Chapter 67: Foolish Loyalty

  Lotus heard Liu Rong's words and was stunned, wanting to speak but didn't know how to start.

  "I'm asking you this without any other meaning, if there's one case of the plague, a second case will appear, and if it's not handled properly, it will spread to others. If that happens, it'll be too late." Liu Rong looked at Lian'er and said slowly: "I don't want many people to suffer unnecessarily."

  Lotus daughter bit her lower lip, struggling on her face.

  "Lian'er, now only you can save those who may be harmed for no reason." Liu Rong looked at Lian'er: "Not for anything else, but to save a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda, please tell me."

  "I...". Lian'er gazed at Liu Rong and spat out the first word, her eyes constantly changing, but she couldn't continue speaking. Suddenly, she fell onto the bed and burst into tears: "It's all my fault, I'm a sinner of the Wending Hou Mansion, Third Miss, just let me die!"

  Liu Rong sighed softly and walked back to Lian'er's side, gently patting her head: "Who doesn't make mistakes? Knowing one's mistake and being able to correct it is a great virtue."

  "But... " Lian'er looked at Liu Rong with tears in her eyes: "But I've done unforgivable things..."

  "If you don't speak out, it would be an unforgivable sin, because more people may die as a result."

  Lotus froze, and after a while, she opened her mouth vaguely: "I don't want to, I really don't want to."

  She muttered to herself for a while, then seemed to wake up, using her sleeve to wipe away the tears on her face, as if she had made some kind of determination, before looking at Liu Rong: "I'll tell you, Third Miss."

  "The source of the infection is that tattered garment! It was I, I wronged Sixth Miss and harmed my master's household. So I went outside to investigate and brought back the garment you saw yesterday, but didn't realize it carried smallpox."

  Lotus said in a row: "Just yesterday, I heard that the clothes would continue to infect others with diseases. So I really didn't dare to put it on my body, so I took it away and threw it away. Unexpectedly, I accidentally tripped and fell, but Third Miss saw that piece of clothing."

  "Third Miss, I'm going to die, please help me take a look at Qiuer and see if she's also..." Lian'er couldn't continue speaking, but it was clear from her eyes that she was filled with self-loathing and hatred.

  Liu Rong slightly shook her head.

  "Has Autumn been implicated too?"

  As she spoke, tears of regret welled up in Lian'er's eyes: "It's all my fault, I should have asked her to move out of my room earlier, and she wouldn't have been dragged into this too."

  Liu Rong furrowed her brow: "I didn't say that Qiuer was also infected. The incubation period of this virus is about ten days, so I have no way to judge whether Qiuer has been infected by you now. As long as nothing happens after ten days, there won't be any problem."

  Liu Rong looked at Lian Er: "My shaking head is because you don't tell the truth now, I feel disappointed!"

  Lotus's face changed color.

  "This dress was obviously not accidentally dropped in front of my house, but was intentionally placed there."

  Liu Rong looked at Lian'er's changing facial expression and said word by word: "There was nothing protruding or obstructing in front of our courtyard, yet you made such a big commotion. You clearly knew I was inside the house, so you deliberately made that noise to lure me outside to pick up this piece of clothing."

  A bead of sweat trickled down Lian'er's forehead.

  "If I hadn't gone to Yongcheng County Master's place today, and you hadn't suddenly contracted this illness, I'm afraid someone would have come looking for that piece of clothing at my place."

  Liu Rong continued without confirming or denying: "At that time, the people in the mansion will say that Third Miss is pretending to treat Sixth Miss, but in fact this illness was caused by Third Miss herself."

  Lotus's eyes showed terror.

  "Why must it be so?" Liu Rong looked at Lian'er: "I, Liu Rong, have never hindered Liu Fu in any way. Why must we always take things one step further and force each other's hands?"

  Lotus lowered her head. After a long time, the voice was calmer than ever: "It has nothing to do with Fourth Miss, it's my own idea. Since you've guessed it, you don't have to save me, I deserve the punishment."

  "Are you still going to cover up for Liu Fu even now?"

  Liu Rong looked at Lian'er and asked loudly, "How can a maid possibly do something that is of no benefit to herself and may even harm herself?"

  "Third Miss shouldn't casually frame Fourth Miss, she's being locked up now. No one can see her, how could she possibly harm Third Miss?"

  "I just hate that you made our master suffer so much, I couldn't help but do this thing." Lian'er looked at Liu Rong and said: "Now that the third miss has already known everything, she can send me to Madame's place for punishment. Lian'er will definitely not say a word of grievance."

  Liu Rong stared steadily at Lian Er's eyes, but Lian Er was evasive, avoiding Liu Rong's gaze.

  Liu Fu smiled: "I didn't expect someone with a personality like Liu Fu's to have such a loyal maid, who would rather sacrifice herself than implicate Liu Fu."

  Liu Rong looked at Lian Er: "But things are not something you can avoid by not talking about it, and I couldn't restore the truth of this matter."

  Lotus daughter bit her lower lip.

  "If I send someone to Luyu's place now and tell her that you've confessed everything, what do you think will happen?"

  Lotus immediately looked at Liu Rong, her arm slightly trembling.

  "You can consider this matter, whether you want to say it yourself or let me use my method to get Luyu to say it herself."

  Lotus daughter bit her lower lip, remained silent for a long time, before opening her mouth: "Third Miss, I am willing to tell the truth, it's just... Can you give me some time to think about it by myself?"

  Lotus said in the end but with a hint of pleading.

  Liu Rong furrowed her brow, not understanding why Lian'er suddenly wanted to think alone, but ultimately agreed to her request.

  She didn't want to force a maid too much, after all in this big era, an illegitimate daughter was already pitiful enough, and a maid was even more pitiful.

  She just wanted the other party to be honest and tell the truth, this matter was linked together, obviously it had been planned for a long time ago. She wanted to know from what time did Luyu think of these ways to deal with her.

  If it weren't for her good luck, looking at this, she would probably have ended up in the woodshed too.

  Of course, these are not important, Liu Fu can deal with her, but in order to deal with her, she came up with such a despicable way to harm a child and even infected her own half-sister. This is already going too far!

  Moreover, a person's provocation and framing, she can tolerate once, can tolerate twice, but it does not mean that she can be repeatedly framed by others!

  So this time, she must give Liu Fu a good lesson and let her know how to behave when seeing her in the future!

  Liu Rong was thinking outside, worried about Lian'er. Autumn saw that Lian'er had not moved for a long time and went to her room, only to see a woman hanging from the beam with three feet of white silk.

  PS：

  I finally managed to write the 2,000 words for tonight, but I feel like it's not written well. I'm going to sleep first as I haven't been getting enough rest lately. Tomorrow, I'll recharge and write some more.