When the palace attendants replaced Wei Xiuyan with hot tea, He Shen walked in with a solemn look. After giving him a salute, he turned around and slammed the bag in his hand onto Du Cheng's face, and shouted:
"See for yourself what this is?!"
The thing was very heavy, and Du Cheng was knocked dizzy. It took him a while to recover, and he untied the small baggage that fell in front of him with a puzzled expression. As soon as he untied it, he was stunned. The heavy object that had just hit him was
, turned out to be an ingot of silver of high quality, each ingot numbering ten taels, with the four words "Jiangning Government" printed on the bottom, which is... official silver!
There are seven or eight ingots of this kind of silver in the baggage. In addition, there are some jade articles and banknotes. Together, they amount to several hundred taels.
He Shen shouted sharply: "These things were all found from your room, Du Cheng, you are so brave!"
"This does not belong to me. I have never seen these things before." Faced with Du Cheng's denial, He Shen laughed angrily, "According to what you say, I am framing you and putting the blame on you?!"
"This is not what I meant, but..." before he could finish his words, he was slapped so hard on the face that his eyes were filled with stars and the corners of his mouth were cracked. "There are people with stolen goods, but you still dare to quibble and say,
"Who gave you the money?" He Shen said bitterly. Hongli repeatedly told him that he must take good care of Wei Xiuyan and her unborn child. Now that something like this happened, how could he not feel angry and resentful?
.
Du Cheng was not responsible for this matter, how could he explain it, but He Shen didn't believe him at all, so he ordered people to drag him down and wait on him with a cane, and beat him more than forty times, but he never asked what happened.
Wei Xiuyan said coldly: "What a Du Cheng, he has such a tough mouth!"
He Shen quickly raised his hands and said, "Madam, please rest assured. I will take him back to the house and torture him severely. I will definitely make him reveal the person behind the scenes. I will never tolerate it."
Wei Xiuyan glanced at him and said coldly: "I hope so." She had frequent contact with He Shen and knew that he was Hongli's confidant and would not harm her. However, thinking that he recommended Du Cheng to enter the garden, she couldn't help but feel a little bit.
Not happy.
He Shen also saw her thoughts and did not dare to say anything. He lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry, please leave."
Just as He Shen was about to step out of the threshold, Wei Xiuyan's voice, as cold as the ice and snow outside the house, came into her ears, "It's already getting late today. I'll trouble you and tell the emperor about this tomorrow."
"I understand." He Shen responded bitterly, hoping to force Du Cheng to reveal the messenger tonight, otherwise it would be really difficult for Hongli to explain.
Because of the arsenic incident, the atmosphere in Guangxiu Garden was more solemn than ever before. All the servants were immersed in their own tasks and did not dare to say anything.
As for Wei Xiuyan, there was a shadow in her heart, like a frightened bird. Before eating anything, she had to test it with a silver needle. Even so, she felt worried. After taking a few bites, she said: "I'm full, take it."
Aunt Jin advised: "My wife has only eaten so much. If it is not enough, you should eat some more."
"I have no appetite." At Wei Xiuyan's insistence, Grandma Jin had to ask people to withdraw. After talking to Wei Xiuyan for a while, she said: "Madam, you are tired today. Why don't I serve you earlier?"
Just rest."
Wei Xiuyan was indeed a little tired, and she washed and changed her clothes one by one. After serving her for a while, Grandma Jin lowered the curtain, turned off the lights, and quietly exited, leaving a small lamp emitting a faint light.
Wei Xiuyan lay there in a daze for a while, vaguely heard the sound of footsteps, and half-opened her sleepy eyes and called, "Aunt Jin, is that you?"
No one answered her, she could only see the black shadow reflected on the tent getting closer and closer. Wei Xiuyan half-sited up and asked warily: "Who is it?"
Before she finished her words, someone lifted up the gauze curtain that was hanging on the ground. A figure whose face could not be seen clearly rushed into it, grabbed her chin, and poured something into her mouth. Wei Xiuyan struggled desperately, but was helpless.
The man was so powerful that she couldn't break free. The bitter liquid flowed down her throat into her abdomen, followed by severe abdominal pain and the feeling that something was leaving her.
Child! Her child! This is her only close relative in the world, and she must not lose it!
Thinking like this, Wei Xiuyan used all her strength to get rid of the hand that clamped her chin, opened her mouth and bit into the man's wrist, and the salty liquid suddenly filled her mouth.
In the darkness, as if he couldn't feel the pain, the man let out a strange "Jiejie" laugh, "Give up, tonight, you and the evil creature in your belly will definitely die!" As he said that, he smashed the medicine bowl on the ground.
He shook hands and turned into a fist and punched Wei Xiuyan hard in the abdomen!
"No!" With these two words, Wei Xiuyan suddenly sat up from the bed, her forehead was covered with cold sweat, and she kept panting. At the same time, her abdomen felt tighter and tighter.
Her child... Thinking of this, Wei Xiuyan hurriedly touched her abdomen. Fortunately, the child was still in her belly and had not left her. The curtains were lowered, and a candlelight was faintly shining. There was no one like her in the room.
What black shadow she saw, what happened just now was just a nightmare she had!
Thinking of this, Wei Xiuyan calmed down her breathing slightly, and the contraction of her abdomen also eased. At this moment, Grandma Jin's anxious voice came from outside the house, "Madam, what happened?"
Wei Xiuyan knew that it must be the call she just blurted out that woke up Aunt Jin who was sleeping in the ear room. She gasped a few times and said: "It's nothing, it's just a nightmare. Please step back."
"Yes." After this agreement, the outside of the room fell into silence again. Wei Xiuyan leaned on the bedside and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. Although she knew it was a dream, she still had lingering fears when she thought of the scene in the dream. It was too much.
horrible.
In the end... who was so cruel that he instigated Du Cheng to poison the lives of their mother and son with arsenic?
While she was thinking, there was another knock on the door outside the house. Wei Xiuyan thought it was Grandma Jin who had not left yet, so she frowned and said, "What else is there?"
A man's voice came from outside the house, "Slave Fan Jin, please see my lady!"
A trace of surprise flashed across Wei Xiuyan's eyes. After a moment of silence, she said, "Come in."
Following her words, Fan Jin opened the door and walked in. He looked through the curtain and stared at the figure reflected on the curtain. Wei Xiuyan suddenly thought of the scene in her dream. Could it be that... Fan Jin was that person in the dream?
, he wants to harm her? Thinking of this, she involuntarily shrank to the corner of the bed, forcing herself to calmly say: "Why did you come here so late?"
Fan Jin didn't know what she was thinking, so he lowered his head and said, "Madam, I thought of something and thought it might be related to what happened today, so I bothered you late at night. Please forgive me."