Farmer girl swaps husbands: buys a sickly villain and pampers him

Chapter 266 Marquis Jing'an

Attended the banquet the following day.

The carriage arrived at the Marquis of Jing'an's residence. The people from Taoyaofang got out of the carriage, and a nanny immediately came to greet them and invited them into the Marquis of Jing'an's residence.

Not long after entering, Jiang Yihuan came over from the opposite side with her servants.

When Jiang Yihuan saw the people from Taoyaofang, a look of surprise flashed in her eyes.

What are they doing here?

"In response to Second Madam, it should be First Madam who invited them to the banquet. First Madam started preparations yesterday, saying she was going to host a banquet for guests."

A strange light flashed in Jiang Yihuan's eyes.

The First Madam's health is getting better and better, which is probably because the people in Peach Blossom Pavilion deliberately went against her and cured her.

That day, after the disgraceful incident between her and Xiao Yanci at the Marquis of Cheng'an's residence, she had to go to great lengths to appease the Marquis of Jing'an upon her return. If it weren't for her skill in charming men, she would have long since become a discarded wife in the inner quarters of the mansion. Now that these people from Taoyaofang have come to her doorstep, if she were to let them go so easily, she wouldn't be able to vent her anger.

If she can't handle Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu, can't she handle others?
Su Yaoguang and the others walked past Jiang Yihuan.

After Jiang Yihuan had walked away, Su Yaoguang stopped and looked back at her figure: "Don't act alone today, this woman is probably up to no good."

“We’ve already seen how wicked this woman is, so we won’t fall for her tricks,” Jia Chunni said. “Besides, we’re going to keep our appointment with Lady Jing’an, so we won’t give her a chance to get close to us.”

When they arrived at the main courtyard, they met Lady Jing'an.

Everyone was surprised when they saw Lady Jing'an's appearance. Their expectations of an aged and haggard woman were not true; Lady Jing'an was very beautiful and still retained her charm. However, she had been ill for a long time, and her complexion looked unwell, giving her a sickly appearance.

"I invited everyone to this banquet today to thank the people of Taoyaofang," said Lady Jing'an. "If there has been any rudeness, please forgive me."

“Madam, you’re too kind,” Zhang Yingdi said. “We are all from farming families, so we don’t stand on ceremony. Please don’t find us uncouth.”

“Madam, you don’t look well today. Let me take your pulse!” Jiang Jing said.

"It's strange, I was fine yesterday, but I'm feeling quite listless today," Lady Jing'an said with a weak smile.

"Madam, have you eaten anything unclean?" Jiang Jing asked. "Tell me what you've eaten these past two days, and I'll see if it's something that's conflicting with the medication you've been taking recently."

Before Lady Jing'an could speak, the servants beside her began to explain.

"I remember I told you to avoid ginger after taking that medicine," Jiang Jing said. "Did you put ginger in the dishes you cooked?"

"I don't know," said Lady Jing'an. "I suppose not, since I haven't seen it."

“Just because we didn’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there!” the servant said from the side. “It seems we need to thoroughly investigate the kitchen.”

“You have already informed the kitchen, so they should be aware of this and won’t knowingly violate the rules,” said Lady Jing’an, coughing twice.

Su Yaoguang and Jiang Jing exchanged a glance.

The two sisters didn't say a word, but it was as if they had said a thousand words.

There was an unspoken understanding between the two.

“Madam…” Jiang Jing said, “If you don’t mind, you can arrange for a servant to take me to the kitchen to see if they’ve put ginger slices in the dishes. I’ll know once I taste them.”

"Okay. Chunxiu, take Doctor Jiang to the kitchen."

After Jiang Jing left with the servant, Su Yaoguang said to Lady Jing'an, "Madam doesn't look well. Let me do your makeup to make you look better."

"Wouldn't that be too troublesome?"

"Anyway, we're just idling around," Su Yaoguang said. "Madam is exceptionally beautiful, far surpassing that second madam. If you're determined to win back your husband's favor, it shouldn't be too difficult! Unless Madam is unwilling to fight for it. Is Madam simply giving up and letting herself fend for herself in this inner quarters?"

“I have seen the fickleness of men, and I don’t care whether he dotes on other women or not. However, I have earned most of the current wealth of the Marquis of Jing’an’s family, and he wants to hand it over to that woman and her child. I cannot stand idly by.”

"Since you've come to us, Madam, you must know that we have a past grudge against that second madam. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. You don't need to be so subtle about what you want to say; being direct might be more effective."

