Chapter 176 Two Peaches Kill Three Warriors
After the palace maid made some accusations, she fell to the ground and cried bitterly.
Everyone's expression changed drastically, and they fell silent, just looking at Meng Yan's face.
Meng Yan sneered and said to Yunxiang, "Just now you were trying to stop me. Look, if I hadn't come here, I wouldn't have known how lively it is here!"
Yunxiang smiled awkwardly, "Your Majesty is very perceptive, it is I who am the dull one."
Steward Wu's face twisted, perhaps because he was used to bullying others. He climbed up from the ground and kicked the maid hard in the waist, cursing, "Shoot you, you lowly slave! How dare you spout such nonsense in front of the Empress? When have we ever fed you rotten food?"
The palace maid was caught off guard by the kick and curled up into a ball, holding her stomach and groaning in pain.
Seeing that the eunuch had the audacity to hit someone in front of her, Meng Yan was furious and immediately shouted, "You bold servant! I haven't even opened my mouth yet, and you dare to hit me without permission. You truly disrespect me!"
Chief Steward Wu knelt again and said with a forced smile, "Your Highness, I saw this lowly servant dared to gossip and tell lies in front of you. I was afraid that you had been deceived by this lowly servant, and I was so angry that I taught this servant a lesson... but, just a lesson..."
Meng Yan saw that Eunuch Wu seemed to have returned to normal, no longer as panicked and at a loss as before. She knew that he must be a slippery person and smiled faintly, "So, Eunuch Wu is still thinking about me?"
Chief Steward Wu chuckled, "Your Majesty is right, Your Majesty is right." Then he hurriedly added, "Your Majesty, you don't know. This Shanghe Garden is not like the Imperial City. Normally, when the Emperor and His Majesty aren't here, there's less supervision, so the servants have developed wicked tempers and are often cunning and lazy. Now that there's an epidemic in the garden, these lowly creatures are taking advantage of the illness to extort money and pick on you. You've even come to this courtyard, and this lowly servant still dares to lie to your face. It's obvious she doesn't take you seriously! I was so angry at her that I took action."
The maid, catching her breath, sobbed to Meng Yan, "Your Highness, even if I had the guts to do it, I wouldn't dare deceive you... You and I... are truly living a miserable life here... a life worse than death! Originally, when I contracted this illness, I had given up hope and simply waited for death. Suddenly, Your Highness granted me grace, sending the imperial physician to treat me... You and I... were so grateful to Your Highness as if she were a bodhisattva. But who could have imagined that after entering Li Luo Courtyard... not only would we not be able to eat three meals a day... but we would also have Chief Steward Wu deduct all sorts of expenses... Before Your Highness came, Chief Steward Wu said that keeping us servants was a waste of food and that we should do embroidery to supplement our expenses... Your Highness, we are so ill that we can't even move, how could we even have the energy to sew? I couldn't stand it any longer, so I ran out and rudely confronted Your Highness..."
Chief Steward Wu's face twisted into a ball, and he yelled at the maid, "You're talking nonsense!" He then turned to Meng Yan, "Your Majesty, please don't listen to this maid! She's just making up these stories because she's afraid you'll punish her!"
Meng Yan didn't even look at him. She just said loudly, "I can make the decision on right and wrong. There's no need for you to gossip." Then she ordered her attendants, "Take this maid and follow me in."
After saying this, she took a step forward and tried to enter the Li Luo Courtyard.
Chief Steward Wu was so anxious that he ran to the front, opened his hands to block her way, and said with a wink and a smile, "Your Highness, this place is filthy, and there are many patients living in it. I'm afraid the disease will spread to Your Highness..."
Meng Yan's eyebrows raised, but before she could say anything, Dong Sanbao, who was serving beside her, stepped forward and shouted, "You bastard, how dare you block the Imperial Concubine's path! How dare you tell her where she's going?!"
As he said this, he pushed Manager Wu aside.
Meng Yan didn't even look at him again and stepped inside.
As I entered the yard, a foul stench hit me in the face.
Meng Yan's beautiful brows frowned slightly, and she was a little confused at first, but then she understood and couldn't help but sigh secretly.
She had expected that the people working under her would do some double-dealing, but she didn't expect it to be so excessive!
After taking two steps, the yard was completely silent. The cries of crying and yelling suddenly disappeared without a trace, leaving only the sound of cicadas chirping in the ears.
Meng Yan only felt that behind those windows, there seemed to be countless eyes looking at her, with hope, desire, and hatred.
