Chapter 11: Unfortunate Consumption (2)

  Xiao Cheng returned to her room, leaning against the bed in a daze, thinking about Yu Dai's affairs. After a while, she could only shake her head and sigh. Qiaolan poured tea for her and asked, "Miss, what are you thinking about?"

  Xiao Cheng smiled and took the tea cup, saying: "I was just thinking about what I said to Ninth Miss earlier!"

  Qiao Lan heard her mention Yu Dai and couldn't help but blurt out a sentence: "Miss Jiu's almond tea is indeed fragrant!"

  Unexpectedly, she suddenly said this, Xiao Cheng Yan was surprised and asked: "How did you say that? Have you also tasted that tea?"

  Qiao Lan smiled and stuck out her tongue, saying: "Don't be modest, Miss. When Wenping sister was brewing tea, she also brewed a small cup for each of us!"

  Xiao Chengyan couldn't help but laugh and shake her head, saying: "This Wenping is really bold! I was wondering why earlier when we were at the Ling's house, I saw her give you a certain look, and then you disappeared for a while. It turns out it was because of this!"

  Just as Cai Lan was about to respond, Yun Ying suddenly walked in and said to Xiao Zhengyan: "Miss, the master has arrived!"

  Xiao Chengyan was taken aback and quickly stood up. Just as she had barely risen, the curtain on the other side moved, and Xiao Chengye had already stepped inside. Looking at Xiao Chengye's somewhat gloomy handsome face, Xiao Chengyan couldn't help but call out in surprise: "Big brother?"

  Xiao Chengye sat down in the house and waved his hand to signal Qiaolan to retreat before asking: "Were you there this morning too?"

  Xiao Chengxian sat down in front of him and immediately caught a whiff of the faint scent of alcohol emanating from his body. She furrowed her brow, but instead of responding to Xiao Chengyan's words, she asked, "Did big brother drink at noon?"

  Xiao Chengye nodded slightly. But then asked another question: "This morning when Lu Weiyang went to the inner courtyard to see Ling Dajie, were you there?"

  Xiao Chengyan nodded and said, "I'll go with Ninth Sister and Tenth Sister to Ling Dajie's place, he just happens to be there!" As she spoke, she couldn't help but glance at Xiao Chengye's somewhat gloomy face. She secretly wondered what was wrong with him today.

  Xiao Chengye hummed softly and said, "I think he's quite concerned about you?"

  Suddenly hearing this, Xiao Chengyan was not flustered at all. She just smiled and said: "This matter should actually be asked of Lu Weiying. If you want to ask who is responsible, then you should blame your parents for making me, your sister, like this! What do you think, big brother?"

  She and her brother have a good relationship, and they usually don't avoid talking about anything, so Xiao Chengyan would speak like that.

  Xiao Chengye listened to this, but couldn't help but glance at her, saying: "Today at the banquet, he mentioned you several times, and each time his expression was evasive. It really didn't make me feel very comfortable!"

  Xiao Cheng smiled slightly and asked suddenly: "In your opinion, what kind of person is this Lu Weiying?"

  With a slight raise of his sword-like eyebrows, Xiao Cheng Yan said coldly, "He's just a self-proclaimed romantic!" Apart from that, there was no other comment. Xiao Cheng Yan nodded slightly, and was about to tell him that Yuan Dai had already given Lu Wei Ying the medicine, when Xiao Cheng Yan suddenly spoke up first, saying: "By the way, what kind of effect does the medicine you gave me yesterday have?"

  Xiao Chengxian couldn't help but smile when he asked: "That won't happen! It's said that even if the medicine takes effect, it will only cause some boils to appear on his face and body. So giving him that medicine is just to make him unable to leave the house or see anyone!"

  Xiao Chengye heard this and finally let out a sigh of relief, saying: "This is for the best!" Just as Xiao Chengyan was about to tell him that he had already taken action earlier, Xiao Chengye suddenly said with a shocking tone: "Just now at the banquet, I took advantage of the opportunity to put the medicine in his wine and made him drink it!"

  Suddenly hearing this, Xiao Chengyan couldn't help but stare blankly and be speechless. Noticing her abnormality, Xiao Chengyan couldn't help but worry and ask: "What's wrong? Can't the medicine be taken with wine?"

  Lu Weiying was after all a member of the Lu family, and although Xiao Chengye now had no good feelings towards him, he was also genuinely worried that something would go wrong.

  Xiao Xian smiled wryly and shook her head, saying: "It's not that we can't give him the medicine with wine... it's just... cough... Big Brother, you don't know, earlier when we were in Ling Jie's sister-in-law's room, we already thought of a way to get him to take one pill!"

  Xiao Chengye was also stunned for a while. The two siblings looked at each other, and Xiao Chengye suddenly realized something, frowning and asking: "Have you thought of a way? This 'you'... are you referring to you and Ling Jiemei?"

  Xiao Chengxian hadn't planned to tell his older brother about this matter being related to Yuan Dai, but now that he had already let it slip, he couldn't deceive Xiao Chengyan. He smiled and tacitly acknowledged it. Xiao Chengyan's eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and after a long while, he asked again: "Was the medicine also hers?"

  Xiao Chengyan sighed and said, "Today, in Ling's house, Ninth Sister personally handed the tea to Lu Weiying!" She didn't want Xiao Chengyan to suspect that Yuanyan had intentionally used her to plot against others, so after saying this, she went on to detail what had happened earlier in Guo's house.

  Xiao Chengye listened absent-mindedly for a long time, but suddenly blurted out: "She can indeed be called 'erudite'!"

