Hangzhou Villa.
As Zhou looked at her daughter, whose face was gradually losing its vitality and whose eyes were bloodshot, she felt as if a piece of her heart had been ripped out, and she was in so much pain that she could hardly breathe.
"Mother!"
Yuan-jie crawled around Su Xue-rong, touching her cheeks with her little hands.
She hadn't seen her mother for many days. Today, someone took her and her wet nurse on a long carriage ride to this unfamiliar courtyard, where she finally saw her mother, her haggard old woman, and her aunt Xiuchun.
Xiao Yuan watched as Yuan Jie'er gently patted Su Xue Rong with her small hand, clenching and unclenching her fist before finally letting go, then turned and walked out.
Yuan Jie'er is Su Xue Rong's biological daughter, and she has more right to stay by her side than I do.
He barely managed to restrain himself from rushing up and taking the little girl away.
He hadn't been able to bring himself to hit Arong too hard for so many days, but the little girl slapped his face as soon as she arrived, almost suffocating him.
Standing by the bed, Su Jian looked at the unresponsive Su Xuerong, his lips trembling as if he were about to cry: "Is Auntie dead...?"
Xiuchun immediately covered his mouth and looked nervously towards the door.
The man outside had an icy expression, with veins bulging on his forehead.
Xiuchun quickly winked at her mother, Li, and whispered, "Young master, I'll take you out to see Xiaoyuer!"
After saying that, she hurriedly pulled Su Jian out of the house.
Looking at the sleeping beauty on the bed, Li sighed deeply.
What a beautiful woman, how could she have encountered such a fate?
As darkness fell, Li and Xiuchun, along with their two children, were settled in the guest courtyard to rest.
After Zhou wiped Su Xuerong's face and body, she had just stepped out of the inner room when she saw Xiao Yuan walking over from the study next door.
"Madam, there is something I would like to discuss with you."
Madam Zhou nodded: "Please speak, Your Highness."
Xiao Yuan immediately handed over a piece of paper: "This is my birth date and time."
Zhou took the paper, then froze, staring at him in astonishment: "Your Highness, what is this...?"
"I want to marry Arong!" Xiao Yuan said calmly. "Whether Arong wakes up or not, I will marry her!"
At the same time, at the Ge residence.
The Prince's elite troops have been inside the Ge residence for three full days, turning the entire place upside down.
"Lord Ming, we have discovered some clues."
Soon, elite soldiers found some items.
Upon seeing those items, Ming Shu's eyes narrowed, and he asked in a deep voice, "Where did you find them?"
The soldier hesitated for a moment, then glanced at Ge Huai'an beside him.
Ge Huai'an glanced over and immediately spotted some medicine bottles, then said, "Speak!"
He's been extremely stressed these past few days.
If he can't clear the Ge family's name, he can forget about ever following Xiao Yuan again.
The soldier said, "It was found in a hidden compartment in Madam Ge's room."
"We've already had Physician Cheng examine them, and all these medicine bottles contain deadly poison..."
Ge Huai'an was shocked, his voice trembling slightly: "How is this possible?"
He hurriedly looked at Ming Shu: "Ming Shu, A Yin would never do such a thing, she..."
Ming Shu waved his hand to stop him, and looked at the soldier: "Continue!"
“A maid named Shishu who was by Ge Niangzi’s side also confessed. She said that in order to get rid of Su Niangzi for Ge Niangzi, she secretly mixed the poison in these bottles with everything and secretly sent it to Zeng Niangzi’s room, leaving her a note and telling her to find an opportunity to assassinate Su Niangzi.”
"She said she didn't even know how to counteract the poison; it was all a spur-of-the-moment mix, and now she can't even remember the ingredients that made it..."
Ge Huai'an angrily shouted at the soldier, "You're talking nonsense!"
Ming Shu suddenly drew his long sword from his waist and pressed it against Ge Huai'an's neck: "Ge Huai'an, the evidence is there, do you still want to defend your Ge family?"
"Guards, arrest Ge Yin and that maid, and detain them to await the Prince's orders!"
Ge Huai'an collapsed to the ground, utterly distraught.
Soon, Ge Yin and Shi Shu were both taken away, and Madam Ge fainted immediately...
All the servants in the Ge family mansion were placed under house arrest, and no one was allowed to step out of the mansion.
The cooks in the kitchen were locked in one place and couldn't help but whisper among themselves.
"Why did you do this, my wife? You've dragged our whole family into this mess!"
"That's right. Even if she manages to marry into the royal family, there's no guarantee they won't take concubines. Why are they so intolerant of other people?"
"I heard that Lady Su is incredibly beautiful, she even outshines our lady."
"Even if you're going to lose, you can't use someone else to do your dirty work!"
"Blame that stupid woman Zeng for dragging so many of us into this mess!"
...
The cooks were cursing each other, but one old woman stood by silently chewing on a dry biscuit.
An old woman next to her had been talking for a while, and couldn't help but nudge her with her hand: "Why are you like a silent pot, never saying a word?"
The old woman sneered, "What should we say? Who do you think we are? Do you think you can let us leave just because we say something?"
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately felt extremely bored and fell silent.
The following day, the Prince's elite soldiers suddenly opened the courtyard where the servants of the Ge family were being held, and gathered everyone in the open space in front of the courtyard.
Only then did the servants notice that Ge Sanlang, who was once full of vigor, now looked haggard, with sunken cheeks and lifeless eyes.
He had the steward bring out a thick stack of indentures and distributed them one by one to the hundreds of servants of the Ge family.
“The Ge family is going to sell this house. My mother and I will be moving to a country estate. If any of you are willing to come with us, you can go. The rest of you, take your indentures and your monthly wages for this year and go home.”
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