The maid's road to success

The letters that Liu Yan had been sending to the Sixth Prince's Mansion finally received a reply, and the Sixth Prince would come to see her in the evening.

Liu Yan sat in front of the mirror, trying to dress herself up as beautiful as before, but the makeup couldn't cover her haggardness, so Xing'er had no choice but to put on her delicate makeup. Liu Yan looked at her look with satisfaction, and smeared the sterilizing medicine on the teacup, lips, nails, and even in the burning incense burner.

"My Lord, you finally came to see me!"

When the Sixth Prince hurried over, Liu Yan had been waiting for a long time. The Sixth Prince knew that he owed Liu Yan the loss of his child, so he didn't want to face her. But Liu Yan's letter was sincere, and he couldn't really ignore it, so he planned to take a look and leave.

"You are still not in good health, take good care of yourself. When you get to your fiefdom, I will find you the best manor, one that is bigger and more luxurious than this one, and have a doctor take good care of you so that you can have another child."

Liu Yan nodded and tenderly picked up the tea and handed it to the Sixth Prince.

"Your Highness, have a cup of tea. You must be tired these past few days."

The Sixth Prince shook his head, indicating that he had just used it. Liu Yan put down the tea in disappointment and stretched out her arms to hug the Sixth Prince's neck. The Sixth Prince wanted to retreat and dodge. He felt uncomfortable seeing Liu Yan now, let alone being intimate with her.

"Your Highness, are you blaming me for not protecting my child? Are you looking down on me?"

When the Sixth Prince heard her say this, he could no longer hide and let her kiss him on the mouth. If the Sixth Prince was not of great use to her, Xing'er would have wanted to replace the abortion drug with arsenic.

Liu Yan kissed the Sixth Prince and then let go. Although she didn't let the Sixth Prince drink it, the liquid on his lips was enough, and he also inhaled some from the incense burner.

"Yan'er, I will send someone to move those things away at midnight. Go to the fiefdom first. Those things cannot be seen in public. The Fourth Prince has already been exposed. I will leave the things with you. You cannot take them out openly."

Liu Yan looked at the serious Sixth Prince and realized that looking at her was only part of the reason. The main purpose was to move the treasures away in a hurry.

"Ok."

Seeing that Liu Yan was still so considerate and well-behaved, the Sixth Prince felt even more guilty. He didn't dare to look into Liu Yan's eyes anymore and left with his head lowered.

As soon as the Sixth Prince left, Liu Yan called Xing'er and stuffed all the jewelry in her jewelry box into her.

"Although I don't know what your master wants to do, I still thank you for letting me get pregnant. I have always wanted to have a child of my own, but unfortunately I don't have that blessing. You helped me, but I still can't keep the child. From now on, you will leave Jingnan Lane. This is your deed, although you have other ways to get it."

Xing'er looked at the jewelry in her hand and Liu Yan's appearance, and knew that she had made up her mind to commit suicide. After thinking for a moment, she finally spoke.

"Before you leave, I have good news for you. The Sixth Prince's concubine did not conceive the Sixth Prince's child. Apart from your unborn child, the Sixth Prince is destined to have no more bloodline of his own."

After hearing this, Liu Yan couldn't stop her tears from flowing anymore. This was good, this was good. She would wait underground, waiting to see whether the Sixth Prince would regret not avenging his only bloodline since he would no longer have children of his own.

When Xing'er packed up her things and left Jingnan Lane, a fire broke out in the yard. Xing'er was shocked to see the place where she had stayed for half a year being engulfed by fire. Many servants reacted and escaped, wailing as they watched everything inside.

Xing'er looked at the flames rising into the sky quietly and said something quietly.

"Goodbye, I hope that in your next life, you will be born into an ordinary family, marry and have children, and live a stable life."

Xing'er did not take the jewelry with her. She went to the temple and performed a ritual for Liu Yan with her birth date and jewelry, hoping that she could be reincarnated and have a stable life.

When the Sixth Prince received the news, he rushed to Jingnan Lane like crazy. The fire had been extinguished, but the entire yard was burned down. Looking at the dilapidated yard, the Sixth Prince regretted it deeply. He must have hurt Liu Yan's heart and did not give her justice. Today, Liu Yan called him here with the determination to die and see him for the last time.

The Sixth Prince held onto the blackened door frame and shed tears of pain for the first time.

When the Fourth Prince found out about this, he just smiled faintly. He didn't expect Liu Yan to be such a strong woman. Even if the Sixth Prince helped cover up the fact that the Sixth Princess had harmed Liu Yan's child, neither of them would have an easy time. Liu Yan's death was to erect an indestructible wall between the Sixth Prince and the Sixth Princess.

