Chapter 236: Killing Three Birds with One Stone
After hearing what Jinfeng said, Aunt Zhang said:
"I'm not stupid. I've already thought of the first wife's clever tricks. That's why I asked you to put the drug into the food that the first aunt sent to the second wife. This way, the first aunt will be eliminated as well. Then, we can use the first wife's weakness to control her. She will definitely hand over the affairs of Xiaoxiang Courtyard to me. Isn't this killing three birds with one stone?"
"Auntie's idea is good, but it may not work. The eldest aunt is very careful. The food she makes for the second wife is personally supervised by Hong'er or Yan'er. She never asks others to do it. Where can we find an opportunity?"
"That's exactly what I want to tell you. The people I planted in the Plum Garden have passed on the message that the eldest aunt is going to make rock sugar bird's nest porridge for the second wife today, and Hong'er will watch. I have already informed Baozhu, and Baozhu will arrange Qin'er to find a way to divert Hong'er away for a while. You take the opportunity to pour this packet of medicine into the bird's nest porridge. The eldest wife said that this medicine is called Crane Dragon's Saliva, which is colorless and tasteless. If it is added to the soup, even ordinary martial arts heroes will not easily detect it, let alone the second wife, who is a woman. Moreover, I heard from the eldest wife that this poison can only be cured by the person who prepared it. Once the second wife takes it, she will die."
"Hong'er is very clever, I'm afraid Qin'er can't tune it out."
"Others are fine, but Qin'er is now Second Madam's personal maid. Under the Second Madam's banner, Hong'er dared not delay. Humph, Second Madam has always been cautious and never takes anyone into the house. This time, she deserves to die. She relied on Second Master's favor, the respect of the servants in the mansion, and the concessions of the old lady and the first wife. She didn't even know her last name and took in Qin'er and Wan'er for the first time in history."
Seeing the vicious look in Aunt Zhang's eyes, Jin Feng shuddered. She knew so much, and if she didn't do it, she would die.
Seeing Jin Feng standing there without saying a word, Aunt Zhang looked up at the sky and said:
"It's getting late, you should go quickly. If you are late you might miss the opportunity. Remember to be careful."
Jinfeng responded quickly and walked out of the flower hall. Aunt Zhang stood there again, looked around carefully, found nothing, and walked back along the bluestone path.
The figures of Aunt Zhang and Jinfeng disappeared, and Ping'er finally breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, she was already sitting on the ground, and the kite in her hand had been crumpled into a ball by her at some point.
Ping'er's face was pale at this time. Although she was only six years old, she didn't understand many of the words of her aunt and Jinfeng, but she understood one thing, that is, her aunt wanted to poison her mother, and she also understood that if this was discovered, her aunt would be executed. This realization made her tremble with fear, and her legs seemed to lose strength, and she sat there unable to move at all.
Ping'er didn't understand why her aunt wanted her mother to die. She liked her mother, liked listening to her mother tell stories, and liked eating the cakes her mother made. Her mother would occasionally pat her on the head while telling stories, which made her feel infinitely warm. Whenever she was sick and her aunt forced her to drink bitter medicine, she would ask her mother for help. Her mother would give her some sweet syrup and hold her in her arms. Now, whenever the three sisters were sick, they would clamor for their mother instead of their aunt.
Her aunt was a little strict when teaching her needlework, but she also doted on her. She didn't want her mother to die, and she didn't want her aunt to die even more. But she didn't know what to do to save her mother without hurting her aunt.
After sitting there thinking for a long time, he clapped his hands and thought, I got it. I can go to the kitchen to stop Jinfeng from drugging her. Ping'er thought of this, jumped up, and without even having time to brush off the dirt on her body, she turned around and ran back through the flower path.
Just as she reached the back door, she bumped into Huan'er who was about to enter the backyard. Huan'er was the head maid who served her personally. When she saw Ping'er, she quickly squatted down and hugged her, complaining:
"My dear little ancestor, I finally found you. I was distracted and you disappeared. Where did you go? It took me a long time to find you. My aunt is also looking for you everywhere. Miss, come with me to see my aunt."
When she saw that she had come back , she did not doubt that she had eavesdropped on her conversation with Jinfeng and stopped her from going to Jinfeng. Thinking of this, Ping'er put her hand to her mouth and said:
"Huan'er, keep your voice down. If Aunt sees Ping'er like this, she will definitely scold her again. Don't tell Aunt that Ping'er went to play in the backyard."
Huan'er then noticed that Ping'er was covered in dirt. She jumped up in surprise and asked:
"Second Miss, what have you been doing? Why are you covered in dirt? Come back to the room with me and wash yourself. If my aunt sees you, she will punish me again."
"If Ping'er doesn't tell Auntie, and Huan'er doesn't tell either, then everything will be fine."
Huan'er thought about it and it made sense. When the aunt saw that the second young lady was so dirty, they, the servants, would have to suffer, so she nodded, picked up Ping'er, and quietly went back to the room to change her clothes. After washing her, she led her to Aunt Zhang's room. Ping'er looked around, but couldn't find Jinfeng. Only Ling'er was serving on the side. She secretly guessed that Jinfeng must have gone to the kitchen as instructed by the aunt. She became flustered and wished she could grow wings and fly to the kitchen.
When she heard her aunt asking about her needlework in the past two days, she sat there and responded absent-mindedly. After finally listening to the aunt's nagging, she saw that the aunt finally told her to leave, so she hurriedly stood up and took her leave, and walked out in a very proper manner.
