Transmigration: From Farmer To Empress-Chapter 2004 - 2012: A Chance Encounter with My Older Sister (Part 4)

The Third Miss said, "My mother was indeed murdered by that malicious Zhao Qing. Two months ago, my mother fell into the lotus pond and drowned on her way back from paying respects to her. You’ve seen that lotus pond; the water isn’t deep enough to drown anyone, unless someone forces them under or throws them unconscious into it."

"After my mother’s death, I wanted to examine her body to understand how she truly died. But that malicious woman was guilty and wouldn’t let me see her, claiming that children’s souls are incomplete and fearing my mother’s departing spirit might take ours away. She didn’t even let us see her during the burial..."

As she spoke, her voice gradually choked up: "My mother was a master of perfumery, having truly inherited my grandfather’s skills. If she hadn’t been murdered, our whole family could have lived well, but alas..."

She couldn’t continue and leaned over the table, crying in a restrained manner, her frail shoulders trembling, looking extremely pitiful.

I was not good at comforting people and didn’t know how to console her, so I could only say, "Everyone has their fate. Your mother chose to be Dong Guanghui’s concubine herself, so maybe that’s her fate."

"No, my mother didn’t willingly go with that man."

She lifted her head, sniffing as she spoke: "Years ago, my mother was seriously injured during that disaster and was saved by Dong Guanghui. Dong Guanghui used the excuse of helping bury and settle my maternal grandfather’s family to force my mother to submit to him. Otherwise, with my mother’s temperament, even if you killed her, she wouldn’t have agreed to be a concubine."

I understood then, realizing there was such a complex case behind it. Before, I was puzzled why Mi Fangzhai’s perfumer, with her considerable income, would give her good daughter to an unpromising prince consort as a concubine. Moreover, the eldest princess Zhao Qing was notoriously jealous, and any daughter given to her prince consort as a concubine would surely have a dire fate. Now I understood: The Third Miss’s mother hadn’t done it willingly; she was forced to become Dong’s concubine.

The Third Miss continued, "You know how Zhao Qing is fiercely jealous. Dong Guanghui dared not openly be good to my mother, so he pretended to keep an opera actor next door to my mother as a cover. Whenever he visited my mother, he first went to that actor’s place and then sneaked to my mother through a secret passage from the actor’s home. You probably know the rest of the story—the actor, used as a front by him, was later tortured to death with a branding iron by that shrew. They were reprimanded by the Emperor, making it impossible for them to remain in the capital and forcing them to return to Tongzhou."

"My mother longed to break free from him, to live quietly with my siblings and me, but he insisted on taking my mother away. She was just a weak woman, unable to go against him, and was forcibly taken away by his men. There’s no wall in the world that doesn’t leak. Our existence was eventually discovered by that poisonous woman. She had us brought back to the mansion, then began to torment us with various methods—being scolded, starved, beaten—it became routine. In the beginning, I thought if we endured, we could take my mother away once we grew up. But in the end, my mother never lived to see us grow up; she was killed by her after all..." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Therefore, I will no longer fear her nor endure anymore. When I get out in the future, I will find ways to make myself stronger, and one day, I will avenge my mother!"

In the darkness, her voice was a bit hoarse, yet carried a deeply moving determination. Even though she was still just a weak girl, unable to stand against the mighty Eldest Princess Zhao Qing, I had no doubt about her words.

This girl will become strong one day!

"Mother—mother—"

A soft voice came from the inner room, carrying a sobbing tone. From the sound, it seemed to be a child.