“Come on over and sit down—”
Huang Yaning called out to her, but as soon as the words left her mouth, her expression froze.
Because there were only eight chairs at the table, and with Sheng Mingli and Sheng Mingshu also seated, it was completely full.
The others noticed this too, and their faces weren’t looking too pleased!
A servant hurriedly brought over another chair, but the problem was—where to put it.
Sheng Yong and Huang Yaning sat at the head of the table.
Sheng Mingjian and Sheng Mingyi sat next to Sheng Yong, while Sheng Mingzhu and Sheng Mingbo sat beside Huang Yaning. Sheng Mingli and Sheng Mingshu were seated directly opposite the hosts.
“Little sister, come sit next to me…”
Sheng Mingzhu suggested, signaling for the servant to place the chair between her and Sheng Mingbo.
Sheng Mingbo immediately shot it down.
“No way—I’m not sitting next to her! Just looking at her annoys me!”
“Fifth brother, you’re going too far—”
Sheng Mingzhu wouldn’t let the servant leave and insisted on having the chair placed between them.
Sheng Minmin felt a wave of dizziness wash over her from within this body and had the urge to turn and flee.
She understood what her past self had been thinking back then.
She was the Sheng family’s own flesh and blood, yet she couldn’t even get a seat at the table.
Sheng Mingbo, her full-blooded elder brother, treated his own sister worse than a servant…
The servants’ gazes—some mocking, some contemptuous—fell on her like blades.
It made her past self feel so humiliated—
So desperate to escape—
But now, all she felt was anger and hatred.
She knew exactly what would happen next. Sheng Mingyi would step in to help her out.
“Seventh sister, come sit next to Third Brother.”
When Sheng Mingyi said those words, her past self’s tears came flooding out in an instant.
Her past self thought Sheng Mingyi’s voice was the most wonderful thing she’d ever heard, and that he was the gentlest soul.
He even served her food with his own chopsticks during the meal…
For her past self, who had craved family affection so desperately, Sheng Mingyi was like a drowning person spotting a small boat…
Then there were a few more times after that when Sheng Mingyi comforted her.
When winter came, he noticed the frostbite on her hands and gifted her an exquisite hand-warmer.
She had been overjoyed back then.
At that time, she had never been truly loved by anyone, so she didn’t know what feigned affection looked like versus genuine care.
Now, looking back, it was utterly ironic!
If the servants had truly attended to her properly and prepared charcoal for her… would she have even gotten frostbite in the first place?
Since none of the servants took her seriously, of course there was no charcoal. What good was an empty hand-warmer without any heat?!
If Sheng Mingyi had truly cared for her, he would have dragged those servants who skimped on the master’s necessities out and had them beaten!
Or at the very least, given her some warm clothes or a few catties of charcoal—anything would have been more useful than a useless hand-warmer!
And every time she was scolded or bullied, why didn’t Sheng Mingyi ever step in to help her?
What a hypocrite!
But her past self actually believed he truly saw her as a sister and genuinely cared about her…
She foolishly regarded Sheng Mingyi as her savior, devoted herself to him wholeheartedly, and trusted him completely…
Sheng Minmin woke up from the dream, feeling her pillow was damp.
She wanted to get up and take a walk, but didn’t want to disturb Qingchi, who was sleeping on the small couch, so she chose to stay in bed.
The dream about Sheng Mingyi was connected to the news that Qingying and Qingzhu had sent back.
After waiting for several days, the two of them had finally sent word back today.
On the estate where Qingxiang had died, there was a person whose uncle was a servant who worked for Sheng Mingyi. That person had only signed a contract with the estate this year…
Qingying and the others hadn’t yet found evidence linking that person to Qingxiang’s drowning incident.
But Sheng Minmin had a gut feeling that Sheng Mingyi was most likely behind this.
Sheng Mingyi had been taking medicine for years, so he definitely had some understanding of pharmacology. If he learned about the poison Withered Fusion Grass, it wouldn’t be too strange for him to have someone make it.
And this fit Sheng Mingyi’s personality perfectly—dark and fond of toying with people.
Having a poisonous spoon made to poison Soft Concubine was exactly the kind of move Sheng Mingyi would pull.
