That drawn-out final tone made the nearby Cui mama break out in goosebumps.
Cui mama was just about to step forward and stop her.
“Wonderful!”
Jiang Zhaoxue suddenly poked her head out from behind Cui mama, clapped her hands, and smiled even more brightly than Nanny Sun.
She rubbed her chin and walked around the boxes of tonics and the two beauties in a circle.
Nanny Sun sneered inwardly.
Sure enough, she was just a shallow country girl who had never seen anything good before.
But in Jiang Zhaoxue’s eyes, the scene was truly fascinating.
The old mountain ginseng was surrounded by a layer of cold frost energy. This was not a tonic at all—it was poisonous ginseng that had been soaked in something extremely cold!
Xiao Chenghuai was currently taking a warm medicinal formula to strengthen his foundation and restore his vitality. If he consumed this cold ginseng, the opposing medicinal properties would clash, and even the gods would not be able to save him.
Then she looked at the two delicate beauties.
Their brows and eyes carried a seductive charm, but their bodies were surrounded by a strange black aura.
This was the most despicable kind of bewitching technique and sinister evil energy from the martial world.
Their claim of being skilled in medicine was a lie. Their true purpose was to use a cultivation technique to drain Xiao Chenghuai’s remaining life force.
They really thought highly of Xiao Chenghuai now, didn’t they?
He could barely even get out of bed, and they still wanted to do this?
Was this some kind of joke?
“Her Highness the Dowager Princess is truly too thoughtful!”
Jiang Zhaoxue immediately took the brocade box and looked at Nanny Sun with a beaming smile.
“As the saying goes, one cannot refuse a gift from an elder. These wonderful things, and these two fairy-like sisters, I’ll accept them all. Laifu, why are you still standing there? Hurry and see Nanny Sun out.”
Seeing that Jiang Zhaoxue had accepted everything without even pretending to refuse, Nanny Sun sneered repeatedly in her heart.
Sure enough, she really was a fool!
“Then this old servant will take her leave.”
Nanny Sun left proudly.
After the courtyard gate closed, Cui mama stomped her feet anxiously.
“Princess Consort! How could you accept them? Could anything sent by the Dowager Princess possibly be good? And those two vixens were obviously sent here to disgust you!”
Chun Xia and Qiu Dong stood in place, putting on pitiful and delicate expressions.
Chun Xia stepped forward and spoke in a sweet voice:
“Princess Consort, let us go and serve the prince his medicine first…”
“No rush.”
Jiang Zhaoxue casually tossed the brocade boxes filled with top-quality old mountain ginseng and blood bird’s nest to Laifu.
“Laifu, go to the back kitchen and boil these top-grade cold ginseng roots and blood bird’s nest into a thick soup.”
Laifu froze.
“Ah? For the prince to drink?”
“For your grandfather to drink!” Jiang Zhaoxue rolled her eyes at him.
“Take it to the back garden. I remember the Dowager Princess’s courtyard has four or five precious Persian cats, doesn’t it? I heard they usually wander around the back garden. Mix this nourishing soup into their food and give them a good treat. Not a single drop is allowed to be left!”
Cui mama and Laifu immediately understood. They held back their laughter and loudly replied:
“Yes, Princess!”
After dealing with the tonics, Jiang Zhaoxue turned around and looked at Chun Xia and Qiu Dong, whose faces had become slightly pale, with a faintly amused smile.
“As for the two of you…”
“Princess Consort, this servant knows massage techniques and can help relieve the prince’s fatigue…”
Qiu Dong refused to give up and threw him a flirtatious glance.
“Massage? That would be wasting your talents.”
Jiang Zhaoxue rubbed her chin and pointed toward the northwest corner of the prince’s manor.
“I see that the area between your brows is turning blue. You urgently need to cleanse away the filth and pray for blessings. How about this? There is an abandoned Luomei Courtyard in the northwest corner of the prince’s manor. That place is most suitable for people with your kind of heavy yin energy. Go there now and clean that courtyard from top to bottom three times as a prayer for the prince’s blessings.”
Cui mama held back her laughter.
That courtyard was the infamous haunted courtyard in the prince’s manor! Several servants had died there before. Strange noises were often heard at night, and even the bravest guards dared not go near it.
