Seeing that the situation was turning against him, the manager’s expression shifted instantly. “I was also deceived by the Second Young Lady!”
“Eldest Young Lady, have mercy! Eldest Young Lady, spare my life!”
“Besides failing to cook proper meals, what else did she tell you to do?”
The manager hesitated.
“If you confess honestly, I might leave you a path to live. If you hide anything, don’t even think about stepping out of this courtyard alive.”
Seeing that no one was speaking, Jiang Wanning turned her head and whispered a few words to Haitang. Haitang quickly left.
When she returned, she was holding a long sword.
Jiang Wanning’s voice was as calm as if she were discussing the day’s weather. “Kill one person for every stick of incense burned.”
Haitang placed the incense burner she had brought onto a nearby stone table and lit the incense.
Jiang Wanning sat on a stone stool, fanning herself to keep cool, which caused the incense in the burner to burn even faster.
In the blink of an eye, the stick of incense burned out.
Jiang Wanning did not hesitate. “Haitang, do it.”
Haitang and Shaoyao had been chosen for Jiang Wanning by the Zhou family; they were maidservants, but also guards, and their martial arts skills were formidable.
Haitang stepped forward. With a swift flash of her blade, the young attendant standing next to the manager collapsed to the ground, clutching his bleeding throat.
She sheathed her sword neatly.
Shaoyao lit another stick of incense.
Some people had already fainted from terror, while others were so scared they had wet themselves.
Weren’t the rumors saying that this Eldest Young Lady of the Marquis’s Manor was the most kind and gentle of souls, someone who never held a grudge?
“You… you actually dare to kill?” The manager pointed at Jiang Wanning. “If so many people suddenly die in the Grand Preceptor’s Manor, I don’t believe no one will investigate!”
“You are using your power to bully us! Just because we served the Grand Preceptor’s food a bit cold, you want to kill us?”
If they had merely been negligent with the Old Grand Preceptor’s meals, they would at most be beaten with boards and sold off. But if that matter were discovered, they would truly lose their lives.
However, it seemed the Eldest Young Lady had no intention of letting them go.
Regardless of what the manager said, Jiang Wanning remained silent. She only increased the speed at which she fanned herself.
Seeing the incense burn out again, Haitang drew her sharp sword and swung it toward the manager.
“I’ll talk!” The manager collapsed weakly to the ground. “I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”
“If I speak, will you let me go?”
Seeing that Jiang Wanning did not respond, Haitang raised her sword again.
“The Old Grand Preceptor is aged and often suffers from minor illnesses. Every time medicine was prescribed, the Second Young Lady had me secretly swap it out.”
Jiang Wanning’s hands clenched slightly inside her sleeves. No wonder her maternal grandfather’s health seemed so poor.
“What medicine did she have you change it to?”
“Changed… changed it…” Seeing Haitang’s movement to draw the sword, the manager no longer dared to hesitate. “Changed it to ordinary medicine for treating a common cold.”
“Except, one extra medicinal herb was added. It causes convulsions during sleep. Over time, the person becomes mentally drained, increasingly exhausted, and their consciousness becomes clouded.”
Jiang Wanning took a deep breath.
They had actually stretched their hands into the Grand Preceptor’s Manor. They were truly bold. It seemed the person behind this was not to be underestimated; she needed to investigate and find them as soon as possible.
Thinking this, Jiang Wanning stood up and walked outside.
“Miss, how should they be dealt with?”
“Kill them all.”
Jiang Wanning didn’t stop her pace, responding indifferently.
Her grandfather had felt they were pitiable and had never been strict with them; laziness and negligence were one thing, but they had bitten the hand that fed them.
Everyone there knew about the medicine being swapped. Even if some of them were forced, they still had to pay the price for the choices they made.
“I told the truth! I confessed everything! And yet you still want to kill us all!”
The manager screamed and shouted, “With so many corpses, aren’t you afraid the government will hold you accountable?”
“Our Miss never said she would let you go,” Haitang said. With a swing of her long sword, the manager collapsed with his eyes wide open.
After everyone was killed, Haitang neatly took out a written confession from her robes and pressed the manager’s handprint onto it.
With their own handprints, even if this went before the Emperor, nothing would happen. Daring to plot against the Grand Preceptor—not involving their entire clans was already an act of mercy.
“Ningning, you’ve changed.”
Shen Ruzhi caught up to her. “The old you, if you had found out, might have gone to Jiang Wanru for an explanation, but you would have definitely let these people go.”
Jiang Wanning smiled bitterly. “I was too kind before. Not just me, but my mother and grandfather as well.”
“But sometimes, being too kind is a sin.” The original sin of hurting oneself.
In this lifetime, she, Jiang Wanning, would never be a “good person” again. She would make those people pay back tenfold, a hundredfold.
“Good, Ningning, you should have been like this long ago,” Shen Ruzhi said. “What are we doing now? Going to deal with that little ‘white lotus’ sister of yours?”
Jiang Wanning paused her steps and turned to instruct Haitang and Shaoyao, who had followed. “You two stay here for the next few days to take care of my grandfather and Butler Zhao.”
Since she had disposed of everyone, someone had to stay to look after him.
“There’s no rush for her; we’ll deal with her slowly. For now, we’re going to pick out a few maids and older servant women for grandfather.”
“And one more thing.”
“Oh.” Shen Ruzhi followed her, feeling a bit disappointed. Was Ningning still reluctant to deal with Jiang Wanru?
“I’ll go with you.”
The two of them arrived at the street. Jiang Wanning selected four maids and two older servant women, and also found a few family guards. She instructed the slave trader to send them all to the Grand Preceptor’s Manor.
Her grandfather lived a simple and frugal life; if she bought too many, he wouldn’t accept them. She could find a few skilled secret guards to protect him in the shadows later.
“Ningning, what do we do next?”
“Find a person.”
Before Shen Ruzhi could ask who they were looking for, the people on the street suddenly surged forward, nearly separating the two of them.
“Let’s go take a look too,” Shen Ruzhi said, grabbing Jiang Wanning’s hand and rushing into the crowd. She had always loved a good spectacle.
In the middle of the crowd, a burly man, eight feet tall, was kneeling before two government officers.
“I beg of you, I will definitely make up the fee in two days. Can you please leave this cart for me?”
“All my belongings were used to buy this cart. If you take it away, how will I survive?”
As the sturdy man spoke, he kept kowtowing and begging for mercy.
“Enough nonsense! To set up a stall on this street, you must pay the stall fee first, otherwise, you aren’t allowed to stay.”
“We are taking this cart. You can have it back whenever the stall fee is paid. Additionally, for setting up a stall wherever you please, we are fining you five taels of silver.”
“Pay it all together when the time comes.”
As one of the officers spoke, he kicked the street vendor aside. The other officer began pushing the cart away.
“I beg you, brothers, just give me two days… one day, even one day will do,” the man continued. “I still have an eighty-year-old mother at home to care for.”
“If I lose this little cart, where will I go to earn money?”
“Please, have a heart, show some mercy.”
The officers ignored him, and one told the other to hurry and take the cart. “Bring the money tomorrow morning, or else you can forget about this cart.”
“If you really want the cart, give us something to show your ‘sincerity’ first.”
“I…” The man looked embarrassed. “Officer, after buying these goods, I don’t have a single copper coin left on me.”
“You…”
“Get lost!” the officer reached out and pushed the man. “You have nothing, and yet you want us to show mercy?”