Chapter 74: Monster, Monster!
Qin Yanran patted her hand, comforting, "Don’t worry, Qiao’er. We’ve been discreet enough. Even if someone investigates later, they won’t trace it back to us."
Zhao Qiao’er seemed to think of something, feeling uneasy, and turned to ask Liu’er, "Did you destroy all the evidence?"
Liu’er said with some pride, "Miss, rest assured! I’ve followed your instructions and buried the paper bag containing powdered medicine under the tree outside Zhao Ling’er’s courtyard."
"Hmm! Liu’er does get things done. This way, the plan of killing three birds with one stone is secure now."
Ms Qin smiled so broadly that her eyes couldn’t be seen, removed a jade bracelet from her wrist, and handed it to Liu’er.
"Here, take it. This is your reward."
"Thank you, Mistress." Liu’er was overjoyed, took the bracelet, and promptly bowed respectfully.
"Heh." Zhao Qiao’er curled her lips in a cold smile, "Tomorrow the Prince Mansion will be holding a funeral. Let’s see how they manage to leave. Don’t think that being a Vassal King can turn the world upside down. If the imperial edict is delayed, Zhao Zun will also be blamed by His Majesty. In the future, it’ll still be mother who has the final say in the Prince Mansion."
Although the night was deep, the mother and daughter were still too excited to sleep.
They whispered in the room, planning how to watch the commotion in the Prince Mansion tomorrow, how to feign grief before everyone, yet secretly delight in their hearts.
Unfortunately, they did not know that all their conversations were clearly heard by Ping Chuan outside the window.
Ping Chuan was horrified; to him, Han Lei was not only his mistress, the Princess Consort, but also his savior.
He forcibly suppressed his inner shock and anger, quietly left the window, and with a leap, swiftly emerged from Qin Yanran’s courtyard.
This matter was of utmost importance; he must report to the Prince as soon as possible.
Soon, Ping Chuan entered Han Lei’s courtyard.
"Prince." Ping Chuan called from outside the door.
"Come in."
Inside, Han Lei, after taking medicine, had already fallen asleep. The old lady and Zhao Ling’er, seeing that Han Lei was fine, were escorted back to the main house to rest by Zhao Zun’s men.
Zhao Zun was tucking a blanket around Han Lei, and hearing Ping Chuan’s call, a sudden surge of inexplicable irritability overcame him. He felt a very bad premonition.
"Prince, it was indeed the work of Ms Qin and her daughter. This is the medicine packet dug out from under the tree outside Ling’er Miss’s courtyard."
Speaking, Ping Chuan handed a crumpled paper ball to Zhao Zun.
"Ling’er?"
Zhao Zun’s pupils shrank sharply, opening the paper ball, which still had some powder that hadn’t been completely shaken off.
"Yes, Prince. Zhao Qiao’er’s maid buried the medicine packet under Ling’er Miss’s courtyard tree, saying that she wanted to kill three birds with one stone. They said..." With that, Ping Chuan truthfully reported everything he heard to Zhao Zun.
"What a scheme to kill three birds with one stone! So vicious, even wanting to frame Ling’er as well."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Zun’s face turned ashen, his fists clenched tightly, knuckles white.
"Ha! Kill three birds with one stone. Ha!" Zhao Zun chuckled self-deprecatingly.
He never imagined that Zhao Qiao’er, this seemingly weak woman, was behind all the plotting! She was his half-sister!
All these years, while he and his father were away, Qin Yanran and her daughter bullied his kind and gentle mother and sister, and now they want to kill his beloved woman too, while also hoping to have him blamed by His Majesty.
Are these truly relatives, even half-related?
"Bang!"
With a loud noise, Zhao Zun slapped the table and sharply stood up, causing the tea set on the table to jingle from the vibration.
The sudden noise startled Han Lei, who had already fallen asleep, waking her up.
"Hmm? What’s happening?"
Han Lei opened her eyes, lifted the mosquito net, and asked somewhat groggily.
"Uh, nothing. I just accidentally bumped the table. Just sleep rest assured!"
Zhao Zun walked quickly to the bed, gazed tenderly at Han Lei, and tucked her hand into the quilt. Seeing this, Ping Chuan promptly turned around and left the room.
"Oh, it’s getting late, you should rest early too! We’ll have to leave early tomorrow!"
Han Lei rubbed her face on Zhao Zun’s big hand and fell back to sleep again.
Once Han Lei was asleep again, Zhao Zun turned and glared toward the window, eyes seemingly filled with burning flames, an utterly intolerable fury.
"The Zhao family shall not allow such venomous creatures!"
Zhao Zun’s voice was low and strong, each word squeezed as if through clenched teeth, with indisputable determination.
With large strides, he swung the door open and left, vowing to personally deal with this mother and daughter, to restore the family’s honor.
When Zhao Zun stormed outside Ms Qin’s courtyard in anger, the lights were still on in her room. The dim light reflected two blurred silhouettes through the window lattice.
Zhao Zun took a deep breath, leaped up, body landing lightly outside the window like a night hawk.
Listening to the faint talking and snickering sounds inside, Zhao Zun’s face darkened further.
Attempting to suppress the internal rage, he didn’t break in directly but snorted softly and turned away, heading somewhere else...
The next morning, the spring sun spilled down from the horizon.
The carriage team setting off to Canzhou was already waiting at the main gate; Xiao Zhengfei and Ping Chuan, along with the trusted aides, were loading the luggage onto the carriages.
Zhao Zun helped the old lady and Zhao Ling’er onto the carriage before turning to take Han Lei’s hand.
Having plotted too late last night, the mother and daughter planning to watch the show overslept.
When they walked out of the courtyard, they found the Prince Mansion quiet, not at all resembling a scene of hosting a funeral.
The mother and daughter resided in the side courtyard of the Prince Mansion, suspiciously exchanging glances, they decided to head over to check at the old lady’s main residence.
As they passed the main gate, they happened to see Zhao Zun in the distance helping Han Lei onto the carriage.
Han Lei looked radiant and smiling like a flower, completely unlike someone who had been poisoned.
Rather than being dead as expected, she stood alive right before their eyes.
The two women standing in the early spring sun had never seen such an eerie sight.
Qin Yanran was immediately frightened, face drastically changing, stumbling backward two steps almost falling.
"How... How is this possible?"
Zhao Qiao’er rubbed her eyes and was also pale with fright.
"Last night the Prince Mansion was in disarray, it was clearly said that the wench had been poisoned. Wasn’t even the doctor helpless? Why is she now vivacious? Then who was the poisoned person last night?"
"No, it must be... her. I... I understand now, I... understand."
Recalling when Han Lei hit her those days ago, her cold and menacing mien, Ms Qin’s lips quivered in fear, swallowing hard and struggling to speak coherently.
"She fears nothing, not even poison can hurt her. She... she must be some kind of demon, a demon!"
Zhao Qiao’er was not as inept as her mother; after a brief scare, her eyeballs rolled around, first to react.
"Mother, mother let’s quickly go back and see."
Zhao Qiao’er pulled Ms Qin’s arm and walked briskly. She wanted to go in and see, maybe their eyes were deceiving them, Han Lei had indeed been poisoned and the person Zhao Zun was helping onto the carriage wasn’t Han Lei at all.
Along the way, seeing the Prince Mansion moved to a desolate and chaotic state, the mother and daughter’s hearts sank with the early spring breeze.
Unexpectedly, upon running through corridors and past pavilions back to the main courtyard of Prince Mansion, they were infuriated to the point of almost fainting.