Chapter 12 The letter
As soon as Chen Hui entered the yard, she found out that that exasperating eunuch seemed to have glanced at her once. She didn’t know what was going on now. Under the circumstances that she couldn’t figure it out, she kept her mouth obediently shut and waited to hear what he had to say.
Xiao Liu respectfully reported, “Lord, Lady Chen is here.”
Li Youde responded lazily with a “mm” sound. The first sentence he spoke was not towards Chen Hui. Instead it was towards Xiao Tiao, “Xiao Tiao, I ask you, did Lady Chen receive a letter today?”
Chen Hui looked a bit surprised at Li Youde. How did he know…oh, he must’ve not only let people keep watch over Plum Yard during the night, even during the day, he let someone keep watch. Then, it wouldn’t be difficult to know that she had received a letter. She burned the letter because she thought that since the original’s father used such a sneaky method to send the letter, then, she must avoid Li Youde’s eyes and ears. If she kept the letter, wouldn’t it be terrible if it was found one day? Therefore, it was the safest to burn it. Unexpectedly, things came at her at night. Could it be said that she could foresee her future? Not only did she not let Xiao Tiao find out about the existence of the letter, she also burned it.
Xiao Tiao immediately knelt when she heard Li Youde’s questioning. Her voice trembled like the previous times, “Answering master, no, I didn’t see…”
“Didn’t see? Heh.” Li Youde sneered once. “Servant, beat!”
Xiao Tiao’s face turned pale from fright. Before, when Li Youde questioned Xiao Tiao, he was quite patient. Why did he use torture now when there was nothing wrong?
It was impossible for Chen Hui to remain indifferent while looking at Xiao Cheng being tortured. She immediately stepped forward, stood in front of Xiao Tiao and said, “Lord, you don’t have to question Xiao Tiao. She indeed doesn’t know anything. Neither did she saw the letter that was stuffed from under the door of the courtyard or see me read the letter.”
This was equivalent to a confession. However, thinking about it now, in fact, it didn’t matter. It was just a letter from home asking for help. Although, it was indeed not giving this exasperating eunuch face by sending the letter without him knowing, but it could be considered a natural behavior for a father sent a daughter a letter on an impulse without paying attention to the etiquette.
Li Youde moved his head slightly and sneered. Suddenly, he laughed sharply and said, “Miss Chen, you are quite bold.”
Chen Hui felt that what he said was a bit baffling. What was bold about accepting a letter? There are no viral weapons or germ bombs here, what could she be afraid of?
“I don’t know…”
Just as Chen Hui was about to speak, she heard Li Youde shout at the person on the ground, “Grandmother Xu, tell me what is going on.”
Chen Hui turned and looked at grandmother Xu who was still on the ground and suddenly realized that the back of the woman she saw today was hers. However, grandmother Xu delivered food for her every day directly. Wouldn’t it be more convenient and safer to deliver the letter with the food? Why go through so much trouble? …Maybe it was because grandmother Xu didn’t like her and didn’t want her to know that she was the one who delivered the letter?
“Yes, yes, master!” Grandmother Xu hurriedly replied. “Today the Chen family said that they missed their daughter and asked this old slave to help send a letter from the family. This old slave thought that it was common for families to send each other letters, so, I didn’t refuse and secretly stuffed the letter under the door of Plum Yard…Master, this old slave must have been possessed! Asking master to spare this old slave this one time. This old slave won’t dare anymore!”
Li Youde sneered once, “Oh, you spoke about it so lightly. How much money did you get? You still dare to lie to me now?”
Grandmother Xu quickly shook her head, gritted her teeth and said, “Master, master! This old slave didn’t deceive master. This old slave dares not!”
Li Youde smirked. A few servants suddenly walked in from outside. One of them hurriedly came over and whispered a few words in his ear. With a move of his brow, he kicked the person over with one foot and said angrily, “Useless thing!”
The servant who was kicked over by him, stabilized his body and knelt upright. He didn’t dare to not be respectful.
Li Youde suppressed the dejection in his heart, raised his head and looked at Chen Hui. Seeing her staring straight at him with a pair of clear eyes, he felt that the anger in his heart couldn’t be suppressed.
He said to Ah Da, “How do you think this grandmother Xu should be dealt with?”
Ah Da said, “Grandmother Xu lives on master while helping others secretly. She is not a good person and should be beaten twenty times with the rod and be thrown out of the residence!”
Li Youde seemed to be satisfied with this answer and nodded, “Do it like that.”
Ah Da nodded. He immediately called the people to drag a bench over and ordered two strong young servants to each hold a thick wooden rod in preparation to execute the punishment.
Grandmother Xu already shouted in horror when Li Youde said, “do it like that”, but she was gagged and could only make muffled sounds.
Before the beating began, Chen Hui was a bit dazed. She had a vague impression of hearing Xiao Tiao mention about being beaten to death with the rod. She had never thought that the real scene would appear before her. Even a few beatings with such a thick stick was difficult to handle, let alone twenty beatings!
