Higher Level Wife - 282 - The Truth

Chapter 282: The Truth

Author: White Pear Flower

Raws: https://book.qidian.com/info/2386994/

Translated by Gumihou

Proofread by Pill Bug

Gumihou: Did my best to make it so that it’s less like a bad fanfiction. Make sure at least Fu Qiuning still has her brains

Fu Qiuning paused. “Shui’er is dead?” [1]

After finally seeing a reaction from Fu Qiuning, no matter how lukewarm, Concubine Huo decided to press her advantage.

“Why pretend, Madam? After Shui’er left Elegant Mansion, she was found dead at home the next day. Isn’t this the act of killing someone to silence them? Perhaps you never imagined that she would meet with me to vent her frustrations before returning home. That is how I learned about this. Therefore, even though you have silenced her, it is all futile now. Don’t bother arguing with me, Madam. If Madam could produce a pair of coral earrings, just consider my arguments as a waste of breath.”

[2] “A waste of breath?” Fu Qiuning frowned. “You have just cast some serious accusations on me while dragging Madam Jiang, Second Madam Ying and the Young Marquis here, but you wish to escape with just a ‘waste of breath’ if I managed to produce a pair of coral earrings?”

[2] She was just interested to see what kind of answer Concubine Huo would give to this perfectly reasonable question.

“Th-this…” Concubine Huo looked around wildly.

There was no help from Jin Fengju’s side, of course. As for the Jiang women, they could already see that this was a mere farce and refused to be dragged into it.

Before she could formulate a good answer, Fu Qiuning continued, [2] “Speaking of which, since you are the last person to see Shui’er alive, aren’t you the most suspicious person? Not to mention, you were the one who ‘found’ the coral earring after insisting on cleaning the study yesterday. Therefore, regardless of whether it was the death of this Shui’er or the lost earring, aren’t you the most suspicious one?”

She said this in a semi-interested, curious way. Not at all accusative or excited.

“Perhaps it’s because Heaven could not bear to see injustice brought upon the master and us; therefore, I was led to discover your crime.”

[2] Fu Qiuning nearly snorted in disbelief. She thought to herself: Seriously? Just because this woman could not talk herself out of trouble through logic, she invoked the name of god? In this case, the so-called ‘Heaven’?

[2] She gave the woman a pitying look, “First, I thank you for the gift. It was courtesy that made me hesitate to mention a certain matter to you or anyone within the residence about this. However, in light of this incident, I shall make a confession.”

“Hah!” Concubine Huo sneered delightedly.

[2] “I must confess that I have a serious skin sensitivity to coral beads. I did try to wear coral accessories once, but, well, let’s just say that I had an unfortunate reaction. Enough that both Yu Jie and Jian Feng felt that they had to keep all the coral material away from me. Moreover, fearing that junior maids would mistakenly put coral jewellery on me, all coral accessories had been locked and hidden away.” She paused and looked at Concubine Huo again, “Therefore, I have no idea how or when you would have ‘seen me wearing them for two days’ when I hardly had them on in time to brew a cup of tea.”

Realisation dawned on Concubine Huo’s face, but still, she muttered, “No, that can’t be…”

“If you do not believe me, I can put them on now. We’ll see what happens in a little while.”

With that, she reached out to pick up the earring, but Jin Fengju grabbed her wrist and said sternly, “Enough, Qiuning. The situation is clear; there’s no need to wear it and suffer needlessly.”

Ignoring him, Fu Qiuning put on the earring. [3] The hook for the earring happened to have a bright red coral stone that rested right in front of the piercing, making it look more like a stud than a regular hook earring. This was a special distinction that set this pair of earrings apart from all the other earrings. This also meant that, with the stone directly touching the tender skin of her earlobe, it did not take long for her skin to turn red and small bumps to appear.

When Jin Fengju saw the redness starting to spread across Fu Qiuning’s face, his heart ached even more. Knowing how kind-hearted Fu Qiuning was and how sorrowful she must have been about Shui’er’s death, even though she did not show it openly… this must be her way of punishing herself under grief…

This riled up Jin Fengju even more against that junior maid, especially since he had already investigated her and found that the maid had acted under greed for money and was in no way forced to be a spy. Therefore, even if she was silenced, it was not an unjust death.

Thus, he grabbed Fu Qiuning’s hand and whispered, “Qiuning, Shui’er was not forced into spying. Just because you have driven her out of Elegant Mansion, what happened to her after that was her own fault. There’s no need for you to worry about that silly thing. With that kind of behaviour, there was no way the Duke’s residence would ever keep her long. Her death has nothing to do with you. Quick, take this thing off, look how red your skin has become.”

Fu Qiuning gave him an incredulous look. What did he mean by her worrying over a maid?

While this was happening, Concubine Huo’s eyes widened with shock and despair. Jiang Wanying had to close her eyes against this woman’s idiocy, unable to look at this embarrassment anymore. As for Madam Jiang, she was frowning deeply, her gaze as sharp as knives as she glared at Concubine Huo. Naturally, she was not at all worried for Fu Qiuning; however, who knows what else this woman had been planning to do when she entered her son’s study?!