When Chun Xia and Qiu Dong heard this, their faces turned pale with fear. They immediately fell to their knees.
“Princess Consort, spare us! We were sent by the Dowager Princess to serve the prince. How could we possibly go clean an abandoned courtyard…”
“Not going?”
The smile on Jiang Zhaoxue’s face disappeared.
She stepped closer to the two women. Her voice was soft and sweet, yet it sent chills down their spines.
“If you don’t go, then you can only end up like that Biyu from a few days ago—put into a sack, have your hands and feet broken, and be sent back.”
The two women shuddered all over and scrambled to their feet.
“This servant… this servant will go clean it right away!”
At dusk, a loud crash came from Shoukang Courtyard.
Meng Dowager Princess smashed her teacup into pieces. The scalding tea splashed all over the floor.
She trembled with anger and pointed at the little maid kneeling on the ground.
“What did you say? The tonics I sent over—Princess Consort Jiang used them to feed cats?”
The little maid was so frightened that she kept kowtowing.
“Yes… yes… Not only did she feed them to the cats, but after those Persian cats drank it, they all started vomiting and having diarrhea. Now they are foaming at the mouth and are almost dying…”
“And what about Chun Xia and Qiu Dong?!”
“They… they were sent by Princess Consort Jiang to clean Luomei Courtyard. Just now, I heard that the courtyard is haunted. The two girls were frightened into madness and are currently banging their heads against the walls inside…”
“Jiang Zhaoxue!”
Meng Dowager Princess rolled her eyes back. She only felt the world spinning around her, and before she could catch her breath, she fainted.
“Dowager Princess! Your Highness!”
The entire Shoukang Courtyard instantly descended into chaos.
The commotion that happened in the Dowager Princess’s Shoukang Courtyard eventually spread out as if it had grown wings.
Within two days, rumors began circulating throughout Shengjing City: not only had Jing Prince not died, but his health had greatly improved.
And that new bride, Jiang Zhaoxue, who had been brought back from the old temple outside the city for a wedding meant to bring good fortune, had firmly established herself in the vicious prince’s manor where people could be swallowed alive without leaving a trace.
When the news reached the Jiang family, the first person who could no longer sit still was the Jiang family’s First Madam, Wang.
Back then, when Jing Prince’s manor requested a bride, she was unwilling to give up her pampered legitimate daughter, Jiang Wan, and she was also unwilling to give up her clever and flattering concubine-born daughter, Jiang Rou.
That was when she remembered the unlucky girl who had been thrown beside the mass graveyard for thirteen years.
She originally thought sending her there would only mean a lifetime of widowhood.
Who would have thought that this wretched girl would actually have such fortune?
Jing Prince had actually recovered!
That was the Jing Prince’s residence!
Even if Jing Prince had been a sickly man, he was still an imperial relative!
Now that the sickly prince was clearly coming back to life, how could such overwhelming wealth and status be monopolized by a wild girl abandoned by her own family?
Thus, First Madam Wang hurriedly prepared a carriage and horses. Bringing Jiang Wan and Jiang Rou with her, she used the excuse of visiting the prince’s health and grandly arrived at the gates of Jing Prince’s residence.
Jing Prince’s residence, side hall.
The sun had already risen high into the sky.
Jiang Madam sat upright in her chair, her expression gloomy.
“What time is it already? Did the person sent to report our arrival die on the way?”
Not only had no one come to announce their arrival, but in the grand Jing Prince’s residence’s side hall, no one had even brought them a cup of hot tea.
Jiang Wan wore a gold-woven brocade dress and had deliberately dressed herself in an exceptionally eye-catching manner. She had come specifically to show off in front of that country bumpkin.
But now, even she was starting to grow impatient from waiting.
“Mother, this third younger sister is truly too ignorant of proper manners. Does she really think that just because she has flown up a branch and become a phoenix, she no longer recognizes her own maternal family?”
Jiang Rou, who was beside her, immediately fanned the flames. Covering her lips, she gave a soft laugh.
“Elder Sister, don’t be angry. Third Sister was, after all, raised in that kind of… that kind of unclean place outside. How could she possibly understand the rules of a prestigious household?”
“Rules? My rule here is that I don’t meet barking dogs.”
A lazy female voice suddenly came from outside the side hall.