She pretended not to know and slowly walked into the main hall. She sat down on a chair at the head of the table and asked the chief steward Wu calmly, "Besides you, there are two other people in charge here. Where are they?"
Chief Steward Wu wiped the sweat from his forehead and said calmly, "Everyone is working in the back. I'll go and call them!"
As he said this, he raised his legs to run.
Meng Yan called him and said lightly, "There is no need to trouble Eunuch Wu. I will send someone to go." As she spoke, she gestured to Dong Sanbao.
Dong Sanbao obeyed the order and walked out of the door.
The palace maid who followed had trembling legs and was barely able to stand by leaning on someone.
Meng Yan looked at her face carefully and saw that she was a girl of about sixteen or seventeen. She had delicate features and beautiful eyebrows. Although her face was damaged by illness, there were still some good features between her eyebrows, eyes, mouth and nose. However, there was a purple area under her eyes, and it seemed as if the disease had rushed straight to her head.
She pondered in her mind and asked, "How old are you this year?"
The maid was caught off guard by the imperial concubine's sudden question and was stunned for a moment before she whispered, "Your Majesty, I am sixteen years old."
Meng Yan nodded and asked, "What's your name?"
"...Yuerong."
Meng Yan listened and smiled faintly, "What a nice name. Come here, let me check your pulse."
When she said this, the palace maid named Yuerong was stunned, and even the steward Wu who was huddled aside was stunned.
Yunxiang was very anxious and advised, "Your Majesty, you can't do that. This palace maid has been infected with the plague. If the disease attacks Your Majesty, what will happen?"
Meng Yan said, "It's okay. I have some idea about this pathology." Then she gestured for Yue Rong to come forward.
Based on the experience of the previous life, this epidemic is only transmitted through the fecal-oral route, so if you talk like this, you won’t get infected.
But she had never actually seen a patient, nor had she personally taken a pulse. All she knew were medical records. If she wanted to find the right prescription, she had to see the patient in person.
Yuerong walked forward slowly, looked at the imperial concubine timidly, and stretched out her hand.
Will the Imperial Concubine treat her?
How could there be such a friendly master in the palace!
Maybe he wants to take out his anger on her under the pretext of seeing a doctor.
Her aunt, an old maid who had once served in the late emperor's harem, had told her that most of the palace's masters had bad tempers and would take their anger out on the maids and eunuchs when they were unhappy. They used all sorts of strange and intricate methods, and when the servants suffered, they had no way to seek redress and had no choice but to endure it.
It is not uncommon for people to lose their lives just for this.
Is this Imperial Concubine angry because I offended her just now?
Although she had been serving in Shanghe Garden, she had heard of Concubine Meng's deeds in the past...
Meng Yan glanced at the wrist. It was withered, thin, and dull, with skin that looked like a dry branch. She couldn't help but sigh softly, "Poor child."
Yunxiang quickly put a handkerchief on Yuerong's wrist. Meng Yan raised her hand and placed her slender jade fingers on her wrist.
Everyone in the room held their breath and was completely silent.
After a moment, Meng Yan raised her hand, then said, "Switch to your right hand."
Yue Rong was stunned. Was this imperial concubine really taking her pulse?
Butler Wu standing by was also dumbfounded. How come this imperial concubine was completely different from what was rumored?
His face darkened and his eyes kept rolling in his sockets.
If this continues and Concubine Meng wins over the people's hearts, how will he explain this to the person in the imperial city?
After a while, Meng Yan withdrew her hand and told Yunxiang to put away the handkerchief. She looked at Yuerong's tongue and eyelids again, and she understood something. She smiled at Yuerong and said, "Go down and rest. Come back if I have anything to ask you."
Yue Rong was a little confused and couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness...are you really just examining this servant?"
Meng Yan raised her eyes and smiled, "What else?"
Looking at the imperial concubine's smile as bright as the morning sun, Yue Rong felt a lump in her throat. She retreated without saying anything.
Ever since she entered the palace, no one has treated her as a human being like the Imperial Concubine did.
At this moment, Dong Sanbao had already called the remaining two managers over.
The two men went up to the hall and kowtowed to the imperial concubine.
The steward Wu was fat and strong, but the other two were as thin as firewood, with pointed mouths and monkey cheeks. The three of them standing together were really ridiculous.
Meng Yan didn't ask them first, but just looked at Dong Sanbao.
Dong Sanbao understood the Imperial Concubine's meaning and replied with a bow, "Your Majesty, when I went over, these two were in the main hall looking at the account books, and nothing seemed unusual."
Meng Yan looked away and asked the two men's names.
Two people came back, one with the surname Li and the other with the surname Wang.
