For the second half of the birthday banquet, people were discussing what had just happened. Sitting on his stool, Guo Qishi felt like he was sitting on pins and needles under the prying eyes of the crowd.
Liu Fufeng picked up her chopsticks to serve herself some food. It tasted like sawdust in her mouth, but her face showed no sign that anything was amiss.
After the banquet ended, Song Jinzhao was about to leave when Bihe took the initiative to run over and see her off.
When they reached a secluded area, she stopped and shoved a coin purse into Song Jinzhao's hands, asking in a low voice, "This is the consultation fee for the two Misses of the Guo family today. The Old Madam also has one more thing she wants me to ask Dr. Song: is the eldest Miss Guo's body truly healthy?"
Song Jinzhao gave a slight tug at the corners of her mouth and replied, "The Old Madam doesn't need to worry. Eldest Miss Guo's body is perfectly normal, and she is capable of bearing children."
Hearing this, Bihe breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly went back to report to Old Madam Meng.
When her carriage was nearing her home, Song Jinzhao remembered that she had forgotten to buy the date paste cake she had promised to bring Song Anhao. She asked Fushun to turn around and head to the pastry shop. Halfway there, however, she noticed the Guo family's carriage speeding toward the government office. It was moving so fast that the entire carriage looked as if it were about to shake apart.
The next day, the outcome of the incident spread.
The drugging incident was orchestrated entirely by Nanny Lu from start to finish, and had nothing to do with Liu Fuyun.
Rumor had it that Guo Yiyao had inadvertently offended Nanny Lu. Harboring a grudge, Nanny Lu used Liu Fufeng's name to order the manor's servants to send Guo Yiyao various mutually incompatible foods that would cause a cold womb and infertility. She also secretly bribed Yunqiao in an attempt to ruin Guo Yiyao's marriage.
As for the matter of swapping the brides, it was a lie fabricated by Nanny Lu to successfully bribe Yunqiao.
But she never expected that Guo Yiyao was kind-hearted and considerate of her servants, giving her daily meals to her personal maid as a reward. This was why the incompatible foods hadn't affected her.
Meng Hechuan also tracked down the medical clinic where Nanny Lu bought the drugs.
It was said that ordinary people wouldn't be able to detect the drug, but she hadn't anticipated Song Jinzhao's superb medical skills, which allowed her to spot it immediately, thus exposing the conspiracy.
Because no lives were lost and neither of the two Misses of the Guo family suffered serious harm, Nanny Lu and Yunqiao were respectively dragged back by the Guo and Meng families after being beaten with heavy staffs.
It was said that they were beaten to death as soon as they entered the manor gates, and their bodies were thrown into a mass grave with no one to even collect them.
The clinic was empty. Song Shixue, who was preparing medicine, looked at Song Jinzhao hesitantly upon hearing the news.
"Sister, is that really what happened?"
Song Jinzhao chuckled softly and asked in return, "What do you think?"
Song Shixue pursed her lips. After pondering for a couple of seconds, she put down the medicine packets, walked over, and sat beside Song Jinzhao.
"I think the mastermind behind the scenes is Guo Yiyao's stepmother. Sending her incompatible foods to eat was real, ordering Nanny Lu to bribe Yunqiao to drug her was real, and the bride-swapping plot to marry her own biological daughter to Young Master Meng was also real. Nanny Lu is just a scapegoat."
Sitting opposite them, Liu Xuanqing stroked his long beard and looked at Song Shixue with a face full of smiles.
His little master was quick-witted and smart; she hadn't been fooled by the lies these wealthy households used to cover up the truth.
Without someone pulling the strings, how would a servant dare to frame her master? Not to mention drugging someone at the birthday banquet of Prefect Meng's mother.
What kind of deep-seated grudge would make her risk her life like that? These so-called truths that had been investigated were nothing but fabrications made by official families to maintain their reputation of an upright family tradition.
If the matriarch of the Guo family really bore the infamy of harming the legitimate daughter of the first wife, Guo Rongzhi and Guo Yishu's futures would be ruined. In serious cases, it would even affect Assistant Prefect Guo's official career. Of course, they had to quickly find a scapegoat to take the blame.
