Chapter 394
“What is it?” Madam Dowager asked in surprise. She was most concerned about her own matters, so she could not be bothered to question Wei Yuewu.
“Not only your medicine pot, but there is also a problem with Concubine Dong’s medicine pot!” Nanny Dong, who had a medicine pot in her hands, followed behind Nanny Hong and said anxiously.
“What? Mine too?!” Concubine Dong pretended as if she had just heard the news and staggered back in shock. She was about to trip and fall when a maid by the side supported her and grabbed her.
“W-Who did I and Madam Dowager offend? Why did that person want to kill both of us?!” Concubine Dong shrieked in horror and looked at Wei Yuewu with obvious suspicion.
After the dispute just now and hearing Concubine Dong’s words, Madam Dowager also turned and looked at Wei Yuewu, feeling that Wei Yuewu was indeed very suspicious.
However, Wei Yuewu smiled coldly. Sure enough, Concubine Dong had already prepared for the scenario. The original procedure was that Concubine Dong would pour the Five Drums Grass into her own medicine pot and then add it into the ink. For today’s plot, Wei Yuewu poured Concubine Dong’s medicine into Madam Dowager’s pot.
The two medicine pots were placed very close together, and the general kitchen was chaotic, so no one would notice that Shufei had done something to these two medicine pots.
Therefore, Concubine Dong would never have thought that someone poured her medicine into Madam Dowager’s medicine pot!
“Did you see anyone do it?” Madam Dowager asked sternly.
“Madam Dowager, the general kitchen has been in a mess recently. Fourth Young Lady keeps sending her maids to order food. Sometimes, she doesn’t like the food, so she will ask us to prepare a few more portions and send over the best one to her. Everyone in the general kitchen is so busy that no one actually pays attention to the medicine pots.”
Nanny Hong reported with a wry smile. Originally, the general kitchen was in a very orderly manner. However, since Madam Dowager ordered them to serve Fourth Young Lady and send the best food to her, they had been very busy. From time to time, the maids and old maidservants would come to the kitchen to make various requests.
To make matters worse, they were very arrogant and bossy when they ordered the staff in the kitchen around. Because of this, the kitchen staff was in a mess, and no one would notice what was going on in the corridor.
Even the two maids who were in charge of decocting the medicine would sometimes be ordered to do some things.
Wei Qiufu? Madam Dowager thought for a while and dismissed Wei Qiufu’s suspicion. Wei Qiufu was selected to enter Crown Prince Mansion. She must rely on the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang in order to stand out in the Crown Prince Mansion. If something happened to her, and the third branch was separated from the mansion, it would only do harm to her.
Therefore, Wei Qiufu wouldn’t put herself in such a difficult situation.
“Bring it over and let me have a look!” Doctor Ming said to Nanny Dong who was holding the medicine pot. Nanny Dong complied with the order and brought the medicine pot to Doctor Ming, who took the pot, sniffed it, and nodded. “Yes, there is indeed the smell of Five Drums Grass in it. Moreover, the smell is stronger than that of Madam Dowager’s.”
Although Concubine Dong pretended to be wronged, she was secretly smug. Of course, the smell was stronger. Originally, the other medicinal ingredients were used to match the Five Drums Grass. When it was boiled to a certain time, she would pour it into the ink pot and mix it without anyone noticing. After all, some people thought the smell of the ink was fragrant, but others felt it was smelly.
The servants in the kitchen were illiterate, so they couldn’t tell what was wrong with the ink or the stench.
“W-What? My pot has more Five Drums Grass than that of Madam Dowager’s?” Concubine Dong gasped in horror, and tears began to flow down her cheeks. She muffled her mouth with her handkerchief and cried, “Lord Marquis, I have never offended anyone, but why is there someone who hates me so much? So much so that they want me dead!”
“In the past, everything was fine when I returned to the mansion. But this year, a series of unfortunate events have happened, and someone actually drugged mine and Madam Dowager’s medicine. H-How can someone do such a horrible thing? That person must have hated us to the core!”
Concubine Dong cried as she spoke, but she was obviously directing the criticism toward Wei Yuewu.
Nothing happened in previous years, but something happened this year. The only difference between the previous years and this year was Wei Yuewu’s arrival in the capital. Although Wei Luowen did not believe that Wei Yuewu would do such a thing, he couldn’t help but look at Wei Yuewu skeptically.
Madam Dowager glared at Wei Yuewu with her sharp gaze and slammed the table hard, her expression as cold as ice. “Yuewu, what exactly is going on?”
Wei Yuewu was already prepared for Madam Dowager’s rebuke. She calmly raised her head, and her eyes turned slightly. “Grandmother, do you think I have something to do with this?”
It was such a blatant question that even the enraged Madam Dowager didn’t know what to say.
“Grandmother, can you please check where the medicine came from? I don’t think the medicine will appear in the mansion out of thin air, right? Can you please ask the staff in the kitchen if they have smelled the scent before? The stench is so strong, I’m sure that someone in the kitchen must have smelled it before.”
