At noon, a maidservant suddenly knocked on Chang Ming’s door.
“Miss Chang Ming, the Young Master sent me to invite you to the ancestral hall.”
Chang Ming observed for a moment and, detecting nothing unusual, followed.
Inside the Yun Family’s ancestral hall, Chun Lu knelt before the ancestral spirit tablets, dressed in white.
She had penciled her brows and applied makeup.
She looked much more spirited than before.
“Yichu, is everyone here?”
The gauze had just been removed from Yun Yichu’s head, leaving a faint scar.
He reached out to help Chun Lu up. “Aunt, what are you doing?”
“The ground is cold, and your health is poor. Please get up.”
Chun Lu shook off his hand. “I have sinned against the Yun Family. Even if I were to kneel to death here today, it would be no less than I deserve.”
Yun Yichu did not give up and continued to pull at her. “Aunt, if you have something to say, we can sit down and talk.”
“Why must you torment yourself like this?”
Chun Lu ignored his words, closed her eyes, and waited quietly.
“Why has she dragged us all here? What trick is she playing now?”
Lan Fang’s voice was full of smugness.
Chang Ming stood in a corner, watching quietly.
Hearing the voice, Chun Lu slowly rose.
She turned to see that Yun Yichu had summoned everyone of consequence in the entire Yun Estate.
She gave Yun Yichu a bow. “I have truly troubled you.”
Yun Yichu hurriedly helped her up. “Aunt, you flatter me.”
Chun Lu looked at the crowd filling the hall, then dropped to her knees with a thud and kowtowed to everyone.
“I have sinned against the Yun Family. Today, I ask the elders of the clan to pass judgment.”
An old man immediately stepped forward and reached to help her up. “Rise quickly. These years, you and the Eldest have supported the Yun Family—everyone has seen it. What sin could there be?”
Chun Lu shook her head. Before she could say anything, Lan Fang cut in.
“Perhaps she did something behind everyone’s back that wronged the Yun Family?”
An old lady rebuked Lan Fang. “Shut your mouth.”
“You have no right to speak here.”
Lan Fang flushed red from the chiding. “I am also a daughter-in-law of the Yun Family. Why shouldn’t I be allowed to speak?”
“Everyone favors the Eldest.”
The old man turned back to mediate. “The Eldest’s wife has already handed over the power to manage the household. Hold your tongue.”
Chun Lu wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes and pushed away the old man’s hand.
“I truly have sinned against the Yun Family. Please hear me out.”
“I was originally a noble daughter of the Wang Clan. Twenty years ago, I went against my parents’ wishes and insisted on marrying into the Yun Family.”
“This is my first sin.”
“In the twenty years since I married Yun Rong, I have borne no sons or daughters, nor have I taken a concubine for him.”
“This is my second sin.”
“And all along, I failed to guide Yun Rong onto the proper path. Instead, I let him become addicted to cannabis, leading to his current state.”
“This is my third sin.”
“I ask the clan elders to pass judgment.”
Lan Fang seized upon this and pointed excitedly at Chun Lu. “So you’re the one who let Eldest Brother become addicted to cannabis.”
In an instant, everyone looked at Chun Lu, their gazes more or less accusatory.
The old man asked, “You let Eldest Brother become addicted to cannabis?”
Chun Lu nodded. “It was I who added cannabis to Eldest Brother’s medicine, causing him to become the wretch he is now.”
The old man’s face turned ashen, his fingers trembling. “Once a man becomes addicted to cannabis, he is ruined.”
“How could you? How could you do this?”
“Aren’t you harming him?”
Chun Lu did not argue and kowtowed again. “I harmed Eldest Brother.”
“I know my sins are grave. I ask everyone to decide my fate.”
Gradually, voices of accusation rose from the crowd.
Yun Yichu stepped forward at this time. “Although Aunt has erred, humans are not sages—how can one be without fault?”
“These years, it is thanks to Aunt’s hard work managing the Yun Family’s businesses that the family did not fall into decline.”
“I believe Grandfather in heaven sees this very clearly.”