  As soon as she heard this, Xiao Chengyan almost couldn't help but mock him for looking down on Yuandai earlier. But after seeing the obvious look of worry on Xiao Chengyan's face, she changed her mocking words to: "I wonder if Lu Weiyang will make a mess after taking two pills?"

  Xiao Chengye didn't understand medicine and after hearing this, he wasn't concerned either. He simply said: "It's just a medicine for boils, what's the big deal?"

  Xiao Chengyan glared at her own brother with a bad temper and said, "Can eating one or two dried beans be the same as eating a catty of dried beans?" As she spoke, Xiao Chengyan got up after all, and hastily said, "No, I have to go ask Ninth Sister about it! Brother, you wait in the room for a while!" After finishing speaking, she hurriedly went out.

  Xiao Chengye's body moved slightly, and he had a mind to follow, but after hesitating for a moment, he still sat back down.

  Some things, once missed, can never be recaptured.

  Xiao Chengxian didn't go for too long and soon returned, looking at Xiao Chengyan with a strange expression. She said: "I've already asked Ninth Sister about it. At first, she was also very surprised to hear the news. Later, she just smiled and said it's nothing, just that we'll have to suffer a bit more!"

  Xiao Chengye didn't think that taking one more pill would make a difference, and after hearing this, he was even less concerned. He sat for another moment, said a few words to Xiao Chengyan, and then got up and left. Although he appeared nonchalant, he still had some misgivings about the medicine in Yu Dai's hand. After returning to his room, he called over a small servant who was playing chess with him and ordered him to keep an eye on Lu Weiyin at all times.

  That night was uneventful, and the next morning when Xiao Chengye got up, he thought of this matter and shook his head, feeling that he had worried for nothing yesterday. As members of aristocratic families, the two families were also close friends for generations. Although Xiao Chengye didn't like Lu Weiying, he really didn't want anything to happen in his own backyard. Now that he saw the medicine was ineffective, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

  After washing up, seeing that there was still some time to spare, Xiao Chengye first called over Hongxia, the maid who was waiting on him, to invite Ling Yuqing to come to the Flower Hall for an early breakfast. Hongxia responded and was about to go out when she was stopped by Xiao Chengye again. After a moment's hesitation, he finally said: "Also invite Master Lu to come along!" Inviting only Ling Yuqing alone would be somewhat unreasonable in both sentiment and reason.

  Hong Xia didn't know what was going on in his mind at this moment, and after responding with a sound, he left.

  She had gone, and Xiao Chengye also didn't stay in the house for long. He got up and went to the flower hall. He had just sat down in the flower hall and hadn't even finished half a cup of tea when Ling Yuqing walked in with a refreshed look on his face. Seeing him come over, Xiao Chengye hastily put down his teacup, stood up, made a gesture, and laughed: "You came quickly! Sit down!"

  Ling Yuancheng also smiled and nodded at him, saying: "Brother Chengyan has sent someone to invite me, how could I dare to be slow?"

  Xiao Chengye smiled and sat down with him. On the other side, someone with quick eyes and hands quickly came forward to change the tea. After taking a sip of tea, Xiao Chengye hesitated and looked at Ling Yuqing, wondering if he should talk to him about Lu Weiying.

  He was still hesitating here, while Lingyuan Qing had already put down the teacup in her hand, and her eyes moved slightly as she glanced at the entrance of the flower hall: "Cheng Ye, I have something to say, I don't know if it's right or not."

  Xiao Chengye was taken aback and naturally replied: "If Yu Qing has something to say, just go ahead and say it. What's there to say or not to say?"

  With a wry smile, Ling Yuancheng said calmly, "But this is actually about my cousin Wei Ying!" Xiao Chengyan suddenly heard this and couldn't help but pause, swallowing back what he was about to say, waiting for Ling Yuancheng's next words.

  Ling Yuancheng furrowed his brow, then finally said: "Originally, I didn't want to speak ill of others behind their backs, but now it's unavoidable." He sighed and continued: "My cousin Weiying, this time he came to Beijing with Weijie to take the imperial exam, was actually because he got into a romantic entanglement in Tanzhou. If he had gotten involved with an ordinary family's daughter, at most it would have been a grand wedding procession, and bringing her back to the Lu family would have been fine. But that girl was betrothed since childhood, and the other party was from the family of Jiang Shilang, the Minister of Rites. When Jiang Shilang found out about this, he was furious and refused to settle it privately, insisting on taking Weiying to court. My third uncle had no choice but to hastily send him to Beijing for the imperial exam, hoping to stall for time and also to ask my father to mediate."

  Xiao Chengye listened to this and was taken aback, his eyes wide with surprise. After a long while, he let out a bitter laugh and said: "No wonder that day when I kept him at Qing'e Ridge for a short stay, your expression was so strange. But you should have told me about this earlier!" By the end of his words, there was an unmistakable tone of reproach.

  Ling Yuang Qing Zheng was about to speak, but heard footsteps coming from outside the flower hall. The two of them turned their heads at the same time and saw Lu Wei Ying walking towards them with a lackluster expression. Although both of them had grievances against him, they couldn't say anything to his face, so they reluctantly stood up to greet him.

  Although he didn't like Lu Weiyin, they were relatives after all, and it wasn't good to ignore him. Looking at Lu Weiyin's pale face with a hint of green, Ling Yuancheng couldn't help but ask with concern: "Weiyin, what's wrong with you today? Your complexion is really terrible!"

  He forced a wry smile and said, "Perhaps it's because I caught a chill yesterday. This morning when I got up, I felt my body wasn't feeling right!" (Your support is the greatest motivation for me.)