Two days later, Little Dengdeng’s body had fully recovered from the allergy. This matter ca and went quickly, but in the end, Bai Ruozhu never found the allergen. She couldn’t help but sigh about the advantages of both traditional Chinese dicine and Western dicine in their respective ways.
With Dengdeng alright, she went back to the Female Physicians Institution, and little did she know, a major news headline erupted in the Capital that morning.
Princess Yingtong and Diao Yao were the ones who ca to gossip with her; anyone else would’ve been afraid to say more even if they knew.
"Ruozhu, did you know soone died in the Capital this morning?" Yingtong said with excitent, her tone tinged with a sense of flaunting, "and it’s your enemy too."
"My enemy?" Bai Ruozhu felt a bit surprised. She had quite a few conflicts with people, so who could have suddenly died?
Diao Yao tugged at Yingtong’s sleeve disapprovingly and said, "If I hadn’t told you about that matter, how would you know he was Ruozhu’s enemy? And now you dare to keep us guessing."
Yingtong chuckled and said, "Ruozhu has a kind heart. If anyone dared to send a woman to my husband, I’d beat them until they were searching for their teeth all over the ground!"
"The Duke of Zheng is dead?" Bai Ruozhu jumped up, "How did he suddenly die? How did he die?"
The matter of the Duke of Zheng sending twin flowers to Jiang Yichun was the biggest scandal, so Princess Yingtong couldn’t be talking about anyone else.
Yingtong laughed even harder, "You wouldn’t believe it if I told you. He went drinking last night and got carried away with the girls from the brothel. He wandered into the backyard hazily and then pointed at a well in the backyard, calling it a big pot of fine wine and demanding his son-in-law have an allergic reaction."
Yingtong deliberately deepened her voice to mimic the Duke of Zheng, even though it sounded nothing alike, the effect was undeniably codic.
"Then he jumped into the well to drink wine with a plop, terrifying the brothel people and his entourage. A group scrambled to fish him out, and although they rescued him, how could he withstand such freezing weather? He breathed his last on the way back to the Duke’s residence."
Bai Ruozhu was dumbfounded upon hearing this. The manner of death was indeed outlandish, jumping into a well in the freezing winter, calling it a pot of fine wine — it’s utterly hopeless!
"Now the Grand Princess has beco a widow," Diao Yao said excitedly.
Bai Ruozhu twitched her lips and couldn’t help but say, "Isn’t she your aunt?"
Diao Yao lifted her chin and snorted, "What nonsense aunt, I don’t acknowledge her."
Yingtong patted Bai Ruozhu on the shoulder, face full of gossip, "Don’t veer off-topic, do you know which prostitute Duke of Zheng slept with before he died?"
Only soone like Yingtong from the Western Regions and girls like Diao Yao who grew up in River Jiang were this candid, not blushing at discussing such matters, unlike Diao Bin who would never, plus Diao Bin couldn’t comnt on such things. Perhaps Diao Bin had already gone to comfort Grand Princess Huilan, as the deceased was her uncle, and the Grand Princess was indeed her aunt.
"How would I know, just hurry up and tell . If you keep dawdling, I’ll ask soone outside the Palace." Bai Ruozhu said and tapped Yingtong’s head lightly.
Yingtong chuckled twice and said, "It’s the Qinxian whom Tang Feng vowed to marry. Isn’t that quite a coincidence? The Grand Princess insists on having her killed. So it seems that prostitutes are ruthless, and perforrs are heartless. Although Tang Feng seems a shrewd person, he still let his guard down."
She laughed heartily, "This is what they call a hero downed by beauty."
"Wasn’t it said that Qinxian was just an artiste? How could she have spent the night with the Duke of Zheng?" Bai Ruozhu pondered, wondering if this was sothing Tang Feng instructed Qinxian to do. But the Duke of Zheng’s manner of dying was really outrageous.
But she quickly dismissed the possibility, thinking Tang Feng’s character would aim for sothing untraceable, like the horse carriage slipping on the way ho, drunkenly falling off the carriage to his death—that would be much more refined than foolishly jumping into a well to drink.
Thus she felt certain it wasn’t orchestrated by Tang Feng, and perhaps it was actually the Duke of Zheng’s own stupidity giving him such a fate.
"So say Qinxian sells her art rather than her body and was just there to play music for Duke of Zheng’s amusent. Others say that Duke of Zheng ended up in a sensual paradise, which led him to drink excessively, otherwise he wouldn’t have staggered like that—he definitely had so pleasure with Qinxian." Yingtong said with contempt.
Bai Ruozhu’s mouth twitched, "Yingtong, you’re at least an unmarried young lady, aren’t you worried about Chu Hai overhearing this?"
Yingtong’s face flushed red instantly, "If he hears, he hears, what’s it got to do with ? I’m speaking the truth, just not very tactfully. But since we’re all in the sa circle, I’m straightforward about it."
Diao Yao looked at her curiously, evidently oblivious as a young girl, so she wasn’t shy at all, only found it intriguing.
"With the Grand Princess’s temperant, this matter may not end peacefully. Heaven seems to have eyes, letting the Duke of Zheng et his doom," Bai Ruozhu felt deeply satisfied inside. Even though she hadn’t personally killed him, imagining the Duke of Zheng’s idiotic way of dying brought imnse comfort to her heart.
"The Grand Princess insisted soone was plotting against the Duke of Zheng, even taking the matter to the Emperor. The Emperor had to appoint the Capital Magistrate and the Departnt of Justice to thoroughly investigate. But I reckon they’ll find it’s entirely his own doing," Princess Yingtong said.
Bai Ruozhu pouted thoughtfully and muttered, "As long as they don’t bla ."
"How dare they!" Diao Yao exclaid, "What’s the reason to falsely accuse soone?"
Soon the matter spread throughout the Capital. Even street vendors knew about the Duke of Zheng dying in a brothel, stirring up a ruckus and becoming the talk among the locals over als and teas.
On the third night, the underfloor heating was getting quite warm. Bai Ruozhu, feeling thirsty in the middle of the night, rose to drink water, suddenly spotting a red glow across the sky outside her window. She threw on an outer garnt and stepped out the door, seeing that the distant sky was alight.
"Master, it seems there’s a fire over there, it won’t reach us. Please continue resting; I’ll send soone to inquire about the situation," Jianqi ca over and said.
Bai Ruozhu nodded, knowing that from this distance, even if she wanted to help with the fire, it would be too late to get there.
Before dawn the next day, Jiang Yichun got up for the morning court. Bai Ruozhu groggily opened her eyes, "Last night, there was a fire sowhere in the east, lighting up half the sky."
"Oh? I wonder what happened. They should ntion it in court today," Jiang Yichun said while dressing, "Keep sleeping, don’t catch cold in this freezing weather."
Suddenly, urgent footsteps sounded outside, "Master, we’ve found out, the Grand Princess set fire to the brothel where the Duke of Zheng died. But, not realizing how densely packed the houses were in Liu Alley, and with last night’s wind, the entire street caught fire. It even spread to the adjacent Commoner Lane, leaving many innocent people injured, with already four killed unjustly!"
Jianqi’s voice was colder than usual, even with a hint of outrage, losing his composure shows just how infuriating the matter was.
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