Meng Yan said calmly, "I've heard these past two days that someone has reported you for embezzling funds from the patients at Liluoyuan, swapping out herbs sent by the Imperial Hospital, passing them off as inferior, and then secretly selling the replaced herbs out of the palace. Not to mention, Liluoyuan's meals are filled with slop from the kitchen, and the money left behind is also embezzled by you. Is this true?"
When the three heard this, they turned pale with fear and denied it all.
Steward Wu went on to say, "Your Highness, please don't listen to Yuerong's nonsense. That maidservant... has a grudge against me! She's repeatedly wasted food, and I've reprimanded her. Yesterday, she stole some silver, and I caught her and whipped her as a punishment. She's holding a grudge, so she's framed me!"
Meng Yan laughed. "Just now you were just accusing her of messing around with the food, and in just a moment, you've brought up the theft of money. If I'd asked her any later, would she have been guilty of murder or arson? Wu Shutong, do you think I'm easy to fool?"
Wu Shutong was surprised to find that the imperial concubine knew his name.
He was just the manager of a small courtyard. How could his name reach the ears of the imperial concubine?
She obviously came prepared.
It seems that this Concubine Meng is not just an embroidered pillow case as rumored in the imperial city...
He lowered his head, mumbling, "Your Majesty, your servant...your servant...I was so startled by your presence that I completely forgot about it."
Meng Yan nodded. "Oh, so it's my fault then?"
Wu Shutong hurriedly said he dared not.
Meng Yan sneered slightly, "I see that you have nothing to fear. I already know the situation in Liluo Courtyard. Considering that you are also veterans of the palace, I will give you a chance to mend your ways. If you are willing to surrender and confess yourselves, I will forgive you this time and keep you in the palace. Otherwise, I will punish you according to the palace rules and punish you with one hundred strokes of the cane and expel you from the palace!"
The three of them looked at each other, and no one was willing to speak.
Before this, the three had already colluded with each other. If the truth was ever revealed, they would deny it to the death. They had no evidence at all for these trivial matters - the replaced herbs had already been sold, and the embezzled funds were nowhere to be found.
After a while, Wu Shutong said in a low voice, "Your Highness... I didn't offend you... If you want to punish us... you have to have a solid foundation. This kind of punishment can't... hehe, it can't convince people."
Meng Yan raised her eyebrows slightly and smiled, "In this world, there are always smart people like you who are self-righteous."
As she spoke, she took out a thin booklet from her sleeve and handed it to Yunxiang, "Read it to them."
Yunxiang didn't know what it was, so she took it, opened it and took a look, and was stunned.
What was recorded in the booklet was actually the actual daily expenses of Li Luoyuan, including the wormwood needed for fumigating the room, the decoctions taken by the patients, and even the dishes for three meals a day. Everything was recorded in detail.
She couldn't help but glance sideways at Meng Yan, only to see a faint smile on the queen's beautiful face, and a chill ran down her spine.
She accompanies the Empress day and night. When did the Empress notice all this?
She had no idea!
This master, whom I have served since childhood, is now becoming more and more difficult to understand.
Yunxiang calmed herself down, cleared her throat, and read out everything written in the booklet.
Meng Yan looked at Wu Shutong's face with a smile and asked, "Wu Shutong, do you want to continue? If you keep going like this, you won't be able to care about the face of your distant relative."
Yunxiang was even more surprised and asked softly, "My Lady, you..."
Meng Yan just smiled and said nothing. Although Wu Shutong was just a small manager of Li Luoyuan, he was a distant relative of Concubine Liang!
Bai Yuxin recently went through all the people in the garden and found this unexpected surprise.
It was no wonder that Li Luoyuan was in a mess as soon as she took on this matter. Rumors were also circulating in the garden, saying that she, Meng Yan, abused her power for personal gain. Under the pretext of eradicating the epidemic, she seized power in front of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, embezzled money and enriched herself!
Concubine Liang and the Liang family wanted to kill someone with a borrowed knife and use this incident to ruin her reputation.
If she hadn't foreseen the situation, someone might have died in Li Luo Courtyard, and the plague wouldn't have been eradicated but spread instead. Wouldn't that have been her fault, and the censors would have had even more reason to report her!
Concubine Liang, you are so cruel, you are worthy of being the person I dealt with for half my life in my previous life.
Wu Shutong knelt on the ground, his face looking like a paint shop, blue, white, and red. He opened his mouth several times but couldn't utter a word.
Meng Yan looked at the three people lying on the ground and said slowly, "I am only prepared to pardon two people. You three should consider it carefully."
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