Although the concubines and mistresses were under Madam Wan's management, Madam Wan didn't really need them to do anything.
Indeed, with such a large mansion as the Wan family, there were servants to do rough work, maids to clean and serve, and personal maids to attend to everyone, so naturally there was no need for these concubines to do anything.
So unless Madam Wan called them, these women didn't bother to go around her. As Sixth Concubine put it, "Instead of wasting time hanging around the First Madam, we'd rather figure out how to get the Master to spend more time with us."
According to Madam Wan's words, the only people she had the most contact with on a daily basis were the Second Madam and the Fourth Madam.
Thinking about how the two people treated Madam Wan just now, the Second Madam was very likely the one who had done something to the First Madam. Ning Huan said to Madam Wan, "Could you please ask the Second Madam to come over again? I have some things I want to confirm."
These words left Madam Wan and Master Wan completely bewildered: "Madam Ning, if the Second Madam offended you in any way just now, you could have just told us directly."
Ning Huan shook her head. It wasn't confirmed yet whether it was the Second Madam, so she couldn't tell Madam Wan directly. She simply repeated, "I just wanted to confirm some things with the Second Madam. Please ask Master Wan and Madam Wan to invite her over."
Seeing Ning Huan's insistence, Madam Wan called to Xiao Shuang at the door, "Go and invite the Second Madam over."
Before long, the second madam arrived. Before anyone else could arrive, her voice was heard shouting: "I came to see that the madam had been driven away, and now she wants me to come back. I am still the master's woman. Don't I have any dignity in this mansion?!"
Then she came in, still complaining, "So what happened? So the lady wasn't feeling well and didn't want to bother me?"
Ning Huan carefully examined the Second Madam's clothes; a few delicate spice flowers were pinned to the emerald green silk ribbon. The fragrance she was smelling was coming from there.
Seeing Ning Huan scrutinizing her, the second wife became even more displeased and said, "Why is this female physician always staring at me? Is there something on me?"
Ning Huan didn't make a sound. Seeing that no one in the room paid attention to her, the second madam muttered something and left. Just as Madam Wan and Master Wan were wondering about this, Ning Huan slowly said, "Madam Wan's health is not good because the medicinal properties of rock sand grass and asarum flower have been present in her body for a long time."
Upon hearing this, Madam Wan was greatly surprised: "Female Physician, what do you mean by that?"
Ning Huan began to explain that neither rock sand grass nor asarum flower are inherently poisonous herbs, but when combined, they become a very cold-natured herb, specifically used to treat certain wind-heat illnesses. Prolonged exposure to rock sand grass and asarum flower can lead to a very cold constitution, resulting in weakness and frequent illnesses.
Therefore, Madam Wan's health was often weak, and Ning Huan guessed that this might be related to it.
"I just smelled the scent of asarum on the Second Madam, so I asked you and Master to invite her back for a closer look. I hope I was wrong."
"But unfortunately..."
Ning Huan paused for a moment: "I saw that asarum flowers were sewn onto the silk sash around the Second Madam's waist."
Master Wan's expression immediately changed, and he asked sternly, "Female Physician, are you telling the truth?"
Ning Huan nodded: "Besides Asarum flowers, there is another medicinal herb that I don't know where it came from. Rock sand grass. I didn't find this herb in Madam Wan's room, and there is no trace of rock sand grass in the diet and daily life that Madam Wan mentioned."
Moreover, although Ning Huan found asarum flowers on the Second Madam, she still felt something was amiss and asked Madam Wan, "Are you usually close to the Second Madam?"
Madam Wan shook her head: "Although I only have regular contact with the Second Madam and the Fourth Madam, we don't see each other very often. Besides, even if I do meet the Second Madam..."
"When we meet, it's often the same as just now; we can't exchange more than a few words."
Ning Huan finally realized what was wrong. The Second Madam only had a few Asarum flowers on her body, which seemed to serve only a decorative purpose. They would have been better if they had been ground into powder and made into spices.
Just as Ning Huan was feeling very strange, the maid Xiao Shuang brought in a bowl of ginseng nourishing soup. Master Wan was still angry because of what Ning Huan had just said, and he said sternly to Xiao Shuang, "What have you been doing? Don't you know how to serve the madam properly? Go and take the second madam to the main hall, I have something to discuss with her!"
Perhaps it was because Master Wan usually had a very good temper that he was even more frightening when he got angry. Xiao Shuang quickly put the soup bowl on the table and bowed her head to explain, "Replying to Master, I was just called to the kitchen by the Fourth Madam. She stewed a bowl of ginseng nourishing soup for the Madam."
Ning Huan originally wanted to stop Master Wan from calling for the Second Madam, but when she turned around, she noticed that Xiao Shuang was wearing a sachet at her waist, and she immediately seemed to realize something.
"Miss Xiaoshuang, could you please take off your sachet and let me see it?"
Upon hearing Ning Huan's words, Xiao Shuang stiffened at first, then covered her sachet and said, "I made this for fun in my spare time. It doesn't contain any expensive spices. You shouldn't look at it, Madam Physician."
Madam Wan narrowed her eyes and gave a wink to the two maids beside her. They restrained Xiao Shuang from the left and right, and Ning Huan ripped the sachet off.
Ning Huan opened the sachet and, sure enough, saw that it was filled with asarum fragrance, a much larger quantity than the second madam's.
She asked in a cold voice, "Miss Xiaoshuang, do you know what's inside this sachet?"
Xiao Shuang hesitated and didn't speak, but her eyes kept glancing at the bowl of soup that she had brought over. The next second, she wanted to rush over and knock the bowl over.
Ning Huan quickly shouted, "Quickly, hold her down!"
She swiftly snatched the soup bowl and sprinkled some of the asarum powder from Xiao Shuang's sachet into it. Then Ning Huan took out a silver needle and tentatively placed it into the soup. When she took it out again, the needle tip had indeed turned black.
She handed the silver needles to Madam Wan: "Asarum and sand ash are not poisonous on their own, but when the two are put together, they produce a cooling effect, which can cause women to be unable to conceive. People who are exposed to them for a long time may even die as a result."
Upon seeing the blackened silver needles, Madam Wan and Master Wan's expressions immediately turned ugly.
Ning Huan then remembered why she felt Madam Wan's pulse was strange when she treated her last time; it was probably related to this incident.
Madam Wan's body was already cold and weak, and the cold from falling into the water further exacerbated her condition, which is why she was in critical condition.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com