She slept until evening, when Nanny Fu and Lu Ye again served her porridge. Afterward, Lu Ye kept watch at the door while Nanny Fu went out.

Nanny Fu also explained to her the whereabouts of the head maids Hui Qin and Hong Juan. Hui Qin was “busy with something,” and Hong Juan had requested a day off because her father was ill.

Hong Juan was given by Old Madam, and Hui Qin was given by the First Madam. Her two original head maids who had served her since childhood had been sent away by Xu Shi to marry—naturally to poor matches. Additionally, Xu Shi had arranged for her a matron named Nanny Chen to manage rough work. Although managing the inner courtyard would be more profitable and better for monitoring Qin Shuying, it couldn’t pass inspection with Old Madam, so she had to let Nanny Fu serve in the inner courtyard.

Qin Shuying lay on the bed, and as she lay there, tears unknowingly flowed down. The pain of losing a child, the heart-piercing agony—how could she possibly remain calm?

A maid wearing a light green vest and goose-yellow skirt with a graceful figure walked in, carrying a bowl of black medicinal liquid. She casually glanced at Qin Shuying, completely ignoring the tears on her face, and said: “Miss, it’s time to take medicine.”

This was Hui Qin. She was mainly responsible for food and drink, while Hong Juan was responsible for clothes and some personal matters. As for the most important matter of money, Xu Shi had Nanny Fu manage it.

What money did Qin Shuying have left to manage now? Yet Xu Shi had gained a good reputation.

The previous Qin Shuying had also approved of Xu Shi’s arrangements. Xu Shi said that young ladies should be delicate and reserved, and shouldn’t be tainted by the vulgarity of gold and silver. Qin Shuying’s mother, Long Shi, originally wasn’t very skilled at household management either, and her upbringing of this daughter also avoided the stench of copper. Therefore, the original Qin Shuying only knew how to compose poetry and paint, play the qin and write—delicate, reserved, and ignorant of worldly affairs.

Hui Qin actually only managed her medicine-taking. She didn’t care about meals. From the evening’s food, it seemed Xu Shi hadn’t tampered with the meals. Hui Qin was naturally happy to let Nanny Fu and Lu Ye run errands and read expressions. The kitchen stewards always fawned on the high and trampled on the low, only looking at which household and courtyard’s master had status when serving meals.

Hui Qin’s gaze lingered on her own fingernails. After waiting quite a while and seeing that Qin Shuying still lay there without moving, impatience flashed in her eyes. Finally, she still helped Qin Shuying sit up, placed a large red pillow with gold thread python patterns behind her, then picked up the spoon to feed her the medicine.

“Cough cough!”

But Qin Shuying suddenly started coughing, leaning forward and knocking the medicine bowl from Hui Qin’s hand—crash!

The crisp sound of porcelain hitting the ground rang out sharply. The black medicinal liquid spilled completely onto Hui Qin’s body, immediately soaking her bright clothes.

“Ah!” Hui Qin hurriedly stepped back, anger flashing in her eyes as she complained loudly: “How can you be so careless?!”

Qin Shuying coughed while observing Hui Qin’s expression from the corner of her eye.

Hui Qin’s face was full of disgust as she complained: “How unlucky!”

She was just a maid, yet dared to treat her this way. Qin Shuying’s thoughts turned, and she formed a plan. “Cough cough cough… I didn’t do it on purpose…”

Hui Qin didn’t regard her at all, her face full of impatience and disgust: “You’re so annoying!”

Lu Ye was so angry her body trembled. These dog-eyed creatures who looked down on people! When Miss first returned to the manor and they saw her vast family wealth, every one of them rushed to serve her.

Miss was kind-hearted, peaceful and gentle. Moreover, there weren’t enough people brought from the South, so she naturally selected quite a few people. Who knew that now, seeing Miss was ill, every one of them immediately changed their tune. They put no effort into serving, making everything require her and Nanny Fu’s personal attention. Otherwise, Miss couldn’t even get a sip of hot soup.

Hui Qin ignored Lu Ye’s expression, snorted, and walked out without even cleaning up the broken bowl on the floor.

When Nanny Fu returned, this was the scene she saw. She hurried over: “Miss, Miss, don’t be angry. Getting angry with such a shameless hussy is beneath your dignity. It’s good that this medicine spilled—Miss shouldn’t drink it…”

Nanny Fu herself was furious but feared that Qin Shuying’s anger would be bad for her health, so she hurriedly patted Qin Shuying’s back to help her calm down.

Qin Shuying’s eyelids were lowered, her long eyelashes like butterfly wings casting heavy shadows over her eyes. It seemed her current situation wasn’t much better than her previous life. A mere maid dared to act this way—one could see how weak Qin Shuying usually was.

Looking at the medicinal liquid on the ground, Nanny Fu was hunched over cleaning it up. Earlier, hearing Nanny Fu say she suspected Qin Yaoyao’s death was connected to Xu Shi and Qin Feifei, Nanny Fu was truly someone Heaven had left to help her—so careful and cautious.

Unfortunately, Nanny Fu was straightforward by nature. How could she be a match for Xu Shi? How could Qin Shuying escape Xu Shi’s poisonous hands? The real Qin Shuying had long since died!

In her previous life, she had managed a pharmacy. To carve out a path through fierce competition, she had painstakingly studied pharmacology. She could identify common and uncommon medicines. In the medicinal liquid just now, although there was no poison, there was a heavy tonic medicine. Though the amount was small, Qin Shuying’s weak constitution couldn’t handle it. Long-term consumption would surely lead to death!

Previously, although Nanny Fu had suspicions, she had no evidence. Xu Shi had Hui Qin personally watch Qin Shuying drink the medicine, and Qin Shuying herself willingly took it. What could a wet nurse do?

Now, naturally she had to start by cutting off the medicinal liquid and begin conditioning her body. Although this body was weak, as long as she stopped that medicinal liquid and changed to medicine suited to her condition, she believed it would soon be fine. However, the room was full of spies everywhere. How to switch things required some thought. After quietly thinking for a while, she had a plan.

“Lu Ye, go to the door first.” Qin Shuying instructed in a calm, waveless tone. Only after Lu Ye was guarding the door did she lower her voice to say to Nanny Fu: “Nanny, I have a prescription here. When you go out, personally get the medicine. If anyone asks you, just say it’s for your own use. When you return, brew the medicine yourself and bring it to me when no one’s around.”

After saying all this in one breath, Qin Shuying was already gasping for breath. Nanny Fu suddenly opened her eyes wide, looking at Qin Shuying with disbelief. But she saw her eyes bright as stars yet calm as a deep pool, rippling with unclear coldness.

Nanny Fu grasped her hand, extremely excited: “Miss, you, you finally believe this old servant’s words? This old servant has been saying that the First Madam and Second Madam both have ulterior motives. You must never drink these medicines… Heaven be praised! Miss, you finally, finally…”

Qin Shuying opened her eyes, her gaze passing through Nanny Fu to rest on the red lacquered plate with fine inlay patterns on the table. On the plate sat a complete set of Ru kiln blue and white porcelain teapot and cups. Such fine porcelain—if it were broken, it would truly be a pity!

In Xu Shi’s eyes, Qin Yaoyao was just a worthless life, Qin Shuying was also just a worthless life, and Feng’er was also just a worthless life. But if Xu Shi’s precious daughters Qin Lianlian, Qin Feifei, and Qin Yunyun died, would it be like that exquisite porcelain breaking—would it be a great pity?