The Marquis's family is in charge of the Imperial Guards and is the Emperor's most favored person. In the entire capital, those who do not give face to the Marquis's family are all imperial relatives.
"How did I offend these people..."
Hearing the old lady's questioning words, Jiang Shuwan thought for a moment, took a few steps forward, and whispered, "Grandma, it may be related to my second sister's business. A few days ago, I talked to my second sister about business, and she said that she could earn five thousand taels of silver in three days."
"What! How can several ice shops make such exorbitant profits?"
Madam Pei was stunned. Jiang Yao had been making a lot of noise lately, and everyone in the capital was talking about her ice shop, but she never expected Jiang Yao to be making so much money.
“Storing ice in winter is difficult enough, requiring a lot of manpower and financial resources, and there are other ice shops competing with her. How could she possibly earn so much money?”
"Are you hiding something from me?"
Madam Pei stared sternly at Madam Bo and Madam Song, who both lowered their heads in fear.
"Hurry up and tell us! The person is about to die, and you're still hiding it!"
In the end, it was Song, who was anxious to save Jiang Yao, who spoke up.
"Grandma, I dare not lie to you, the ice at Jiang's Ice Shop is different from other shops; they store it all in winter."
"Jiang's Ice Shop was made by my son himself. It's like magic. She doesn't know what she sprinkled into the water to turn it into ice. It's amazing. She can turn water into ice in the middle of summer."
"!"
What?! Such a thing exists?
Pei Lingyu stared in surprise. Jiang Yao had boasted to him about how much money the shop made, but she had never mentioned this.
Turning water into ice is amazing!
"I also saw it by accident. I saw Yao'er pour some kind of medicine powder into the water, and then stir it and the water turned into ice."
“I asked her what it was, but she wouldn’t tell me.”
"However, she did tell me that the powder was extremely cheap, and she had no cost to make ice, which is why she was able to earn so much money."
The lady was stunned. "Heavens! No wonder she can earn so much money. Is she a fairy? She can even do magic tricks! If I knew that the powder could be used to make ice?"
"You wish! Yao'er said that no one in this world knows what that powder is except for her!"
Madam Song quickly retorted, "You should be thinking about how to rescue my son. As long as we can get her out, the Earl's Mansion won't have to worry about money."
These words struck a chord with Madam Bo. She only fawned over Jiang Yao because she saw that Jiang Yao was making money. If Jiang Yao really had this magical skill as Madam Song said, she would definitely do anything to save her.
Turning water into ice—this must be the first of its kind in the world.
"Grandma, what do you think of this..."
"This matter is not simple!"
Madam Pei made no promises, which made Madam Song and Madam Bo anxious.
"It's not that I don't want to get involved, it's just that this matter is too complicated."
"I don't know who's behind the Prefect of Kyoto. They don't even give face to the Marquis's mansion, and the Marquis isn't in the capital right now."
"Then what should we do?" Madam Song asked anxiously. "We can't just watch Yao'er be executed."
"Wan'er, what do you suggest we do?" Old Madam Pei turned to ask Jiang Shuwan, who had been silent all along.
As expected, this matter still fell to her.
That's how families are; they fear honor when they prosper and fear loss when they suffer.
"Grandma, your granddaughter-in-law hasn't been going out much lately, so she doesn't really know the specifics of this matter. But I heard from my mother that she saw my second sister turn water into ice, so maybe others saw it too."
"Furthermore, since the second sister's ice is sold so cheaply, many people probably guess that the origin of her ice is unknown."
"Since it's a business with no initial investment and huge profits, people naturally want to get involved."
“My second sister is a daughter-in-law of the Pei family and the mistress of the Earl’s mansion. Unless she has committed a serious crime, no one would dare to detain her. So I think there must be something fishy about the deaths of those three people. However, the other party was obviously prepared. Even if we investigate, we probably won’t find anything out.”
"So many people are saying there's something wrong with our ice. The other side came on strong, with a knife already at Second Sister's neck. They might not necessarily want to kill her."
A thought suddenly struck Madam Pei: "You mean the person behind this is after that powder?"
"Exactly."
"No! We can't give him that medicine powder. If we do, how will we make money?"
Madam Song spat, "You poisonous woman! Money is nothing compared to my daughter's life."
The aunt was furious when she was sprayed with spittle. "Mrs. Song! Do you have any manners at all?!"
After saying that, he pulled Pei Lingyu along, saying, "Look at this, these are your wife's family members. They have absolutely no manners."
"You think you're so cultured? All you think about is money. You'd even give up my daughter's life. Let me tell you, if you don't do everything in your power to save my daughter this time, I'll expose all the filth in your family. Then let's see how you face people in public!"
"You shameless wretch, how dare you!"
"You'll see if I dare..."
"Alright! Stop arguing!" Old Madam Pei looked at the two arguing with exasperation, then turned to Jiang Shuwan, "You continue."
"Grandma, there's really nothing else to say, since we don't know what the powder is either."
"My second sister is already in prison, and they're probably already interrogating her."
The Prefect of Kyoto, a fortified underground stronghold.
"Let me out! I haven't committed a crime! Let me out!"
The dungeon was deep and dark. Jiang Yao was completely terrified when she entered, and then she roared like thunder.
"You bitch!"
"Who's trying to kill me? My ice couldn't possibly kill anyone. Someone must be trying to harm me..."
"Guards! Guards! Let me out! I am the wife of the young master, my husband is the future heir of the Earl's mansion, and my sister is the wife of the heir apparent. Who dares to treat me like this? Let me out..."
She shouted for an hour, her voice breaking with despair, but no one paid any attention to her. Finally, when her voice became hoarse, she heard footsteps.
"You're finally letting me go? I knew I was innocent..."
Whether someone is innocent or not, we'll only know after the trial!
The newcomer was dressed in black, and the dungeon was too dark to see her clearly. Judging from her voice, she was an older woman, and she was followed by two strong female slaves.
The other party seemed hostile, and Jiang Yao took a step back in fright.
"What do you mean? Who are you? What do you want? This is a dungeon! How dare you use torture? Let me tell you, my elder sister is the young mistress of the Marquis's mansion, the future Lady of the Marquis! If you dare to touch me, you're dead!"
"You're quite clever, knowing to use the Marquis's mansion to threaten us. Don't worry, we'll be very careful and won't let the Marquis's mansion know that we've tortured you."
The woman in black smiled sinisterly and pulled out a row of needles as thin as hair from her waist. The guard opened the door, and the female slave immediately rushed in like a wolf and pinned Jiang Yao to the ground.
"What do you want to do!"
"Let me go! Let me go!"
The woman in black held a silver needle and aimed it at her index finger.
"I advise you to be sensible. What is that powder?"
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