At this moment, Li Youde suddenly said, “Lady Chen, you truly know how to hide things. Where did you hide that letter?”
Chen Hui didn’t dare to look at grandmother Xu’s side, but her ears hear the dull sound of the wooden rod hitting the flesh. She quivered and the answer was leaked from her mouth, “…Burned.”
“Burned?” Li Youde glared at her and then he thought of something. His tone became eerie, “What was written for you to burn it?”
Chen Hui didn’t answer yet when the second rod fell down on grandmother Xu. She heard the muffled grunt from grandmother Xu and then she groaned as if she had something urgent to say.
Ah Da took a look at Li Youde, signaled the two servants to stop and took out the rag that was in grandmother’s Xu’s mouth.
As soon as grandmother Xu could speak, she eagerly and loudly said as if she was afraid that the rod would fall on her again, “Master, this old slave, this old slave knows what is written in the letter! This old slave has peeked before delivering!”
When she finished, she shut up and looked pleadingly at Li Youde.
Li Youde stared at grandmother Xu and smiled, “I promise to give you ten less beatings.”
In other words, removing the previous two beatings, she would have to suffer another eight.
Grandmother Xu’s face was already pale after the two beatings. Now, hearing Li Youde’s words, her face was white like a paper. She quivered twice and opened her mouth as if she wanted to negotiate with Li Youde, but in the end, a trace of fear flashed in her eyes and she put that thought to rest. With a trembling voice, she said, “Answering master! The letter was given by Lady Chen’s lover! The content of the letter was very unsightly. This old slave didn’t dare to look too much at it and really can’t remember….”
She had suffered a beating. When she heard Lady Chen say “burned”, an idea flashed through her mind. No evidence was left since the letter is burned and the letter had passed through her hands. Lord Li will certainly believe what she says and he will get angry…Even if he is a eunuch, there was no reason for him to tolerate the woman of his backyard to be the red apricot tree that leaned over the garden wall! Better said, it is because that he is a eunuch that he wouldn’t be able to tolerate such a matter even more. Even if it was a woman he didn’t like, he would also not tolerate that.
- The red apricot tree leans over the garden wall: having an illicit lover
Li Youde’s face just changed when he heard Chen Hui laugh out loud.
Li Youde abruptly turned his head to look at her. He saw that there was a smile curled at the corners of her lips and she said nonchalantly to that grandmother Xu, “Grandmother Xu, do you really think that I burned the letter when I said that I burned it? Did you plan to come up with some lies to frame me? When I got the letter, I deliberately looked at the opening. The seal was neat. It had never been opened. Could it be that you have godly eyes and can see the contents of the letter through the envelope? Then tell me, what is the name of my lover who doesn’t exist? You said that you can’t remember the unsightly content, but you remember who the sender is, right? Tell lord the name and get the credit. It might save you the remaining eight beatings and you may also be rewarded with some silver!”
Chen Hui saying this was naturally bluffing grandmother Xu. Although, she felt that grandmother Xu’s framing was very unconvincing, but who let her happen to burn the letter? Without strong evidence, this exasperating eunuch will obviously believe grandmother Xu more than her, right? It was already very pitiful that the original had offended this exasperating eunuch, causing her to be trapped in Plum Yard and unable to eat meat. If by chance this exasperating eunuch associated the suicide of the original with her lover, perhaps, she wouldn’t be able to eat a meal in the future!
“This, this…this old slave, this old slave really can’t remember…,” Sweat dripped from grandmother Xu’s head and her eyes shook violently because of tension and she uttered incoherent sentences dryly.
Li Youde looked at Chen Hui suspiciously, “You still have the letter?”
Chen Hui smiled very natural and said, “Of course. That letter was sent by my father. The letter mentioned the matters of at home. There was nothing that can’t be shown to others. Did this Lady Chen have the need to burn it? Fortunately, this Lady Chen still kept the letter and let grandmother Xu unable to frame this Lady Chen now.”
“Where is the letter?” Li Youde asked.
Chen Hui said, “Under the mud at the southeast corner of Plum Yard.”
Li Youde looked sideways at the young servant who had been kneeling there after being scolded by Li Youde for being useless. The latter hurriedly said, “This little one will go get it now!”
As he said that, he ran out in a hurry.
Chen Hui’s face was calm, but she was worried inside. If the letter wasn’t found in a while, the one who would be miserable would be her. It all depended on whether grandmother Xu could be crushed in these few minutes.
She slightly turned towards grandmother Xu. A slightly sarcastic smile was on the corner of her mouth and she sized grandmother Xu without restrain who was sweating profusely and who was very nervous.
As if she suddenly remembered something, Chen Hui turned her head and said to Li Youde, “Lord, this grandmother Xu is too vile. She actually used this kind of thing to ruin this Lady Chen’s reputation. Now, this Lady Chen is lord’s. She ruined this Lady Chen’s reputation, isn’t it the same as ruining lord’s reputation? This Lady Chen thinks that she should be rewarded with fifty beatings and it was the best if she was beaten to death!”
Chen Hui secretly exhaled. It was done.
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