Zi Qiao looked at the plate of fruit with unease, determined to find out the truth before she would give up: "Then this servant will feed these things to the rats. If Miss is really so wicked, we will go and tell Master and Madam!"

Wei Shuwan remained noncommittal, which Zi Qiao took as tacit approval, so she took the plate of fruit out.

Miaoxiang stayed in the room to help Wei Shuwan wash up. After she finished, Ziqiao replied: "Miss, I have tested it, and this dish of fruit is not poisonous."

Wei Shuwan slowly let out a breath, which finally turned into a smile: "It seems I was being too cautious. But I shouldn't accept these things in the future; I don't feel at ease keeping them."

"What you say is true, young lady!"

...

For the next day and a half, the Wei family lived in peace. Cai Die behaved normally during lunch and dinner, as if nothing had happened. Wei Shuwan felt that everything was too calm, which made her uneasy.

Like the eerie silence before a storm.

In the evening, just as Wei Shuwan was about to take a bath, Sun Lurong came over with a bowl of white fungus soup.

The mother and daughter sat at a small table in the inner room. Sun Lurong watched her daughter eat sweet soup while asking her if she had seen the young prince recently and how they were getting along.

In order not to worry her mother or make her feel that she had married unwillingly, Wei Shuwan said things against her will about how considerate and attentive Li Qingchen was to her.

The bowl of sweet soup was quickly emptied. Wei Shuwan rubbed her forehead with her hand, perhaps because the soup was too sweet, she felt inexplicably dizzy.

"What's wrong?" Sun Lurong asked her with a hint of worry.

Wei Shuwan shook her head and smiled, "It's nothing."

But as soon as she finished speaking, she smelled a faint fragrance, a sweet scent. Because she had been eating white fungus soup, the fragrance had been masked, so she hadn't noticed it before.

Wei Shuwan glanced at Sun Lurong and quickly noticed a sachet embroidered with yellow hollyhocks at her mother's waist, not the one she had given her mother before. She leaned forward to confirm that the fragrance was indeed coming from inside.

"When did Mother acquire this sachet?"

Sun Lurong looked down and smiled with a loving expression, but her words seemed unrelated to the matter: "Although your father doesn't say it, your mother can tell that ever since Caidie got together with the son of Minister Du, your father's long-cherished wish has been fulfilled."

"What's on Father's mind?"

"Yes, although your father was innocent in the matter of your grandmother switching the baby back then, he always felt sorry for Wei Ping. Now that her daughter has a good marriage, your father is also gratified, and his guilt has been greatly reduced."

Wei Shuwan listened silently, her heart filled with mixed emotions. She wanted to tell her mother directly that things weren't as they seemed, but then she remembered that she had promised Cai Die two days to confess, and tomorrow was the deadline. So, after thinking it over, she decided not to tell her mother tonight; she would leave everything for tomorrow.

Sun Lurong continued with her sigh, "And Cai Die seems to have changed a lot lately, becoming much more thoughtful and meticulous in her work." As she spoke, she showed Wei Shuwan the sachet tied around her waist and said with satisfaction, "Look, this is the sachet that Cai Die embroidered for Mother herself. When Mother receives this sachet, she will know that this child has truly let go of the past."

Wei Shuwan, who was rubbing her temples and feeling a little dizzy, suddenly had a tremor in her eyes and stared at the sachet again: "Mother said this was given to you by Cai Die?"

Sun Lurong, oblivious to the abnormality, was lost in her own emotions: "That's right. Not only that, she even noticed when you coughed twice at dinner. She just reminded me, which is why I remembered to ask the kitchen to make you a bowl of white fungus soup."

Wei Shuwan was even more astonished. She hadn't coughed at all during dinner; it was just an excuse Cai Die used to coax her mother to come here for a short visit!

So my dizziness is probably caused by this sachet, which contains medicine.

No wonder her mother seemed a bit off tonight, always speaking with a kind and gentle tone. It was just because of the effects of the medicine; she was exhausted and weak. Wei Shuwan didn't have time to explain to her mother in detail. She simply took off the sachet and walked to the window.

However, just as he reached the window, he heard a muffled thud behind him. Turning around, he saw Sun Lurong slumped onto the small table.

"Mother!" Wei Shuwan cried out urgently, but her head was spinning and her legs were too weak to walk.

So she braced herself against the window frame with both hands and called out with all her might, "Ziqiao...Miaoxiang..."

He had barely called out the names of the two maids when he collapsed to the ground.

Ziqiao and Miaoxiang, who had been waiting in the courtyard, soon heard the commotion and rushed into the house. They were shocked to see one person lying face down on the table and another lying on the ground. They went to help them up separately.

"girl?"

"lady?"

Both were completely unconscious and unresponsive, so Zi Qiao immediately shouted towards the window, "Help! Someone, help! Something's happened!"

Several maids outside the courtyard came in to help carry people, some went to inform the master, and others went to the Sheng family to fetch the family doctor to examine the patients... The entire Fuqu Pavilion was in chaos.

Although the Sheng family mansion was right next door, it was still not as close as their own home. Before the family physician was summoned, Wei Wenshi, Wei Zheng, Wei Chengxiu, and Wei Ping, mother and daughter, had already come to visit Sun Lurong and Wei Shuwan.

The mother and daughter were lying on the same couch. Wei Ping frowned as she looked at the two of them side by side on the narrow couch and asked, "Should we carry Lu Rong back to Fukang Garden first?"

In his haste, Wei Zheng sternly stopped him: "No!"

Wei Ping had only asked casually, but Wei Zheng's shout nearly startled her. Wei Wenshi explained gently, "It's not advisable to move them. The incident happened suddenly, and we don't even know what illness the mother and daughter have. Moving them around rashly might..."

Guessing that what followed would be ominous, Wei Zheng chimed in, interrupting, "Mother is right. Besides, since they're together, it'll save the physician from having to run back and forth. We can figure out what's wrong first before moving them."

While everyone was gathered around the bed offering suggestions, no one noticed that Cai Die quietly moved out.

She glanced around the room and quickly spotted the sachet she had given to Sun Lurong lying under the window. Without making a sound, she walked over, bent down, picked up the sachet, wrapped it tightly in a thick cotton handkerchief, and then tucked it into her sleeve.

Cai Die's lips curled into a sinister and eerie smile: she had bought this medicine from a foreign merchant in the West Market at a high price a few days ago, originally intending to give it to Wei Shuyao as a last resort, but unexpectedly it was used on the second wife and her daughter first.

This medicine won't kill you; it will only put you into a deep sleep. How long you'll be asleep depends on your own fate. In short, the merchant from Hu said it could take anywhere from a year and a half to two or three months. As long as she and Du Shao act quickly, they won't be able to find her in this house when they wake up.

By then, the rice will have turned into porridge, so how could we force Du Shao to divorce his wife?