Miantang now forgot about Aunt Lian’s skills and curiously asked, “What’s up with her?”
The steward whispered, “She suspects that we servants are greedy for money behind the masters and are making a fuss to come in and audit the accounts of the Old Princess Consort.”
Miantang smiled and said, “So, she’s a devoted elder. It’s wrong not to let her in just now. Let me go after Aunt, at least I’ll have to greet her.”
Cui Xingzhou looked up at her and felt that his princess consort’s hospitality and politeness were somewhat suspicious.
After a moment’s thought, he guessed Miantang’s thoughts and said, “I’ll go with you.”
Miantang shook her head and said, “There is no real evidence. If you follow, it will hurt the harmony of your relatives. Why don’t just let me go alone? Anyway, my brain has been hurt. If she goes to report to the family clan, you can also say that I fell and my speech is not counted and my behavior is crude, and they have no choice.”
Cui Fu became confused while listening, wiped her tears, and asked, “Miantang, what are you doing?”
In fact, this question was also screamed out by Aunt Lian shortly after.
She had already eaten a lot of stuffiness in the other courtyard, but now that her daughter Lian Binglan got married, her ideas had become bigger and she was even more indifferent. Her nephew in the family had another lawsuit a few days ago, so she can only go to ask her sister for help.
As a result, due to her sister’s illness, she became even more powerless. If it weren’t for her younger brother who had come back from the south a few days ago to remind her that the war in the North Sea was not going well, Cui Xingzhou would probably not have been able to come back, she wouldn’t have known anything.
If Cui Xingzhou really can’t come back, then his only son left behind will have to inherit. After her Sister fell ill, wouldn’t the position of the Old Princess Consort be left to Liu Miantang too?
However, on second thought, if Cui Xingzhou died in battle, she was afraid that Liu Miantang, this mother and son would not come back either.
In this way, the only member of the Cui family was her son-in-law, the Fifth Master. Thinking of this, Lian-Chu’s heart was filled with joy, only feeling that after tossing around, it turned out that her daughter was still destined to become a princess consort!
But when she told her daughter these words, she even received a reprimand from Lian Binglan who politely invited her out of the Mansion.
Although Lian-Chu was angry with her daughter’s stubborn head, she couldn’t help but take care of her daughter’s property. Otherwise, if they were swallowed up by those stubborn slaves, wouldn’t they only inherit the emptiness of the Royal Residence?
So for over a month, she has been making trouble now and then. However, that steward has been working in the residence for more than ten years and his presence was like a half-leader. He was not afraid of the elders in the clan, so she had no choice at all.
Who would have thought that all the plans had come to naught? The State of Zhen had not yet received a letter of victory in the North Sea, but Cui Xingzhou went first by water, then by land, and all the way quickly. With his wife and children, he returned safely!
Lian-Chu has been busy for more than a month, but everything has come in vain. She was discouraged!
She was heading back home when she heard the clattering of horse hooves behind her.
When Lian-Chu looked forward, she saw a female with a cool spirit and a maid guarding her, riding a horse at a gallop.
When she saw clearly that it was Liu Miantang, she let out a cold snort and pretended not to see and put out a posture not getting out of the car.
Unexpectedly, Liu Miantang didn’t even get off her horse’s back. She only waved to the servant girl behind her, and Fangxie and Bicao rushed onto the carriage without saying a word. They pulled Aunt Lian down and went into the nearby small forest to strip her clothes.
A group of women and servants from the Lian family were in a hurry to save her but were held down by the guards of the royal residence and unable to move.
Aunt Lian didn’t expect such an unmasked robber to appear in the clear sky and daylight. She was angry and anxious and screamed repeatedly. However, several servant girls and nannies took off her clothes in a moment, and even jewelry such as rings, bracelets, and hairpins were not spared. All of them were stripped off.
Although they also brought clothes to change and gave them to Lian-Chu, how could Lian-Chu have ever been treated like this? She only shouted that she would not live and had to seek justice from the clan chief before she died.
Outside the forest, Liu Miantang took the clothes and jewelry from Aunt Lian and carefully examined them one by one. This insect poison was a living creature of the Southern Barbarians. According to Zhao Quan, it should have been raised in water.
But there was no kettle or water bag on Aunt Lian. Even if someone tampered with Aunt Lian, she didn’t know how to dress up and couldn’t find out in vain.
Suddenly, her gaze fixed on Aunt Lian’s jade bracelet. She didn’t know what kind of water this jade bracelet was. It was crystal clear, and when looking under the sunlight, it seemed like there was water inside. At first glance, it was very expensive. Those who love vanity like Aunt Lian must wear it day by day.
She didn’t know if Aunt Lian’s belongings contained any evil objects, nor dared she bring them to other villages. So she packed Aunt Lian’s clothes and jewelry into sealed boxes, only holding the jade bracelet in her hand, and ordered someone to invite the Zhennan Marquis to come over.
Not long after, Zhao Quan hurriedly rushed to the outside of the forest. Zhao Quan took the jade bracelet and looked at it carefully, saying, “This bracelet is a bit strange. It seems like there is water inside.” Miantang said, “I suspect there may be a mother insect poison inside, but the jade bracelet is hard and brittle in texture, and once it breaks, it is difficult to find.”
Zhao Quan said, “This matter is simple.”
She then saw the Zhennan Marquis take out a delicate and tough handkerchief and lay it on the medicine box, put the bracelet on it, and take out a bottle from the box he carried with him. He poured some yellow powder onto the jade bracelet. After a while, he wiped off the powder and took out a silver needle to gently drill holes in the bracelet. After a while, the soft silver needle unexpectedly drilled a small hole into the hard jade bracelet, and there was indeed water flowing out of the bracelet.
