Chapter 8: Confession
Old Madam Yan had just celebrated her sixtieth birthday, and having always taken good care of herself, her hair remained jet-black and glossy. She was still full of vigor, looking so youthful that one might mistake her for fifty. Only her slightly gaunt face, with features less soft than those of most women, combined with her usual stern and unsmiling demeanor, made her appear severe and unapproachable.
She sat on the luohan bed in the main hall of Rong'an Courtyard. The moment she saw Yan Jingshu being helped inside, she immediately frowned and scolded with visible annoyance, "You foolish child, why are you moving around? Didn’t I tell you to rest properly? So disobedient."
The little maid beside Yan Jingshu trembled in fear, but Yan Jingshu, recalling how his grandmother in his memories had suddenly fallen gravely ill, her hair turning white within months as she lay bedridden, too weak to even speak, felt his eyes redden instantly.
"Grandmother—" Yan Jingshu choked out.
"...You silly child, did I say something wrong? Why are you crying now? Aren’t you afraid of being laughed at—" Old Madam Yan was startled by his reaction, even flustered for a moment.
She knew her words weren’t pleasant—she had always been this way since childhood and never bothered to change. But she never expected to make someone cry today, especially not Yan Jingshu, who had always been resilient and composed, never shedding tears in front of others.
Unlike her daughter-in-law Xie Shi and granddaughter Yan Jingyu, who were superficially respectful but secretly resentful, she could sense that Yan Jingshu’s filial piety and affection toward her, a grandmother unrelated by blood, were genuine. Thus, she had always favored this shuang'er grandson a little more. Seeing his tears fall one after another, and thinking of how he had come to see her despite being ill, she felt both touched and heartbroken, even regretting her earlier harsh words.
With stiff movements, she gently patted Yan Jingshu’s head and softened her tone, speaking in an uncharacteristically coaxing manner: "Alright, alright, it’s Grandmother’s fault. Grandmother wrongly blamed our Shuer. Be good, Shuer, don’t cry anymore. You’re breaking Grandmother’s heart." At the same time, she signaled An Momo with her eyes to help console him.
After a while, having vented his sorrow, Yan Jingshu gradually calmed down, and his tears finally stopped.
Only then did Old Madam Yan breathe a sigh of relief. Not daring to speak carelessly again, she cautiously softened her voice and said, "Come, wash your face and sit beside Grandmother to talk."
Yan Jingshu wiped his tears and was helped up by his attendants, only then feeling a belated sense of embarrassment. Fortunately, Old Madam Yan had already dismissed all the maids, leaving only An Momo in the room besides the two of them.
After washing his face with water brought by An Momo, Yan Jingshu sat beside Old Madam Yan on the luohan bed.
"Tell Grandmother, what exactly happened yesterday? How did you suddenly fall ill out of nowhere? Your father was vague and didn’t explain clearly," Old Madam Yan asked, gesturing for An Momo to pour Yan Jingshu a cup of tea—after shedding so many tears, he needed to replenish his fluids.
Yan Jingshu was silent for a moment before speaking quietly, "Please forgive your grandson for hiding the truth. Grandson was not ill, but... someone drugged the sobering soup with an aphrodisiac, which left me weak."
"What?!" Hearing this, Old Madam Yan was stunned at first, but as comprehension dawned, her expression darkened instantly. "What exactly happened?"
Yan Jingshu wouldn’t make such claims without reason, and Old Madam Yan knew exactly what an aphrodisiac was. She immediately sensed the gravity of the situation and pressed for details.
Then, Yan Jingshu began to recount everything.
But it wasn’t just yesterday’s events—he also revealed what had happened in his past life, though it hadn’t occurred yet in this one: how his mother had forced him into marriage, how his grandmother had protected him only to be drugged and fall gravely ill, passing away within two years. And finally, how he had sought revenge for Jiang Chenghan but accidentally fell to his death. He laid everything out plainly to Old Madam Yan.
The maids had long since left the room, and An Momo was the person Old Madam Yan trusted most. In his past life, after Old Madam Yan’s death, An Momo had waited for him to deliver her final words before taking her own life that very night, following her mistress in death. She was utterly loyal and someone Yan Jingshu could trust completely.
As Yan Jingshu spoke, both Old Madam Yan and An Momo wore identical expressions of disbelief, as if listening to some fantastical tale. So shocked were they that they unconsciously held their breath, neither daring to interrupt.
Only when his throat felt dry did Yan Jingshu finally finish. He swallowed hard, then took the long-forgotten cup of now-cold tea from An Momo’s hands and drank it all in one gulp.
An Momo snapped back to attention and hurriedly poured him another cup. Yan Jingshu drank three cups in a row before finally feeling somewhat satisfied, letting out a long exhale and handing the cup back to An Momo.
