Reborn in Each Other’s Bodies: A Mother and Daughter’s Deadly Revenge - Chapter 119

Sheng Minmin thought Huang Yaning had handled this matter with such clean efficiency and astonishing boldness.

At this moment, everyone in the estate still believed Huang Yaning had only donated a small box of items, and Sheng Yong probably thought the same.

Huang Yaning’s choice to have Princess Fuling assist in auctioning those items was also exceptionally shrewd.

The Princess was of noble status; even if Sheng Yong found out, he wouldn’t dare offend her easily.

Furthermore, the Princess was warm-hearted and impatient by nature; she would definitely visit soon, leaving Sheng Yong no time to react.

“Princess, although I’ve only just learned of the matter you mentioned, since the Haitang Courtyard was given to Xiao Qi, the belongings inside are hers to manage. As her mother, I have no objections…”

“I’ll have someone summon her immediately—”

Although Duanmu Rui was only nine years old, she only had two maids with her.

But these two maids had previously served by the Eldest Princess’s side.

One was dignified and poised, the other quite authoritative; clearly, they were no ordinary servants.

With these two by her side, no one dared to look down on Duanmu Rui.

“No need, Madam. I’ll go directly to see her—and take a look at the donations—”

Sheng Minmin directly had Qingying escort Duanmu Rui to the Haitang Courtyard.

Before long, Duanmu Rui met Huang Yaning.

The girl before her looked two or three years younger, very thin.

She wore a set of silver-white clothes, which made her already not very fair skin appear even darker.

However, her eyes were clear and bright, and there was a certain spiritedness in the way she bowed. Duanmu Rui found her rather pleasing to the eye.

“There’s no need for such formality. You may rise.”

“This Princess asks you, do you truly intend to donate all the items in this courtyard without compensation?”

Duanmu Rui got straight to the point.

Huang Yaning did not rise. Instead, she bowed even deeper.

“Your subject’s daughter is guilty. Regarding the charity donation, this subject’s daughter harbored intentions of taking advantage of Your Highness…”

——

The servants of the Haitang Courtyard dropped to their knees with a rustle.

Qingtian had been in a state of terror since yesterday.

Now her fear reached its peak; she felt her heart was about to leap out of her chest!

She couldn’t help but think: Had the Young Lady lost her mind?

What was the Young Lady saying—

Right now, she didn’t know if she would end up beaten to death by the Master, or dragged out and beaten to death by the Princess’s people first…

Qingtian felt the cold sweat on her body pouring down like water…

Her life was so bitter—

Upon hearing Huang Yaning’s words, Duanmu Rui’s first reaction was anger.

She was of noble status; since childhood, countless people had tried to curry favor with her for their own benefit.

Nearly nine out of ten people who approached her had ulterior motives, and Duanmu Rui deeply detested this.

Therefore, the words of the person before her made her very angry, and she wanted to punish her.

But… what punishment would be fitting?

Duanmu Rui was momentarily stumped.

The other party only said she wanted to use her, but for what purpose?

She needed to know what the other party intended to use her for, so she could decide the severity of the punishment based on the circumstances.

So, what exactly did the Seventh Young Lady of the Sheng family want to use her for?

Duanmu Rui looked at the person kneeling on the ground. The top of her head was dark and round, like a small, dark-skinned watermelon.

Suddenly, she found it somewhat amusing, and her anger was replaced by intense curiosity.

Duanmu Rui sat down in the host’s seat and asked.

“Let’s hear it. What did you want to use this Princess for?”

“Your Highness, I wonder if you have heard the recent rumors about this subject’s daughter being a ‘jinx’…”

“This Princess has heard of them. You may rise to speak!”

With the other party’s head buried, Duanmu Rui felt communication was slowed down.

Huang Yaning didn’t insist. She thanked her and stood up.

“This subject’s daughter wished to borrow Your Highness’s influence to clear the defamation of being a ‘jinx,’ hence the decision to make the charity donation.”

“How dare you—Such audacity!” Baizhi stepped forward and shouted angrily. Duanmu Rui patted Baizhi’s hand, indicating it was alright.

“Sheng Mingqiu, how exactly did you plan to use this Princess?”

“This subject’s daughter believes the common people misunderstand me likely because their understanding of my past life is too one-sided.”

“Therefore, this subject’s daughter hoped Your Highness could send people to Taohua Village to learn about my former life.”

“Then, I wished to hire storytellers to spread the complete and truthful account of my experiences in the village through teahouses and taverns…”

“Is this one of your two requests?”

“Your Highness is brilliantly perceptive. You guessed correctly immediately.”

“And the other one?”

“The other is that this subject’s daughter wishes to allocate a small portion of the proceeds from the charity donation to buy gifts for the villagers of Taohua Village…”

“This subject’s daughter received much kindness from many villagers in Taohua Village. Were it not for them over these years, I might not have survived until today. Therefore, I wish to send them some tokens of gratitude to express my feelings…”

“They need not be expensive. For every household in Taohua Village, except the Feng family, give two jin of fine grain, two jin of coarse grain, and two liang of brown sugar per person…”

In the past, many villagers in Taohua Village had helped Minmin.

After she crossed over, she also received help from many people. For instance, on the night the Zhang family was killed, many villagers searched for her all night.

Among them, she received the most help from the Village Chief, the He family, Scholar Li, as well as Uncle Zhao and Auntie Zhao…

Now, with sending uniform gifts, she couldn’t show special favoritism, lest it invite jealousy and resentment towards those few families. In the future, she would simply take better care of them herself.

Upon hearing Huang Yaning’s “requests,” Duanmu Rui’s two maids were stunned for a moment. They exchanged a glance, seeing surprise in each other’s eyes.

This was what the Seventh Young Lady of the Sheng family called “taking advantage”?

They had assumed the Seventh Young Lady wanted the Princess to use her status to pressure people, forbidding the commoners from spreading rumors.

Or to punish a group of people, making an example of them to restore her reputation…

Or, even more brazenly, to ask the Princess to find a way to expel Sheng Mingzhu from White Horse Temple…

They had already prepared themselves to sternly reprimand and punish the Seventh Young Lady of the Sheng family if they heard any excessive requests!

But instead, what did they hear?

In their view, these two requests—one to expose the truth, the other to give gifts—

Neither required borrowing the Princess’s power to bully others, nor using the Princess’s personnel for deceitful purposes. It could hardly be called “taking advantage”; it was more like asking for a small favor…

“Are you certain you have finished stating both your requests?” Duanmu Rui asked, her eyes wide.

“Yes, this subject’s daughter has finished.” Huang Yaning nodded somewhat obediently.

Duanmu Rui immediately became anxious!

A feeling of guilt rose in her heart, thinking she had just measured another’s corn by her own bushel, suspecting the Seventh Young Lady of the Sheng family of worse intentions than she had…

How could she have thought so poorly of a young girl who had suffered greatly since childhood, yet was pure and kind-hearted?

She hurriedly spoke, dropping the royal “we.”

“Wait, Sheng Xiao Qi, I am very powerful!”

“I can help you with many things. Think carefully, is there anything else you want to do? As long as I can help, I definitely will!”