It dawned upon Wei Luowen. He turned and ordered the lad servant behind him, “You, go to the kitchen and bring some of the staff over.”
The lad servant ran out quickly and soon brought two old maidservants and two maids.
They were all the servants who worked in the kitchen as general staff.
This was out of Concubine Dong’s expectations. She couldn’t help but grip the handkerchief in her hands tightly. The expression on her face was a bit stiff. She originally thought that Wei Yuewu would directly investigate who bought the medicine, and she had already been prepared. It was not her who sent her people to buy the medicine, so she wasn’t worried about the investigation.
When the medicine pot was opened, the stench rushed out.
“I’ve smelled it for several days, not just today.”
“She’s right. I also think it has been several days, not only today!”
“It must have been several days, I’m sure. I-It is the smell of the ink.”
“Yes! It is the smell of the ink. It has this particular smell!”
The maids and old maidservants continued one after another, and they explained the entire matter clearly without interrogation.
“Grandmother, I was still in the palace a few days ago, right?” Wei Yuewu muttered indifferently. Her watery eyes looked up and landed on Madam Dowager’s face, and she smiled slightly.
There was no malice in her faint smile. Her only intention was to explain herself after she was scolded. However, Madam Dowager felt a little angry from embarrassment, and her face inexplicably turned red.
Since it had happened several days ago, of course, it had nothing to do with Wei Yuewu. Moreover, she was in the palace at that time, and she was not capable enough to drug their medicine in the mansion.
“Ink? What ink?” Madam Dowager did not want to pursue this topic anymore, so she directly changed the topic.
“Madam Dowager, it is the ink that the geomancer uses to draw the talisman,” an old maidservant, who seemed to be the maids’ leader, took the initiative to report.
Upon the mention of the ink, Concubine Dong was secretly anxious. In her opinion, the matter seemed strange because they had diverted the topic from the medicine to the ink.
“Go, bring some ink over as well!” Wei Luowen ordered a lad servant behind him with a gloomy face again, but after thinking for a while, he stopped the lad servant and added, “Bring the geomancer over as well.”
The lad servant nodded and quickly ran out.
Upon hearing about the ink and the talisman, Madam Dowager suddenly remembered what the geomancer had told her. Building walls around Qin Xinrui’s courtyard was not enough. They must apply charms and talismans to suppress the evil soul.
However, after she had instructed Concubine Dong to deal with this matter, she had forgotten about it.
“Nonsense! How can there be this stench in the ink? It should be the smell of ink, right?” Concubine Dong was about to speak, but Wei Yuewu interjected.
At this point, there was nothing Concubine Dong could say. She was dismayed, but she felt that it was not a big deal. Nothing would happen as long as the geomancer did not admit to any of it. She didn’t believe that Wei Yuewu would force a confession out of the geomancer’s mouth.
“Sixth Young Lady, the smell of the ink is particularly strong, just like this medicine. At that time, Concubine Dong’s medicine was decocted on the side. We thought that it smelled a little strange because the stench of the ink mixed with the medicine,” the old maidservant answered.
“When was Concubine Dong’s medicine decocted?” Wei Yuewu continued to ask.
“Oh, I know. It was on the same day as the ink. I remembered that we cleared up two pieces of land in the corridor. The larger piece of land was for the ink, while the smaller one was for Concubine Dong’s medicine. She instructed me to put them in the corridor.” A maid tilted her head to think for a moment before answering respectfully.
“Yes! It was also Concubine Dong’s idea to put Madam Dowager’s medicine pot and hers in the corridor!” Another old maidservant added.
“I’m afraid that all the smell of medicine and ink have mixed together!” Despite her panic, Concubine Dong answered calmly. She believed that the geomancer would not sell her out, and this matter would not circle back to her no matter what.
Anyway, her medicine had been drugged by Five Drums Grass, which could prove her innocence.
Therefore, she wasn’t afraid of what Wei Yuewu would do…
Thinking of this, Concubine Dong pretended to be angry and glared at Nanny Dong. “Nanny Dong, you are in charge of my medicine! How can you let something like this happen? How can you not even know that someone drugged my medicine?”
Nanny Dong understood her meaning and immediately whined, “Concubine, I did my best to manage the medicine. The smell of the medicine and ink is very strong, so I ordered the maids to move them to the corridor so that no one would be choked by the smell, but I didn’t expect something like this would happen.” Indeed, she was in charge of this matter in the first place.
“Nanny Dong, why didn’t you pay more attention to it at that time?” Concubine Dong looked angry as if she believed it was all Nanny Dong’s carelessness that someone had the opportunity to spike her medicine.
“Concubine, I did take my job seriously, but I have never expected that someone would be so capable and powerful to execute such a perfect plan,” Nanny Dong lamented while diverting people’s attention back to Wei Yuewu. In this mansion, only the Masters could have the capability and power to do such a thing.
From the looks of it, Wei Yuewu was the only one who had the most conflict with Concubine Dong.
At this time, the door opened, and a few people suddenly came in…
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