Chapter 4: Those Who Have Tasted the Blood-Steamed Bun
Moon Tangle emerged from the side courtyard and, just at the entrance, ran into the wet nurse and a maid carrying He Xu’s eldest son.
The child was held in the wet nurse’s arms. Fair and plump, he wore the finest silk. He was crying, and when Moon Tangle looked at him, she bared her teeth and made a two-fingered gesture at her own eyes. At once he wailed even louder, and the wet nurse hurried to soothe him again and again.
Moon Tangle laughed.
He Jianzong had once been merely a petty military officer, too insignificant to count even in the capital district. But after that night in the dense forest, he had vaulted to the rank of Martial Virtue General.
Thereafter, every member of the He household gnawed at blood-soaked steamed buns and began to bask in wealth and honors. Even a two-year-old child was wrapped in brocade and attended by servants in droves.
And the child of just over three months, who had done nothing at all, died beneath the swords of the He family and then fell into the belly of wild wolves.
Moon Tangle smoothed her hair and went to the corner of the yard to tend the little stove. The flame lit the shadows.
Dawn was nearly here.
From the neighboring courtyard came He Jianzong’s roar: “The facts are right in front of us. Whether to report this to the authorities or settle it privately, for the sake of our many years working together, I’ll let you choose!
“In short, I have only one thing to say: she must die!
“She must pay with her life for my Xu’er!”
The Zhang family had already arrived.
A human life was at stake. The dead was the He family’s eldest son, their own son-in-law; they could not avoid it.
On the way over, the Zhang family had already heard the whole story, and guilt had long since crept into their hearts. “There may be some misunderstanding in the middle. Bring her over and let me question her...”
He Jianzong would not agree.
Zhang Shaode lowered himself further still. “The dead cannot return. Even if you kill her, what good will that do?
“She has already given the He family your eldest grandson. Would you really bear to let the child lose both father and mother?
“Send her to an estate, or to a temple to cultivate. I will accept it, all right?”
He Jianzong slammed the table. “Without father and mother, there are still grandparents! I want her dead!”
Moon Tangle poured fresh medicinal herbs into the pot, added water, and set it over the brazier.
When a drop of water fell into the fire with a sharp hiss, the steward dashed into the covered walkway, then, breathless, rushed into the neighboring courtyard.
“Master! The eldest young madam—she, she has hanged herself!”
The fire beneath the pot dimmed slightly, but as more fuel was added, it blazed brighter than before!
“What?!”
Lady Zhang was the first to rush out from next door.
Close behind came Zhang Shaode and his son, He Jianzong, and the second son, He Hui.
All of them ran toward the main branch residence.
The sky had barely lightened, and a band of crimson dawn was beginning to show at the horizon.
“What happened now?!” Lady He had been roused from sleep and was calling out from behind the window.
Moon Tangle walked to the doorway. “It seems something has happened to the eldest young madam. Would you like me to go and take a look?”
“Go quickly!”
After such a calamity, how could Lady He still spare the mind to choose whom to send?
Moon Tangle arrived at the main branch residence.
In the room, whose lock had been opened, all four windows were shut tight. Mrs. Zhang lay in a pool of blood beneath the corner of the table, her eyes wide in death, with a gaping, fist-sized hole in her temple still leaking blood in a thin stream.
Lady Zhang had already fainted on top of her daughter’s body.
Zhang Shaode seized He Jianzong by the collar. “You surname He scoundrel, give me back my daughter! Your He family forced my daughter to her death!”
He Jianzong had had his teeth knocked out. With a mouthful of blood, he asked the stewards, “What are you all good for? Why did you let her die?!”
It was true that he intended to demand Mrs. Zhang’s life, but before matters had been settled with the Zhang family, she had already died. That changed everything.
The reason they had waited for the Zhangs to arrive before executing Mrs. Zhang was precisely to guard against the Zhang family making trouble without reason.
Yet what one feared most was what came to pass. Mrs. Zhang had just been crying and insisting it was not she who had poisoned anyone, and then she had turned around and killed herself. How could the Zhang family not go mad? He Jianzong was mad too!