"I don't care about anything else, as long as my family business doesn't fall into the hands of wicked people."

"The master of the Jing'an Marquis's mansion is the Marquis of Jing'an. If you don't want to rely on men to fight for it, it won't be easy. You can only use him to fight for it. Madam, you should think like this: you don't care about men, but the Second Madam does. If you can snatch the one she cares about, you can both maintain your power and make her furious. Wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone? Madam, you are so beautiful, you can definitely use that as a weapon. Besides, making that man fall in love with you again, but you don't want him, isn't that kind of revenge more interesting than pushing him away and watching him embrace other women, never knowing the consequences of betraying someone's true feelings?"

"you're right."

"Why don't we try it out today and see how it goes?" Su Yaoguang said in a low voice. "It's quite interesting to manipulate a man."

Su Yaoguang gave Lady Jing'an a sickly beauty makeover.

This makeup is completely undetectable; it's as if she's not wearing any makeup at all. Her skin looks naturally fair, yet it also has an unnatural, sickly appearance.

However, her sickly condition was so pitiful that anyone who saw her would want to take care of her.

Su Yaoguang applied some lip rouge to Lady Jing'an.

"This lip gloss is a very light color, just like your natural lip color. Our skin can be fair, but our lips can't be, otherwise it would be too scary."

After applying her makeup, Lady Jing'an led Su Yaoguang to the study of the Marquis of Jing'an.

After arriving at the study, she knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Lady Jing'an pushed open the door and walked in, saying to the Marquis Jing'an who was sitting there motionless, "My lord, we have guests at the manor today. They are the ladies of the General's household. We suddenly started talking about a travelogue in your study. The stories in the travelogue are very interesting, and they are very interested in borrowing it to take a look."

"Go ahead and look for it. Take it when you find it," Marquis Jing'an said without turning his head.

Su Yaoguang was waiting outside the door.

Listening to the sounds inside, I thought about how cold-hearted Marquis Jing'an was towards his first wife.

I heard that he went to great lengths to marry this first wife. Now that time has passed and the novelty has worn off, he's started to ignore her.

Su Yaoguang's words to Lady Jing'an were sincere. If Lady Jing'an wanted to control the Jing'an Marquis's mansion, she had to control his heart. Within this family, this man held absolute power. No matter how hard she tried, a single word from him could render all her efforts futile. Therefore, to deal with that woman Jiang Yihuan, she first needed to control this man.

Lady Jing'an is a woman of good standing; it wouldn't be difficult for her to control this man. Just as Jiang Yihuan could control him, so could Lady Jing'an.

"My lord... I can't reach it," said Lady Jing'an. "Can you help me?"

Marquis Jing'an reluctantly put down his pen.

He walked toward Lady Jing'an, who had her back to him.

When he saw Lady Jing'an wearing a light purple dress, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes.

Over the years, Lady Jing'an has always been sickly, and the clothes she wears have become increasingly old-fashioned.

Today's outfit is so simple and elegant that it makes her look ten or twenty years younger.

Marquis Jing'an reached for the travelogue. His wife also reached for it, and they both grabbed the book at the same time. Marquis Jing'an's wife, standing on tiptoe, lost her balance and suddenly slid, falling headlong towards Marquis Jing'an.

Marquis Jing'an embraced his wife's slender waist and lifted her up.

It's so light!
Marquis Jing'an frowned.

So light, with such a slender waist, it resembles a delicate yet fragile piece of porcelain.

"Husband, please put me down quickly," Lady Jing'an said shyly. "It would be so embarrassing if someone saw us."

Looking at his wife's shy face, Marquis Jing'an was momentarily dazed.

He recalled the first time he saw her; he was captivated by her shy smile, and afterwards he went back to prepare betrothal gifts and propose marriage.

Twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Marquis Jing'an put her down, handed her the travelogue, and asked in a gentler tone, "Is Madam feeling any better?"

Lady Jing'an said, "I'm much better, but I still need to rest, so I'll have to trouble you, my sister, with the household affairs."

Marquis Jing'an frowned as he thought of Jiang Yihuan.

That day, Jiang Yihuan insisted that she had been framed, and that she had a past grudge against the wife and daughter of the General Protector of the Nation, and that they deliberately wanted to harm her.

He assumed she had been tricked and let the matter drop. However, her recent attempts to get him to promote Xiao Ci had rekindled his suspicions.

