Ink Burns

Chapter 307 Blue and Purple (Part 2)

As night deepened, the candles at the side entrance of the Chenzui Pavilion tavern at the east end of the city were extinguished, leaving only one or two oil lamps for night watchmen, flickering in the chilly winter night.

A low, narrow cart emerged from a side gate, carrying a long, black body wrapped tightly in blankets. The long, narrow shadow cast on the alley wall reeked of salty, bloody odor.

The shadowy figure creaked and groaned as it drove out of Chenzui Pavilion, finally disappearing into the narrow back gate of the Wuding Marquis's residence two streets away, as if it were carrying a pallet of goods of average value.

Having lost his value, Fu Mingjiang could no longer enter the main courtyard. He was taken by the cargo cart to a quiet, secluded room outside the rear building.

The old house was originally a place for storing miscellaneous items. The four corners were covered with tattered cobwebs. The partitions in the front room were stacked one after another to hold the fireworks that would be set off on New Year's Eve.

The once aloof and arrogant Princess Fu Mingjiang, accompanied by the strong smell of gunpowder and a high fever, was sleeping groggily on a creaking wooden bed.

She seemed to have fallen into a captivating dream, a black dream shrouded in a hazy gray, with a huge chasm at its center, radiating a terrifying halo that sucked her body, her shadow, and her heart into the abyss.

She was sometimes awake, sometimes drowsy, sometimes deep, sometimes rising. When she rose, she reached out and touched a few pieces of cake soaked in cold water, like chicken feed that had been left under the beam and had become soggy, or like silk that had rotted in swamp water, gurgling and breaking into strands of tattered thread.

She refused to eat, and with all her might tried to push the remaining bits of cake away, but could only manage to push them two inches. She then propped herself up and called out, "Xiuniang—Xiuniang—"

The voice, however, was as hoarse as a tattered piece of cloth. When it was tossed about in the air, it was quickly pierced by the cold wind, and no sound could be heard.

Xiu Niang was the maiden name of Madam Fu.

After being ordered by Fu Mingjiang to prove her virginity in front of everyone, Fu Mingjiang still kept her working in the Cui family in order to humiliate her.

At this moment, she is the only person Fu Mingjiang can think of asking for help.

Madam Fu is a female official who can send invitations to the palace. Now, the only person who can save her is Consort Qiao, her mother's close friend in the palace. In the dead of winter, when it is freezing cold, Yu Lang has abandoned her in this poor, drafty room. Only an oil lamp casts a faint light, and the wooden bed is placed on the ground.

She was in excruciating pain; the tearing pain after childbirth drilled inwards from between her legs, like a sharp pickaxe chiseling at the gaps between her bones, ribs, and kneecaps.
Blood was still flowing from her body, soaking through her underwear and forming scabs on her inner thighs.

Yulang, Yulang wants her dead!

I want her to starve and freeze to death in this dilapidated room!

Tragically, even so, she couldn't muster the slightest bit of hatred!
Fu Mingjiang braced herself on her elbows, enduring the excruciating pain from the friction, and slowly crawled toward the door leaning against the wall. With her last bit of strength, she pushed the tightly closed door open a crack.

Through the narrow gaps, one could see people coming and going in the main courtyard. The pomegranate and rosewood step bed, the sandalwood dressing cabinet with continuous swastika patterns, and the camphor wood chest with inlaid gems were all carried out.

Everything, everything was part of her dowry!
The unfamiliar servant grinned and touched the camphor wood. He casually picked off a small blue gem from the box with his little fingernail, which he used to clean his ears, and stuffed it into his pocket. He then laughed lewdly with his companion, and they talked about some dirty jokes.

Fu Mingjiang no longer felt any rage or anger, only fear and apprehension.

While her belongings were being moved out of one side of the main courtyard, a steady stream of items were being brought in from the other side. Most of them were thin, square pieces covered with silk cloth. Four or five servants carefully lifted the four corners. The wind blew the silk cloth up, revealing that they were carrying paintings. They were not mounted on silk, but rather in the most fashionable and expensive mounting method at the time: covered with thin, clear glass. The frames were made of hard mahogany with mortise and tenon joints, and the silk underneath shimmered in the snow.

The door creaked open after being kicked open.

The old woman guarding the gate looked down and saw Fu Mingjiang lying weakly on the threshold. She made a kicking motion with her foot, saying, "Go in! Don't look around!"

Sweating profusely, Fu Mingjiang gently cradled the old woman's feet. Her rings and bracelets were long gone. With difficulty, she pulled a silk handkerchief from her bosom and stuffed it into the old woman's shoe heel: "This handkerchief is worth five taels of silver. And that painting... what painting did the young master send to the main courtyard?"

