Chapter 131: The Emerald Fades and the Red Withers, Sorrow Kills
There was a pot of butterfly orchids in the room.
They were purple-red.
They bloomed exceptionally beautifully at night.
Jiang Changtian looked around the room.
He was very familiar with it.
Because he remembered every corner of Old Madam Jiang’s room.
There are certain places and certain memories that, no matter how hard you try to forget, when you encounter them again, your blood will tremble, boil, and surge, screaming to tell you that you have always remembered, and never forgotten.
The butterfly orchids were new.
The porcelain vase on the curio shelf was gone.
The painting on the wall was also gone.
They had been replaced by the butterfly orchids and the Heart Sutra.
It felt a bit more elegant.
There was a whip on the wall, still there.
It looked very familiar.
Because there were gemstones on the handle of the whip, and the whip was quite old; it was something Old Madam used to play with when she was young.
Aunt Yao used to use this whip to scare him, and he remembered it vividly.
Jiang Changtian looked around and saw the infant in his eldest brother’s arms.
He smiled and said, “As an uncle, I haven’t held my niece yet.”
A guard snatched the infant from Jiang Huaisheng’s arms and placed her into Jiang Changtian’s arms.
This action was very villainous.
Madam Wu couldn’t take it on the spot; tears streamed down her face, and she held onto her husband, barely managing not to collapse.
“Sister-in-law, there is no need to be nervous. I just want to see her. Is it a baby girl? When she grows up, she will surely be as beautiful as you.”
Hearing this, Madam Wu looked at the man holding Shushu, her mouth slightly agape.
She had previously heard her husband say that the second brother had turned to banditry and wounded his face. She had thought it was her fault and felt even more guilty.
But now, seeing the second brother’s face, how could he possibly admire her or hide her clothing? He was dozens of times more beautiful than her.
If she had a face like that, she certainly wouldn’t love anyone.
Seeing the second brother’s behavior now, she realized a bit; he must have come for revenge.
He never admired her at all; it was all a frame-up by her mother-in-law from the very beginning, and her husband hadn’t even told her.
Instead, he let her live in constant fear every day.
Jiang Wan was also somewhat terrified and incredulous.
Impossible, she couldn’t just meet her end here.
But the man before her seemed like a madman, injuring their guards in the middle of the night and suddenly charging in with men.
He was full of rage, as if he meant to kill someone.
It was too terrifying; he wouldn’t even spare the old, weak, women, and children.
How could such a person deserve to live in this world? Grandmother was right.
Jiang Wan felt regretful; Grandmother was too soft-hearted, and now, having left behind a disaster, she was suffering the consequences.
She tried hard to think of how to save herself internally, but on the surface, she wore a look of terror, fear, and pitiable vulnerability.
Jiang Changtian held the infant in his arms, noticing her swaddling clothes were very beautiful—a silk lining with several pretty silver ornaments hanging on the outside. When he held her, the silver ornaments clinked together, making a ‘dang-dang-dang’ sound, and the little infant smiled.
Her eyes were dark and bright, and she opened her mouth to smile foolishly, having not yet grown any teeth.
The swaddling clothes were very beautiful. The infant’s appearance was a bit like his Mianmian, or rather, with such a small infant, one couldn’t really tell who she looked like, but she just felt like a very beautiful baby girl, pink and tender.
No, Jiang Changtian recalled again. When Mianmian was born, she was dark and thin. He was useless; half of the household income relied on Sister Xia. When she was pregnant and giving birth, he couldn’t even manage to get good food for Sister Xia to eat, so when Mianmian was born, she was thin and small, looking like she wouldn’t live long.
It was only later that she gradually grew into herself and became pretty.
The infant before him was born so beautiful and fair, with thick hair. When his sister-in-law was pregnant, she must have eaten and drunk well, and didn’t have to work in the fields.
Jiang Changtian gently teased the infant, lightly touching her soft, tender cheek, and smiled:
“Jiang Shu, that is a good name.”
“In this world, flowers and leaves are not compared; flowers enter golden basins while leaves turn to dust. Only the green lotus and red lotus buds, curling and unfolding, remain natural. These flowers and these leaves always reflect each other; the emerald fades and the red withers, sorrow kills.”
Jiang Changtian was clearly reciting poetry, clearly praising the lotus, just like a normal elder praising a junior’s good name, but the tone at the end of his words was heavy, and he enunciated the two words “sorrow kills” very clearly.
