Chapter 11: Dealing with the Song Clan!

Mu Chang’an looked at the delicate and frail Concubine Song before him with a face full of rage, a nameless fire rapidly igniting in his heart!

He had never really liked this concubine; had she not been forcibly inserted into his household by his mother years ago, he would never have taken her in. It is said that one dare not refuse a gift from an elder, and since she was his mother’s choice, Mu Chang’an had never mistreated her. Who would have thought that this woman would have the audacity to dare plot against his own daughter!

“Steward, has the interrogation yielded results?”

The steward, who had been waiting under the veranda, entered the room upon hearing his master’s summons. “Replying to Master, these are the testimonies from the nannies in the kitchen. As per the rules, they were interrogated separately. Two of the nannies and three of the young maids had previously received favors from Concubine Song. The one who added the polygala into the medicine was the deputy manager of the kitchen. As for the one who added the medicine again today, it was the young maid responsible for decocting it. Now, these people have all been bound, awaiting the master’s judgment.”

Upon hearing this, Concubine Song could no longer bear it; her eyes rolled back, and she fainted on the spot.

Mu Chang’an looked at the person on the floor with disgust and ordered directly, “Concubine Song has attempted to harm the Eldest Miss, and the evidence is conclusive. Drag her away, give her twenty strokes of the cane, and from this day forth, confine her to the Plum Garden. She is not to step out of the courtyard again. All her monthly allowances are to be halved, and only two servants are to remain by her side; all others are to be sold off. The Second Miss is not to approach the Plum Garden from now on, or she too shall be confined.”

“Yes, Master.”

When Mu Xinyao heard this, she stood frozen in place. Even when Mu Chang’an ordered people to take her away, she did not let out a single cry, remaining somewhat dazed.

Madam Li was stunned for a moment, not expecting that Mu Chang’an would outright forbid Concubine Song from seeing her son and daughter. It seemed that the Master truly cherished A’nuan; otherwise, he would not have disregarded his mother’s face to punish her so severely.

Moreover, dealing with concubines and the servants of the inner courtyard was something she, as the mistress, should have done, yet he had handled it personally. This was to show his attitude to the Old Madam, and at the same time, to take all of the Old Madam’s dissatisfaction upon himself, so that she would not vent her anger on his wife!

The Old Madam was about to plead for mercy, but as she turned her eyes, she met the cold, stern gaze of the Old Master and immediately shrank back in fear, not daring to make a sound.

“Hasn’t the management of household affairs always been handled by the daughter-in-law? When did it ever fall into the hands of this lowly concubine? It is simply preposterous!”

The Old Master’s words were like cold ice blades, piercing straight into the Old Madam’s heart! With the term “lowly concubine,” he had effectively relegated Concubine Song to nothing more than a base concubine in Mu Chang’an’s household from now on, stripping her of the status of a respectable concubine. One must know that while both were concubines, there was a vast difference between a respectable concubine and a base one! A base concubine did not even have the right to her own courtyard; she was barely a step above a bed-warming maid.

Hearing the Old Master’s final words delivered with such weight, the Old Madam’s hands trembled, and she gritted her teeth, remaining silent.

Seeing that things were settled, Madam Li returned to the inner room to check on A’nuan.

The voices outside were not low, and those in the inner room naturally heard them clearly. Upon hearing the punishment meted out to Concubine Song, Mu Chuanuan felt a sense of relief; at the very least, Concubine Song would not be able to emerge and cause trouble in the short term! However, there was still half a month until the day her younger brother drowned in her previous life. She wondered if, after this incident and with her capable people gone, Concubine Song would still dare to scheme against A’xuan again.

Thinking of how she had been lying here and had not heard Mu Xinyao crying or making a scene, Mu Chuanuan felt something was amiss! That Mu Xinyao was extremely cunning and skilled at disguising herself; her lack of crying today likely meant that in her heart, she already hated her and her mother to the core.

“A’nuan, does your heart still ache?”

Mu Chuanuan snapped out of her thoughts and saw the heartache in Zhao Zihe’s eyes, which was plain to see.

She had always known of Zhao Zihe’s feelings for her. It was only that she had been a fool in her previous life, thinking only of that ungrateful wretch, and in the end, she had even caused the death of Zhao Zihe, whom she had always regarded as an older brother!

Seeing Zhao Zihe standing alive before her now, her heart was naturally filled with joy!

“It doesn’t ache anymore, thank you, Brother Zihe.” Though she said it didn’t ache, she occasionally twitched the corner of her mouth. He knew she was only saying so to put Mu Qingxuan, who was standing nearby, at ease.

“A’nuan, it is all Mother’s fault for letting you suffer. In the future, Mother will certainly not give those base women another chance to harm my A’nuan!” As soon as Madam Li entered and saw her daughter’s pale face, her eyes turned red again.

“Aunt, rest assured, Sister A’nuan will be fine very soon.”

“Thank you, Zihe. If it hadn’t been for the coincidence of your father being here today, I fear…” As Madam Li spoke, her tears fell once more.

The punishment of Concubine Song caused a massive uproar throughout the Mu household!

Before Concubine Song had held power over the kitchen, she had been extremely kind to the servants and rarely scolded or beat them. Because of this, she had a decent reputation in the household. Coupled with the fact that the Old Madam was her aunt and often showed her favoritism, the servants had treated her with respect.

But now that the Master’s order had come down, Concubine Song had instantly become a stray dog that everyone wanted to beat!

All the servants who had previously been in Concubine Song’s courtyard were driven out of the mansion by the steward and sold off. The only ones left to care for her in the Plum Garden were a third-class maid who had never been favored and an old woman!

The Master hadn’t specified which two people to leave behind, but the steward naturally understood the Master’s attitude. How could he possibly leave two favored servants for her to use? Besides, the charge of attempting to harm the household’s legitimate eldest daughter would accompany Concubine Song for the rest of her life; even after she died, this stain would never be erased!

In the Great Yong Dynasty, the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate was always clear. No one would ever look favorably upon a base concubine who dared to plot against the legitimate eldest daughter!

Thus, Concubine Song was completely finished! She had never been truly favored, and now that she bore such a notorious reputation, even the Old Madam could no longer excuse her. In the eyes of the steward and others, the fact that the Master hadn’t beaten her to death with sticks or driven her out of the mansion was already giving the Old Madam and the Song family plenty of face!

The next day, Mu Chuanuan’s complexion looked much better, but Nanny Yu said with heartache, “Miss, there are plenty of ways to deal with that Concubine Song; why did you have to go to such lengths?”

“You don’t understand!” Mu Chuanuan shook her head. “If not for this, how could Father have been so heartless toward her? Don’t forget, Father is a filial son. While he isn’t exactly obedient to the Old Madam, he is close to it. If Concubine Song had only committed a minor offense, I fear Father would never have had the resolve to punish her.”

Mu Chuanuan sighed softly, “This time, for my sake, it can be said that Father defied his mother for the first time.”