Hearing this news, Baili Anning suddenly stood up from her seat and looked at Shen Ninghua a little hesitantly. “Ninghua, Second Sister-in-law’s health has always been good. Why did she suddenly become so seriously ill? Is there some reason that…”
Shen Ninghua’s heart was chilling cold. “Your Highness, go take a look first. If possible, call Doctor Chen over.”
“Alright, yes.”
Princess Anning’s heart was uneasy as she hurriedly left with her servants. Along the way, she only felt her heart tightening. Her relationship with Madam Zhou wasn’t close, so she wasn’t worried about her. However, she vaguely felt that Madam Zhou’s illness should have a lot to do with Shen Ninghua. Had her Second Brother done something unusual?
Shen Ninghua felt a little restless, so she let Bai Ruo take half a volume of Buddhist scripture and slowly copied it. After a while, her uneasy emotions gradually calmed down.
Suddenly, a green-feathered bird flew in from the window and landed lightly on the desk. It chirped to Shen Ninghua twice and Shen Ninghua took off the note tied to its leg. After reading the contents, her face turned cold.
“Miss, there’s a guard at the door inviting you to the Prefectural Prince Mansion. He said that the Second Princess wants to see you.”
Shen Ninghua destroyed the note in her hand and frowned tightly. She had never met the Second Princess before. Why did she want to see her, especially when she was seriously ill? She sensed something unusual.
Bai Ruo quickly walked in. “Miss, the Second Prince Mansion has also sent a carriage to pick you up. It has been parked at the entrance of our mansion.”
A cold light flashed in Shen Ninghua’s eyes. She sneered. “Looks like I have no choice but to jump in this trap. Bai Ruo, help me change my clothes and bring my medical kit with me. I would like to see what the Second Prince got up his sleeves!”
Shen Ninghua brought Qing Que and Bai Ruo to the Prefectural Prince De’s Mansion. As soon as she arrived, someone led her inside. “Your Highness, you’ve finally come. Our Princess has been waiting for you for a long time.”
Shen Ninghua followed behind him without the slightest intention of speaking.
The speaking person, who was the butler of the mansion, got a chill in his heart. He quietly raised his head to look at Shen Ninghua’s expression, but was frightened by Qing Que’s cold gaze. He hurriedly lowered his head and led the way silently.
When they arrived at the backyard of the mansion, Shen Ninghua immediately frowned. There were actually many Silver Star Irises planted in this courtyard. It was not in the flowering period, but there were still many flowers blooming, as if they were not affected by the cold weather.
“The Second Princess likes to take care of these flowers the most. The flowers in other courtyards will not bloom. Only the flowers that she takes care of bloom the best.”
“Ninghua, you’re here.” Baili Jinchuan walked out of the room with a tired expression and slightly red eyes. She didn’t know if it was because he stayed up late or was sad.
“Greetings, Your Highness. May I know why the Second Princess suddenly invited me over?” Shen Ninghua said as she carefully observed Baili Jinchuan’s expression. She wanted to find some clues from his face, but failed.
Baili Jinchuan rubbed his forehead and looked extremely tired. “I don’t know. When the imperial doctor said that her body had started to collapse, she asked to see you. I didn’t agree at first, but…Ninghua, for the sake of her current condition, please go and see her. But don’t worry, I will watch from the cabinet and won’t let her hurt you.”
Shen Ninghua expressionlessly curled her lips and walked into Madam Zhou’s room.
As soon as she entered, Shen Ninghua suddenly frowned. The smell in the room was very pungent and almost suffocating. The weather outside was not too cold, but there were still three charcoal pots burning in the room. The smell of medicine and a faint smell of blood permeated the room after being heated by the charcoal fire. Even a healthy person could feel sick in such a room.
Hearing the sound of the door, a hand suddenly stretched out from the bed and waved weakly at the air. Then, Shen Ninghua heard a hoarse voice. “Cough cough…Is that Shen Ninghua?”
“Ninghua greets Your Highness.”
“Haha, what kind of a Highness am I? I’m just a dying person. Highness? Haha.”
Shen Ninghua stood in the middle of the room. She did not move forward, nor did she react to Madam Zhou’s self-mockery. Instead, she said straightforwardly, “May I know what instructions Your Highness have for me?”
“I just want to see you.” The person in the bed moved, as if she wanted to sit up. However, she didn’t succeed even after struggling for a long time. She only grabbed the curtain and revealed half of her skinny face.
“We’ve never met before. I wonder why you want to see me.”
Madam Zhou seemed to have heard something extremely funny. She laughed for a long time and finally gasped for breath. “You’ve never seen me, but I’ve seen you. And I know you very well.”
Shen Ninghua frowned. Madam Zhou’s mood was extremely unstable, as if she had been drugged with a madness-inducing drug.
“You must be curious about why I know you. Haha, it’s very simple. I heard of you from my husband. You probably don’t know. My husband is infatuated with you. There’s a portrait of you hanging in the study, and there’s a prescription written by you in his scroll. He almost inscribed you in his heart. You’re the white moonlight in his heart. He will punish anyone who says your name. But you don’t know any of these!”
“Be careful with your words, Your Highness.” Shen Ninghua warned in a cold voice.
