Chapter 209

Li Chao Jing turned, raised his hand to slap Li Qingluo, and Qu Shi lunged forward without thinking to shield her.

"Master! Luo'er, Luo'er is only speaking these words out of extreme grief, without intent..."

Qu Shi told herself she did not want Li Qingluo to come to harm from a beating.

After all, Luo'er is still to be married into the Qu family.

Li Chao Jing angrily flung his hand down, glaring at Li Qingluo: "You are truly lawless—do you still have any sense of hierarchy!?"

"I am your father; you speak recklessly and slander without restraint. If it were not for your grandmother's grave illness today, I would surely beat you to death, you rebellious girl!"

Li Qingluo pulled Qu Shi away.

She stared at Li Chao Jing, word by word: "If you have the ability, strike me. I insult you—could I be wrong?"

"Grandmother was poisoned in the Jiangjun Fu; she is now critically ill. You do not seek the truth, nor try to get an imperial physician from the palace to treat her, instead letting one of your lackeys decide her fate—how could I obey you!?"

"Today, with me, Li Qingluo, present, you will not succeed!"

Pei Lao Furen silently shed tears.

"Luo'er... Grandmother has not loved you in vain..."

Li Chao Jing heard his mother could still speak, and his heart jumped in surprise.

He lunged forward again, and there truly was a glimmer of delight in his eyes.

"Mother!? Can you really still speak?"

Doctor Jiang hurriedly said: "Quick! Old Lady, this is a rally before the end!"

Li Chao Jing quickly grasped Pei Lao Furen's hands, his face showing urgency: "No! Mother, I am Jing'er—Luo'er is right; I must hurry to summon an imperial physician, I'm going now!"

"Mother, do you have anything you wish to say first? Jing'er is listening."

Qu Shi also stepped forward.

"Mother, whatever you wish to entrust, we will obey; as daughter-in-law and father, we will certainly heed your words and also look after Luo'er..."

Li Kechuan also stepped forward: "Grandmother, Chuan'er is right here..."

Pei Lao Furen struggled to rise.

Li Chao Jing hurriedly reached out to support her, and the sincerity in his eyes at this moment did not look feigned.

Pei Lao Furen, with great effort, half rose, trembling as she lifted her hand, and with all her strength she slapped Li Chao Jing hard across the face!

"Pa—"

A crisp crack rang out, audible even outside.

Li Chao Jing: "Mother, Mother?"

Pei Lao Furen: "Do you so eagerly wish for my death!? After all, I carried you for ten months; if not to save your father back then, I would never have hardened my heart to abandon you!"

"These years you have been utterly spoiled by a concubine—this is my greatest regret in life!"

"You are heartless and unrighteous, stingy and unfeeling, unable to show even a shred of sincerity to your own daughter and birth mother; I truly wish I had strangled you at birth!"

"What do you want to hear from me? What else do you want from me!?"

"Li Chao Jing, get out!"

Li Chao Jing slumped to his knees: "I... Mother..."

His eyes swirled with complex emotion, as if at this moment he had truly been awakened a bit by his mother's scolding.

But he had already come this far—how could he turn back?

Just as Li Chao Jing prepared to harden his heart and press again, a wail suddenly rose from outside—

"Mother——!!"

"Grandmother——sniffle sniffle sniffle..."

"Mother, sons and daughters-in-law have come to see you off——"

It was the people from the second and third branches who had all come!!?

How dare they all come out at this time!?

It turned out that, amidst the recent chaos, Li Qingluo had Deng Mama act opportunistically; seeing she could not stop Li Chao Jing's family, she simply went and ushered in the people from the second and third branches.

The people from the second and third branches had long sensed that tonight's atmosphere was off.

They had been merely watching, but when Deng Mama shouted that the Old Lady was failing, how could the second and third branch folks still sit still?

Even Madame Lou and Madame Liu ran over, crying "sniffle sniffle" outside.

Li Chao Jing's face instantly darkened.

"Do not let them in!"

Li Chao Jing gave a low shout, but the whole courtyard was filled with Pei Lao Furen's people—how could they possibly obey him?

Even though he is the head of the household.

Yet the wet-nurses are not considered members of the Jiangjun Fu.

Li Qingluo shouted: "Let them all come in!"

"Father, you are the grandmother's son—are not the second and third uncles also her sons? A son born of a concubine is still a son!"

"You wish to hear the grandmother's words—could they not hear them as well?"

"Or is it that you harbor guilt in your heart, and thus refuse to let them in!?"

At Li Qingluo's command, the wet-nurses immediately stepped aside.

The already crowded room instantly filled with a dark mass of people.

Seeing Jingci Tang, Li Chao Jing noted that even a granddaughter could take charge; his blood surged, he rose and stared at Li Qingluo, wishing to stride forward and choke her into insensibility.

Li Qingluo was not afraid of him, but instead stepped forward.

She fixed Li Chao Jing with a hard stare, to see whether he dared to raise a hand against him in the grandmother's presence.

The situation reached an impasse, and Pei Lao Furen turned and spat another mouthful of black blood—

Grandmother!

Li Qingluo saw this scene, her heart and gallbladder torn apart as she lunged forward.

The fierce moments she had just feigned vanished; her face was only streaked with continuously falling tears.

Old Lady...

Pei Lao Furen knew that everyone in the room, aside from the old servants who had followed her for decades, only this blood granddaughter of hers was truly sincere.

She pointed outside and, in a low voice, shouted at everyone else with the surname Li: 'Get out——!! Get out of here!! I would rather die……die than see you again!'

