But what if they don’t return it? What if Huo Yuan stands up for the Mu Family? How can they withstand his anger?
As she was struggling with this, Xiao Hong, a maid from Changchun Garden, arrived. She knelt on the ground in a panic: "Old Madame, Auntie Mei has passed away!"
Old Madame exclaimed in shock: "What?"
Everyone in the room was in disbelief: "What did you just say?"
In the face of the scrutiny of the masters in the room, Xiao Hong shrank back timidly but mustered the courage to repeat, "To answer Old Madame, Auntie Mei... has died..."
"How could this happen?"
Old Madame Wang clutched her chest, as though she had been punched. She had difficulty breathing, and her three sons also wore expressions of panic.
Lady Mei had died, died within the Duke An’s Mansion. Now, even if they were willing to release Mu Zhongqing, to return the Mu Family’s shops and lands, the enmity between the two families had still been firmly formed. It was a major grudge that could not be resolved.
"What actually happened? How could she suddenly pass away?"
Seeing Old Madame looked greatly affected, Second Lady Wang hurriedly rose to help her catch her breath, and took the opportunity to inquire about the cause of Lady Mei’s death.
Stifling her sobs, Xiao Hong said: "After Lady Du and her family were driven out of the mansion, Auntie Mei has been crying. No matter how much we tried to comfort her, she wouldn’t listen. Suddenly, she fell down and died before Xiao Qing and I could summon help..."
Xiao Hong was very smart. She could see that the masters in the mansion were deeply concerned about Lady Mei’s death. Realising the consequences if the real cause of her death was discovered, she insisted that Lady Mei had died of a sudden illness and didn’t even have the time to ask for help.
In fact, there was a significant discrepancy between the real cause of Lady Mei’s death and what Xiao Hong said. That morning, when Lady Du’s family was driven out, Lady Mei was overwhelmed with grief, her heart disease flared up, but Xiao Hong and Xiao Qing, who were responsible for watching over Changchun Garden, thought Lady Mei was pretending to be ill out of fear of being held accountable by Old Madame. As a result, they ignored her. Xiao Qing even resentfully kicked her several times for pretending to be ill, and they both busy with their own tasks.
After they had lunch and noticed no movement in Lady Mei’s room, they went in to check and found that Lady Mei had been dead for half a day; her body had already stiffened...
The two maids panicked and hurriedly reported to Old Madame.
"Quick, find some reliable maids to check if she’s really dead! Hua Mei, you go too!"
Finally regaining her composure, Old Madame, upon hearing that Lady Mei had just died, held out hope and urgently ordered people to check.
Xiao Hong understood perfectly well. If Lady Mei’s body had already stiffened, how could she not be thoroughly dead? However, she didn’t dare to say anything at this moment, kept her head down, and tried to make herself less noticeable.
The death of Auntie Mei can be said to be directly related to her and Xiao Qing, but they could not be entirely blamed. After all, the mansion had instructed them to secretly accuse the other family of theft using valuable items, gone to the officials, and expelled them. Hence, they both thought that the Mu Family was finished, and only then did they treat Auntie Mei like they did.
If the mansion hadn’t done these things, wouldn’t they still have to respect and serve the old lady like before? Would they have ignored her sickness and let her die?
Hua Mei returned quickly, and from her expression alone, the results were already clear.
"How did it go? Is it hopeless?
Old Madame Wang asked nervously.
Paying her respects, Hua Mei whispered, "Old Madame, Auntie Mei is indeed dead."