Chapter 95

Chapter 95: A Chance to Climb Higher

Sheng Zhi Wan said nothing. She walked past Huan Zhu and into the room with Ting Lan.

Ting Lan let out a cold snort.

Huan Zhu bit her lip and followed them inside.

Sheng Zhi Wan’s eyes swept over the furnishings. She thought the courtyard itself was already neglected, but the room was even more bare. Sheng Zhi Wan could not even find a proper place to sit.

The bedding on the bed was not even as good as what Huan Zhu had used back when she was still serving as a servant in Sheng Zhi Wan’s courtyard.

Huan Zhu saw Sheng Zhi Wan’s frown and felt humiliation burn through her. “Now that I ended up like this, was the Princess satisfied?”

Sheng Zhi Wan turned and looked Huan Zhu up and down. “Wasn’t this the result you begged for yourself?”

Sheng Zhi Wan’s voice stayed calm as she continued, “From the first time you met Qi Shu Xian, you already fell for him, didn’t you? Otherwise you wouldn’t have played messenger between me and him, passing along so many baseless words.”

Because of that, Sheng Zhi Wan had believed Qi Shu Xian was a good man.

Huan Zhu’s body shook. She let out a bitter laugh. “Yes. I did love the Heir Apparent from the beginning, but I never thought I would do anything…”

“But you still did,” Sheng Zhi Wan cut in.

Huan Zhu’s eyes turned red, and she stopped talking. At this point, what was the point of saying more?

Sheng Zhi Wan suddenly said, “Still, you were my maid for so many years. I couldn’t bear to watch you fall to this.”

Huan Zhu jolted and looked up in disbelief.

Ting Lan carefully spread a handkerchief over a long stool. Only then did Sheng Zhi Wan sit down, slow and unhurried.

Sheng Zhi Wan said, “Don’t look at me like that. I came today to give you a chance to climb higher. Whether you could seize it depended on you.”

Huan Zhu stared at Sheng Zhi Wan. “What chance?”

Huan Zhu looked eager, almost frantic.

She had had enough of this life. No favor, no support, and even a half-dead old nanny dared to ride on her head. These past days, everything in Ning Xiang Garden had been done by Huan Zhu herself. She even had to wash her own clothes.

Huan Zhu wanted to complain, but that old nanny sneered that she was a thing that betrayed her master and climbed into bed. The Heir Apparent hated her, and the Heir’s Wife would love nothing more than to skin her alive. Who would ever stand up for her?

Only then did Huan Zhu understand that a concubine with no backing was worse than a maid.

Sheng Zhi Wan said, “You should have heard about what happened yesterday. I injured Qi Shu Xian’s left arm. In the next few days he would probably look for a physician, but no matter how it was treated, his Inner Power would still not circulate smoothly.”

Sheng Zhi Wan tapped the tabletop lightly. “But I had a matching acupressure technique. If you followed the method, after a few sessions, his left arm would feel normal again.”

Huan Zhu froze. “The Princess wanted to teach that acupressure technique to me?”

As someone who had followed Sheng Zhi Wan for years, Huan Zhu knew Sheng Zhi Wan was skilled in massage and acupressure. Huan Zhu simply never expected Sheng Zhi Wan would be willing to pass it to her.

“Yes,” Sheng Zhi Wan said, “but that would only make the Heir Apparent stop hating you.”

Sheng Zhi Wan set two bottles on the table.

“This first bottle was called Fragrant Skin and Jade Bone Pill,” Sheng Zhi Wan said. “Take one pill after you woke up and one before you slept. In three days, your skin would become clear and luminous from head to toe, soft and tempting.”

Sheng Zhi Wan’s gaze stayed steady. “Not only that, it would make your body produce a natural scent with an aphrodisiac effect. Any man who had been intimate with you, if he smelled it again, would find it very hard to resist.”

Sheng Zhi Wan picked up the second bottle. “This one, rub it on a woman’s private place after bathing. It would make it tighter and rosy… and make a man even more obsessed, unable to pull himself away.”

The moment Sheng Zhi Wan finished speaking, Huan Zhu rushed forward and hugged both bottles to her chest.

After the rush of joy, doubt rose in her heart.

If the medicine was truly that good, why didn’t Sheng Zhi Wan use it herself?

Sheng Zhi Wan saw the look on Huan Zhu’s face and spoke in a low, drifting voice. “Of course, there was something else. Both bottles were poisonous. If you used a small amount only a few times, it wouldn’t harm you, but if you used them for a long time, the consequences would be unthinkable.”

That made Huan Zhu feel even more at ease.

So that was it.

Huan Zhu had known Sheng Zhi Wan would never be that kind.

Thinking of what had been happening in the manor lately, Huan Zhu sneered. “The Princess came to me because the Princess thought the Princess couldn’t beat Meng Yang, didn’t you?”

Huan Zhu’s voice sharpened with resentment. “I warned you back then. You shouldn’t have pushed the Heir Apparent away just to vent your anger, but you wouldn’t listen. Now this outcome was your own fault!”

Sheng Zhi Wan’s eyes narrowed.

Sheng Zhi Wan leaned down. The chill in Sheng Zhi Wan’s gaze made Huan Zhu’s smug expression freeze in place.

But in the next instant, Sheng Zhi Wan smiled again, gentle as spring. “No. You were wrong. I only thought Meng Yang wasn’t worth watching.”

Sheng Zhi Wan’s smile deepened. “When dogs bit dogs, that was when the show became truly interesting, wasn’t it?”

Sheng Zhi Wan added lightly, “Of course, if you didn’t want this chance, that was fine. I could always find someone more useful.”

As Sheng Zhi Wan spoke, Ting Lan immediately reached for the bottles in Huan Zhu’s arms.

Huan Zhu panicked. She dropped to her knees. “I believed you! I was willing to do things for the Princess!”

“That wasn’t for me,” Sheng Zhi Wan corrected calmly. “It was for you.”

“Yes, yes!” Huan Zhu’s voice shook with urgency. “I did it all for myself!”

Sheng Zhi Wan stood. “Good. Eat more these days and put some meat back on. Tomorrow, I would come again at this same time and teach you the acupressure technique.”

Sheng Zhi Wan left.

Huan Zhu’s body went limp, and she collapsed onto the floor.