Rebirth and Marriage: I am the Mistress of the Palace

Chapter 342: Raising Huayi as Concubine

A quarter of an hour later, Nanny Chai and Qin Xin brought all the people from Xingheyuan over.

Along with Huayi and the other two came Xiao Qingyuan, whose hair was loose and the collar of his clothes was open, obviously having just got up.

His face was extremely ugly: "Shen Wantang, what are you doing?! You want to interfere in the affairs of my yard? You even sent guards to my yard to arrest people. Why are you so arrogant? Prince Ning's Mansion is my home, not yours. You really take yourself too seriously!"

Shen Wantang said in a calm tone, "It's true that the palace is the prince's home, but my mother gave me the power of housekeeper, so I have to take care of everything. Now the maid in the prince's yard died suddenly overnight. As the mistress, I naturally have to ask questions as usual, so as to find out the cause of Chundie's death and give her and her parents an explanation."

"What is there to investigate? Didn't she just accidentally get sick from eating something and die?"

"Then the prince said, what did Chundie eat to kill her?"

"How can I possibly know what a maid ate! I don't care what she ate. It was all her own fault. She died because of her greed. It has nothing to do with me!"

Shen Wantang looked at him coldly: "A living life is gone, and the prince made such a hasty conclusion?"

Xiao Qingyuan snorted coldly: "Why did I jump to conclusions? Isn't it normal to have a stomachache? I work in the Dali Temple. I am much better at solving cases than you!"

"Have you solved any cases while serving in the Dali Temple?"

"I--"

Xiao Qingyuan was stumped by her question. He held it in for a long time before answering, "I have only been in the Dali Temple for a short time, and the capital has been very stable recently. I don't need to solve the case!"

"That is to say, the prince has made no achievements since he entered the Dali Temple. Then why is the prince using your position in the Dali Temple to pressure me?"

Xiao Qingyuan's face turned pale: "Shen Wantang, don't force me to scold you!"

Shen Wantang didn't care about his words. She cared more about the sudden death of the maid.

"The food in our Ning Wang Mansion is all freshly prepared. Even the maids and servants will not eat leftovers from the previous night. The food we eat on weekdays is also fixed, so very few people get sick from eating."

"Why did Chundie from the prince's courtyard get sick from eating too much and even die? Could it be that there was something wrong with the food sent to the prince's courtyard? But Xiachan, who lived and ate with Chundie, was fine, wasn't he?"

"Don't you find it strange at all, Prince? Have you ever thought that Chundie might have been murdered by someone?"

Xiao Qingyuan said impatiently: "Chun Die is just an ordinary maid, she is honest and dull, who would harm her? You have so many fantasies, it's ridiculous!"

"I think you are just using Chundie's death to make things difficult for me!"

"You knew Huayi was pregnant, but you still asked the guards to bring her to your courtyard by force. You were deliberately looking for trouble with Huayi!"

"Yesterday, when I said I would buy lychees for Huayi, you started to get jealous of her and deliberately sent someone to buy lychees to annoy me. Today, you started to make trouble again. You just don't want me to have an easy life! You don't want Huayi to have an easy life!"

Shen Wantang listened to his groundless accusations and his eyes fell on Huayi.

Huayi is wearing a light red brocade skirt and a lotus-colored rabbit fur boa, which makes her look elegant.

She even no longer cowered with her head down or acted servilely like before. Instead, she raised her chin slightly and stood against Xiao Qingyuan's arm.

But her appearance was indeed much thinner, and she had not eaten much in recent days.

Shen Wantang heard from Qin Xin that no matter what the kitchen sent over, Huayi said she didn't want to eat it. Occasionally, she would eat a little, but she was very careful, as if she was afraid that abortion drugs might be put in the food.

Shen Wantang didn’t care whether Huayi ate or not, because she was not the one who was hungry anyway.

What Shen Wantang was concerned about was that Huayi's mentality had changed. She used to put herself in the position of a maid, being docile and obedient in everything, but now, she regarded herself as half a master.

If Chundie's death was really man-made, then Huayi is undoubtedly the biggest suspect.

"Painting."

Shen Wantang said calmly, "You are now helping the prince take care of his yard. Chundie and Xiachan are also under your charge. Did you see Chundie eat anything that upset her stomach yesterday?"

Huayi did not answer her. She looked at Xiao Qingyuan and called him softly, "Prince——"

In front of everyone, Xiao Qingyuan held her hand and said, "Don't be afraid. I'll support you."

Huayi shook her head: "With the prince here, I'm naturally not afraid, but although I'm in charge of Chundie and Xiachan, I've been feeling unwell for the past two days and haven't been keeping an eye on them all the time. I'm not sure what they ate."

As she spoke, she put her hands on her stomach and leaned towards Xiao Qingyuan.

Xiao Qingyuan felt her dependence on him, and seeing that she subconsciously covered her stomach, he thought she was feeling unwell again, so he quickly put his arm around her waist.

Then, he turned around and questioned Shen Wantang: "Why did you scare Huayi? How could Huayi know what the maid ate! Shen Wantang, why didn't I realize that you are so petty before? When you saw that Huayi was pregnant with my child, you made things difficult for her in every way! Is there any mistress like you?"

Shen Wantang immediately saw through the hidden intention behind Hua Yi's little movements, and also immediately saw through her intention of not answering her questions but only talking to Xiao Qingyuan.

She felt that since she was pregnant with Xiao Qingyuan's child, she had the qualifications to challenge her, the Crown Prince's Consort.

A sarcastic smile appeared at the corner of Shen Wantang's lips. It turned out that this maid was not very smart either.

Can't help it so quickly?

There was a hint of coldness in Shen Wantang's voice: "If the prince hadn't mentioned that Huayi was pregnant with your child, I would have forgotten that Huayi shouldn't be the prince's maid anymore."

Xiao Qingyuan was angry: "Shen Wantang, what do you mean? Are you going to drive Hua Yi out of the palace? I tell you, I will never allow it!"

"Your Highness is really dark-hearted. Am I such a jealous and evil person in your eyes? I even want to drive away the maid who is pregnant with your child? Your Highness, don't forget that Huayi was given to you by me personally."

"Then what do you mean?"

"What I mean is that Huayi should lift her aunt up."

Xiao Qingyuan was stunned: "You, you want to take the initiative to promote Huayi to be your aunt? Would you be so generous?"

"I have always been so generous. When the prince wanted to marry Concubine Chu, I didn't say a word of objection. Why, the prince doesn't want to?"

"Of course I am willing. I have long wanted to make Huayi my concubine. It is really unfair to her to be a maid all the time!"

"Then let's do it today! Let her serve concubine tea and perform concubine rituals now. From now on, she will officially be the prince's concubine. Madam Chai, bring the futon."

Nanny Chai took the futon and placed it right in front of Shen Wantang's feet.

She said sternly, "Huayi, why don't you come over here and kneel down to pay respect to the Crown Prince's Consort!"