Chapter 16: You Are Not Pure

Qing Yin and Qing Ling had trained together for ten years, wholeheartedly awaiting the return of the prince, so they could serve him closely. Yet, when the Jin Prince’s household returned, they only exchanged a glance before being packed off to the Lu residence.

It was impossible for them not to feel some disappointment.

However, under the guidance of Aunt Qing, they resolved to do their best once they arrived. Thus, when it came to caring for Lu Zhaoling, the two maids had no intention of shirking their duties.

Qing Ling had already gone to prepare the hot water for Lu Zhaoling’s bath.

Qing Yin carried nourishing soup and carefully fed Lu Zhaoling, all the while wondering if she would be easy to get along with or if she’d make trouble for them. But she never expected Lu Zhaoling to suddenly ask her this:

“Have you killed someone recently?”

“Don’t be nervous,” Lu Zhaoling said calmly.

Qing Yin set down the soup and stood by the bedside. “Miss Lu, are you questioning Qing Yin?”

Was this an admission?

Lu Zhaoling raised an eyebrow, sensing the maids sent by the Jin Prince’s household had some pride—unwilling to lie, or perhaps indifferent to admitting it in front of her.

“Your killing... the Jin Prince’s household should have no knowledge of it, right?” Lu Zhaoling inquired further.

Qing Yin was stunned, staring at her. “How do you know?”

Indeed, this matter was known only to Qing Ling; neither Aunt Qing nor anyone in the manor was aware. Qing Ling had been agonizing over whether to tell Aunt Qing, fearing she might be barred from serving the prince if the truth came out.

“You can tell,” Lu Zhaoling said.

How could she tell?

It was said Lu Zhaoling had just returned to the capital from the countryside—Qing Yin found her inscrutable.

“I hadn’t meant to concern myself with your affairs, but your hand isn’t clean, and it’s affecting me,” Lu Zhaoling said, glancing at her right hand.

Tsk. Qing Yin had been too hungry earlier, choosing to finish the soup before speaking.

But if she continued to use that hand to serve her food and drink, or to comb her hair and fold her garments, she wouldn’t be able to bear it.

Hearing this, Qing Yin raised her hand, but no matter how she looked, there was nothing wrong.

Both she and Qing Ling had been carefully selected and trained by Aunt Qing, groomed to serve in the prince’s household as flawless and pristine as possible.

Her hand was slender, delicate, pale as a scallion stalk, and perfectly clean. How could it be unwashed?

Qing Yin looked at Lu Zhaoling in confusion.

Could Miss Lu be suffering from some hysteria?

“The person you killed was truly evil. You must have caught him in the act of doing something wicked, right?” Lu Zhaoling said again.

Qing Yin’s eyes widened in shock. How did she even know that?

That night, while returning from an errand outside the manor, Qing Yin had passed a small grove. She saw a man sneaking in with a little girl.

After a moment’s hesitation, she followed.

The man threw the girl to the ground. Qing Yin saw the girl was no more than eleven or twelve.

Her mouth was gagged with a rag. When the man pulled the cloth away, she coughed and then cried.

“Brother, please let me go. I’ll listen to you from now on. I’ll give you all the copper coins Father gave me for wine…”

“Who cares about your few copper coins? I’m in my twenties and can’t find a wife. I hear my parents quarrelling next door every day. Those old fools make me so mad!”

“Brother!” The girl’s cries were heart-wrenching, but it was clear her brother was disturbed—he was undoing his belt!

She tried to back away while crying, desperate and terrified but too weak to run.

“You’ve been ill for half a month, and all the family silver went to medicine. I had to go to the brothel looking for women, but I had no money! From now on, I’ll vent on you. Better that than outsiders…”

The man tore open his shirt and grabbed the girl’s ankle, pulling her close.

The girl screamed sharply.

Qing Yin was frozen with horror.

She never imagined such a vile person existed in the world. These were siblings! The brother was trying to violate his own sister!

And the girl was barely eleven or twelve!

Qing Yin’s eyes reddened, fury nearly consuming her reason. Hearing the girl’s terrified cries, she charged forward without hesitation and kicked the man flying.

He fell onto a small tree sapling with a jagged broken tip, which pierced him through.

Someone outside the grove called for He, approaching. Qing Yin instantly regained her composure and hid.

She saw a woman rush in, pause upon seeing the girl, and then burst into tears, holding her tightly.

That must have been the girl’s mother.

Qing Yin judged from the woman’s kindness that she meant well, so she stayed hidden. The woman’s vision was poor, and dusk was falling; she failed to see the man nearby, who, seeing his daughter terrified, fled with her on his back.

After the mother and daughter left, Qing Yin checked the man and was shocked to find him impaled on the broken tree, dead.

She now recalled that she had grabbed the man with her right hand, trying to pull him off the sapling, and had gotten his blood on her hand.

But she had washed it clean.

She had washed it outside once, then upon returning to the manor, she used fragrant twigs to wash it several more times until it was spotless.

And all this had happened several days ago.

Qing Yin stared at Lu Zhaoling in shock.

Though Lu Zhaoling had hit the mark, Qing Yin refused to believe her hand was still unclean.

“Miss Lu, my hand is clean.”

Lu Zhaoling studied her hand and pressed her lips together. “Is it? Then in the past few days, haven’t you noticed a faint smell from your hand? And that it attracts insects?”

At these words, Qing Yin’s expression changed.

Her hand was clean, but every morning when she applied face cream, she did notice a faint, elusive fishy odor.

And twice at night, her fingers suddenly itched. When she lit a candle to look, she found small insects crawling on her hand!

She shared a room with Qing Ling. That night, they had changed bedding and cleaned the room but found no other bugs.

Qing Yin gasped, “Could this be the punishment for killing someone?”

“No,” Lu Zhaoling shook her head. “That man deserved to die. You caught him in the act of evil, and his malevolence burst forth. You were stained with his blood, so your fingers are entangled with filth.”

Qing Yin looked at her hand again.

“But I can’t see anything.”

“Do you want to see?” Lu Zhaoling tilted her head thoughtfully. “I’m too weak now to open your eyes. But you must wash your hands clean, or you’ll have to return to the Jin Prince’s household.”

She wasn’t disdainful of Qing Yin herself, but of the filth on her hand.

“I’ll wash them more thoroughly,” Qing Yin said firmly, pursing her lips and turning to leave.