Chapter Thirty: Zhiyan, I Entrust This Maid to Your Care

It was merely a laxative, not a poison; as long as the entire kitchen staff were punished together, their lives would surely be spared. Who could have foreseen that the Master would choose to eat the roasted quail, exposing her scheme?

Jiang Ping glared at her with a fierce expression. "Who forced you?"

He believed Lady Qiao wouldn't do something so foolish, but who could say for sure? When a woman is consumed by jealousy, she forgets all reason. A laxative wouldn't kill anyone, but it would cause humiliation and ruin one’s dignity. He had never heard of a noble lady being unable to even stand due to diarrhea; such a malicious plot was truly designed to crush one's spirit.

Xiangcao shook her head. "This servant does not know. Someone sent me a letter threatening my younger brother. I dared not disobey."

Jiang Ping stopped questioning. "Zhiyan, deal with this maid as you see fit."

Su Zhiyan had no desire to get to the bottom of it. She would let the others in the manor speculate; they would naturally decide on their own culprit.

"Someone, take this girl back to the grand kitchen and make her kneel!"

Fuxiao asked, puzzled, "Mistress, why have her kneel in the grand kitchen?"

Su Zhiyan smiled. Naturally, it was to blow the matter out of proportion, though she could not say so aloud. "It serves as a warning to the kitchen staff, and besides, she has consumed the laxative—do you want her to stay here and stink us out?"

The maid who had eaten the roasted quail turned from pale to a sickly green. Right on cue, her stomach let out a thunderous rumble. Jiang Ping’s face darkened, and he roared, "Drag her out at once!"

At the word "drag," Xiangcao’s expression shifted wildly. Exuding a foul stench, she was dragged away, looking as though she had lost all will to live. Jiang Ping, unable to endure any longer, hurried toward the latrines himself.

Throughout the night, the entire staff of the grand kitchen was incapacitated. Nurse Tong was already stuck in the latrine, unable to stand. The others fared no better, nearly losing their lives to the constant purging. Even Xiangcao, kneeling in the kitchen, continued to emit sickening sounds, rendering the place impossible to enter due to the stench.

When Lady Qiao heard the news, her expression turned murderous. "What is the meaning of this? Who ordered Xiangcao to put a laxative in Mistress Su’s food?"

Nurse Zhao shook her head. "Xiangcao claims she was threatened by an anonymous letter. Since it was only a laxative and wouldn't kill anyone, she proceeded."

Lady Qiao smashed a set of cups and saucers in her rage. "It won't kill anyone, but everyone will think it was my doing! Poisoning a new mistress with a laxative—if word gets out, we’ll be the laughingstock of the city!"

Nurse Zhao sighed, her mind heavy with worry. "The real problem is... Xiangcao is the niece of Nurse Lin from our own courtyard."

Lady Qiao nearly suffered a heart attack. A truly clever person would not believe her capable of such stupidity, but unfortunately, the world was not filled with clever people; it was filled with fools like the Old Madam. Just as she thought this, a servant arrived with a message. "My Lady, the Old Madam requests your presence!"

Fury flared in Lady Qiao’s mind. *That old hag. Sooner or later, I will make her pay dearly.*

***

At Biyu Pavilion, the maids were nearly hysterical with laughter. While the laxative wouldn't cause Jiang Ping any lasting physical harm, watching him scramble to the latrine was undeniably satisfying. As for Lady Qiao, while the blame might not be heavy, the stain on her reputation was quite dark. Qing'er asked with a chuckle, "How did you come up with such a wicked idea, Miss?"

Jiang Nian tapped her slender, pale fingers against the tabletop. "Small things, when accumulated, eventually form a mountain. And this matter is far from over. Since Su Zhiyan realized the purpose of the laxative, it shows she is clever enough to use this situation to her advantage."

The next morning, at the hour for breakfast, the masters of each courtyard waited in vain for their meals. Upon inquiry, they learned that the entire kitchen staff had been laid low by the laxative and were in no state to cook. Fortunately, most courtyards had their own small kitchens, sparing them from starvation.

Lady Qiao, having been scolded by the Old Madam until she was numb, decided to feign illness and stay indoors. However, the situation was unavoidable. Xiangcao, who had been kneeling in the grand kitchen, was dead.

As Lady Qiao made her way to the kitchen, she noticed the strange looks from the servants. Suspicious, she arrived at the scene and looked toward where the maid had died. There lay the girl, still slumped in the pile of filth she had created herself. Had she truly been killed by her own stench?

"What happened? How did she die?"

The dead maid’s face was deathly pale, her eyes wide open in a frozen, haunting gaze. The surrounding servants stood in small, terrified groups, shaking their heads. Lady Qiao walked closer and saw Jiang Nian and Jiang Yan staring at the corpse. Even she found it gruesome, yet they showed no fear at all!

Jiang Nian said coldly, "Report this to the authorities."

Jiang Yan agreed, ordering, "Go, report it at once."

"Report what!" With one disaster after another, Lady Qiao’s temper spiked. "Do you want everyone to know someone in this house died from diarrhea?"

At that moment, Mistress Su arrived. She bowed to Lady Qiao. "My Lady."

Seeing her, the anger Lady Qiao had been suppressing at the Old Madam’s quarters erupted. "I thought you were a well-behaved woman, but I didn't expect you to be so cruel! Even if this maid deserved punishment, you shouldn't have purged her to death!"

Another preemptive strike. Su Zhiyan calmly replied, "The Lady is right. Perhaps I should have simply had her beaten to death; it might have appeared less cruel."

A silence fell over the crowd. Su Zhiyan’s logic was sound; maids were beaten to death for mistakes every year, but dying from diarrhea was a first.

Jiang Yan’s shoulders shook with suppressed laughter as she whispered to Jiang Nian, "Aunt used to be so composed. She’s becoming more and more impulsive."

Jiang Nian agreed, "You are quite right."

Her goal was to make Lady Qiao so enraged and impulsive that her ability to judge clearly would vanish. Lady Qiao was so choked with fury that her face turned a bruised shade of blue. Jiang Yu, who had arrived to assist her mother, began to retch before she could even speak. It was too foul!

Su Zhiyan sighed. "I ordered her to kneel, but I did not stop her from taking medicine. Furthermore, a dozen people in the kitchen ate the same thing; why is she the only one who died? I suspect there is more to this. We must report it!"

Lady Qiao felt a sharp pain in her chest. "Do you not understand that family scandals should not be made public? You have tortured a maid to death..."

"What is going on now!"

Jiang Ping’s voice cut through the air, interrupting Lady Qiao. She stiffened. "Master..."

Jiang Ping had taken sick leave today. He still looked sickly and cast a cold, suspicious glance at Lady Qiao. He didn't believe she was stupid enough to do this, but he couldn't be entirely sure, and in the end, he subconsciously pinned the blame on her.

Just as Lady Qiao opened her mouth to defend herself, Jiang Nian spoke up. "Father, Mistress Su has only just entered the manor. If she is burdened with the reputation of having tortured a maid to death, it will not be good for Feng'er."

At the mention of Feng'er, Jiang Ping’s expression grew serious. The reputation of his son's mother could not be tarnished.

Jiang Nian continued, "Mistress Su was only being kind by asking the girl to kneel. If she truly wanted her dead, would it not have been easier to have her beaten to death yesterday?"

Lady Qiao stared daggers at Jiang Nian. Whenever Jiang Ping was absent, Jiang Nian rarely spoke. But whenever he was present, she had a mountain of reasons to offer! *That wretched girl! She doesn't even waste a single word when she's trying to ruin me!*