Is it really true that there are absolutely no problems? The surrounding environment, the potted plants, and everything else were all personally arranged by my servants, so there's definitely no danger.
It's still a problem with these snacks.
Ji Wushang put the pastry in his mouth and chewed it; it tasted a little sour.
Ji Wushang finished eating quickly, but didn't feel anything was wrong.
"Miss?" Pearl asked, "Miss, are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine," Ji Wushang replied. "It seems the pastries really are alright. Then what happened?"
Pearl shook her head.
Ji Wushang had no thoughts, so he put the matter aside and went in to check on Ji Wusi. Seeing that Ji Wusi's complexion was slowly improving, he was relieved.
He summoned Ying Sheng and Yan Yu and gave them a long lecture, explaining everything from diet to medication. The two maids nodded in agreement, and only then did Ji Wushang return to his own courtyard with peace of mind.
That night, Ji Dingbei returned. Upon hearing that Ji Wusi had been poisoned, he immediately went to Siyuan to check on him. Seeing that Ji Wusi was alright, he left with peace of mind.
Ji Dingbei had a question in his mind. He had heard that Ji Wushang had gone to see Ji Wusi in the afternoon, so he asked someone to call Ji Wushang to the study.
When Ji Wushang arrived outside the study, she saw Ji Dingbei intently reading a book from afar. Ji Wushang stopped, and Zhu'er, who was following behind her, asked, "Miss, why don't you go in? Master is waiting!"
"Go and bring me a bowl of lotus seed soup, quickly," Ji Wushang said.
"yes."
Seeing that Zhu'er had left, Ji Wushang stood there waiting in the wind. He had been in such a hurry that he had forgotten to bring a bowl of lotus seed soup. Although he had just eaten dinner, he thought it would be good to bring a bowl of lotus seed soup to help him digest.
Ji Dingbei turned a page, then looked at the sky outside. Seeing that Ji Wushang had not yet arrived, he had no choice but to put down his book and look at the distance not far inside the room.
Ji Wushang saw him sigh softly, and then continue reading the book.
"Miss, Miss, the lotus seed soup is here," Zhu'er said breathlessly from behind her.
Ji Wushang turned around and saw that she was walking in a hurry, and said, "You've really had a hard time."
"It's no trouble at all. It's my honor to work for Miss!" Pearl said with a smile.
Ji Wushang nodded. Zhu'er was indeed someone he would protect forever. "Thank you." With that, Ji Wushang brought over the lotus seed soup. "You can go now. I'll be back in a little while."
"Yes." Zhu'er nodded, knowing that she should avoid talking to Ji Dingbei.
After watching her walk away, Ji Wushang carried the lotus seed soup and slowly walked towards the study.
Hearing the footsteps, Ji Dingbei looked up and saw Ji Wushang carefully carrying the lotus seed soup forward. He immediately put down the book in his hand and said, "Why did you bring the lotus seed soup yourself? You could have had a servant do it." As he spoke, he got up to help.
Ji Wushang looked up and said, "This is for Father, so Wushang should have brought it." Instead of letting him help, she carried it herself and placed it in front of Ji Dingbei, saying, "Please have some lotus seed soup, Father." Her voice was sweet, and a smile played on her lips.
Ji Dingbei nodded in satisfaction, "Wu Shang is still the best, sit down quickly."
"Yes." Ji Wushang was about to sit down when he smelled the aroma of food. He turned around and saw a table full of dishes. "Father, have you not eaten?" No wonder he had glanced at that spot when he looked up earlier. So he must be hungry.
"I was thinking of having a meal with you, but since you brought this lotus seed soup, I should at least finish it first." Ji Dingbei said with a chuckle. Ji Wushang smiled and watched him finish the lotus seed soup, and he ate it with great relish.
Ji Dingbei put down the bowl with satisfaction, then looked at Ji Wushang, "I heard you went to Siyuan to see Wuzi this afternoon."
"Yes, Father, it's a very strange thing to talk about this," Ji Wushang said, but seeing that Ji Dingbei was probably still hungry, he immediately said, "Father, why don't you eat first?"
“Alright, come here, Wushang, keep me company.” Ji Dingbei walked to the table and sat down. “It’s been a long time since you’ve dined alone with me.”
"Yes." Ji Wushang nodded and sat down opposite him.
"When was it again? It's been a long time, sigh, I can't even remember." Ji Dingbei sighed.
Ji Wushang didn't speak, just looked at him. Then he picked up a piece of meat, put it in his mouth, and said, "You should eat some too. You've lost a lot of weight lately."
