The moment the person across from her walked in and didn’t say a word, Xia Zhi felt a surge of anger rise up inside her.
She refused to believe that the other woman didn’t know why she was here today.
Why did she get to act all high and mighty, pure and innocent?
When clearly, this person was just as filled with hatred as she was!
When clearly, she was just as filthy, just as despicable and shameful—so what gave her the right to look down on Xia Zhi?
Right now, she truly wanted to leap up and tear that face across from her to shreds!
But along with that thought came the realization that she really was… a little unhinged.
Then again… maybe being unhinged wasn’t such a bad thing.
Sooner or later, she would crush this person’s dignity into dust.
“Seventh Miss,” Xia Zhi spoke again.
“If I make Old Man Feng, Feng the Elder, and Tao Niang all bedridden and paralyzed, wishing they were dead rather than alive—can you do me a favor?”
“Concubine Xia.”
Huang Yaning finally spoke, and for the first time since entering, a smile appeared on her face—as if she’d finally heard something interesting enough to pique her curiosity.
“They’re your blood relatives. Can you really bring yourself to harm them?”
“Seventh Miss, you’re also the legitimate sister of the Young Masters of the Sheng family. Didn’t you beat the Fifth Young Master within an inch of his life?”
Huang Yaning’s gaze turned cold. She saw the madness swimming in Xia Zhi’s eyes, the deeply mocking and twisted smile plastered across her face.
And suddenly, she understood—the person sitting across from her wasn’t exactly sane, either.
“What favor? Let’s hear it.”
“Kill Sheng Mingzhu!”
Huang Yaning gave Xia Zhi a meaningful look and said casually,
“Fine.”
She had never planned to let Sheng Mingzhu off anyway. But if she guessed correctly, this wasn’t really what Xia Zhi wanted.
Because revenge is always sweeter when you do it yourself.
For instance, if Xia Zhi had said she wanted to poison the Feng family, Huang Yaning wouldn’t have agreed to that either.
She would never let the Fengs die a clean, merciful death.
Xia Zhi suddenly stood up, bracing her hands on the table, and leaned her face in close, fast.
Her distorted features loomed large—for a split second, she looked exactly like a vengeful ghost crawling up from hell to claim a soul…
Huang Yaning instinctively held her breath and leaned back into her chair.
The truth was, Xia Zhi looked so much like a specter that she was half-annoyed she might catch a whiff of “corpse stench.”
“When do we act?” Xia Zhi asked loudly, her voice trembling with excitement.
“Not now,” Huang Yaning replied coolly.
Their gazes locked. After a few breaths, Xia Zhi let out two eerie giggles and sat back down.
“I knew it. You want Sheng Mingzhu dead just as badly as I do, and you want every last Feng to perish too…
“You’re not planning to let me off either, are you?”
“Heh—”
Huang Yaning shot her a sidelong glance. “Were you planning to let me off?”
The malice Xia Zhi had directed at her earlier had practically oozed out—Huang Yaning had sensed it all along.
“Seventh Miss sure knows how to joke… Actually, I was just joking with you earlier too…
“Anyway, you’re going to kill her sooner or later. That doesn’t count as doing me a favor. How about instead, you give Sheng Mingzhu a good thrashing—”
Xia Zhi licked her lips. “Would that work?”
Huang Yaning thought it over. She’d never actually whipped Sheng Mingzhu before, and she imagined it would feel rather satisfying.
She also wanted to test the depth of that bodyguard, Yuluo, who was always by Sheng Mingzhu’s side. So she nodded and said,
“Deal.”
And just like that, the two of them had “amicably” reached an agreement.
Huang Yaning returned to the manor with Qingtian. Before she got into the carriage, she noticed that Xia Zhi hadn’t just brought two maidservants with her.
There were actually four male attendants outside, plus a coachman and four elderly matrons.
Over this period of time, Xia Zhi had visited Tao Niang’s residence several times.
