Just a Wet Nurse, Just a Plaything? Everyone Wept After My Death - Chapter 65
Chapter 65
“Wait!”
Just as the heavy punishment cudgel was about to fall, and just as that final step toward the wolf pen was about to be taken, a deep, commanding voice finally cut through the wind and snow.
Huo Xiao turned and strode down the steps. He seized the wrist of the old maid who was about to carry out the punishment.
His grip was so powerful that she cried out in pain, and the cudgel fell from her hand with a clang.
“Bring her back! Bring the child back!”
He barked at the personal guard carrying Nuannuan.
The guard froze for a moment, then hurriedly turned around. He brought back Nuannuan, whose face had turned purple from the cold and who was too terrified to even cry, and dropped her into the snow.
At the sight of her daughter returned to her, Shen Yingyue threw herself forward like a madwoman. She wrapped the tiny body tightly in her arms, trembling violently from head to toe.
“Son! What do you think you’re doing?!”
Old Madam Huo shook with fury, striking her cane against the ground again and again.
“That vicious woman tried to murder your own son! And that little one was her accomplice! Are you stopping this because you mean to protect them? What about the ancestors of the Huo Family? What about your son, who is lying unconscious after being poisoned?!”
Faced with his mother’s thunderous rage, a muscle twitched in Huo Xiao’s face.
He glanced at the bedraggled Shen Yingyue, then at his furious mother. Finally, he drew a deep breath, bent at the waist, and bowed deeply to Old Madam Huo.
“Mother, please calm yourself.”
Huo Xiao’s voice was steady, but his decision brooked no argument.
“Today is my birthday. It is no day for bloodshed, much less the taking of lives. If we beat someone to death in public or feed a child to the wolves, word will spread that the Huo Family is cruel and tyrannical. It would damage our family’s virtue.
“Huzi may have been poisoned, but the estate physician is doing everything he can to save him. Nothing has actually happened to him yet.
“Since that is the case, why must we exterminate them both?”
“Then what do you propose? Are we supposed to simply let them go?” Old Madam Huo roared, unwilling to relent. “Ruyan was right. Those two are nothing but trouble! As long as they live, they remain a threat!”
“Their lives may be spared, but they will not escape punishment.”
Huo Xiao straightened and delivered the words coldly.
He turned and looked down at Shen Yingyue, who was clutching her daughter and trembling.
At that moment, all hesitation vanished from his eyes. In its place was the self-righteous “justice” of a man who believed he was merely balancing both sides.
“Shen Yingyue, it is a fact that you failed in your duty of care. It is also a fact that you secretly kept safflower.
“However, in consideration of the care you have given Huzi in the past, and because I am not entirely without mercy, I will spare your life today.”
Shen Yingyue jerked her head up. A glimmer of hope had just appeared in her eyes, only to freeze solid at his next words.
“Guards.”
Expressionless, Huo Xiao pronounced his judgment.
“Lady Shen first neglected her duties as a wet nurse, then harbored malicious intentions.
“Drag her away and give her twenty lashes as a warning to others!
“Once the punishment is complete, send her immediately to the family temple at Xishan outside the city. From this day forward, you will remain there, eating vegetarian meals and reciting Buddhist scriptures as you reflect upon and atone for your sins. Without my express permission, you will never set foot outside the family temple again!”
Twenty lashes.
This was the same punishment used in the army for deserters. A single stroke could split the skin and tear the flesh.
For a frail woman, twenty lashes were enough to leave her half-dead!
Worse, being sent to the family temple was no different from lifelong confinement. She would never have another chance to regain her freedom.
Yet that was not even the cruelest part.
Shen Yingyue’s lips trembled as she clutched Nuannuan tightly in her arms. “What about Nuannuan? General, I want to take Nuannuan with me…”
Huo Xiao’s gaze fell upon the little girl, who was still sobbing softly.
He thought of what Liu Ruyan had said. He thought of the words his mother had used: “a curse upon her husband,” “ill-omened,” “venomous woman.”
In all of Yanzhou, Huo Xiao feared nothing except his mother’s anger and unrest in his household.
To appease his mother and tear this “root of disaster” out once and for all, he made the cruelest decision of all.
“As for this child…”
Huo Xiao frowned and looked away in disgust.
“To be found carrying poison at such a young age… It seems Mother was right. She is an ill-omened child, born under a baleful star.
“The family temple is a sacred place dedicated to our ancestors. There is no room there for a baleful little bastard like her.”
“General?!” Shen Yingyue’s pupils contracted violently.
Huo Xiao waved a hand as though shooing away a fly.
“Someone take this child to one of our estates in the countryside.
“Find a peasant family to raise her. Giving her something to eat will be enough. As for whether she survives… that will depend on her own fortune. Leave her to fend for herself.”
The words struck Shen Yingyue like a thunderbolt, shattering her very soul.
Send her to the countryside? Leave her to fend for herself?
Nuannuan was barely over a year old! It was the dead of winter, and the country estates lacked both food and warm clothing. Worse still, the servants there were notorious for fawning over those in favor and trampling those who were not.
What chance did an “ill-omened child,” rejected by the household and deprived of her mother’s protection, have there except certain death?
This was nothing but an execution in disguise!
“No! Huo Xiao, you can’t do this!”
Shen Yingyue let out a heartrending wail. Abandoning all restraint, she threw herself forward and clutched the hem of Huo Xiao’s robe with both hands.
“You can beat me to death! You can cut me into a thousand pieces!
“But you can’t send Nuannuan away! She’ll die! She really will die!
“How can you be so cruel? Is this what you call mercy? This is death by a thousand cuts!”
“Insolence!”
His face livid, Huo Xiao kicked her away.
As far as he was concerned, he had already done everything he could in front of his mother to preserve both their lives. That alone was an extraordinary act of grace.
Yet not only was this woman not weeping with gratitude, she even dared to accuse him of cruelty in public?
She truly had no idea what was good for her!
“What are you waiting for? Do it!”
At his command, two old maids rushed forward and tore Nuannuan from Shen Yingyue’s arms.
“Mama! Mama!”
“Nuannuan! My Nuannuan! Let her go!”
The harrowing sight of mother and daughter being torn apart seemed enough to darken heaven and earth.
Shen Yingyue lunged after them like a madwoman, but one of the personal guards carrying out her punishment pinned her to the ground.
Crack!
The leather whip, soaked in salt water, lashed down viciously and ripped open a bloody gash across her back.
Shen Yingyue’s entire body convulsed in agony, but she kept her head raised, staring fixedly at the tiny figure being carried away. What streamed from the corners of her eyes was no longer tears, but blood.
Huo Xiao turned his back, refusing to watch any longer.
He walked over to Old Madam Huo, who was still seething, and deferentially took his mother by the arm. His voice brimmed with self-congratulatory filial devotion.
“Mother, are you satisfied now?
“The woman has been punished, and that inauspicious child has been sent away. Out of sight, out of mind.
“Don’t ruin your health over such a trivial matter. Today is your son’s birthday. Let’s go back inside and continue our meal.”
Listening to the sound of the whip biting into flesh outside, Old Madam Huo finally felt her anger subside. She gave a cold snort.
“At least you still possess some filial devotion. That little temptress hasn’t blinded you completely.”
Mother and son supported each other as they walked back into the inner hall, where it was as warm as spring.
Behind them, they left only the snowstorm raging across the sky and Shen Yingyue’s screams of utter despair.
