The Scheming Minister's Kitchen Maid

CHAPTER 6

27

　　

He Xu's execution was set for fifteen days later.

The third brother and Guard Sun went to prepare for the rescue, while I went to a private residence under the cover of darkness.

The three-courtyard house was brightly lit, and inside a room, a man and a woman were entangled together, their voices filled with lust.

While they were in the heat of the moment, I quietly stood at the head of the bed.

The moment Qiu Hong opened her eyes, she saw me and her face turned pale.

“Xin Xi?”

Fearing that Cui Can would struggle and get in the way, I knocked him unconscious with a punch.

　　

Ignoring Qiu Hong's screams, I used a cowhide rope to tightly bind the two naked people together.

Perhaps heaven pitied me, and it suddenly started to rain.

The heavy rain poured down, falling on the bluestone slabs with a rhythmic patter, preventing the maidservants in the courtyard from hearing the noises from the room.

I splashed Cui Can with cold water to wake him up. He was dazed for only a moment before he began to curse.

“Damn Xin Xi, what are you doing? Untie me immediately!”

　　

“I'm going to the Ministry of Justice to be a junior clerk tomorrow, and you haven't come to kneel and apologize to me yet. As long as you apologize, I'll spare your life. If I'm in a good mood, I might even let your former master die a painless death!”

Looking at Cui Can's ferocious face, my heart was surprisingly calm.

“How could I have ever thought you were good? For you, I traveled to the capital for two months. I got a high fever on the way, but I didn't dare stop. I used snow to lower my temperature and continued rushing to the city.

　　

For half a month before entering the city, my food ran out, so I ate tree leaves and drank snow water. My stomach ached so badly I couldn't sleep all night.

But I never backed down. I thought that once we got to the city and earned money, we could live a peaceful life, but this is how you treated me.

Cui Can, I accept what you did to me. I was blind, and blind people should pay the price, but why did you harm the master!

You wrote the record. Others may not know, but I do. You're good at imitation; you've been able to imitate the words on official notices since you were a child!”

　　

Cui Can snorted disdainfully, not bothering to defend himself.

“So what? Xin Xi, I gave you a chance. If he had helped me, I would have naturally repaid him. But not only did he not help me, he also beat me forty times. He brought this upon himself!”

I slapped Cui Can hard across the face, causing him to be dazed.

“Didn't help you? You have the nerve to say he didn't help you? Without the master, you would have starved to death long ago. It was the master who gave me money and you white flour that kept you alive.

　　

After entering the capital, you couldn't find a place to live, I heard it all. It was the master who had Guard Sun find you a place and pay the rent!

You studied for half your life but couldn't pass the preliminary examination. You used me to send a letter to the master, and he exceptionally added your name to the list of candidates. Do you have any conscience?”

Cui Can was so angry and ashamed that he struggled constantly.

“Isn't that what he should do? He slept with you, so what if he gave me some compensation?”

I took a deep breath and began to punch Cui Can repeatedly.

　　

Cui Can was a bookworm; I always plowed the fields at home; he didn't have any strength at all.

Now, beaten until his nose and eyes were bleeding, he was still cursing even though he was dazed.

“Xin Xi, I... tomorrow I'll kill you. No one... can save you. I'm about to become an official…”

I smiled coldly, took out the hairpin from my hair, and stabbed it into Cui Can's spine again and again.

I stabbed wherever it hurt. I was strong, and each time the hairpin went deep to the bottom.

Blood flowed down Cui Can's body onto Qiu Hong. Qiu Hong's eyes widened in terror, and she screamed madly.

She wanted to call for the maidservants, but the rain was too heavy, and they couldn't hear her.

　　

I said, heaven is helping me.

“He deserves it... He amassed so much wealth, he deserves to die…”

My anger subsided somewhat. I took a stack of paper from the table, placed it beside the bed, and gave Cui Can a pen.

“Brother Cui, copy this letter, matching the handwriting on this document.”

“I won't copy it... I'll die before I copy it…”

Cui Can only glanced at the letter before his face turned pale.

I smiled, pressed the hairpin against the back of Cui Can's head, and whispered in his ear.

“Brother Cui, guess how much strength it would take to push this all the way in?”

Cui Can's body trembled uncontrollably, and his voice finally softened.

　　

“Xin Xi, I'll copy it. Will you let me go?”

“Brother Cui, once you copy it, you'll be helping me, and I'll have leverage over you. We'll be in this together.”

Cui Can hesitated no longer and, trembling, picked up the pen and began to copy. He finished in a short while.

I held up the letter and compared it to the official document in the firelight.

The third brother was right; these students were all learned.

The hairpin went in through the back of Cui Can's head and came out of his mouth, piercing his tongue...

My voice echoed through the room like a vengeful ghost, “The master shouldn't have died, but you all should.”

　　

Qiu Hong had gone mad with fear, struggling desperately to push Cui Can away.  

Just moments ago, she was calling him her dearest, but now she wanted nothing to do with him.  

Women are truly fickle.

“Xin Xi... it's all his fault. He was hoping to take advantage of you being an orphan, to ask the Shangshu for money and a position after you died. He's not human, he's a beast...

Remember, when you were little, your sister-in-law was good to you… Xin Xi, spare me. I won't say anything. I'll return to the village tonight…”

I carefully folded the blood-soaked letter, clutching it to my chest like a treasure, and then coldly placed my hand around Qiu Hong's neck.

