The Mute Wife Who Brings Prosperity-Chapter 660 - 622: Breaking the Truth (First Update)
Nanny Qin was puzzled in her heart. After taking just two steps forward, she saw the household doctor come out.
"Old sir." Nanny Qin’s voice was almost choked with sobs.
The household doctor looked up at her.
"Please, I’m begging you, take a look at the child. I have some money on hand, I can give you money..."
This doctor was specifically for treating the masters of the house. If the servants needed treatment, they had to first inform the masters to get permission. But she hadn’t seen the lady previously and dared not waste any more time. Qing’s condition was already very serious.
The household doctor did not come over. He stood from afar looking at her, "Don’t you know that you are already infected with the epidemic?"
"What?" Nanny Qin was stunned, "Epidemic?"
The household doctor nodded, pointing at the pot over the fire where medicine was brewing, "The medicine in there was specially prescribed by the lady, intended to prevent the epidemic."
At this point, he sighed, "I heard you took leave to visit your parents. Who exactly did you come into contact with there? Why did you become like this as soon as you returned?"
The household doctor’s words were as shocking as a bolt from the blue. Nanny Qin’s eyes widened, and she was left speechless.
Whom had she contacted?
She had met a woman.
That woman had once kidnapped her husband and threatened her to come to the Song family.
At that time, they had planned for her to climb into Song Wei’s bed to discomfort Mrs. Wen and ruin the relationship between this couple.
But then, plans changed at the last minute; they told her not to do anything and just to properly feed the young master. Once she received her monthly salary, she would leave the Song Mansion.
On her way back, Nanny Qin was still troubled. Things had reached this point, how could someone suddenly have a change of heart and stop short of the precipice? Looking at it now, had she fallen into a trap?
"Old sir, how did you know that I contracted the epidemic?" Nanny Qin asked anxiously.
The household doctor didn’t reply, his eyes filled with sympathy.
Nanny Qin was about to lose control, guilty and fearful, she hurried to defend herself, "I didn’t meet anyone, I just happened to visit some relatives. I don’t know how I caught this disease."
The household doctor said, "If you came into contact with someone who had the epidemic, were too close to them, or used utensils they had used, you could have been infected."
Upon hearing this, Nanny Qin’s face turned pale.
She remembered the very sick woman in the inn on the small town. She had talked with her for quite a while after going in and had used the cup on the table.
A chill crept from her feet to her head, and Nanny Qin almost couldn’t stand firm.
"It is evident that your son doesn’t have a high fever but is infected with the epidemic due to being breastfed by you."
Suddenly, a clear voice came from behind. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
Startled, Nanny Qin turned her head and saw Yun Cai and Linglong holding lanterns on either side, followed by several matrons, surrounding Wen Wan, who was wearing a feathered satin cape. Everyone had their mouths and noses covered with white cloths soaked in medicinal juice, leaving only their eyes exposed.
"Madam..."
Nanny Qin was overwhelmed, and her knees buckled as she knelt down.
Wen Wan stopped at the entrance of the courtyard, looking at her coldly, "Did you ever consider that if I hadn’t discovered your whereabouts in time and replaced Qi Bao, the one infected with the epidemic by being breastfed by you would have been her?"
Nanny Qin’s heart was sour. Caught red-handed, she had nothing to say.
Wen Wan cradled the warming stove in her hands, her tone growing increasingly unkind, "Now you have only two paths. Either I give you your monthly salary, and you leave with your son, or you confess who you’re working for right away."
The implication was that if she left with her son immediately, both mother and child would soon die from the torment of the epidemic.
But if she confessed everything, there might still be hope for recovery.
Nanny Qin bit her lip and finally whispered, "This servant, this servant doesn’t dare to say."
Fearful that speaking would lead to her death the next day.
She hadn’t dared forget a single word of the woman’s warning before she left.
Upon hearing this, Yun Cai immediately became furious, "I said there’s something off about this wicked woman. It’s one thing to seek out the master to write letters in the middle of the night, but every time the master reads in the main room, she has a litany of excuses to linger. Turns out, there’s someone behind her, yet she still won’t confess. Just who sent you here as a spy?"
Nanny Qin still kept her mouth shut, trembling all over.
Wen Wan did not wish to dwell any longer on this matter and instructed Yun Cai, "Give her this month’s salary and let her leave."
"Madam, I..." Nanny Qin suddenly raised her head; she didn’t want to die, nor did she want to watch her son die with open eyes.
Yun Cai spat, "Ignorant, contemptible thing!"
