Chapter 49: The Old Prince Next Door 2

In the original host’s memories, there was no information about her being harmed. But from Su Huandan’s point of view, the original host’s startled carriage horse looked much more like someone was trying to kill her.

First of all, the carriage belonged to the Duke of Yi Household¹. It was pulled by two horses, not just one. One horse getting spooked was possible.

But for both horses to panic at the same time, in the same place? To drag the carriage away like mad? Wasn’t that a little too much of a coincidence?

After the horses were finally subdued, both of them collapsed the same way, foaming at the mouth. They kicked a few times, then died.

Just look at it. No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem like an accident.

If Su Huandan’s guess was right, then someone in the Duke of Yi Household had wanted the original host dead.

No rush. They were almost home by now. Even if she wanted to go back and check on those two horses, she probably wouldn’t be able to find them anymore.

At the city gate, they had hired a sedan chair to head into the city. When Su Huandan had crossed over, this sedan chair had been carried by two teams of bearers taking turns. The original host’s wet nurse² knew she had hit her head and was afraid too much jostling would make her lose consciousness even more badly, so the sedan chair was moving slowly. They had already been on the road for more than an hour.

Then Su Huandan thought of something else. The original host’s wet nurse had only known to tell the chair bearers to go slower. Why had she never thought of finding a nearby clinic to treat the injury first?

Don’t say the wet nurse hadn’t thought of it.

Could it be that the wet nurse had been bought off?

The moment that thought occurred to her, how could Su Huandan possibly sit still any longer?

She drank two drops of diluted Spiritual Spring Water. Instantly, the dizziness and nausea vanished, and her mind became much clearer.

Then she discovered that her left lower leg was broken.

The left side of her forehead, near her eye, had split open. She had lost a huge amount of blood, so much that the original host’s upper clothes had been completely soaked through. She had probably bled to death because of that.

With Spiritual Spring Water, she wouldn’t die. Since they had not arrived yet, she might as well sort through the original host’s memories and see who in the Duke of Yi Household had it out for her.

But the original host’s memories were truly shallow.

Before she was even born, her biological father had died in battle in the Northwest. Three days after she was born, her biological mother died too. She had grown up in the Duke of Yi Household since childhood.

The original host was not outstanding in any way. She was honest and quiet. Before her marriage, she lived in Songhe Hall, the late Duchess of Yi’s courtyard. She never wandered around, and after the age of seven, she avoided seeing her cousins whenever possible, and spoke as little as possible.

After her coming-of-age ceremony at fifteen, she married the Duke of Yi Household’s Fourth Young Master.

Her husband had been born of the legal wife³, the second legitimate son, and also the youngest child in the family. Even so, he was five years older than the original host.

He had long been stationed in the Northwest and rarely came home. After their marriage, he stayed at home for less than three days before trouble flared up again in the Northwest, and he left once more. That time, he never returned.

After the original host was widowed, she had no children. Every day, she stayed in her own little courtyard. Unless it was a holiday or festival, she never stepped out of it.

After both her parents-in-law passed away, the original host did not ask for any share of the family property. She only asked for enough silver to feed herself for the rest of her life, then moved into the small courtyard across from the Duke of Yi Household.

She did not take a single part of the divided family assets, because she knew she would not be able to keep them safe. Even the silver she asked for was only ten thousand taels in banknotes⁴. She was afraid that if she took more, she would not be able to hold onto it.

But she was a widow. No matter what, the three surviving elder brothers of her late husband could not possibly stand by and watch her live in hardship.

So one household would send vegetables and grain today, and another would send cloth and jewelry tomorrow. Her life was not difficult at all.

For someone like that, who would have a grudge against her?

There was not much useful in the original host’s memories, so Su Huandan could only bury these thoughts in her heart for now. If someone truly could not stand to let the original host live, they would strike again sooner or later. When that happened, she would pin them down.

When the sedan chair arrived, the wet nurse Song, spoke cautiously. “Madam, we’re home. This sedan chair was rented from outside, and the chair bearers shouldn’t enter our courtyard. Do you think you can get down and walk a few steps?”