　　

“I was foolish before. I know you all treated me like a fool. You were nice to me because you thought I could work and earn money for you. That wasn't kindness. Only the master was kind to me. The master said, ‘To cut the grass, you must root it out.’ You saw what happened, so you must die.”

Qiu Hong's eyes widened in despair.

“But you just said you would let us go…”

“I lied to you, and you actually believed me.”

Qiu Hong died with her eyes open. I wiped away my tears and walked out of the house.

Outside, the rain was pouring down, as if heaven itself was weeping for me.

28

　　

The next morning, the rain-washed notice board displayed the details of the Lu family's wrongful case.  

During the night, the current Grand Minister had hanged himself at home.

The letter stated that, tormented by the Lu family's wrongful death for many years, he had been unable to sleep, always feeling haunted by vengeful spirits.

Years later, in his twilight years, he decided to reveal the truth of the Lu family's tragic death and listed the names of those involved in the court in the letter, the first being the current Emperor.

Crowds of onlookers gathered before the notice board, and the cries of “The rabbit is dead, the hunting dogs are cooked” echoed throughout the capital.

Soon, the Emperor's private garden in the suburbs was also exposed, and the precious medicines sent there every month shattered the last bit of hope the people had for the Emperor.

　　

The storyteller, using clappers, recounted the tale in the teahouse: [“The Minister amassed wealth, actually for the Emperor's medicine; the court officials protected each other, secretly permitted by the Emperor; loyal ministers were silenced, and treacherous officials rose to power—all because of the Emperor's moral failings…”]

For years, although there had been no wars, taxes on the people had steadily increased. Some families didn't even have enough rice from their harvest to pay their taxes.

Oppressive government was fiercer than a tiger, and this false prosperity crumbled in a single day...

The people besieged the imperial palace, looting the government's treasury. Those who had been wronged by the officials in the past took revenge, settling old scores.  

It was said that the Grand Marshal and his wife were stoned to death by a mob, the old woman cursing the people as “lowly commoners” even as she died.

　　

Meanwhile, Guard Sun took advantage of the chaos to return to the Shangshu's residence, opening the treasury and shouting to the crowd.

“Our master amassed countless riches over the years, but he never spent a single coin on himself. Aside from what was needed for the Emperor's medicine, everything else is here. Our master said, his days are numbered, and this gold and silver is a gift to the poor people of the city!”

29

　　

The prison gates were breached. By the time the Imperial Guards arrived, we were already out of the city.

The third brother was ecstatic, chattering excitedly.

“You always said Hei Zi was stupid. I told you, Hei Zi isn't stupid at all. If Hei Zi hadn't gotten that letter from the Grand Minister, it would have been difficult for you to get out!”

Guard Sun nodded in agreement. “When I strangled that old man, I didn't dare think what would have happened if we hadn't gotten that letter. You would have died a horrible death.”

“I didn't do anything. Brother Sun wrote the letter; I just found someone to copy it. Hehe.”

　　

The carriage bumped along, and He Xu leaned lazily against the backrest, listening. He still had that calm and composed demeanor.  

He didn't seem like someone who had just escaped from a life-or-death situation; it was as if it were just an ordinary morning, and he had simply stretched and woken up at home...

I smiled to myself. 

It's good.  

The master is still the same master.

30

　　

Night fell.

He Xu drank three cups of tea, then stumbled, pulling me towards the bed, muttering.

“Why is my head so dizzy? Come on, get on the bed and rub it for me…”

Seeing his improper behavior, I kicked him over, tied my collar and waist securely with a rope, even tying a knot around my crotch, resolutely declaring, “Master! Let me tell you the truth today—I’d rather die than climb into that bed!”

He Xu pretended not to hear, pulling me towards the bed by my waist.

　　

“Hei Zi, I don't dislike you, I really don't. Come on, let's talk on the bed…”

I suddenly remembered what the steward had said when I first entered the manor—that I would return home in glory. I grabbed He Xu's collar.

“You gave all the money to those people, don't you have anything left?”

He Xu nodded aggrievedly, leaning in to kiss me. “Hei Zi, you'll take care of me from now on... after all, you're so strong…”

My heart ached, and I had no strength left to struggle. I collapsed, falling right into He Xu's arms.

“Why am I so unlucky... all I ever meet are men who want to live off me…”

　　

He Xu laughed, scooped me up, and carried me towards the bed, humming a bawdy song.

“You haven't even tried yet, how do you know I'm ¹soft rice?”

31

　　

Three months later, we arrived in the neighboring country.

The carriage stopped outside a magnificent mansion.

As soon as He Xu stepped out of the carriage, dozens of servants, led by the steward, bowed respectfully, calling him “Master,” then turned to me and called me “Madam.”

He Xu grunted in acknowledgement and swaggered into the mansion. 

The black eagle he kept swooped down from the sky and landed gracefully on his hand…

The third brother saw my mouth hanging open in astonishment and whispered, “He's been embezzling for over ten years. There's only a little left in the mansion's private treasury; it's all a deceptive smokescreen. This guy... he's incredibly cunning.”

　

Guard Sun nodded, arms crossed. “Yeah, that was supposed to be for the two of us. Now, it's all his again.”

“That's our fate. We'll be working for him our whole lives.”

I nodded in agreement. “Me too…”

Madam by day, and ox and horse by night…

________________

Glossary:

¹Soft rice (吃软饭 - chī ruǎn fàn): This literally translates to ‘eat soft rice,’ and it refers to a man who relies on a woman for financial support. It's a derogatory term that implies the man is lazy and dependent.

Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter