Jiang Zhaoxue was lying on a reclining chair under the corridor, cracking sunflower seeds.
“Princess Consort! Your divine foresight is truly incredible!”
Laifu shouted as he held up a paper packet in his hand.
“This wretched maid actually tried to put arsenic into the well of our main courtyard while she was fetching water.”
Looking at the packet of poison, Granny Cui’s legs went weak, and she almost fell to her knees.
The water used by everyone in the main courtyard came from that well. If Bizhu had succeeded, by tomorrow morning there might not have been a single living person left in this courtyard.
“Could this be another scheme by the Dowager Consort?” Granny Cui gritted her teeth. She was so frightened that cold sweat broke out all over her body.
She turned to look at Jiang Zhaoxue. There was no longer even the slightest trace of doubt in her eyes. She clasped her hands together and prayed.
“The Princess Consort must have been sent by the heavens to save our prince!”
Then she turned back to Jiang Zhaoxue with guilt on her face.
“This old servant was blind and nearly harmed His Highness!”
Jiang Zhaoxue waved her hand indifferently. She could not even be bothered to interrogate Bizhu.
“Stuff her mouth, break her hands and feet, and throw her directly at the entrance of the Dowager Consort’s courtyard tomorrow morning. Tell her that I caught a thief and sent her something interesting to look at.”
After saying that, she brushed the sunflower seed shells off her hands and turned toward Xiao Chenghuai’s bedroom.
Inside the bedroom, Xiao Chenghuai was half leaning against the pillows. His face was still pale and weak.
Hearing footsteps, he raised his eyes and looked at the young woman walking in.
She seemed to particularly like the color red. After taking off her wedding dress, she had changed into another red long dress.
He had heard everything that happened in the courtyard just now.
“The maid who tried to poison us had her hands and feet broken and was thrown over there. Princess Consort, your methods are rather ruthless.”
Xiao Chenghuai’s voice was weak, but there was a hint of amusement in his tone.
Jiang Zhaoxue pulled over a chair and sat down casually beside the bed. She poured herself a cup of tea.
“What? Do you think I’m cruel?”
Xiao Chenghuai coughed softly twice.
“Not at all. Since this prince said the main courtyard would be under your control, naturally I will not interfere. I am just curious—how did you know at a glance that there was something wrong with that maid?”
“Nothing much. I just have an extraordinary talent.”
Jiang Zhaoxue shrugged indifferently.
Xiao Chenghuai wondered, did this girl always talk like this?
Jiang Zhaoxue shifted her gaze and glanced at the few people serving beside the bed. There were only a handful of people who could get close to Xiao Chenghuai.
Laifu, the senior maid Qiuwen, and an older servant named Uncle Xu.
Jiang Zhaoxue’s gaze swept lightly over Laifu and Qiuwen. Their auras were clean. There was no problem.
When her eyes landed on Uncle Xu, who had a face full of honesty and sincerity, her gaze suddenly turned cold.
At the back of this old servant’s neck, there were clearly two thin, dense black threads connected to him—threads that ordinary people could not see.
One black thread continuously extended toward the courtyard where Dowager Consort Meng resided, while the other was tightly wrapped around the head of Xiao Chenghuai’s bed.
No wonder!
Jiang Zhaoxue immediately understood.
She had been wondering—this man’s destiny was so noble that it was beyond words, yet he was sick to the point where he could barely get out of bed.
It seemed this was not an illness. Someone wanted him dead.
Without revealing anything, Jiang Zhaoxue stood up. She suddenly walked to the window and pushed aside the agarwood screen that had originally been blocking the wind by half a foot.
Then, she walked to the display shelf and turned over a palm-sized Eight Trigrams bronze mirror.
Finally, she kicked over a charcoal brazier in the corner.
The entire set of movements flowed smoothly and naturally, leaving everyone in the room completely puzzled.
“Princess Consort, what are you\…” Granny Cui could not help but ask.
“The feng shui in this room is bad. It’s too stifling.”
Jiang Zhaoxue clapped her hands and turned to look at Xiao Chenghuai, whose eyes were deep and unreadable. She blinked, tilted her head, and smiled.
“Prince, can I borrow your room tonight to catch a ghost? You don’t mind, do you?”
Xiao Chenghuai looked at the few positions she had just altered. Although he did not understand mysticism, he could still tell what she was doing.
Without hesitation, he nodded.
