Chapter 214: Life is running out
The Second Lady suddenly felt as if struck by lightning. The figures in front of her seemed to overlap, and it was difficult to see clearly what was real and what was not.
"Father, you removed our second branch from the family tree. This is going to cut off our roots." The second wife burst into tears and cried out in injustice: "I was framed by Shen Qingtan. She deliberately made Erlang pretend to be sick..."
"Even now, you still don't repent and keep blaming others for your mistakes." The Duke interrupted her and said coldly, "If you didn't intend to harm Yi'er, how could you have fallen into their trap?"
"I……"
"Yier's wife never lied to you from the beginning to the end. She told you the truth that Yier was weak because of the medicine she took."
The Duke said sternly, "You were the one who wanted to murder Yi'er. Seeing that he was weak, you thought Yi'er had fallen for your trick and falsely accused Yi'er's wife of murdering him."
As soon as he saw Zhao Yi's reaction, he knew it was the reaction of taking the detoxification pill.
Zhao Yi takes one pill every three months.
The last time I ate it was before my wedding, and it took me four or five days to recover.
Now it has been three months, and it happens to be the last pill.
This also means that Zhao Yi’s life is coming to an end.
The Duke looked at Zhao Yi lying on the bed, a hint of sadness flashing in his eyes.
When facing the Second Madam, his expression was stern: "You have cruelly harmed the younger generation, showing no mercy of an elder. Simply removing you from the family tree is already showing mercy. If the emperor hears of this, none of you will escape."
The second wife's face turned pale as she realized this belatedly.
She wanted to harm Zhao Yi, wasn't it because Zhao Yi was deeply favored by the emperor, and she wanted to use the emperor's knife to get rid of the King of Zhenbei?
And this knife fell on her body.
The Second Madam racked her brains but couldn't figure out where she had gone wrong that allowed Shen Qingtan to see through her motives.
Because Shen Qingtan was too smart, she asked Jiang to give Shen Qingtan a bag of jasmine flowers to distract Shen Qingtan and focus on the jasmine flowers.
Who knew... that I would still fail at the last moment.
She looked at the innocent-looking Shen Qingtan, hatred surging in her heart, and her teeth were almost broken.
But what else can we do?
We can only blame this bitch for her superb acting skills, as she deceived the people she planted in the temple.
The Second Lady left in a panic, not knowing how to explain to the Second Master and Zhao Jue.
Being removed from the family tree means that everything in the Duke's Mansion has nothing to do with them.
The old lady watched the second wife's back disappear into the dormitory, then she withdrew her gaze and sighed heavily in her heart. She only hoped that the second wife would wake up after this incident.
The Duke removed them from the family tree, one to stop the second branch from fighting for power, and the other to make a statement to the Emperor.
The old lady came to the bedside, looked at Zhao Yi's confused appearance, tears welled up in her eyes, and reached out to tuck the quilt for him.
"Tan'er, the Second Branch has caused you and Yi'er so much trouble today." The old lady said in a hoarse voice, "The share that belongs to the Second Branch will be left to you and Yi'er."
Shen Qingtan understood what the old lady meant. She wanted her to keep quiet and not pursue the second wife anymore.
No matter how incompetent the second son is, he is still the old lady's biological son.
The old lady really wanted to watch them die without helping. Since she couldn't do that, she used the second wife's property to compensate them.
After Liu Yue confessed to her, she felt that Jiang was suspicious and sent someone to investigate. It was confirmed that Jiang's family life had suddenly improved before she delivered the ginseng.
She concluded that Jiang had been bribed.
Marquis Cheng'en, Madam Shen, and Shen Shaohuai care a lot about their reputation, and they won't fall out unless it's absolutely necessary.
If he doesn't want to break up with her, he has to pretend to be kind to her. If he wants to harm her, he has to be more cautious, which actually gives her a lot of convenience.
The Cheng'en Marquisate openly raised her, and if she acted straightforwardly, her reputation would be ruined, and she would fall into a lower position and lose many opportunities.
Only by taking roundabout means can you escape unscathed.
The same is true for the Duke's Mansion. The second branch has an unusual status, so whether it's taking the initiative or counterattacking, it must remain unscathed and not leave any handle behind.
Only by putting themselves in the position of a victim can one break down the Duke's feelings towards them.
The Jiang family is just a mere family and is not worth her attention.
Tingxue and Liuyue heard that Jiang cared about her son, so they just took control of Jiang's lifeline and kept her son in their hands.
As expected, Jiang had no resistance and betrayed the second wife.
Breaking Liu Yue's father's legs was, firstly, to prevent any points from being used by the Second Madam to attack her, and secondly, to intimidate the Jiang family.
When she learned of the Second Madam's plan, she discussed with Zhao Yi that they must take this opportunity to drive the people from the Second House out of the Duke's Mansion.
The Second Madam had murderous intentions towards Zhao Yi. If her first plan failed, there would definitely be a follow-up.
At that time, her people will find Zhong Yuan and detoxify Zhao Yi.
She was afraid that she would make some mistakes and fail to guard against them, allowing the Second Madam to take advantage of the situation and succeed.
Only when the people from the second house leave the Duke's Mansion will they be unable to reach out to them.
Zhao Yi said, "Second Aunt plotted against you, and I was the key. If you want to drive her out of the Duke's Mansion, I am also the key. Only if you touch Grandfather's bottom line will he stop turning a blind eye."
He said: "Realgar has no effect on me. I just need to take pills to suppress the toxins in my body, which will make me very weak. We only burn incense in the main hall and don't go anywhere else.
There were so many pilgrims in the main hall that Second Aunt didn't dare to do anything there. "Whether there was realgar or not, I would have gotten sick and put on a show for her."
There are several kinds of medicines that can induce Zhao Yi's illness. The second wife chose realgar because realgar has no harm to others but only to Zhao Yi, so she can do it openly without arousing suspicion.
From this, we can infer that the Second Madam will not hold back. In the Second Madam's understanding, the realgar that triggered Zhao Yi's illness was enough to kill him.
Shen Qingtan thought for a long time and finally decided to take advantage of the situation.
The fact that the Second Lady thought of using jasmine flowers to divert her attention showed that she was extremely cautious and was extremely wary of her. This time, she would definitely arrange people to guard the temple and observe their situation.
She smelled the stench of garlic in the main hall and deliberately asked the monk in charge of reception, letting the people lying in ambush know that she had noticed something unusual.
If she didn't ask and pretended not to notice anything unusual, it would make people notice the flaw.
Because it didn't suit her cautious nature.
She became suspicious and went to check. Afterwards, Zhao Yi fell ill. A series of follow-up events confused the person in the dark, making him believe it and pass the news to the second wife, causing her to step forward.
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