Chapter 393
As the bowl of medicine was smashed to the ground, the bowl shattered into pieces, and the liquid medicine splashed on the ground. Due to its hot temperature, the medicine evaporated a little and the smell became stronger and stronger.
The smell of the medicine was completely different from that of ordinary medicine. It carried a pungent smell that was almost like a stench. Even the medicinal ingredients that had a strong smell could not suppress the stench. The smell was even stronger now that the medicine splashed on the floor.
Even though Wei Luowen knew little about medicine, he could sense the oddity in it, and his expression also changed slightly at this time. “What is it?”
“It is the smell of Five Drums Grass!” Doctor Ming turned to look at Madam Dowager grimly. “Madam Dowager, someone put Five Drums Grass in your medicine!”
“W-What? What is Five Drums Grass?” Madam Dowager held Nanny Hong’s hand in shock and asked while feigning calmness.
“It means you can’t live to see the next sunrise once you drink the medicine! Madam Dowager, someone in the mansion is trying to kill you!” Doctor Ming affirmed.
“What?! That’s impossible!” She couldn’t live to see the next sunrise? Madam Dowager was so shocked that she nearly fell down. She trembled all over, sat up straight due to rage, and slammed the table hard while ordering through gritting teeth, “Go and check who did this!”
She didn’t expect that someone in the mansion was attempting to kill her!
Nanny Hong nodded and led a few maids to the general kitchen. Since the medicine was made and sent from the general kitchen, of course, she had to start the investigation from the source.
Seeing that Nanny Hong had brought her people to the general kitchen, Concubine Dong secretly cursed. Then, she hurriedly tugged Wei Luowen’s sleeve and whispered, “Lord Marquis, I will also go and take a look!”
“What are you going to do?” Wei Luowen frowned and snapped unhappily.
“Uh… M-My maids prepare my medicine there too. W-What should I do if my medicine was contaminated too?” Concubine Dong looked very sullen now. Of course, she knew about Five Drums Grass!
“What? Your medicine is also prepared there?” Wei Luowen furrowed his eyebrows even tighter now. “Now that Mother is investigating the matter, you should stay still. Ask them to bring your medicine pot over and show it to Doctor Ming.”
“O-Okay. I understand!” Concubine Dong secretly heaved a sigh of relief, but she looked flustered still. She turned to Nanny Dong and instructed in a low voice, “Go and bring my medicine pot over. Let Doctor Ming check it out as well.”
Fortunately, she had already made preparations earlier, or she would have fallen for the wretched Wei Yuewu’s trap. After what had happened, Concubine Dong was almost certain that Wei Yuewu must have known something. Luckily, she had prepared for the worst-case scenario.
She would be getting herself out of trouble now that Lord Marquis had asked her to bring the medicine pot over!
While waiting for the result of the investigation, Doctor Ming checked on Wei Yuewu. He said that Wei Yuewu was weak in the first place, so her reaction to Five Drums Grass was a little stronger, and she fainted because she couldn’t bear the scent. There was nothing serious, and she would only need a good rest.
Wei Luowen was a little worried when he looked at the room that had been cleaned and said to Wei Yuewu, “Yuewu, go back to your room and rest first.”
“Father, I am fine now. I want to stay and see who is so bold as to murder Grandmother. What good will it do for them to murder Grandmother?” After Wei Yuewu woke up, she looked much better although she was weak. She leaned on Jin Ling’s shoulder and grumbled.
Upon hearing this, Madam Dowager widened her eyes and glared around the people in her room. Finally, she stopped and stared at Concubine Dong.
Concubine Dong’s heart skipped a beat. The smile on her face stiffened under Madam Dowager’s stare.
“Concubine Dong, what have you been up to lately?” Madam Dowager asked solemnly. Just now, she had thought about it and figured that there was no one else but Concubine Dong who would want to harm her. It was possible that Concubine Dong had the intention to hurt her, although she hadn’t figured out the reason yet.
In the past, she had always promised to help Concubine Dong ascend to the position of Marquise Hua Yang. Madam Dowager even promised that she would realize this once they returned to the mansion. However, due to various reasons, not only had she failed to help Concubine Dong become Marquise, but she also faintly expressed the intention to let Lord Marquis marry another lady from a prestigious family. It was possible for Concubine Dong to hate her!
Moreover, the more Madam Dowager thought about this, the more likely it was.
“Madam Dowager, I have been dealing with the matters in that courtyard. I went out every day, for fear that the workers would slack off!” Concubine Dong answered gingerly with an aggrieved expression. “In order to catch up with the progress, I pass much of my duty to Nanny Dong. Sometimes, I even drink my medicine there!”
Concubine Dong looked very frightened and much wronged, but she also sounded a little flattery. This was one of the reasons why Madam Dowager took a fancy to Concubine Dong and wanted to promote her to the position of Marquise.
What Madam Dowager needed was a submissive Concubine Dong. She didn’t want to repeat the history of the rebel Qin Xinrui, who was so stubborn that she did things against Madam Dowager’s will, and even Wei Luowen seemed to be out of control.
“That courtyard? What do you mean? What are you doing there? Is someone else coming to the mansion? Is that why you are busy tidying up the courtyard to accommodate the guest?” Wei Yuewu looked puzzled and asked curiously.
Hearing this question, not only Concubine Dong could not answer it, but Madam Dowager was a little dumbfounded too. After all, Qin Xinrui was Wei Yuewu’s biological mother.
“Yuewu, let’s talk about this later!” Wei Luowen looked at Madam Dowager and sighed softly.
