nycdaug Chapter 121 It's Time to Repay the Kindness
Chapter 121 It's Time to Repay the Kindness
He gave the order: "Then go and wait at the door. When Ruo Donghe returns, immediately call her to see me."
"Yes." The maid nodded and immediately went to the side door to wait for Donghe to return.
At that moment, she didn't know that Donghe would never come back.
……
An hour ago.
After Cui Ruixin "gave birth", everything returned to normal.
Her body no longer had those nauseating reactions.
She brought Donghe over.
Cui Ruixin lay on the hospital bed, looking unwell: "I'm not feeling well, please go and fetch a doctor for me quickly."
"Yes, Madam." Donghe replied, took the token, and hurriedly went out to find a doctor.
Unexpectedly, they hadn't gone far when they saw Madam Li, the wet nurse who had been the lady's mother.
"Granny Li, what are you doing here?" Donghe asked, somewhat puzzled.
After being expelled from the Marquis's mansion, Granny Li never saw her again.
"I have something I'd like to ask Miss Donghe for a favor," said Madam Li, her face showing a troubled expression.
Donghe: "What is it? Let's talk about it later. I'm in a hurry to fetch a doctor for Madam."
“Come with me. This matter should not be made public.” Seeing her hesitation, Madam Li lowered her voice and said, “This matter concerns the daughter of the Duke of Ying, Liu Ying’er, the concubine that the Marquis wanted to take.”
Donghe was immediately intrigued and followed Li to the deserted alley.
As she rounded a corner, before she could even ask a question, a wooden stick came crashing down on the back of her head.
Donghe stared blankly, too weak to even turn around and see who the perpetrator was.
"He's not dead yet, hurry up," Li urged.
Li's son, Wang Dawang, quickly delivered another blow, and Donghe fell completely to the ground.
Once he was sure she had stopped breathing, Wang Dawang searched her body and took all the silver. He threw the wooden stick he used to kill her into the backyard of a nearby house, then quickly left with his mother.
Both of their hearts were pounding.
Fortunately, there weren't many people on the road at this time.
They moved quickly enough that Donghe didn't even have time to cry for help, and thus went unnoticed by anyone.
"Mother, are you really alright?" It was Wang Dawang's first time killing someone, and he was still a little hesitant.
"Don't worry. Madam has already made arrangements. You will go to another place tonight, and I will tell everyone that you are going to do business. After a year or two, when there are no rumors, I will have someone contact you, and you can come back." Madam Li was also very nervous, but when she thought of the two hundred taels of silver that Madam had given her, she calmed down.
Yesterday, Madam sent Xia Ying to deliver a letter to her.
She had served the lady for many years and was literate.
She was horrified after reading the contents of the letter.
But the lady spoke earnestly, saying that she was the only person in the world she could trust.
With that sum of money, Li decided to go all out and pull off this heist.
Donghe was just a maid; no one would care if she died.
She was expelled from the Marquis's mansion for drugging the Third Master, and the Madam has been sending people to deliver money and medicine to take care of her ever since.
It's time to repay the debt of gratitude.
So she waited there as agreed.
The lady said that she would frequently send Donghe out. Once she saw her, he should find a way to deceive her and then kill her.
She never expected that things would go so smoothly, with the right timing, location, and people all converging.
The Marquis's residence has recently been rumored to be haunted, making it a very unlucky place, and many people are unwilling to go near it.
In addition, Donghe trusted her completely and had no defenses, so they completed the mission so easily.
The mother and son did not go home immediately, but instead went to a grain shop and bought some rice and flour, pretending that they had come to the city to buy grain.
After wandering around for a long time, I finally left the city and went home.
……
Yu Kangping waited until dark, but Donghe never came.
He looked at his maid Xing'er with some doubt: "Hasn't Donghe returned yet? Go and check on the main house again."
Xing'er agreed and ran to Cui Ruixin to inquire, but Xia Ying still received her.
"Donghe has been gone for several hours. Madam is in so much pain that she has fallen asleep. I couldn't get away and haven't been able to go look for her. I don't know why she hasn't come back so late." Xia Ying was also very anxious.
The lady only had two capable assistants left: herself and Donghe.
Sister Qiuchan was beaten last time and became disabled, limping. Now she can only do odd jobs in the backyard.
She can't do this kind of work that involves running around.
"Then I'll have someone look for it," Xing'er told Yu Kangping.
Yu Kangping felt something was off.
Could it be that Donghe ran away because he was afraid of being exposed?
He immediately ordered the guards and servants in the mansion to search.
Unexpectedly, before they even left the house, government officials came to their door.
"The Imperial Guards patrolling the city have discovered a woman's corpse. Has anyone from your household gone missing?"
The head guard quickly replied, "Our mistress's head maid, Donghe, went out this afternoon to fetch a doctor and hasn't returned yet. The Marquis has just sent us to look for her."
"Alright, then send someone to the yamen to identify the body and go through the formalities." The yamen runner turned and left.
Xu Nan, the head of the guards, hurriedly informed Yu Kangping of the matter.
"A corpse?" Yu Kangping was shocked, then hurriedly gave orders.
"Quickly, go and identify the person yourself."
We can't afford for anything to happen to Donghe at this critical juncture.
This was his only clue.
"What should we do if it's Miss Donghe?" Xu Nan hesitated.
"Find out the cause of death, and then let the authorities investigate." Yu Kangping was furious at the thought of Donghe's death.
"Yes." Xu Nan immediately rushed to the yamen.
Xu Nan sighed upon seeing the body.
It really was a winter crane.
"Sir, may I ask how our maidservant in the Marquis's mansion got into trouble?" He reached out and stuffed a handful of loose silver into the hand of the yamen runner who was receiving him.
The constable accepted the silver and replied, "This girl was found by the Imperial Guards during their patrol. She was already dead when she was brought here. She has probably been dead for two or three hours. She was injured when someone hit her on the head with a heavy object like a wooden stick."
"Although the murder weapon has not yet been found, there were wood chips in her wounds. It seems that one blow was not enough to kill her, so she was hit twice more before she was finally killed."
"So ruthless, she must have a deep-seated grudge. Think about it, has this maid offended anyone?"
Xu Nan cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for informing me, sir."
He returned to the Marquis's residence and told Yu Kangping everything.
Yu Kangping clenched his fists.
How could he have died!
Could it be that Cui Ruixin did it?
But Cui Ruixin has been staying in the mansion the whole time and hasn't left the house at all.
After pondering for a moment, Yu Kangping said, "Go and tell the First Madam about this, and see what she plans to do. Be careful to observe her reaction."
Xu Nan accepted the order and went to find Cui Ruixin.
Upon hearing the news, Cui Ruixin exclaimed "What?" and then fainted on the spot.
Xu Nan was at a loss for what to do.
The Marquis asked him to observe the lady's reaction, but she fainted immediately. What was there left for him to observe?
But he couldn't observe anything and wouldn't be able to explain himself when he got back, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and stand guard outside the door.
About 15 minutes later, Cui Ruixin slowly woke up.
As soon as she woke up, she sat up in bed and grabbed Xia Ying's arm tightly:
"Quick, help me up. I need to go find the Marquis. I demand that the Marquis seek justice for Donghe. Who would kill her out of the blue?"
Her tears kept flowing; she looked extremely sad.
In fact, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Donghe knows too much; she must die.
Fortunately, the nanny handled things properly as always.
He said he wanted Donghe dead, and he really did.