23 Consequences (1/2)

For the next couple of days, the Jiang Manor felt like it was surrounded by a thick, overwhelming cloud of tension. The interactions felt strained, voices sounded lower than usual, even the wild animals that usually made an appearance near the fruit trees were nowhere to be seen.

It was like the entire household had held its breath, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

As if in a tacit agreement, the incidents of that day were never mentioned again – not even whispered between boiling chickens or cleaning equipments.

Once their carriage had arrived at the house's front door, Sam had jumped down and locked herself on her room, barely talking or seeing anyone besides Ah Mei, that kept updating and coaxing her even when not asked.

Qing Shan, for her time, seemed to be in a daze. Different from what Sam had expected, her sister didn't try and talk or reprimand her for her carelessness. She still kept up with the house's chores, but, as Sam and Ah Mei had seen, apart from what was strictly necessary, Qing Shan would usually be found wandering aimlessly through the gardens, her gaze lost as her mind travelled to places unknown.

After a particularly bad morning, when Qing Shan had answered the same thing for three different questions, Sam had decided to go looking for her wayward brother. Until that moment, she had been avoiding going even near his courtyard, fearing his response at seeing her after everything.

Her worries, however, turned out to be necessary. As a very worried Ye Qi had informed her when she tried sneaking into his quarters, Fei Hong had locked himself up on his study and refused to go out or meet anyone.

Not even her.

It was also the first time in a while no-one from General He's camp had come into the manor with instructions or paperwork for him to deal with.

”History repeats itself: first as tragedy, second as farce” she mused once, as she sat on her writing desk, eyes locked on a particularly blurred page of one of the books she had found on the volt, as if trying to will the words to make sense.

”Miss?” Ah Mei had asked, looking up from preparing her night routine ”Did you say something?”.

Instead of answering right away, Sam had only sighed, letting her fingers hover over an ink blotch on the yellow page.

'Stay away from the Crown Prince... Or next time, I'll make sure you won't be so fortunate as to see another day…' Tong Zhi Ruo's words sounded as clear as if the girl was standing right at her side.

If she considered Crown Prince's behavior when she had bumped onto him on the street... Well, the picture was very easily drawn.

”Ah, Ah Mei...?” she called, sending the girl a tired look ”Am I destined to relive her mistakes? Is history really fated to repeat itself?”. Sam thought it would be almost funny... If that didn't mean a crazy girl had attached a target on her forehead.

”Her?” Ah Mei mumbled, before brushing the weird word choices to the side ”Miss... My mother used to say Heavens will do good for good people. It is our karma when it will happen, but is our choice if they ever will” she said slowly, sending her a reassuring smile ”Miss... You are also a good person. The heavens will not forget it.”

Sam didn't say anything – she didn't feel like she was able too. Instead, she did the only thing she could: got up and walked straight to the young girl, her eyes bright with unshed tears. Before Ah Mei had time to say anything else, Sam had already pushed her up and enveloped her small frame on a tight embrace.

”Thank you” she whispered, hoping the younger woman would be able to understand, on those two words, everything she wasn't able to say out loud.

______________________________________

On that night, as Ah Mei was helping her get ready for bed – a practice Sam was not yet entirely comfortable with – she was reading once again over what was becoming her journal, where she would register everything she knew, everything she thought was important and, most of all, everything she still needed to figure out.

One thing in particular, had been nagging at the back of her head for a time now: the situation with the Jiang servants. had another entirely different thing occupying her mind.

Apart from Ah Mei, Zi Zhu, Ye Qi, and a few higher graded members of the staff, it seemed like all the others where afraid of her. Even now, they would still whisper, avoid her path or even apologize in an almost desperate way every time something didn't go precisely as it should've.

What was more, Sam had overheard some of them talking about poor Li Qi's fate, and how unfortunate was for the girls that had been assigned to her courtyard to still be there.

It was easy, once she had a target, to discover that Li Qi ha been her previous Personal Maid. But about what happened to her, Sam didn't have a clue.

”Miss, are you all right?” Ah Mei asked in a worried voice as she delicately brushed Sam's long, damp hair ”You look troubled.”

”Hum... Actually, Ah Mei, I've been meaning to ask you this for a while now...” Sam begun tentatively, deciding to try her luck on the opportunity that had shown itself.

Just as she knew would happened, Ah Mei answered promptly.

”Miss, whatever it is miss wants to ask, you know this servant will answer truthfully”.

”Oh, it is nothing that serious, really!” she assured her ”It is just... Well, you said before that you were not my personal maid, and that you were just kind of filling in... Right?” Sam waited for the girl to contradict her, but as she just nodded slowly, seeming a bit confused with her choice of words, she went on ”I've also noticed that Zi Zhu seems to be with Qing, eh, my sister since they were very young.”

”That is right, miss” Ah Mei agreed ”After the tragedy with Master Hao Chen back then, I hear she was one of the few Young Master Fei Hong was able to buy back when everything was explained”.

