Chapter 41: Wrapping Things Up

Could this be a coincidence?

Looking at Zhao Xianzhi’s jade-colored robe embroidered with lotus patterns, the two of them simply refused to think of him in a malicious light.

Within the span of fifteen minutes, a servant practically flew on winged feet to fetch the small medicine chest.

Just at that moment, the physician finished taking the pulse and exclaimed, "This is an exotic poison from the Western Regions! Nothing can cure it except the antidote!"

Zhao Zhizhi and Meng Yanyue watched with their own eyes as the servant flung the medicine chest open and blindly grabbed a handful of items, thrusting them at the physician. "Doctor, take a look and see if this is it!"

At this sight, the two of them instinctively glanced toward Meng Zhengyue.

Zhao Zhizhi was still in a daze, while Meng Yanyue possessed a rather naive temperament. Seeing this, anger surfaced on her face, and she looked ready to march forward and confront the wrongdoer.

However, they noticed their eldest sister's brows furrow slightly as she gave a slight shake of her head, signaling them to remain calm and not act rashly.

They had no choice but to suppress their thoughts.

Turning their gaze back, they saw the physician merely glance at the label on the medicine bottle before shaking his head.

The servant seemed to grow even more anxious, his movements turning somewhat rough, and right at that moment, a square-shaped paper package slipped out and fell to the ground!

As the two of them thought to themselves that it was just as they had expected, the servant widened his eyes and cried out in surprise, "What is this?"

Immediately afterward, the servant hastily apologized to Meng Zhengyue:

"Please forgive this humble servant, Eldest Young Miss. In my sudden panic and flurry, my hands were a bit too heavy, and I accidentally shook out the Eldest Young Miss's important belongings."

Just as the servant was about to put the paper package back, his hand suddenly paused. His eyes darted around, and he immediately handed it to the physician. "Doctor, take a look at this!"

Upon seeing it, the physician’s face blossomed into a wide smile of joy. He hurriedly muttered that this was indeed it, and then swiftly mixed it with water and applied it.

Once the medicine was applied, Zhao Xianzhi finally felt the swelling and tightness in his face ease slightly, though the burning pain alternating with the sensation of ants crawling still showed no sign of relief.

At the very least, it no longer hindered his speech.

"Zhengyue, how do you happen to have...?" Zhao Xianzhi looked at Meng Zhengyue in puzzlement, his expression shifting as if struck by a sudden thought. "In the past, it was Eldest Brother's fault. If you hold a grudge... no!"

Acting as if he had stumbled upon some profound truth, Zhao Xianzhi became even more agitated as he spoke:

"This is the rouge Yanyue gave to Zhizhi! This is—who is secretly meddling behind the scenes, attempting to sow discord!"

Then, he anxiously turned to Meng Yanyue and Zhao Zhizhi, saying:

"My two younger sisters, you must on no account misunderstand your eldest sister!"

Before either of them could make any reaction, he continued explaining with increasing difficulty:

"Although Eldest Brother had some friction with your eldest sister in the past, Zhengyue is not the kind of person to resort to schemes behind people's backs. Moreover, the three of you get along harmoniously, sharing meals and living under the same roof; why would Zhengyue feel jealous and try to cause discord? Therefore—"

"Wait a moment!"

Because Zhao Xianzhi was suffering from both physical and mental torment while being wholly focused on splashing dirt onto Meng Zhengyue, he failed to notice that the gaze Meng Yanyue directed at him had already changed.

Shedding her usual playful demeanor, Meng Yanyue spoke up to halt him.

This action by Meng Yanyue naturally drew everyone's attention, and Zhao Xianzhi also froze, looking toward her with difficulty.

Only to hear Meng Yanyue say in an unceremoniously blunt tone:

"Previously, I had no idea there was any unpleasantness between Sister and you, Second Brother. Yet your words, while seemingly spoken to absolve Sister, meticulously enumerate Sister's supposed motives, leaving room for endless imagination."

As soon as these words were spoken, those in the room who had been in the dark—along with Zhao Zhizhi, who had recovered from her shock—fell into deep thought.

Before any of them could deduce anything further, Meng Yanyue's voice pulled their thoughts back.

She analyzed:

"This morning, the three of us together saw that package suddenly fall out of Sister's medicine chest. Since it is the antidote, it must have been placed there either before or after I prepared to make the rouge for Sister Zhao."

