Mo Qinghuan had thought about eating less, but hunger made her dizzy, and the results were not obvious. She gave up after a short time.
"Fine. As long as you can really change my figure, I'll offer a thousand taels of gold," Ling Yu said.
Mo Qinghuan was secretly delighted. A thousand taels of gold meant ten thousand taels of silver!
She seemed to see stacks of silver shining in front of her eyes.
Thinking of this, she sat down and prepared to write a prescription.
"Master Ling, please ask someone to prepare paper and a brush. By the way, could you please exchange the thousand taels of gold for silver notes? And I need half of it as a deposit first," she said with a smile. "You know my rules. To achieve results, you must strictly follow my instructions. Otherwise, I won't take responsibility for any problems."
Ling Yu nodded, looking excited, as if he had already seen himself with a changed figure.
"Don't worry, girl. Someone, go to the accounting room and prepare five thousand taels of silver notes for the girl."
The servant beside Ling Yu frowned and whispered in his ear, "Master, don't be deceived! A thousand taels of gold is no small amount. If the master asks when he comes back..."
Ling Yu's face darkened. He glared at the servant beside him and snapped, "Shut up! Since when has it been your turn to point fingers at how I spend my money?!"
Didn't this make him lose face in front of the girl?!
Seeing that he couldn't persuade Ling Yu, the servant reluctantly went to the accounting room to get the silver notes.
After getting a stack of silver notes and writing the prescription, Mo Qinghuan left.
She originally wanted to prescribe Chinese patent medicine directly, but then she thought it would be better to prescribe the herbs and let them be fetched from the Jishitang Pharmacy.
She took out one silver note and gave it to Dan'er, then took out another and gave it to the black - clothed man.
"Princess, I can't accept this. His Highness the Prince has already paid my monthly salary," the man said.
Mo Qinghuan shook her head. "Well, you can't say that. After all, you're doing extra work now, so just take it."
She grabbed the man's hand and stuffed the silver note into it. The man was startled and quickly withdrew his hand.
When they returned to the General's Mansion, Lady Lan eagerly rushed up to her. "I've prepared your dowry. Now give me the antidote."
Mo Qinghuan rubbed her fingertips. "Sure. Let's go and have a look first. But didn't you forget that I said I'd give you the antidote after the wedding, not now."
Hearing this, Lady Lan walked towards the storeroom, and Mo Qinghuan followed behind, thinking to herself, "Let's see what tricks you can play!" Dan'er was also by her side.
It was noon, and the sun was shining brightly. Mo Qinghuan raised her hand to shield her eyes from the direct sunlight.
When they arrived at the storeroom, Lady Lan opened the door and stepped aside to let Mo Qinghuan in.
Inside the storeroom, there were indeed twenty large mahogany chests neatly arranged. Just as she was about to lift the lid to check, she felt a sharp pain in her neck. Before she could react, she collapsed.
She heard Dan'er's urgent cries, "Miss!!! Mmm..."
Then Dan'er's mouth was covered.
...
In the Regent's Mansion, Lu Zixiu and Situ Ji were playing chess.
When Mu Yanming came in, Lu Zixiu smiled meaningfully.
Situ Ji stood up and saluted. "Your Highness, when I was sorting out what happened back then these days, I found a person who was overlooked at that time."
Mu Yanming walked over and sat down. "Who is it?"
Lu Zixiu placed a chess piece. "It's General Ningyuan. However, at the time when that incident happened, he was just a small soldier in the army. After General Mo was ambushed and killed, he rose rapidly through the ranks and finally became a general. Moreover, he took over the military amulet of the six gates in the capital."
Mu Yanming frowned as he looked at the chessboard. At first glance, the white chess pieces seemed to be overwhelming, surrounding the black ones tightly.
But upon closer inspection, one could see that the white pieces were advancing aggressively and had neglected their rear. As long as the black pieces surrounded the white ones from the front and back, they could win in one stroke.
This was exactly Mu Yanming's current situation. Now, what they lacked was a sword to strike at the heart of the enemy. But would General Ningyuan be that sword?
"By the way, Your Highness, do you have any clues about the key to the secret room in the General's Mansion?" Situ Ji asked.
Lu Zixiu looked at Situ Ji and tapped his fan gently in his hand.
Mu Yanming shook his head. "Back then, when the general suddenly passed away, as an orphan girl, she was worried that the key would be snatched away, so she buried it under a tree in the backyard of the General's Mansion. But after all these years, she can't remember which tree it is. So it may take some time to find it. I plan to search for it one by one under the pretext of renovating the backyard after the wedding."
Situ Ji nodded. "Good. It's better to know where it might be than to have no clue at all..."
...
It was time for lunch, but Dan'er and the young lady hadn't returned yet. Shuang'er was sitting alone on the steps in front of Mo Qinghuan's bedroom, propping her chin with her hands and peeping outside from time to time.
After about another incense - stick's worth of time, Mo Qinghuan still hadn't come back.
Shuang'er sensed something was wrong. On normal days, even if the young lady didn't come back for meals, her sister would come back to inform her.
She stood up and walked outside. Before she reached the front yard, she bumped into Hongguo, who was walking in a hurry.
"Hongguo," Shuang'er grabbed her. "Have you seen my sister?"
Hongguo looked around, then pulled Shuang'er to a corner. "I was just weeding the withered grass behind the storeroom. I saw Lady Lan leading the princess towards the storeroom, so I paid attention. Sure enough, something happened."
Shuang'er grabbed her arm. "What happened?"
Hongguo peeked out again warily. "I heard your sister shout 'Miss', and then there was no sound. I looked towards the front yard and saw several people carry the princess and your sister into a carriage and drive out of the mansion. That's why I rushed to tell you."
After hearing this, Shuang'er was so anxious that she paced back and forth. "What should we do? What should we do?" She pounded her palm with her fist. "Calm down, calm down. Let me think..." Suddenly, she had an idea. "Right! The Regent! I'll go to the Regent. You help me keep an eye on what's going on in the mansion." Then she was about to run, but stopped again. "Hongguo, thanks to you for this. I'll definitely tell the young lady when she comes back."
Hongguo pushed her. "Okay, hurry up."
Shuang'er ran out of the mansion all the way towards the Regent's Mansion. She had never felt that the General's Mansion was so far from the Regent's Mansion. She had to stop and rest after running for a while.
Finally, when she saw the gate of the Regent's Mansion, she was almost out of breath...
She waved to the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper was stunned at first, then walked forward. "What's the matter, little girl?"
"Huff, huff. I'm Shuang'er, the maid of Princess Sayue from the General's Mansion. I have something urgent to see the Regent!"
Seeing how anxious she was, the gatekeeper led her directly inside.
At this time, the carriage carrying Mo Qinghuan had already left the city and was heading towards the mass grave.