Sheng Jiangli's eyes suddenly widened in shock. His narrow eyes squinted slightly, and his seemingly gentle eyebrows were suppressing some unknown emotions.
"What were you just doing? Why are you all gathered here?"
Sheng Jiangli fired off a series of questions. He raised his hand and pointed at Caiyu hanging from the tree. "What mistake did that young lady make? Why are you treating her like this?"
Jiang Jinyue's breath caught in her throat. She turned her head in disbelief and looked at Caiyu.
The young girl's body was forcibly stretched because she was hanging from the tree, making her curves even more alluring. Her bound chest was forced to stick out, presenting a more spectacular sight. No wonder even though her face was dirty, she could immediately catch the eye of the man who had just forcefully entered the mansion!
Nanny Li had just recovered from the shock of the Prince of Yan's mansion being forcibly occupied by others.
The prince was estimated to arrive in Yanjing in one or two days, and the old princess was in a coma. There was no one in charge.
She weighed the situation and decided to endure these two days and curry favor with this Commander of the Hu Cavalry from Kaiping for the time being.
She replied carefully, "General Sheng may not know. Our old princess was poisoned by this maid. Now she is in a coma from the poison. We were just about to arrest her and beat her to death with a cane!"
"What a cruel maid!" Sheng Jiangli shook his head and sighed with a smile. "The ancients were right. The most poisonous thing is a woman's heart!"
"Yes, yes..." Nanny Li replied carefully. She didn't understand why, although he said so, his eyes were fixed on Caiyu without blinking, and he didn't seem to care about the life or death of Princess Yao at all. He didn't even bother to offer a polite inquiry.
Sheng Jiangli's gaze was almost glued to Caiyu's face, as if it could burn through her body.
Nanny Li's heart skipped a beat. A bad suspicion came to mind.
Could it be... that General Sheng had taken a fancy to this lowly maid?
She tightened her lips unwillingly.
She had finally had the opportunity to get rid of this lowly maid once and for all. How could she be willing to let someone save her?
"General Sheng..." Nanny Li said with a forced smile. "There has been a scandal in the mansion. I'm sorry you had to see this. But we are in a hurry to punish her as a warning to others. What do you think..."
Sheng Jiangli seemed to have stayed in the frontier for too long and had difficulty communicating. He completely ignored Nanny Li's hint. Instead, he said with a teasing smile:
"Such a beautiful woman, and you actually said you would beat her to death. I think you've been practicing Buddhism with His Highness the Prince of Yan for too long. None of you have any emotions left..."
Nanny Li stared blankly at him. As a smart woman, she naturally understood the hint in Sheng Jiangli's words. But she was unwilling to let Caiyu go so easily.
Sheng Jiangli finally lost his patience. Facing the old woman who was pretending to be stupid, he snorted and said bluntly:
"Take her down, clean her up, apply some medicine on her wounds properly, and send her to my room!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Caiyu hanging on the tree branch seemed to have heard clearly. She tried her best to open her eyes to see what the man looked like.
That voice was...
But at this moment, her eyeballs were bloodshot, and with the mixture of sweat and blood, she really couldn't see the man's appearance clearly.
However, she knew that she was temporarily saved.
As for whether her innocence or her life was more important, she could still tell. As long as she was alive, she would always find a way!
Nanny Li and Jiang Jinyue looked at each other. They watched as several tall and burly Hu cavalrymen took Caiyu down, carried her on their shoulders, and laughed heartily. They grabbed two little maids and asked them to lead the way to the Qingjing Spring.
Xiangye was extremely worried when she saw Caiyu being carried on the shoulders of several burly men, just like a concubine in the harem was about to serve the emperor. She rushed forward to stop them.
Liu Huashan grabbed her and shook his head at her.
"Brother Liu! What should we do about Sister Caiyu?" Xiangye whispered anxiously in his ear. "If she is taken by that General Sheng, will the prince kill someone?"
Liu Huashan looked at the Hu cavalrymen who were eyeing them menacingly. He had no choice but to hold down her restless body. "As long as the green mountains remain, there will always be firewood. If she really loses her innocence, it's still better than losing her life."
"But..." Xiangye wanted to say that a woman's innocence was more important than her life.