As for his motives, he probably didn’t just want to see Soft Concubine and her son turn against each other—he also wanted to derive some twisted pleasure from the whole affair…
Sheng Minmin took a deep breath. It seemed Sheng Mingyi had way too much free time on his hands.
Smart people can’t stand being idle. She’d have to ask Qingdai to come up with more ways to make Sheng Mingyi even weaker.
A few days ago, Sheng Minmin had already learned that Sheng Yong was “obsessed” with Qingxin.
Sheng Yong was already on the path to his demise, and Sheng Minmin had finally put that heavy burden down.
Now she could deal with Sheng Mingyi without any restraint!
Over on the other side at Furong Court, Sheng Mingzhu couldn’t sleep either!
She was too excited to sleep.
Because she had come up with a brilliant plan to become the Princess of Qi.
A few days ago, that little wretch from Haitang Court had lashed her with a whip, but after applying some medicine and sleeping on it, she was completely healed.
Not even a single scar remained—just as if she’d never been hurt at all.
That was when Sheng Mingzhu realized just how extraordinary her body had become.
Yuluo had told her that she still needed to continue her medicinal baths. Once the effects reached their peak, she would be able to drive men “crazy with pleasure” and make them unable to leave her.
So Sheng Mingzhu set her sights on herself.
She thought, if Zhu Qisheng still couldn’t make her the Princess of Qi by then, she’d just turn their affair into a done deal.
Once she was pregnant with Zhu Qisheng’s child, she’d have her senior brother secretly destroy Zhu Qisheng’s ability to father children, without anyone ever knowing.
As long as Zhu Qisheng couldn’t get any other woman pregnant, her child would be his only bloodline.
For the sake of the child, the Princess of Jing would have no choice but to compromise and allow her into the household!
After all, the imperial family always struggled with heirs. No one would suspect anything if Zhu Qisheng couldn’t have children.
The more Sheng Mingzhu thought about it, the more feasible it seemed—she was practically buzzing with excitement! She didn’t even care about what had happened with Tao Niang anymore!
She firmly believed that once she became the Princess of Qi, that old hag from Mudan Court and that little wretch from Haitang Court would both have to kneel before her!
By then, she’d make sure to vent all her pent-up anger!
Sheng Mingzhu pictured the glorious scenes of taking revenge on her enemies after she rose to power.
She didn’t give a single thought to sending anyone to look after Tao Niang, nor did she consider visiting her even once.
By now, Tao Niang’s heart had turned completely cold.
The very day she became paralyzed, Xia Zhi left.
Before leaving, Xia Zhi had merely instructed the servants in a perfunctory manner to take good care of her. Tao Niang had been frantic at the time, crying out desperately.
She knew that now that she was paralyzed and mute, if Xia Zhi didn’t lay down the law firmly, her days would be absolute misery.
But Xia Zhi just… left like that.
That very night, Mo Gu—the one she trusted most—stole her contract of indenture, along with her banknotes and jewelry, and ran off.
It wasn’t discovered until the next morning. The other servants followed suit, grabbing their contracts and fleeing in droves, taking quite a few valuable trinkets from the household with them.
But that wasn’t what cut Tao Niang deepest.
What truly broke her heart was that at noon the next day, her beloved youngest daughter Mingzhu got word of what had happened and sent someone over.
After that person reported back on Tao Niang’s situation, Mingzhu actually had them take away the deeds to her properties…
Then she left the only servant who hadn’t run away—Jiaojiao—to take care of her!
Mingzhu didn’t even leave her a single bag of silver…
Nor did she bother to come see her in person—
Tao Niang’s heart felt as if it had been sliced into seven or eight pieces—
The only silver lining was that she still had Jiaojiao, her loyal servant, by her side.
Jiaojiao sold off the large pieces of furniture at home to buy rice and vegetables, single-handedly taking care of Tao Niang and the entire Feng family…
Tao Niang was endlessly grateful to Jiaojiao, though she had no idea that the ordinary poison Jiaojiao had supposedly passed on to Old Man Feng and Feng the Elder had somehow turned into a deadly toxin that ended up ruining her…
It must have been that cunning Old Man Feng—he probably went out and bought a different poison to swap it out—
But no matter what, Jiaojiao was the only person she could rely on now.
Little did Tao Niang know that Jiaojiao was exactly the reason she was now paralyzed and mute.
And her miserable life had only just begun.
