Phoenix Reborn: the Prime Minister’s Scheming Daughter - Chapter 70

Shen Ninghua looked at Baili Jinchuan straight in the eyes and said, “Your Highness, I believe you have heard it. I don’t want to participate in this matter.”

“You are the one who discovered the problem with the prescription. How can you not participate?”

“As long as you make some pills according to the prescription and let some people test them, you can prove that there is something wrong with the prescription.”

Baili Jinchuan turned to Princess Anning and said, “Anning, you stay out for a while.”

Baili Anning worriedly looked at Shen Ninghua. “Brother, Ninghua is unwilling to participate in this matter, so don’t force her.”

“Get out!” Baili Jinchuan’s voice was stern.

“Yes.” Baili Anning bit her lips and looked at Shen Ninghua.

Shen Ninghua smiled at her. “Your Highness, please go out first.”

When there were only the two of them in the main hall, Baili Jinchuan frowned. “Shen Ninghua, why don’t you stand out and point out the problem with the prescription? I want to hear the truth.”

Shen Ninghua raised her eyes and said, “Your Highness, if you don’t believe me, even if what I said is true, you still feel that it is false. So why bother to get to the bottom of it?”

The two of them looked at each other and neither of them gave way. They only wanted to make the other yield, but unfortunately, neither of them succeeded in the end.

After a long while, Baili Jinchuan sighed. “Even if you don’t participate, His Majesty will definitely find out about you. There is no need for you to insist like this.”

At this moment, Shen Ninghua suddenly revealed a smile. “Your Highness, sometimes it’s fine if His Majesty is willing to give you many things, but you can’t take the initiative to fight for them. Do you understand?”

Baili Jinchuan was stunned, and his heart suddenly trembled.

If he and Shen Ninghua went directly to His Majesty, perhaps the emperor would suspect that they had planned the whole thing to plot against the empress and the Crown Prince. But with one extra twist and the emperor finding out the truth by himself, this would be a different story. The story would be that they didn’t want to participate in this matter because they didn’t want to cause any misunderstanding. But they unexpectedly discovered something wrong with the prescription. In order not to harm the Crown Prince, they also didn’t dare to say it and could only think of ways to do it in an indirect manner. Now that they had spoken it out, it was for the sake of the overall situation and they had no other choices.

“I see.” Baili Jinchuan’s eyes lit up and he didn’t know how to praise her. “Ninghua, you’re really…really smart!”

Shen Ninghua smiled and looked at him. “Thank you for your compliment, Your Highness. Then, you should know what to do now, right?”

“I understand. I will send you out of the Palace right now. Just stay at home and wait for my good news.”

“Alright, then I’ll take my leave first.” Shen Ninghua saluted and left the hall.

Baili Jinchuan clenched his fists slightly and thought in his heart. Shen Ninghua, since you didn’t want to get involved, I wouldn’t force you. But I would help you get what you deserved. The Shen family and Zhao family had been living too comfortably these days. It was good for them to have some little frustrations.

When Shen Ninghua returned to the Shen Mansion, she heard the sound of stringed musical instruments coming from afar. She happened to see butler Wang Fu walking towards her and asked, “Butler Wang, did something happen in the family?”

‘”Greetings, Eldest Young Lady. Miss, you are back. Eldest Young Master has also been back for a long time, but we didn’t hold a welcome banquet for him. Today Master invited a lot of young men of the same age as Eldest Young Master to home. He also invited a troupe over to perform opera. Second Young Lady and Madam are also here. If you are interested, you can go and take a look.”

Shen Ninghua smiled and shook her head. “No need, my maidservants haven’t recovered. I still need to go back and take a look.”

“Then I will leave first. Young Master has instructed me to get some wine.”

“Alright, go.”

After Wang Fu left, Shen Ninghua looked in the direction of the main courtyard from afar. She curled her lips slightly and walked towards Yingyue Courtyard.

Shen Xuanlin was walking back and forth at the entrance of Yingyue Courtyard when he suddenly felt someone patting his shoulder. He hurriedly turned around and shouted in surprise, “Eldest sister, you are back?”

“Yes. Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be practicing martial arts with your master now?”

Shen Xuanlin straightened his body and said proudly, “Master said that I have improved a lot recently, so he let me have a day off today.”

Shen Ninghua said calmly, “Don’t get complacent.”

“Yes, eldest sister, don’t worry. I will learn martial arts well to protect you in the future. I will definitely not relax, nor will I become complacent.” Shen Xuanlin’s black eyes shone brightly and they were filled with determination. He was like a little wolf that had set its goal and would never give up until it reached its goal.

“Well, it’s good that you remember. Since you don’t practice martial arts today, then come with me. I’ll teach you calligraphy. Since you have ambitions, you need to know how to endure hardships before you can stand out among others. Apart from practicing martial arts, you need to write two sheets of calligraphy every day. I will check them every day.”

Shen Xuanlin did not feel that Shen Ninghua was adding burdens to him. Instead, his heart was filled with ambition. “Alright, eldest sister, don’t worry. I will definitely become a general who is skilled in both literature and martial arts in the future.”

Shen Ninghua chuckled softly. “Alright, I believe you.”

Shen Ninghua wrote two sheets of calligraphy for Shen Xuanlin to practice in the small study. Then, she walked to the main hall. Not long after, Liu Yun jumped in from the window and greeted, “Miss.”

“Liu Yun, you’ve been in the Shen Mansion for quite some time now. I guess you have become familiar with the situation here. If I ask you to sneak into Shen Xuanye’s study, can you do that without being discovered?”

