“Sixth sister, you probably don’t know this yet, but your own older sister, Xia Zhi, has already become Prince Qi’s woman!”
As soon as she finished speaking, Huang Yaning saw Sheng Mingzhu’s face drastically change.
Her hands trembled a little too, probably from anger, though she forced a smile on her face and said,
“Sister… you must be joking. Xia Zhi was carried inside, so of course, she’s… Brother Sheng’s woman…”
Huang Yaning shook her head. “Sixth sister, you’ve misunderstood me. What I mean is that Prince Qi has slept with Xia Zhi!”
Seeing Sheng Mingzhu’s eyes practically shoot flames, Huang Yaning finally felt a little better and added with a smile,
“Prince Qi seems especially pleased with Xia Zhi. He’s been staying overnight in her room for several days in a row…
“I heard the Princess of Jin is really happy about this and has given Xia Zhi several large boxes of treasures as rewards these past few days—
“Maybe the old lady is eager to hold a grandchild. Who knows, Xia Zhi might already be pregnant right now…”
These words were incredibly devastating to Sheng Mingzhu!
Sheng Mingzhu had always regarded Zhu Qisheng as her man, and she thought she had a firm grip on his heart.
She never expected… that Zhu Qisheng would touch Xia Zhi so soon.
And not just once!
Sheng Mingzhu knew that if it weren’t for that time Brother Sheng got scared off by her,
he would have never gone near Xia Zhi!
Damn it!
When it came down to it, it was all because of the woman in front of her, who fed her that disgusting stuff and made her embarrass herself.
Just thinking about what she ate that day made Sheng Mingzhu feel another wave of nausea and the urge to throw up.
She felt she had suffered an enormous injustice in this whole matter.
When that little wretch eventually falls into her hands, she would definitely chop off the little wretch’s limbs!
Then she’d throw the little wretch into a big vat filled with snakes, bugs, rats, and ants, and make her experience the agony of a thousand insects gnawing at her heart!
Sheng Mingzhu wanted to make Huang Yaning’s life worse than death, and Huang Yaning felt exactly the same way toward Sheng Mingzhu!
Both of them could see the murderous intent in each other’s eyes!
“Since Sixth sister has recovered, don’t skip your morning and evening greetings either. Otherwise, people outside might call you unfilial and ruin your reputation.”
“Thank you for the reminder, sister. I understand.”
Of course, Sheng Mingzhu didn’t want to pay respects to the old woman in the Peony Courtyard, but to avoid getting a bad reputation for disrespecting her mother, she had no choice but to agree.
The next day, Sheng Mingzhu brought a young maid to the Peony Courtyard to offer her greetings.
Sheng Minmin was also surprised by Sheng Mingzhu’s ability to recover so quickly.
She had sent several maids into the Hibiscus Courtyard earlier, but none of them were given important tasks, and none could get close to Sheng Mingzhu’s room, so no one had discovered that Sheng Mingzhu’s injuries had healed.
It seemed that a servant named Yuluo was more capable than she had imagined.
She needed to get rid of her sooner rather than later, or else she might ruin her plans.
Recently, Sheng Minmin had been thinking about marrying Sheng Mingzhu off to Sheng Mingjian.
A while back, Sheng Minmin had sent a batch of new young servants to Sheng Mingjian.
In the end, Sheng Mingjian picked two named Yuwen and Yujing, but both of them were her people.
The two were very clever. Shortly after going to Sheng Mingjian’s side, they sent word back to Qingdai that Sheng Mingjian had some personality issues.
Usually, he acted confident and refined.
But in places where no one could see him, he would suddenly change his expression.
His face would turn extremely gloomy, as if he wanted to destroy the whole world.
The two guessed this had something to do with Sheng Mingjian’s physical condition, because his problem down there worked off and on…
Sometimes he’d be fine for two or three days, but occasionally he’d have an accident and soil his pants.
Every time this happened, Sheng Mingjian would torment Qingxin that very night. Once, he bit her arm so hard it bled a lot.
The room would stink of blood and feces.
Qingxin had been tortured to the point of fainting several times.
Sheng Minmin felt that sending Sheng Mingzhu to experience that kind of environment would be very satisfying.
