Chapter 484 Courting a Big Shot

Chapter 484: Currying Favor with a Big Shot

Pei Zhiyi asked Ji Yuntang, "Tangtang, aren't you afraid this maid might leak your plan?"

Ji Yuntang said, "If you hire someone, trust them; if you don't trust them, don't hire them. I've already looked at her injuries—they're a buildup of old scars and fresh wounds, which shows this Xu treats her poorly. She probably wasn't lying just now."

Pei Zhiyi clicked her tongue and said, "Well, this girl really is loyal, isn't she? Even after all that, she still wants to save her mistress. It's just so sad for her young lady—being the daughter of the first wife, yet abused like this by her stepmother."

"This time, they were also lucky to have run into you. Otherwise, they really might have lost their lives!"

Ji Yuntang turned to look at Pei Zhiyi and sighed, "Zhiyi, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I won't know the specifics of Miss Zhong's condition until I go to the Zhong residence tonight and see for myself."

"Tangtang, then I'll come with you tonight. I don't have anything going on tonight anyway."

Ji Yuntang figured she was the type who could never stay idle, so she nodded and agreed.

"Alright, let's meet at the Zhong residence gate tonight."

Ming Xia pressed her hand to her chest and limped back to the Zhong residence. Her face was once again covered with a human-skin mask, so she looked exactly like Miss Zhong.

From inside came the furious roar of Xu: "What the hell are you people good for? So many of you and you still haven't found that damn girl?"

The servants were shaking in fear, not daring to make a sound.

From inside, the eldest son of the Zhong family, Zhong Beiqi, said, "Mother, don't worry. That crazy Zhong Xinyu is still in our hands. That damn girl Ming Xia wouldn't dare run away. If she runs off, who's going to take care of that crazy girl?"

Standing outside the door, Ming Xia heard this and a flicker of contempt stirred in her heart.

She'd seen shameless people, but never this shameless. Xu and her son were truly two of a kind.

Ming Xia was about to enter when she heard Xu ask again, "By the way, how is that little tramp Zhong Xinyu doing? The doctor said there's no saving her?"

The maid beside Xu replied, "To answer Madam, the doctor said the eldest young lady won't die anytime soon, but her body is severely drained. Just taking medicine to treat her mental illness isn't enough—she needs to be nourished daily with chicken soup simmered with top-grade ginseng, deer antler, and cordyceps before she can slowly recover."

She added another sentence, "Oh, and before the doctor left, he also said that ideally, ones that are at least fifty years old work best."

When Xu heard this, she flew into a rage and pounded the table.

"Ginseng, deer antler, and cordyceps that are fifty years or older—I can't even bear to eat such good things myself, and yet we're supposed to let that little tramp benefit from them? Does she even deserve it?"

Zhong Beiqi was just about to say something when he saw his mother's fury, but out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Ming Xia outside in her wedding dress.

He quickly swallowed his words and walked out to interrogate her: "Ming Xia, where have you been, you dead girl? Coming back only now—do you even care about the Zhong residence anymore?"

Ming Xia remembered what Ji Yuntang had told her to do. Her expression crumpled, and she immediately knelt on the ground, saying:

"Please calm down, Young Master. Please calm down, Madam. I was kidnapped by a gang of bandits who knocked me out and dumped me by the roadside. When I came to, I walked back by myself."

It was only then that Xu noticed that her face was dirty, her wedding dress was covered in dust, and even her wrists had varying degrees of abrasions.

Most importantly, there wasn't a single jeweled hairpin or earring left on her head!

Xu was taken aback and stormed right up to Ming Xia, slapping her right across the face.

"Where are the jeweled hairpins on your head? Did you hide them all, you little wretch?"

Ming Xia bit her lip and shook her head, saying in a tearful voice, "Madam, it wasn't this servant. It was those bandits—they robbed this servant of all her jewelry."

"This servant almost got taken by them too. Luckily, their leader looked down on me for being a divorced woman, so he didn't take me. Instead, he knocked me out and dumped me by the roadside. That's how I barely escaped with my life!"

Xu was shaking with rage. She pointed at Ming Xia and started cursing her out.

"Worthless! You worthless thing! Do you have any idea how much those jewels are worth? I only lent them to you temporarily, and you actually went and lost them all! I'll beat you to death, you worthless thing!"

She raised her hand to hit Ming Xia, but Zhong Beiqi caught her by the wrist.

"Mother, she's the best match as a stand-in for that crazy Zhong Xinyu. In two days, you still have to send her to Prince Ye's residence to marry in her place. What if you end up hurting her?"

When Xu heard this, she indeed stopped what she was doing. Then Zhong Beiqi leaned in and whispered in her ear:

"Those jewels are gone, so whatever. As long as we pull this off and get in good with that big shot, once he's happy and gives me and Second Brother official posts, will we ever have to worry about running out of jewels again?"

Xu thought he had a point and pulled her hand back with a smile.

"Beiqi is right. Then today, I'll spare that damn girl Ming Xia for now. Once we swap her back with that little tramp Zhong Xinyu, I'll give her a proper lesson then."

Ming Xia listened to the mother and son's conversation, and her eyes darkened.

Sure enough, Princess Ye was right—Old Master Zhong really was trying to get in good with some big shot behind the scenes.

No wonder they were still forcing her to put on the human-skin mask and marry in her place even though the young lady was already at death's door. So it turned out the big shot behind all this had ordered it.

Xu didn't give Ming Xia a second thought. After saying that, she shot Ming Xia a glance and said, "What are you standing around for? Why aren't you going to help your young lady take her medicine?"

"Yes, Madam."

Ming Xia had barely taken a few steps when Xu called out to stop her again. "Hold on."

She turned around and asked, "Is there anything else Madam needs?"

Xu said, her expression full of disgust, "Tear that human-skin mask off your face. I get angry just looking at that face of hers."

Hatred surged in Ming Xia's eyes. She knew full well that Zhong Xinyu's face looked a lot like her mother's—the late former Madam.

And Xu definitely had something to do with the former Madam's death.

Ming Xia silently peeled off the human-skin mask from her face, revealing her own face.

Xu fiddled with her fingernails and said with a sneer, "Mm, much easier on the eyes now."

"Go on back and take care of your young lady. Also, take that fifty-year-old ginseng out of the storehouse and make some chicken soup with it to help your young lady regain her strength."

After saying this, she was pained by the loss.

But then she remembered that Zhong Xinyu's dowry was all in her hands, and she didn't feel so bad anymore.

As long as everything she did pleased the Crown Prince, what was losing one ginseng root compared to that?

That night, Ji Yuntang, dressed all in black with her face covered, arrived outside the wall of the Zhong residence as promised.

Pei Zhiyi jumped down from a nearby tree that was ten meters tall, also dressed head to toe in black.

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