“Miss, it’s easy to avoid being discovered. However, I have found out these days that Shen Xuanye’s study was built under your father’s instructions. There are some sophisticated mechanisms inside. I haven’t figured out how these mechanisms work.”

Shen Ninghua smiled and said, “This is not a problem. I know how they work. I will draw down the mechanisms in detail. Today, have a try to see if you can enter smoothly. If you can, give me some manuscripts of Shen Xuanye’s prescriptions. If you can’t, don’t act recklessly and try your best to protect yourself.”

“Yes, Miss, I understand.”

“Mm, Bai Ruo has almost fully recovered. You can go and see her.”

Liu Yun’s body stiffened, and then he nodded. “Mm…Then I’ll go and see her.”

In the past few days, the entrance of the Prime Minister’s Mansion was filled with people vividly talking about the achievements of the Zhao and Shen families. Now they call Shen Xuanye “Peerless Young Master”, which meant that his name was unparalleled in the world, and no one could be a match for him.

When Shen Ninghua heard this news from Hong Ling, she laughed for a long time. She thought in her heart what kind of strange reaction Chu Junyi would have when he returned from Jiangnan and heard this title.

Hong Ling brought the calligraphy written by Shen Xuanlin to Shen Ninghua. “Miss, this is sent by Young Master Xuanlin.”

Shen Ninghua took it over and carefully reviewed it. She then raised her brush and wrote an annotation on the side. Then, she asked Qing Que to send it back. “Hong Ling, is there any news in the past two days?”

“Miss, the Second Prince sent someone to contact me and said that he had reported the problem with the prescription to His Majesty. However, His Majesty did not react in the past two days. It seemed that he did not care.”

Shen Ninghua’s expression froze. “It’s impossible that His Majesty simply ignored this matter. There are two possibilities: he either wants to take chances and thinks that there isn’t a serious fault with the prescription, or the consequences of the matter are too serious and once the news comes out, it will probably cause discontent among the people and destabilize the country. I think the latter is more likely. These days you should get prepared. The sky will soon change.”

The next day before dawn, Bai Ruo woke up Shen Ninghua. “Miss, something happened. Master and Young Master Xuanye were brought into the Palace.”

Shen Ninghua opened her eyes. Her clear eyes did not contain the slightest bit of sleepiness. “I see. Inform Liu Yun and let him make a move.”

“Yes.”

Madam Zhao sat on the chair and stroked her belly. Somehow she couldn’t sit still. During this period of time, Shen Dong and Shen Xuanye were often summoned to the Palace. But every time a eunuch would come to politely convey the emperor’s oral edict. It was the first time that they were directly brought away like this.

“Wen Qiu, I still feel that something is wrong. Take my letter and go to the Zhao family to ask my mother if anything happened.”

“Yes, madam. I will go now.”

Before Wen Qiu left, a servant of the Zhao family arrived. The person was Nurse Li who was a nurse of Madam Zhang, wife of Duke Wei.

“Greetings, your ladyship.”

Madam Zhao was a little anxious. “Why did my sister-in-law ask you to come?”

Nurse Li’s face twitched. “Madam asked me to tell you four words.”

“What?”

“Pray for good luck.”

Madam Zhao suddenly clenched her fingers and her heart thumped. “What does my sister-in-law mean by that?”

‘”Madam said that even though Miss Linghan drank up the medicine that could cure Miss Ruyun, she could not just watch you die without doing anything. It is said that there is something wrong with the prescription this time. Madam asked me to tell you that Young Master Xuanye was in charge of developing the prescription. If anything happened, the Zhao family would definitely offer a helping hand. Please rest assured.”

Madam Zhao covered her chest and almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Her eyes turned green with hatred. “Wen Qiu, send this nurse out!” It was clear that the Zhao family was determined to abandon the Shen family!

Nurse Li smiled coldly. She shook away Wen Qiu’s hand and strode out.

Madam Zhao was stunned for a moment, and then she threw everything she could find to the ground madly. “Bitch, these bitches! When Xuanye developed the prescription, they surrounded us like flies. Now it is time to shoulder the responsibility, but they all hide away! I’m not willing, I’m not willing!”

Nurse Wu and Nurse Qian saw her action and hurriedly stepped forward to stop her. “Madam, you still have a baby. You must take care.”

“Get lost. All of you, get out of here!”

The two nurses exchanged glances and silently walked out of the room.

Madam Zhao fell to the ground and totally ignored the stinging pain in her belly. She was not favored by the Zhao family and relied solely on Shen Dong to obtain her present honor. If Shen Dong fell from power, she would lose everything.

Wen Qiu ran in and said, “Madam, why are you sitting on the ground? Quickly get up.”

Madam Zhao was helped up. She sat in her seat and racked her brains trying to think of a way out. She could not panic. There must be a way to solve the predicament in front of her. There was something wrong with the prescription…The prescription…Oh right, Shen Ninghua!

“Go, quickly go, call Shen Ninghua over!” All of this must be designed by Shen Ninghua. It must be designed by this bitch! Ever since she fed Linghan the medicine, she had planned to force the Shen family to the edge of the cliff step by step!

“Madam, Madam, bad news.” Wang Fu crawled in and said, “Madam…this is too bad.”

Madam Zhao had a terrible headache and almost couldn’t sit still. “What now?”

“Eldest Young Master’s study is on fire. All the manuscripts related to his prescriptions are destroyed!”

“What?” Madam Zhao’s eyes darkened and she was about to fall to the ground.

“Madam!” Wang Fu shouted, but he wasn’t quick enough to support her. Just as he thought that she would fall, he saw a figure flashing in front of him. A maidservant had already supported Madam Zhao. That was Qing Que

Wang Fu hurriedly turned around and said, “Eldest Young Lady, you are here?”