“Su Jinyu” only stayed at Marquis Weiyuan's Manor for three days.
Her left arm was still in a sling, and the doctor had warned her not to strain it or travel on bumpy roads, but early on the morning of the fourth day, she still announced her return to the Minister's manor.
Her maternal grandmother initially refused, saying her injury had not yet healed and that doing anything back there would be inconvenient. Standing by the window with her back to her grandmother, Su Jinyu spoke in a quiet but steady voice, “I cannot be absent from Grandmother's funeral. She raised me; I must be there to send her off on her final journey.”
Her maternal grandmother fell silent for a long time. She did not stop her again, but simply had her maternal aunt personally change her into a set of plain white mourning attire. She also packed several bags of warming, nourishing medicinal herbs into the carriage, instructing her to change her dressings and take her medicine on time once she reached the Minister's manor, and to send word back immediately if anything happened.
“Su Jinyu” agreed to everything and boarded the carriage. Before the curtain fell, she looked back at the plaque of Marquis Weiyuan's Manor, then withdrew her gaze and ordered the driver to set off.
White mourning banners already hung in front of the Minister's manor.
When she entered, the main hall was being prepared for the mourning services. Most of the white silk and elegiac couplets had already been hung, and the coffin rested in the center of the hall, its lid not yet sealed.
“Su Jinyu” walked along the corridor toward the main hall, her plain white dress fluttering slightly in the wind. The servants at her side lowered their heads and made way for her upon seeing her.
She stood before the mourning hall, looking down at the serene, closed eyes of her grandmother in the coffin. She knelt before it and kowtowed three times with solemn propriety.
When she raised her head, her gaze drifted past the coffin to the curtain behind the hall, lingering only briefly before moving away.
The funeral proceeded step by step according to custom. Through the wake, the vigil, the condolences, and the burial, “Su Jinyu” was present the entire time as the eldest legitimate granddaughter, kneeling before the altar to return the respects of the visiting guests.
Her left arm was still in a sling, and her knees grew numb and painful from kneeling so long, but she showed no sign of discomfort. Every time someone stepped forward to pay their respects, she returned the gesture without haste.
Madam Wu stood in the back row of the family section on the day of the burial, dressed in plain clothes, her expression appropriately sorrowful.
Su Qing'er did not return. As she was now a Zhaoyi in the imperial palace, rules forbade her from leaving at will, so she merely sent a politely worded letter of condolence and a respectable funeral gift through an intermediary.
“Su Jinyu” did not spare the letter a second glance when she received it, handing it directly to the steward nearby to be recorded in the ledger.
After the coffin was laid to rest, the guests gradually dispersed, and the white banners in the manor swayed gently in the evening breeze.
“Su Jinyu” stood before the new grave and did not leave immediately. Only when the people around her had walked far away did she bend down to straighten a bouquet of white chrysanthemums tilted by the wind, then stood up and turned to walk away.
The evening breeze blew from the fields, lifting and settling the loose strands of hair by her temples.
“Su Jinyu” walked along the ridge between the fields, the hem of her plain white dress stained with a bit of mud, which she did not look down to see.
That night, “Su Jinyu” did not sleep.
She changed into plain clothes. The gauze on her left arm had been changed once, and the fresh white fabric gleamed cleanly under the lamp.
She stood in the courtyard and waited for a moment. Soon, a series of steady footsteps came from outside the gate. They were the men her uncle had given her—three agile guards, one of whom held a length of coarse hemp rope in his hand.
She nodded to them and turned to walk toward Madam Wu's courtyard.
Madam Wu was preparing to retire for the night. The lamps were still lit, and her maid was untying her hair.
The sound of the courtyard gate being pushed open was not loud, but it was clear enough in the quiet night.
When Madam Wu looked up and saw “Su Jinyu” walk in, her expression was first one of surprise, which quickly turned into an unnatural wariness. “It is so late. What are you doing here?”
She received no answer. The three guards stepped forward from behind “Su Jinyu.” One pinned Madam Wu's arms and hoisted her from her chair, while another used the coarse hemp rope to bind her hands behind her back.
Madam Wu struggled twice but could not break free. She shrieked, “What do you think you are doing?” before being hoisted up by the guards and dragged out of the courtyard.
