allonlinenovel Chapter 214 Life is running out
Chapter 214 Life is running out
The second wife felt as if she had been struck by lightning. The figures in front of her seemed to overlap, blurring the lines between reality and illusion.
"Father, you've removed our branch of the family from the genealogy! This is severing our lineage!" The second wife cried out, tears streaming down her face. "I was framed by Shen Qingtan! She deliberately made Erlang feign illness..."
"Even now, you still show no remorse, only trying to shift the blame onto others." The Duke interrupted her, saying coldly, "If you had no intention of harming Yi'er, how could you have fallen into their trap?"
"I……"
“Yi’er’s wife has never lied to you from beginning to end. She told you the truth that Yi’er’s weakness was caused by taking medicine.”
The Duke said sternly, "It was you who wanted to harm Yi'er. Seeing that he was weak, you assumed that Yi'er had fallen into your trap and falsely accused Yi'er's wife of plotting against him."
Upon seeing Zhao Yi's reaction, he knew it was a reaction to taking the detoxifying pill.
Zhao Yi takes one pill every three months.
The last time I ate it was before my wedding, and it took me four or five days to recover.
Now that three months have passed, it's time for the last pill.
This also means that Zhao Yi's lifespan is running out.
The Duke looked at Zhao Yi on the bed, a hint of sadness flashing in his eyes.
When facing the second wife, his expression was cold and stern: "You have harmed the younger generation and have no mercy as an elder. Simply removing you from the family genealogy is already showing leniency. If this were to reach the Emperor's ears, none of you would escape punishment."
The second wife turned pale, belatedly realizing what had happened.
She wanted to harm Zhao Yi precisely because Zhao Yi was deeply favored by the Emperor, and she wanted to use the Emperor as a tool to get rid of the Prince of Zhenbei.
And then the knife struck her.
The second wife racked her brains but couldn't figure out where she had gone wrong, allowing Shen Qingtan to see through her motives.
Because Shen Qingtan was too shrewd, she asked Jiang to give Shen Qingtan a packet of jasmine flowers to distract her and make her focus on the jasmine flowers.
But alas... it all came to naught.
She looked at the innocent-looking Shen Qingtan, her heart filled with hatred, and she almost ground her teeth to powder.
But what can be done?
The only one to blame is that this vile woman's acting skills were too superb, fooling the people she had planted in the temple.
The second wife left in a disheveled state, unsure how to explain things to the second master and Zhao Jue.
Removing them from the family genealogy means that everything about the Duke's mansion is no longer their concern.
The old lady watched the second wife's figure disappear into the dormitory, then withdrew her gaze and sighed heavily in her heart, hoping that the second wife's family would wake up from this incident.
The Duke removed them from the family genealogy, partly to extinguish any thoughts of the second branch vying for power, and partly to show the Emperor his stance.
The old lady came to the bedside, and seeing Zhao Yi's confused state, tears welled up in her eyes. She reached out and tucked the blanket around him.
"Tan'er, the second son's branch of the family has caused you and Yi'er so much suffering today," the old lady said in a frail voice. "The portion belonging to the second son's branch will be left to you and Yi'er."
Shen Qingtan understood the old lady's meaning; she wanted her to let the matter rest and not pursue the matter further with the second branch of the family.
Even if the second son is useless, he is still the old lady's biological son.
The old lady couldn't bear to stand by and watch them die, so she used the second branch of the family's property to compensate them.
After Liu Yue confessed to her, she found Jiang suspicious and sent someone to investigate. She found out that before she sent the ginseng, the family's life had suddenly improved.
She concluded that the Jiang family had been bribed.
Marquis Chengen, Madam Shen, and Shen Shaohuai value their reputation highly, and they will not break off relations unless absolutely necessary.
If you don't want to break off relations, you have to pretend to be very kind to her. If you want to harm her, you'll have more to worry about, which will actually give her a lot of convenience.
On the surface, the Marquis of Chengen's family has shown her kindness in raising her. If she acts directly and straightforwardly, her reputation will be ruined, and she will fall into a disadvantageous position, losing many opportunities.
Only by employing roundabout methods can one escape unscathed.
The same applies to the Duke's Mansion. The second branch of the family has an unusual status, so whether they take the initiative or retaliate, they must remain completely unscathed and leave no evidence against them.
Only by positioning themselves as victims could they undermine the Duke's affection for them.
The Jiang family is nothing to worry about.
Tingxue and Liuyue said that Jiang Shi cared about her son, so they directly seized control of Jiang Shi's lifeline and put her son in their hands.
As expected, Jiang was powerless to resist and betrayed the second wife.
Breaking Liu Yue's father's leg served two purposes: first, to eliminate any points that the Second Madam could use to attack her; and second, to intimidate the Jiang family.
Upon learning of the Second Madam's scheme, she discussed with Zhao Yi that they must take this opportunity to drive the Second Madam's family out of the Duke's mansion.
The second wife harbored murderous intent towards Zhao Yi; if one plan failed, there would surely be more to come.
When the time comes, her people will bring Zhongyuan back to cure Zhao Yi's poison.
She was afraid that she might have made a mistake that was impossible to guard against, and that the second wife might take advantage of the situation and succeed.
Only when the second branch of the family leaves the Duke's mansion will they be unable to reach out to them.
Zhao Yi said, "I am the key figure in your aunt's scheme against you. I am also the key figure in getting her out of the Duke's mansion. Only when you cross your grandfather's bottom line will he stop turning a blind eye."
He said, "Realgar doesn't bother me. I'm actually taking pills to suppress toxins in my body, which will make me very weak. We'll only offer incense at the main hall and not go anywhere else."
But the main hall was crowded with worshippers, so my second aunt dared not do anything there. Whether there was realgar there or not, I would still fall ill and put on a show for her.”
There were several medicinal ingredients that could trigger Zhao Yi's illness, but the Second Madam chose realgar because it was harmless to others and only harmful to Zhao Yi. Therefore, she could scheme openly without arousing suspicion.
From this, we can deduce that the Second Madam would not have any further tricks up her sleeve. In her mind, the realgar had triggered Zhao Yi's illness, which was enough to kill him.
After much deliberation, Shen Qingtan finally decided to play along with the plan.
The fact that the second wife thought of using jasmine flowers to distract her shows that she is an extremely cautious person in the second wife's eyes, and that the second wife has a strong sense of vigilance towards her. This time, she will definitely arrange for someone to guard the temple and observe their situation.
She smelled the stench of garlic in the main hall and deliberately asked the monk in charge of receiving guests about it. This alerted those hiding in the shadows that she had noticed something amiss.
If she doesn't ask and pretends not to have noticed anything unusual, it will only make people realize the flaw.
Because this doesn't suit her cautious nature.
She became suspicious and went to check. After that, Zhao Yi fell ill, and a series of subsequent events confused the person in the shadows, making him believe it was true. He then passed the message to the Second Madam, causing the Second Madam to come forward on her own initiative.