“But why? Why can’t we talk about it now? Father, do you know something which is awkward to disclose?” Wei Yuewu did not intend to let them off the hook. “Is there something that you can’t tell me?”
“Yuewu, these are all adults’ business. You’re just a kid! You don’t understand, so stay out of it!” Madam Dowager chided in dismay. A large part of the reason why she wanted to seal Qin Xinrui’s courtyard was for her own safety. A small part of it was for her selfish sake. Out of sight, out of mind.
She had wanted to get rid of that courtyard for so many years because she always felt very upset and irritated every time she saw it.
In this mansion, Qin Xinrui was her pet peeve, and she didn’t want to talk about her at all. She would rather pretend that Qin Xinrui had never entered the mansion and never met her.
“Grandmother, why can’t we talk about it? Is it because Concubine Dong is busy sealing up my mother’s courtyard? I heard that she did so because my mother was inauspicious and had ruined the entire mansion’s luck, am I right?” Wei Yuewu blurted out frankly. She was here to pick a fight anyway, and she decided to put her mother’s matter on the table.
It was to prevent her deceased mother’s name from being caught in the middle of chaos again.
“Impudent!” Madam Dowager was furious when Wei Yuewu talked back to her. She grabbed the teacup on the table and threw it toward Wei Yuewu. Jin Ling was about to pull Wei Yuewu when Wei Luowen had already pulled Wei Yuewu to the side. The teacup flew straight and hit the door.
“Sixth Young Lady, how can you talk to Madam Dowager like that?! She is your grandmother! Don’t say such disgraceful words again! Do you see how angry Madam Dowager is?!” Concubine Dong rushed forward and patted Madam Dowager’s chest while reprimanding Wei Yuewu hypocritically.
She intended to label Wei Yuewu as unfilial.
However, Wei Yuewu wanted to make this matter clear today, so she had come prepared. She glared at Concubine Dong coldly and hissed directly, “Concubine Dong, do you want my mother’s courtyard to be sealed quickly? Is that why you supervise the work progress every day in case the workers slack off? I wonder what my mother had done to you when she was alive that you hated her so much. It’s been years, and my mother is dead for so long, yet you still seem to resent her very much!”
She cut to the chase and stated her points frankly regardless of Concubine Dong’s feelings. Her remarks even hinted that Concubine Dong was hypocritical when she treated her or her mother in the past. Concubine Dong clearly hated both of them, yet she put on a play that made people think she adored them.
Upon hearing this, Wei Luowen was puzzled too and looked at Concubine Dong skeptically.
Indeed, Madam Dowager brought up the matter of Qin Xinrui’s courtyard. He had argued his point with Madam Dowager back then, but his hands were tied since Madam Dowager talked about the safety of the entire mansion. He figured that sealing it up was better than burning it down, so he turned a blind eye to this matter.
This matter seemed to have nothing to do with Concubine Dong, so he had never doubted her. But now that Wei Yuewu mentioned it, he found that Concubine Dong seemed to be too enthusiastic about this matter. Did she really have a personal vendetta against Qin Xinrui?
He recalled the facts that Concubine Dong had mentioned more than once how good her relationship was with Rui’er, and that Rui’er intended to entrust Yuewu to Concubine Dong. From the looks of it now, he figured that the situation was not that simple…
Concubine Dong suddenly coughed loudly and then covered her eyes with a handkerchief. She cried sorrowfully, “Sixth Young Lady, how can you say something like that? I have always been very respectful to Marquise, but this matter concerns the entire mansion of Marquis Hua Yang. If we don’t deal with it as soon as possible, something bad will happen again! No matter how concerned I am about Marquise, I can’t put the fortune and safety of the entire mansion at risk.”
Sensing Wei Luowen’s scrutinizing gaze, Concubine Dong panicked.
She secretly cursed Wei Yuewu for being so cunning and easily making Madam Dowager and Lord Marquis suspect her with just a few words. Therefore, she hurriedly feigned her innocence and expressed that she was doing it for everyone’s sake.
“Alright, Yuewu, you don’t have to worry about this matter. It’s not something you can control either!” Madam Dowager hissed in a stern voice, waving her hand in annoyance.
“Grandmother, if I can’t even ask about my own mother’s matter, what else do you think I should ask?” Unlike other young ladies in the mansion, Wei Yuewu refused to back down even after Madam Dowager berated her. She had made up her mind to expose this matter today.
As a daughter, she would be unfilial if she wasn’t concerned about her own mother’s matters. Madam Dowager couldn’t do anything about it even though she was so furious that she wanted to give Wei Yuewu a slap. She knew what Wei Yuewu said was well-founded.
Madam Dowager did not feel any kind of connection or affection for Wei Yuewu. Last time, she pretended not to understand her meaning, and this time, she had the nerve to talk back to her. If she had known earlier, she wouldn’t have brought her back to the mansion. She should have let her rot in that place, or maybe married her off to somewhere like the mansion of Marquis Jing Yuan. None of these would have happened!
At this time, Madam Dowager was secretly resentful and sneered, “Do you think that I did something wrong?”
“No, it’s not your problem, but it’s the person that you picked!” Wei Yuewu smiled faintly and said. Of course, she would not directly say that Madam Dowager was at the fault.
“But the geomancer is very famous!” Concubine Dong could not help but grunt.
“Oh? You had been at the border for so long, but you actually knew about such a thing!” Wei Yuewu turned to look at Concubine Dong and smiled faintly. Concubine Dong gasped in shock and mumbled sheepishly, “I-I heard it from the maids in the mansion!”
“Oh no! Madam Dowager, bad news!” At this time, Nanny Hong stepped into the room, and her face was a little pale…
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