Chapter 261: Be Careful Of The Child
“This is our duty as concubines. In the future, when we have the chance, we will definitely visit the Crown Princess in the palace more often and chat more with the Crown Princess.”
Seeing her hypocritical appearance, Wan Qing couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
If Jiang Ruanxi hadn’t told her to control her temper, she would have slapped her long ago.
“The Crown Prince is not in the manor right now; he’s out handling a job. We should help him guard the back courtyard well, so he can work outside with peace of mind.”
Sun Tina always felt that today’s Jiang Ruanxi was acting strange, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
She could only lower her head submissively and say, “The Crown Princess is right.”
Jiang Ruanxi looked at her with a half-smile.
“Speaking of which, I have an interesting story. My Yushui, yesterday in the garden, accidentally picked up a piece of clothing.”
Sun Tina’s heart tightened involuntarily, and her hands at her sides clenched tightly.
Wan Qing glanced at Sun Tina and chimed in, “What kind of clothing was it?”
Jiang Ruanxi took a sip of tea, placed the teacup on the table, and looked at Sun Tina with a smile in her eyes. “Speaking of which, it was quite a coincidence. This clothing looks very similar to the one Concubine Sun wore yesterday.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Sun Tina’s body stiffened, and the hand that had been drinking tea to cover herself froze instantly.
A mocking smile appeared at the corner of Jiang Ruanxi’s mouth.
“Crown Princess, are you mistaken? Why would good clothing be thrown in the garden? Clothing is a woman’s personal item. For the Crown Princess to slander Concubine Sun like this—isn’t that a bit inappropriate?”
Hearing Wan Qing speak up for her, Sun Tina felt it was strange, but now she was very nervous, and her mind couldn’t think anymore.
She put down the teacup and, following Wan Qing’s words, said seriously with a straight face, “Crown Princess, this joke is not funny at all.”
“Is Concubine Sun thinking that this palace is deceiving you? To prove Concubine Sun’s purity, why don’t you take a look and see if it’s your clothing?”
After saying that, she said to Yushui, “Go and bring the clothing out.”
Yushui nodded and quickly brought the clothing over.
As soon as she saw the plain light cyan clothing, Concubine Sun’s face turned ghastly pale at once. Combined with the red cloak she was wearing, it made her complexion look bloodless.
Wan Qing, who had been observing her all along, would have gone up and slapped her several times already if Jiang Ruanxi hadn’t told her not to act on impulse.
Yushui held the clothing in front of her, then gave a scarf each to Jiang Ruanxi and Wan Qing. Only after they had both covered their faces did Yushui unfold the clothing.
Even with scarves over their faces, Jiang Ruanxi and Wan Qing both simultaneously took out handkerchiefs to cover their noses before stepping forward.
Their actions made Sun Tina’s face turn ashen, but they didn’t care about her.
“Isn’t this the clothing you wore yesterday, Concubine Sun?” Wan Qing said.
Sun Tina pretended to step forward and examined it up and down.
“It looks very similar, but…”
Before she could finish, Jiang Ruanxi interrupted her, “I remember that all the clothing for the Crown Princess’s female family members has a special marking embroidered under the hem.”
Yushui lifted the hem and flipped it over; there was indeed a jasmine flower on it.
And all of Sun Tina’s clothing had jasmine flowers embroidered on them.
Sun Tina’s body trembled.
“Concubine Sun, what do you have to say now? Why was good clothing thrown in the garden?”
“I…”
“Slap.”
Before she could finish her words, Wan Qing forcefully slapped her across the face.
“You little bitch, you actually tried to harm my child.”
Caught off guard, Sun Tina was slapped and fell to the side. Jiang Ruanxi turned and went to the main seat, pretending not to see.
She lifted her fair hand, picked up a handful of melon seeds, poured herself another cup of tea, and quietly watched them.
After reacting to the sudden slap, the furious Sun Tina stood up, about to retaliate, but Yushui blocked her way.
With Jiang Ruanxi still here, no matter how much she looked down on this Crown Princess from the countryside, on the surface she still had to give her face and could only endure without pushing Yushui away.
“Wan Qing, have you gone mad? Who harmed your child? It was your own unstable fetus—how is that my fault? Don’t wrongly accuse me.”
“You still won’t admit it? You smeared safflower on the clothing. If not for the safflower on your clothing, would I have had an unstable fetus? Sun Tina, I always thought you were just stupid, but I didn’t expect you to be not only stupid but also so vicious.”
When she arrived, Jiang Ruanxi had told her everything.
A flash of panic crossed Sun Tina’s eyes, but she quickly calmed down.
“What safflower? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The evidence is conclusive, and you still won’t admit it.” Wan Qing said to Yushui on the side, “Miss Yushui, please go call the doctor over.”
Yushui nodded.
The doctor had already been invited to the manor, but he hadn’t been allowed into the living room; he was waiting in another place.
After Yushui left, Sun Tina panicked completely. She knelt before Jiang Ruanxi, full of grievance, and said, “Crown Princess, this concubine really didn’t harm her. It’s Zhaoxun Wan slandering me.”
After spitting out a melon seed shell, Jiang Ruanxi took another sip of tea before slowly saying, “Really? But this clothing is yours, and it has various medicines mixed on it. How do you explain that?”
Sun Tina’s heart trembled; she was very nervous and tried hard to calm herself.
“The clothing is mine, but I didn’t smear anything on it.”
“You’re still quibbling. You wanted to harm me and the Crown Princess—do you think we don’t know? The clothing had such a strong smell precisely to cover up the odor on it. Yesterday I was wondering why you suddenly had such a strong smell on you; turns out this was your scheme. If not for the Crown Princess vigilantly opening the windows, my child wouldn’t be here now. Sun Tina, you poisonous woman.”
Wan Qing grew more excited as she spoke and stepped forward to kick her, but was stopped by Xiao Qing, who reminded her, “Zhaoxun, don’t get excited—be careful of the child.”
Reminded like this, Wan Qing’s anger subsided somewhat.
For the sake of her own child, she quickly sat down, afraid something might happen to the child.
“You’re talking nonsense—I didn’t do it.” Sun Tina denied vehemently.
Jiang Ruanxi heavily placed the teacup on the table, her face turning cold. “What are you arguing about?”
She turned her face to Sun Tina. “As for the truth, we’ll wait for the doctor to examine it.”
Even though Sun Tina was extremely nervous inside, she didn’t dare speak again.
Soon Yushui brought the doctor in.
It was the doctor who had taken Wan Qing’s pulse last night at Laifu Inn.
Jiang Ruanxi nodded to him. The doctor stepped forward, picked up the clothing, examined it up and down, sniffed it, frowned tightly, and put it down with a serious expression.
The conclusion he reached was the same as Bian Du’s.
But after he spoke.
Wan Qing’s face turned completely dark. Just as Jiang Ruanxi had said, she could no longer suppress her rage and stepped forward to grab Sun Tina’s hair.
