Chapter 35.2

PROOFREAD BY AFREANA

There was no candlelight inside the woodshed. The scent of wood and ashes mixed with blood enveloped her, making her feel disgusted. An Ruoxi held back her nausea as she saw the old nanny lying on the floor through the moonlight trickling from the window. She was covered in blood, stained with mud and dust, with a cloth towel stuffed in her mouth. Her face was blue, and her eyes were tightly closed.

An Ruoxi swallowed her saliva, suppressing her nervousness, then carefully went forward and gently called ‘Nanny Song’ twice. The old nanny did not answer and did not move. An Ruoxi’s mind was in turmoil. She couldn’t really die like this, could she?

An Ruoxi went forward and reached out to check the old nanny’s nostrils. Her fingers accidentally touched the old nanny’s nose, and she suddenly moved. An Ruoxi screamed and fell to the ground, startled. This movement awakened the old nanny, and she struggled to open her swollen eyes but managed to barely open a slit. It made her eyes narrow in a vicious stare, which caused An Ruoxi’s heart to beat like a drum and subconsciously move back.

The old nanny looked at her like this for a long time, did not move, and did not speak. An Ruoxi whispered: “Nanny Song, l brought you water and medicine for your injuries.”

The old nanny remained silent. An Ruoxi carefully removed the cloth from the old nanny’s mouth and handed the bottle of water to her lips. The old nanny hesitated for a moment and opened her mouth. An Ruoxi was delighted to see this, gently holding the old nanny’s head and feeding her some water. The old nanny could not swallow, so she spilled the water mixed with blood from her mouth, staining An Ruoxi’s hand.

An Ruoxi almost screamed again, resisting the urge to shake her hand, and continued to feed the old nanny a few sips of water.

The old nanny drank some of it and seemed refreshed a bit.

An Ruoxi was not so scared at this time. After she wiped her hands with a handkerchief, she took out a bottle of medicine from her bosom: “I also brought you medicine.” But the old nanny’s body was full of blood which made her unable to discern where to start.

The old nanny spoke up at this time: “What bad intentions are you playing with, you hypocrite?”

Her voice was too hoarse and weak to be heard. Even so, An Ruoxi could still hear the sarcasm in her words. She gritted her teeth and said stiffly, “I just want to save you because you are so badly hurt.”

The old nanny seemed to want to speak but couldn’t catch a breath. An Ruoxi watched fearfully, not knowing what to do. After a while, the old nanny forced her energy and said, “What do you want from saving me?”

An Ruoxi bit her lips but could not answer.

But the old nanny actually did not need any answer from her, she weakly continued: “You are all poisonous-hearted. You are pretending to save me but want to use me to deal with my miss. You think I’m old and confused. I used to be confused, but now I am not ……” at this point, she could not catch her breath and opened her eyes wide. Her scary face and the blood on her body made her look like a ghost.

An Ruoxi was so scared that she could not squat anymore and fell to the ground.

Seeing her like this, the old nanny suddenly laughed, revealing a mouth full of blood. “You want to harm my girl. Even if I become a ghost, I will not let all of you go ……” her voice sounded like a whisper, but it coldly entered her ear, cutting like a knife.

An Ruoxi was so frightened that she moved backward while holding onto the ground, trying to stand up. She shouldn’t have come here. She regretted it. The old nanny looked at her with swollen eyes and suddenly said: “I won’t let all of you go ……” This time the voice was inaudible, but An Ruoxi looked at her lips and understood. Her heart beat like a drum while cold sweat dampened her back, and she couldn’t move. She stared at the old nanny, and the old nanny stared back at her.

Neither of them moved for a long time.

An Ruoxi looked at the old nanny and suddenly felt something was wrong. She turned around and saw her third sister, An Ruolan, hiding outside the door, with her face half exposed behind the door panel, looking terrified. An Ruoxi turned her head again to look at the old nanny. The old nanny was still motionless and frightening. An Ruoxi swallowed hard and heard An Ruolan behind her ask in a whisper, “Is she dead?”