But the Fourth Prince was more curious about how the concubine could get pregnant? Wasn't it said that the Sixth Prince had a hard time having children? How could the concubine be two months pregnant?

The imperial doctors also have their own people. After checking the pulse, they confirmed that it was a slippery pulse. The maidservant has been serving Lao Liu since she was a child and rarely leaves the house, so it can't be someone else's. Could she really be pregnant? God always favors Lao Liu. He could have taken the opportunity to win over a group of officials under him, but now all his efforts have gone to waste.

An Wenniang stood in the attic nearby, looked at the Sixth Prince's appearance, and closed her eyes. The Sixth Prince was not such an affectionate person. He was in this state now because of Jiaoyan. The snuff bottle left for him by Liu Yan was no longer enough, so Liu Yan's death would make him feel extremely empty in his heart. As long as he could get Jiaoyan in time, it would not be like this.

However, Liu Yan's death successfully created a rift between the Sixth Prince and the Sixth Princess. From now on, whenever he gets close to the Sixth Princess, he will think of his lost child and Liu Yan's determination to die.

However, An Wenniang is concerned about something else now. If the Sixth Prince loses Jiaoyan, her mind will be affected. In An Zizhong's plan, the Sixth Prince still has some use, so Jiaoyan cannot stop.

"Is there any progress in the Sixth Prince's Palace? Where are our people stationed now?"

Bai Mei took stock of the Black Hawk members of the Six Princes' Mansion.

"Our people are all young, and most of them serve on the periphery. Only Zhuye is now a third-class maidservant of the Sixth Prince's concubine."

An Wenniang looked at Baimei. The Sixth Prince had two concubines. Which one of them was Zhuye serving now?

"She's the new girl who almost overpowered Liu Yan. She's really cowardly. After Liu Yan seduced the Sixth Prince away, the Sixth Princess thought she was useless and stopped caring about her. If a person with that kind of personality is not liked by both masters, then she will be sent to the cold palace. It seems that she was bullied miserably. Many of the maids around her have found better jobs, so Zhuye was the one who moved in. There's also Xiaoju, who is now also the maid sweeping the courtyard of the concubine."

An Wenniang sighed. She didn't expect that the person who once forced Liu Yan to use Jiaoyan would now become the person they wanted to use Jiaoyan on.

"The Sixth Prince's fiefdom is not close by. Send a batch of Jiaoyan to Zhuye and ask her to use them when the Sixth Prince goes there. When you send them the antidote for Wuxin Powder, bring Jiaoyan with you as well, to prevent the Sixth Prince from running out of medicine and getting into trouble."

Bai Mei responded and went downstairs to make arrangements. An Wenniang looked at the once prosperous and exquisite courtyard not far away, and felt a little complicated. She once asked, since Liu Yan had already used Jiao Yan, why not use poison to get rid of the Sixth Prince directly.

An Zizhong said that his purpose was to overturn the case of Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion, not to kill those people. Moreover, if a prince died suddenly, the palace would definitely conduct a thorough investigation, and they would be likely to be exposed at that time. Even if they were lucky enough not to be exposed, they would have a hard time afterwards, and it would be too difficult to really take revenge, so it would be most useful for these people to be alive.

But An Wenniang had followed her ancestors in observing vegetarianism and chanting Buddhist scriptures for so many years. Although she hated the traitors who had killed the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion and believed that they should all pay with death, she still felt uncomfortable at having to use so many innocent people. Liu Yan had never been involved in the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion case. She only met the Sixth Prince later. Li Changan, Qi Yangchuan, and Madam Qi had nothing to do with the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion case. Princess Baozhu was a wicked person, but she had never harmed the Marquis Mansion.

But such people were dragged into the game and became part of their revenge. Liu Yan’s tragic death was the biggest proof of this.

An Yun knew An Wenniang's concern and stood behind her.

"Miss, there is no room for retreat from the beginning of this matter. They have never harmed the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion, nor have they harmed the Yuan family, but their rich and luxurious life depends on the lives of so many people. Liu Yan is not innocent. She spends four or five thousand taels of silver a year, which is all the people's blood and sweat. Princess Baozhu is not innocent. She has killed at least a dozen people. Young Master Li Changan did not intend to let him die. On the contrary, he used him, but he would also help him realize his dream of becoming a powerful official. Qi Yangchuan and Madam Qi are not innocent either. In Gongzhou, taxes were raised to ensure their wealth, forcing many people to sell their children. They deserved to die. Jin Yue is not innocent. She is cruel and ruthless. The young master only asked her to get information from Qi Yangchuan, but she took advantage of the drug to be domineering in the Qi family and forced several maids and servants to death. The people we are dealing with are not innocent. The young master has never thought of taking the lives of the truly innocent people."