She’d thoroughly scoped out the situation there.
She could tell that Old Man Feng and Feng the Elder wanted to harm Tao Niang and take over as the new heads of the household.
But the two men were terrified that if something happened to Tao Niang, the servants in the residence would either haul them off to the authorities or beat them to death!
Or worse—that Sheng Mingzhu would find out and come after them.
So Xia Zhi kept goading them.
She told them that although she could no longer bear children, she was deeply favored by the Princess of Jing.
The princess had given her a batch of loyal servants, and Xia Zhi even pulled out the servants’ indenture contracts to show them. She repeatedly assured them that her people would protect the two men.
When Old Man Feng and Feng the Elder saw her dripping in gold and silver, surrounded by servants, and coming and going as she pleased, they started to believe her.
Xia Zhi went on to say that Tao Niang had caused her own father’s paralysis and harmed her grandmother, and had been so cold toward her after her miscarriage—she absolutely had to avenge her father and grandmother.
She painted Tao Niang as someone so vile that both gods and men would despise her, and whose crimes were so heinous that heaven itself would not forgive them.
Old Man Feng and Feng the Elder lived in constant fear every single day. They truly didn’t want to go on like this anymore. Finally, they revealed the plan they’d been scheming.
It turned out they’d been plotting for a long time, and they’d even managed to steal some of Tao Niang’s poisons.
Now that Xia Zhi was on their side, Old Man Feng and Feng the Elder finally decided to “go to war” with Tao Niang.
They agreed that the next time Xia Zhi came calling with her people, that would be the moment to strike against Tao Niang.
That very noon, Tao Niang returned from her shop to eat, bringing along a fine jug of wine.
At that meal, Old Man Feng and Feng the Elder watched with their own eyes as Tao Niang drank the soup laced with poison—and their hearts swelled with glee.
Meanwhile, Tao Niang watched Old Man Feng and Feng the Elder drink the spiked wine, and inside, she cackled with triumph.
Old Man Feng and Feng the Elder were just waiting for the poison to take effect so they could take over Tao Niang’s businesses and live like royalty.
Tao Niang, in turn, was waiting for the poison to hit Old Man Feng and Feng the Elder, so she could watch the agony and regret flood their eyes.
At first, Tao Niang hadn’t wanted to go to extremes—she’d only gone after Old Lady Li and Feng the Second.
But as the Feng family grew more and more outrageous, she decided to wipe them all out in one stroke. The remaining two had been too cunning and slipped through her fingers.
After that, they’d been constantly on guard against her. Plus, Xia Zhi seemed to be protecting them, which was the only reason Tao Niang had let them live this long.
Recently, Old Man Feng and Feng the Elder had grown bold enough to plot against her—so of course, she wasn’t going to spare them!
Both sides were waiting for the other to end up paralyzed in bed, wishing for death. Neither had any idea that they’d all fallen into someone else’s trap.
When Feng the Elder had Jiao Jiao steal the poison, Jiao Jiao had immediately reported it to Tao Niang.
Tao Niang had sneered and given Jiao Jiao a pack of ordinary poison to hand over to the two men.
But Tao Niang didn’t know that Jiao Jiao was actually Sheng Minmin’s spy. Sheng Minmin had long since had Qingdai prepare a drug that would render a person both paralyzed and mute, and had given it to Jiao Jiao.
So what Jiao Jiao gave Old Man Feng and Feng the Elder was actually Sheng Minmin’s poison.
And Old Man Feng had even tested it on a rat, which was why he trusted it completely.
Tao Niang knew none of this. Before returning home, she’d taken her own antidote, thinking she’d be safe.
But she couldn’t have been more wrong.
And so, to Xia Zhi’s utter shock and delight—Tao Niang, Old Man Feng, and Feng the Elder all collapsed to the ground at the same time…
Tao Niang’s miserable life was about to begin, and Sheng Mingzhu had just lost her cash cow.
