Feudal Dregs - Chapter 35

The next day.

Before dawn, the Li mansion was steeped in solemnity, the oppressive gloom of a bitter winter hanging in the air.

The reason? Eighth Concubine had been caught in the act of adultery. It happened during the third watch, just as the night watchman's clapper echoed outside the walls. Her maid, Chunhong, had risen early and noticed a candle burning in her mistress's room. When she approached, she was horrified to discover her in bed with another man. Her scream startled the lovers.

The adulterer, panicked, tried to silence her, but Chunhong had already stumbled away.

By the time the mansion guards heard her cries and rushed over, the man—half-dressed—had nearly strangled her on the garden path. They swiftly subdued and bound him.

The early autumn morning carried a slight chill, with thin mist shrouding the cold and desolate ancestral hall in a hazy veil. Aside from ancestral worship ceremonies, it had been a long time since the entire Li household gathered in the family shrine. Yet at this moment, not a single person spoke—an absolute silence prevailed.

Lan Yu and Li Mingzheng tacitly arrived at different times. When Lan Yu entered the ancestral hall, many people were already gathered inside, with Li Mingzheng standing beside Old Master Li. Their eyes met for a brief moment before both looked away. Lan Yu cautiously retreated to the line where the concubines stood. Scanning the room, he saw Old Master Li, Old Mistress Li, Li Yuqing, Li Ming'an, and even Li Yuqing's birth mother, Madam Bai—all present.

This was Lan Yu's first time seeing Madam Bai.

She was strikingly beautiful, dressed in a plain brocade cheongsam, her hair coiled into a bun with a jade hairpin tucked at her temple. Her demeanor was as cold as frost, making her stand out sharply in the crowd. Her eyes were half-lidded, exuding an otherworldly indifference that set her apart from everything around her.

Lan Yu only glanced at her twice before noticing Li Yuqing staring at him. Their gazes locked, and Li Yuqing raised a brow slightly. Lan Yu turned away expressionlessly.

In the center of the ancestral hall, Eighth Concubine knelt bare-faced, her hair loose. Beside her, a man was pinned to the ground by the guards, a thick cudgel pressed against his back.

Suddenly, Old Mistress Li demanded in a stern voice, "Madam Zhang, do you admit your guilt?"

Eighth Concubine lifted her head and looked at Old Master Li, who sat grim-faced at the head of the hall. She sneered, smoothing her hair, and said, "What guilt do I have?"

For a moment, nearly everyone gasped in shock.

Old Master Li's expression darkened further.

"Impudence!" Old Mistress Li glared at Eighth Concubine, her voice icy. "Madam Zhang, as a concubine of the Li family, you have violated wifely virtue, engaged in illicit affairs with an outsider, and now dare to deny it even after being caught in the act!"

Eighth Concubine scoffed. "As if I ever cared about being a concubine in your Li household."

Her gaze shifted to the man beside her, whose neck was pressed down by the cudgel. The young man was staring at her. Suddenly, she smiled, reaching out to straighten his bloodstained collar. "Well, at least we won't have to sneak around anymore."

The man's eyes reddened as he tried to rise, but the guards forced him back down. "...Yuhe."

Old Master Li watched them, rotating the prayer beads around his wrist, his face devoid of emotion. "Deal with them according to family rules."

His voice was quiet, yet it sent a chill down everyone's spine.

Eighth Concubine raised her head, sweeping her gaze across the room. Wherever she looked, people averted their eyes, unable to meet hers. She stared at Old Master Li and laughed coldly. "Do you think punishing me today will make you look powerful? Let me tell you—I don't regret a thing!"

"If it weren't for my father and brothers forcing me into this marriage for the sake of the Zhang family, why would I have ever married you? I was only twenty-one. Did you really expect me to waste my life on a half-dead cripple like you? I refused to accept that!" Eighth Concubine swayed as she stood, straightening her back. "Open your eyes and look around. How many people in this Li household are truly loyal to you? They all can't wait for you to die."

She let out a hysterical laugh, delighting in Old Master Li's livid expression. "No woman would willingly live as a widow for a cripple like you."

Old Master Li slammed his hand on the table, his chest heaving with rage. "Guards! Drag this shameless woman out—"

"Father!" Li Ming'an could no longer hold back. Shaking off Madam Zhao's grip on his arm, he stepped forward. "Even if Eighth Concubine haserred, we shouldn't resort to private punishment…"

Madam Zhao's face abruptly changed color, trembling uncontrollably in panic, almost too afraid to look at Old Master Li. "Ming'an, stop talking nonsense!"

Li Ming'an glanced at Madam Zhao, pursed his lips, then turned to Old Master Li and said, "Father."

The Seventh Concubine suddenly smiled and remarked, "The Third Young Master is quite kind-hearted."

Old Master Li's expression darkened further. "Shut your mouth! This is family discipline! Family law! If you keep talking, I'll punish you too!"

Li Ming'an stiffened his neck and retorted, "Even if you punish me, I must speak. Filling the well with people is too cruel. This is the Republic era now. Your actions are tantamount to treating human life as worthless!"

"No matter how wrong they were, there must be other ways to deal with—“

Li Mingzheng coldly cut him off. "Enough."

"Take the Third Young Master out."

Upon hearing this, the servants immediately stepped forward to seize Li Ming'an and began dragging him away.

But Old Master Li said, "Let this unfilial son watch properly!"

"What Republic or Qing Dynasty! This is the Li family, and the Li family's rules are the law!" Old Master Li growled ominously.

The Eighth Concubine observed the chaos with a bleak smile. The burly guards, having received their orders, grabbed her. She shook off their hands, lowered her eyes to look at the man on the ground, and said, "I'll go first."

"Remember what you promised—come marry me earlier in the next life."

The man's face turned deathly pale. He struggled desperately as the hem of the Eighth Concubine's skirt fluttered like a butterfly past his fingers. "Yuhe, no! Don't touch her!"

He thrashed wildly, nearly breaking free, until a guard struck him hard across the back with a staff, sending him crumpling to the ground, tears streaming down his face.

Unwilling to be manhandled, the Eighth Concubine walked slowly through the crowd. Lan Yu stared at her blankly, his chest inexplicably aching. In a daze, it seemed as though it wasn't the Eighth Concubine walking forward, but himself. He wanted to reach out and grab her, but felt bound, unable to move or even breathe.

The well outside the ancestral hall was ancient, usually covered with a large stone. Now uncovered, its dark maw gaped, harboring untold ghosts.

The Eighth Concubine plunged headfirst into it. A dull thud echoed through the icy well walls, and an intangible chill spread through the hall.

Old Master Li's voice rang out again. "As for him..." he said with disgust, "castrate him, break his limbs, and throw him to the dogs in the back mountains."

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