With that, Meng Yanyue turned to look at Zhao Zhizhi and asked, "Sister Zhao, how was it that you happened to ask about rouge yesterday?"

Suddenly addressed, Zhao Zhizhi's mind went blank for a moment.

Meanwhile, Meng Yanyue had already placed both hands on her cheeks, speaking with a rapidly sharpening tone:

"It was Second Brother who remarked that my complexion looked good, and it was also Second Brother who fed Sister Zhao all those warming, sweat-inducing foods."

"Before I arrived, I was unaware of these things, but I woke up early this morning, and while I was in the courtyard pounding flower petals, the only person whose maid came by was Second Brother's courtyard."

By this time, Zhao Xianzhi had managed to recover somewhat, and he was immensely surprised by Meng Yanyue's words.

Clearly, the intelligence reports gathered by his spies had only indicated that she was just a bit clever!

Assuming this must have been taught to her by Meng Zhengyue, a towering wave of hatred surged within Zhao Xianzhi as he gritted his teeth and glared at Meng Zhengyue, who was currently looking at Meng Yanyue with a gaze full of appreciation.

He then let out a groan, attempting to interrupt Meng Yanyue and offer some defense.

Since someone else must have coached her, there was nothing to fear!

However, the gazes and thoughts of most people were fixed entirely on Meng Yanyue, leaving them no time to spare him.

Meng Yanyue did not give him a chance to exploit the opening. She looked toward her other two sisters and posed another question:

"Is our Cousin Qianxue such an extraordinarily vital person to our sisters?"

After stoking everyone's curiosity to the full, she continued:

"That is why Second Brother reacted with such extreme agitation upon realizing the rouge had been mixed up. Judging from our correspondence and our interactions from yesterday until today, I do not believe Second Brother is the sort of person easily thrown into panic."

As she spoke, she spread open her palms and gently sniffed them:

"No matter what kind of medicine it is, Sister would have applied it only after breakfast, and she would have washed her hands afterward. When Second Brother was in agony, how did he manage to find the presence of mind to notice it? Why wasn't he thinking of fetching a physician, instead of obsessively demanding Sister's medicine? Could it be that Second Brother knew the antidote was there and was in a rush to grab it?"

At this point, Meng Yanyue seemed to have inherited her elder sister's true mantle. Her gaze burned with intensity as she stared at Zhao Xianzhi and sternly demanded:

"And as for Second Brother's earlier remarks—were you in such a hurry to grab the antidote that you took the opportunity to throw mud at Sister?"

Pausing for a fraction of a second, amidst the desperate attempts of Zhao Xianzhi—whose face was turning progressively redder—to open his mouth, she added one final blow:

"If you noticed it while I was applying the rouge to your face, and if you thought it so strange, why didn't you simply ask about it?"

Having finished, Meng Yanyue looked toward Meng Zhengyue. Her previous sternness vanished completely, and her tone turned coaxing and spoiled:

"Sister, was my analysis correct? Have I improved?"

The people in the room, still recovering from their shock, found their gazes once again drawn by Meng Yanyue toward Meng Zhengyue.

They saw Meng Zhengyue nod slightly. "You have improved."

Hearing this, everyone present silently agreed in their hearts; the young miss's reasoning was indeed rigorous and well-supported.

Yet in the next moment, they heard the Eldest Young Miss say with absolute objectivity:

"However, perhaps there is some misunderstanding here. In the past, Eldest Brother always conducted himself like a true gentleman. How could his character undergo such a drastic transformation overnight?"

As they looked at the Eldest Young Miss at that moment, they felt as though she were bathed in a halo of light.

How magnanimous and public-spirited the Eldest Young Miss was, bearing no grudges, yet even at this point, she was still willing to speak up for the Eldest Young Master.

They followed Meng Zhengyue's train of thought.

Indeed, in the past, the Eldest Young Master had never given anyone the slightest cause for reproach.

Yet ever since the Eldest Young Miss returned to the estate, the Eldest Young Master had made frequent missteps.

Why was that?

Upon hearing her sister's words, Meng Yanyue turned her gaze toward Zhao Xianzhi, who was now teetering on the verge of losing his composure entirely.

She thought to herself: if that was the case, then everything he did before must have been an act!

