Madam Ma—Ma Dayuan

Madam Ma—Ma Dayuan describes a marriage shaped by Madam Ma’s resentment and deceit, ending in Ma Dayuan’s murder. Her anger at Xiao Feng’s indifference led her to pressure her husband to expose his origins; when Ma refused, she drew Bai Shijing into the killing and helped conceal its cause.

Marriage and Resentment

Madam Ma later explained that her grievance against Xiao Feng began because he had never paid her attention. When she discovered Chief Wang’s letter in Ma Dayuan’s safe, she saw an opportunity to turn that resentment into a plan against him. She secretly read the letter, learned information that could bring Xiao Feng down, and wanted Ma Dayuan to disclose publicly that Xiao Feng was Khitan. Her aim was to strip him of his leadership of the Beggar Clan, make him an outcast in the Central Plains, and put his life in danger.

Ma Dayuan would not carry out her demand. Instead, he rebuked her and threatened to confine her if she revealed the secret. Madam Ma said that she had never cared for or respected him, and that his resistance only deepened the conflict between them. The marriage thus became the immediate setting for her attempt to weaponize the secret against Xiao Feng—and for the murder that followed.

Bai Shijing and the Murder

More than a month later, Bai Shijing visited the Ma residence on the fourteenth day of the eighth lunar month to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Madam Ma said she used his attraction to her to influence him, but he initially refused her demand that he kill Ma Dayuan. She then threatened to accuse him of having forced himself on her, and told him that she would remain with him if he killed her husband. Bai Shijing ultimately killed Ma Dayuan rather than harm her.

Madam Ma also described how the murder was made to resemble an attack by the Gusu Murong family. Ma Dayuan was given Ten Fragrance Bewitching Powder, after which Bai Shijing broke his throat and made it appear that the Gusu Murong family’s Throat-Lock Capturing Technique had been used. Madam Ma confirmed that Bai Shijing had devised that false attribution; she said she did not know the Gusu Murong family herself.

Exposure and Significance

The truth emerged when Xiao Feng confronted Madam Ma. She confessed that she had set the murder in motion because Ma Dayuan had refused to expose Xiao Feng, and that Bai Shijing had carried out the killing under pressure from her. Xiao Feng’s response makes the betrayal especially stark: he had regarded Bai Shijing as a steadfastly good man, yet Madam Ma’s account revealed how he had been drawn into murder and a cover-up.

The relationship is therefore more than a private marital conflict. Madam Ma’s resentment toward Xiao Feng passes through her marriage to Ma Dayuan and then through Bai Shijing, converting a concealed letter into a chain of manipulation, murder, and false accusation. Ma Dayuan’s refusal to participate did not protect him; it made him the target of the plot he had rejected.