"And then what happened? And then what happened?!" asked Lynn now known as Ling'er.
She was so caught up in the story that she tugged on the Matriarch's sleeve, causing the elderly woman to spill the teacup she had in her hand.
"Ling'er, that is all I'm going to tell you tonight. Doctor said you have to rest. Look at you! Your eyes are feverish and you're short of breath. We will continue this tomorrow when you have rested. Qiu Yue, come back and help your young master to bed!" Matriarch Fang suddenly left without any apology for the cliffhanger she dangled in front of Ling'er.
"What....?" Ling'er looked at her empty hands and the empty room. How'd that old grandmother disappear so quickly? Did she know the secret art of the ninja that she could Houdini out of the room?
What Ling'er missed was a subtle hand gesture from the milk nurse, a signal that alarmed the Matriarch so much that she had to suddenly depart from Ling'er's room.
Matriarch Fang entered her own room with the milk nurse quickly closing the doors behind her. "What happened?"
"Matriarch, Xiao Wei is back...and he doesn't have long," whispered the milk nurse. Xiao Wei!
Matriarch Fang ran to her vanity table and pushed a hidden knob on the rosewood mirror which revealed a hidden room behind her bed. Quickly, she stepped inside to see a dark figure sitting on the cold ground, crimson blood staining his entire body.
"Xiao Wei sees Matr..." the movement caused him to vomit out more blood.
"No need Xiao Wei! What happened?" Matriarch Fang bent down to hold up Xiao Wei, not caring about the blood staining her expensive silk clothes.
"The matter you asked me to investigate...I found evidence of treachery. It's true that the Queen's miscarriage was not as simple as originally thought. But..."
More blood flowed from Xiao Wei's mouth and dripped onto Matriarch Fang's wrinkled hand.
"Xiao Wei begs apology for dirtying Matriarch's hand!" Xiao Wei weakly tried to clean off his blood but Matriarch Fang pushed his hand aside.
"Then it is true? Prime Minister Zhu..."
Xiao Wei whispered quietly into Matriarch Fang's ear before he silently passed away. Matriarch Fang gently closed her loyal vassal's eyes and whispered a prayer that he will have an easier life next reincarnation.
"Matriarch...?"
Matriarch Fang shook her head at the milk nurse, surnamed Li. "Li Juan, spare no expense for his funeral. The Fang's take care of our own."
Matriarch Fang left the hidden room, to allow Li Juan to mourn the death of her only son in peace.
A painful wail that could only come from a mother who lost her child followed her out of the room. She was very familiar with this pain since she also had to bury her one and only child, Fang Yuan.
She clenched her frail fist in anger, she will make them pay for what they've done to the Fang family!
She will never again be a "white hair person sending away a black hair person."[1]. Nobody will harm Ling'er, over her dead body!
[1] An unfortunate Chinese saying describing a parent or elder burying a child or younger family relative but mostly related to parent-child.