“Are you afraid of being discussed by people?” Madam Zhou laughed shrilly. “Shen Ninghua, you don’t know how jealous I am of you. I wish I could peel off your skin when I have to see my husband’s soul captured by you every day! However, I also know that I don’t have a chance. Shen Ninghua, I beg you to agree to my one request.”
“I don’t have anything to do with the Second Prince’s Mansion, nor do I have the ability to help you. I don’t dare to accept your request.”
Madam Zhou struggled to look at Shen Ninghua and stared fixedly at her. “Shen Ninghua, I’m dying. You will soon become the mistress of this mansion. I don’t beg you to treat my children well. I only beg you not to take the initiative to harm them!”
Shen Ninghua’s gaze was cold and impatient. “Your Highness, have you had enough of this play now?”
Madam Zhou asked in confusion, as if she did not understand her words, “What did you say?”
Shen Ninghua walked to the table and poured a cup of tea into the incense burner with a puff. “This is filled with Yilan powder, which has an aphrodisiac effect. What do you want to do?”
“You…what did you say?”
Shen Ninghua sneered. “More than that. The pillow on your bed has dried cyperus rotundus inside. The furniture in this room has been soaked with musk. Even the blanket on the floor has been dyed with safflower. With so many medicines and the charcoal pots in the room to stimulate the effects of medicine, even the strongest woman in the room will never be pregnant. That’s your goal, right?”
Madam Zhou was shocked and grabbed the pillow under her head. “You said there was cyperus rotundus in this pillow?” As a woman living in the backyard, how could she not know how powerful cyperus rotundus was? No wonder she was just a little uncomfortable in the beginning, but after resting in bed for two days, she was suddenly unable to get up anymore. Which bitch was plotting against her?
Looking at her expression, Shen Ninghua sneered in her heart. If Madam Zhou hadn’t gone too far, she didn’t want to expose her. After all, watching her act was funny. However, Madam Zhou shouldn’t have kept stepping on her bottom line. “Your Highness, if there’s nothing else, I’ll go back. Right, although I won’t marry into the Second Prince’s Mansion, I agree to your request. No matter what happens to your children in the future, I will just stand by and watch.”
Madam Zhou’s eyes widened as she struggled to get up and tossed the pillow down. “Shen Ninghua, how dare you?”
“Why wouldn’t I dare? I have no grievances or enmity with you. You first damaged my reputation, then plotted to destroy my life. Do you really think you can manipulate me?” After experiencing all sorts of things in her previous life, fertility had already become one of her obsessions. If she could not have babies, she could never live a happy life.
“I didn’t frame you. Shen Ninghua, listen to me…”
“Shut up!” Baili Jinchuan strode into the room and looked at Madam Zhou with disgust in his eyes. “I didn’t expect you to be a so vicious woman. I really misjudged you.”
Madam Zhou was stunned. Her face immediately turned pale. When she accidentally found out that Baili Jinchuan admired Shen Ninghua, her heart was filled with extreme jealousy. She had also thought of killing Shen Ninghua. However, after witnessing her methods of defeating the Shen family and knowing the emperor’s favor for her, she knew that she was not Shen Ninghua’s match for a while, so she gradually suppressed the idea.
But when she had forcefully suppressed the jealousy in her heart, she suddenly found that her body was on the verge of collapse. She knew Baili Jinchuan well. Once she was gone, the one he was most likely to marry was Shen Ninghua. She loved Baili Jinchuan so much, so how could she be willing to watch him marry and dote on others? That was why she wanted to see Shen Ninghua. It was best if she could make Shen Ninghua’s relationship with Baili Jinchuan worsen. However, she did not expect that there were so many dirty things in her room! Which bitch was harming her?
“My lord, listen to me. I didn’t do it. I’m a dying person. How can I have time to arrange these? Please scrutinize carefully.”
Baili Jinchuan’s eyes were like knives, and he wished he could gouge out a piece of meat from Madam Zhou’s body. “I think you need to focus on recuperation. From today onwards, you will stay here and recuperate. I will have someone deliver medicine to you.”
“My lord, listen to me. I’m wronged. I really didn’t do it.”
Baili Jinchuan did not want to listen to her anymore. He turned to look at Shen Ninghua, and his voice unconsciously carried warmth. “Ninghua, I’m really sorry for what happened today. Quickly leave this room. I’ll have someone send you back first, and then ask Doctor Chen to examine your pulse.” Madam Zhou’s heart was too vicious and wanted to destroy Ninghua’s foundation. Thinking that she might suffer great pain because she couldn’t have a baby in the future, Baili Jinchuan wished he could cut Madam Zhou into pieces alive.
Shen Ninghua glanced across the room and said, “Your Highness, there’s no need to bother. My visit today will cause endless rumors. If I’m sent back by someone from your mansion, I’m afraid there is no need for me to live and see anyone. I can simply throw myself into the river and commit suicide.”
Baili Jinchuan’s expression turned cold. “Ninghua, why do you hate me so much?”
“I think I have told you very clearly. The person you should be worried about now is the Second Princess. She was injured by cyperus rotundus, but she still has a chance to recover. There’s still hope after Doctor Chen arrives.” After Shen Ninghua finished speaking, she glanced across Madam Zhou’s pale face and walked out.
She didn’t want to be involved in these things, but some people just had to implicate her. Since she couldn’t escape, she would like to see who had the last laugh!