"I know what I'm doing!" Shen Lixue lowered her voice and coldly replied to Dongfang Xun before slowly walking into the front hall.
"Princess Lixue, it's a rare treat for us to dine together. I'll offer you a toast with tea instead of wine!" As soon as Shen Lixue stepped onto the floor of the front hall, Aunt Jin came over with a cup of tea, swaying as she walked. Despite being three months pregnant, she looked like she was five or six months along.
"You're too kind, Aunt Jin!" Shen Lixue took the teacup and casually touched it lightly.
Aunt Jin drank with great relish, downing the entire cup. The Duke of Wu's mansion was renowned throughout the capital, and their tea was indeed quite delicious.
Setting down her teacup, Aunt Jin was about to return to her seat when she suddenly slipped and fell straight to the hard ground. Clutching her stomach, she let out a piercing scream that echoed through the clouds: "Oh dear, my stomach hurts so much! Help my child..."
The ladies were taken aback. Instead of sympathy, their eyes showed schadenfreude. Let her be smug for a moment, then she'll slip and fall.
"Quickly, fetch a doctor!" Shen Lixue put down her teacup and gave the order casually. If you don't watch where you're going, you'll trip over your skirt and fall to the ground.
"Ahhh, it hurts so much, it hurts so much!" Aunt Jin was helped to sit down on a chair by the maids. Her screams grew louder and louder, like demonic sounds piercing the ears, making people feel irritable and restless.
The ladies gave her a cold look. She had fallen, but there was no blood. Was she in that much pain?
"Princess Lixue, you know how to use silver needles, save me, please save me!" Aunt Jin looked at Shen Lixue pitifully, looking utterly miserable.
Shen Lixue raised her eyebrows, neither speaking nor moving. Aunt Jin was faking her pregnancy; the child wouldn't die even if she fell ten times, so why would she need Shen Lixue to save him?
"Princess, I know you hate the Prime Minister, and by extension everyone in the Prime Minister's mansion, but the child is innocent. He is the Prime Minister's son, your own brother, and he shares your blood. Please save him! I am willing to do anything to repay you!" Aunt Jin's eyes were brimming with tears, her face filled with misery.
Shen Lixue smiled. Aunt Jin was using a self-inflicted injury to gain everyone's sympathy. If she didn't help her treat the illness, she would be seen as a petty and narrow-minded person...
When did Aunt Jin become so clever? She actually knows how to use the opinions of others to suppress them?
"My medical skills are not very good, and I am even less knowledgeable about pregnancy. What if something goes wrong?" Shen Lixue asked, subtly probing.
Aunt Jin's face turned pale, and she forced a smile: "Your Highness is joking. You can even alleviate the Empress Dowager's chronic illness, how could you not cure this little ailment!"
"Injuring one's offspring is no small matter!" Shen Lixue's gaze was solemn: "Your injury and the Empress Dowager's chronic illness are completely different!"
"The unborn child has been thrown, which is a serious matter. The Duke of Wu's mansion does not have a physician, and it seems that no doctor came to the banquet. Since the princess knows medicine, why doesn't she save the life? A doctor's heart is like a parent's!" Lady Ruan Chuqing, the wife of the Duke of Wen, stepped forward and looked at Shen Lixue with her deep eyes.
All eyes turned to Shen Lixue. As Princess Qingyan, she shouldn't be treating a concubine, but these are extraordinary times, and saving lives is the priority. She knows medicine, so there's no need for further hesitation.
Shen Lixue smiled slightly. Ruan Chuqing had instigated everyone to force her to examine Aunt Jin, which was definitely not a good thing. Since she was in the mood, she would play along: "Let me make this clear from the start, I don't know anything about pregnancy. If anything happens to Aunt Jin, don't blame me!"
"Princess, just do your best, no one will blame you!" A cold light flashed deep in Ruan Chuqing's eyes. This time, she was going to completely eliminate Shen Lixue.
"Good!" Shen Lixue smiled sweetly, like a hundred flowers blooming, captivating all who beheld her. With a flick of her wrist, a silver needle appeared in her hand, which she then plunged fiercely into Aunt Jin's abdomen.
"Ah!" Aunt Jin screamed in terror, her heart-wrenching cry echoing through the air: "My child, my child!"
Everyone was shocked and looked down to see a large amount of blood flowing from beneath Aunt Jin, completely soaking her golden dress. The bright red blood was particularly glaring in the bright sunlight.
"Shen Lixue, you look down on me! If you don't want to help me get treatment, just say so! Why did you kill my child!" Aunt Jin cried her heart out, tears streaming down her face, but a hint of smugness flashed deep in her eyes.