The old woman swung her feet, the corner of her silk handkerchief dangling with her large feet. She bent down, rolled up the handkerchief, and chuckled, "The painting by Lady Jade Plate—yesterday, the young master withdrew 1,700 taels of silver from the accounts office and ran all over the capital, buying Lady Jade Plate's painting from every household—"

The old woman paused for a moment, then said, "Oh, and you also bought a few of Zhu Siming's 'Twelve Spring Scenes' paintings." She muttered to herself, "We clearly already have some of Zhu Siming's original works in our household."

Lady Yupan, that willow-mountain moon!

The reason for throwing away her belongings was to make room for Liu Shanyue's totem!

A surge of overwhelming sorrow welled up in Fu Mingjiang's chest, and a scalding hot liquid flowed down her lower body, slowly taking away her remaining life: "Why not just kill me?"

Fu Mingjiang clung to the threshold trampled by thousands, his eyes lifeless, his tears long since dried, like a vegetable rotting in a cellar: "Why didn't you kill me? Why?"

She doesn't want to live anymore.

Cui Yulang didn't love her, he never loved her. He even handed her over to a lowly, lame servant to humiliate her. The will to live in Fu Mingjiang's mind was gone. She lay there numbly on the ground, letting her greasy clothes slip down, revealing half of her breast swollen from childbirth, yet she remained completely oblivious. Yulang didn't love her, so why was she still alive?

She didn't blame Yulang.

Really.

She didn't blame him.

Her mother was dead, her younger brother was useless, and she couldn't control the increasingly weak "Qingfeng". She had nothing of value left, so why should Yulang love her anymore?

Fu Mingjiang tilted her head back slightly, reaching out to the old woman with a fawning smile: "These shoes of mine can fetch a good price. You can strangle me, so I can go to the underworld early and prepare Yulang's belongings for him. You can strangle me, and I'll give you these shoes—"

The old woman waved her hands repeatedly to get away, and after a distance, she spat out a mouthful of saliva with a "tsk" sound, spraying it onto Fu Mingjiang's face!

You despicable slut!

She wants to die without a man!
They completely ignored the newborn baby!

That's his own son!

No matter how ruthless or cunning Princess Jing'an was, if she raised such a wanton hussy, even if she died, her reputation would be ruined for the rest of her life!
"This old servant would never dare to kill you!"

We have to keep her alive!
The young master instructed: "She cannot be allowed to die easily. The emperor is waiting for the Wuding Marquis's mansion to make a mistake. This woman still holds the title of a princess of the imperial family. If she dies in the Wuding Marquis's mansion without knowing why, it will be a disaster. He will definitely appoint a coroner from the Dali Temple to investigate the cause of death!"
We should pin a blame on her and tell her to go and die!

The old woman squinted: "Are your hands strong enough?"

They even have the strength to climb such a high threshold!

The old woman bent down and reached out to pinch him, already knowing what was going on. She kicked Fu Mingjiang into the side room, slammed the door shut, locked it with a large brass padlock, and strode away, saying, "You can rest now! There'll be something good tonight to put your mind at ease!"

******
The midday incident exhausted Fu Mingjiang of all her strength. In the end, she managed to eat the waterlogged leftovers of the pancakes next to the wooden bed, bit by bit. As night fell, she developed a fever again. In her half-awake state, she heard a kitten-like crying sound.

She squinted, half-asleep, and reached out to touch something, only to find a small piece of flesh and bone clinging to the skin.

The flesh and bones were still warm, but they were not far from turning cold.

She jolted awake and opened her eyes abruptly, only to see a naked infant lying beside her.

"Ah—" The scream trailed off in her throat.

It's that bastard child!
It was that bastard child she had just given birth to!

Fu Mingjiang immediately came to her senses and, by the dim light of the oil lamp, stared intently at the infant who didn't even have the strength to cry.

Her skin was bluish-purple, her eyes were tightly closed, her lips were deathly pale, and her hands were smaller than her thumb.
Bastard child! Bastard child!

Fu Mingjiang's eyes were practically bulging with rage!
A moment later, without hesitation, she slowly reached out and placed her two hands, one on top of the other, on the baby's fragile, cold neck.

It's too crispy.

With just a little force, she could break the head of this bastard.
This bastard child is gone.

Yulang will still love her.
Fu Mingjiang stared unblinkingly at the face of the bastard, the shadow of the lame servant intertwining and reflecting before her eyes.

Her hands tightened little by little.

"Bang——!"

The window was blown open again by the fierce, cold wind!
Fu Mingjiang was startled and turned around, trembling all over. What she saw was the face of a woman she had never seen before, with her teeth clenched!

Immediately afterwards, a sharp knife pierced her chest cavity with a "whoosh" sound!