Chapter 292 Double the Retribution
The group of people inside were chatting and laughing when Hongliu pulled Hongxing by the collar and walked in. Accompanying them were Aunt Niu, whose face was gloomy, and Aunt Gui, who looked terrified.
Sheng An's smile faded. He glanced at Hong Xing, whose face was deathly pale, and asked Aunt Niu, who was carrying the soup pot, "What happened?"
Aunt Niu stepped forward and placed the steaming pot of soup on the table in front of her: "That slut Hongxing put drugs in the sweet soup, and Hongliu caught her red-handed."
"What, drugged?"
Zhang Zhaodi exclaimed in shock, staring at Hongxing in disbelief. She couldn't believe that this seemingly honest and loyal girl would have the audacity to drug her master.
Xu Jinnian stood up, walked to Sheng An's side, placed his well-defined hand on her shoulder, and ordered the servant A Tian who was waiting outside in a deep voice: "Go and invite Doctor Zhong from Tongrentang."
"yes!"
Ah Tian obeyed and hurriedly ran off.
Sheng An gently patted Xu Jinnian's hand to show that she wasn't frightened before looking at Hongxing, who was trembling with fear.
"What poison did you put in the sweet soup? And why did you try to poison your master?"
She didn't consider herself a harsh person. As long as the seven newly hired servants did their jobs well, she wouldn't care whether they slacked off in their free time.
Moreover, the contracts they signed when they were bought were all binding, so Hongxing had no reason to betray her.
Hongxing bit her lip, lowered her head, and remained silent.
Seeing this, Aunt Niu was furious and directly suggested to Sheng An:
“Madam, I just asked her, but this wretched woman absolutely refuses to tell the truth. In my opinion, we should torture her until she talks!”
Upon hearing this, Hongxing trembled even more violently, but still refused to speak.
Sheng An looked at Aunt Gui: "Has she shown any other unusual behavior these past few days?"
Aunt Gui said tremblingly, "Madam, this wretched woman has been the same as before. This old servant has not noticed anything amiss."
At this moment, she absolutely hated Hongxing.
It's not easy to find a kind and generous homeowner. Although she's busy in the kitchen from morning till night every day, Aunt Gui is very satisfied with her current life and has long decided to work there until she's old.
Therefore, Aunt Gui was extra careful with the work in the kitchen, for fear of making a mistake and being kicked out.
But to her utter surprise, Hongxing, who worked under her, caused such a huge mess.
If Hongliu hadn't discovered it in time, Aunt Gui couldn't imagine what the consequences would have been if Sheng An had drunk the sweet soup she had personally made.
Unable to get an answer from Aunt Gui, Sheng An said to Hong Xing, "I'm giving you one last chance. If you don't tell the truth, I'll have someone beat you until you do."
Hongxing's lips trembled a few times. She raised her head and glanced quickly at Sheng An before lowering her head again without saying a word.
Sheng An's patience ran out, and he ordered Hong Liu, who was looking indignant, "Call Li Tian and the others over, drag her into the yard and give her a good beating."
Hongxing suddenly raised her head, her face showing disbelief, as if she hadn't expected Sheng An to actually torture her.
Seeing this, Sheng An smiled coldly: "It seems that my temper is too good, making some people mistakenly think that I am made of clay."
Hongxing swayed, and seeing that Hongliu was about to go out to call for help, she no longer dared to harbor any illusions. She knelt down with a thud and confessed the truth:
"This servant...this servant doesn't know what kind of medicine it is. Five days ago, this servant went to the market to buy some, and someone stopped this servant, saying they had found this servant's long-lost parents. Then they gave this servant a packet of medicine and told this servant to find a chance to put it in the madam's food, otherwise...otherwise they would kill this servant's parents. This servant had no choice, please forgive this servant, madam, please forgive this servant..."
At this point, Hongxing broke down in tears, her forehead banging against the ground repeatedly.
Besides her urgent desire to know her parents' whereabouts, the man also promised her two hundred taels of silver after the deed was done, and that he would give her her freedom so that she and her parents could return to their hometown, build a large tiled house, buy more than ten acres of fertile land, and never have to do servant's work again.
When people saw this, no one felt any sympathy for her; instead, they all felt disgust for her foolishness and how easily she was fooled.
Aunt Niu was so angry that she couldn't help but point at Hongxing and start cursing:
"How did a stupid pig like you survive to this age? You were separated from your parents when you were eight years old on the road to escape famine. You've traveled to many places over the years before finally arriving in the capital. Even if your parents were still alive, how did that person know their whereabouts, and how did they know you were their daughter? Is that thing on your neck filled with cow dung?"
The seven new servants who joined the household were personally selected by Aunt Niu from the brokerage firm, so she naturally knew about each of their pasts.
Hongxing's background was no secret to her, and she mentioned it to Sheng'an after buying it.
Aunt Niu chose Hongxing because she valued her honesty, kindness, and diligence. However, it turned out that her honesty and kindness were a facade, and her true nature was foolishness and malice, which completely misled Aunt Niu.
The thought of Sheng An almost getting into danger because of her misjudgment made her want to rush up and strangle Hong Xing.
After hearing Aunt Niu's words, Hongxing froze, as if she had just realized that she had been deceived.
Hongliu was exasperated: "If you had just let slip a little to me, things wouldn't have come to this. How could you be so stupid!"
There were only two maids of similar age in the mansion, and they slept in the same room and on the same bed at night.
Hongliu considered herself Hongxing's friend and would confide in Hongxing about her troubles. Little did she know that Hongxing didn't consider her a friend at all and didn't say a word about such a big matter.
Hongxing's body went limp, and she knelt on the ground, utterly bewildered, seemingly unable to understand how she had been deceived.
The room was silent and cold. Everyone watched coldly as she went from being distraught to crying her eyes out, then begging for her life, and finally being gagged and dragged away by Li Tian.
Not long after, a doctor from Tongrentang rushed over.
At Xu Jinnian's request, they were to inspect what kind of medicine had been added to the sweet soup in the soup pot.
Dr. Zhong has been practicing medicine for decades and is a truly skilled veteran doctor.
He smelled the sweet soup, dipped his chopsticks in the broth to taste it, and then poured half a bowl into the little rabbit he had brought. Based on the little rabbit's reaction, he finally determined that it was an aphrodisiac that was not available on the market.
It's fine for healthy people to eat it, but pregnant women might experience premature birth. As for whether there will be other more serious consequences, Dr. Zhong couldn't be sure.
After all, he couldn't possibly use real pregnant women as test subjects.
After Dr. Zhong left, Sheng An stroked her belly and looked at Xu Jinnian.
Xu Jinnian's face was very pale. He held her hand tightly, his fingertips trembling slightly.
The others noticed that the couple had something to say, so they quietly left to give them space.
Sheng An reached out and hugged the man's waist, a smile on her face, trying to ease the tense atmosphere: "Princess Shanmin has made her move, you must protect me and the child!"
Xu Jinnian hugged the person in his arms tightly, and from an angle that Sheng An couldn't see, his eyes were filled with intense killing intent: "Okay."
Those mother and daughter deserve to die. He will repay them tenfold for what they did to An'an!
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