As soon as nurse Song finished speaking, she opened the sedan door, only to meet Su Huandan’s cold eyes directly. She went pale with fright at once, her hand shook, and the sedan door closed again.

“Wet Nurse, give me a hand. I’ve lost too much blood from the wound on my forehead. I’m dizzy and can’t stand. My left leg is broken too. I can’t walk.”

The moment Su Huandan spoke, Nurse Song began trembling all over even more violently.

Su Huandan waited and waited, but nurse Song still did nothing, so she opened the sedan door herself and climbed out.

There were also two maidservants standing on either side of the sedan. After the long trip, they were exhausted and filthy, covered in dust from head to toe. It was hard to tell what color their faces even were anymore.

But one of the maidservants still hurried forward and held Su Huandan by the arm. “Madam? Why are you bleeding so much? Why didn’t you say anything earlier? If we’d known, we should’ve gone to a clinic long ago.”

Su Huandan gave a cold laugh and looked at Nurse Song. “Wet Nurse kept telling all of you to hurry home so an imperial physician⁵ could treat me, saying an imperial physician was better than the doctors outside. You shoved me into the sedan chair, and for more than an hour on the road, not one of you looked in on me even once. I only managed to recover enough strength to speak after resting the whole way.”

With a thud, Nurse Song collapsed to the ground.

“Seize her and hand her over to the Duke. And help me pass along one message to him first. If he wants me to be buried with Fourth Master Zhao, he can just say so. There was no need to put on a whole show with a startled carriage horse. Since it didn’t kill me outright, is he planning to torment me by degrees instead?” There were plenty of people watching the spectacle, people from Prince Chen’s estate, from the Marquis of Ruyang Estate, and even some gatekeepers from the Duke of Yi Household had come over to watch.

After throwing out those words, Su Huandan was carried into the courtyard on the back of the maidservant supporting her. That leg of hers really could not walk anymore.

Very soon, all of Pingkang Street exploded with gossip.

That widowed Fourth Madam Zhao of the Duke of Yi Household, had gone outside the city to perform memorial rites for her late husband, and on the way back, the carriage horses had bolted.

She had not died, but her head had been smashed open, and her whole body was soaked in blood.

Her left leg was broken, and they said she would be lame from now on.

Madam Su had even stood right there in the street and demanded to know why the Duke of Yi Household would not just kill her outright, but instead chose to torture her slowly.

“What the hell do you know? The newly appointed Duchess of Yi has always been at odds with her mother-in-law. She resented her mother-in-law for taking her son away to raise by her side, separating mother and child. Well, now that the mother-in-law is dead, isn’t there still that sister-in-law raised by the mother-in-law for her to vent her anger on?”

“I don’t think you’re right. She’s already become the Duchess of Yi. Could she really be that reckless? Madam Su is a widow. What mistress of a household would make a move against a widow? Unless the widow was improper and seduced…”

By the time these rumors reached the Duke of Yi Household, they had already spread through half the capital.

There was no suppressing them anymore.

Su Huandan, along with the Duke of Yi Household, had made a stunning debut in the capital and instantly become the talk of the town.

Su Huandan had been examined by the imperial physician. The wound at her temple had been bandaged, and her broken leg had been set properly. Now, with splints bound to it, she was lying in bed to recover.

The wet nurse Song, and her whole family had all been arrested, and new servants had arrived in the courtyard.

When the original host was still alive, the wet nurse Song, controlled the inner quarters and the account books. The kitchen was managed by her eldest daughter-in-law, errands were run by her younger son, the gate was guarded by her eldest son and his men, and sweeping and cleaning were handled by her younger daughter-in-law.

Even the senior maid in charge of jewelry and the storeroom was the wet nurse’s own daughter.

Just think about it, was it dangerous living in that courtyard or not?

Especially since nurse Song had truly harbored the intent to kill the original host. If the original host didn’t die, then who would?

Translator’s Notes