Chapter 1005 The Coarse But Conspicuous Sachet
“Doctor, my mother is a woman, and you are a man. I suppose it’s not appropriate for you to take her handkerchief!” Zhao Xiran frowned and said with an ugly face.
How could a man examine a woman’s handkerchief at will?
“Why do you need to do that?” Madam Jiang’s face fell. She ignored Zhao Xiran’s words and asked.
“Madam, there seems to be something on your handkerchief,” the imperial physician said implicitly.
“What’s on my handkerchief? Is it in your way?” asked Madam Jiang. She clenched the handkerchief tightly and did not let it go.
The imperial physician replied politely, “I can’t tell whether it’s bad or not. Please let me see it. I know I should avoid touching your items to avoid arousing suspicion as a man. But I only need to take a look. You can ask a maid to bring it over.” Although the Marquis Xing’s Mansion was falling into decay with each passing day, an imperial physician couldn’t jump to a judgment without any evidence.
“Mother…” Zhao Xiran wanted to say something but stopped on second thought.
Madam Jiang’s downcast eyes scanned Zhao Xiran’s face. At this time, her eyes looked much clearer than before, but there was a hint of viciousness.
Zhao Xiran couldn’t help but lower her head.
“Give it to the imperial physician!” Madam Jiang handed the handkerchief to a servant girl beside her. The servant took it over and passed it to the imperial physician, who did not reach out to receive it. He only approached to sniff it and then said, “Madam, there is a smell of medicine in this handkerchief that can derange people’s minds.”
“Wh-what?” Madam Jiang didn’t understand and asked.
The Madams around them strained their ears to catch what they were saying. Infanta Yuan’an’s thoughtful gaze swept across Zhao Xiran, who stood nearby with her head lowered, and then Madam Jiang.
Unlike those Madams, she got along well with Zhao Xiran in the past. Although people evaluated them differently, they both enjoyed an excellent reputation. Infanta Yuan’an, measuring Zhao Xiran’s corn by her own bushel, believed there must be something fishy behind an enviable reputation.
If it was true with Shao Yanru and her, Zhao Xiran might not be an exception.
“Madam, let me make it clear. The smell of medicine on this handkerchief can turn your brain and lead to some erratic behaviors. Although its smell is light, the medicine is quite strong. You won’t feel anything strange when you smell it. It will take effect after a while.”
The imperial physician explained.
“Is… is someone trying to harm the Madam of Marquis Xing?” a madam asked in surprise.
“Not the Madam of Marquis Xing, but Princess Chen,” someone pointed to the inner room and said. It was Princess Chen who was lying unconscious inside now. Compared with her, Madam Jiang looked fine.
“To harm Princess Chen?” Another Madam gasped and covered the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief in a reflex action. Suddenly, she glanced at Madam Jiang’s handkerchief in the maid’s hand and immediately took her handkerchief away, not daring to wipe on her mouth corners and nose.
“No wonder Madam Jiang behaved squirrelly today. In a while, she kicked up such a fuss. Worse still, without a shadow of a doubt, she kept telling us the details of something that never happened.” Another Madam paid attention to her weird deeds. When she recalled Madam Jiang’s behaviors, she found Madam Jiang had been acting foolishly, which was so different from the past.
“But even if the handkerchief had a smell of medicine, what does it have to do with Princess Chen? Why would Princess Chen faint?” Zhao Xiran raised her head and asked softly.
Was it an accident that Shao Wanru fainted?
The imperial physician frowned. This matter was not easy to explain. Normally, Princess Chen would only behave abnormally and would not pass out.
“Doctor, take a look at this!” Yujie came out of the inner room and pulled off a sachet hanging from her waist. It was roughly made, not exquisite at all. Yujie, not good at needlework, made it herself. She was all thumbs when it came to sewing. Therefore, it took her a lot of effort to make such a sachet.
All the Madams present were masters in stitching and sewing. When they saw such a coarse sachet hanging on the personal principal maid of Princess Chen, they all sneered subconsciously.
None of their personal servant girls and old maids would accept such an inferior sachet. It came as a great surprise to them that Princess Chen’s principal maid would wear this crudely made and extremely ugly sachet!
Yujie did not use any eye-catching threads or special techniques to make this sachet, but it successfully attracted a lot of attention.
After all, it was too ugly and rough to be overlooked.
“Doctor, please take a look. There is some medicine in it that can purify my heart and help me calm down. It’s very effective with a faint scent. When wearing it, I feel more peaceful to serve my master!” Yujie said as she handed the sachet to the imperial physician.
The imperial physician took it over and sniffed at it suspiciously. Then, he cut a thread on it with a needle and smelled the herbs in it carefully. After pouring something inside into his palm, he sniffed again and looked at it closely. With a nod, he concluded. “Right. There is some medicine that can soothe people’s minds!”
He nodded but then shook his head. “No wonder, no wonder!”
“What do you mean? Why didn’t Madam Jiang faint, but Princess Chen did?” Infanta Yuan’an keenly grasped the key point and asked.
