Chapter 22
Chapter 22 Fight against the Second Concubine by Strategy
Hua Qiyue took Tianci and left. Lv Xin and Youshui were waiting for them outside. Seeing Hua Qiyue coming out with a dazed look, they felt their hearts dropped.
Hua Qiyue took Tianci to get on the carriage. People around pointed at her and murmured.
"She seems to be the daughter of the Hua's Mansion. It's said that she is cowardly from childhood and regarded as rubbish in the Hua's Mansion. Tsk, I never expected to see her today. She does not seem to be what she is in the hearsay."
"Yes. I heard that the legitimate daughter of the Hua's Mansion is really ugly. But seeing her, she is good-looking..."
"Look at her temperament! Obviously, she is the daughter of a rich family."
Hua Qiyue quietly watched Tianci twisted his clothes-tails between his fingers. He remained faintly vigilant and frightened toward Hua Qiyue.
Hua Qiyue knew that there must be many shadows inside Tianci's heart. So she had to inquire him after returning home.
"We need one more medicine. Only the medicine saint has it. But according to Prince Nan's words, it might not be so easy to get the medicine. It seems that we need to inquire into Ji family carefully," said Hua Qiyue gloomily. It occurred to her that Tianpi might have that kind of medicine.
Lv Xin grimaced at Hua Qiyue's words.
"It is said that medicine means everything to the Medicine Saint. Every year, countless people come to beg him for medicine, but seldom can get what they want," said Lv Xin as she gently poured a cup of tea and handed it to Hua Qiyue.
Hua Qiyue took a slight sip and said, "That's right. So whether we can get that medicine remains unknown."
Youshui smiled and took a look at Tianci. "Miss, your mind on Tianci will do. Anyway, isn't everything fine with Tianci now?"
Tianci nodded heavily at Youshui's words, showing that it didn't matter to him.
Hua Qiyue felt bitter at Tianci. He was always showing thought for others. Although he would play tricks on those evil persons, he was absolutely kindhearted.
Lv Xin and Youshui felt extremely uneasy because their Young Lady slapped the arrogant the Third Young Lady. Although the Third Young Lady was always obstinate, the Third Concubine won the Old Madam's favor.
The Old Madam loved the Third Concubine, and accordingly loved Hua Xiaoyi very much.
"Miss... What should we do now? If the Third young lady comes to Old Madam to complain..."
"Complain? If she dares, she will suffer more." Hua Qiyue snorted. For those who had bullied her, she showed no mercy.
Youshui knitted her eyebrows slightly but said nothing. After all, it was good that their Miss had changed, since they had been fed up with the humiliated days.
After Tianci finished his meal, Hua Qiyue asked Youshui to take out the newly-bought clothes and dress Tianci with it.
With new clothes put on, Tianci cheered up and got closer to Hua Qiyue. Hua Qiyue had Youshui to ask Butler Wang to come there. And Hua Qiyue and Butler Wang stayed in the inner hall for a while. Later, Butler Wang walked out with a pale face and hurriedly left with his head down.
Hua Qiyue strolled out with a satisfied smile on her face and said, "Let's go. Go to Grandmother's and enjoy the play." And then she took Tianci's hand and headed to the Old Madam's courtyard.
In the hall of Fu Xin Yard, the Second Concubine had just finished her complaint when Hua Xiaoyi and the Third Concubine came to the yard in an aggressive manner and brought resentment about Hua Qiyue.
The Old Madam frowned at what they had said about Hua Qiyue, thinking that her legitimate granddaughter did change a lot, as previously she had trembled all over with fear when seeing the Second Concubine and others.
Because Hua Qiyue's Qi meridians were broken off stealthily by someone for no reason. It was then that Hua Qiyue began fearing to see anyone else, even her own wet nurse, she felt dreadful too.
"I never thought that Qiyue would be so bold..." The Old Madam said subtly, "You wait for a moment. Maybe later... Qiyue will come here."
"Grandmother, although Qiyue is dutiful, she hides a rare medicine herb in her yard and does not give it to grandmother. She has gone too far."
Hua Mengshi said casually with an air of defending grandmother against Hua Qiyue.
The Old Madam appeared more sullen. Just now, the Second Concubine had come to complain that Hua Qiyue planted valuable herbal medicines privately and sold them for money rather than send them to Fu Xin Yard.
It was known to all that the Old Madam was in poor health and caught colds now and then, let alone dizziness and headache.
If she could take a rare medicine, she could recover soon and lead a better and more comfortable life.
Therefore, after hearing the Second Concubine's complaint, the Old Madam felt rather displeased in her heart. Though the rare medicine was worth high price, health was beyond price.
Just as the Old Madam finished her words, Hua Qiyue held Tianci in hands to come there, followed by Lv Xin and Youshui.
There was a dead silence in the hall.
With half of the face swollen, Hua Xiaoyi coldly stared at Hua Qiyue who looked calm.
"Qiyue taking the adopted son, Tianci, pay respects to Grandmother, the Second Concubine, and the Third Concubine." Hua Qiyue bobbed at her grandmother. "Grandmother, he is Tianci who I adopted not long ago. Although he was born in a well-off family, he was abused by his maids. His situation was rather pathetic. What's worse, he was poisoned dumb by an evil woman. So he cannot speak and call Grandmother speak and call Grandmother in person. Hope Grandmother will excuse him."
With a calm look, Hua Qiyue spoke in a refined and polite manner.
The Old Madam nodded slightly and looked at Tianci gently. She said, "What a poor kid! Qiyue, you should treat him well."
Hua Qiyue gave a soft smile and answered, "Grandmother, please feel reassured. I will certainly treat Tianci well and regard him as if he were my son."
