That night, after listening to Yan Chi’s report, Ji Changqing’s expression was indescribable.
Disguising herself as a man to go to Fanlou, and hiring local ruffians to defecate at Ji Peiyuan’s mistress’s place?
What proper young lady would do such things?
Well, a proper young lady also wouldn’t go to someone else’s house to play the widow.
“Jin Shi hired people to spread rumors in the red-light district, saying that Madam Qi treats dirty diseases, trying to tarnish her reputation. That’s why Madam Qi retaliated,” Yan Chi added.
It was just that most brothel women were afraid of their master and didn’t dare to take it seriously. Only Qiao Zhenzhen believed it.
Baifu clapped his hands in approval beside them. “An eye for an eye, how satisfying! I’ll hire a few people myself someday to dump night soil at the doorsteps of those censors.”
That would save them from collecting the salaries earned by their master’s confiscations while cursing him to the skies.
Ji Changqing shot him a sidelong glance.
Baifu immediately stopped smiling. “Master, I was just saying.”
“Dump it a few more times,” Ji Changqing’s voice rang out.
“So they won’t know who did it.”
Baifu: “Huh?”
Confused, he carried out Ji Changqing’s orders as instructed.
The censors who submitted memorials daily to impeach Ji Changqing discovered a large puddle of night soil at their doorsteps the next day. Thinking it was the night soil collector who had overturned his cart, they cursed a few times and had their servants clean it up.
The next morning, when they went out, they saw night soil again and realized someone had done it on purpose.
After complaining to their colleagues, they found that not only their own homes had been targeted, but their colleagues’ homes as well.
And the commonality among these colleagues was their fondness for impeaching Ji Changqing.
“#@%&!##…”
This time, they cursed even more fiercely, filthier, and more viciously.
Filled with indignation, they lodged complaints with the Emperor.
When the Emperor mentioned it to Ji Changqing, Ji Changqing wore a bitter smile. “Your subject is upright and honest, so they can’t find fault with me. All they can do is throw mud at me. Today they accuse me of dumping night soil at their doorsteps; tomorrow they’ll probably accuse me of stealing vegetables from their estates.”
The Emperor burst into laughter.
After laughing, he wiped his tears and said, “My dear subject, you’ve suffered. You do the real work, yet you bear the blame. I’m also fed up with these old fools. If it weren’t for Taizu’s ancestral decree forbidding the execution of censors, I would have dragged them out and beheaded them long ago.”
Ji Changqing replied, “They are only fulfilling their duties. I do not blame them.”
The Emperor praised him, “My dear subject, you have a noble heart.”
While the Emperor and his subject were having a pleasant conversation, Baifu was utterly perplexed. “What does the master gain from doing this? Does he think the censors aren’t cursing him enough?”
Shi An, who had just returned from investigating Feng Qingsui’s household registration in Wu City, knocked him on the back of the head. “Fool! The master is tired of their limited repertoire of curses!”
It was always the same old tune—cursing the master for abusing his power, confiscating too harshly, and being heartless.
Without the Emperor’s authorization, could the master have confiscated from so many people?
Cursing the master like this was no different from cursing the Emperor.
“Only by truly cursing the master can one share the Emperor’s worries.”
Baifu: “…”
Being an official in the capital is too difficult.
Feng Qingsui had no idea that she had inadvertently inspired Ji Changqing. After returning from visiting Qiao Zhenzhen, she pondered how to get closer to the Rongchang Marquis Mansion.
Unexpectedly, just as she was dozing off, someone delivered a pillow.
Princess Shouyang invited her to her birthday banquet.
She carefully prepared a batch of face cream and brought two boxes to the banquet.
The birthday banquet only invited those close to Princess Shouyang, totaling six tables, among whom was Madam Wei, the wife of the Rongchang Hou Shizi.
Before coming, Feng Qingsui had inquired with Madam Qi and learned that Madam Wei had been married for six years but still had no children.
When Princess Shouyang introduced Feng Qingsui to her friends, calling her a “miracle doctor,” Feng noticed a flicker of something unusual in Madam Wei’s eyes.
Thus, she modestly replied, “Your Highness overpraises me. I merely have some knowledge in dietary regulation and cannot be called a miracle doctor.”
A slender noblewoman then asked with a smile, “If you are skilled in dietary regulation, could you teach me how to eat to gain a little more weight?”
