Chapter 42: The Flesh Trap

  In just two days, Gao Cheng fell ill after catching a chill from the wind at night.

  Nowadays, there is only one person serving beside Zhao Kuang. Originally, it was not a popular job. According to reason, he was not seriously ill and did not need to be replaced, but he begged the soldiers guarding the door: "I have fallen ill and am afraid of passing on the illness to Master. Please let me go out for two days until I recover, and then I will come back to serve." During his absence, his dog leg would replace him to serve Zhao Kuang.

  "As for Zhao Kuang, Gao Cheng also had his own reasons: 'The things that are lacking here, whether it's medicine or clothes, can't be delayed any further. It doesn't seem like the mistress is paying attention to the master's needs, so it's better if I take this opportunity to go and hurry them up. I'll return tomorrow, Master can rest assured.'"

  Zhao Kuang had already been stripped of his title and was no longer a marquis. He had been holding in his anger for a long time and often took it out on Gao Cheng, making him beat himself. Even when Gao Cheng did so lightly, Zhao Kuang would scold him, and he had long since stopped considering him a trusted servant. But upon hearing Gao Cheng's words now, he was moved once again and felt that this servant was more reliable than his own son or daughter-in-law. He agreed to let him go out and also gave him many other instructions, telling him to think of ways to handle things.

  Gao Cheng left the courtyard where Zhao Kuang was being held under house arrest and returned to his temporary residence, where someone had already prepared medicine for him. He drank it down, and within half an hour, all the symptoms of his cold and fever had disappeared. He hastily washed up, changed into clean clothes, and as soon as night fell, he followed the guide quietly towards the courtyard where Jiang's family lived.

  Jiang returned to his hometown under the guise of taking care of his grandfather, so he stayed in a house on East Road. It didn't take long for Gao Cheng to get there, but he needed to avoid being seen by others, lest someone from the old mansion saw him, a male servant, entering the inner courtyard of the young mistress's residence.

  But such things are not easy to avoid, walking at night, they have two people, and also need to carry lanterns. Gao Cheng's luck is bad, and he was seen by a woman who was on duty that night. At first, the woman was just curious, why did a young girl carrying a lantern with a man go into the inner courtyard? From afar, she saw them enter the Jiang family's yard, and the person who should have been guarding the gate was not there, it looked very mysterious, her gossip heart suddenly rose, and she quickly ran back to find her older sisters.

  If Grandma Wang just wanted to ask someone beside Grandpa a question, why did she have to do it at night? And why so secretly? Is there something that can't be known by others?

  If he stayed in the yard for a longer time, there would be more things that could be arranged.

  The old ladies in the mansion who had been displeased with the Jiang family for a long time were secretly excited. For many years, the old mansion had no master, and they couldn't go out freely. Although their days were comfortable, they were also very dull. Now someone has finally brought them some excitement!

  Jiang didn't know what the women in the old mansion had seen, she was married before at her mother's house, her mother was very good at managing the household, after marriage at Jian Nan Hou Fu, Zhang Shi Yu Xia was quite strict, she never thought that the servants would be so bold. At this moment, she was just quietly sizing up Gao Cheng, who had not been seen for a long time, with an inscrutable face, and only felt that this former confidant had become thinner and more haggard, seemingly having a tough time lately, but he couldn't complete the task entrusted to him properly, and made such a big mistake, which made her unhappy, and she didn't even bother to ask about his well-being.

  Gao Cheng fell to the ground with a thud, and was the first to plead guilty: "It's all my fault, I'm incompetent, it's all my negligence that allowed Old Lady and the two young masters to escape, I didn't do a good job of carrying out Young Mistress's orders, please punish me, Young Mistress!"

  Jiang still didn't make a sound, Gao Cheng's heart had turned cold, knowing that this lady was still angry with him, so he hastily knocked his head on the ground several times, each time saying "I deserve to die".

  Wait until he knocked his forehead and broke the skin, Jiang thought that he still had to return to Zhao Jiong's side to serve him, and didn't want others to notice any marks, so she said lightly: "Alright, get up. Although you made mistakes, no one expected Guangping King to be there. It was heaven's will, it can only be said that the old lady and her grandson were not destined to survive, but it's also not your fault."

  It's his fault, so why let him get away with just kneeling for half a day?

  Gao Chengxin sighed inwardly, but his face was full of gratitude, and he bowed his head again: "Thank you, Madam, for your forgiveness!"

  He stood up, and Jiang asked him about all the things that had happened after he returned to Fengxian. Although he had mentioned it in his letter, she still asked again without getting tired of it. When she heard that the funeral procession was blocked by Zhang at the city gate, and Zhang's brother and the nobleman from Jiading discovered that the "Zhang" coffin was actually carrying Qian Lao Nainai, her eyebrows furrowed, thinking that her father-in-law was really stupid. If it weren't for this obvious handle, she believed that there wouldn't be so many people who thought he had ordered someone to kill his mother and brother.

  "Where is Old Lady Qian's coffin now?" asked Jiang.

  Gao Cheng carefully looked at her and replied: "The old lady ordered, found a piece of land outside the city to bury her. Except for not allowing her to enter the ancestral tomb, the funeral was simple, nothing else, the clansmen and outsiders heard about it, and praised the old lady's kindness."

  Jiang coldly smiled and asked: "Does the old master know?"

  "I knew it too, and I've cried about it before... but Master was already paralyzed by then..."

  "When he should have been calm, he made a fuss; when he should have been clever, he acted foolishly. Having such a father, the master is also unlucky." Jiang scolded her father for a few sentences, not afraid that Gao Cheng would leak it out, and then asked, "When Wang Guangping came, what did the old master say? Was he still shouting grievances like when the imperial envoy came this time, refusing to admit his guilt?"

