Chapter 9 I want to ruin his reputation
What no one expected was that after Qingchen rushed into the fire without regard for anything else and carried out the already dead body, he fell seriously ill and lay in bed for more than a month, as if his soul had left his body.
Now, having barely recovered from my illness, I don't know why, I've fallen ill again because of this, and this time it's even worse than before.
As Liu watched her husband agonize over another woman, she clenched her fists in fury, her nails digging into her flesh without her noticing the pain.
The two have been married for a long time but have not yet consummated their marriage. For the sake of face, she dares not tell her parents. She only hopes that with time, Shi Qingchen will let go of the dead woman and realize her goodness.
Who would have thought that just as her health was beginning to recover, she would suddenly fall ill again without warning. And this time, it seemed she was on the verge of death. Was she really going to be a widow after only a month of marriage?
At this moment, there was no one else in the room. Liu could no longer maintain her usual dignified image and her face contorted with anger.
If she hadn't been reborn after death and knew that Shi Qingchen would one day become the most powerful minister, second only to the emperor, why would she have gone to such lengths to marry him?
Her father was the Minister of Revenue. Although his rank was slightly lower than that of Shi Qingchen's father, he was still a very powerful official among the second-rank officials.
She was renowned for her talent, and countless men in Kyoto wanted to marry her. She never imagined that she would be so betrayed after marrying into the family.
The immense resentment and humiliation in her heart gradually calmed her down. Looking at Shi Qingchen's handsome and refined appearance despite his illness, Liu tried her best to compose herself.
Madam Liu opened the door and summoned the personal guards she had brought from the Liu residence. She ordered one of them to help Shi Qingchen up, while the other forcibly pried open his jaw.
She walked to the table, picked up the now-cold medicine, and poured it down Shi Qingchen's throat. Because he had difficulty swallowing, only a little medicine went in; most of it spilled onto his clothes.
Madam Liu simply wiped him haphazardly with a handkerchief and immediately ordered someone to continue decocting the medicine. This was repeated three times, and he actually drank quite a bit of the medicine.
Yongwang Mansion
Yunxi already had an injury on her buttocks, and now, sitting on Gu Nanxiao's hard thighs, she felt a stinging pain. She tried to break free from the man's embrace, but his large, iron-like hands firmly gripped her waist.
When Gu Nanxiao heard the report from the guards that Yunxi's first thing after leaving the mansion was to go straight to the Shi mansion, the fact that she called out to Shi Qingchen in her dreams immediately popped into his mind.
He didn't know what was wrong with him, but he was just very angry, feeling depressed and suffocated, and very unhappy.
But seeing Yunxi's tearful expression, his anger inexplicably subsided by three points. Given the previous misunderstanding, he decided to clarify things before drawing any conclusions.
So Gu Nanxiao asked directly, "Did you go to the Shi residence today?"
Yunxi answered without hesitation, "Yes."
Suppressing his annoyance, Gu Nanxiao pressed on, "Did you go to see Shi Qingchen?"
Yunxi understood that this was a man's possessiveness acting up, and he didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble because of this, adding any obstacles to his already difficult path of revenge.
Before even answering, her face revealed undisguised hatred as she bluntly replied, "I not only want to find him, I want him to be utterly disgraced, to suffer a fate worse than death, and finally to meet a violent end!"
Gu Nanxiao was stunned for a moment. He stared at the two raging flames in Yunxi's eyes, as if trying to determine the truth of her words.
But why? Why would two people who clearly had no connection develop such a deep grudge? Gu Nanxiao pondered this, and the question "Why?" was already uttered in his mouth.
Yunxi answered without hesitation: "Because Shi Qingchen took my savior's prescription, claimed the title of talent, deceived everyone in the world, and finally trapped her in the mansion and burned her alive."
Upon hearing the word "burned to death," Gu Nanxiao recalled the events and replied, "A little over a month ago, the Shi residence did indeed experience a fire. According to the Dali Temple's records, a lowly maidservant was burned to death after the fire."
Upon hearing this, Yunxi's eyes suddenly blazed with hatred, and when she spoke again, her voice was filled with venom: "What a vile servant! How dare they slander my sworn sister's posthumous reputation like this."
At this moment, Mo Yu reported at the door: "Reporting to Master, the young master of the Shi family suddenly vomited blood and fainted at noon. The chief minister of the Shi family went to the palace to ask the imperial physician, but he was unable to wake up Shi Qingchen."
The Shi family is posting notices throughout the capital seeking a renowned physician. The Grand Secretary Shi has promised a reward of one thousand taels of silver to anyone who can revive the young master.
Upon hearing this, Gu Nanxiao immediately turned to look at the woman in his arms. Although he didn't know how she had done it, this matter must be related to Yunxi. It seemed that her words about wanting Shi Qingchen's life were not empty threats.
Yunxi understood what Gu Nanxiao wanted to ask, and nodded frankly, which was considered an answer to his guess. However, she did not continue the topic, clearly not wanting to bring it up again.
Yunxi took out the ice-making recipe she had already written from her sleeve and handed it to Gu Nanxiao.
"These are all recipes left by Sister Nuyi. The Shi family used countless such precious recipes, but in the end they killed people to cover it up and even smeared them. I really can't stand it."
"I am willing to present all the recipes left by my sworn sister to you, young master. I hope you will not hinder my revenge."
Gu Nanxiao had initially been skeptical about whether the sworn sister Yunxi mentioned truly possessed such abilities. However, after seeing the ice-making recipe, all doubts vanished.
The Shi family has developed rapidly in the past three years, employing advisors, raising soldiers, purchasing land, and developing cronyism, all of which rely on the few highly profitable shops they own.
The Shifu ice shop was one of them. In the past, wealthy families in Kyoto would store ice in ice cellars in winter for summer use. Only when they ran out of ice would they buy some at a high price in the summer.
Since the Shi family opened an ice shop in the capital three years ago, they have been selling ice at low prices before each summer. Gradually, no one has built separate warehouses to store ice anymore, because the waste is too great and it's more cost-effective to just buy ice directly.
Three years later, almost all the prefectures in Kyoto no longer stored ice, and instead purchased it all from the Shi family's ice shop. Even the Imperial Palace became their shop's biggest customer.
The profits that a small ice shop brought to the Shi family each year could even equal the tax revenue of an entire prefecture. The Imperial Guards had long been aware of this information.
Such a highly profitable formula, and Yunxi handed it over to him so easily? Gu Nanxiao asked incredulously again:
"You only ask that I don't stop you from taking revenge, instead of asking me to help you take revenge?"
Yunxi nodded without hesitation and said, "As long as you don't stop me from taking revenge, I don't need your help."
Looking at the confidence in Yunxi's eyes, Gu Nanxiao's heart was already in turmoil. Facing the powerful century-old family, even he dared not say that he could bring it down, let alone her, who was just a mere woman.
But for some reason, Gu Nanxiao inexplicably felt that if these words came from Yunxi's mouth, eight-tenths of the world's fate would already be decided. This feeling was too incomprehensible.
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