"Thank you, Father," Ji Wushang said, then picked up his chopsticks. However, looking at the table full of meat, he didn't have much of an appetite. "What kind of meat is this? Why does it look so fatty?"
"It's not that fatty, haha. Here, let me tell you, this is mutton. The kitchen has cooked it very well, all the fat has been removed. Come on, eat." With that, Ji Dingbei presented the mutton to Ji Wushang. Ji Wushang looked at it, frowning slightly, "Mutton, mutton..."
Ji Wushang smiled at Ji Dingbei, then picked up the mutton, put it in his mouth, bit it gently, and swallowed it.
Ji Dingbei then pointed to another plate of meat, "This is duck meat, a delicious duck, very plump. If you like, you can try some."
However, Ji Wushang felt a little uncomfortable in his stomach at this moment. He felt like vomiting, but he couldn't vomit no matter what he did. Suddenly, Ji Wushang collapsed next to the table.
Ji Dingbei was so frightened that his face changed color. "What's wrong? Wu Shang?" He rushed forward.
"Father, I, I'm fine..." Ji Wushang said, enduring the pain in his lower abdomen.
"Someone come here! Quickly, call a doctor!" Ji Dingbei shouted towards the outside.
A short while later, Ji Wushang was helped to lie down on the bed. After the doctor examined her, he said to Ji Dingbei, "Master, the young lady has been poisoned, but thankfully, it's not very deep, and she will recover soon."
"Poisoning? How is that possible?" Ji Dingbei immediately turned to look at the food on the table outside. "What... what happened?"
"I understand, Father." Ji Wushang coughed twice, then struggled to get up from the bed. Ji Dingbei stepped forward to help her up. "What do you know?"
“Father, this afternoon I went to Siyuan to see Wuzi. Wuzi also said he was poisoned. Then I ate the pastries he had eaten. I was fine at first, but after eating the mutton, I got poisoned. That made me realize that the sour pastries must have had some bayberries in them. Eating bayberries and mutton together can cause poisoning,” Ji Wushang said weakly.
"How is this possible? Waxberries? We don't have any waxberries in the manor. How could waxberries have gotten in at this time of year?" Ji Dingbei frowned. "Then how do we solve this?"
"It's alright. The doctor just said that he can just take the medicine. It's just that Wu Zi is suffering. He's so young, how can he endure that pain?"
"Sigh. We must find out who did this!" Ji Dingbei said angrily. "You rest well, I'll have Butler Lin investigate."
"Thank you, Father. I'm fine, don't worry," Ji Wushang said.
"Mm." Ji Dingbei nodded.
"Father, are you eating mutton at home now?" Ji Wushang asked quickly as he was about to leave.
“Your fourth sister doesn’t like mutton, and neither do your Aunt Bai and Aunt Nangong, and your great-grandmother certainly doesn’t eat it.” Ji Dingbei glanced at her. “You should rest well.”
"Yes." Ji Wushang nodded.
Wu Zi loves to eat meat. When people criticize him for it, he always says that eating more meat helps him grow bigger and protect himself. Ji Wushang smiled; now, this has caused him problems.
Ji Wushang stayed in the study for a while before getting out of bed and returning to his own Xinyuan. There was no reason for him to stay overnight in his father's study, as it wouldn't be good for his reputation.
Ji Wushang returned to the courtyard and asked Xian'er to bring him some fresh soy milk. He drank it before going to sleep.
In the morning, Ji Wushang went to Steward Lin's place. Steward Lin was doing accounts in the accounting room. When he saw Ji Wushang come in, he immediately stepped forward and said, "Young Miss? Why didn't you have someone announce your arrival? Someone, quickly make some tea!"
"No rush, Uncle Lin, I just came to ask about yesterday's events." Ji Wushang smiled.
"Oh, Miss, please have a seat." Butler Lin gestured for her to sit.
Ji Wushang nodded, then sat down in the chair. "Uncle Lin, do you know who delivered those bayberries to the manor?"
"Well, Miss, to be honest, we can't find out. The manor didn't buy any bayberries. Those bayberries must have been secretly brought into the house by some servants."
"Can you find out who left the manor yesterday?" Ji Wushang asked. "Is there any record?"
"Yes, let me find it for you." Steward Lin immediately went to the accounting office, found an account book, opened one of the pages, and placed it in front of Ji Wushang. "This is the record of the servants who left the manor yesterday."
Ji Wushang flipped through the pages; there were two or three pages. He then flipped back to the front, where there were also two or three pages.
