Sure enough, after receiving the memorials, Elder Chen flew into a rage. He was so angry that he cursed those people and their ancestors for generations.
The next day, Ji Junye broke the convention and held another court session. He let Elder Chen take the stage, and Elder Chen scolded those people mercilessly.
The old man scolded passionately for a whole morning without even taking a sip of water. Since then, Elder Chen became famous overnight, and no one dared to openly mock Shen Qing anymore.
However, this was not the end. Gradually, those who impeached Shen Qing or their family members would always make some mistakes, big or small, and were demoted again and again.
Of course, this is a story for later.
In the Guangping Marquis Mansion.
When Xu Yanchi learned that Shen Qing had been taken as a disciple by Elder Chen, his first reaction was, "How is this possible?"
When Shen Qing took Shen Yan to visit Elder Chen, he was still in the Protector Duke's Mansion, so he naturally knew about it. But the disciple Elder Chen took was not Shen Yan, but Shen Qing, who was already married!
However, for such an important matter, Shen Qing didn't even tell him. He was, after all, her husband. For such an important thing to be learned from someone else's mouth, it showed how negligent he was as a husband.
Shen Qing must have been extremely disappointed in him, right?
Xu Yanchi smiled self - deprecatingly. Vaguely, he remembered when their families first set the marriage contract. He saw her standing on the ring in a tight - fitting outfit. A group of men couldn't beat her and were thrown off the ring by her like watermelons. At that time, he thought she had none of the gentleness a woman should have.
He once wanted to break off the engagement, but before he could, his grandfather passed away. On his deathbed, his grandfather told him that he must marry Shen Qing. From then on, he hated Shen Qing even more.
Later, he left the capital to relax and met Shen Mian who was being robbed by bandits...
Xu Yanchi got drunk. In his drunken stupor, all his experiences with Shen Qing seemed like a fleeting dream. Now that the dream had ended, Shen Qing was about to leave him.
It was he who didn't love her, and it was he who had harmed her with his own hands and pushed her away from him. But even though he had drunk so much, why did his heart still hurt so much?
"Madam..."
Xu Yanchi was dead drunk. A Cheng thought he was calling for Shen Mian, so he carried him all the way to Qifeng Courtyard.
Shen Mian was still a bit angry these days. When she heard that Xu Yanchi had come, she was so happy that she almost got up to open the door. But then she remembered what had happened before and sat back down.
"I've already gone to bed so late. It's not convenient for me to see the Marquis. Please go back, Marquis."
A Cheng said anxiously, "Concubine, the Marquis is drunk and is insisting on seeing you. Please let the Marquis in first and then we can talk about it."
Shen Mian was overjoyed. Could it be that Lord Xu realized he shouldn't have been angry with her and got drunk out of self - blame?
Shen Mian quickly told Xiaodie to open the door.
A Cheng put Xu Yanchi on the bed. "I'll leave the Marquis in your care, Concubine."
Shen Mian smelled the strong alcohol on him and covered her nose. "There's hot water in the washroom. First, help your lord to wash up."
A Cheng helped him in. After a while, he brought him out and put him on the bed, then left.
Shen Mian was very happy. Xu Yanchi had been with Xiao Jiangchan for the past two days and hadn't come to see her at all. It seemed that after tonight, they would make up!
That cruel and vicious woman Jiangchan could never compare to her in Lord Xu's heart!
These days, she had been sleeping with Xu Chenghui. Now that Xu Yanchi was here and he was drunk, it wasn't convenient. So Shen Mian asked someone to carry the child to the small bed in the next room.
After coaxing the child for a while, Shen Mian told the new wet - nurse again when to feed the child at night. Since it was inconvenient for Xu Chenghui to only drink her milk, she had asked someone to hire a wet - nurse.
The previous wet - nurses might have been in poor health. This time, Shen Mian had carefully selected a wet - nurse with a clean background, who had given birth to two children and was in excellent health.
"Lord Xu, Lord Xu..."
But Xu Yanchi was sound asleep. No matter how Shen Mian called him, he didn't respond at all.
In his sleep, Xu Yanchi turned over, and Shen Mian also heard his mumbling.
