Seventh Miss barely managed to collect herself and smiled at Xiaoxue.
“Sit down!” Her tone softened considerably. “I’m afraid if you keep standing, you won’t be able to hold yourself up!”
Xiaoxue’s face showed gratitude as she timidly settled onto the small stool below Seventh Miss.
“Indeed, I don’t have the strength…” she said with a trace of explanation. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t dare to be so improper…”
Seventh Miss sighed inwardly.
A few years ago when Xiaoxue had served in Ninth Brother’s rooms, when had the word “propriety” ever entered her mind?
Even though Seventh Miss hadn’t particularly liked her originally, at this moment she felt three parts pity for her.
“Chushu was quite skillful in her methods.” She pondered and brought up the past. “When did you first realize something was wrong?”
Xiaoxue’s expression darkened.
“That bowl of cream cheese was especially sweet. After a few bites I put it down. That afternoon when I used the privy, I don’t know what happened, but my throat felt sweet and a mouthful of blood sprayed out.”
She proceeded to recount her ordeal in fits and starts.
“Thinking back, Chushu had complained of dizziness and said she wanted to eat some fruit. Only then did I swallow my pride to go to the small kitchen and beg for food for her.”
“As soon as I entered the small kitchen, I saw Sister Cao making cream cheese… I used Ninth Brother’s name to take a bowl, thinking that if Ninth Brother ate it, fine, but if not, it would be a treat for Chushu and me…” “Looking back, it was when Chushu took the tray and placed the cream cheese on the cabinet that she tampered with it… I’ve thought about it a thousand times over, and that was the only moment she had the opportunity to act…”
Sister Cao naturally had no issues—otherwise Ninth Brother would have died ten thousand times over. If the problem wasn’t with Xiaoxue, then it was with Chushu.
Seventh Miss pondered without immediately responding.
Xiaoxue also smiled self-deprecatingly and continued.
“Although I understood then that Chushu was trying to harm Ninth Brother, but… what evidence did I have?”
“I was the one who brought the item back. If Miss hadn’t reminded me, who knows whose stomach it would have ended up in. Even if I raised an outcry, Chushu would be clean… How could I prove anything?”
“Fortunately, after eating that bowl of cream cheese, I only coughed up that mouthful of blood with no other abnormalities. I hastily wiped up the blood on the floor and returned with Chushu. Along the way she kept stealing glances at my expression. Neither of us slept well that night, but the next day when I got up, I actually felt refreshed with nothing else wrong. I thought she had been bribed but wouldn’t dare use any particularly potent poison—otherwise where could she escape to?”
“I never expected this poison to take effect so slowly… No ordinary physician could detect anything wrong, only saying I had deficiencies of qi and blood! Hmph, Chushu never once came to my door to explain after being expelled. She was certain I would swallow this bitter pill in silence. What could I say? If Seventh Miss weren’t someone reasonable who gave me a seat, I would rather accept my fate than raise a fuss and have her family turn around and accuse me, implicating my younger brothers and sisters.”
With Xiaoxue’s level of understanding, she could probably only bury this matter in her stomach.
After all, Chushu was the one who was clean, without a trace of suspicion. Once things escalated, how could Xiaoxue’s family fare well?
Chushu had calculated everything to exhaustion!
Seventh Miss couldn’t help but search her memory for an image of Chushu.
She only remembered a fresh, pretty young girl who was usually quiet and reserved, much more introverted than Xiaoxue.
She never imagined it was she who had laid this simple yet meticulous poisonous plot. If she herself hadn’t spoken that extra sentence, if Xiaoxue also hadn’t been genuinely greedy.
Ninth Brother would probably look like Xiaoxue does now!
Seventh Miss shuddered.
A cold fury rose from the depths of her heart.
In great households, no matter how many things weighed on one’s heart, when faces met, there were only smiles.
Even though she rationally knew Second Madam had always been scheming to pull Ninth Brother down from his position as heir, seeing her affection toward the younger generation and deference to elders, Seventh Miss found it emotionally difficult to generate true hatred toward her.
Now it was different.
This poison took effect so slowly and manifested so subtly—naturally it was precious and rare.
And such poison naturally wasn’t something Fourth Concubine could produce—if Fourth Concubine could have produced it, she probably would have used it on the Grand Madam long ago!
Besides Second Madam, who would be willing to use such precious poison on Ninth Brother?
If Chushu had truly succeeded, sending several young masters back to Suzhou at that time would have perfectly consoled the Grand Madam’s grief, wouldn’t it?
If she hadn’t been alert that day, Second Madam would have already succeeded!
Seventh Miss suddenly understood the Grand Madam’s pathological protectiveness toward Ninth Brother.
She suddenly understood Nanny Wang’s fright that day.
With even the slightest negligence, Ninth Brother could die young halfway through life. No wonder the Grand Madam needed to keep Ninth Brother under her watchful eye to feel at ease.
But if the Master knew this kind of poison existed, how could he allow Second Madam to continue appearing around Ninth Brother?
Seventh Miss felt cold all over!
For the first time, she realized she had still been too naive!
That she had come this far today was merely due to her own luck.
She couldn’t wait any longer—she must eliminate Second Madam immediately!
If Second Madam wasn’t eliminated, not only would Ninth Brother never have peace, but the Yang family’s situation would never settle down either!
Xiaoxue was still rambling on, expressing her thoughts.
“This slave later thought, this poison should be extremely precious… from beginning to end, there was probably only this one dose!”
Over these years, Xiaoxue had certainly spent all her mental energy pondering this matter.
She must have thought it through more thoroughly than Seventh Miss.