Chapter 241: Utterly Disappointed!

Shen Ninghua sat on the chair with her palms stroking her belly, shocked by the possibility that she might have lost the baby if she hadn’t reacted quickly…In that case, would she lose the chance to be a mother again?

Chu Junyi slowly walked towards Shen Dong. After each step, the coldness in his eyes intensified a little. When he stood in front of Shen Dong, his dark eyes looked exceptionally sharp and chilling.

“Patriarch Shen, this cat was fine a moment ago, but it suddenly went crazy. I think it won’t be long since it was fed with medicine. If that’s the case, we can easily find the evidence.”

Looking at Chu Junyi’s appearance, Shen Dong was in a daze. He had always thought that this Peerless Duo Master was not worthy of his name. He never expected him to possess such bearing that even outshone those princes.

“Lord Chu, since His Majesty ordered my mother to be buried according to the First Grade Imperial Mandate’s ritual, her funeral ceremony does not allow any mistake. Now, you are going to search this mansion at her funeral. Doesn’t this disturb the peace of the dead and go against His Majesty’s will?”

Understanding Shen Dong’s threat, Chu Junyi curled his lips coldly. He wasn’t in the mood to argue with him. “It seems that being polite doesn’t work here. Then I won’t ask for your consent anymore. Someone, surround this place and search every corner carefully.”

Shen Dong frowned as he looked at Chu Junyi. He laughed in his heart. There were only two maidservants, Hong Ling and Qing Que, standing beside him. Could it be that the two maidservants were going to personally search the huge Shen Mansion by themselves?

Just as he was ridiculing Chu Junyi for overestimating himself, he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He immediately turned his head in shock and saw a group of guards wearing armor and holding weapons rushing into the mansion. Immediately, the guards surrounded the entire mourning hall tightly.

Chu Junyi’s eyes turned cold. He raised his hand slightly and waved to the guards behind him. “Listen to my order: Carefully search the Shen Mansion. Now do it!”

“Yes, as you order.”

At a glance, people could tell that the guards were well trained. They split up into two groups. One group carefully watched over the servants kneeling on the ground. The other group was divided into three subgroups and searched every corner.

Seeing the guards of her Princess Mansion coming over, Shen Ninghua was also a little surprised. Then she immediately understood that Chu Junyi must have secretly made the arrangements.

What she did today would easily attract criticism against her. Once she left the Shen Mansion and the news spread out, many people would definitely criticize her behind her back. As a granddaughter, she killed servants at her grandmother’s funeral and disturbed the funeral. This could be considered extremely unfilial.

With such a great fanfare by dispatching so many guards from her mansion, she could divert the attention of the people to a certain extent, making them curious about what had happened. This way, she could secretly control the development of the rumors. By then, she could easily confuse right and wrong. Moreover, she did not consider herself on the wrong side.

Shen Dong’s face had already turned purple. He had once been the Prime Minister, the highest-ranking official of the imperial court. Who could have thought that he would end up being bullied like this today? He couldn’t help but recall what Madam Zhao had said before. She said that Shen Ninghua was a jinx. Ever since she returned to the Shen family, there had been no peace at home. It was as if an invisible hand had pushed the Shen family to death bit by bit.

The fact now proved it! His favorite pair of children had an accident in succession, and he was reduced to a commoner from a Prime Minister! Back then, he should have listened to Madam Zhao’s words and driven her out of Shen Mansion!

Feeling that Shen Dong almost wanted to slash her into pieces with his gaze, Shen Ninghua had no expression on her face, but she was mocking coldly in her heart. At this time, Shen Dong must hate her so much that he wanted her dead, and he might even regard her as a jinx. However, she had already given up on hope for his affection. No matter what he wanted to do, he would not be able to stir up any wave of trouble.

Before long, a guard came and reported, “Report to Your Highness and Master, I searched the servant’s rooms and found quite a few precious jewels.”

Shen Ninghua raised her eyes. Hong Ling hurriedly took the jewels from the guard’s hands and showed them to Shen Ninghua. “These jewels are priceless and not things a servant can afford.”

As she said that, her gaze swept over the maids on their knees. “The one who uses jewels must be a woman. Hong Ling, Qing Que, search their bodies to see if there is anything suspicious with those maids.”

As soon as Shen Ninghua finished speaking, someone among the maids sobbed and said, “Please forgive me, Your Highness. I know these jewels are Qing Miao’s. They have nothing to do with the rest of us.”

Shen Ninghua looked at the maid and asked, “Who is Qing Miao?”

A woman shivered as she looked up at Shen Ninghua. She kept kowtowing and begging for mercy. “Your Highness, forgive me. I picked up the jewels from somewhere. They are not mine. It was all because of my greed. I saw a cloth bag on the ground and found the jewels in it. Please forgive me. I really didn’t drug the cat. Qing Yin, what grudges do you have against me that you actually want me dead?”

Shen Ninghua got up and walked in front of Qing Miao. She looked down at her and said, “Raise your head.”

Qing Miao slowly raised her head, still sobbing because she was frightened. “Your Highness, please scrutinize.”

“You weren’t the one who drugged the cat.”

Qing Miao said with ecstasy, “Thank you, Your Highness. Thank you.”

The maid who had identified the owner of the jewels immediately had a pale face.

Shen Ninghua said indifferently, “Qing Que, take away the maid Qing Yin who has just identified Qing Miao.”

