Just a Wet Nurse, Just a Plaything? Everyone Wept After My Death - Chapter 69
Chapter 69
Dawn was approaching, and the sky hung in the gray space between night and day.
The heavy snow had fallen all night and was finally beginning to let up. In the back alley of the General’s Manor, the snow rose past the ankles. All was silent save for the occasional mournful cry of a crow.
Creak…
An extremely battered wooden cart, reeking of a sharp, sour stench, rolled through the thick snow and creaked to a stop at the rear side gate of the General’s Manor.
The man pushing it was tall and burly. He wore a tattered padded coat covered in greasy patches, and a filthy cloth was wrapped around his head, leaving only his keen, bright eyes exposed. A sturdy woman walked beside him, carrying two enormous slop buckets. Her face was smeared with soot until her original appearance was impossible to make out.
They were none other than Zhang Dashan and Lady Li in disguise.
“What are you doing here?!”
The personal guard on duty had been huddled beside the fire in the gatehouse. Hearing the noise, he emerged with his saber in hand, cursing under his breath.
“Sir, we’re here to collect the kitchen slops.”
Zhang Dashan hunched his back and put on an ingratiating smile. He slipped a small piece of silver from his sleeve and deftly pressed it into the guard’s hand.
“The manor held a birthday banquet yesterday, so there were plenty of leftovers. The steward told us to come early and haul them away before they started stinking up the place and bothered the Noble Lady.”
The guard weighed the silver in his palm, then covered his nose in disgust as he glanced at the two grime-blackened buckets. He waved them through impatiently.
“Hurry up and get inside! Be quick about it, and don’t let the chief steward catch sight of your wretched faces!”
“Yes, yes. Thank you, sir!”
Zhang Dashan bobbed his head submissively. After exchanging a glance with Lady Li, he pushed the cart quickly into the rear courtyard.
The kitchens were at their busiest at this hour. Servants hurried in and out, preparing breakfast for their masters.
Inside the cold, dank woodshed not far from the kitchens, Shen Yingyue stared intently through a crack in the door, watching every movement outside.
She saw Zhang Dashan and his wife enter.
She also saw the personal guard whom Liu Ruyan had said last night would sell Nuannuan. He was standing beneath the covered walkway outside the woodshed, setting a child wrapped in a tattered quilt down on a stone table. Rubbing his hands together, he waited for a kitchen servant to bring him some hot steamed buns. He planned to fill his stomach before setting off to sell the child.
It was Nuannuan!
Shen Yingyue’s heart hammered so violently that it seemed ready to burst from her chest.
She would only have one chance.
She had to create a distraction so Zhang Dashan could get close to the stone table and spirit Nuannuan away!
Enduring the tearing agony across her back, Shen Yingyue reached into her clothes with trembling fingers and pulled out the flint Old Servant Wang had dropped the night before.
The woodshed was filled with dry, highly flammable straw and discarded lumber.
“Nuannuan… don’t be afraid. Mother is getting you out of here right now.”
Clenching her teeth, Shen Yingyue struck the flint. The instant it sparked, she tossed it into the pile of straw behind her.
Whoosh!
The dry straw caught at once. Flames leaped upward, fanned by the wind pouring through the broken window, and in the blink of an eye, the fire began raging out of control.
Thick smoke instantly flooded the entire woodshed, sending Shen Yingyue into a violent coughing fit. But instead of retreating, she grabbed a handful of burning straw and hurled it at the woodshed’s long-rotted wooden door.
“Fire!”
Mustering every last ounce of strength, Shen Yingyue let out a hoarse scream.
“Help! The woodshed is on fire!”
Flames surged skyward as smoke billowed into the air.
“Oh no! Fire!”
“Quick, put it out! That’s the woodshed, and the kitchens are right next to it! If the fire spreads, we’ll all lose our heads!”
The rear courtyard instantly descended into chaos.
The guard who had been watching Nuannuan was also startled by the sudden blaze. The steamed bun fell straight from his mouth. His first instinct was to fetch water and help fight the fire. After all, if the manor burned down, he would be the first one held accountable.
