6
On a sunny spring day, five stoves were set up in the open space of the backyard of the Peony Garden, with five medicine pots bubbling away in a row.
A few women tending the fires added firewood to the stoves.
Tang Cheng sat comfortably in a chair, directing her four maids to add medicinal ingredients to the pots. Originally, she had intended to have an empty room modified to refine potions, but seeing how nice the weather was, she decided to do it outside instead.
The entire backyard was filled with the scent of medicinal herbs.
“Miss, don’t you think boiling… I mean, refining five pots of potions at once is a bit too much?”
Zhenzhu threw the tiger bone into a pot as Tang Cheng had instructed, then walked back to her in a daze, her voice sound a little unsteady.
“Not too much. After refining, at most, only one pot’s worth will remain. I’ll have to give some to Father and also send some to Young Lord Wen. His constitution is so weak, he needs a good soak. What’s left won’t be much, and I’m not sure if it’ll be enough.”
Tang Cheng had already planned the distribution of the body-strengthening potion.
Nanny Cao and Nanny Gao: “…”
Poor Young Lord Wen. He was actually being called weak by the Fourth Miss Tang, and she was even planning to send him some random potion. Who knows what rumors will spread outside? The two matrons suddenly felt a bit of sympathy for him.
Everyone else in the courtyard: “…”
Zhenzhu silently lowered her head.
“Miss, are you really sure this will produce a body-strengthening potion?”
Hupo, who knew medicine herself, saw how casually her mistress was instructing them to add ingredients to the pots—each pot receiving the same ingredient at different times. It all seemed haphazard and completely unreliable.
Hupo couldn’t help but feel worried.
Tang Cheng nodded confidently.
“Of course. You need to have faith in me. There are plenty of people in our household. I’ll find someone with a weak constitution to test the effects first—I would never take risks with the baby in my belly.”
Everyone: “…”
Nanny Cao and Nanny Gao breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Tang Cheng ignored the disbelief in their eyes. Once the effects of the potion became apparent, they would understand. Don’t think that just because she was refining medicine openly in front of everyone, without treating the formula as a secret, they could assume they had obtained the body-strengthening potion recipe. That would be laughable. The key to refining the body-strengthening potion lay in soul power. Without soul power, any potion refined would have no strengthening effect.
Tang Cheng was someone who possessed soul power. Unfortunately, she only knew how to refine one type of potion.
If she had known she would be transmigrating, she would have put more effort into learning alchemy.
She sighed briefly, then brushed the thought aside.
As a pampered young lady from a prestigious family, even if her fertility value were zero, the properties she owned would already be enough for her to live comfortably for a lifetime. She didn’t need to refine potions to earn credits.
It was the same in this life—only the quality of life was vastly inferior to that of the empire.
However, she had a constitution that made it easy for her to conceive, which meant her fertility value was at its maximum.
Once she improved her physical condition, she wanted to give birth to a bunch of babies.
Tang Cheng, who harbored a deep obsession with having children, secretly set a small goal, a pleased smile curving her lips.
Half an hour later, all the necessary medicinal ingredients had been added to the pots, leaving only a few more. The scent of herbs in the backyard grew increasingly stronger.
This strong medicinal aroma drifted outside the Peony Garden, arousing the curiosity of others. But after coming to investigate, they were all left speechless.
The Fourth Miss really knew how to stir things up.
Almost all the menial servants in the Peony Garden were spies planted by others.
Tang Cheng’s remark about the Young Lord Wen having a weak constitution was deliberately spread by those with ulterior motives, along with the so-called body-strengthening potion, adding more fuel for gossip.
“Mother, I heard that Fourth Sister is refining a body-strengthening potion. What exactly is this body-strengthening potion? Why haven’t I heard of it before?” Tang Xin, who had hurried over to the main courtyard, was very interested in the so-called body-strengthening potion. The name sounded very modern, and she secretly suspected that Tang Cheng might have also been transmigrated.
Zhang, the Marchioness of Nanyang, replied casually, “It’s just something cooked up by some itinerant Taoist to fool people. It’s not strange that you haven’t heard of it.”
Tang Xin was taken aback.
An itinerant Taoist?