But Liu Huashan interrupted her in a low voice, "Didn't you ask me to release the carrier pigeon yesterday? Look at the sky. Maybe the prince will be back soon... You have to trust Miss Caiyu. She is so smart. She will definitely be able to hold off that General Sheng!"
---
The sun was setting in the west, and the light was gradually fading. The light was about to disappear, and the cold wind brought a chill with the approaching twilight.
Jiang Jinyue was pacing impatiently beside Princess Yao's bed, like a widow hen.
Zhui'er and Bailu were standing obediently beside her with their heads down, not daring to make a sound.
Nanny Li squinted her eyes and comforted her, "Why is Miss Jiang so anxious? Although that lowly maid didn't die, she has now been sent to General Sheng. After tonight, she will be General Sheng's woman.
"Even if the prince comes back, he is such a proud man. How could he still want an unclean woman? This old servant thinks that the matter of Caiyu is over. You don't have to worry about her anymore. It's the old princess..."
Nanny Li looked at Princess Yao, who was lying on the luxurious canopied bed with her eyes closed and her lips blue. She said worriedly:
"Miss Jiang, you've interrogated that lowly maid for a whole day. She still refuses to tell you where the antidote is hidden?"
Nanny Li knew nothing about Jiang Jinyue's evil deeds. She really thought it was Caiyu who had poisoned the old princess. Coupled with the fact that she had always been on bad terms with Caiyu, she had rushed over after hearing the news to avenge her master and put Caiyu to death.
When Jiang Jinyue heard her ask about the antidote, a look of guilt flashed across her eyes. Then she said angrily:
"That evil maid! She really wants my aunt to die! She would rather die with my aunt than reveal a single bit of information!"
"I think she must be a spy sent by His Highness the Crown Prince! As long as she poisons my aunt to death, my cousin will be grief - stricken for a while. He will surely be unable to spare any energy to fight with His Highness the Crown Prince..."
Nanny Li nodded in agreement. "This woman is really vicious. I really wish I could cut her into a thousand pieces! But what should we do about the old princess? The doctor said that if we can't find the antidote after tonight, the poison will enter her heart and lungs, and it will be too late to save her!"
It would be even better if it was too late to save her!
Jiang Jinyue pursed her lips slightly.
Princess Yao's letter had already been sent to Jiaodong. After her father received the letter, he would surely follow Princess Yao's advice and no longer force her to participate in the imperial selection.
As long as Princess Yao died, no one would force her to marry into another noble family as a concubine.
She just had to stay in the Prince of Yan's mansion and bide her time. If she put all her effort into winning over her cousin, she believed that with time, her cousin would eventually fall in love with her.
As for that Caiyu...
Jiang Jinyue suppressed the malice in her heart.
If Sheng Jiangli really took a fancy to her and wanted her, that would be fine too.
As long as she didn't stand in the way of her becoming the Princess of Yan, she could be magnanimous and spare her!
Thinking of this, a few tears rolled out of Jiang Jinyue's eyes. She looked panicked and helpless:
"Yes, Nanny. What should we do about my aunt? I'm so young. I don't know how to deal with such a thing. You've been in the mansion for many years. Please tell me. Is there any other way to save my aunt?"
"As long as someone can save her, I'm willing to give all my savings as a reward!"
Nanny Li was stunned by Jiang Jinyue's reversal.
She had been counting on Jiang Jinyue to come up with an idea, but the other party was even more panicked than her.
Helplessly, Nanny Li had to comfort this sobbing Miss Jiang while scolding Caiyu for being doomed to a bad end.
As for Caiyu, she was supported by two little maids into the Qingjing Spring and soaked for a while. The bone - deep pain in her wounds gradually numbed, and her mind gradually cleared up.
She had always known that hot springs had the effect of healing wounds. Moreover, Song Yinghuai had also put some medicinal herbs in the spring. This Qingjing Spring was a holy place for recuperation.
Although it wasn't like a magic pill that could cure all diseases as soon as one entered the pool, its effect of stopping bleeding and relieving pain was remarkable.
She just didn't know if that man just now would be easy to deal with.
After the little maids helped her wash, they wrapped her in a brocade quilt and handed her over to the Hu cavalrymen outside the screen. Then she was carried into the place where Sheng Jiangli was temporarily staying in the Prince of Yan's mansion -
Ruixue Tower.