The three Sheng brothers comforted Sheng Mingzhu in Furong Courtyard for one or two hours.
During this time, Xiazhi returned from the medical clinic and went directly to Sheng Minmin’s courtyard.
Xiazhi knelt at the entrance of Peony Courtyard, claiming the wounds on her arm were self-inflicted and had nothing to do with Sixth Miss…
She said she had fainted from the pain, causing others to misunderstand Sixth Miss, and begged the mistress to punish her, and so on.
Few people in the mansion believed Xiazhi’s “confession”!
Who in their right mind would bite themselves for fun?
It was probably that Xiazhi, fearing punishment from Sixth Miss, had intentionally come up with such a lame excuse.
Sheng Minmin, of course, did not punish Xiazhi. Sheng Minmin would never stand up for Sheng Mingzhu. So, Xiazhi continued kneeling at the entrance.
Later, Qingtian went to Peony Courtyard, took Xiazhi away, and sent someone to inform the people in Furong Courtyard.
She said Begonia Courtyard had good medicine, Xiazhi’s injuries were too severe, and she would be sent back after she recovered—
Sheng Mingzhu was so angry she cried again and wanted to go to Begonia Courtyard to fetch Xiazhi back, but was dissuaded by her brothers.
They all felt the wild girl in Begonia Courtyard was too difficult to deal with, and going over would likely lead to trouble.
They also said they would find an opportunity to properly explain Xiazhi’s situation in front of everyone and repeatedly assured Sheng Mingzhu they would “manage” the Feng family well.
They promised not to let that group of people come out and cause trouble anymore. Only then did Sheng Mingzhu finally smile.
The brothers stayed and “coaxed” Sheng Mingzhu into having some dinner before leaving.
The moment the three brothers left, Sheng Mingzhu’s face immediately fell.
Although Sheng Mingzhu desperately wanted to drag Xiazhi back and punish her severely, with so many eyes watching now, she couldn’t do anything.
In fact, not only could she not harm Xiazhi, she even had to “pamper” Xiazhi well, firmly establishing her persona as a kind mistress.
“Take some ginseng, bird’s nest, and… the last jar of Jade Beauty Cream from my box… deliver them to Xiazhi personally—”
Sheng Mingzhu tried to put on a friendly and magnanimous front, but the words were spoken through gritted teeth.
Ginseng and bird’s nest were nothing, but the Jade Beauty Cream was extremely expensive, a top-grade product for beautifying and nourishing the skin.
Using Jade Beauty Cream would make the skin fair, tender, smooth, and radiant.
In earlier years, she often used Jade Beauty Cream to care for her entire body, maintaining her skin perfectly.
This year, the Jade Beauty Cream was almost used up. Her senior brother said it couldn’t be prepared in large quantities for a while and told her to use it sparingly.
So, she now had only one jar left, yet she had to give it to Xiazhi as a scar-removing ointment…
Sheng Mingzhu was both furious and heartbroken. If she had known, she would have just given the Jade Beauty Cream to Xiazhi directly, and none of this trouble would have happened!
Jixue, trembling with fear, took the items. Only after leaving Sheng Mingzhu’s room did she let out a sigh of relief, feeling she could finally breathe normally again.
At noon today, Xiazhi had been called into Sheng Mingzhu’s room alone. After a quarter of an hour, Xiazhi emerged, face deathly pale and eyes red-rimmed…
At the time, Jixue had only thought Sheng Mingzhu had scolded or hit Xiazhi. She never imagined Sheng Mingzhu would…
And Xiazhi was Sheng Mingzhu’s own elder sister.
While she, Jixue, was just a maid.
She was truly afraid—afraid of being abused by Sheng Mingzhu, and afraid of being used as a sacrificial pawn.
At this moment, Jixue felt a deep, profound fear towards Sheng Mingzhu.
The entire Furong Courtyard was shrouded in fear and oppression…
On the other side, Sheng Mingbo returned to his own courtyard, while Sheng Mingyi went to Sheng Mingjian’s courtyard.
“Eldest Brother, I heard Qingxin is quite pleasing to you…”
Sheng Mingjian also realized he had been too indulgent recently. After the first time with Qingxin, he had still managed to restrain himself somewhat.
