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

Chapter 269 Breaking the situation
The First Madam sent someone to keep an eye on the situation, and sure enough, a servant came to report on the follow-up soon after.

As they had anticipated, Jiang Yihuan shifted the blame onto the wet nurse, claiming that the wet nurse didn't pay attention to her diet and that her breast milk was defective, causing the child to become mentally challenged after consuming it.

"Madam, is Marquis Jing'an usually thinking straight?" Su Yaoguang asked.

Lady Jing'an understood Su Yaoguang's meaning, her eyes full of mockery: "If it were before, she would still have some brains, but now I'm afraid her brains have run away from home."

The fact that he could believe such a flawed lie only shows that Jiang Yihuan has some skill. Of course, that's also because Marquis Jing'an was willing to fall into the trap of lies.

He had been childless for so many years and desperately needed an heir to prove he was alright. Otherwise, with so many concubines in his harem, none of them pregnant, it would inevitably lead others to suspect that the real problem lay with the man. And men, even if they knew the truth, still cared about their reputation.

“I’ll go take a look. Those wet nurses are innocent,” the First Madam said. “If we let them treat human life so lightly, I’m afraid several more families will be ruined.”

"We thank you for your hospitality today, Madam, and will be heading back now," Su Yaoguang said. "Madam, please take care and rest. Jing'er will come back for a follow-up examination in a few days."

After returning from the Marquis of Jing'an's residence, Su Yaoguang followed everyone back to Taoyaofang.

After finishing his shift, Zhou Wangshu came to Taoyaofang to pick up Su Yaoguang, and Su Yaoguang then went back to the Cheng'an Marquis's residence with Zhou Wangshu.

"Young Madam, the Marquis's wife requests your presence," the old nanny said, stopping Su Yaoguang.

Zhou Wangshu's eyes darkened: "Is that so? It's rare for the Lady of the Marquis to want to see us, so let's go over there!"

"Young master, the Marquis's wife only invited the young mistress."

"Does Madam Hou not like me?" Zhou Wangshu said calmly. "Madam and I are one. There is no reason for me to only see my wife and not my son."

The old nanny dared not say anything more.

Zhou Wangshu was the master, and she was the servant. He insisted on going there, and how could she stop him?

Most importantly, the second young master has now become a useless person, and it is obvious that this young master will inherit the position of the Marquis of Cheng'an. If you offend him, you may not have a good life.

Zhou Wangshu led Su Yaoguang to the main courtyard.

As the two stepped through the gate, they saw Lady Cheng'an Marquis lying on a soft couch, looking extremely weak.

When Lady Cheng'an saw Zhou Wangshu, her eyes flickered.

"The eldest son has also arrived."

"I heard that the Lady of the Marquis wanted to see my wife, so I came along to see if I could be of any help," Zhou Wangshu said casually.

"Does the eldest young master have some misunderstanding about me?" Lady Cheng'an asked weakly. "I am very happy that the eldest young master has returned. You are the child left behind by my sister. She was most worried about you when she was dying. After I married into the family, I treated you as my own son. It was only because of that accident that we were separated for so long. There were some misunderstandings before. The eldest young master must not listen to other people's instigation."

"Madam summoned me here, surely not to discuss these matters. May I ask what business Madam has with me?" Su Yaoguang was too lazy to listen to her hypocritical words.

"It's for Zhen'er," said Lady Cheng'an. "You know Zhen'er's situation. He's in pain now, and the Cheng'an Marquis's mansion has lost face. Your Taoyao Workshop has a scar-removing cream that I've heard is incredibly effective at removing scars. I wonder if you could get some for Zhen'er to try?"

It turns out it was for scar removal cream.

Look at her apologizing and playing the emotional card; I thought she had some ulterior motive.

However, it's understandable that they'd show weakness like this to get the scar removal cream. Their Taoyaofang products are in high demand and short supply; they're almost always sold out within half a day of being displayed. Regular customers receive special treatment, with Taoyaofang reserving stock for them, which is why some items are chronically out of stock, including this scar removal cream.

“Scar removal cream is a bit difficult to make,” Su Yaoguang said. “The ingredients are particularly hard to find. Each time we manage to gather enough, we can only make a few bottles, so the price of scar removal cream is very high.”

"We're family, we're one family, it shouldn't be like this..."

“Madam, I also employ several thousand workers, and the raw materials for the scar removal cream are extremely difficult to obtain. The cost of just one bottle of the cream is fifty taels of silver. This does not include labor costs. If labor costs are included, the price will be even more exorbitant.”