The maidservant named Qing Yin hurriedly raised her head. “Princess, why do you take me away? I’m innocent.”

“You’re not innocent at all.”

“Your Highness, please believe me. Those jewels are really Qing Miao’s. I can vouch with my head.”

Shen Ninghua turned her head to look at Qing Yin, and her expression became even colder. “You volunteered to report immediately after I asked, because you wanted me to feel that you were weak and not sophisticated, so I would be less suspicious of you. Under normal circumstances, I would really believe you. Unfortunately, you didn’t hide the evidence well enough.”

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Qing Yin’s pupils kept trembling, but she firmly refused to admit it. “Although you are a princess, you can’t frame me like this. I’m not convinced.”

Shen Ninghua sneered and her gaze landed on the hairpin on Qing Yin’s head. “You won’t shed tears until you see the coffin. The hairpin on your head is the evidence!”

Qing Yin’s face suddenly turned pale as she subconsciously stroked her head.

Shen Ninghua’s gaze was extremely firm, making her feel that there was nowhere to escape. If she ended up in Shen Ninghua’s hands, then the outcome…Thinking about it, she made a decision in her heart, pulled out her hairpin, and stabbed it into her neck.

No one expected that she would directly commit suicide, so there was no time to stop her.

But Shen Ninghua wasn’t surprised. Even if this maidservant remained alive, she probably wouldn’t be able to get anything useful. What she wanted was just a process.

Chen Yun stepped forward to check the wound on Qing Yin’s neck and nodded with a frown. “Your Highness, you are right. This hairpin is indeed covered with the powder of frantic medicine. This maid stabbed her throat. So much frantic medicine entered her body that she doesn’t have a chance to survive.”

Not long after he finished speaking, Qing Yin let out a roaring sound of air flowing in her throat. Not long after, blood flowed out of her orifices and she died with exactly the same symptoms as the cat.

Chu Junyi sneered. “Patriarch Shen, I really didn’t expect that there would be such a loyal maidservant in your mansion.”

The other servants in the surroundings were already scared silly. In such a short period of time, two of their colleagues had died in succession. Would they be the next one?

Shen Dong frowned. “Lord Chu, you are wrong. This Qing Yin was recruited for the funeral only. She isn’t a maid of the Shen Mansion at all.”

Chu Junyi did not argue with him. Instead, he looked at the last team that returned.

“Your Highness and Master, I found quite a lot of medicinal residues in an abandoned well in a remote courtyard in the backyard. I sent someone down to retrieve some medicinal residues in case they will be useful.”

Medicinal residue?

Before Shen Ninghua spoke, Chen Yun had come forward and carefully picked up a medicinal ingredient to smell it. “This medicine was added with Fire Poisonous Herb, and the dosage is extremely high. Normal people will suffer internal organ damage if they take it for three consecutive days. In worse cases, their lives will be endangered.”

Chu Junyi stared fixedly at Shen Dong and asked, “What if the person has a weak body and has to stay in bed all day?”

“I’m afraid that in two days or less, the person’s heart fire will flare up and he or she will die for blocked blood circulation.”

“It’s actually this serious!” Chu Junyi’s gaze swept across the mourning hall behind Shen Dong and asked with a gloomy tone, “Then, may I ask Patriarch Shen, who consumed the medicine that left these medicinal residues?”

Shen Dong’s face turned ashen. “What are you implying?”

“Patriarch Shen, you are overreacting. I’m just asking. What did I imply?”

This guy was way too treacherous!

Shen Dong gritted his teeth. “I don’t know where the medicinal residues come from.”

Chu Junyi raised his eyebrows. “You don’t know? Isn’t that a little inexplicable? Is there anyone else in the Shen Mansion taking medicine? Patriarch Shen, it’s not good to bury your head in the sand at this time.”

Shen Dong gritted his teeth and said, “What do you want to hear? Do you want to hear me say that the medicinal residues come from the Old Lady’s medicine?”

“I didn’t say that. These medicinal residues didn’t rot. They were newly produced over the past two to three days. If it wasn’t for the Old Lady, then there must be someone in your mansion who wanted to harm people with Fire Poisonous Herb?”

“How is that possible?” Shen Dong quickly retorted.

“If neither of them is true, then Patriarch Shen, where did the medicinal residues come from? As someone unfamiliar with medicinal materials, even I can tell that the medicinal residues contain the extremely precious purple ginseng. Such a precious medicinal material can’t be afforded by servants, right?”

Shen Dong was annoyed. Didn’t he instruct them to deal with the residues properly? Why were they easily found out?

Seeing that Shen Dong didn’t know how to answer, Chu Junyi’s expression suddenly turned cold and he berated, “Patriarch Shen, you still don’t admit it. Do you want to make things clear in front of His Majesty in the Golden Hall?”

Shen Dong’s heart skipped a beat. He knew exactly every detail of the plot. He had already received a promise. As long as this matter was completed, the Empress would fulfill her promise and help him return to the court. He didn’t expect that the result would be like this.

Shen Ninghua closed her eyes slightly and didn’t look at Shen Dong’s expression. She had already become utterly disappointed.

Shen Dong clenched his fists tightly. He could not tell anyone about this matter. Otherwise, the Empress would never let him live.

Suddenly, the Governor of Capital Guards brought a group of soldiers in. “Greetings, Your Highness and Lord Chu. I heard that something happened here. His Majesty ordered me to bring them away for interrogation.”

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