Chapter 143
Chapter 143: Someone Else
The Eldest Master frowned when he heard it. After thinking a moment, he asked Xia Meng Yan: “Yan’er, why do you think so?”
Xia Meng Yan lifted her slightly rounded face and said: “Because I was not his target.”
“He did not want to harm you?” The Eldest Master did not understand.
She tilted her head and smiled: “Wang Yu is poor, but he never gave up. He sold himself to the Lin Manor and worked hard, all to care for his sick mother and his young sister. That shows he is upright and filial. Later he won Nanny Sun’s favor and received many rewards, and his mother got better. But things changed. Someone grew jealous and secretly poured hot water on the peonies he tended, so Nanny Sun disliked him. My people have already asked the steward. The one who framed Wang Yu back then is right outside the yard.”
Right then, a servant boy cried from the courtyard, begging for mercy: “Cousin Miss, it was all my fault. I was jealous that Wang Yu had Nanny Sun’s favor, so I snuck out at night and watered the peonies with hot water. I am a fool. Please forgive me this once.”
Madam Jia strode out and slapped him: “How dare you touch my peonies. Someone, beat him twenty times and sell him off.”
“Madam, I know I was wrong, please…”
“Gag him,” she ordered. The peony that died back then was her favorite. She had thought it was the gardener’s carelessness, not petty rivalry among low servants.
Xia Meng Yan looked at Wang Yu. He did not cry or scream, as if the kneeling boy had nothing to do with him.
“Wang Yu, you do not want to explain anything?” she asked.
Wang Yu raised his head, eyes calm: “So much time has passed. I stopped caring long ago. But thank you, Cousin Miss, for clearing my name.”
“No need to thank me. I also have my own reasons,” Xia Meng Yan said, rising and walking to stand before him.
Wang Yu had been tortured. His chest and back were crossed with shallow and deep wounds. They looked painful, but his face showed no fear. Xia Meng Yan said: “The peony matter is now clear, which means you bear no grudge against the first branch. From your look just now, you must have known the truth long ago. Since you knew Nanny Sun punished you for duty, why would you seek private revenge on the first branch? So you were lying.”
Wang Yu curled up and shook his head again and again: “I did not lie. It was Madam.”
“Then what did Madam use to buy you: a gold hairpin, silver notes, or a promise to cure your mother?” she asked.
Wang Yu grabbed at the lifeline: he lifted his head toward her: “You guessed right, Cousin Miss. Nanny Sun promised me five hundred taels after it was done to treat my mother.”
“Nonsense. I have never even seen you…” Nanny Sun burst out.
Xia Meng Yan lifted a hand and Nanny Sun fell silent.
This Wang Yu clung to the claim that Madam Jia instigated him, so he must have some goal.
Nanny Sun grew worried. Xia Meng Yan was young, but she could truly get to the bottom of things.
Xia Meng Yan brushed a fallen leaf from Wang Yu’s shoulder and said: “Your mother does not have long. If Nanny Sun really bought you, you would ask for a deposit first to treat her. But you didn’t. Isn’t that odd?”
“That is because Nanny Sun is stingy and refused to give me money,” Wang Yu muttered, staring at the ground so no one could read his face.
Xia Meng Yan laughed softly: “Wang Yu, you are known for your filial piety. Faced with a chance to save your mother, you gave it up. That is too strange. So I dare guess the reason you keep biting at Madam is that you want me to keep digging.”
Everyone in the room paused, confused. What did she mean?
Madam Jia was at a loss. What did Wang Yu want?
No, if Wang Yu dragged her down with him, what was he trying to do?
Second Madam grew more puzzled. Wasn’t this just a poisoning? How did it lead to so many things?
Song Mo returned again and nodded to Xia Meng Yan.
Xia Meng Yan turned to the room and spoke loudly: “My guess has just been confirmed. Wang Yu’s sister, Wang Xiao, did not fall into the water by accident. Someone in the manor did it on purpose.”
The Eldest Master, long seasoned in business, darkened with anger at once: “So Wang Yu keeps biting at the first branch to make us investigate his sister’s old case?”
Xia Meng Yan nodded: “Wang Yu’s mother was ill, and Wang Xiao was very young. Once she followed Wang Yu into the Lin Manor. He had tasks to do, so he left his sister for a while with the people in the flower garden. That person suddenly had other business, and when they came back, Wang Xiao was gone. Later, her body was found at the foot of the rockery. She had no breath by then. Am I right, Wang Yu?”
Wang Yu slowly lifted his eyes to the young woman before him. She looked soft and weak, needing protection even more than the manor’s misses, yet the force in her presence could not be ignored: “Cousin Miss, you are amazing. Then have you found who killed my sister?”
Second Madam was so startled she jumped up from her chair and hurried to Xia Meng Yan’s side: “It happened so long ago. The Lin Family also compensated him back then. Let’s not bring it up again. Now we know Elder Sister-in-law was framed. Wang Yu is vicious at heart. Just sell him off.”
Wang Yu sneered: “A human life is like a blade of grass in a noble house.”
Xia Meng Yan knew what Second Madam was thinking. Back then, the one blamed was her little son. Because of it, the Old Madam scolded Second Madam and grounded her for a month. “Second Maternal Aunt, don’t worry. Cousin was already punished by Grandmother on Mother’s side. I bring it up now not to chase your responsibility but because the truth isn’t what you saw.”
Second Madam blinked in surprise and blurted: “What do you mean? Is there something hidden?”
Xia Meng Yan looked at Song Mo.
Song Mo stepped forward and said: “That day, Wang Xiao left the garden and happened to meet the little young master. He took her up onto the rockery. While they were looking into the distance, Wang Xiao slipped and fell from the rockery. Wang Yu had taken good care of her. She even did farm chores at home. So from that height, she only sprained her ankle. She did not die.”
Second Madam was shocked to hear Wang Xiao had not died from the fall. She grabbed Xia Meng Yan’s arm: “So my son did not kill Wang Xiao. Someone framed him.”
Xia Meng Yan patted her hand. Wang Xiao was truly unlucky. It had nothing to do with the second branch, yet it started because of them: “After Wang Xiao fell, Cousin got scared and never went to check. Then another person came and killed her. You led people there just in time to think your son had done it.”
“Who? Who framed my son?” Second Madam grew more furious the more she heard. She wished she could strangle the one behind it. Since that day, her boy had nightmares and still didn’t dare climb high.
Xia Meng Yan did not answer her. She looked at Wang Yu instead: “You have already found that person, haven’t you?”
Wang Yu slowly stood up. Gone was his weakness. His face was full of harsh resolve: “Yes. I never believed my sister would die like that. I have been investigating in secret for years, and finally I found the truth.”
“Who is it?” Second Madam pressed.
Wang Yu glanced around and, seeing the person absent, gave a cold smile: “It is everyone’s favorite, Concubine Su.”
Second Madam froze. How could it be Concubine Su? She had no hatred with Wang Xiao. Why would she kill her? More importantly, Concubine Su kept to herself and was the Eldest Master’s beloved. Could it be the Eldest Master knew the truth long ago and put the blame on her son to protect her?
At the name Concubine Su, the Eldest Master’s face changed. He fixed his eyes on Wang Yu and asked: “Do you have evidence?”