cooks for these two concubines were all purchased by him later.
While at the Earl of Suiping's Residence, Lady Su had to outwit the old lady and Lady Zhu, so she received a lot of guidance from Zhao Yuankun. She appeared weak and incompetent, but in reality, she was quite resourceful.
When Zhao Yuankun purchased servants, not only did Lady Zhu take the opportunity to plant people among them, but Lady Su also made some moves.
Lady Su was unaware of Zhao Yuankun's true intentions in taking a concubine. But this couple was indeed husband and wife; their thinking was identical.
She also planned to use this concubine as a tool to seduce others.
After planning for several days, she secretly had someone buy medicine outside and put it into Zhao Yuankun's late-night snack.
Zhao Yuankun had a strong palate and preferred oily, salty, sour, and spicy food. His midnight snack was a bowl of sour and spicy noodles made by the cook. He didn't even notice that Lady Su had someone add a large amount of medicine to his bowl.
That night, Zhao Yuankun stayed at the home of a concubine Wu Mei.
Wu Mei was the daughter of a disgraced official whom Zhao Yuankun bought from a slave trader. Her father was a minor official, and her mother came from a brothel. She was beautiful and literate, but she learned a lot of jealousy and rivalry from her mother.
Knowing that Lady Su was a merchant's daughter, Wu Mei looked down on Lady Su from the bottom of her heart. In addition, Zhao Yuankun deliberately guided her, giving her the feeling that as long as Lady Su died, she could take over the position. Therefore, she regarded Lady Su as a thorn in her side.
The fact that Lady Su chose her to orchestrate this scheme is a fitting punishment for Wu Mei's crimes.
Lady Su wanted to fabricate the cause of Zhao Yuankun's death, so she mixed poison and aphrodisiac together and put them in Zhao Yuankun's bowl, while only putting aphrodisiac in Concubine Wu's bowl.
After having a late-night snack, the two began to engage in indecent acts. Zhao Yuankun went to bed and soon realized something was wrong. He tried to call for a doctor, but no one answered after shouting for a long time. He tried to open the door but found it locked from the outside, and he gradually became delirious.
When Zhao Yuankun died in bed, Concubine Wu had already fainted and was barely clinging to life.
In Concubine Wu's courtyard, besides one lowly servant, there were four maids. When the incident happened, two of the maids who were not on duty went back to the servants' quarters to sleep, leaving only two maids guarding outside.
The two people on duty were Chuntao, a person planted by the Lady Su; and Xiali, an extremely timid and honest woman who had been drugged and knocked unconscious at the time of the incident.
Lady Su's people had been watching closely. When they went inside to check, they found that Zhao Yuankun was indeed dead and Concubine Wu had also passed away. They then went to report to Lady Su.
Lady Su had the bowl containing the medicine removed and replaced with two bowls containing only the broth base, without any medicine added, thus erasing any traces of the medicine. She then had someone go into the room and search it thoroughly to remove all traces before leaving with the door slightly ajar.
To make it easier for servants to attend to them, the master's room door was never locked; it was only left ajar.
The next morning, two maids who were not on duty came to serve. Seeing that the sun was high in the sky and the master and Concubine Wu still hadn't gotten up, they mustered up their courage and pushed open the door. When they saw what was inside, they screamed and hurriedly scrambled to report to Lady Su.
Lady Su brought people over, took a look inside, and then ordered people to guard the courtyard and interrogate the maid who was on duty last night.
Chuntao and Xiali went back to sleep when the other two maids came to relieve them. When they were woken up, Xiali was still completely dazed.
When she heard that the master and Concubine Wu were dead and that they would be punished, she was immediately jolted awake.
"I... I don't know anything. It's just... Yesterday, Concubine Wu asked me to buy some medicine. She didn't say what kind of medicine it was, she just wrote it down on a piece of paper and told me to go to Jade Spring Shop to buy it. Last night, Master and Concubine Wu had a late-night snack, and then... they were making a fuss in the room. Then there was no more noise. I didn't hear them call for water, so I didn't dare to go into the room to serve them," Chuntao said.
After saying that, she gave Xiali a look.