“Su Jinyu” followed behind, neither speeding up nor slowing down her pace.
Madam Wu was dragged to the ancestral hall. Only a single oil lamp was lit inside, its light dim and flickering. The guards pressed her to the ground in front of the prayer mats, forcing her to kneel before the ancestral tablets above, then shoved the back of her head to force her to kowtow against the floor.
Once, twice, thrice—the dull thuds echoed repeatedly in the empty ancestral hall.
Madam Wu's struggles turned from sharp to muffled, her voice changing from screams to cries of pain, and then from cries of pain to intermittent whimpers. Blood seeped from her temples, trickling down her brow and dripping onto the blue brick floor, blooming into small, dark red stains.
By the time Minister Su arrived, Madam Wu was already kneeling on the ground, her body trembling slightly.
Minister Su's robes were still disheveled, clearly showing he had rushed over from his study in a hurry. His face paled drastically when he saw the scene inside the ancestral hall, and he strode forward, roaring at Su Jinyu, “Have you lost your mind? What do you think you are doing?!”
“Su Jinyu” stood in the dim lamplight, the hem of her plain white dress stained with a few spots of dark red blood. She turned to look at Minister Su, her voice exceptionally calm as she spoke, “Does Father know what Madam Wu plotted? How Grandmother's carriage lost control, and why not a single servant survived?”
She paused for a moment, her gaze resting on Minister Su's face. She did not look away, her voice quiet but every word crystal clear: “How much did Father know? You knew all along that Madam Wu wanted to harm Grandmother, didn't you?”
Minister Su's face flickered for an instant in the lamplight. He instinctively averted his eyes, his lips moving without making a sound, before forcing his gaze back to her. “What nonsense are you talking about? Your grandmother's death was an accident—”
But under “Su Jinyu's” gaze, his voice grew softer and softer, until his final words seemed suppressed by something, left unfinished.
“Su Jinyu” looked at his expression and suddenly let out a soft laugh.
The smile seemed exceptionally cold and desolate in the dim glow of the oil lamp. “Grandmother, the son you raised with your own hands wanted you dead as well...”
She did not finish, leaving the final words unsaid, merely stopping there to stare at Minister Su.
Minister Su said nothing more. His expression seemed frozen, neither advancing nor retreating, his entire being stiff at the boundary of light and shadow at the ancestral hall's entrance.
“Su Jinyu” withdrew her gaze, looking at him no longer. She said to the guards beside her, “Take Madam Wu to the side parlor. Bring the poisoned wine.” Minister Su suddenly snapped his head up, his voice rising sharply, “How dare you!”
“Su Jinyu” turned her head to look at him, her gaze so calm it lacked even a ripple. When she spoke, her voice was not heavy, yet it fell clearly into every inch of the ancestral hall: “If I present the ledger hidden in the secret compartment on the third shelf of Father's study bookshelf to the Emperor, can Su Qing'er still maintain her footing in the palace? Will the Minister's manor face ruin? Father should weigh the consequences yourself. If you stop me now, that ledger will be on the Emperor's desk tomorrow morning.”
Minister Su's face drained of all color, turning completely ash-white in the lamplight. Standing at the entrance of the ancestral hall, he opened his mouth as if to say something, but the words seemed tightly choked in his throat.
He stared at “Su Jinyu,” as if truly seeing what his daughter looked like for the very first time.
She stood there, her plain white dress stained with blood, her left arm in a sling, her gaze calm and cold.
The hand Minister Su used to clutch his sleeve trembled slightly, but in the end, he did not speak again.
He stood in place, motionless, watching with his own eyes as the guard brought the cup of wine.
Madam Wu struggled, looking toward Minister Su, her lips twitching as if she wanted to cry out.
But Minister Su merely turned his body away, not even sparing her a glance from the corner of his eye.
When the poisoned wine was forced down her throat, a muffled sound escaped her neck. Her body convulsed violently several times under the guards' restraint, and then, bit by bit, went limp, never to move again.
At the final moment before her death, with the blood that had just dripped from her forehead still staining the corners of her eyes, her gaze remained stubbornly fixed on Minister Su.
The oil lamp in the ancestral hall was still burning, its halo of light swaying gently against the wall...
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