The return to the Su Manor was not a quiet one. Su Ren and Su He had seen the gold real, gleaming gold pass into Lord Wei's hands. To them, the Matriarch wasn't a mother anymore; she was a goose that laid golden eggs, and they were desperate to find the nest.
While Su Wan was resting in the ancestral hall, the two brothers crept into her private quarters.
"It has to be here," Su He whispered, his hands trembling as he rifled through her herbal cabinets. "That 'Celestial Marrow' didn't come from nowhere. She must have a hidden stash of the raw root."
"I saw her yesterday," Su Ren muttered, prying open a floorboard with a rusted knife. "She was holding a bottle of water that smelled like life itself. If we find that water, we don't need her. We can sell the formula to the rival 'White Crane' merchant group and flee the city before Lord Wei finds out."
From the shadows of the doorway, a pair of cold, dark eyes watched them. Yan, the silent servant, had his hand on his dagger, but a sharp "clack" of a cane on the stone floor stopped him.
Su Wan stepped into the light. She looked even more radiant than she had that afternoon, her skin glowing with a health that seemed almost supernatural.
"Looking for something, my dear sons?"
The brothers jumped, Su He nearly knocking over a vase.
"Mother! We... we were just checking for... for drafts! The room is so old, we wanted to make sure you were comfortable," Su Ren lied, his voice sweating with guilt.
Su Wan walked to the center of the room, her cane tapping rhythmically. "You weren't looking for drafts. You were looking for the Spring."
The brothers froze. "The... the Spring?"
"The source of my youth. The source of the gold," Su Wan said, her voice dropping to a haunting whisper. She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a small jade flask the one she had filled with the mystical water from her Space. "Is this what you want?"
Su He lunged for it, his greed overriding his fear. Su Wan didn't move, but Yan appeared like a ghost, twisting Su He's arm behind his back until the man shrieked in pain.
"Let him go, Yan," Su Wan commanded softly. She looked at her sons with a pity that hurt more than a physical blow. "You want the water? Take it. Drink it. It's the last 'gift' you'll ever get from me."
She tossed the flask to Su Ren. He caught it with a frantic laugh, and without a second thought, he and his brother gulped down the liquid, fighting each other for the last drop.
For a moment, they looked triumphant. Then, their faces turned from red to purple.
"My... my stomach!" Su He wheezed, falling to his knees. "It burns! Mother, what did you do?!"
"The water is pure," Su Wan said, sitting calmly in her high-backed chair. "But it reacts to the toxins of a corrupt soul. To a healthy person, it is a blessing. To a man filled with rot and greed? It is the most powerful purgative in the world."
The effects were immediate. The two brothers scrambled for the door, their faces pale with agony as their bodies began to violently "cleanse" themselves in the most humiliating way possible. They wouldn't be leaving their beds or the latrine for at least a week.
"Throw them into the woodshed when they're finished," Su Wan told Yan. "They are no longer 'Masters.' They are the lowest-level cleaners. If the manor isn't spotless by the time Lord Wei returns, they don't get fed."
Yan looked at the Matriarch. He had seen many cold leaders in his life, but Su Wan's brand of justice was different. She didn't just kill enemies; she broke their spirits and made them useful.
"Madam," Yan said, bowing low. "Lord Wei has sent a message. He isn't the only one who smelled the perfume today. The Third Prince's carriage has been spotted at the end of the street."
Su Wan's eyes narrowed. The Third Prince the main antagonist of the original novel. The man who was supposed to execute the Su family in Chapter 150.
"He's early," Su Wan whispered, a predatory smile touching her lips. "He wants the formula for the Empress, no doubt. Yan, prepare the tea. But don't use the regular water. Use the water from the second well."
"The one that's bitter?" Yan asked.
"No," Su Wan said, her eyes flashing with a 21st-century business light. "The one that makes people tell the truth. If the Prince wants to play games in my house, he's going to find out that this Matriarch doesn't follow his script."