Volume One, Chapter Fourteen: A Well-Handled Blade

After that day, Lady Yao suffered burns, and with Meng Tingfeng’s “assistance,” she was bedridden for several days in pain.

When she next went to serve tea to her stepmother, the latter suddenly ceased her usual harshness.

Madam Qiao steadily accepted the tea from her hands and sipped lightly.

Raising her eyelids, she glanced at her softly: “This time, your hands are steady.”

Madam Qiao’s words implied that she had clearly seen who had loosened their grip last time but had chosen not to expose it.

Meng Tingfeng smiled unfalteringly. “When serving tea to one’s mother, one must be steady. One cannot, even for a moment, accidentally harm her.”

She emphasized the word “body.”

The old nanny had told her that Madam Qiao had once been a minor concubine. After entering the household, she became pregnant but suffered a miscarriage due to an accident. Meng Lan, feeling guilty, later elevated her status.

Strangely, from that point on, Madam Qiao was diagnosed with irreparable damage and could bear no children in this lifetime.

Only young Meng Xueyi and Madam Qiao herself knew what had truly happened that day.

Hearing Meng Tingfeng’s words, layers of hatred surfaced in Madam Qiao’s eyes, her grip on the teacup tightening until it nearly shattered.

She took a deep breath and chuckled lightly.

“You know what I think, and I know what you think. But she has been under protection for many years. If you can avenge me... then from this day forward, I will regard you as my own.”

Meng Tingfeng understood exactly who “she” was and knew Meng Lan’s extraordinary favoritism.

Madam Qiao and Meng Xueyi had always been at odds, covertly setting traps for one another, yet unable to harm her in the slightest.

She saw through the pretense, but so what? Temporary peace was exactly what she needed.

Once she firmly established her footing and secured a base, she would be ready to face the double ambush from Madam Qiao and Meng Xueyi.

Meng Tingfeng stood and saluted her. “In my heart, you are my mother.”

She smiled gently and left.

Madam Qiao’s heart, however, remained unsettled.

She sneered. Dog-eat-dog dramas—who doesn’t enjoy watching them?

Such a naive child. Her child, of course, was only the one she bore herself.

Meng Tingfeng was nothing more than a useful blade.

***

Back at Youlan Garden, Meng Tingfeng sat down, and the old nanny arrived.

Taking advantage of the moment after sending away Xiangju and Furong, the old nanny closed the door tightly.

A strange light flickered in her eyes.

“Miss, as you said, there is someone in the household against you—first a warning, then rumors spread. But how did you find out?”

Seeing the old nanny’s hesitant expression, Meng Tingfeng knew she had believed most of it. Yet, regarding her foster sister, the old nanny remained skeptical. After all, anyone who had encountered Meng Xueyi found it hard to believe that such a gentle, virtuous lady could be a murderer.

On the very day she first arrived in the capital, she had confided her worries to the old nanny, hoping she could secretly assign someone to protect her.

After all, for Meng Tingfeng, the only trustworthy person in this family was the old nanny, who had served her mother for many years. Her maternal family was the Ning Prince’s clan, though now diminished. She had to gain the old nanny’s trust and support to establish herself within this grand residence.

She explained to the old nanny the trials she might face after returning home and the tragic, fiery death that might await her. The old nanny was half in doubt but still obeyed.

Since her mistress’s passing, the old nanny had been almost free, but out of respect, she stayed with the Meng family, and Meng Lan did not drive her away. So she remained in the shadows, arranging for Li Fang’s body to be disposed of and traces erased, while quietly monitoring Meng Yuhong’s every move.

In the end, everything unfolded exactly as Meng Tingfeng had foretold.

Meng Tingfeng lowered her head, her expression lost in memory.

“The night before the nanny came for me, I dreamed of my mother. I was still a child then. I remember my mother holding my hand in a carriage when mountain bandits suddenly appeared and took me away. But in the dream, my mother told me to beware of those around me after returning home and to trust you. Now, it truly is as in the dream. Only after these events did I dare believe all that my mother said was true.”

Tears welled at the corners of Meng Tingfeng’s eyes, her lips trembling, drawing tears to the old nanny’s eyes as well.

She knew Meng Tingfeng’s fate was harsh. She had hoped that returning to the Meng family would bring peace and happiness, but this household was another den of vipers.

The old nanny gently wiped the girl’s tears with her calloused hand and spoke softly:

“Miss, why don’t you come with this old servant back to Zhuo County?”

Zhuo County was the domain of her maternal family’s Ning Prince.

But Meng Tingfeng shook her head firmly. “Nanny, have you forgotten how my mother died?”

The old nanny was startled but would never forget.

Her mistress, a noble county lady, had fallen in love with the scholar Meng Lan and devoted herself to marrying him and bearing his children.

But who would have known that Meng Lan, so distinguished and honorable, had long kept a concubine before marrying Meng Tingfeng’s mother, and had even fathered children with her earlier.

The concubine fell ill and died young. Meng Lan insisted on bringing the illegitimate daughter home, which Meng Tingfeng’s pregnant mother caught sight of. In the ensuing confrontation, Meng Yuhong was born, but the mother was lost.

***

Now, that concubine’s daughter had become the cherished jewel of the household, while her legitimate son, born with great effort, wholeheartedly recognized another as mother.

Every time the old nanny thought of this, her anger flared.

Meng Tingfeng clasped the trembling hand of the old nanny.

“Zhu Yue, I want to avenge my mother.”

Hearing the name rarely spoken, the old nanny was moved to tears.

Once, she and Lan Chen had served by the county lady’s side. Now both the lady and Lan Chen were no longer alive.

Her eyes sparkled as she looked at the girl who so resembled her former mistress.

“Very well. From now on, you are this old servant’s new mistress.”

As master and servant exchanged tearful gazes, a knock came from outside, followed by Furong’s voice:

“Miss, Lord Shi is here. The head of the family requests you come to the front hall to greet him.”

Meng Tingfeng paused slightly. It seemed Shi Zilu had mostly recovered since falling into the water.

She wondered what she had recalled and what Shi Jing had told her at the same time.

After a moment’s thought, she replied:

“All right, I’ll go immediately.”

Suddenly, she remembered someone she had not seen since arriving at the household and hurriedly asked:

“Nanny, what has Cheng done since entering the residence?”

The old nanny thought a moment. “Since entering, he has done nothing unusual—just like the other servants, sweeping, rotating at the gates.”

Meng Tingfeng frowned deeply.

She recalled how she had brought Cheng into the household before; he had no servant status and had used the pretext of studying to visit Meng Yuhong’s quarters, gradually getting close to the family.

Now, he was doing nothing, but Meng Tingfeng was certain he was not resting; the only explanation was that he was waiting for an opportunity.

But the one she needed to deal with most urgently was not Cheng, but Shi Jing.

Thinking this, she rose and walked toward the front hall.