However, with things having reached this point, Guo Yishu's reputation was already half-ruined.
These tricks could deceive the common people, but they couldn't fool those well-informed, prominent families of similar status to the Guo family.
With Liu Fufeng as the mastermind, no one would believe that her daughter, Guo Yishu, was kept in the dark.
Poisoning her own sister and coveting her future brother-in-law—with such a reputation hanging over her head, her future marriage prospects would be extremely difficult.
"Two months ago, Guo Yiyao came to our clinic for a consultation. She dressed like that because she didn't want to be seen, probably to guard against her stepmother."
Song Shixue's voice grew firmer and more forceful as she spoke.
"At that time, you wrote her a list of cold and raw foods to avoid. That's why when her stepmother gave her those dishes, she didn't eat them, but rewarded a portion to her maid."
Song Jinzhao rubbed her chin with her fingers, looked up, and teased, "And what about the soup she consumed by mistake?"
Song Shixue froze. Staring at Song Jinzhao's playful gaze, her eyes flickered twice before her pupils suddenly dilated. "Sister, do you mean that bowl of soup was deliberately switched by Guo Yiyao?"
Song Jinzhao raised an eyebrow. Seeing a patient come in, she stood up and left behind a breezy, "What do you think?"
Song Shixue stood frozen in place, her brows tightly knitted as her mind plunged into deep thought.
Liu Xuanqing hadn't known that Guo Yiyao had visited the clinic. Hearing the two sisters talk like this, he couldn't help but grow suspicious as well.
Guo Yiyao seemed to be about the same age as his grandmaster; it wasn't impossible for her to beat them at their own game and scheme against them in return.
A month later, when Guo Yiyao got married, Liu Fufeng didn't even show her face.
The reason the Guo family claimed to the public was that she had caught a chill and was afraid of infecting the guests who came to congratulate them, so she couldn't leave her room.
Less than a month after Guo Yiyao's marriage, Liu Fufeng died of her illness. It was said that the cold caused a high fever, and she breathed her last in just one night.
But all this was a story for later.
On the third day after Song Jinzhao attended Old Madam Meng's birthday banquet, Liao Xiwen personally came to her door to invite her to the Liao Manor to treat Madam Liao.
Liao Xiwen's father was the Sub-Prefect of Anyang; in terms of official rank, he was second only to Meng Hechuan, the Prefect.
In the carriage, Liao Xiwen furrowed her brows, her heart filled with anxiety. "To be honest with you, Miss Song, my mother has been disappointed too many times. She has long since given up hope on doctors and even harbors some aversion toward them."
"During today's consultation, if she has a poor attitude, I beg for your forbearance."
Song Jinzhao smiled and nodded. "It's no trouble. As a healer, I've seen all sorts of patients. This is nothing."
Twelve pregnancies and twelve miscarriages—if this were the modern era, a person would likely have gone mad from the blow long ago.
The fact that this Madam Liao hadn't gone mad and only had a bad temper meant her psychological endurance was already astonishingly strong.
On the bustling street, the commoners saw the carriage and hurriedly stepped aside to make way.
For some reason, the customers at a noodle stall suddenly started arguing. After a few words, the quarrel grew louder and louder until they simply came to blows.
Seeing this, the stall owner hurriedly went up to break up the fight. In the chaos, a man with a thick beard was bumped and stumbled backward rapidly. Unable to stop his momentum, his back slammed heavily into the stove used for boiling wontons.
Blazing firewood scattered all over the ground, sending sparks flying everywhere. The boiling water in the pot splashed entirely onto the horse's legs.
"Neigh—!" The horse's body shuddered violently as it let out a sharp, frantic whinny.
It reared its scalded hooves high into the air, tossing its mane wildly and bucking in panic.
The carriage jolted violently. The tea and pastries on the low table were overturned onto the floor, scattering everywhere.
Liao Xiwen's eyes widened in horror, and she screamed at the top of her lungs, on the verge of being thrown out of the carriage.
"Miss!" The maid tried to reach out to support Liao Xiwen, but she lost her balance. With a loud thud, she crashed into the corner of the carriage, her mind going completely blank.