[1a]

“So Lord Husband and Madam already knew all along. So why this farce? Why did you make me do this?!” Concubine Huo shouted bitterly at Jin Fengju.

Jin Fengju’s voice was very even as he said, “To avoid raising your suspicion, I had thought to leave you alone as you play spy, thinking that I may have a use for a chess piece like you someday. However, now that you have shown your hand, there is no longer a need to keep this pawn anymore. Why do you think I allowed you to clean the study yesterday?”

Concubine Huo suddenly collapsed to the floor. The once gentle and considerate husband was now gazing at her with eyes as ruthless as a snake. Indeed, he had been kind to her even after Fu Qiuning had come into the picture. He had been considerate, even though he no longer favoured her. He even made sure that their daughter was not mistreated or looked down upon and gifted her with expensive gifts.

In the end, it was her helplessness that had ruined everything. [4] Her fate was sealed the moment Jin Fengju decided that she was of no use to him. She could use the excuse that her father had given her some martial arts training and inserted her into the Duke’s household, but wasn’t that the same for Fu Qiuning? Why was she forgiven and favoured? Isn’t it because Jin Fengju decided to favour her that he happily forgot the past?

A wave of despair washed over her as she recalled all the times she had tried her best to win his favour. In the end, it was all for nought.

She stumbled two steps back, her eyes blurry with tears. The sound of Jin Fengju’s cold voice was harsh in her ears as he ordered her to be dragged out and locked in the woodshed. As she was pulled away, she glanced desperately at Jiang Wanying. [5] Who stared back at her with impassive, resolute eyes.

[5] Jiang Wanying had already made her decision.

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Less than two days after Concubine Huo’s incident, Jin Xiuzhen fell ill, and Jin Fengju hurriedly sent for an Imperial Physician for her. [6] Jiang Wanying was already there, by the girl’s bedside, when Jin Fengju arrived to look at his daughter.

[6] Jiang Wanying said with a light-hearted thrill, “Goodness, no wonder Tian Yu and Qiu Xia did what they did back then. How foolish of me to be so arrogant towards Meiyun and Xiangmian. Ah, now that I think about it, Qiu Xia happened to be rather close to her. I had asked her many times not to be too close, but she often advised me not to make enemies as the mistress of the house. To think they were on the Crown Prince’s side all this while. Now, this really brings to mind the idiom ‘Residing in the Cao camp while thinking of the Han Dynasty’.”

Jin Fengju sipped his tea slowly. “Alright, stop dwelling on it. Although she was a traitor, I am an upright person who fears no shadows. There is no way for her to harm me.” After a pause, he said, “You heard what Physician Liu said, Zhen-girl must be feeling down right now. As for you, if you do not feel well, you may have Yanfang handle the household affairs. Qiuning is unable to attend to the household as the Empress Dowager is waiting for her to create a new opera.”

Jiang Wanying smiled back [6a] winsomely, “I am familiar with the household affair, no need to bother Sister Yanfang. However, this matter must have been so traumatic for the children, yes? To think that Lord Husband and Elder Sister knew about it all this while… But, I do feel sorry for the girl. She had never been close to me. Now that her mother had caused such a commotion, I wonder, what does Lord Husband plan to do with her?”

“I have spoken to her. She is willing to stay with her siblings; therefore, I shall send her to Elegant Mansion.” Jin Fengju took another sip of tea, sighed, and continued, “There is no need to keep thinking about Xiangmian, although what she had done deserves punishment. I have investigated and found that she had been following her father’s orders and had no choice in her actions. Moreover, she was only informed about Shui’er’s death after the maid was killed. Therefore, she was not the mastermind of the girl’s death. Not to mention, she was still that girl’s mother; therefore, I will not be too ruthless. I plan to keep Xiangmian confined for a few days before sending her back to her maternal home.”

“Is that so?” Jiang Wanying’s eyes flickered, but that was all she said.

[Gumihou: …#SupportforJiangWanying]

[1] Delete weird, dramatic speeches and gestures

[1a] Deleted 190 word calmly spoken speech. Which was just a summary of what had already happened. Went up to 250 words, including the gasps of awe and despair that went with it.

[2] Raising FQN’s IQ to normal level

[3] Give a bit more detail to make this coral earring distinct from other regular coral earrings, and explain why the allergic reaction happened so quickly

[4] Observe these hasty patches to show Concubine Huo’s evilness

It was her, she was helpless. From the moment her father secretly invited a martial artist to teach her some skills, to marrying into the Duke’s mansion, her fate was already sealed.

[5] Even here, the author did not waste a moment to make Jiang Wanying look bad

She couldn’t help but look at Jiang Wanying, her desperate eyes showing the last trace of pity and advice for her ally: stop. Well, stop being obsessed with it. At least you can still see this man, and you can use your children to tie up a trace of his concern. This is really very happy.

[6] Realistic reaction from Jiang Wanying, instead of a shitty 2D villainous idiot. Also, add details for transitional reasons. Author really did not put much thought into this scene beyond doing her best to make JWY look bad.

[6a] Have her be cheerfully annoying, since that’s what she had been doing all this time.

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