She had originally quite liked this immortal-like Second Brother, but the moment she perceived his true intentions, she instantly withdrew that affection.

Furthermore, looking at his bizarre, grotesque appearance now, she found it utterly impossible to muster any lingering fondness.

Just as Meng Yanyue was about to speak, Meng Zhengyue stopped her. "Enough, do not say anymore. Let Eldest Brother speak and explain himself."

Meng Zhengyue looked toward Zhao Xianzhi, whose face was now twisted with frantic anxiety.

That expression looked precisely like the way Zhao Xianzhi used to put on a facade of protecting her in the past.

And Zhao Xianzhi even caught a glimpse of mockery within it.

It was her!

She had engineered all of this!

Yet how had she managed to discover his plan right under his heavily guarded nose and orchestrate this entire scheme?!

Feeling the weight of every gaze in the room bearing down on him, combined with the torment on his face that prevented him from mounting a prompt defense, Zhao Xianzhi felt a suffocating surge of agitation thrashing wildly within his body.

Suddenly, upon hearing Meng Zhengyue adopt his usual hypocritical tone of feigned benevolence, he felt a rush of blood violently push upward from his chest.

With a muffled sound, he spat out a massive mouthful of fresh blood.

The blood splattered across Zhao Xianzhi's ferocious visage, making him look all the more terrifying.

The servants and the physician descended into chaos, scrambling to wipe away the blood and check his pulse.

Only Zhao Xianzhi himself felt a sudden wave of release and relief, seizing the opportunity to gasp out:

"My sister misunderstands your brother. When your brother recounted those details, it was merely to make my words more persuasive..."

"Stop talking!" Zhao Zhizhi suddenly roared at the top of her lungs.

"Wuwuwu, are you still trying to sophistry and argue, Eldest Brother? From all these events, it is abundantly clear that you did every single thing!"

Having screamed out her condemnation, she burst into tears and bolted out of the room.

While the younger sister Yanyue was delivering her analysis, Zhao Zhizhi had been mentally reviewing every single action Zhao Xianzhi had taken.

It had taken an immense exertion of willpower for her to compel herself to break away from the affection she had held for this "Eldest Brother" since childhood.

With her frantic dash, Zhao Zhizhi went straight to expose Zhao Xianzhi's true colors to the Marquis's Lady and the Marquis of Chengwu.

Upon hearing the truth, the Marquis of Chengwu—determined not to harbor a viper in their midst, and regardless of how bitterly the Marquis's Lady wept—publicly stripped Zhao Xianzhi of his status and drove him out of the Marquis's estate.

Unable to bear the devastating blow of being stripped of his brocade robes, Zhao Xianzhi slammed his head against a pillar and died.

Witnessing this, Meng Zhengyue considered her profound vengeance roughly avenged, and she turned her attention to investigating the affair of her adoptive parents.

The truth behind her adoptive parents finally came to light: her adoptive father was the Prince of Chen, and the injustice suffered by her adoptive mother at the hands of the Old Dowager Marquis years ago was also made public.

Furthermore, her adoptive parents found themselves caught in a dilemma due to the conflict between the adoptive mother's master, the Grand Princess Jingyi, and the Prince of Chen.

Joining forces with Xiao Jichen, Meng Zhengyue uncovered that the animosity between the two had been manipulated entirely by Emperor Jinghe all along.

Working together, the two of them secretly laid out a strategy to expose the emperor's true face.

The emperor was overthrown, and the factions of the Marquis of Chengwu, Imperial Tutor Xiao, and other corrupt loyalists collapsed in disgrace, becoming outlaws whom everyone had the right to execute.

Her adoptive father, the Prince of Chen, ascended the throne and passed the crown to his son, Meng Huaichuan, before taking his wife back to Xiao Prefecture to open a tavern.

Meng Zhengyue's serialized novels sold in astronomical quantities, and through these writings, she and Xiao Jichen gradually developed hidden romantic feelings for one another.

Meng Yanyue's cosmetics swept across the world, while Zhao Zhizhi became a legendary dancer whose single performance captivated the realm—though her whereabouts remained elusive and unpredictable.

As it turned out, the three wealthy and carefree sisters had simply gone off on a leisurely tour of the mountains and rivers together.

A hasty conclusion—