The Double-Chapter 460 - 147: Master and Servant_5

"How did she die?" Jiang Li’s voice had an unmistakable choke to it.

But because Hai Tang was so heartbroken at that moment, she didn’t notice anything unusual. She simply said, exhausted, as if she had used up all her strength, "Not long after we escaped from Yanjing City, we suddenly discovered that the Official’s Residence was posting notices everywhere, saying we stole the master’s silver and that we were wanted. Du Juan was captured. I wanted to help, to plead with the official, to tell them Du Juan was innocent, but that night... by the time I found Du Juan, she had already been strangled to death and left at the Chaotic Burial Mound."

Jiang Li’s heart ached unbearably.

"I don’t know if it was the Officials who did it. If it was the Official’s Residence that wanted us, why would they execute her without a trial? And even if there was an execution, why not announce it to the world? If it wasn’t the Officials, then why were their wanted posters everywhere? I don’t understand, but I knew that none of this could be avoided. I saw them even lying in ambush near the Chaotic Burial Mound, probably waiting for me to fall into their trap when I came to claim Du Juan’s body, so I didn’t claim her corpse." As Hai Tang said this, her hands trembled, probably because even now, she couldn’t forgive herself for her actions then.

"I disfigured my face to avoid the Official’s pursuit and fled back to my hometown," said Hai Tang.

"Your face..."

Hai Tang asked, "Do you want to see it?"

Jiang Li nodded.

Hai Tang gave a wry smile and reached out to lift her veil.

Jiang Li’s breath nearly stopped for a moment, and she saw that the once fair and pretty face was now marked by two deep scars, extending from the eyes to the chin, hideous and frightening. The wounds had healed into scars that, far from making her situation seem any better, were even more heart-wrenchingly pronounced.

What could make a woman once as beautiful as a flower willing to destroy her looks to such an extent? From now on, she could only cover her face with a veil, walking through the world in anonymity.

Hai Tang kept her gaze fixed on Jiang Li’s eyes. Everywhere she went with that face, she only saw disgust and fear; she had grown accustomed to it. Even the men in black who came to fetch her seemed uncomfortable at the sight of her. She thought Jiang Li would be the same as those people.

But Jiang Li wasn’t.

Jiang Li just looked deep into Hai Tang’s eyes, her gaze full of sadness and guilt, heartache and regret, but devoid of fear and avoidance. She even reached out, wanting to touch the scar.

Suddenly, Hai Tang stepped back, putting the veil back on, and fell silent for a while before she said, "You’ve seen it now."

Jiang Li, too, fell silent, finding a long-lost friend but not in a joyous reunion. Both had their rough experiences, making one lament the absurdity of fate.

"I want to ask, what is it for, that you’re willing to disfigure yourself so, to go to such lengths to survive?" Jiang Li inquired.

"I don’t know," Hai Tang replied, with a momentary look of confusion in her eyes. "At first, I thought the warrant from the Official’s Residence was posted by Miss. But somewhere in my heart, I felt it wasn’t. I just hoped to live, to maybe see Miss one day and ask her what this was all about, why she would accuse us of theft. Maybe Miss did it to save our lives, and that meant we shouldn’t just throw our lives away; on the contrary, we had to try our best to survive."

She said, "We’ve never been away from Miss since we were little."

Jiang Li closed her eyes briefly.

The truth was, Xue Huaiyuan never wanted the servants of the Xue Family to dedicate everything for their masters; they should have their own lives. Like Hai Tang and Du Juan, Jiang Li also referred to them as sisters, but perhaps in this world, there are such faithful servants whose lives are tied to someone else’s.

It was heavy, so very heavy.

"I didn’t know the young lady was dead..." Hai Tang muttered, "I still thought, maybe I could see Miss again..."

"Xue Fangfei can’t come back to life," said Jiang Li, composing herself and looking back at her, "Furthermore, Xue Zhao is also dead, Xue Huaiyuan has gone mad. The entire Xue Family is now left with nothing."

Hai Tang stared at her, dumbfounded, shaking her head, "No..."

"Listen to me, Hai Tang, this is no accident, nor is it any kind of karmic retribution. This is a conspiracy, a blatant conspiracy. Someone killed the entire Xue Family. I am Miss Jiang the Second, entrusted by others to exonerate the Xue Family, to clear the wrongful accusations against Xue Fangfei, to find evidence of her murder. Jiang Li looked deeply into Hai Tang’s eyes, "This is not just for Xue Fangfei, but also for you, for Du Juan, for everyone who died innocently in this scheme. Are we to let the murderer go unpunished?"

"What makes me believe you?" Hai Tang asked. She was a smart girl with determination and decisiveness, still holding onto her sanity even after being struck by the truth.

"If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t have gone to great lengths to bring you to Yanjing City. You can also go and see the mad Xue Huaiyuan, then you’ll know if my words are true," Jiang Li said. "You were Xue Fangfei’s personal maid, with her day and night. You must know, at least suspect, who is behind this. When Xue Fangfei was framed for having a secret affair, who was the most suspicious, who did something suspicious?"

Hai Tang fixed her gaze on Jiang Li, and after a while, her eyes grew stern as she uttered a few words.

"Xiao Deyin."

"And, every single person from the Shen family." freewebnσvel.cøm