Since the scar removal cream has been out of stock for a long time, she sets the price. If she finds out the price elsewhere and confronts her about it, she'll say it's an improved scar removal cream, hence the different price. The improved cream is also said to be much more effective than the original.

Xia Zhen is now in such a state that he doesn't even dare to leave the house. No, he has multiple burns; let alone leaving the house, he probably suffers from sleepless nights due to the pain.

His condition couldn't be solved with scar removal cream alone; it required treatment from a highly skilled doctor. She had faith in Jiang Jing; she was likely capable of treating Xia Zhen. Even if she couldn't do anything else, she could at least alleviate his suffering. However, she wasn't going to be so kind. Xia Zhen, this kind of wicked person, deserved to suffer day and night until he couldn't bear the torment any longer and ended his own life.

“Alright, then sell me two bottles at cost price,” said Lady Cheng’an.

“The ingredients are too hard to find now. Fifty taels won’t be enough. We’ll need a hundred taels,” Su Yaoguang said. “After all, this scar removal cream requires a hundred-year-old ginseng.”

Lady Cheng'an said through gritted teeth, "One hundred taels it is."

"Madam, please wait for news. I'll let you know when it's finished. But you have to pay first, otherwise someone else will snatch it up as soon as it's available."

Lady Cheng'an gestured to the old nanny beside her.

The old nanny took out a two-hundred-tael silver note from her bosom.

"If there's nothing else, we'll head back now," Su Yaoguang said, pulling Zhou Wangshu away from there.

Lady Cheng'an glared at the figures of the two men, then slammed her hand on the table beside her, shattering the tea set on it into pieces.

"Madam, that woman is clearly trying to swindle your money."

"I asked many people, even the Imperial Hospital, and they all said that Taoyaofang's scar-removing cream is incredibly effective; you can't buy this kind of cream anywhere else. I tried to find someone to buy it, but they said they'd been out of stock for a long time. For Zhen'er's sake, I had no choice but to turn to this woman. Of course, I also deliberately showed weakness to them, making them think we no longer dared to oppose them, so they would lower their guard and we would have more time to recuperate. In any case, we need to buy time for Zhen'er to recover. Only when Zhen'er is healthy can we have a chance to fight them. Otherwise, what's the use of winning?"

"This old servant can't stand their smug faces," the old nanny said. "The second young master... beat another maid to death today."

"Can't he just shut up for once?" Lady Cheng'an's expression changed drastically.

It wasn't that she felt sorry for the servants, but rather that his reputation had already been ruined by outsiders. If things continued like this, even if he recovered, he wouldn't be able to obtain the title.

"You spread the word that the girl wanted to get into Zhen'er's bed, and Zhen'er wanted to sell her off. She couldn't accept it and bumped into a pillar."

"As long as the young master's reputation is not affected, let those servants die if they want!" the old nanny said.

"You comb my hair, but I still need to go see Zhen'er and warn him not to do this kind of thing again."

"Young Master has been in a lot of pain lately, and his temper is inevitably volatile and uncontrollable. How about we arrange for a few servants to stay in his courtyard?"

“Given his current condition, I fear sending servants would only result in more deaths,” Lady Cheng’an frowned. “And the Marquis?”

"Yesterday, the Marquis accepted two 'skinny horses' from Yangzhou, a gift from a colleague. He's been staying in those two vixens' rooms these past two days." A strange light flashed in Lady Cheng'an's eyes.

"How could I not have thought of that?"

"What?" the old nanny asked in confusion.

"That bastard is so arrogant because he has a father-in-law who is a Grand General protecting the nation. If he breaks up with that woman, will his good father-in-law become his ally or a weapon to cut him down?" A smug look flashed in Lady Cheng'an's eyes. "You're doing this..."

Zhou Wangshu and Su Yaoguang returned to their own courtyard.

Zhou Wangshu asked, "Are you really going to give her scar removal cream?"

“Two hundred taels of silver, why not take it? If she wants it, just give it to her,” Su Yaoguang said. “I’ll make it myself later and get it done as soon as possible.”

"You made it yourself... Didn't you say you needed a hundred-year-old ginseng?" Zhou Wangshu pinched the tip of her nose. "So, hundred-year-old ginseng is everywhere, and you can just make it anytime?"

“They think they can use a hundred-year-old ginseng? I’ll be lucky if I put some radish in it for them,” Su Yaoguang said. “Besides, Xia Zhen’s injury can’t be healed with ordinary scar removal cream. Jing’er should have a way, but I don’t plan to let Jing’er treat them. He’d better suffer this unbearable pain day and night.”