Since it was a Taoist, they would probably concoct so-called immortal pills or magical elixirs to scam people.
Tang Xin voiced her doubts.
Madam Zhang couldn’t help but laugh.
“Xin’er, do you think we’re fools? If such miraculous pills really existed, those Taoists would have used them themselves. Of course, not all Taoists are frauds—some do have genuine skills. As long as the stuff works, there are still people willing to spend money on it.”
Madam Zhang added another sentence at the end.
Tang Xin: “…”
Suddenly, she felt she had asked a stupid question.
So, Fourth Sister hadn’t been transmigrated. Judging by the way she was refining the potion, she had probably been fooled by someone.
Tang Xin let out a soft sigh.
…
Meanwhile, Tang Cheng was directing Hupo, who knew medicine, to remove the herbal dregs from the pots. Then she personally added the remaining ingredients into a mortar and began grinding them with a pestle.
Seeing that Fourth Miss Tang was merely grinding medicinal ingredients, Nanny Cao and Nanny Gao didn’t intervene.
No one could see or detect the fluctuations of Tang Cheng’s soul power. What she was grinding now was the true essence and core of the body-strengthening potion. The grand spectacle earlier was merely a preliminary step in refining it.
These tasks could have been handed over to intelligent robots, but in ancient times, everything relied on manual labor—there were no precision instruments, no simple and easy-to-use intelligent robots.
As a young lady of high status, Tang Cheng certainly wouldn’t do the work herself, so she could only direct her servants to help.
Fifteen minutes later, Hupo had cleaned out all the herbal dregs and, following her mistress’s instructions, had the fire-tending maids pour the liquid from the other four pots into a single pot.
Tang Cheng immediately added the ground powder from the crushed herbs into the pot, releasing her soul power while stirring. After a moment, faint beads of sweat appeared on her delicate, well-defined nose.
“Done. The body-strengthening potion has been successfully refined. Now we need to find someone with a weak constitution to test it.”
Tang Cheng broke into a smile, though a trace of fatigue showed between her brows. After crossing through time, her soul power had been greatly weakened, leading to excessive consumption during the refining process. She would need two or three days of rest to recover. Still, looking at the pot of successfully refined body-strengthening potion, her beautiful apricot eyes were filled with excitement and exhilaration.
Finally, she could improve this frail body.
The four maids stared at the dark, murky potion in the pot and couldn’t help swallowing nervously. It looked terrifying.
The two matrons took a small step back.
“Miss, shouldn’t we have a physician examine this potion before finding someone to test it?”
Zhenzhu’s heart was trembling. The potion looked far too much like poison.
What if it killed someone outright…
Tang Cheng widened her apricot eyes.
“Don’t you believe me?”
“No, no, how could this servant not believe you, Miss? It’s just that the Marquis instructed that any potion you refine must be examined by a physician before use.”
Zhenzhu quickly shook her head in denial, thinking to herself that this wasn’t a matter of belief—it was that the potion looked terrifying and clearly problematic at first glance.
Tang Cheng felt they truly had no appreciation for good things.
“Fine, Shanhu. Go fetch a physician.”
…
While Shanhu was at Jihe Hall requesting a physician, the Marquis of Nanyang returned to the residence. As soon as he arrived, he saw Chen momo by Madam Zhang’s side. Learning that Madam Zhang had something to discuss with him, the Marquis considered for a moment, then changed direction and headed to the main courtyard.
“Marquis, the wife of the Duke of Zhen came to visit today to discuss the Fourth Girl’s wedding date. She hopes our daughter can marry next month. I haven’t given an answer yet—I wanted to ask your opinion.”
The Marquis was pleased that Madam Zhang hadn’t presumptuously agreed on her own.
“I’ll ask Cheng’er about this first.”
Madam Zhang was not surprised at all. The Marquis doted on Fourth Girl excessively and would certainly take her feelings into account.
In the entire marquis’s residence, the Marquis had the final say except when it came to Fourth Girl, in which case she had the final say.
The Marquis of Nanyang did not linger in the main courtyard and hurried off to the Peony Garden.
A figure in goose-yellow emerged from the inner room into the hall. Tang Xin watched the Marquis’s departing back with complicated emotions.
