Chapter Ninety-Four Message

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  "... Empress Shen misses you, the Emperor has issued a decree inviting you to enter the palace on All Saints' Day to watch the fireworks with Empress Shen." Rong Sheng pointed to the etiquette lady beside him and introduced, "The general is afraid that you have forgotten the imperial court etiquette, so he invited Lady Zhao to guide you."

  Enter the palace to watch fireworks?

  Zhen Shining was taken aback and turned to look at Xi Que: "Is she so familiar with Shen Fei?" She actually kept asking her to go watch the fireworks.

  The magpie silently shook its head. When the young lady from her household was at the Zhuangyuan Fu, Shen Fei was only five or six years old and was scared to death by her; how could she possibly miss her?

  Is this an excuse?

  It must be Wan Sui who wants to invite her.

  Ji Xiwu shook her head, and Zhen Shiniang's heart was in turmoil: the eight trigrams were not working, why did Wan Si suddenly invite her to watch the fireworks?

  "Madam An..." Zhao's eyes swept up and down Zhen Shi Niang, her gaze filled with a sense of superiority.

  The magpie's expression changed slightly, and he turned his head to look at Zhen Shining.

  Zhen Shiniang's eyebrows didn't move, and she slightly bowed to Zhao Nianiang, "Zhao Nianiang has had a hard journey, it's late today, let's start learning tomorrow." Turning her head to instruct Dong Juan, "Take Zhao Nianiang to the west wing room to rest."

  It was unexpected that Zhen Shiniang was so humble, and Zhao's mother was stunned for a while. The sarcastic words she had been brewing all the way were stuck in her stomach. When Dong Ju came to the front, she walked away with a huff.

  Zhen Shining turned around and asked Rong Sheng, “...Rong Sheng, do you know why Empress Shen wants me to enter the palace?”

  "I don't know." Rong Sheng shook his head, "The imperial edict was issued very suddenly, and the Emperor also rewarded Madam with a silver fox fur cloak to wear when watching the fireworks on New Year's Eve."

  She was just a humble daughter of a guilty minister, if you wanted to kill her, a single hint from the emperor would have been enough, there was no need to go to great lengths to frame her in the palace and then kill her. The fact that she was awarded clothes shows that the emperor had no malicious intentions this time when he summoned her into the palace.

  After hearing this, Zhen Shiniang felt a lot more at ease. Suddenly, she remembered what she had heard about Shen Fei Niangniang's miscarriage that day. Her heart skipped a beat as she wondered if there was a connection between the two incidents. She looked up and asked, "Has your body been well lately?"

  "The princess had a miscarriage due to food poisoning and is currently resting..."

  Have you eaten?

  You're not a cook from an ordinary family, how dare you serve spoiled food to the imperial concubine?

  Especially since she was pregnant with the Dragon's child.

  Zhen Shining didn't believe it, "......what did you eat? Didn't Wan let the imperial physician check?"

  "The Imperial Kitchen was investigated, and it turned out that the Royal Chef didn't know that Empress Shen had rewarded Concubine Shen with a bowl of crab roe porridge. At dinner time, she actually made persimmon crystal cake. The imperial physician said that crabs and persimmons are incompatible, eating them would cause stomach trouble, so Concubine Shen... Zhen Shimai was about to enter the palace by imperial order, and she knew about these things too. Before coming, Shen Zhongjie had hinted at her, and Rong Sheng had told her in detail: 'The palace maid who served Concubine Shen's meals and the Royal Chef both took their own lives out of guilt.'"

  Could it be that the crab roe congee awarded by Her Majesty the Empress Dowager was not from the imperial kitchen?

  That's a good reason!

  Even ghosts can be deceived.

  Zhen Shining smiled and slightly furrowed her brow.

  Because the parties involved in the suicide could not be investigated, Wan Sui accepted the conclusion of the Zong Ren Fu. This shows that Wan Sui did not want to delve deeper into the matter. However, after all, a prince was gone, and Shen Fei's brother, Shen Zhongxuan, had just made great contributions. What reason could there be for Wan Sui not to investigate this matter further?