“Madam is still too kind-hearted; two hundred taels is still too little.” Zhou Wangshu walked to a cabinet not far away, took out a box from it, and placed it in her hand. “Here, this is what I earned from that woman.”

"Tens of thousands of taels of silver?"

"Is my life very valuable?"

Su Yaoguang nodded repeatedly.

"Compared to this, you are indeed much more valuable than her son. Look at her, she casually took out tens of thousands of taels of silver to kill you. But when she wanted to treat her son's injuries, she even felt a pang of regret when she took out two hundred taels of silver. It seems she doesn't really care that much about her son!"

The couple were having hot pot in the yard.
Su Yaoguang told him what happened at the Marquis of Jing'an's residence that day.

"Jiang Yihuan's son is not the son of Marquis Jing'an. Marquis Jing'an is probably infertile. It would be easy to prove this. However, none of us have exposed it. After all, he is a mentally challenged son, and Marquis Jing'an is already very angry about this. If we expose that he is not his biological son, he will not admit it for the sake of his reputation."

"Jiang Yihuan is really capable; she can win over men who are devoted to her no matter where she is."

Zhou Wangshu leaned in and kissed her lips: "Are you envious of how many men she has? All those men are ugly and unattractive. Your husband alone is worth more than her entire company."

"I'm not envious," Su Yaoguang said irritably. "I'm chatting with you, don't try to ambush me."

"Yaoguang, I've been out on business all day, and I've been looking forward to coming home and holding you to rest. Let's not talk about that unlucky woman anymore, okay?"

"I just ate!"

"So you need to aid digestion."

"Get serious." Su Yaoguang pushed him away. "Since working shifts is so hard, how come you still have the energy to mess with me?"

Zhou Wangshu clung to her again, carrying her towards the bathroom.

"Let's take a bath first, and while we're soaking, you can slowly tell me all the awful things that happened at the Marquis of Jing'an's residence."

Su Yaoguang: "..."

With his bad habits, she'd still have the energy to speak once she's in the water?

Fortunately, he was still young a few years ago and didn't have those kinds of thoughts, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to wait until now to get married and have sex.

Su Yaoguang was exhausted from Zhou Wangshu's antics. After he carried her back to bed, Su Yaoguang nudged him, asking him to get something from the closet.

Zhou Wangshu brought over a box, opened it, and saw that it contained medicine bottles.

He opened the medicine bottle, poured out the medicine, smelled it, and asked, "What is this?"

“A contraceptive pill,” Su Yaoguang said. “The Marquis of Cheng’an’s mansion is surrounded by wolves, and you and I are both too young to be parents, so…”

"I understand." Zhou Wangshu put the pills back. "Did Jiang Jing prepare these for you?"

"Yes. You can rest assured that the medicine Jing'er prescribed won't harm your health."

“Every medicine has some toxicity,” Zhou Wangshu said. “You don’t need to take this. I had acupuncture done at the Imperial Hospital a while ago, and it will prevent you from getting pregnant for a year.”

Su Yaoguang was stunned, staring blankly at him: "What did you say?"

"I didn't want you to worry, so I didn't tell you. If I had known you were taking contraceptives, I would have told you sooner, so you wouldn't have to take this nonsense."

"Won't getting acupuncture be harmful to your health?"

"No, it's safe." Zhou Wangshu kissed her forehead. "Like you said, our current environment isn't suitable for having a child, and we're so young. We've only just gotten married and haven't had enough of our married life yet. I don't want some troublemaker trying to steal my wife."

Su Yaoguang hugged Zhou Wangshu's neck, her eyes filled with emotion.

"Feeling sorry for you? Then how about...?"

Su Yaoguang released him and kicked him.

Zhou Wangshu grabbed her leg and pulled her into his arms.

"My lady, you can kill a tiger with one punch. Logically speaking, your body is very strong, so I can enjoy myself one more time, right?"

"Zhou Wangshu!" Su Yaoguang blushed deeply as she listened to his teasing words.

Seeing her embarrassed and annoyed expression, Zhou Wangshu chuckled softly.

"Alright, don't be angry anymore," Zhou Wangshu said. "Now you can tell me about those things properly, and I'm willing to listen patiently now."

Su Yaoguang turned her back to him, not wanting to talk to him.

Zhou Wangshu hugged her from behind, holding her tightly in his arms.

"Yaoguang..." Zhou Wangshu nestled against her neck. "It's so good to have you."

Su Yaoguang turned around and nestled in his arms: "Yes, you're very good too."