Volume 7 Long may the love live

Sun Meiniang woke from a coma. There was still severe pain in the broken tongue. She looked up and saw the plaque above the ancestral hall. Before she could figure out the situation, two maids knocked her head to the threshold. Sun Meiniang was frightened and terrified. She wanted to curse loudly but couldn’t say a complete sentence. Those babbling sounds made Madam Luo upset, so she ordered, “Gag her!”

Therefore, Sun Meiniang was forced by two sturdy maids to kowtow on the threshold. After only a dozen strokes, her forehead turned red and swollen. After twenty strokes, her head started to bleeding, “Boom! Boom! Boom!” The blood was splashing, and Madam Luo was disgusted when she saw it. So, she turned her back and only listened to the sound.

However, He Danggui was unwilling to only listen to the sound. Lying on a temporary bed, she silently turned around to face the door and saw Sun Meiniang knocking head at her.

Deng Cao saw He Danggui wake up. She quickly came up and asked, “How are you feeling? Would you like a cup of jujube tea to warm your body?”

He Danggui nodded, so Deng Cao served the tea immediately. He Danggui lifted the veil of the bed to thank Deng Cao. At the moment, Sun Meiniang was just making the move to get up, and her beautiful face was half-covered with blood. He Danggui was next to the incense table in the hall and was having the jujube tea on a soft cushion, while Sun Meiniang was in front of the threshold outside the hall and was forced to knock her head on the threshold.

When they had eye contact, Sun Meiniang was full of resentment as if she was about to eat He Danggui alive. She suddenly stood up and rushed toward He Danggui, but a maid behind her hurriedly kicked her on knees to prevent her from entering the hall.

Even the most stupid one now was knowing that Sun Meiniang, who was still a master a few hours ago, had been now inferior to a poor beggar on the street. Nobody would care about her anymore. Although they didn’t know the details, they were clear that Madam Luo was angry and hated her extremely. No matter who was the wife in charge of the family, her power came from Madam Luo. Only if Madam Luo allowed her to be decent, she was a master. Otherwise, she was just a dog of this family.

“Bitch!” The maid behind Sun Meiniang scolded, “If you don’t behave, I will slap you in the face!” As she said, she really slapped Sun Meiniang several times.

As a result, Sun Meiniang’s forehead and the white cloth in her mouth were stained with blood, and her cheeks were swollen to a high extent. But, instead of the maid behind her, she stared at He Danggui resentfully. The daughter of He Jingxian! A demon girl! A bitch! It was all because of her tricks!

The face behind the veil pouted slightly. He Danggui blew the tea in her hands when she looked over at Sun Meiniang. Her eyes were as dark as night and deeper than an abyss. The eyes showed no light and made people frightened.

Sun Meiniang shivered. Yes! It must be her. It must be her! This girl was a ghost!

The veil slowly fell off, and the girl behind it sipped the tea. At the same time, the two maids outside the door did not give Sun Meiniang a chance to breathe and continued to press her to the threshold, “Boom! Boom! Boom!” The blood splashed as the punishments went on. After another hundred times, Sun Meiniang finally fainted. However, Madam Luo didn’t call to stop, and the two maids had to continue it.

Although Sun Meiniang was now pregnant, Madam Luo did not show any mercy to her after knowing that she had four babies of other men. Even if this was Luo Chuangu’s child, she couldn’t allow the baby to come out. A dirty and indecent woman didn’t deserve to give birth to an offspring of the Luo’s Family! If Sun Meiniang died, plenty of women would give birth to kids for Luo Chuangu! Thinking of this, Madam Luo ordered, “Go to the Medicine Room and get an abortifacient!”

He Danggui guessed Madam Luo’s thoughts and said, “Madam, we are celebrating the Lunar New Year, and killing is ominous. Besides, the baby in her belly is innocent. We’d better spare the baby.”

Madam Luo disagreed, and she retorted with hatred, “People will laugh at us if this baby is born. No, I won’t allow it to happen!”

He Danggui lowered her voice and continued to persuade, “For one thing, Sun Meiniang has done so many evil things. As a result, whether this baby can last for ten months is still unknown. Why should you get your hands dirty? For another, if we keep Sun Meiniang and her child, it will demonstrate our mercy and kindness. I believe that Sun’s Family and Sun Yanbin will have no reason to blame us.”

Madam Luo pondered, and Miss Ji added, “That’s right! If we keep them alive, then Sun’s Family will not seek revenge on us.”

