After Su Rongrong was brought back, the side courtyard became a forbidden area of the estate. But tonight, a fire suddenly broke out in the side courtyard. The fire wasn't large, but it caused a huge commotion. All the servants ran to put out the fire.
Just as I was preparing to sleep, I heard faint footsteps outside the window. Instead of calling for help, I quietly hid behind the wardrobe. A masked intruder climbed in through the window, holding a dagger, and rushed straight toward my bed. He stabbed the blanket fiercely several times, only to realise no one was there. Just as he was about to turn around, I pushed the wardrobe over, pinning his leg underneath. I grabbed the scissors on the bedside table and stared him down intently.
"Damn it. Where is that woman?"
The guards quickly rushed in and pinned him to the ground. The Duke arrived shortly after. With a grim expression, he personally tore off the assassin's mask. The man turned out to be Lord Su's personal attendant. After the failed assassination, the man tried to take poison to end his life, but a quick-acting guard swiftly dislocated his jaw.
The Duke looked at me. Once he confirmed I was unhurt, he led his men straight to the side courtyard.
Su Rongrong sat in the courtyard, watching the fire being extinguished, her face devoid of any emotion. Seeing the Duke approach with the assassin, she merely sneered. She told me that this was only the beginning. What the Su family couldn't have, no one else would, either.
The Duke didn't waste his breath on her. He immediately ordered the doors and windows of the side courtyard to be boarded up, leaving only a small opening to pass food through. Inside, Su Rongrong hammered frantically at the door, screaming curses at my name.
Standing behind the Duke, I looked at the ruined remains of the fire. I knew then that the Su family had completely torn off their disguise. Every step from now on would be a matter of life and death.
On the day Fu Jingyun was to leave the capital, rumours suddenly began spreading throughout the city. They claimed that for the sake of an obscure maid, the Duke was driving his adoptive son to his death and keeping his pregnant daughter-in-law under house arrest. These rumours spread rapidly, to the point where imperial censors began submitting petitions to the palace.
The Duke stayed in his study all day, his expression growing more and more solemn. I knew this was the Su family exerting their influence from the outside. They wanted to use public opinion to force the Duke into releasing Fu Jingyun and Su Rongrong.
I walked into the study and served the Duke a fresh cup of hot tea. He took my hand and told me that a message had come from the palace summoning him tomorrow to meet the emperor and explain these family matters. The Su family wanted to force him to bow his head.
"My lord, all that evidence is in our hands. What is there to fear from them?"
The Duke sighed, saying things were not that simple. Although Lord Su did not hold a high rank in court, his backer was none other than the current Imperial Noble Consort.
"This trip to the palace, I'm afraid it won't just be to explain family matters, but a struggle for power."
He took out a medallion and handed it to me, telling me that if he didn't return tomorrow, I should have the steward take me out of the capital. Holding that heavy medallion in my hand, I felt no fear in my heart. Instead, a fire was lit within me. In my past life, I died silently and without a trace. In this life, I will absolutely not be a deserter.
I had the steward organise the list of names that Fu Jingyun had confessed to in the dungeon, and also gathered the solid evidence of Su Rongrong selling off our estate's property.
Early the next morning, the Duke put on his court robes and went into the palace. I sat in the courtyard and waited, every single moment feeling agonisingly long. Su Rongrong's laughter drifted over from the side courtyard. She probably thought the Su family had this in the bag, but I knew that as long as the Duke held that list of names, the Su family would never be able to stage a comeback.
During the two hours after the Duke entered the palace, the atmosphere in the estate was tense to the extreme. I sat on the daybed in the main room holding a book in my hand, but unable to register a single word.
Over in the side courtyard, Su Rongrong seemed to have caught wind of something. She had Yuanru sing loudly in the courtyard. The sound was grating, clearly intended to spite me.
"Enjoy your pride while it lasts, Wanning. Once father-in-law is impeached before the emperor, let's see who will protect you then."
I ignored her clamour. I knew the Su family's backer in the palace was the Noble Consort. This time, they would definitely accuse the Duke of favouring his concubine and ruining his son.
I had the steward collect all the keys to the estate storehouses and summoned the estate's accountant. In front of everyone, I began to audit the accounts. I wanted everyone in the estate to see clearly just how much money the Su family had siphoned from here over the years.
The clicking of the accountant's abacus echoed through the courtyard. With every deficit that was read aloud, the faces of the surrounding servants turned a shade paler. Su Rongrong's shouting gradually died down. She hadn't expected that I would choose this exact moment to audit the books.
"My lady, word has come from the palace saying his majesty has kept the Duke to dine in the imperial study."
Dining together was a good sign. It meant his majesty did not punish him immediately. I felt my pounding heart settle slightly.
I had the steward make a dozen copies of the uncovered accounts and post them directly on the bulletin board outside the manor gates. Since the Su family wanted to make a scene, I would give them a hand. I wanted the citizens of the capital to see exactly how the Su family had been sucking the Duke's manor dry.
Not long after the notices were posted, Su Rongrong could no longer sit still. She knew that once their reputation was ruined, the Su family would be completely beyond saving.
In the afternoon, Yuanru came running to the main courtyard, tumbling in panic, claiming Su Rongrong had severe abdominal pain and was about to go into premature labour. When I arrived at the side courtyard with the imperial physician, Su Rongrong was lying on the bed wailing. Her face was deathly pale.
"Wanning, must you drive us, mother and child, to our deaths?"
She pointed at the accounts outside the window, shaking all over as she wept. The imperial physician stepped forward to take her pulse, his brow furrowing tighter and tighter. I stood behind the screen, watching her performance with a cold eye. Su Rongrong wanted to use the child to gain sympathy and even tried to pin the blame for her premature labour on me.
"The young mistress's pulse seems to indicate she has ingested labour-inducing medicine."
With that single sentence from the physician, the room instantly fell silent. Su Rongrong's cries caught in her throat, and panic flickered in her eyes.
I ordered the guards to search the room, and they found a half-burnt packet of medicine under her pillow. To frame me, Su Rongrong had actually gone so far as to gamble with the child in her womb.
"Young mistress, did you take this medicine yourself, or did Yuanru feed it to you?"
Su Rongrong gritted her teeth and remained silent, while Yuanru fell to her knees in terror, kowtowing frantically.
I instructed the physician to administer acupuncture immediately to save the pregnancy, and had others seal and store the medicine packet. This was ironclad proof of the Su family's self-directed farce.
When I walked out of the side courtyard, the sun was already setting. I knew this time, not only did Su Rongrong fail to harm me, but she also threw away the last shred of her dignity.