But later, with excessive tonic consumption and a second time, it seemed he had become obsessed with Qingxin after that.
Worried about his health, he specifically had the mansion physician examine him. The physician said he was in excellent health.
Not entirely reassured, he also went to an outside medical clinic. Those physicians all said there was nothing wrong with his body…
After confirming several times, Sheng Mingjian finally set his mind at ease. He thought perhaps he was “exceptionally gifted” in this area, coupled with proper daily tonics, that’s why it was like this…
In any case, Sheng Mingjian had no intention of changing.
“Third Brother, my health is fine. You’ll understand once you recover your health and learn about relations between men and women—”
Sheng Mingyi nodded noncommittally. “What do you think about what happened at the family gate today…”
Returning to this topic, a ruthless glint flashed in Sheng Mingjian’s eyes.
The Feng family had been bold enough to come to their door. That wild girl had fanned the flames from within, and Mother had completely let the situation develop without any thought of salvaging the Sheng family’s reputation or Mingzhu’s standing.
That wild girl was very troublesome, with Father, Mother, and the Princess Consort as her backers.
As for Mother, as children, they could not pick faults with their mother.
As for Father, Father would not fall out with Mother over this either. At most, he would reprimand her a few times, and that would be the end of it.
So, if incidents like today happened a few more times in the future, Mingzhu might become the laughingstock of the capital.
That was the most terrifying part!
As long as they did not become powerful, Mingzhu would keep stumbling over the same issue, becoming a laughingstock.
“Third Brother, I have decided to enter the imperial examinations this year!”
After some thought, Sheng Mingjian spoke seriously.
Sheng Mingyi’s expression turned to one of astonishment, thinking he had misheard. He asked,
“Eldest Brother, what did you say?”
No wonder Sheng Mingyi was shocked. Sons of official families lacked neither tuition fees nor good tutors. Everyone would prepare thoroughly before entering the examinations.
Sheng Mingjian was indeed talented in his studies, but he was only fifteen or sixteen now. He could very well study diligently for a few more years, solidifying his knowledge before taking the exams.
Otherwise, if he rushed into the exams and achieved an unsatisfactory ranking, his future promotions would become extremely slow. Wouldn’t that be a case of gaining little at great cost?
One’s career path was not something to joke about! That’s why Sheng Mingyi was anxious.
Sheng Mingjian, however, didn’t think much of it.
He was very confident!
Because he had dreamed again. He had dreamed of the examination questions for this session.
Long ago, Sheng Mingjian had dreamed of ranking third in the palace examination (Tanhua), but judging by his age in the dream, it wasn’t this session, but the next one.
If nothing changed, Sheng Mingjian would indeed have waited until the next session to enter.
The reason he changed his mind was that he sensed danger.
Prince Qi was being pressured by Princess Consort Jing to meet potential marriage partners, which should have been a good thing.
However, Prince Qi would rather use a hunger strike to oppose Princess Consort Jing’s orders than cooperate.
Then there was Lin Zhijing.
The way Lin Zhijing looked at Mingzhu was not the way a senior brother looked at a junior sister—
Prince Qi was noble, Lin Zhijing had talent. Both were formidable rivals.
Therefore, Sheng Mingjian felt an urgent, intense desire to become stronger.
He had to become powerful quickly, make Mingzhu rely on him, fill her eyes and heart completely with him.
Thus, after dreaming of the examination questions, Sheng Mingjian decided to participate in this year’s imperial examinations.
Although many things in real life differed from his dreams.
For example, Princess Consort Jing in his dreams had already passed away by now; for example, Mingzhu had not gone to Baima Temple, and Lin Zhijing had never appeared in the capital; for example, Mother had doted deeply on Mingzhu…
But Sheng Mingjian decided to ignore these discrepancies.
Sheng Mingjian had a strange sense of certainty that the examination questions he dreamed of were real.
He was going to take a gamble!
He just couldn’t tell his family about this explicitly.
Sheng Mingjian patted Third Brother’s shoulder: “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”
Sheng Mingjian didn’t know that excessive self-confidence sometimes led to poor outcomes.