Hearing this, Yun Ruosheng shed tears of emotion.
“Yichu is truly a good child.”
Chang Ming asked him, “What about Chun Lu?”
Yun Ruosheng’s face reddened. “She is a daughter-in-law you couldn’t find even with a lantern.”
Chang Ming snorted coldly upon hearing this. “Why didn’t you tell her that when you were alive?”
Yun Ruosheng lowered his head once more.
Lan Fang also darted out from the crowd.
She gave everyone a bow. “I am the wife of the Yun Family’s Second Brother.”
“I am still carrying the Yun Family’s grandson in my belly.”
“Presumably, that gives my words enough weight here.”
The old man said nothing.
Lan Fang questioned Yun Yichu. “You treat Chun Lu like a mother. Your favoritism is a bit excessive, isn’t it?”
Yun Yichu stared at Lan Fang, unable to say much more.
“Since she has voluntarily stepped forward to admit her wrongs, I ask the clan elders to handle this according to family law.”
“To show fairness.”
In the end, Chun Lu was punished with confinement to her courtyard, to eat vegetarian food, chant Buddhist scriptures, and reflect behind closed doors.
Chang Ming narrowed her eyes. She felt there was something strange about this whole affair.
That night, in her spiritual form, she passed through the main gate and entered Chun Lu’s room.
Chun Lu was still dressed in white, kneeling before the Buddha.
Her palms joined together, she was reciting the Heart Sutra.
On the table by the window lay a letter of divorce.
The chairs in the room were also in disarray, and porcelain vases lay shattered across the floor.
It seemed those young maidservants had not been wrong.
Yun Rong truly intended to divorce Chun Lu.
“You went to the ancestral hall during the day to admit fault so you could remain in the Yun Family, correct?”
Startled by the voice, Chun Lu fell back onto the floor. Turning to see Chang Ming, her face went deathly pale.
Chang Ming waved her hand to light the candles in the room, then sat down unhurriedly.
She also used fire to heat a pot of tea.
Remembering that Chang Ming had once saved her, Chun Lu gradually grew less afraid.
She slowly stood up and sat opposite Chang Ming.
“Miss Chang Ming speaks correctly. I indeed did it to remain in the Yun Family.”
Chang Ming asked, “Why does he want to divorce you?”
Hearing these words, Chun Lu immediately shed tears. “He is doing it for my own good.”
“He said he killed Yun Hua and is going to the magistrate’s office to confess.”
“He fears implicating me. He told me to take the letter of divorce and remarry, and even gave me a gold mine map as dowry.”
Chang Ming rubbed her chin. “Does he truly treat you so well?”
Chun Lu nodded and handed the gold mine map to Chang Ming to look at.
“He has always treated me very well.”
Chang Ming looked at the gold mine map and formed a rough judgment.
She vaguely guessed at some of the outlines.
She asked Chun Lu again, “Was it really you who caused Yun Rong to become addicted to cannabis?”
Chun Lu closed her eyes and admitted to it.
“A few years ago, Yun Rong contracted consumption and frequently coughed up blood.”
“We consulted all the famous doctors, but none could cure him, and he suffered unbearable pain.”
“At that time, I happened upon a folk remedy: boiling cannabis in water to drink could alleviate it somewhat.”
“He is my husband. I couldn’t watch him die.”
Chang Ming nodded.
“So no matter how he beats you, you don’t hate him, correct?”
Chun Lu laughed and cried at the same time. “Everything is karma I created; I deserve to bear it.”
Not long after Chang Ming walked out of the room, Yun Ruosheng hurried over.
“That beast Yun Rong—is he really going to divorce Chun Lu?”
Chang Ming yawned. “Yes, and not only is he going to divorce her, he wants her to remarry.”
Yun Ruosheng nearly spat out a mouthful of blood from anger. “That beast—how can he be so ungrateful?”
Chang Ming looked at the bright moon. “If he didn’t do this, Chun Lu would be trapped and die in the Yun Estate.”
“It’s just a pity that he opened the gate of life, yet Chun Lu closed it again.”
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