Song Jinzhao gripped the long wooden plank beneath her tightly with her left hand, leaned forward, and wrapped her arm around Liao Xiwen's slender waist, pulling the girl into her embrace.
Outside the carriage, a chorus of gasps and screams erupted as the commoners scattered in panic to dodge out of the way.
The rough reins had dug into the webbing and palms of the coachman's hands, leaving two dark crimson bloody gashes. Despite pulling with all his might, he still couldn't bring the horse under control. Amidst the violent jolting, half of his body was dangling precariously, looking as if he would fall from the carriage at any moment.
Song Jinzhao pried Liao Xiwen's hands off herself and placed them on the long bench beneath them, shouting sternly, "Hold on tight with both hands and don't let go. I'm going to control the horse."
Liao Xiwen's limbs turned to jelly, her heart practically leaping out of her throat. "Don't go! You won't be able to control a spooked horse."
Even the coachman was about to be thrown off. With Song Jinzhao's slender arms and legs, if she left the carriage, she would be sent flying until she was completely out of sight.
Song Jinzhao ducked out of the carriage. Her legs clamped onto the carriage frame like iron tongs. Her left hand snatched the reins flailing in the air, while her right hand grabbed the coachman by the shoulder, hauling him up from under the frame.
She exerted force in her arms, causing the horse to rear its head high. Accompanied by the rapid, heavy snorts from its nostrils, its front hooves kicked wildly in the air, struggling forward.
Under the force of inertia, the carriage let out a harsh, grating creak, and the right wheel, unable to withstand the pressure, snapped off and flew away.
An intense feeling of weightlessness swept over Liao Xiwen and her maid sitting inside the carriage. In the nick of time, the fierce horse's hooves slammed heavily onto the ground. Its head tossed from side to side a few times before finally drooping down.
Liao Xiwen leaned against the carriage wall, still reeling from the terror. Her chest heaved erratically, and she looked as though her soul had left her body, unable to recover her senses for a long time.
Once the carriage had come to a steady halt, the coachman stumbled and rolled off.
Seeing that Liao Xiwen was still panting heavily, Song Jinzhao grabbed her hand and led her down.
The maid crawled out of the carriage, dizzy and seeing stars. The moment her feet touched the ground, she pitched forward.
"Linglong!" Liao Xiwen's unfocused pupils suddenly contracted.
Song Jinzhao turned, took a step to the right, and reached out to catch the maid, gently laying her on the ground.
The maid raised a trembling hand and shook her head. "Miss, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy."
Song Jinzhao placed her fingers on the maid's radial artery. The rise and fall of her chest was normal, and the whites of her eyes were a healthy porcelain hue.
When her fingers pressed against the back of her head, Linglong furrowed her brows, grabbed Song Jinzhao's arm, and groaned, "It hurts a bit."
Liao Xiwen bent down and crouched beside them. "Did she hit her head?"
The impact inside the carriage just now had been no small matter.
"Don't move, let me take another look."
There were no open wounds or depressions, but there was a swelling, no larger than two centimeters.
"We'll observe her for a while first, but it shouldn't be a major issue."
Hearing Song Jinzhao say this, Liao Xiwen felt a slight wave of relief wash over her.
The coachman walked around to inspect the carriage and discovered that not only had one wheel rolled off, but the axle had also cracked open.
"Miss, this carriage is no longer safe to ride in. Please allow this humble servant to pull it back to the manor and drive another carriage over to pick you up."
Liao Xiwen, still gripped by lingering fear, shook her head and waved her hands, swallowing hard to calm her nerves.
"I don't want to ride in a carriage right now. You drag the carriage back. I will walk back to the manor with Doctor Song."
Song Jinzhao turned around to look back. The wonton stall that had been knocked over was already about a hundred meters away from them.
The stall owner, afraid that the noble ladies in the carriage would come over to hold them accountable, tightly grabbed a bearded man with both hands, refusing to let him leave.
The bearded man struggled to break free, repeating constantly, "If that person hadn't pushed me just now, I wouldn't have crashed into it. If you want to blame someone, you should blame him."
The stall owner refused to let go, his spit spraying all over the man's face as he spoke.