She had placed the blood pack on her person beforehand, intending to fake a miscarriage after Shen Lixue had given her a few acupuncture needles. However, Shen Lixue repeatedly reminded everyone that her medical skills were not proficient and that if she gave her acupuncture needles too many times, she might accidentally insert needles into the wrong acupoints. People would feel sorry for her, but they wouldn't blame her too much.
Therefore, Aunt Jin was very clever. When Shen Lixue was giving her the first injection, she broke the blood pack, making people think that Shen Lixue was unwilling to treat her illness and that was why she killed her child.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Shen Lixue refused to treat Ruan Chuqing. After being reprimanded by Ruan Chuqing, she reluctantly stepped in to save the child. Arrogant and angry, she then severely injured Ruan Chuqing's child...
“Aunt Jin!” Ignoring the bloodstains covering Aunt Jin’s body, Ruan Chuqing squatted down, held her hand tightly, and looked at her with deep sympathy.
Aunt Jin clung tightly to Ruan Chuqing's hand as if grasping at a straw, her eyes filled with a pitiful and sorrowful expression: "Madam, it hurts so much, it hurts so much!"
"Don't worry, the doctor will be here soon!" Ruan Chuqing comforted Aunt Jin, then turned to look at Shen Lixue, her eyes blazing with anger: "Princess Lixue, you've gone too far! This child is your own brother! Even if you're in a bad mood, you could have just said you wouldn't save him. Why did you have to kill him with your own hands? He's a life!"
The crowd looked at Shen Lixue with more displeasure. This Princess Lixue, presuming on her noble status, had a terrible temper. Instead of using her medical skills to save lives, she used them to kill.
Shen Lixue raised her eyebrows. She understood. Today's elimination was a scheme orchestrated by Ruan Chuqing and Aunt Jin.
"Aunt Jin, Madam Ruan, what are you talking about? I haven't even inserted the acupuncture needles yet, how could I have harmed the child?" Shen Lixue blinked her innocent eyes and asked, feigning ignorance.
The two women, huddled together, their faces streaked with tears, stood in stark contrast to the irony of their grief.
What? The acupuncture needles haven't been inserted yet? The reproach in everyone's eyes instantly turned into deep shock.
"I could feel the pain, how could you not have been given a needle!" Aunt Jin retorted coldly, tears streaming down her face.
Shen Lixue smiled gently: "I just tested the acupoints with my hand, and maybe I used a little too much force. The silver needles really didn't work!"
"Shen Lixue, don't make excuses. If you didn't use acupuncture, how could Aunt Jin have suddenly miscarried?" Ruan Chuqing was the first to come to her senses and coldly questioned Shen Lixue, but her heart was in turmoil. What trick was she planning to play now?
"If you don't believe me, Madam, there's nothing I can do. When a silver needle is inserted into an acupoint, there are holes. Although they are not visible, any doctor can see them. When the doctor comes, let him examine them, and then you will believe what I'm saying!"
As soon as Shen Lixue finished speaking, a servant led a doctor into the front hall: "The doctor is here, please make way!"
Ruan Chuqing was startled, her cold gaze sweeping over her, a sneer in her heart: No needle hole, huh? She'll just poke one in herself.
With a flick of her slender hand, a long, thin needle appeared in her palm, which she then plunged fiercely into Aunt Jin's lower abdomen...
Chapter 124: Beating the Aunt Again, Ruan Chuqing
The moment the silver blade pierced her skin, a small, fair hand suddenly reached out, tightly grasped Ruan Chuqing's wrist, and held it up in front of everyone. Between her two slender, white fingers, a long embroidery needle appeared, its sharp tip gleaming coldly in the sunlight.
“Madam Su, Aunt Jin’s clothes are not torn or tattered, why did you stick an embroidery needle into her stomach?” Shen Lixue looked coldly at Ruan Chuqing, the corners of her mouth slightly raised, a half-smile on her lips: “The puncture hole made by an embroidery needle is different from that made by a silver needle.”
"I accidentally dropped the embroidery needle just now. I went to pick it up, not to prick Aunt Jin!" Ruan Chuqing looked at the sharp needle tip and spoke confidently, without any guilt or panic at being caught doing something wrong.
Shen Lixue gave a cold laugh: "Madam is in quite a good mood, even bringing embroidery needles to a banquet!"
Ruan Chuqing looked at the fine needle between her fingers and smiled slightly: "I have a habit of carrying an embroidery needle with me at all times!"
"Fortunately, Madam didn't hold the needle upright when she picked it up. Otherwise, if the embroidery needle had pierced Aunt Jin's abdomen, the fetus in her womb would have had no chance of survival!" Shen Lixue lowered her voice, her clear and cold eyes flashing with icy coldness.