“Do as you please.”
Jiang Zhaoxue snapped her fingers and turned to leave.
“Laifu, remember to come with Granny Cui tonight and listen outside the wall.”
Late at night, there were no stars and no moon.
Tonight, it was Uncle Xu’s turn to keep watch outside the bedroom.
Normally, he only needed to lean against a pillar and doze off until dawn.
But tonight, for some reason, he constantly felt a chill running down his back.
The feng shui arrangement that Jiang Zhaoxue casually altered during the day was actually a formation she had set up to reverse yin and yang and force out the hidden spirit.
Originally, the sinister aura that Uncle Xu carried from Dowager Consort Meng allowed him to move freely in this room, like a fish in water. But after the feng shui was changed, the yin energy was reflected back upon him, directly attacking his mind.
Just after midnight, Uncle Xu suddenly began convulsing violently.
His eyes rolled upward, and he tightly gripped his own neck.
Hidden in the corner behind the corridor pillar, Laifu and Granny Cui were so frightened that they did not dare to make a sound.
Uncle Xu looked as if he had been possessed. With a loud thump, he fell to his knees and began frantically kowtowing toward the empty air.
“Dowager Consort, spare me! Dowager Consort, spare me!”
Uncle Xu’s face was filled with terror, as if he were seeing some horrifying scene.
“This old servant did everything as instructed. The incense you gave me, which had been soaked in talisman water made from the ashes of the dead, I secretly stuffed into His Highness’s pillow every time. I have been doing this for three years. His Highness’s yang energy should have been completely drained by now.”
“Please, Dowager Consort, show mercy and spare this old servant’s little grandson at the estate! This old servant will repay you by working like an ox or a horse in my next life!”
Behind the corridor pillar, the two people listening felt both shocked and furious.
Uncle Xu was an old servant of the manor. He usually appeared to be the most honest and simple-minded person. Who could have imagined that he was actually the assassin planted by Dowager Consort Meng beside the prince?
No wonder the prince had been bedridden day and night, and no matter how the Imperial Hospital changed his medicine, his condition never improved.
Unable to hold herself back, Granny Cui rushed out like a madwoman. She kicked Uncle Xu, who was still kowtowing, aside, then immediately rushed to Xiao Chenghuai’s bedside and tore open the bright yellow bolster pillow.
The brocade fabric ripped apart, and in the middle of the snow-white silk stuffing was a clump of blackened, crushed incense materials.
“Your Highness!”
Granny Cui knelt on the ground and burst into tears. She repeatedly kowtowed.
“This old servant deserves to die! This old servant was blind and actually allowed such a vicious thing to remain beneath your head for three whole years!”
On the bed, Xiao Chenghuai looked at the clump of incense materials. His expression was terrifyingly calm.
Meng Shi\… her methods were truly ruthless.
If not for Jiang Zhaoxue, he might have really turned into a pile of yellow earth while his life was unknowingly being drained away.
At that moment, Jiang Zhaoxue approached while yawning.
She glanced at Uncle Xu outside the door, whose mind had already collapsed, then looked at Granny Cui, who was crying uncontrollably.
“That was fast. You caught him already?”
Jiang Zhaoxue kicked Uncle Xu’s leg and clicked her tongue twice.
“This old man’s fate carries the sign of having no descendants. The Dowager Consort used his grandson to threaten him, but she was only deceiving him. His grandson had already drowned two years ago.”
Hearing this, Uncle Xu immediately spat out a mouthful of black blood and fainted.
Granny Cui suddenly turned around and heavily kowtowed three times to Jiang Zhaoxue.
“Princess Consort! You are the savior of our courtyard! From now on, this old servant’s life is entirely at your disposal!”
Jiang Zhaoxue raised her eyebrows and accepted the three kowtows without hesitation, clearly quite pleased.
She walked to the bedside and looked down at Xiao Chenghuai from above, the corner of her lips curving into a bold and arrogant smile.
“Prince, I have cleaned up the entire inner courtyard for you. You must remember to repay me!”
Xiao Chenghuai smiled faintly.
“Princess Consort, how would you like me to repay you?”
Jiang Zhaoxue frowned and seriously thought about it for a moment.
“Aside from the conditions you already promised me, gold, jewelry, antiques—anything works! I’m not picky!”
Xiao Chenghuai lowered his head, warmth appearing in his brows and eyes.
This girl really was a little money lover.