An Wenniang knew that what An Yun said was right, but Liu Yan's death was tragic. She did not leave herself any chance of survival. She sealed the doors and windows, lit a fire and burned herself to death from the inside. Such a person, born in a quagmire, never accepted her fate and relied on herself to climb up. All she wanted was to have her own children and let her children have a bright future.

She also knew that although Liu Yan had never killed anyone in the Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion, the money she used for food and clothing was given by the Sixth Prince. The Sixth Prince's salary was not enough, and the Sixth Prince's wife had the protection of the Empress Dowager, so the Sixth Prince had no way of getting money from the mansion to support herself, so most of the money came from illegal sources. However, Liu Yan's death made her realize for the first time how bloody the road to revenge was. This was just the first step to accept her fate, and more people would die later.

An Wen Niang knew that she had no way to stop it. She couldn't watch An Zizhong fall into hell, couldn't take risks with her ancestors, and couldn't watch those who died tragically in Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion die with grievances. After all, this was a road full of blood and darkness.

In this fight between the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince, some officials were bound to become victims. Ever since An Zizhong attended Li Changan's wedding, no one knew what the two had discussed. Qi Yangchuan worked particularly hard in reporting on the Sixth Prince, but was hated by the Sixth Prince and became a thorn in his side. When the Sixth Prince was driven to his fiefdom, Qi Yangchuan was also demoted. Before coming to Kyoto, Qi Yangchuan was still the prefect of Gongzhou, the highest official in Gongzhou. However, this time he was sent to Gongzhou again, but was demoted one level to become a co-prefect.

Although he was only demoted by one level, it was extremely ironic. A prefect used so many means to finally return to Kyoto and become a court official under the emperor, but after a year he was sent back and demoted by one level. When he returned to Gongzhou, he could foresee how many people would laugh at Qi Yangchuan without any calculation.

When Qi Yangchuan received the document from the Ministry of Personnel, he felt his eyes go dark. Jin Yue was still crying beside him, saying that Madam Qi had brought people to steal the clothes and jewelry that she had reserved for a long time.

If Jin Yue had complained like this before, Qi Yangchuan would have rushed into the inner house to confront Madam Qi, and then took her things back, leaving Madam Qi behind in anger. But today, Jin Yue cried for an incense stick of time, and Qi Yangchuan ignored her. Jin Yue stood up with a frown, and couldn't help but slap Qi Yangchuan.

These moves were all very easy for her to use and they always succeeded.

The document in Qi Yangchuan's hand fell to the ground, and Qi Yangchuan turned his head to look at Jin Yue's face. In the past, he thought Jin Yue was the most beautiful woman in the world, so gentle and charming, and every part of her was what he liked, so he felt very uncomfortable when he saw her being wronged. However, after coming to Kyoto, his backyard was in a mess, and his daughter simply married his nephew and moved out to avoid trouble. Every time he came back, the first thing he did was to quarrel with his wife.

He was also distressed when his wife cried, but when he saw Jin Yue's tears, he seemed to be dizzy and didn't care. Today's transfer document dealt a heavy blow to his heart. Qi Yangchuan seemed to wake up immediately.

The scars on Jin Yue's face, the artificial expression, the heavy makeup and the greasy fragrance all made him particularly disgusted. He slapped Jin Yue in the face, which not only made Jin Yue stand there in disbelief, but also made Qi Yangchuan sober up and become the ruthless and rational Qi Yangchuan he used to be.

What he had done after coming to Kyoto flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern, and each scene told him how stupid he was. He clearly realized that he might have been deceived by this woman. He didn't know the specific reason, but the important thing now was not to find out what Jin Yue had done, but to see if there was any way for him to keep his official position and stay in Kyoto.

His departure made a big splash, and he couldn't just go back to Gongzhou like that. Otherwise, he would never be able to hold his head up high for the rest of his life, and would be suppressed by the current prefect, unable to get up.

In order to control the power of Gongzhou, he suppressed the officials below and incurred the hatred of many people. If he returns now, he will probably become the target of public criticism and have a bad ending. Moreover, when Gongzhou left, all his property was sold. If he returns now, he will be a drowned dog, with no money, no people, and no power.