At that moment he took another punch from Zhang Shaode and could not help bellowing, “She killed herself because she knew she was guilty! She knew there was no escaping, so she sought death!”
“If you keep spouting nonsense, I’ll beat this old bastard to death first!”
Zhang Shaode’s second punch came flying in.
Mrs. Zhang’s brother was likewise enraged. He handed his mother over to the servants and then also threw his fists at He Jianzong.
How could He Hui stand idly by?
He rushed forward to break it up, but who would listen to him? First he took a punch from Mrs. Zhang’s brother on the left cheek, then a kick from Zhang Shaode.
Infuriated, he raised his hand to strike back.
Mrs. Zhang still lay in the pool of blood, but the two families had already fallen to fists and kicks, fighting each other in a chaotic melee.
Moon Tangle turned back to the main house and recounted in detail what she had seen and heard.
Lady He was shocked and furious. “Outrageous! Utterly outrageous! The Zhang family is going too far!”
Moon Tangle said, “The Zhangs are turning the tables. Should we send someone to report this to the authorities?”
“Go at once! Hurry and report it! We cannot allow them to act so tyrannically!”
The maid dared not disobey and promptly went off.
Lady He then lay over the couch and cried bitterly. “That poisonous woman killed my son, and she still had the face to hang herself? How does the Zhang family still have the face to accuse us of wrongdoing?!”
Moon Tangle sat by the couch and said in a low voice, “Madam, calm yourself. I have heard that in recent years, the master’s official fortunes have been soaring and luck has favored him, which is why the He household has flourished. If anything were to happen to you now, would this vast estate not simply benefit strangers?”
On hearing this, Lady He had no choice but to force herself to steady her spirit.
The He household had been blessed with tremendous fortune, and that fortune was due in no small part to her.
That year, she had taken money from her dowry to secure two superb old ginseng roots and save the young marquis in an emergency. After that, when the Marquis of Guangling issued a secret order to ambush and kill the Princess of Yongjia, he had thought of employing He Jianzong.
He Jianzong took the assignment, later succeeded in killing the Princess of Yongjia, and because of that merit rose from a mere battalion commander to a fifth-rank general.
Being able to make the Princess of Yongjia die at the hands of the He family and to bring prosperity to the He household—that was all the blessing she had brought them!
If she were to cast off this mortal world, He Jianzong would certainly not keep faith with her by remaining widowed, would he?
He was only in his early forties. If he took another wife to fill the inner rooms, would she not have spent her life sewing robes for someone else?
Thinking of this, Lady He sat up and looked deeply at Moon Tangle. “I did not realize it, but you are a sensible one after all.”
Moon Tangle sighed. “Since Madam trusts me, I ought to think of Madam’s interests in all things.
“Only, Madam has been ill for quite some time. She had only just begun to recover when this happened. I wonder whether some deity has been offended.
“I have heard that ghosts, spirits, and wronged souls, once provoked, will use every possible means to exact revenge when a person is weak and depleted.
“Madam has treated me generously. Tomorrow, I will certainly go again to the Great Prime Minister Temple to offer incense for Madam.”
“...Wronged souls?”
Lady He, only just settling down, instantly tensed again all over.
Where would wronged souls come from out of nowhere?
Could it be the Princess of Yongjia?
That princess, born on the very same day as the reigning emperor and cherished beyond measure by the former emperor and empress, had also been said by a great monk, together with the emperor, to bear a curse in the womb.
To avoid the omen of misfortune, the emperor had gone in his youth to live with the imperial uncle in Jiangling Prefecture, while she had moved out of the prince’s residence at the age of six and lived outside the capital. After that, apart from summons from the imperial clan, she had never again shown herself in the capital. Even her marriage had been conducted in quiet secrecy near the capital.
The child she bore with her live-in husband was both their eldest son and the future heir to the Prince’s Residence of Duan, approved by the former emperor himself.
Yet such a mother and son, precious beyond words, had both met wrongful deaths at the hands of the He family. If one were to speak of wronged souls, could it be anyone but them?