As soon as she left the house, Ping'er ran away, but Huan'er, who followed behind her, grabbed her:
"Miss San, where are you going now? Auntie just said, please be quiet and stop running around. You may be punished."
Ping'er waved her hands and tried to throw Huan'er away. She didn't want to be caught tightly and didn't want Huan'er to follow her. Ping'er rolled her eyes and said:
"Let's go play hide and seek at the door!"
"Second Miss..."
Seeing Huan'er trying to stop her, Ping'er pinched her waist and asked:
"are you going!"
"Okay, okay, Miss, if you want to play hide-and-seek, I will play with you. But it's agreed that Ping'er will only play outside the courtyard gate. The sun is about to set , so it's time for dinner."
Seeing Ping'er nod, Huan'er played hide-and-seek with Ping'er at the gate of the courtyard. After two rounds of searching, it was Ping'er's turn to hide. Ping'er took two steps and came back to yell at Huan'er for playing dirty and peeking at her.
Huan'er had no choice but to do as Ping'er said and wait with her eyes closed facing the wall. Seeing Huan'er close her eyes, Ping'er quietly walked out the door, shouting as she walked:
"Don't open your eyes, you bastard. I'm hiding. I'll say one, two, three, and then you can open your eyes and look for me!"
"Yes, Miss, I understand. Please go and hide quickly!"
Ping'er quietly walked out of the yard, looked around to see that there was no one around, and ran towards the direction of the kitchen in her memory. As she was running, she suddenly stopped and looked ahead with her eyes wide open.
I saw the eldest aunt's personal maid Hong'er coming towards me, followed by a little maid holding a silver tray with a bowl and a spoon on it.
Ping'er didn't know whether the bowl contained the rock sugar Yanwang porridge that her aunt mentioned, nor did she know whether Jinfeng put the packet of medicine given by her aunt in it. Seeing that they were about to turn into a fork in the road, Ping'er knew that the bowl of porridge must be for her mother, because that fork in the road was the direction to Xiaoxiangyuan.
Without having time to think, Ping'er ran forward desperately. She wanted to spill the bowl of porridge. It didn't matter if it was poisonous or not. As long as her mother couldn't drink it, everything would be fine. She didn't want her mother to die!
Pretending not to hear Hong'er's loud shout, he closed his eyes and rushed towards the little maid behind Hong'er. The little maid screamed, stopped, raised the tray in her hand high, and stood there in shock. When Ping'er was about to be hit, Hong'er held her tightly.
After all, she was just a child. She ran so far but didn't have much momentum. Hong'er held her and breathed a sigh of relief. She calmed herself down, patted her chest and said:
"Oh my god, I'm so scared, Second Miss, where are you going? You didn't even look at the road. It's okay if you spill the porridge, but if you burn the young lady, it will be my fault. I won't be able to bear it even if I have several heads. Where are Huan'er and Nanny Wu? Why didn't they follow you and let you run around alone?"
It was almost over, Ping'er stood there dejectedly without saying a word.
Seeing that the second young lady didn't say anything, Hong'er continued:
"Where are you going, Second Miss? Tell me. I'll give this bowl of rock sugar bird's nest porridge to Second Madam and take you there. Please don't run around like that. If you run into some blind servant and get hurt , Second Madam and Aunt Zhang will be angry again."
When Ping'er heard Hong'er say that the bowl of porridge was indeed rock sugar bird's nest porridge, she shuddered and asked:
"Did you just make it? Did Hong'er make it herself?"
"The Second Miss is right. This is what I made myself as a gift to the Second Madam. It just came out of the pot and is still hot. Otherwise, I would have been scared just now, for fear that I would have burned you."
Ping'er opened her mouth and wanted to ask Hong'er if she had been watching in the kitchen and had never left, but she didn't say it out of instinct. She saw Hong'er wiping her sweat with a handkerchief while looking at her with concern, blinking her eyes and saying:
“I’m going to my mother’s place.”
"That's great. I'll take you there on the way."
Seeing Ping'er nod, Hong'er stepped forward, took Ping'er's hand, and said to the little maid behind her:
"Let's go."
…
Sitting on the embroidered cushion, Ping'er watched absentmindedly as her mother gently stirred the bowl of rock sugar bird's nest porridge with a spoon. She didn't hear what her mother said to her at all. As soon as she entered the house, she was thinking about how to destroy the bowl of porridge. In a short while, she had imagined a thousand ways to destroy the bowl of porridge, but since she entered the house, her mother had settled her on the embroidered cushion, far away from the bowl of porridge, and she could only watch and fantasize with her eyes.
"Ping'er..."
"Ping'er..."
Mengxi called out twice, but no one responded. She looked up and saw Ping'er staring at her bowl in a daze. She smiled and said,
"Ping'er, do you want to drink bird's nest porridge too? Wan'er, go get a bowl!"
When she heard her mother calling Wan'er to get a bowl, thinking she was going to give her some bird's nest porridge, Ping'er shuddered violently and screamed:
"No! Mother, don't!"
"What happened to Ping'er?"
Mengxi was surprised when she heard Ping'er's words. She turned around and looked at Ping'er. Meeting her mother's puzzled eyes, Ping'er came to her senses and remembered that if her mother knew that her aunt had poisoned her, her aunt would have to die. She hurriedly said:
"No, Ping'er... Ping'er meant to say that Ping'er doesn't like bird's nests. They have no taste at all and are not as delicious as the lotus seed and lily porridge made by mother."
After all, she is a child, and all her emotions are written on her face. Meeting Ping'er's evasive gaze, Mengxi was secretly shocked. What happened to Ping'er today?