"Shen Qing..."
"Qingqing..."
Shen Mian felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar. Although it was still autumn, she couldn't help shivering.
Lord Xu was actually in her bed, calling out Shen Qing's name!
Shen Qing, Shen Qing. Was Shen Qing really that good? Why did everyone side with Shen Qing!
Shen Mian sat there on the bed in a daze, and the look in her eyes when she looked at Xu Yanchi was no longer full of joy and love. Instead, there was only endless hatred and coldness.
Shen Qing wanted to snatch Lord Xu from her. She would never allow it!
Half - asleep and half - awake, not knowing what time it was, Shen Mian vaguely heard the baby crying. Her chest began to ache from the swelling. She reached out in a daze, trying to pull the baby over, but slapped Xu Yanchi instead.
Only then did Shen Mian realize that the baby was in the next room. Immediately, she wrapped herself in a robe and got up. When she got there, she found that the light in the next room was on. Vaguely, she could see a figure holding a paper bag and putting something into a bowl.
Shen Mian was wide awake in an instant. She immediately pushed open the door and rushed in, staring intently at the wet - nurse holding the paper bag. "What are you doing?"
The brown powder in the paper bag hadn't been completely poured out, and the wet - nurse was caught red - handed.
The wet - nurse tried hard to suppress the panic on her face and forced a smile. "You've misunderstood, Concubine. This is a folk remedy from our place. It can help women produce more milk."
Shen Mian clearly didn't believe it. She stepped forward and tried to grab the wet - nurse's hand. "What kind of folk remedy needs to be secretly added in the middle of the night?"
The wet - nurse instinctively hid her hand behind her back. Shen Mian was even more suspicious. Immediately, she shouted and called everyone over.
"Check what's in this thing!"
That night, no one in Qifeng Courtyard slept much. They searched the wet - nurse's room thoroughly and found several small paper bags like this under the mattress.
"Concubine, there's really only something that can help produce milk in there!"
Shen Mian didn't believe her nonsense. As soon as it was dawn, she sent someone to call a doctor.
After the doctor examined it, he said, "This is indeed a decoction that can help women produce milk. However, the blue - blood vine in it has been replaced with green - jade vine. After being processed, the two look similar and are not easy to distinguish. But green - jade vine is a kind of chronic poison. At first, there are no symptoms, but over time, it will make people slow - witted and seem like idiots."
Shen Mian asked, "Will the milk of the person who takes this also be poisonous?"
The doctor said, "Naturally, it will."
Shen Mian panicked. She quickly asked someone to bring Xu Chenghui over. "Doctor, please check my child quickly!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Xiaodie had already brought Xu Chenghui over. "The child is here."
After taking the child's pulse, the doctor said, "There is indeed a trace of the toxicity of green - jade vine remaining in this child's body. Fortunately, it's not much. May I ask, Madam, has the child been weak and sick recently, with a crying voice that is sometimes strong and sometimes weak, and the cause can't be found?"
"That's exactly the case."
"Then it's right," the doctor stroked his beard. "Since the green - jade vine was not directly put into the diet but through the milk, the amount that actually got into the stomach is small, so it's naturally difficult to detect."
Shen Mian tightly pinched the palm of her hand. This wet - nurse had only been here for a few days, but there was residual toxicity in Hui'er's body. Didn't it mean that there was something wrong with the previous wet - nurses too?!
Shen Mian was furious.
She always thought that Hui'er was weak because she was born prematurely due to a shock. She had blamed herself for this every day. She never thought that someone had actually poisoned the child!
Who on earth would harm a baby less than three months old? Aren't they afraid of retribution?!
Shen Mian had never hated someone so much as she did at this moment. She wished she could find that person right now and tear them to pieces.
"Investigate this for me!"
Xu Yanchi was woken up by all the commotion early in the morning. Only then did he realize that he was in Shen Mian's place. "What are you making such a fuss about in the early morning? It's giving me a headache."
Shen Mian could no longer suppress the anger in her heart. "Hui'er has been poisoned, and you're still saying I'm making a fuss. Do you think I want to?"