Chapter 69: Burying the Dead Beneath Heaven and Earth

Widow Liu pulled her two daughters to kneel and kowtow to Tang Chaoyang.

Tang Chaoyang helped them up.

She reached out and gently patted Liu Ernian’s head, her lips curved in a warm smile.

“In the future, if you have any trouble, you can come to the last house on Zhuque Lane to find me. I am Doctor Tang.”

Liu Ernian lifted her delicate face, showing not the slightest fear of Tang Chaoyang. She smiled brightly and asked, “Benefactor Sister, won’t you take me as your maid? Ernian is very diligent!”

Tang Chaoyang pinched Liu Ernian’s cheek, squinting her eyes as she laughed aloud.

In her past life, Liu Ernian’s tongue had been not only quick but also fearlessly sharp.

“Being a maid isn’t easy. You should just live a good life with your mother.”

After speaking, she turned and left.

Following her didn’t necessarily mean living a better life.

Liu Ernian’s eyes stayed fixed on Tang Chaoyang’s departing figure.

She wanted to cry.

Liu Danian turned to see her younger sister’s tears streaming down and was startled.

“Ernian, why are you crying?”

Why cry for no reason?

Widow Liu gathered her younger daughter into her arms, then looked at Tang Chaoyang’s receding figure, puzzled. She lowered her head to gaze at Ernian weeping in her embrace, murmuring inwardly:

Could it be that this girl is crying just because the benefactor didn’t take her as a maid?

*[In her past life, in the twentieth year of Yuan’s reign, Liu Ernian had rushed over just in time to witness a middle-aged man slowly drawing the sword from Tang Chaoyang’s chest.

Actually, Liu Ernian knew Tang Chaoyang had always harbored a death wish yet had no choice but to live on. She had spent twenty years existing in the moment her son died in her arms.

And Liu Ernian herself had lived trapped in the day she and her sister had been tortured by Young Master Qin.

Tang Chaoyang’s death extinguished Liu Ernian’s will to live.

She embraced Tang Chaoyang’s corpse, burying them both beneath heaven and earth, offering their blood as sacrificial wine. Blood stained them both red. They died together on the same day.]**

In this life, Liu Ernian would live with her sister and mother, spending her days in simple peace, filled with the warmth of ordinary life.

**

Tang Chaoyang walked along the lively street. She had changed her appearance and wore a veiled hat, so she wasn’t afraid of being recognized.

Three young gentlemen approached, laughing as they passed her.

A thick reek of rouge and powder wafted over, along with their shameless chatter.

Their words made her footsteps pause for an instant.

“I heard that the number one beauty of the capital, Tang Chaoyang, actually got so desperate in the temple that she fornicated with a man. Tsk tsk.” One of the men laughed mockingly.

“Indeed,” the second man chimed in, his gaze filled with scorn. “Still, if I tried to seduce her, do you think she’d pay me any mind? After all, she is a beauty.”

“You can try,” the third man jeered even more brazenly. “But I’d rather sample the Prime Minister Fei’s woman—see what makes her so special.”

At those words, the other two men looked alarmed.

“Shh, shh! Watch your mouth, you idiot,” one of them warned in a low voice. “You dare to joke about Prime Minister Fei? You’ll bring disaster on yourself.”

Tang Chaoyang stood there coldly, listening to their base and shameless talk.

She knew someone must be fanning the flames in the dark—otherwise, this rumor wouldn’t have spread so quickly and widely.

She lowered her eyelids slightly. A chill flickered in her eyes.

These three men had clearly just come from the pleasure quarters. She made a mental note of them for later.

Tang Chaoyang returned to Wutong Courtyard, washed off her disguise, and changed into fresh clothes.

She sat before the bronze mirror, looking at the bare-faced beauty reflected there.

She curved her lips, opened her cosmetic case, and took out rouge, face powder, lip tint, floral ornaments, and an eyebrow brush.

She applied her makeup carefully, tracing her brows into a sharp, assertive arch. Last, she pressed her fingertip to the lip tint and dabbed it onto her lips.

In the mirror, a strikingly beautiful woman appeared—her gaze deep and commanding.

Tang Chaoyang rose, took a red velvet cloak, and draped it over her shoulders. She strode out of the room to the main hall.

Ma Jiang and Ma Ge were already waiting there.

“I want to know everything about Dong Xinrui recently. The two of you will find out whatever you can—the more details the better. For now, you’re coming with me to the Capital Academy.”

If it really was Dong Xinrui’s hand behind this, she would personally break every finger of it.

If once wasn’t enough, then twice.

She knew Dong Xinrui had the Empress Dowager, the Imperial Tutor, and Fei Yan protecting her. While she, Tang Chaoyang, had no one behind her, she would take her revenge carefully and patiently.

Ma Jiang and Ma Ge responded in unison, “Yes.”

The two of them followed Tang Chaoyang toward the Capital Academy.

Since the rumor involved Wang Quan, she would start with him to resolve it.

The Capital Academy stood on Wumen Street, backed by Scholar’s Hill.

Above the main gate hung a large plaque with four characters: Capital Academy.

The calligraphy was vigorous and flowing.

The inscription had been penned by the Academy’s founder fifty years ago.

Tang Chaoyang handed her visiting card to the gatekeeper, identifying herself and stating her purpose.

After he went to announce her, she was allowed to enter.

On the academy’s lecture square, the cold wind whistled.

Several plum trees stood along the edge. Now and then, the wind caught a petal, spinning it through the air before it settled to the ground.

Tang Chaoyang brushed a fallen blossom from her hair, her slender fingers pinching it delicately.

The plum was lovely—but her hand was lovelier still.

When she looked up, she saw two young men standing straight-backed in the cold wind.

Both wore the academy’s white scholar robes.

Their silhouettes looked vaguely familiar. She walked closer.

When she reached them, she realized they were her two younger cousins, Su Ziliang and Su Zijing.

“What are you two doing out here instead of in class?” She stopped in front of them, studying them doubtfully. “Were you punished?”

She saw their lips were already turning purple from the cold.

She frowned and took two pills from her pouch.

“Take these.”

Su Ziliang stared at her, momentarily dazed by her flamboyant beauty.

“Cousin… why have you come to the academy?” he asked, his voice shivering from the cold.

The once-elegant young man looked rather pitiful now.

They must have been standing here a long time.

If they stayed any longer, even healthy boys might fall ill.

“I have business here,” she said calmly. “But why exactly are you two being punished?”

“It’s because of you,” Su Zijing snorted. His tone was harsh but without real malice.

Hearing his brother, Su Ziliang’s face turned serious.

“Zijing! Apologize to our cousin,” he scolded.

Su Zijing turned his head away, showing her the back of it, and muttered stiffly, “Cousin… I’m sorry.”

He meant no harm—he was just angry.

Tang Chaoyang narrowed her eyes and smiled.

“Is it because of the recent rumors?”

Su Zijing turned to look at her incredulously when he saw her smiling.

“You can still smile?”

Tang Chaoyang tilted her head, blinking playfully.

“Then… shall I cry for you instead?”

“….”

The Su brothers finally understood a certain saying: Staring till your eyes ache, yet no urgent report arrives.

Meaning, they were the ones worried sick, while she, the person involved, wasn’t anxious at all.