Fan Suwan came out of the room and immediately instructed Steward Chen, “Go to the accounting office and get the money! Buy enough for one day.”
One day would cost 60,000 taels of silver!
Even as the mistress of the Marquis’s mansion, spending 60,000 taels of silver for a few doses of medicine and a few bowls of medicinal cuisine made her tone somewhat heavy.
The Marquis’s mansion’s money didn’t grow on trees!
Steward Chen hurriedly accepted the order and left.
He first went to the accounting office to collect 60,000 taels of silver notes, then headed towards the Zhexian Tower with the notes.
“Steward Yang,” Steward Chen said with a smile, “I’ve brought the silver notes!”
Steward Yang was one of the stewards of the Zhexian Tower, specializing in selling various medicinal herbs and some medicinal cuisine for specific ailments.
Manager Yang didn’t even glance at the silver notes in Steward Chen’s hand, his face still bearing a friendly smile.
“What a coincidence! Someone just came by and bought all these medicinal herbs! The new herbs won’t arrive until three days later.”
“What?”
Steward Chen’s heart sank to the bottom.
“How could this be? I’ve only been here and back for less than an hour!”
“Yes! Less than an hour, but it just so happens that they were bought up! There’s nothing I can do about it!”
Manager Yang’s smile remained unchanged, but his voice turned cold.
“Does Steward Chen think I deliberately refused to sell to you?”
Steward Chen shook his head repeatedly.
“Of course not! I absolutely didn’t think that! It’s just too coincidental! How am I going to explain this when I get back!”
Steward Yang patted Steward Chen on the shoulder.
“Just tell the truth. It’s not your fault. Who would have thought someone would come to buy it at such a convenient time! I know a bit about pharmacology, and I can tell that these herbs don’t treat a life-threatening illness. They’ll be fine in three days! Don’t worry, Steward Chen, I’ll definitely take this to heart! As soon as the new herbs arrive, I’ll have someone inform your household immediately!”
Having said all that, there was no point in saying anything more.
Steward Chen was uneasy, but knew there was no point in staying, so he could only turn and leave dejectedly.
Watching Steward Chen’s retreating figure, Steward Yang narrowed his eyes, a cold glint in them.
Daring to poison their young lady, and then expecting an easy antidote?
There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
…
Butler Chen returned empty-handed once again, causing Fan Suwan’s brows to furrow tightly.
“Bought by someone? What a coincidence!”
Hearing this, Butler Chen lowered his head even further, fearing the wrath of others.
“This old servant thinks it really is just a coincidence. Although the Zhexian Tower has the Empress Dowager’s protection, there’s really no need for them to offend our Marquis’s mansion!”
Fan Suwan’s brows relaxed slightly.
“What you said makes sense. Well then, since that’s the case, let’s wait three days. Go tell the eldest young lady to wait and treat her with ordinary medicine first!”
Butler Chen inwardly groaned.
How could the eldest young lady not be angry if he told her all this?
She would probably take her anger out on him!
But he had no choice but to agree, so he could only bite the bullet and go to Yilan Courtyard to explain the whole story.
Although he was separated by a screen and couldn’t see Jiang Jingshu’s expression, he only heard the sound of porcelain falling to the ground, and Butler Chen knew that Jiang Jingshu was angry.
After waiting for a while, Jiang Jingshu’s voice finally came through.
“I understand, thank you for your hard work, Steward Chen. Go and rest!”
Steward Chen secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly left Yilan Courtyard.
No sooner had Steward Chen left than Jiang Jingshu smashed all the porcelain in the room.
It was supposed to heal in ten days, but now she had to wait three more.
Did that mean she wouldn’t be able to leave her room for half a month?
After smashing everything, Jiang Jingshu was still furious.
She called Amber over, “Find some time to go to the Ghost Doctor again and buy me a deadly poison that kills instantly! This time, I want that bastard Jiang Zhiyu dead!”
Although she didn’t know how Jiang Zhiyu had managed it, she was certain that Jiang Zhiyu was responsible!
She had caused her so much suffering; Jiang Zhiyu had to die!
Amber trembled with fear.
“Young Miss, but Madam—”
“Are you my maid or Madam’s?” Jiang Jingshu coldly interrupted her.
“Just a cousin, so what if she’s dead! Once she’s really dead, do you think Mother will blame me for her? Don’t worry, as long as I live, I will protect you. If you don’t listen to me, I’ll sell you out before Mother does!”
Amber dared not persuade her further and could only reluctantly agree.
Jiang Jingshu finally felt a little better.
“Go, bring the medicine prescribed by the imperial physician. We can’t just wait here like this!”
…
Although Fan Suwan and Jiang Jingshu wanted to keep this a secret, Jiang Zhenzhou noticed something was wrong when Jiang Jingshu didn’t pay her respects to Fan Suwan the next morning.
“Mother, why didn’t my elder sister come?” Jiang Zhenzhou asked with concern.
“My elder sister is very particular about etiquette and would never fail to greet you without a reason. Is she ill? I’ll go see her in a bit!”
“Don’t go!” Fan Suwan immediately stopped him.
“Your elder sister—she is indeed feeling unwell and it’s not a good time for her to see anyone.”
“Then I’ll stay behind the screen!” Jiang Zhenzhou added.
“Otherwise, I won’t feel at ease!”
Before Fan Suwan could stop him again, Jiang Zhenzhou had already hurried off to Yilan Courtyard.