“Waaah!”
Startled by the commotion, Nuannuan burst into tears atop the stone table.
“Damn it!” the guard cursed. He was just about to turn back and pick up the child.
Just then, several “servants” carrying slop buckets suddenly “panicked” and slammed straight into the personal guard. Several buckets of filthy slop splashed over him from head to toe.
“Are you blind?!” Drenched in foul-smelling muck, his eyes stinging with dirty water, the guard shouted at the top of his lungs in fury.
Now!
Smoke choked the courtyard, everyone was scrambling to fight the fire, and the guard had been held up. Shen Yingyue seized that fleeting instant and kicked open the woodshed door, already teetering on the verge of collapse.
Like a vengeful ghost crawling out of a sea of flames, sparks clinging to her clothes, she charged recklessly toward the stone table.
“Sister Yingyue!”
Zhang Dashan, who had been waiting nearby, swiftly pushed the slop cart over. The lid of its enormous wooden barrel was already open, revealing the specially built hidden compartment inside.
Shen Yingyue swept Nuannuan off the stone table.
The child’s tiny body was still trembling, tears clinging to her cheeks.
“Nuannuan…”
Shen Yingyue’s heart felt as though it were being carved apart, but she did not dare waste even a second. She planted a fierce kiss on her daughter’s forehead, pouring all her love and resolve into that single kiss.
“Don’t cry. Go with Uncle Zhang.”
Moving quickly, she tucked Nuannuan into the barrel’s hidden compartment.
Lady Li immediately laid a partition over it, then dumped half a barrel of foul-smelling leftovers on top, concealing everything completely.
“Go!”
Shen Yingyue shoved Zhang Dashan hard. Tears filled her eyes, but her hoarse voice was unwavering.
“Take her away! Never let her come back!”
“Sister, you…” Lady Li reached out to pull her along.
“I can’t leave! If I do, there’ll be no one to take the blame for the fire. They’ll seal the city and start searching for her at once! Hurry, go!”
More and more guards were rushing toward them. With determination in her eyes, Shen Yingyue stepped back, returning to the entrance of the blazing woodshed.
Zhang Dashan was a strong man, but his eyes instantly reddened.
He knew Yingyue had bought them this chance with her life.
“Let’s go!”
Gritting his teeth, Zhang Dashan pushed the slop cart into the crowd of frantic servants fetching water and raced toward the rear side gate.
Shen Yingyue stood before the roaring flames and watched the cart carrying all her hopes slowly vanish into the snowstorm.
She smiled.
It was a broken, heartrending smile, wild with madness.
“Cough… cough…”
Thick smoke seared her lungs. The wound on her back split open again, and blood stained her clothes crimson.
“Seize that wretch!”
“She’s the one who started the fire!”
The personal guards and manor guards finally came to their senses and rushed over, forcing the swaying Shen Yingyue facedown into the snow.
The guard covered in slop wiped his face and hurried to the stone table. At the sight of it, his face turned deathly pale.
“Where is she?! Where’s that little bastard?!”
The stone table was empty. Nuannuan was nowhere to be seen.
Pinned to the ground with half her face buried in the snow, Shen Yingyue let out a chilling laugh.
“Heh… hehehe…”
“What are you laughing at?! Where’s the child? Where did you hide her?!” The guard grabbed her by the hair and roared viciously.
Shen Yingyue raised her head. Her bloodshot eyes brimmed with mockery and savage satisfaction.
“Dead.”
She pointed at the woodshed raging behind her, her voice eerily light.
“I threw her into the fire.”
“If you were going to sell her off as food for dogs, I might as well have burned her to ashes myself.”
“A clean end to everything.”
“Madwoman… You madwoman!”
Staring at the inferno devouring everything in its path, the guard collapsed onto the ground in terror.
He never could have imagined that such a seemingly delicate woman could be so ruthless!
The fire continued to rage amid the wind and snow.
Shen Yingyue closed her eyes and let them rain punches and kicks upon her.
As long as Nuannuan lived, she would endure the hell of the General’s Manor alone.