  Is it because the other party's power is too great, and Wan Sui cannot move?

  Still... Wan Sui feared Shen Zhong's meritorious service would shake the ruler, and thought of using this opportunity to suppress him... This idea flashed only for a moment, before Zhen Shi Niang rejected it. Since Wan Sui had ambitions to unify Yan and Qi, he wouldn't suppress Shen Zhong at this time. Even if he wanted to "hide the bow after shooting the bird", that would be something he'd do after unifying Yan and Qi.

  Why didn't you pursue it then?

  If the other party's power is so great that even a thousand years would not dare to act rashly... but Shen Zhongge is not a wooden puppet... unless Shen Zhongge also fears the other party's power, if it is really like this, then he now needs an even more urgent powerful political marriage.

  But why did he still choose to leave her?

  Is it because of this imperial edict?

  Wan Sui wanted to use him but didn't want his power to be too great, so he used her to stop the marriage alliance, that's why he issued such an unreasonable imperial edict!

  A faint sense of disappointment flashed across her mind, and Zhen Shiniang's heart let out a cold laugh. "It seems that this abandoned wife is not entirely useless after all." She raised her head to see everyone staring at her, then smiled and instructed, "Let Feng Xiao set up the meal."

  After dinner, Rong Sheng hurried back to the capital city overnight.

  With Zhao's nanny around, Zhen Shining couldn't go to the capital again. After discussing with Xi Que, everything was ready, so she let Ji Huaifeng escort Qiu Ju there instead. Zhen Shining thought for a moment and wrote two more prescriptions, handing them to Qiu Ju: "Tell her that I originally planned to personally go to pay my respects to the old lady for the new year, but since the new year, my body has not been well, please forgive me."

  Not to mention the noble and dignified Lady Zhong, but even if she were just a humble folk doctor, it would be absolutely unacceptable for her to send only a small maid to pay New Year's respects on her behalf. Not going at all would be even worse. She gambled that Xiao Yu was a broad-minded person who knew about her poor health and wouldn't mind these things.

  The magpie was still worried and arranged for Li Changhai to follow along as well.

  Qiu Ju had just left when Gu Mai Ban arrived in the afternoon. He went straight to Rui Xiang Medicine Shop, where Li Qizhen's wife came to look for Zhen Shiniang with great enthusiasm.

  It's said that Qiu Ju just took someone to the capital, and he himself happened to brush shoulders with her. Gu Mai Bang was speechless and couldn't help but laugh, saying "Zhen Shi Niang is being polite... My master knew you weren't feeling well and was afraid of tiring you out, so he hastily sent me over."

  Zhen Shining smiled and said, "I should have gone myself. It's fortunate that General Xiao can forgive my disrespect." She changed the subject, "How is Old Lady's health?"

  "It's all better now!" Mentioning the old lady, Gu Pengcheng became even more respectful to Zhen Shiniang, "She's in good spirits, and she was complaining that you didn't go see her. It was only because Madam said you weren't feeling well that she gave up." Pointing at the expensive medicine outside, "You see, it was all brought by the old lady, hoping that you would recover quickly and go see her soon." The old lady had received many precious medicines while she was ill, knowing that Zhen Shiniang wasn't feeling well, and sent some over in annoyance.

  Zhen Shi Niang broke out in a cold sweat thinking of the half cart of mountain goods that Qiu Ju had sent over.

  It's also a semi-truck cargo, others just need one Snow Lotus to match the whole truck of their own, this is not comparable, and can't be reciprocated.

  Gu Pengcheng smiled and said, "I'll ask someone to thank the old lady on my behalf. When the weather warms up a bit later, I'll definitely go visit her myself."

  The two chatted for a few more sentences, and then Gu Pengcheng changed the subject. "…Jian Dafu's pills are selling extremely well at Tai Hospital, and the hospital is considering long-term cooperation with you. They want to meet you in person to discuss it. The middle hall asked me to ask you when you have time to go and talk to them?"