“Mother, isn’t Father spoiling Fourth Sister a bit too much?”
Tang Xin felt a bitter taste in her heart.
“This isn’t the first time. Aren’t you used to it by now?” Madam Zhang gently patted her daughter’s hand and gave her a strange look.
Tang Xin jolted awake.
She was not the original owner after all. Why should she crave the Marquis’s favor?
“Mother, I understand. It won’t happen again,” Tang Xin promised earnestly.
“I hope you truly have let it go.” Madam Zhang looked deeply at her daughter. “By the way, the Old Princess of Cheng is celebrating her birthday in a few days. Make sure you prepare well.”
Tang Xin shivered.
In the original owner’s past life before the female lead’s rebirth—the man she married was the second legitimate grandson of the Old Prince of Cheng.
Apart from having the status of an imperial clansman and a noble title, which came with a court stipend, he was a completely mediocre and unremarkable man.
Yet even someone like him was quite in demand.
Tang Xin pressed her lips together and nodded with great reluctance. “Don’t worry, Mother. I will prepare well.”
Madam Zhang frowned slightly but said nothing. The reason she wanted her daughter to prepare well was that she hoped the Old Princess would take a liking to her and marry her into Cheng family.
Prince of Cheng had never involved itself in the princes’ struggles for the succession. Although the second son of the heir’s consort was mediocre, his character was decent. Given Tang Xin’s status as the legitimate daughter of a marquis and a high-ranking third-rank official, she would even qualify to become a prince’s consort. However, Madam Zhang, who doted on her daughter, did not want her to be drawn into the princes’ conflicts, nor did she want her to marry up into a powerful aristocratic family. Marrying into Prince of Cheng’s was actually a good choice.
Tang Xin, who had been transmigrated into the book, was unaware of Madam Zhang’s thoughtful consideration. Her eyes were trapped by the plot of the story—a single leaf blinded her view. She only saw the reborn female lead’s unfounded speculation that the original owner had married beneath herself to a mediocre imperial clansman in her past life. She had no idea how the original owner had actually lived, and thus she deeply resented Madam Zhang’s arrangement.
…
Before arriving at the Peony Garden, the Marquis of Nanyang had already heard that his precious daughter had refined a body-strengthening potion.
He arrived just in time. The elderly physician from Jihe Hall was examining the body-strengthening potion.
The Marquis looked at the small bowl of dark, murky liquid and was startled.
“Is it poisonous?”
The four maids lowered their heads.
Tang Cheng: “…”
“Father, why would the potion I refined be poisonous?”
The Marquis twitched his mouth.
“Let’s wait until the physician has finished examining it.”
The elderly physician smiled. “Marquis, the concoction Miss Tang has made has no issues. As for whether it has any body-strengthening effects, this old man cannot say. You could find someone to test it.”
Everyone was astonished.
This elderly physician from Jihe Hall was highly skilled in medicine, and everyone trusted his words.
Tang Cheng snorted. “I told you my potion had no problems, but none of you believed me. Hmph.”
The Marquis quickly soothed his precious daughter.
“Yes, yes, it’s all Father’s fault. You don’t need to look for someone to test the potion—let Father do it.”
“Marquis!”
The Marquis’s trusted servant was horrified.
Seeing her father’s gesture, Tang Cheng was delighted. She affectionately took the Marquis’s arm and said cheerfully, “Father, I’ll have the servants prepare a bathing tub right away.”
Everyone: “…”
The elderly physician did not leave. He was very curious about the effects of the body-strengthening potion Miss Tang had concocted.
While the servants prepared the bathing tub, the Marquis and Tang Cheng sat down to wait. The Marquis picked up his teacup and brought up the proposal from the Duke of Zhen’s wife.
“Father, wouldn’t getting married next month be a bit too rushed? Marrying in such a hurry would be undignified. Can’t I give birth first and then get married?”
Tang Cheng touched her abdomen and frowned slightly.
“Pfft!”
The Marquis, who had been drinking tea, sprayed it out of his mouth.
The four maids and the two matrons stared in shock.
Give birth first and then get married?
Had they heard that correctly?
**