“I can examine you after the banquet,” Feng Qingsui replied.
After the banquet, while everyone strolled in the garden of the Princess’s Mansion to aid digestion, Feng Qingsui and that noblewoman sat alone in the waterside pavilion. After checking her pulse and examining her tongue, Feng asked with a smile, “Do you often enjoy eating raw fish slices or raw pickled seafood, Madam?”
The noblewoman exclaimed in surprise, “How did you know?”
“Raw fish slices and raw pickled seafood are delicious and have an exquisite texture, but they can easily leave hidden dangers,” Feng Qingsui said, watching the goldfish floating on the water’s surface.
“Fish, shrimp, and snails contain parasites and eggs that are difficult to detect with the naked eye. Once ingested, they may parasitize internal organs, or even the brain and eyes.”
The noblewoman’s face immediately turned pale with fright.
“P-parasites?”
“Things like roundworms, hookworms, and pinworms. You must have heard of them, right?”
The noblewoman had naturally heard of them, and her expression grew even more troubled. “Is it because I have worms in my stomach that I’ve been losing weight day by day?”
Feng Qingsui nodded. “You must have noticed some abnormalities, such as abdominal bloating, pain, or itching around the anus…”
With each word she spoke, the noblewoman’s face grew paler.
“Don’t be afraid,” Feng Qingsui reassured her. “I’ll prescribe a remedy for you. After taking a few doses, the worms will be expelled. Just avoid eating raw meat in the future.”
The noblewoman felt as if she had been granted a reprieve. “Can they all be expelled?”
“Yes.”
“That’s wonderful.”
The noblewoman’s expression softened. She glanced around and urged, “Please don’t speak of this to anyone.”
“Rest assured.”
Feng Qingsui asked an attendant for brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, wrote a prescription for the noblewoman, who tucked it into her bosom and went off to chat with the other ladies as if nothing had happened.
Madam Wei had been keeping an eye on Feng Qingsui’s movements and knew she had prescribed a remedy for the Marchioness of Anyang, but she did not approach Feng.
A single case involving Young Master Xuan was not enough to convince her of Feng Qingsui’s abilities.
If the Marchioness of Anyang could indeed gain weight…
She glanced down at her own plump waistline. There would be no harm in seeking Feng Qingsui’s advice later.
Feng Qingsui was in no hurry either. The bait had been cast; she was not afraid the fish wouldn’t bite.
After returning to the mansion and spending half a month in peace with Madam Qi, Madam Wei indeed sent someone to invite her to the Rongchang Marquis Mansion to admire chrysanthemums.
She finally stood before the gatehouse of the Rongchang Marquis Mansion.
Raising her head to glance at the gatehouse, which appeared particularly cold, majestic, and imposing against the backdrop of the overcast sky, she lowered her gaze, concealing the thoughts in her eyes. She followed Madam Wei’s servant through the side gate, accompanied by Wuhua.
Once inside, she rode in a sedan chair for nearly a quarter of an hour before arriving outside the courtyard where Madam Wei resided.
The courtyard was complete with rockeries, ponds, small bridges, flowing water, pavilions, and towers. Flowerbeds and corridors were lined with chrysanthemums of various colors, each displaying a unique charm and vying for beauty.
Madam Wei was waiting in an octagonal pavilion at the center of the pond.
As Feng Qingsui followed the servant toward the pavilion, she looked at the dark green pond water, overgrown with aquatic plants on both sides of the arched bridge, and the image of Xiao Yu’s adorable face flashed through her mind.
Xiao Yu, in which pond of the Rongchang Marquis Mansion did you drown?
The wind was strong, but the pavilion was shielded by screens, and a charcoal stove was placed beneath the round table, leaving no trace of chill.
Madam Wei wore a cross-collar jacket paired with a horse-face skirt woven with gold thread in a pattern of intertwined branches, birds, and flowers. Over it, she draped a round-collar, green-ground satin robe embroidered with gold-threaded intertwined floral motifs, appearing both plump and dignified.
After exchanging pleasantries, she got straight to the point: “The Marchioness of Anyang used your prescription and gained ten pounds in half a month. Can you make me lose twenty pounds in half a month?”
The physician had said her infertility was caused by obesity—if she could just slim down, she would be able to conceive.