The medicine was indeed very potent. Not long after it was administered, Xiangzhi's face turned pale, and she felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen, wanting to curl up, but the ropes binding her prevented her from doing so.

Her mouth was gagged again, and soon she turned pale with pain, as if she had just been pulled out of the water, and fainted without moving.

Xu Lingqing didn't even glance at her: "Oh dear, it seems my brother's aunt is not doing well. She must be ill. Please trouble the old woman to get a carriage from the back door and take her home. Since she has served my brother, tell the accountant to buy a good coffin and bury her directly."

"Just do as the girl says, whatever I do."

As soon as Zhou finished speaking, no one cared whether Xiangzhi, who had already fainted, was alive or dead. They simply wrapped her in a cotton quilt and dragged her outside. As for the pool of blood on the ground, it was a shocking sight.

Wiping the floor with a rag and then replacing it with a clean one, the bloodstains on the floor gradually decreased, and the trusted nanny sighed inwardly.

Xu Lingqing put down her teacup, her expression unchanged, seemingly unaffected. She walked to Zhou's side, and the mother and daughter went to Liufang Pavilion together.

Inside Liufang Pavilion, groups of two or three young women chatted and laughed, and when Li Shiyue walked in, she was often followed by people's eyes.

Li Shiyue spotted Feng Lanyin next to the beauty at a glance. Her eyes were glaring as if they could breathe fire. When she looked over, Feng Lanyin even showed a provocative expression.

"Yan Yan!"

Qin Wanyin and Xu Wan walked out of the side room and immediately saw Li Shiyue in the courtyard. Qin Wanyin's face lit up with joy and she waved in Li Shiyue's direction.

Li Shiyue withdrew her gaze, took two steps forward and walked up the stone steps, then took the two of them and walked inside together: "Just now, the Crown Princess went to pay her respects to her maternal grandmother, so I was unable to meet you two. Please don't blame me."

Xu Wan shook her head and said with a smile, "How could we? You are the main character today, how could we blame you? Besides, the Crown Princess is here, so it wouldn't be right for you not to show up. Fifth Sister is with us, but she was just called away."

Qin Wanyin covered her mouth and chuckled: "She was called away by Guo Shaoqing. According to the messenger, Guo Shaoqing prepared a gift for his wife's cousin and asked Wu Niang to go and bring it back to you."

Whether or not one follows proper etiquette doesn't matter; what matters is that Guo Shaoqing just wants to see his cousin.

Li Shiyue suppressed a laugh, not uttering her thoughts aloud. However, glancing out of the corner of her eye at Chunling's face at the courtyard gate, she noticed a fleeting hint of anxiety, followed by Chunling's composed expression as she saw the courtyard filled with guests. Li Shiyue then looked away.

"You all go and rest first. My personal maid is back, and I have something I need her to do."

Qin Wanyin and Xu Wan, unsuspecting, went inside to sit first. Separated by the wall and a short distance, Li Shiyue remembered that Feng Lanyin was not far down the corridor, so she decided not to go out and instead stood at the door waving to Chunling.

Chunling saw her as if she had seen a savior, but her surprise was only momentary and she wasn't too excited.

"girl."

Li Shiyue glanced through the niche at the two people talking inside, but didn't speak. Instead, she looked at Chunling questioningly. The latter understood and leaned closer to Li Shiyue, whispering what had just happened.

"The kitchen was too busy today, and those old women didn't notice that the things prepared for Qingjitang had been stolen. Fortunately, there were still some left over from the preparations, so we quickly packed them up and sent them to Qingjitang. When I came out of Qingjitang, I saw Xiangzhi wrapped in a cotton quilt and walking towards the back door. The white edges of the quilt were blood red."

"Qiu Fan went to find the people of the fourth branch and told them that Aunt Xiang's maid had stolen Qingjitang's pastries because she was afraid that her dishonesty would cause trouble for the young lady. The people of the fourth branch then found the fourth madam, and that's how it happened. I heard from those old women that once a bowl of sterilization soup was poured down her throat, even if she wasn't actually pregnant, she would still die."

“An old woman said that the girl was right. After giving her the medicine, she didn’t care whether she lived or died. She just buried her. She also said that the girl was kind-hearted and asked them to buy her a coffin.”

"The girl those old women were talking about, I think they were referring to Ninth Miss, but Ninth Miss is the most docile."

If these words were spoken by the Ninth Miss she knew, then was the Ninth Miss's gentleness genuine? She didn't seem to be the same person as Xu Lingqing she knew. Chunling felt a chill run down her spine. The Ninth Miss wasn't very old. If what the old woman said was true, then for such a young age, the Ninth Miss's heart was indeed quite hardened.

Li Shiyue didn't speak, but she couldn't hide her surprise. She was very close to the door, and when she saw Xu Lingqing coming in beside Zhou Shi, her expression was unreadable.

"Don't bring this up again."

As she spoke, Li Shiyue moved further inside, watching Zhou Shi lead Xu Lingzi towards the side room, presumably to accompany the various mistresses.

The banquet was still a long way off, so Li Shiyue, Qin Wanyin, and Xu Wan didn't stay inside for too long and simply sat together on the balconies under the eaves.

Qin Wanyin gently tugged at Li Shiyue's sleeve, her back to him, but she gestured for Li Shiyue to look over with her eyes: "Feng family, do you have some grudge against her? You look so resentful, I thought some sullen woman had run away."

Xu Wan rolled her eyes. She was sitting to Li Shiyue's right and lowered her voice: "I heard that the Feng family once intended to form a marriage alliance with the Xu family. Do you know if it's true or not? I think it's false, otherwise it would have spread long ago."

Before Li Shiyue could speak, a woman emerged from the side room behind Feng Lanyin. She looked down at people with an arrogant air, and it could only be Princess Chunhui.

The two sides weren't far apart, and since there was some commotion, it easily attracted everyone's attention because they were in the same courtyard.

"I thought it was you. The Minister's mansion doesn't have much good stuff left. Miss Feng's clothes are even wearable now. I still have a lot of unwanted jewelry and brocade. I originally planned to give them to the palace servants in the various palaces on New Year's Eve. So, I'll have someone send them to the Minister's mansion tomorrow. I'll excuse Miss Feng from thanking me, although I know you'll be very grateful to me."

Princess Chunhui's palace attire today was extremely elaborate and gorgeous. The outer brocade draped over her shoulders was embroidered with peonies in magnificent gold thread, while the inner layer was made of yellow gauze. The cross-collared palace dress was wrapped around a high-waisted ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), which was also embroidered with gold thread, making her look extremely wealthy.

Feng Lanyin looked down on a princess born to a concubine who had no sons, but she was still a princess after all. She could only bow and stick her neck out: "Even though you are a princess, I am still a daughter of the Minister's family. Your Majesty's humiliation of me shows that you do not respect the Minister's family."

"That's true. I've heard that His Majesty intends to choose a husband for the princess. I wish the princess to find a handsome and dashing husband like your uncle, the Earl of Changping, and live a happy and fulfilling life."

As soon as she finished speaking, the young woman covered her surprise and smirk with her sleeve. After all, the Earl of Changping was the most skilled womanizer, no less so than those young gentlemen.