She also wanted to see the two of them torment each other, full of hatred for one another.
When the time came, she would side with her “eldest son” and cruelly grind Sheng Mingzhu down!
Of course, even though those two weren’t blood-related, they had been brother and sister for so many years. Suddenly marrying each other would certainly ruin their reputations.
Her and Sheng Yong’s reputations wouldn’t be good either, but since when did Sheng Minmin care about that?
Right now, she just needed to find a good opportunity to make Sheng Mingzhu become Sheng Mingjian’s woman.
Sheng Minmin made a mental note of this matter.
At the same time, Sheng Mingjian’s exam results came out.
He passed the provincial exam and became a juren, but his name was at the bottom of the list.
If Sheng Mingjian insisted on participating in this year’s imperial exams, it was predictable that the results wouldn’t be good.
Sheng Yong thought his son wanted to gain experience, so he didn’t think much of it.
He was now utterly fed up with the women and children in this household.
Every day, he busied himself with official duties, trying to come home as late as possible. When he did return, he almost never went to the inner courtyard.
Late that night, Sheng Yong returned home only after everyone in the household had gone to sleep.
Dongsheng was walking ahead with a lantern when suddenly, from around a corner, a slender young woman rushed out.
She fell to her knees with a thud.
Sheng Yong frowned and was about to tell Dongsheng to drag this ill-mannered servant away,
when the woman on the ground lifted her head, revealing an extremely alluring face.
Sheng Yong immediately remembered who she was.
Her name was Qingxin, and she belonged to his son.
Sheng Yong was even a little surprised that he still remembered this maid.
He sized her up again. That face was indeed captivating, and it stirred a desire in him.
“Master, please save me, your servant…”
With a tear-streaked face and a charming, pleading voice, Sheng Yong’s gaze darkened, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he asked,
“Who are you?”
Qingxin’s heart was pounding like a drum, and her body trembled.
Xiaoque had kept advising her not to act impulsively, telling her that if she just endured it, she would become a concubine in the future.
And if she had a child, her prospects would be limitless!
But if she was “fickle,” she might end up losing out on both sides and also offend the madam!
But Qingxin couldn’t listen anymore.
Lately, she had been suffering a living hell. Several times, she thought she was going to die.
She truly couldn’t take it anymore. She had to get away from that madman!
As for the child Xiaoque mentioned, Qingxin was now firmly convinced that Sheng Mingjian wasn’t a real man and didn’t have the ability to get a woman pregnant.
Otherwise, she would have gotten pregnant a long time ago!
Since he could neither give her pleasure nor give her a child to rely on in the future, why should she stay with that lunatic?
She might end up dead in that bed one of these days!
Besides, one night she had encountered the master by chance, and she still remembered the way he looked at her.
It was the look a man gives a woman.
Summoning her courage, she answered,
“Master, your servant’s name is Qingxin.
“I used to be a first-class maid beside the madam. Later, I was sent by the madam to the eldest young master and became one of his first-class maids…
“Then, I became the eldest young master’s… woman…”
She didn’t want to say those last words, but she knew she couldn’t hide it.
Sheng Yong gave a noncommittal nod. “What injustice have you suffered?”
Hearing this, Qingxin felt a surge of joy and her confidence grew.
She felt that if the master had absolutely no interest in her, he would have just told her to go see the madam instead of staying here to ask about her grievances.
At that very moment, an image of Xia Zhi flashed through Qingxin’s mind.
That day when the Sixth Miss fell into the water, Xia Zhi took off her outer clothes in front of everyone and jumped in, coming into skin-to-skin contact with Prince Qi…
Anyone with eyes could see that Xia Zhi’s behavior was shameless and utterly disgraceful.
But wasn’t that shameless woman eventually carried into the Prince of Qi’s mansion?
Qingxin’s heart felt like it was about to leap out of her chest. She looked at Dongsheng with some difficulty.
Sheng Yong waved his hand, and Dongsheng retreated far away.
“Go on…” Sheng Yong said casually.
For the sake of future wealth and status, Qingxin gritted her teeth. She was going all out!
And then, Sheng Yong watched as the beauty before him slowly began to take off her clothes…