Old Madam Yan remained silent, lost in thought, and Yan Jingshu didn’t disturb her.
He knew his account was too shocking—filled with schemes, forced marriages, and poisonings, with the mastermind being none other than the household’s matriarch and a young lady of the house. Such grave matters required time to process.
"...Xiufang, go check around the estate and see if anyone is spreading rumors," Old Madam Yan finally spoke after a long while, instructing An Momo.
Xiufang was An Momo’s maiden name. Having heard Yan Jingshu’s story, she immediately understood Old Madam Yan’s intention.
As Yan Jingshu had said, Yan Jingyu had originally arranged for him to be with the second son of the Yongchang Marquis’s family, but by some twist of fate, it had instead been General Kou’s subordinate, Jiang Chenghan. Because Yan Jingshu had first persuaded the Duke of Anguo to keep Xie Shi and Yan Jingyu in the dark and had warned the servants present not to speak carelessly, Xie Shi and Yan Jingyu likely still didn’t know their plan had gone awry.
If rumors about Yan Jingshu were now spreading in the estate, but the other person involved wasn’t Jiang Chenghan but the Yongchang Marquis’s second son, it would prove certain things.
An Momo was gone for a long time, and before she returned, Steward Yan arrived first, bringing two signed confessions bearing bloody fingerprints and a written admission of guilt.
Having already heard from Yan Jingshu about his instructions to Yan Zhong, Old Madam Yan didn’t ask further questions when he presented these documents. She merely took them and examined them carefully.
"What about those two?" Yan Jingshu asked Yan Zhong.
Yan Zhong paused before replying, "Still alive."
Yan Jingshu nodded. As long as they were alive, they could serve as witnesses later. Whether they were injured or maimed didn’t matter.
"Go see if the Master has returned from court. If he has, invite him, along with Madam and Third Miss, here," Old Madam Yan said to Yan Zhong, her face dark as she set down the confessions.
Having personally interrogated Li Wang and Qiulan, Yan Zhong was the first to know what they had confessed. He had anticipated Old Madam Yan’s orders and thus didn’t ask any questions, immediately bowing and withdrawing.
Not long after Yan Zhong left, An Momo returned with an answer Yan Jingshu had expected.
Sure enough, as Yan Jingshu had predicted, the servants in the Duke’s estate were whispering that during yesterday’s banquet, Yan Jingshu had abruptly left to meet Zhao Xian of the Yongchang Marquis’s family. His subsequent disappearance was because the two had been caught in a compromising position by a maid, allegedly without even their clothes on.
Later, the Duke of Anguo, upon learning of this, had flown into a rage and sent men to arrest them. Yan Jingshu wasn’t ill but had been confined by the furious Duke.
After uncovering these rumors, An Momo didn’t return immediately but investigated further. Though it took more time, she discovered that the source was a maid in a light green third-rank servant’s dress—though no one had seen her face clearly.
Finally, An Momo added, "...This servant thought that even if no one saw the maid’s face, they must have heard her voice. Given how significant this matter is and how little time has passed, they might still remember it. So, under the pretext of punishment, I brought the first few who spread the rumors here..."
"You did well. That person must be found..." Old Madam Yan nodded, about to say more when a maid announced the arrival of the Duke, his wife, and Third Miss. "Let them in," she said.
Soon, the door curtain was lifted, and the Duke of Anguo, who had just returned from court without even sitting down, entered first, followed by Madam Xie and Yan Jingyu. Behind them came a young maidservant in her twenties carrying a two- or three-year-old boy.
"Great-Grandmother, Second Uncle—" The boy, chubby and adorable with two little topknots, wore a golden necklace and bracelets, his plump body wrapped in a bright red jacket, making him look even more endearing. The moment he entered, he reached out toward Old Madam Yan and Yan Jingshu, wanting to be held.
This child was Yan Jingshu’s nephew, the only son of his elder brother Yan Jingyan, born after his father’s death. His nickname was Xin’er. According to Xie Shi, a renowned fortune-teller had divined that Xin’er’s birth hour was inauspicious, his fate lacking in the metal element and prone to calamity. Thus, he was not only dressed in gold but also given the name "Xin" (鑫), meaning "abundance of gold."
Originally, Xin’er should have been with his mother, but Yan Jingshu’s sister-in-law, Qiao Shi, had suffered the loss of her husband and then endured a difficult childbirth. The successive blows left her mentally and physically shattered, barely able to leave her bed, let alone care for a child.
Xie Shi, unwilling to leave her precious grandson to the servants, had taken him into her own courtyard to raise personally. Now, over two years had passed.
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