Hua Xiaoyi could not hold back her anger, stepped forward to point at Hua Qiyue and yelled. "Grandmother, this b**ch flapped me in my face. She beat me for no reason. Grandmother, please do justice for me!"
The Third Concubine's face clouded over at Hua Xiaoyi's words.
Although the Third Concubine tried to teach her daughter well usually, her daughter was too impetuous and self-complacent to listen to her.
Now she swelled up so arrogant that she dared to call her legitimate elder sister b**ch...
"Clap!"
Before Hua Xiaoyi collected herself, the other half of her face was slapped by Hua Qiyue abruptly.
Old Madam's face fell. She did not say anything in vexation, just watching it drearily.
"You dared to talk rubbish in front of your legitimate elder sister. You deserve a beating. You dared to address your legitimate elder sister b**ch and humiliate the Hua's Mansion's fame. You deserve a beating more!" Hua Qiyue stared at Hua Xiaoyi chillily. Seeing Hua Xiaoyi's beaten-to-swollen cheeks, Hua Qiyue looked bitterly colder.
Hua Qiyue's deterrent look gagged all the people present.
Tianci looked a bit fearful. Hua Qiyue patted his back softly and said, "Do not fear, Tianci. I am only cruel to those who diss me."
"Grandmother, you've seen that the Third Younger Sister made impertinent remarks and shouted in my yard, calling Tianci a bastard and innuendoing that I had a child out of wedlock. That's why I taught her a lesson. But I did not expect that she dared to come here to annoy grandmother. It is my fault."
Hua Qiyue said in a low voice. The Old Madam's face becomes much sullener.
What Hua Qiyue said was right. Hua Xiaoyi dared to call her legitimate elder sister b**ch disrespectfully. If words spread out, people would think that the Hua's Mansion failed to discipline the Third Young Lady, so she had no regard to elders and superiors and became insolvent and impolite.
"Grandmother... "Hua Xiaoyi was rather defiant, but she was pulled by the Third Concubine firmly and pushed to kneel down.
The Third Concubine dropped to her knees too and said, "Old Madam, I did not teach Xiaoyi well. Old Madam, please, stay calm!"
Seeing her mother kneel as well, Hua Xiaoyi felt her heart racing and her palm sweating thinly.
"Since you did not teach her well, take her back and don't make herself a fool here!" The Old Madam said disdainfully and took a sip of the fragrant tea.
The Third Concubine hastened to thank the Old Madam for her kindness and dragged Hua Xiaoyi away who did not lie down under such consequence with her red and swollen cheeks.
The Second Concubine and Hua Mengshi looked at each other, their faces gloomy.
Hua Qiyue at present was like a calm and mysterious killing god who was able to use every unexpected means to display severity against them.
"Grandmother, don't get angry. I will give you a surprise."
Seeing Old Madam's inky and somber face, Hua Qiyue smile slightly and signaled Lv Xin to present the luxurious box in her hand to the Nanny Liu standing beside the Old Madam.
Nanny Liu took the long and luxurious box, opened it and handed it before the Old Madam.
The Old Madam took a glance at the box and was taken aback at the sight of the Long Red in the box which gave off a rich aroma. Bunches of red flowers were charming and dainty, bright green leaves glowing nobly silver white. Clear enough, they were the first-class tonics.
"Grandmother, this herbal medicine is named Long Red. I happened to get its seed from a mysterious monk when I was in the Rongfu Temple. And then, I planted in my yard. To my surprise, Long Red grew up only within several days. But I think the monk was too mysterious to convince me. I doubted if the seed he had given me was of a poisonous herb. So I did not present it to grandmother at the first time. Instead, I asked Butler Wang to sell it to Tong An Pharmaceutical Store in my name. Unexpectedly, the shopkeeper recognized it was Long Red at once. So I felt reassured to present one to grandmother now."
Hua Qiyue gave a faint smile. The Second Concubine's face changed. She did not expect that there was Long Red in Hua Qiyue's yard.
It seemed that she and Hua Mengshi ignored Hua Qiyue too much.
Having returned from the Hanyue Temple, Hua Qiyue apparently changed to another person.
Second Concubine Cheng thought she had underestimated Hua Qiyue too much, even did not have people to keep an eye on how much Long Red Hua Qiyue had.
Hua Mengshi clenched her hands tightly with fingernails into the palms. She was boiling with rage. "Hua Qiyue, how could you get the Long Red? It is rare herbal medicine for alchemy." Even Hua Mengshi herself made a great effort to know the existence of such medicine.
Moreover, common people seldom had a chance to see this herbal medicine. Hua Mengshi was a Qi Artist of Soaring Cloud Completion and had never seen this kind of Long Red before.
Seeing the brilliant Long Red, the Old Madam brightened her countenance and said, "Good, good. The aroma is really pleasing. Qiyue, the mysterious monk would give you the precious seed. It shows that you have some destined links with him. I like the Long Red very much."
Hua Qiyue said gently. Whoever received such rare herbal medicine would react with delight, let alone her grandmother in poor health.
Although her grandmother had not paid much attention to Hua Qiyue before, it was understandable. After all, no one would like and value a person good-for-nothing.
"As long as grandmother likes it. Nanny Liu, please remember that Long Red should be stewed with fierce fire for two hours firstly, and changed to simmer with soft fire for 12 hours. Needless to say, Long Red is beneficial to strengthen the health, drive out hundreds of poisons and diseases, and help beautifying the appearance and nourishing the heart. It is a medicine that all the pharmacists long for." Hua Qiyue said with a smile. The Old Madam had others to take a seat for her immediately.
At that moment, the Second Concubine's face turned livid with fury.