Zhao Quan held the handkerchief in front of him and carefully examined it. After a while, he finally discovered a transparent object on the handkerchief, which was stained with powder and appeared, almost indistinguishable. Zhao Quan excitedly said, “This is the mother insect. Although I hadn’t seen it before, I heard that stranger say that the mother insect has a transparent color and is small and difficult to distinguish. Even in front of ordinary people, it was not easy to find it. With the mother insect, I can eliminate the child insect poison.”
Miantang suddenly felt a big stone fall to the ground in her heart. She asked someone to bring the crying Lian-Chu family onto the carriage and temporarily deliver them to the residence in the city. Her entourage was also taken back, so as not to let out any rumors.
In the courtyard, Cui Xingzhou, Cui Fu, and Li Guangcai sat next to the Old Princess Consort, holding her hand in tears.
Cui Xingzhou looked after the Old Princess Consort while waiting for Miantang to return. When Miantang entered the room and revealed the discovery of the mother insect, Cui Fu also breathed a sigh of relief, and her aversion towards the Lian-Chu family reached its peak.
Due to the discovery of the mother insect, Zhao Quan did not enter the other courtyard. Instead, Cui Xingzhou arranged for him to go to a house not far from the other courtyard and mix the antidote with the mother insect overnight. In the middle of the night, he finally prepared it and quickly brought it to the Old Princess Consort to take.
At dawn, the child insect poison was melted by the antidote, and the Old Princess Consort finally slowly opened her eyes, feeling that she had only slept for a long time. Why were her son, daughter-in-law, daughter, and son-in-law all by her side?
Especially the little doll in Miantang’s arms, white, chubby, and cute, with a bulging face and eating cakes.
The old princess consort was overjoyed when she saw her grandson and her flagging spirit was greatly uplifted.
Zhao Quan carefully examined the body of the Old Princess Consort and found that it was nothing serious except for her weakness due to a prolonged coma. The maidservant and nannies below devoted themselves to massaging the Old Princess Consort’s body day by day, and her muscles were not particularly weak anymore. By taking good care of herself, the remaining poison could be eradicated.
The Old Princess Consort kept urging Miantang to bring Xiaoyi’er over to her to show her.
After seeing that her mother’s condition had indeed improved, Cui Xingzhou turned around and rode back to his residence in the State of Zhen, and went to the courtyard where the Lian-Chu was being detained.
When Lian-Chu was first locked up, she kept shouting and cursing, but after being locked up all night, the prince and princess consort ignored her and didn’t even let her take a sip of the food. She was also a bit panicked and didn’t know what was happening. Her mouth was burning with thirst, causing a circle of blisters.
Seeing Cui Xingzhou come in, she didn’t care to pose like an elder. She quickly approached and held Cui Xingzhou’s hand and said, “Your Highness, you have finally come. I don’t know what evil your princess consort has committed. In broad daylight, she asked the maid to drag me to the roadside forest, remove all my clothes and jewelry, and keep me here. When my poor sister woke up and knew that I had been treated like this, she couldn’t help but feel sad.”
Upon hearing her talk about the Old Princess Consort again, Cui Xingzhou’s anger grew even fiercer and he shook away Lian-Chu. With a cold voice, he said, “I have found out that the Old Princess Consort was not infected with the cold, but someone deliberately harmed her. Your jade bracelet is the tool for harming the Old Princess Consort, and there is a mother insect poison hidden inside! Be honest with me, who gave you the poison, and how did you poison it? If you cannot explain clearly, you are the mastermind behind the plot to harm the Old Princess Consort. I will surely behead your entire family.”
Cui Xingzhou, as the commander of the military camp, was already majestic, and his heart was filled with a murderous spirit. His words were spoken with a fierce tone.
Lian-Chu was frightened in her heart and burst into tears, “What did you say? Where did I get the poison? How could I harm my sister? This is a great injustice.”
She had a shocked expression on her face and cried out loud, not like acting, as if she was truly unaware.
Miantang, who had been standing outside waiting, walked in and looked at Lian-Chu, who was crying bitterly. “You said you didn’t know, then why don’t you tell us who gave you the jade bracelet?”
Lian-Chu wiped her tears and said, “That bracelet was specially given to me by my nephew who begged me to handle matters a few days ago. I heard him say that this jade bracelet was under the great Buddha of Leshan and invited a senior monk to pray on it. It should not be easily removed before wearing it for a full year. It will be very beneficial for my body… I didn’t believe it, but I saw that the jade bracelet was a good thing for water cultivation, so I also wore it… Who knows… Who knows… I was harmed by a traitor.”
To be honest, cultivating that insect poison was not easy, even in the Tusi Miao Village, it was not something that ordinary people could obtain.
Although Lian-Chu has a lot of ulterior motives and loves to take advantage of others, she can poison someone, but she doesn’t have the ability to obtain such cunning poisons.
Cui Xingzhou saw that there was nothing he could ask from his tearful aunt, so he sent someone to arrest the nephew she mentioned as a gift giver. With such smooth evidence, he had to catch the dark hand behind the scenes.
Unexpectedly, the person sent out soon returned, saying that the nephew went to Hualiu Lane yesterday, but ended up competing with others and getting into a fight with another drinker. Amidst the chaos, he was stabbed in the chest and bled too much to death on the spot. The murderer also ran away without a trace.
Loveguy On CFRFGC Chapter 12