A stench suddenly permeated the scene.
Jiang Rong had wet himself in fear; warm urine flowed down his hem, his robe was wet, and a puddle of yellow liquid appeared under his feet.
Jiang Rong couldn’t take it anymore.
He didn’t understand why, having read so many books, he still recalled the time he was mistakenly captured by bandits and saw them killing people. In his mind, the corpse of Aunt Yao also appeared. Aunt Yao, such a big and strong person, went out for a trip and came back dead.
It was said that the second brother killed her with his own hands.
How could he, a weak scholar, dare to kill?
He was an evil ghost.
He must have come to kill them.
Jiang Rong was held by someone, and a stench filled the room.
The yellow liquid flowed to the feet of the man in black next to him, but the man in black didn’t even move.
Old Madam Jiang saw what was under Ronger’s feet and closed her eyes slightly.
The prayer beads on her wrist had been changed. At first, she used to play with hibiscus stone every day, a very beautiful pink.
Later, it was black sandalwood.
Now it was a string of purplish pearls, each one large, plump, and beautifully lustrous. To make such a string of prayer beads, who knows how many corpses of pearl divers had floated up on that river.
She gently twisted the prayer beads.
Ronger was useless. Faced with such a scene, he had wet himself. With such courage, even if he were as learned as five cartloads of books, he wouldn’t be able to enter the examination hall. In a three-day imperial examination, he would probably lose his life by the time he came out.
Madam Wu also hadn’t expected that the first person on the scene to lose composure would be Ronger.
She hadn’t expected him to be so talented; just from a name, he had composed a poem on the spot.
Jiang Wan lowered her head; she also hadn’t expected him to have such talent. Poetry came to him so easily. She hadn’t heard it before, but it felt very good, very stunning.
“Don’t kill me, don’t kill me, I didn’t do anything.” Jiang Rong’s voice trembled.
He looked at these guards wearing helmets; the eyes of every guard looked like Jiang Feng.
Jiang Huaisheng was filled with rage, but he also knew that Changtian was no longer the brother he once was.
Even he couldn’t instinctively open his mouth to lecture him.
He still remembered the scar on his face; it was cut open by his own sword.
The sword was so close; he was too surprised and hadn’t dodged, taking the sword strike directly.
He suppressed the anger in his heart and said in a calm tone, “Mother was wrong, and for so many years, she has indeed failed you, but she did raise you. If you were in a poor family, you wouldn’t even have the chance to read, let alone speak in poetry. Now that you are living well, why keep holding onto this? Can’t we live our own lives, with the well water not interfering with the river water?”
Jiang Changtian’s eyes turned red again, his eye corners very red. When he looked up, his face was even more bewitching, devastatingly beautiful. This was truly “pitiable.” He was unhappy, so he wanted to make everyone else very pitiable.
The people at the scene held their breath for a beat.
Only the infant in his arms was still smiling foolishly.
“I am living well now, but I still have nightmares at night. I think of Mother, think of Eldest Brother, think of my nephew and niece. I still think of a family reunion. I couldn’t wait a moment longer, I had to come see you, to see if you are living well.”
Jiang Wan complained internally, “Pah, a family reunion? Listen to that, is that human language?”
Who brings a group of masked men in black in the middle of the night to surround your whole family, drags everyone out, and then says they want a family reunion because they missed you?
This second uncle must be crazy.
The family was scared enough that day during the New Year.
And he came again this time.
Old Madam Jiang twisted the string of pearls in her hand; it was a bit heavy. Good pearls grow for a long time; each one has weight and a substantial feel.
She remained calm, even looking at Jiang Changtian as if looking at a clown.
Jiang Changtian smiled and said, “Mother, you are still chanting scriptures so late at night; you wouldn’t be praying for the Seventh Princes Consort to send someone to pick you up, would you? Or are you counting on someone from the capital to save you? A while ago, I accidentally intercepted a few letters. I don’t know if you wrote them; the handwriting looks somewhat similar. But I thought, you are old, you shouldn’t be writing letters to people for help yourself; it’s too shameful, right?”
Only then did Old Madam Jiang’s expression change.
Her whole body trembled and she swayed, barely managing not to fall by biting down hard on a ginseng slice in her mouth.
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