An Ruoxi moved and crawled forward with shaking hands. An Ruolan walked in bravely but did not dare to get too close.

An Ruoxi reached out and shook her hand in front of the old nanny. Her eyes were still open but frozen. An Ruoxi clenched her teeth and carefully reached out her finger to check the old nanny’s nostrils. Suddenly, she heard An Ruolan’s scream just as she got closer. An Ruoxi jumped up and also screamed. The two sisters ran outside, stumbling all the way out of the backyard and into the nearest garden, hiding in the bushes while gasping for breath.

They looked at the road, but no one came after them. An Ruoxi felt that the old nanny followed them, only she was not human anymore, but she had died and became a ghost.

“Did you kill her?” An Ruolan asked with a frightened expression.

An Ruoxi jumped in fright and screamed, “I didn’t.”

“But she died after you gave her something to drink.”

“That was water! Water!” An Ruoxi screamed and grabbed An Ruolan’s shoulder, exclaiming, “I didn’t, I didn’t, it was water.”

An Ruolan struggled in fear. An Ruoxi subconsciously tried to grab her. An Ruolan kicked and scratched her, then finally broke away and ran wildly. An Ruoxi felt pain in her hand. Shocked by An Ruolan’s violent reaction, she looked at her sister’s back as she ran away and disappeared, muttering, “I didn’t kill her, I didn’t. I don’t want her to die. She mustn’t die.”

An Ruoxi slid down the tree and sat on the ground, recalling that she had told Mrs. Tan earlier that the old nanny must have heard everything and that she would tell her elder sister. She also remembered Mrs. Tan saying that the old nanny should not be allowed to live. Once the image of the old nanny staring at her with those eyes came back at her, saying with that breathless voice that she would not let her go even if she became a ghost, An Ruoxi shivered and put her arms around herself.

There was silence all around her. An Ruoxi did not know how long she sat there. Suddenly she thought of something and jumped up, ignoring her wretched state, and rushed straight into Mrs. Tan’s room.

Mrs. Tan saw her appearance and was shocked. An Ruoxi took her mother’s hand and shouted, “Mother, she’s dead, she’s dead. I didn’t do it, but when the third sister saw it, she insisted that it was me, and we argued. Mother, you must teach her not to say nonsense! It wasn’t me!”

Mrs. Tan was bewildered by what she heard but vaguely guessed what was happening. She shouted for An Ruoxi to calm down, poured a glass of water for her to drink, and said sternly, “Calm down, talk properly! What happened?”

An Ruoxi took several breaths and settled down. She explained she went to the old nanny to pretend to bring her water and medicine in order to find out how much the old nanny had actually heard and who her ally was, but her injuries were too severe. She only drank water and cursed twice before she died. She did not notice that An Ruolan followed her and saw everything. An Ruolan thought she killed the old nanny. She tried to explain, but An Ruolan ran away.

“She will definitely tell the Third Aunt. She might even tell her maids.” The more An Ruoxi said, the more panicked she became. She took Mrs. Tan’s hand and said, “Mother, you have to help me. Don’t let them talk nonsense. If this gets to the eldest sister’s ears, it will be terrible, and we won’t be able to deal with it then.”

After listening to An Ruoxi, Mrs. Tan didn’t feel anxious. Master had openly spoken about this matter. The third concubine, Mrs. Xue, was a wallflower. She liked to provoke and instigate, stood on whichever side was advantageous but never dared to go against An Zhifu’s wishes. 

Mrs. Xue would not take the old nanny’s life or death into account and would naturally understand what was happening with An Zhifu’s warning. Even if she thought An Ruoxi had done something, she wouldn’t dare to go around saying it, and she would be smart enough to teach her daughter to shut her mouth as well. But An Ruoxi reminded her to be mindful of one thing.