"May I take it back to see? I'll have Zhu'er bring it back to you this afternoon," Ji Wushang asked.
"Of course, Miss only needs to say so, there's no need to consult me." Butler Lin smiled.
Ji Wushang smiled back.
Ji Wushang had Zhu'er put away the account books, then left the accounting room and headed towards Siyuan.
Seeing that Ji Wusi had woken up, Ji Wushang went up to ask him what had happened. Sure enough, as Ji Wushang had expected, Ji Wusi was hungry and had caught something to eat. And at noon, it was mutton.
This would indeed be considered food poisoning.
It must have been someone with ulterior motives who deliberately gave these two kinds of food to Ji Wusi. Fortunately, that person's evil plan did not succeed.
"Sister, I just heard that you were also poisoned?" Ji Wusi asked, seeing Ji Wushang deep in thought.
"Who told you that?" Ji Wushang asked with a smile. These gossipy servants only know how to make Wu Zi worry. From now on, I'll have to pull out their tongues!
“I heard the warbling of orioles and the twittering of swallows saying, ‘Sister, are you alright?’” Ji Wusi asked with concern in his eyes.
“Look, if something happened to your older sister, would she be standing here? Don’t worry, your older sister will be fine.” Ji Wushang patted his head. “Next time, don’t rush to eat anything that’s on the table. Maybe it’s poison. You have to be careful.”
"Yes, Wu Zi will listen to his elder sister."
Ji Wushang nodded, then chatted with him for a while. Seeing that he was tired, she told him to go to sleep before leaving.
Back in the courtyard, Zhang Xiuniang was waiting for him. Ji Wushang stepped forward and said, "Sister Zhang, I'm so sorry, I... had something to take care of and was delayed."
“I know, Miss, please don’t say anymore. The young master is the most important. I’m just here to see you. I heard you were feeling a little unwell. Are you feeling better now?” Zhang Xiuniang said earnestly.
"I'm fine." Ji Wushang nodded. "Come, sit down."
"yes."
Ji Wushang talked with Zhang Xiuniang for a while before seeing her off. Before leaving, Zhang Xiuniang gave Ji Wushang a book about needlework techniques, and Ji Wushang thanked her repeatedly.
Back in his room, Ji Wushang immediately flipped through the ledger that recorded people leaving the manor. He found that Ji Yinxue's maid Fengyun had left the manor, several of Aunt Bai's errand boys had left the manor, maid Tianxiang had also left once, and Ji Meiyuan's maid Baoqi had also left once, and so on.
Ji Wushang closed the ledger. So, those who had opposed him before and disliked him might have bought bayberries and then poisoned Ji Wusi.
Ji Wushang asked Zhu'er to take the account book back to Steward Lin. Bored, he started doing needlework while thinking about things.
Hearing that Ji Wusi and Ji Wushang had been poisoned one after another, Ji Yinxue was overjoyed, but Feng Yun frowned slightly.
"Why are you frowning?" Ji Yinxue, with her sharp eyes, immediately scolded.
"This servant is worried that Miss will suspect you, and I am concerned for you," Feng Yun immediately knelt down and said.
"What are you afraid of? You can't find anything out. Don't try this on me. Humph! What can you find out? I didn't ask you to poison me!" Ji Yinxue scolded. "Don't worry yourself. You need to stay calm. If your older sister notices anything, I won't let you off the hook!"
"Yes." Feng Yun nodded.
Just then, they heard a servant outside shout, "The young lady has arrived."
Ji Yinxue narrowed her eyes immediately, "You better watch out!"
"Yes." Feng Yun was clearly a little nervous. She hadn't expected the young lady they had just talked about to arrive so quickly!
Ji Wushang entered with a smile, "Fourth Sister."
"Big sister, what brings you here?" Ji Yinxue came out from the inner room with her voluptuous figure. Ji Wushang smiled and said, "I just thought about how long it's been since I've seen you, so I came here."
"Please sit down, elder sister." Ji Yinxue smiled and said, "Fengyun, please serve tea."
Ji Wushang listened with a smile in his eyes, then looked at Feng Yun. Feng Yun was startled when she saw Ji Wushang looking at her.
Ji Wushang smiled and said, "Actually, I came here for the Wenge embroidery matter. Everyone in this manor knows that the Fourth Miss's needlework is superb, while I, as the eldest sister, am not good enough at all. I came here today to learn from her!"
Seeing that Ji Wushang did not mention Ji Wusi, Feng Yun stepped forward to pour tea.