”Hum... I see” Sam reached for a small essence bowl, beginning to rub it on her hair slowly ”And, what about Li Qi, then...? Was she also lost on that occasion?”

Ah Mei's movements suddenly stopped, her face freezing completely.

”Ah Mei, what is it? Did I say something wrong?” Sam asked confusedly, turning to stare at her deathly-pale face ”Hey... Ah Mei, why are you suddenly like this?”.

”Xiaojie... This servant... This servant can't...” she gulped, working her fingers nervously around Sam's jade comb.

”Ah Mei... What is it that really happened to my maid? Please, just tell me!” she demanded with a hardened voice, barely able to listen over her heartbeat ringing on her ears ”Ah Mei!”.

”XiaoJie... She... She is dead.”

”What...?” Sam repeated, suddenly feeling out of balance ”But... But what...? Why...?” her head spun painfully, a thousand different scenarios rolling around her mind as she turned to look at Ah Mei, grabbing her hand in a tight grip ”Please tell me what happened” she almost begged, not quite able to make sense of the sense of urgency she was feeling.

Ah Mei was silent for a few seconds, a battle clear on her dark, round eyes.

”Miss” she finally said, pain etched on her face ”At that time... No one knows exactly what happened. They say the Nanny that had been raising you died on the fire, when Master Hao Chen was accused of treason... Since then, you had been with Li Qi, one of the new girls added to the staff. Things seemed good between you two until... U-until one night...”

”Yes? Until what happened that night?”

”That night... The maids say they heard noise of something breaking on miss's room... Everyone thought it was an assassin when Miss started to scream, but... But when the guards and the rest of the staff arrived” she stopped once more, taking a deep breath ”Miss said the girl had broken a very important jade peace... The last from your mother's dowry. Miss sentenced her to be stricken fifty times”.

All blood left Sam's body, draining through the floor like water running between her fingers. The whistle on her ears became louder.

”What else?” she asked on a barely audible whisper ”What else did I do?”

”Miss...” Ah Mei fidgeted ”When her family came to pick the body... Miss overheard they saying something bad about the family” Sam closed her eyes, tears pooling under her lashes.

”Did... Did I kill them all?” her voice was crocked, choking in a sob.

When Ah Mei kept silent, with her head bent low, Sam already knew the answer.

”All right, I understand” she said, eyes still closed ”You may step down now”.

”Miss...”

”Please, Ah Mei... Just go” she insisted, rising slowly and walking to her bed, never once looking back at the younger girl ”I want to be alone.”

It was just when she heard Ah Mei's steps disappearing outside, when she was sure none of her sibling's servants were anywhere near, that she finally let the tears fall, choking her breath on full-on sobs that rocketed her body painfully.

It was the first time she understood how brutal that world could truly be. And how unforgiving was the girl whose life she was now living.

_____________________________________________

The morning begun quiet. Maybe a bit too quiet to her taste.

As she woke up, Sam begun to call for Ah Mei, expecting the girl to be right at the other side of the door with a soul of warm water, but as the doors opened, her face scrunched in a confused frown.

”Hum... Who are you?” she asked the young, tremulous girl with a slightly cracked voice ”Where is Ah Mei? Why didn't she attend to me as usual?”

Without answering, the girl rushed to her dressing table, placing the bowl over the wooden surface and rushing back out as if Devil himself was hot on her hills.

”Hey!” Sam called ”Hey, come back! I didn't...” she stopped, seeing as there was only a closed door to talk with her. Sighing, Sam got up and started her morning routine ”Forget it” she mumbled to herself ”The girl is probably busy being nosy somewhere else”.

But, at the time another two different servant girls came in to help with her clothes and then bring her food inside, Sam couldn't pretend everything was normal anymore.

A very bad feeling was starting to bloom inside her stomach, making her movements nervous and her hands a bit shaky. Her suspicions were only confirmed when she tried going out and Ye Qi showed up in the middle of her yard's arch entrance, efficiently preventing her from going outside.

”Ye Qi, what is it?” she demanded ”What is happening here?!”

”Miss, I have orders to not let you get out of the Yard for today” he explained in a low, emotionless voice ”Miss, if you could please not make things hard on this servant... Please, just go back inside.”

Sam frowned. What was it now? Was she a prisoner on that house?!

”Who told you this? Was... Was it Fei Hong?” she asked, trying not to sound betrayed as she though about the man she was starting to view as an elder brother ”Right. Let me talk to him! I'm sure there is some kind of misunderstanding...”

”Miss” he repeated, putting himself once more on her way as she tried to walk around him. ”Please, I can't let you leave today. I can't defy Master Shu's orders!”

That name finally gave her pause. Master Shu... Jiang Wan Shu... Wasn't he...?

”Since when has uncle returned from the palace?” she asked Ye Qi.

”He is just arrived miss, not even an half hour ago” the aide explained with unease ”Now, please miss... If you could...”