Furthermore, Jiang Yihuan is also inept at managing the household affairs, and things have been getting increasingly chaotic lately. If it were just a mess in the inner quarters, it wouldn't be so bad, but he happens to have to socialize with colleagues and give gifts, and she still manages to make mistakes, causing him to offend quite a few people recently.

"Now that Madam is feeling better, it's best to leave the household affairs to you. I'll have her hand over the keys to the accounting office to you in a bit."

"Husband, really, there's no need. My sister is doing a good job, so let her continue! My health is unpredictable; it's good one day and bad the next, back and forth..." Lady Jing'an said weakly.

Seeing her like this, Marquis Jing'an felt even more pity for her.

“You have guests now. Where are they? Why don’t you ask the Second Madam to help entertain them? That way you won’t have to work so hard.”

"Is that really okay? Won't that be too hard on my little sister?"

"You've been entertaining the women of the Protector-General's household. She has some misunderstanding with them, so this is a good opportunity to smooth things over," said Marquis Jing'an. "Guards..."

Marquis Jing'an summoned a servant and instructed him to go to Jiang Yihuan's courtyard to inform her to greet today's guests.

Su Yaoguang walked back to the room of Lady Jing'an.

When everyone saw her return alone, they inquired about the situation of Lady Jing'an. She glanced towards the door, indicating that everything was under control.

I used to say that the man seemed quite upright, but now it seems like flies don't land on eggs without cracks.

If that man hadn't had an opportunity, Jiang Yihuan wouldn't have been able to take advantage of it. Men, no matter how beautiful their wives are, they'll get tired of them after a while. A vixen who comes to their door is just for fun; keeping her in the house can relieve boredom, and for them, it's just another mouth to feed.

Su Yaoguang briefly explained what had just happened, and then said, "Based on my understanding of Jiang Yihuan, it wouldn't be her style to court death if she didn't cause some trouble today."

Even if they didn't give her the chance, she would still find a way to give them a big gift. Now they've given her this opportunity directly; it's up to her how she performs.

Marquis Jing'an returned with his wife.

Everyone inevitably greeted him and exchanged pleasantries.

At this moment, the servants who had been sent out and Jiang Jing returned.

When Jiang Jing returned, she didn't see Marquis Jing'an. Instead, she kept cursing, "I told you before that there shouldn't be any ginger in Marquis Jing'an's food. Ginger clashes with the medicine she's been taking recently. If it happens, it will harm her health. Now, there are no ginger slices, and every dish has ginger water. No wonder I saw that her condition had improved a few days ago, but today her face has turned like this. It seems that someone is trying to kill her without her even realizing it."

"Jing'er, stop talking." Zhang Zhaodi gestured forward with her lips. "Lord Jing'an is here. Don't be rude to him."

Jiang Jing turned around and saw Marquis Jing'an. She said sarcastically, "What are you doing here, Marquis Jing'an? I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to step into this courtyard. I was a bit loud. After all, I've been here to treat you for so long, and I haven't seen you step into the main courtyard once."

"My lord, please forgive me. My sister is a physician and can't stand anyone trying to harm others. She was just too worried about the lady and lost her temper."

"I have heard a little about Doctor Jiang's medical skills." Marquis Jing'an was naturally displeased with Jiang Jing's sarcastic words.

But despite his displeasure, upon careful consideration of Jiang Jing's words, he understood the reason behind it.

"You just said there was something wrong with the lady's food. Tell me in detail what happened," said Marquis Jing'an.

"Actually, it's not a big deal. Your wife needs to take medicine for a while, and that medicine requires her to abstain from ginger, meaning she can't touch ginger for a while. If she eats ginger, it will clash with the medicine, and the prescription I gave her will be ineffective. The most important thing is that these two things clash, which can easily harm her body. I just went to the kitchen and saw that ginger water was poured into every dish. There was definitely no ginger, you couldn't see any ginger at all, but it was all in the food!"

"The Lady of Jing'an is, after all, the mistress of the house. Who would dare to be so intolerant of her and try to kill her?"

The Marquis of Jing'an's mansion has two mistresses, and the one who least wants her to survive is the other. Such an obvious hint is something even a child could understand.

Marquis Jing'an frowned and said, "I'm afraid it was an oversight by the servants in the manor. Replace all the servants later and find a new batch of cooks."

"I plan to set up a small kitchen so I can cook in my own yard from now on," said Lady Jing'an. "That way, there won't be any misunderstandings."