Perhaps it’s due to the heightened intuition women naturally have in this area. Even though Nanny Qin hadn’t admitted her true purpose for coming to the Song Mansion, Yun Cai immediately thought of seduction.
Thinking about it, she felt a wave of disgust.
Even if the master wants to take a concubine, it should be a woman from a decent family; at the very least, a maidservant by madam’s side should be given precedence. When would it be a widow’s turn to dream?
Wen Wan wasn’t planning to coerce her and turned to leave.
Nanny Qin crawled on the ground, "I beg you, madam, save Qing. He’s only four months old, still an innocent baby who knows nothing."
"You do remember you have a four-month-old child?" Wen Wan turned her head, her slightly cold gaze devoid of emotion, "When you initially schemed to get close to the master, did you ever think about anything?"
Nanny Qin’s already pale face grew even more desperate, and the cries at her lips turned into bitter laughter.
Poor her, she had always thought she had been disguising herself successfully. Little did she know everything was under the madam’s control. No wonder every time she was about to get close to Song Wei, Mrs. Wen would appear at just the right moment to unhurriedly thwart her plans.
Thinking of these things, Nanny Qin began to weep tears of regret and humiliation.
But since things had already progressed to this point, she had no way out and could only continue to plead, "It’s entirely the servant’s fault, madam. You can punish the servant however you wish, but please don’t involve the innocent. Qing knows nothing."
"Your life is worthless; it’s of no use to me," Wen Wan relaxed her attitude, "Tell me honestly, who sent you to the Song family, and what are you here for? Explain clearly, and I’ll give you a chance at life and have someone treat your son. Fail to explain, and then you and your son can only reunite on the Yellow Springs Road."
Thinking of her son lying lethargically in her room, Nanny Qin finally lowered her head, snot and tears streaming, "I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you everything."
Yun Cai looked at Wen Wan with a complicated expression, "Madam, are you really planning to just let her go?"
Wen Wan didn’t respond, but instead instructed Linglong, "Cover her mouth and nose, and take her to Qingteng Residence."
A quarter-hour later.
In front of the main house at Qingteng Residence.
Wen Wan sat beneath the eaves, her gaze coldly directed at the woman kneeling in the courtyard.
She had contracted an epidemic; therefore, Wen Wan didn’t allow her to get too close, and hence she knelt a bit further away.
"Speak," Wen Wan leisurely picked up a teacup from the three-legged stand and took a sip.
"The person who sent me to the Song Mansion was a man in black," Nanny Qin shrank back as she confessed truthfully, "They kidnapped my husband as leverage and said if I didn’t obey, they would kidnap my son, too."
"And your purpose in coming to the Song Mansion?" Yun Cai furrowed her brows.
"I..." Nanny Qin bit her lip, "It wasn’t voluntary; they forced me to seduce the master."
As these words came out, Linglong and several other servants at Qingteng Residence couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Nanny Qin only felt her face burning hot, both ashamed and embarrassed.
Yun Cai felt as though she had heard an enormous joke, "They asked a widow forced by circumstances into the mansion as a nanny to seduce the male master? Is your master brainless?"
After Yun Cai spoke, Linglong and the others burst into laughter again.
Nanny Qin’s face reddened with humiliation, but she dared not show a fraction of it and could only continue to keep her head bowed.
Wen Wan, however, wanted to know more than just this, her gaze sharper and penetrating, making Nanny Qin shudder.
"So, your master is Su Yi?"
Nanny Qin appeared confused, "I don’t know who Su Yi is."
"Then who did you meet when you took leave?"
"I don’t know who she is either; I was just brought to a small town. There was an inn in that town, and a green-clothed maid led me up, where a very sick woman resided. She was veiled, so I couldn’t see her face clearly, but she was the one who coerced me to come to the Song Mansion."
That small town was a necessary stop on the road to Suzhou. Even without a hunch, Wen Wan could guess that the woman Nanny Qin referred to was Su Yi, but now the problem was, as a secluded wife, how could Su Yi accomplish so much? The Su family was already gone; how had she cultivated a secret line under the nose of the patriarch?
Ningzhou had so many witnesses; how could Su Yi, without stepping out, possibly investigate things so thoroughly?
Moreover, when Wang Xiaolang was kidnapped, even Wei Qian and his people had lost track of him. At that time, Song Wei mentioned there was a very secretive power behind it, and their strength wasn’t weak.
It seems this time the troublemaker isn’t just Su Yi; there’s another group involved. But apart from Su Yi, who else could be participating in this affair?