"That person has already run away! If you hadn't been arguing with him, how could a fight have broken out and knocked over my stove? I can't do any business today, so you have to pay for the damages."
The coachman looked hesitantly at Liao Xiwen. "Miss, should we...?"
Liao Xiwen shook her head. "Forget it, they didn't do it on purpose. You go back first; we'll sit for a while before leaving."
The coachman nodded, picked up the reins, and slowly pulled the broken carriage away.
Liao Xiwen led Song Jinzhao and her maid into a nearby teahouse to sit down.
After calming down, she recalled the heroic way Song Jinzhao had tamed the horse just now, and she turned her head, her eyes brimming with curiosity.
"Miss Song knows how to ride a horse?"
"I do."
Song Jinzhao glanced at Linglong, who was wiping the table for Liao Xiwen. The maid had completely regained her energy and seemed to be perfectly fine.
Liao Xiwen picked up her teacup and took a sip, her tone filled with envy and a hint of regret. "When I was young, I wanted to learn how to ride too. Later, when I was twelve, my father specially hired a riding master to come to the manor to teach me, but I ended up falling off the horse."
"If the manor's guards hadn't caught me in time, I might have lost my life. After that, I never tried to learn again."
Song Jinzhao asked, "How many days had you been learning before the riding master let go and allowed you to ride alone?"
Liao Xiwen tilted her chin up in thought. "Three days. He was right there beside me but didn't take control. My father said his riding skills were poor and that his reputation was unearned, so he kicked him out."
She leaned forward, resting her arms on the table.
"Miss Song, your riding skills are so excellent. Could you teach me how to ride someday? If I encounter something like today again, there might be no one to save me."
Song Jinzhao shook her head. "I have many chores at home, and the medical clinic sees quite a few patients every day. I cannot spare any extra time to teach Miss Liao how to ride."
Liao Xiwen lowered her head in disappointment. "That really is a pity."
The teahouse was still quite a distance from the Liao Manor; walking there would take about an hour.
Song Jinzhao intended to speed up her pace, but whenever she walked just a bit faster, Liao Xiwen and her maid would be left behind. After a few attempts, she had no choice but to resign herself to a leisurely stroll beside the two of them.
Liao Xiwen's mouth simply couldn't stop. She talked as they walked, gossiping about almost every young lady from the inner courts of the prominent families in Anyang Prefecture.
When the topic turned to what had happened at the birthday banquet a few days ago, she said, "Guo Yiyao's stepmother fell ill right after returning from the Meng Manor. I heard it was an invasion of evil wind. Did the Guo Manor ask you to come over for a consultation?"
Song Jinzhao curled her lips into a faint smile and shook her head. "They probably wouldn't invite me."
Liu Fufeng most likely hated her to the core by now, so how could she possibly ask her to treat her illness?
She had been full of vigor just a few days ago, but today she was bedridden from an invasion of evil wind.
Whether it was a sickness of the heart or just pretending to be ill remained to be seen.
Seeing how Madam Meng had defended Guo Yiyao that day, it was absolutely certain that she wanted this daughter-in-law.
If Guo Qishi failed to handle this matter properly, not only would he break his biological daughter's heart, but he would also offend his future in-laws. This illness likely had an ulterior motive.
In an alleyway by the street, a man dressed in gray coarse clothing and wearing a bamboo hat fixed his gaze firmly on Song Jinzhao. Only after she had walked far away did he turn and leave.
Song Jinzhao stopped in her tracks and narrowed her eyes, glancing toward her right rear. The bustling street market was filled with people coming and going, each minding their own business. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary.
Seeing her suddenly stop, Liao Xiwen asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Song Jinzhao turned back around and shook her head. "I felt like someone was watching us."
Liao Xiwen's eyes curved into crescents as she smiled brightly and said, "Everyone has an appreciation for beauty. Both of us are quite good-looking, so it's perfectly normal for people to stare. Next time, we can wear veiled hats when we go out."
Song Jinzhao parted her lips slightly, feeling as if her throat were blocked, leaving her momentarily speechless.
How had she never noticed before that this girl was so narcissistic? Weren't the young ladies of prominent families supposed to be reserved?