Seeing that she couldn’t stop him, Fan Suwan gave up.
Glancing at the silent Jiang Zhiyu beside him, Fan Suwan smiled and explained,
“Zhenzhou is lively and spends more time with Jiang Jingshu, so their relationship is deeper. As you spend more time together in the future, he’ll treat you the same way!”
“Is this how Jiang Zhenzhou treats her?”
Jiang Zhiyu scoffed inwardly.
She didn’t care.
However, outwardly, Jiang Zhiyu nodded with a smile.
Seeing that Jiang Zhiyu was quite well-behaved today, Fan Suwan’s mood improved.
“Although you’ve just arrived in the capital, you’ve already learned the rules. You can’t just stay cooped up at home all the time; it’s good to make some close friends. In three days, Xu Wanqing, the eldest daughter of Grand Tutor Xu, is holding a poetry gathering. An invitation was already sent to Jing Shu, but she can’t attend now. You can go then!”
Hearing Fan Suwan’s words, Jiang Zhiyu could only ask, “Are you alright?
Sending someone who grew up in the countryside to a poetry gathering?
Do you want her to compose poetry or to embarrass herself?”
Jiang Zhiyu was too lazy to go to any poetry gathering and refused outright, “Aunt, I think I’d better not go. I grew up in the mountains and I don’t know how to write poetry.”
“Don’t worry!” Fan Suwan reassured her with a smile, “I’ve already had someone inquire. Miss Xu’s poetry gathering is themed around lotus flowers. I’ll have someone write a few poems for you. They don’t need to be outstanding, just decent. You just need to memorize them.”
Jiang Zhiyu: ???
Fan Suwan is so familiar with this. Could she have done this kind of thing often before?
What about Jiang Jingshu’s reputation as a talented woman…?
Jiang Zhiyu narrowed her eyes.
It seemed she had accidentally discovered another secret!
Fan Suwan had already put it this way, so refusing was out of the question. Jiang Zhiyu agreed.
In any case, whether or not she wrote a poem was up to her. Fan Suwan was far away and couldn’t interfere.
After listening to a few more instructions from Fan Suwan, Jiang Zhiyu returned to her own courtyard.
Just as they sat down, before even taking a sip of tea, Jiang Zhenzhou strode in.
“Jiang Zhiyu! Why did you poison our elder sister! How could you be so vicious? Our elder sister already said she would return your status as the legitimate daughter to you, but you refused! Why are you poisoning her now? If our elder sister has even a scar, I will never forgive you!”
Jiang Zhenzhou’s voice was furious, his face flushed red with rage, his eyes fixed on Jiang Zhiyu, as if he wanted to turn his gaze into blades and skin her alive.
Jiang Zhiyu only gave Jiang Zhenzhou a glance before continuing to drink her tea.
Completely ignored by Jiang Zhiyu enraged Jiang Zhenzhou even more.
“Jiang Zhiyu! I’m talking to you! Did you hear me! Who gave you permission to ignore me like this?”
Jiang Zhiyu shook her head. “Elder cousin, you’re wrong. I’m not ignoring you, I’m disregarding you!”
Perhaps too shocked, or perhaps not understanding at first,
Jiang Zhenzhou paused for a moment, then became even angrier than before.
“You! Why did you harm my elder sister! Why did you poison her!”
Jiang Zhiyu stared directly at Jiang Zhenzhou this time. “Cousin, do you think Aunt is clever?”
“Mother? Of course Mother is clever!”
“Since you think Aunt is clever, do you think she wouldn’t punish me if I had poisoned her?”
Wangyou quickly stepped forward, blocking Jiang Zhiyu. “Young Master, Madam Hou already came to investigate yesterday. The maids in the courtyard and the cleaning ladies outside can all testify for my young lady. After returning to the courtyard, she hasn’t gone out again!”
Jiang Zhenzhou frowned, his face still showing suspicion.
Jiang Zhiyu chuckled. “Or do you think the guards of the Marquis’s mansion are all useless? That I could fool them and go to Yilan Courtyard to poison your elder sister?”
“The guards of the Marquis’s mansion certainly aren’t useless!” Jiang Zhenzhou retorted without thinking. Only after
the words left his mouth did Jiang Zhenzhou realize what he had said.
Since the guards of the Marquis’s mansion weren’t just sitting idly by, and Jiang Zhiyu had witnesses, then she wasn’t the one who poisoned him.
But Jiang Jingshu’s words just now clearly implied that Jiang Zhiyu was the one who poisoned him!
Why would her elder sister say that?
Seeing Jiang Zhenzhou’s complicated expression, Jiang Zhiyu raised an eyebrow.
Was she starting to have doubts?
She wasn’t hopelessly stupid!
Jiang Zhiyu didn’t care whether Jiang Zhenzhou was completely fooled by Jiang Jingshu.
She only cared whether Jiang Zhenzhou could help her get the family heirloom jade pendant!
“Big cousin, when will you do what you promised me?” Jiang Zhiyu blinked her big eyes, staring intently at Jiang Zhenzhou.
Stared at like that by Jiang Zhiyu, Jiang Zhenzhou subconsciously turned his face away, but his words were firm, “I naturally won’t go back on my promise, what’s the rush! I’ll show it to you when it’s done!”
With that, Jiang Zhenzhou turned to leave.
But at the door, he stopped.
“If I find out you’re involved in your elder sister’s poisoning, I will absolutely not let you off!”