Even Li Chao Jing, even if he still wanted that thing, could no longer ask about it in front of the second and third branches.

Moreover, his heart was also feeling extremely miserable at this moment.

He and his mother had never properly spoken a single word in their lives.

In his youth he hated his mother.

When he grew up he also regretted it, but he could no longer mend his mother's heart, which he had once shattered beyond repair.

Now, mother and son remain like enemies.

Today, although his mother was not killed by him, he must watch helplessly as she is killed……

Li Chao Jing also felt a wave of bitterness in his heart.

Mother, just consider it as you owing me.

At my birth, if you didn't strangle me, that was your only chance to kill me, which you missed.

Li Chao Jing led everyone to temporarily retreat outside.

Standing outside the door, he gazed gloomily into the room and said: 'Mother, even if you regret giving birth to a son, the son is still your only bloodline!'

'Even if you dote on Luo'er, she is still a daughter who will marry into another family and become someone else's wife.'

'But the son is your bloodline; the son's descendants, generation after generation, are your bloodline.'

'After you pass, you are to be buried in the Li family ancestral grave; only the son is the one who can offer incense and burn paper for you year after year.'

'Think about it well: the son will go to the palace to summon an imperial physician for you.'

Pei Lao Furen did not say what she should have said, so Li Chao Jing would not yet watch her die helplessly.

Li Qingluo: 'Grannies, throw them out!!'

Inside and outside the room quickly fell silent, but after that ordeal, Pei Lao Furen was now as frail as a silken thread.

Li Qingluo cried, saying: 'Grandmother, hold on a little longer; Luo'er will save you, I will absolutely not let you die!'

Pei Lao Furen gazed at her helplessly, wanting to lift her hand to wipe her tears.

But she could not move even a finger now.

Li Qingluo knew they could not delay any longer.

'We can no longer stay in the Jiangjun Fu. Grandmother, Luo'er will take you to break out of the Jiangjun Fu!'

Having said that, Li Qingluo helped Pei Lao Furen up, then turned and carried her on her back.

Zhang Mama was startled.

'Miss, what are you doing? The Old Lady cannot withstand any turmoil!'

Li Qingluo: 'Is it to stay here and wait for death, or to break out and seize a sliver of life?!'

She stared at Zhang Mama's questioning; Zhang Mama naturally wanted a chance at life.

'Fine! I will obey you! But, let this old servant carry the Old Lady instead?'

At this moment, Wu Quan standing nearby also said: 'Miss, grannies, why not let me do it? I am young and strong, and I run fast.'

Li Qingluo also did not let go.

Instead, she first asked: 'How many people are in the Jingci Tang?'

Zhang Mama: 'Including Miss, there are now fifty-six people.'

And almost all of them are the number that was brought back to the manor when they first came down from the mountain.

Li Qingluo: 'Among those with martial skill, how many are there?'

Zhang Mama: 'Miss, those with ability, there are thirty-two!'

Li Qingluo: 'The Jiangjun Fu has over a hundred household servants and slaves; can these thirty-two possibly fight their way out?'

Zhang Mama raised her voice: 'Miss, although we old servants are no longer young, when we were young we all followed the Old Lady onto the battlefield! Now each of us can take on ten opponents, still no problem!'

'Miss, we old servants await your orders!'

'Let's break out, let's break out!'

'Everyone in this manor harbors ill intent; if the Old Lady falls into their hands, she will likely be dead within a few days, truly warranting mourning!'

'Miss, we would risk our lives to escort you and the Old Lady as we break out——'

The grannies all voiced their resolve, each face showing determined determination.

Li Qingluo took down the side sword hanging by the bed of Pei Lao Furen: 'Fine! Even if there is that formidable Li Chao Jing, could he possibly kill all of us?!'

'Tonight, for grandmother, I will risk this life!'

Outside the Jingci Tang, Li Chao Jing heard a commotion inside for a while, then suddenly it fell silent again.

Qu Shi couldn't help but feel a bit worried: 'Could there be some change?'

Li Chao Jing gave a cold smile.

He looked at the several household servants behind him holding torches.

'The household servants of the Jiangjun Fu are not ordinary; even if there are some skilled women in Mother's courtyard, they could not overturn heaven.'

'If they keep refusing a toast and insist on penalty drinks, I will have this general smash the gate open——'

However, before his words finished, a barrage of arrows like a violent rain shot forth from the courtyard!

……

Outside Jingci Tang, the killing left a scene of chaos and wailing.

The people of the second and third wings had already been frightened away; the timid ones had jumped straight into the pond, and there were still those hiding behind the rockery who wanted to watch the spectacle but were afraid to die, not yet having left.

In the pitch darkness, only a few people could be seen, each seeming to carry something on their backs as they fought their way out of Jingci Tang.

Li Chao'an shouted, 'It's Mother!'

'But, but how could there be so many mothers?'

Only four or five people appeared to be carrying the Old Lady on their backs, and the servants and Li Chao Jing didn't know which one to seize for a moment.

Li Chao Jing, brandishing his sword qi, shouted, 'Li Qingluo! What exactly do you want to do!? I am your father—do you really intend to sever ties completely with your old man and with this Jiangjun Fu!?'

Li Qingluo bore the true grandmother on her back, now shielded by Que'er, Ying'er, and several other grannies as she walked away.

She turned and coldly glanced at the mass of silhouettes in the firelight behind her, then said harshly, 'Today's grudge—I, Li Qingluo, will surely repay it someday; you wait!'