Sima Min, clutching her embroidered handkerchief, dabbed at the tears in the corners of her eyes and said mournfully, "I've been busy with my late father's affairs recently. Please forgive me, Miss Sheng."
Sheng Lengshuang couldn't stand Sima Min's demeanor. She snorted, "If what Miss Sima says is true, then I'm being unreasonable and disregarding your father's funeral by asking you to come and apologize to me?"
Sima Min repeatedly denied that this was her intention. A hint of malice flashed in her eyes. "I misspoke. I originally intended to reconcile with Miss Sheng. My father has already..."
She choked back a few sobs. "Now I have no other aspirations. I only wish to live my life peacefully, fulfilling my late father's wish."
Sheng Lengshuang didn't believe a word of it. "There's nothing to reconcile between Miss Sima and me. I see that Miss Sima is not feeling well. You should return to Prince Rui's manor soon, lest something happens at the entrance of my Sheng family."
Sima Min truly hadn't expected Sheng Lengshuang to be so dismissive. She almost ground her teeth to dust. Anyone else, after she had said such things and made a gesture, would have offered her a way out. But Sheng Lengshuang gave her no such opportunity.
Originally, she had planned to appear to ease things with Sheng Lengshuang, to make her relax, and then she would have a chance to deal with this wench. She never expected it to turn out this way.
"Miss Sheng is right. In that case, I shall not disturb you further." She curtsied and turned to get into her carriage.
"Lengshuang, Sima Min has ill intentions," Madam Sheng said.
Sheng Lengshuang had also seen it. She said coldly, "If Sima Min had good intentions, she wouldn't be Sima Min. However, no matter how ill-intentioned she is, it's useless. Prince Rui's manor has lost its backbone with the passing of Prince Rui. She will have a difficult time in the future."
None of Prince Rui's illegitimate sons had achieved anything. The entire Prince Rui's manor depended on Prince Rui. Now that Prince Rui was gone, the manor would slowly decline.
But Sima Min didn't seem to understand this.
This had nothing to do with her.
"Sheng Lengshuang, I'm going to the palace. Be careful at home," Mo Lingxi instructed.
Sheng Lengshuang knew what he was going to the palace for. She nodded, and then entered with General Sheng and his wife, without any lingering glances.
Mo Lingxi: "..." As expected, his wife still didn't favor him.
Upon arriving at the palace, he learned from the head eunuch about the events that had transpired in the palace, and also that Xiao Feng had almost caused trouble.
Glancing at Xiao Feng, who was huddled in a corner, he put on a stern face. "Xiao Feng, what did I tell you?"
Xiao Feng shrank further into the corner. "Daddy, I know I was wrong. I promise there won't be a next time. Can you forgive me this once?"
Mo Lingxi: "Go and squat for an hour. Then we'll talk."
Xiao Feng felt like crying. He pitifully went outside the hall to squat. His father, like his mother, often punished him by making him squat.
He was still young and didn't want to squat.
Mo Lingxi paid no mind to what his son was thinking. He looked sternly at the imperial physicians. "What is the Emperor's condition?"
Although he had made arrangements before leaving the city, he hadn't expected things to turn out this way.
The head imperial physician bowed and said, "Reporting to His Highness Prince Rui, the Emperor seems to be controlled, similar to puppet techniques. We have investigated carefully, and this puppet technique requires the Emperor to take a certain medication regularly and for a long time, combined with specific methods to control His Majesty."
Puppet techniques...
Mo Lingxi thought about the recent events and then about Old Master Tao and the others, and a guess formed in his mind. "Is the damage to His Majesty's dragon body significant?"
The head imperial physician stated that the damage was not significant. "However, the Emperor must be detoxified as soon as possible, otherwise it will be detrimental to His Majesty's dragon body."
Mo Lingxi: "Are there any difficulties in detoxifying him?"
The head imperial physician replied, "Reporting to His Highness Prince Rui, after all, it is His Majesty. If there is the slightest mistake..."
Mo Lingxi understood. "You all proceed with treating His Majesty. I will bear the consequences. Whatever you need, I will find it."
The imperial physicians felt a little more at ease. With His Highness Prince Rui's words, they didn't have to panic so much.
Mo Lingxi waved for the imperial physicians to go and treat Zi Cheng. He then looked at the head eunuch.
The head eunuch bowed slightly, respectfully saying, "Reporting to His Highness Prince Rui, many palace servants have emerged during this period, and the imperial concubines have also been somewhat restless. The quietest are Consort Ning and a few others; there has been no movement from them."
Mo Lingxi crossed his legs and leaned back against the chair, saying indifferently, "If they've emerged, deal with them properly. Don't let them down."
The head eunuch understood and acknowledged this. He then reported the other matters.
After dealing with these, Mo Lingxi came outside the hall and looked at his son, who was squatting, with his hands behind his back. "If your mother finds out what you've done, she'll probably be angry again."
Xiao Feng cried, "Daddy, don't tell Mommy, okay?"
He didn't want his mother to be angry.
Mo Lingxi snorted coldly. "You know you were wrong now? I told you to stay with the Ministry of Agriculture, but you dared to run to the Emperor to complain and almost got into trouble. I think you've been living too comfortably."
Xiao Feng dared not speak. Now, he only hoped his father wouldn't tell his mother.
Mo Lingxi didn't want to say more to him. "After you finish squatting, go back to the Ministry of Agriculture and obediently complete what your mother assigned you. Otherwise, I will tell your mother about today's events."
Xiao Feng obediently agreed, regretting for the umpteenth time that he had secretly gone to complain to his imperial brother. He had thought he could get out of the Ministry of Agriculture, but it had turned out like this.
Mo Lingxi frowned, increasingly feeling that Xiao Feng's disposition needed to be changed. This child had lived too good a life that he couldn't endure any hardship. He remembered that this child was never this pampered before.
Perhaps Sheng Lengshuang's worries were justified. It wasn't right to let Xiao Feng live such a good life all the time.
...
Sheng Lengshuang had no idea what Mo Lingxi was thinking. She was planning the cultivation of medicinal herbs and fruit trees, thinking of utilizing all the land and mountains at home.
Madam Sheng sat beside her, offering suggestions. "Lengshuang, besides planting medicinal herbs and fruit trees, you could also plant other things, like grain and vegetables."
Sheng Lengshuang explained, "Mother, I don't intend to disrupt the original crops. My intention is to utilize the unused land and mountains."
As she spoke, she thought. For some reason, she now wanted to farm, to farm more, as if preventing something bad from happening.
Madam Sheng noticed that her expression was a little off and asked worriedly, "Lengshuang, did something happen?"
Sheng Lengshuang said no. "I just have a sense of unease, a baseless unease. I want to farm. Perhaps this will give me some security."
Madam Sheng thought for a moment and guessed, "Could it be that after learning you grew up in Shilipo Village, and because of the poison, you want to farm?"
Sheng Lengshuang didn't know if that was the case. "Perhaps. Or maybe it's a sense of foreboding? In any case, planting more things is never wrong."
Madam Sheng understood this best. "People, without something to rely on, will not feel at ease. Especially people like us, we need more things to fall back on."