Chapter 579 Extortion
Upon hearing her words, Shen Wantang suddenly burst into laughter, and she could hardly stop laughing.
Shen Mingxuan got goosebumps from her laughter, and her face turned a little ugly: "What are you laughing at for no reason?!"
"Of course I'm laughing because I find it funny. My sister picked up a maid I didn't want anymore, and now she's treating her like a treasure? Prince Xiao sent me four maids, and I kept three and only sent this one away. Aren't you curious about why I sent her away? Don't you think it's strange that I didn't even give Prince Xiao face and directly sent this maid away?"
Only after hearing what she said did Shen Mingxuan finally realize that something was wrong.
She looked at Huayi: "Tell me! Why were you kicked out?"
Hua Yi looked terrified: "Miss, I don't know why I was driven away by the Second Miss. I served the Second Miss dutifully and even kept watch for her at night, but I don't know how I angered her and was driven away today."
Shen Mingxuan looked at Shen Wantang suspiciously: "Why did you drive Huayi away?"
Shen Wantang stood up: "I won't tell you."
After she finished speaking, she walked out with her maid.
Shen Mingxuan shouted, "Shen Wantang, come back here! I'm asking you a question! Why did you drive Huayi away? Aren't you afraid the Prince will be angry? I only took Huayi in for your own good, otherwise you won't be able to explain it to the Prince in the future!"
Shen Wantang turned around and looked at her mockingly: "Sister, why do you have to speak so grandly? Don't you just want to use the painting to get in touch with the young master? You can try and see if this maid is useful or not."
"Don't blame me for not warning you, this maid is no simpleton. She clearly ran away early this morning, wanting to go back to the Prince's mansion to live a life of luxury, but now she's blaming me, saying that I drove her away."
"She can betray me now and bite me back, and she can betray you and bite you back in the future."
After finishing her speech, Shen Wantang walked out of the courtyard.
Shen Mingxuan's gaze fell on Huayi's face, her eyes flickering uncertainly: "Huayi, you won't betray me in the future, will you?"
Hua Yi immediately knelt down: "Hua Yi would never betray the eldest young lady! Hua Yi has never betrayed the second young lady either. This is all a frame-up by the second young lady. If the eldest young lady believes it, she will fall into her trap!"
"Is that so? Hmph, that bitch is indeed very good at lying and framing others!"
Although Shen Mingxuan was cursing Shen Wantang, she was still somewhat affected and lost her enthusiasm for painting.
Because she didn't understand Huayi, but she had grown up with Shen Wantang since childhood and knew Shen Wantang's personality very well. Shen Wantang didn't like to cause trouble or show off and offend people, but she drove Huayi away, which was very illogical.
After all, Huayi was personally delivered by Xiao Qingyuan. To drive Huayi away would be to slap Xiao Qingyuan in the face, and even to slap the face of the Ning Prince's Mansion.
The wound on her back started to throb with pain again, and she was already sweating profusely after standing for a while: "Luo Yan, why isn't your medicine working anymore? It hurts so much!"
A hint of relief appeared on Chu Yanluo's usually composed face, but the smile vanished in an instant. She personally helped Shen Mingxuan up, saying, "I only used a small amount of medicine just now. Miss's injuries were too severe, so the effects of the medicine wore off quickly."
Shen Mingxuan was helped to sit down, but she soon couldn't even sit still: "Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and give me more of the secret medicine! Quickly!"
“Young Miss, you may not know this, but my secret medicine is made from more than a dozen rare and expensive medicinal herbs. The herbs are too expensive for me to afford. What I just gave you was the last bit of medicine I had left.”
"Can't afford the medicinal herbs? You should have said so earlier! I have money! Peony, quickly give my money to Luo Yan to buy the herbs and make me the secret medicine!"
Shen Mingxuan's face turned pale with pain. After experiencing the feeling of not feeling pain, experiencing this intense pain again was like falling from heaven to hell!
After a moment's hesitation, Peony steeled her heart and gave Chu Yanluo two taels of silver.
Chu Yanlu shook her head: "How come it's only two ounces? That's not even enough to buy one of the medicinal herbs. My secret medicine requires eighteen kinds of herbs."
Peony was shocked: "What?! What kind of medicinal herb costs so much silver?"
Chu Yanlu sneered inwardly. This Shen family is indeed dirt poor!
No wonder that in her previous life, after Shen Wantang married into the Ning Prince's Mansion, she clung to Xiao Qingyuan and refused to let go. Even when Xiao Qingyuan refused to consummate their marriage, she endured it and resolutely refused to divorce him.
Having endured so many years of hardship in the Shen family, she finally entered a life of luxury, so of course she wasn't willing to leave.
If it were her, she wouldn't divorce Xiao Qingyuan either!
Chu Yanluo concealed the disdain in her eyes and put on a friendly demeanor: "If you don't have the money, that's fine. You don't have to make my secret medicine either. It's no big deal."
"Alas, it's just a pity for the young lady, she'll have to endure seven more days and seven nights of pain, and if she doesn't use my secret medicine, she'll be left with a scar on her back."
"But it's nothing, no one can see it normally, except... on the wedding night, when your husband can see it. Don't worry, Miss, it's really not a problem. I'm sure your husband isn't such a shallow person, don't you think?"
Shen Mingxuan was already on the verge of collapse when she heard that she would have to endure seven days and seven nights of pain, and when she heard that it would leave scars, she broke down even more instantly!
She screamed, "Peony, give me all my savings! Give it all to her! My back can't have a scar, absolutely not!"
She still wanted to marry Xiao Qingyuan and become the heir apparent of the Ning Prince's mansion. She didn't want Xiao Qingyuan to see her scarred back on their wedding night!
Peony had no choice but to take out the other box she had hidden. She poured out all the silver from both boxes, which amounted to only thirty taels.
Chu Yanluo weighed the silver in her hand: "This is not enough. If we don't have enough silver, we can't buy medicinal herbs that are old enough. We can only buy inferior ones, and their medicinal effects will not be as good as before."
Shen Mingxuan gritted her teeth: "Peony, give her my gold hairpin! Pawn it!"
"Young Miss, this is your only gold hairpin! What will you wear when you go out after you pawn it?"
"Stop talking nonsense. Even if I lose this team, my mother will find me a new one! The most important thing right now is for my injury to heal!"
Having no other choice, Peony went to get her gold hairpin again and handed it to Chu Yanluo.
Chu Yanluo weighed the gold hairpin in her hand and was finally somewhat satisfied.
She took silver, a gold hairpin, and a painting with her on her back and went out to buy medicinal herbs.
Of course, buying medicinal herbs wouldn't cost that much money; she was just taking the opportunity to squeeze some money out of Chen Mingxuan.
Of course, this was not her main purpose in coming to the Shen family. The medicine she gave Shen Mingxuan was called Wuxiang Ointment. The main ingredient was not some rare medicinal material, but poppy, which could numb pain and make people addicted.
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