The imperial physician returned the sachet in his hand to Yujie, and then explained, “The smell of medicine on Madam Jiang’s handkerchief can agitate people. Princess Chen must have been affected by it, or…” The imperial physician paused and looked at Madam Jiang and Zhao Xiran suspiciously. Since this matter had happened in the Marquis Xing’s Mansion, it should have something to do with these two female masters of this mansion.
“Doctor, please enlighten us!” Yujie thought that the imperial physician would keep them guessing, so she grasped the sachet and asked anxiously.
“Maybe, someone was plotting against Princess Chen, but her personal maid happened to carry a sachet that could help her calm down. In addition, Princess Chen seemed to have become fidgety and restless, and she must have taken a lot of effort to pacify herself. She might be in weak health. Thus, even though she took in the scent from the sachet that helped soothe her mind, she still fainted!”
The imperial physician vaguely suggested someone was scheming against Princess Chen so that she fainted. Of course, it might also be a coincidence.
“You mean Princess Chen smelled and endured the scent of medicine in my mother’s handkerchief at the very beginning? At that time, the medicine in the maid’s sachet was useless, but it worked later. Why? Didn’t this maid accompany Princess Chen the whole time? Or, she didn’t wear the sachet at first and took it with her later on?”
Zhao Xiran goggled at Yujie in surprise.
The Marquis Xing’s Mansion was under suspicion, and it was the same with the maid. Furthermore, Princess Chen herself couldn’t prove herself to be completely innocent. After all, Yujie was Princess Chen’s trusted maid who came here from Jiangzhou with her, not a maid sent by the Marquis Xing’s Mansion.
Inside the room, Shao Wanru silently raised the corner of her mouth. “Zhao Xiran is not bad. With a few specious words, she shook off the shadow of a doubt the imperial physician cast on her and led other people’s suspicious eyes to me.”
A maid didn’t dare to hurt Princess Chen, but what if she instructed her to do that?
Otherwise, how could there suddenly be a sachet with the herbs counteracting the medicine on the handkerchief? Princess Chen, who was trying hard to fight back the uncomfortable feeling, did nothing to eliminate the drug effect. Instead, she blacked out after taking in the smell from the sachet, which coincidentally had the opposite effect.
However, Shao Wanru had thought about all the things that Zhao Xiran wanted to say. She’d like to see how the Marquis Xing’s Mansion would clean up the mess today. Madam Jiang was not easy to deal with, though she did something stupid when in a daze. Now that Madam Jiang who could speak clearly must have come to her senses, it was no longer easy for Zhao Xiran to fool her.
“Eldest Young Madam wasn’t right. After my master entered the room, Madam Jiang asked me to do this and that. Then, she moved away from my master and made me run errands nearby. Only when Infanta Yuan’an and a few Madams entered did I have the time to serve my Lady, and I stayed beside her after the other left.”
Yujie said calmly because Princess Chen had already told her how to respond to this situation. Her eyes fell on Zhao Xiran. At first, she thought Eldest Young Madam was nice. But now, as Princess Chen had said, Zhao Xiran, who had intervened in this matter, was not as innocent as she appeared.
“Well, perhaps Princess Chen first smelled the medicine scent from the Madam of Marquis Xing and then the maid’s sachet. Then the latter scent couldn’t suppress the former, so Princess Chen fainted. Since this is the reason, it’s not a big problem. She needs to rest for a while and then take some medicine to help her calm down!”
After finding the cause of the illness, the imperial physician no longer wanted to stay here. Such a dispute would never be a good thing for him. He had to leave as soon as possible.
After that, he turned around to prescribe Shao Wanru some medicine.
“Thank you, doctor. My maid will take you to the wing room to write the prescription!” Zhao Xiran said softly. She waved her hand and called a maid to lead the imperial physician away.
Madam Jiang remained silent, and her face clouded over.
“Doctor, please wait a moment!” Infanta Yuan’an suddenly spoke up to stop him.
“Is there anything else, Infanta Yuan’an?” Zhao Xiran asked with a smile. The imperial physician stopped and had a hunch that something terrible would happen. But he was really afraid of getting involved in this kind of thing. What he wanted was to write a prescription and leave. As for what would happen next, it would have nothing to do with an imperial physician like him.
“Can you do me a favor?” Infanta Yuan’an smiled demurely in an imposing manner. As the most valued granddaughter of Ruiping Great Elder Princess, Infanta Yuan’an could dominate the scene by sheer force of character. This was one of the reasons that she won the trust of other noble ladies. In the past, she had settled lots of disputes for those noble ladies.
During the process, her imposing manner played an indispensable role. Conflicts were common among these noble ladies who seldom made any concession. Infanta Yuan’an was the one who spoke to both sides in the dispute to smooth things over, which was a challenging job for others. After all, if Infanta Yuan’an didn’t handle one conflict properly, it would cause more problems.
“Are you also not feeling well, Infanta Yuan’an? Why don’t you have the check-up in another room? Princess Chen has to rest here.” Zhao Xiran had a bad feeling, so she smiled and came up with an excuse to send her away.
The imperial physician nodded repeatedly. As long as it was not about Princess Chen, he was willing to help!