  During the Chinese New Year, Jian Wu pasted the character "fu" upside down, and sure enough, good fortune rolled in!

  Can't stop it!

  She was carefully considering how to ask, when she heard this, Zhen Shi Niang's excited face turned slightly red, after a long time, she finally restrained her excitement, "This body of mine really can't withstand the turmoil, I won't see General Jiang again, please let Lord Xiao take full charge on my behalf." With Xiao Ye taking charge, General Jiang wouldn't dare to extort her either.

  Such a big deal and she doesn't even show up!

  Gu Pengcheng stared at Zhen Shiniang in shock.

  As a purchasing agent, she often dealt with businessmen and knew that the more links there were between buying and selling, the more opportunities there were for corruption. Her elders also took this into consideration, so they let her personally discuss it with the adults to avoid suspicion.

  She actually pushed him away!

  Is this woman stupid or foolish?

  In Shang Yun's eyes, there was a calm and wise light, which made Song Pengcheng suddenly realize:

  She is incredibly clever!

  Entrusting the entire business to a person she had only met once, if Xiao Yu was a greedy and cunning individual, she would undoubtedly give him a huge space for operation. As long as Xiao Yu slightly raised the price at Taifu Hospital and then pressed down on her side, he could easily swindle seven-tenths of her profit in an instant. To anyone who saw this, she was a first-class fool.

  However, Xiao Yu was a straightforward person. He might use cunning means to deal with his political enemies, but he would never take advantage of a weak woman, especially one who had done great favors for the Xiao family. Not only would she not be taken advantage of, but she would also gain Xiao Yu's complete trust. With the support of Master Zhong behind her back, even those street rascals didn't dare to make any moves.

  She has thoroughly understood the character of the master of his family and is cleverly making him work for her, what a supreme intelligence!

  This calculation, Gu Pengcheng looked at Zhen Shining's gaze again, and added a layer of admiration. "If so, I will go back to the middle hall for a while."

  Zhen Shining didn't deliberate, but she didn't consider buying the goods in her heart. She thought that due to her special identity as General's wife, it would be better not to deal directly with people from the Imperial Hospital. However, currently, she didn't have a reliable assistant at hand. After weighing the options, instead of letting Qiuju or Li Changhe take charge, it was better to entrust everything to Xiao Ye.

  Gu Pengcheng nodded in agreement. She let out a sigh of relief and discussed some details about the cooperation with Ta Hospital. Only then did Zhen Shiniang get up to see Gu Pengcheng off.

  Mr. and Mrs. Li had been waiting in the side hall, when they saw them come out, Mr. Li took Gu Pengcheng to the front house to drink wine, leaving his wife to accompany Zhen Shi Niang.

  “…Just this half load of medicine, it can't be bought for less than a thousand or eight hundred taels of silver.” As the owner of a pharmacy herself, Li Qizhen's wife was familiar with the prices of medicines. She looked at Zhen Shiniang with envy, "What kind of person is the master who buys and sells? Is he an official?" Seeing that Zhen Shiniang didn't respond, she whispered mysteriously, "Or a merchant?" Sighing, "If it's a businessman, knowing General's wife's identity, I don't know how they would try to curry favor." Her eyes held a hint of temptation.

  Zhen Shining let out a silent sigh.

  Xiao Ye and Shen Zhongqiu are sworn brothers, if he knew she was Shen Zhongqiu's wife, I don't know how he would suppress it!

  Li Qizhen's wife was even more curious about these things, but she couldn't tell her either.

  Zhen Shiniang pretended not to see Li Qizhen's expectant gaze, and casually changed the subject, "......has Brother Li made any progress on finding a match for Xiao Shichen?"

  Li Qizhen's wife slapped him on the back, "You didn't ask me and I almost forgot. There are ten in total. I'll send them over tomorrow for you to choose." Zhen Shiniang only needed six young servants, so Li Qizhen had deliberately chosen a few more, giving her some leeway to select, "I heard your brother Li say that two of them even used to be apprentices with the medicine peddler..."