  Gao Cheng shrank his head and acknowledged it. Zhao Jiong always thought he was wronged, he didn't order anyone to kill his stepmother and younger brother's family, at most he just sent someone to silence the servants after the fact, and happened to offend the Guangping King who was traveling incognito, but he didn't know that was the Guangping King, besides, wasn't the Guangping King's entourage fine? The ones who died were just his own servants, if the Emperor found out, he could be fined or demoted, why did he have to be stripped of his title and exiled? Zhao Jiong refused to accept it!

  Jiang was getting more and more anxious, Zhao Jiong refused to plead guilty, shifting all the blame onto others. At this time, if someone were to investigate thoroughly, it's possible that her own misdeeds would be exposed one day. Currently in the capital, there were indeed officials who felt that the emperor had handled things too hastily. The case hadn't been fully investigated yet, only a group of guards from the Jian Nan Hou Fu had been arrested, confirming that they had been instructed by Zhao Jiong to silence those who had fallen into the water. Zhang's boat had also been pulled ashore, confirming that the hole in the ship was indeed real, but the person responsible hadn't been caught yet. Although there was ample evidence of Zhao Jiong's guilt, the case was still unclear, and some officials were dissatisfied. However, their voices were all covered up by those with ulterior motives, who only said they were defending Zhao Jiong, thus avoiding drawing attention to themselves.

  Jiang looked at Gao Cheng again without changing his expression, thinking that it would be better to solve some potential troubles as soon as possible.

  She slowed down her expression and softly said to Gao Cheng: "In any case, the second master is gone, Wei Ge is still young, and the second lady has suffered a great loss. You have made a great contribution this time, and I will not forget it in my heart. In the future, when the master inherits the title, he will reward you according to your merits, and you will definitely not be left out."

  Gao Cheng actually wanted to get away from Zhao Kuang's side, but after hearing Jiang's words, he also had a few points of excitement: "Yes, thank you, Auntie!"

  Jiang smiled slightly: "That old thing Wang Si Ping, not obedient to discipline, the madam doesn't want to use him, I'm even more annoyed at seeing him. Anyway, he's already returned to the old mansion, just let him spend his old age in this house. You first help me with something, if you do it well, you can follow me back to Beijing, the positions of Grand Steward and Second Steward in the Hou Mansion are still vacant, the position of Grand Steward is up to the madam to decide, I, as the First Lady, can arrange for a Second Steward, right?"

  Gao Cheng's eyes lit up, and he hastily knelt down: "Thank you, Auntie, for your support! Don't worry, I'll definitely take care of things properly for you! But... what is it?"

  Jiang gave a wink to the red silk beside him, and the red silk took out a paper package from his sleeve and handed it to Gao Cheng. Gao Cheng curiously opened it and found that inside was half a piece of ginseng, which looked like it was also fifty or sixty years old.

  Jiang lowered his voice to Gao Chengdao: "This half of ginseng is specially made, you take it back and cut a piece for the old master to make soup with. If the old master asks, just say that Wang Siping gave it to you. When the old master eats it and feels unwell, you can push the matter onto Old Lady's head, just say that Old Lady is dissatisfied with the imperial decree leaving him alive, she must want to put him to death, to avenge her son..."

  She hadn't even finished speaking, but Gao Cheng's legs had already turned to jelly: "Miss, this...this won't do! The master's food has to pass through the hands of a lowly person like me, if anything happens to him, I'll be the one who can't escape!"

  "What's the big deal?!" Jiang glared at him, "This thing won't kill anyone if they just eat a little bit. They need to eat it for three to five days before it takes effect. I'm not trying to harm Public Father, I just want him and Old Lady to have a falling out. Once they do, I'll go to the front courtyard and report to the Imperial Envoy, and you can show him the ginseng. Old Lady will be guilty of both disobeying the Emperor's orders and being an evil stepmother who harms her own son, so she'll be on equal footing with Master. From now on, if her grandson wants to get a noble title by claiming that our branch of the family is guilty, he won't have any luck!"

  She actually wanted to take direct action against Zhang's ancestors and grandchildren, but the risk was too great. It would be better to use a trick to splash dirty water on Zhang's head. At that time, no one can say they are innocent, it's just a matter of scattering, neither house will get the title, she doesn't want to be suppressed by Zhang's ancestors and grandchildren either.

  Gao Cheng was sweating profusely and had his doubts about Jiang's words: "Really... won't it harm Master's life?"

  "Of course not!" Jiang said impatiently.

  Hong Niang chimed in, "Don't worry about the official business, Big Madam has it under control. The old master has guards by his side, if someone really dies, the imperial envoy will definitely investigate thoroughly, and things will get out of hand. When the old master hears your words and makes a scene, you'll have to calm him down, pretending to be wronged but unable to speak the truth due to filial piety. However, you must also let the imperial envoy know what's going on, so that when you return to the capital, you can report to the emperor, but don't actually go to Old Madam's face and confront her."

  Gao Cheng looked at the package in his hand, hesitating. The consequences of this matter were too great for him to bear, and if things went wrong, he would be accused of murdering his master, and his whole family would suffer!

  Madam Chiang, seeing his hesitation, decided to give him one last sweetener: "Don't worry, I won't abandon you. Your son is eighteen this year, and he's quite capable, clever too. I'm short of a purchasing agent here, and he'd be just the right fit. You should think about your son's future." She glanced at Hong Niang: "It's just as well that Hong Niang has also reached marriageable age. Wouldn't she and your son make a perfect couple? I can have Hong Niang serve you a cup of wife's tea, but I don't know if you'll find her acceptable?"

  Gao Cheng was taken aback, looking at the red silk handkerchief with a faint blush on her face as she brought up a cup of clear tea, and then looked at the paper package in his hand, finally moved.