Therefore, Madam Luo temporarily gave up the idea of letting Sun Meiniang abort her child. Then Madam Luo said, “Wake her up with ice water! Recount, as long as she faints! The punishment must be one thousand times!”

The maids waked up Sun Meiniang with ice water as ordered and then made her kowtow again. After repeating it several times, Sun Meiniang had done 700 times and her forehead was badly mutilated. Her gagged mouth sent out painful groans. However, the punishment must be going on.

Seeing Madam Luo’s bad complexion, Miss Ji suggested taking her to the inner hall to rest. In the ancestral hall, He Danggui was drinking tea behind the veil, because she insisted on watching the complete show.

Three hundred times for her dead daughter; three hundred times for her mother; three hundred times for those people who had been harmed by Sun Meiniang.

The initiator, maker, and manipulator of her unfortunate childhood, Sun Meiniang! This was the debt to her and also to all those people who had been bullied. The rest of kowtowing hundred times were the interests for her two lives! That tongue was for Run Xiang, and Sun Meiniang would finally close her vicious mouth. As for Run Xiang’s eyes, Sun Meiniang didn’t have to pay that yet. Otherwise, how could He Danggui read her feelings?

That night, He Danggui practiced arts of lightness on the roof of Bao Qin Ge and went to the woodshed where she happened to encounter Run Xiang, who was hung upside down and was dying. Run Xiang’s naked body was purple because of the cold air. Of course, her baby had already died in her belly without bleeding a drop of blood.

In the past, Run Xiang also helped Sun Meiniang to do evil things. But, when she was dying, her words became good as well. After He Danggui untied her from the beam, Run Xiang said with her toothless mouth, “Third Miss, I’m sorry for what I have done.” He Danggui immediately forgave her and wanted to rescue her. But Run Xiang refused to move. She told He Danggui that her child’s father was not Luo Chuangu, but her lover Zhang Xian.

Run Xiang continued intermittently that Zhang Xian was a trader who was doing salt smuggling. He was able to get a lot of money, but it was a very risky business. Zhang Xian came to Luo’s Mansion to have a private meeting with her once a month and spent the rest of the time trading outside. He once said that he would take her out of the mansion once he had earned enough money. However, a few months ago, Zhang Xian had no information for her anymore. She didn’t know if Zhang Xian abandoned her or died outside, and she was worried about it all time. Therefore, Luo Chuangu took advantage of her worries and she was raped by him.

The blood in Run Xiang’s mouth had dried up long ago. She continued that the thing happened when Sun Meiniang went to Sun’s Mansion because of her mother’s illness. Later, after Sun Meiniang returned, Luo Chuangu still refused to leave her alone. Every time Sun Meiniang was not paying attention, he would drag her away and forced her to obey him. However, she tried her best to resist him, and her crying drew Dong Mei’s attention. Dong Mei had always disliked her and was jealous of her job. So, she complained to Sun Meiniang. Sun Meiniang didn’t say anything in the beginning but attacked her when Luo Chuangu was not at home.

He Danggui felt that Run Xiang could still be saved and wanted to get her out of Bao Qin Ge for treatment. But Run Xiang told her that Luo Baiqiong had an unnamed female guard who was a master of Kung fu. She followed and protected Luo Baiqiong during the day. At night, she lived in Bao Qin Ge and nothing could escape her ears. It was impossible for He Danggui to drag Run Xiang leaving here. What was more, Run Xiang had lost her lover Zhang Xian, her baby, and her teeth. She had no reason to live. She just hated Sun Meiniang after years of working for her.

Run Xiang firmly grasped He Danggui’s arm and pleaded, “Miss He, I know you are a capable person who can give me justice. Besides, Sun Meiniang hates you very, very much, and she will kill you sooner or later. When you want to handle her someday, please tell Madam Luo my grievances. If Zhang Xian comes to me someday, tell him it, too!”

He Danggui promised. She took off her cotton-padded clothes and gave it to Run Xiang. Then, she sealed Run Xiang’s acupuncture points with a silver needle to relieve the pain. The next night, He Danggui brought winter clothes and medicine soup to see Run Xiang, but she was noticed by that female guard and could not enter Bao Qin Ge. Later, when she told Madam Luo Run Xiang’s story, everything was too late.

However, He Danggui did not see the tragic scene of Run Xiang’s death. She read it from a small note, saying that Run Xiang had dug out her eyes and cut off her tongue. The note also recorded Run Xiang’s last words, “Sun Meiniang, my child and I will stare at you forever until you die!”