“My lord…” Li Mingzi still wanted to say something.

Duke of Mu interrupted her. Somehow, when he heard Li Mingzi's voice, he felt annoyed. And he left the words, “If there is a next time, I will use the domestic discipline.”

Duke of Mu said and left them in the study. He headed towards the direction of the concubine's courtyard.

When Duke of Mu was gone, Li Mingzi knew that what happened today had pa.s.sed. Until Duke of Mu calmed down, she would have her own way to get him to accept them. It was Yang Zijin who made it happen today and let the Duke hate them. Thinking of this, Li Mingzi hated Yang Zijin more.

In the Blossoming Peach.

Yang Zijin was worrying about the dismal business of the Blossoming Peach. Since the rumor spread that she was a demon, no one dared to come here. And the business plummeted. Although Shuo Ling promised that he would be responsible for the losses before the rumor stopped. But it wasn't a long-term solution.

Yang Zijin didn't want to abdicate the survival plan of those girls and her. She tried to strategize by herself. And she was planning whether to carry out another reform. After thinking for a while, she asked Xian to summon everyone.

The girls asked Xian why did the Young Master summon them? Xian scratched his head and looked at the girls, “I don't know either.”

“Is it because the Blossoming Peach has dismal business, and the Young Master is going to dismiss everyone?” Qiangwei, who worked in the chess pavilion, said.

It had caused a buzz in the girls. They felt that what Qiangwei said was possible. They immediately panicked. If it was true, where can they go? Where is their shelter?

Xian cleared his throat and shouted, “You may overthink. Don't you know our Young Master? Isn't it just to give everyone a place to live when he opened the Blossoming Peach?”

All the girls nodded their heads and said, “That's right, the Young Master usually treats us so well. We should be overthinking it.”

Yang Zijin put forward her thoughts to the girls, “Now that everyone knows the situation of the Blossoming Peach, and we can no longer wait for death. Since we have reformed once, would you like to follow me to reform again?”

Hearing what Yang Zijin said, all the girls suddenly blushed at their thoughts just now. The Young Master had never thought of giving up on them, so why should they give up on themselves?

Yang Zijin cleared her throat and continued, “Today, I ask everyone to come here. The first thing is to tell you my thoughts and ask you for your opinions. Secondly, as I said before, if you are willing to stay, I'll not let you be wronged. Of course, if you want to leave, I won't retain you. Just go to the counting-house, get your money, and sign the contract.”

The girls nodded and said firmly, “Young Master is always thinking of us. We will obey your arrangement. As long as you don't drive us away, we will follow you to death!”

“Since everyone agrees, I'll make preparations. Let's go back to rest,” Yang Zijin was very satisfied with the performance of these girls.

After the girls left, Yang Zijin somehow felt a headache. As a person of the new century, Yang Zijin extremely valued her health. She believed that it was an armchair strategist when someone wanted to do a great job but had terrible health.

Yang Zijin got up and prepared to see the doctor. For some reason, whenever Qiao Shu examined her, she always felt strange about her att.i.tude. It made her feel extremely uncomfortable, perhaps because of the rumors about her and Shuo Ling. After all, she knew that Qiao Shu adored Shuo Ling.

Thinking about it, Yang Zijin decided to go for Uncle Liu, and let him check. She hadn't been there for a long time. She didn't know whether Uncle Liu missed her peach blossom wine, so she turned and took two jars of wine.

Uncle Liu was known as a miraculous doctor. There were no difficult diseases that he couldn't cure. When Yang Zijin first met Uncle Liu, she thought he was a geezer with a bad temper. However, the geezer just liked the peach blossom wine brewed by Yang Zijin. Uncle Liu was addicted to wine. There was an old saying that everything had its vanquisher. Gradually, Uncle Liu and Yang Zijin became good friends.

When Yang Zijin pa.s.sed the bazaar, she bought some dishes and snacks. She decided to have a good drink with Uncle Liu today.

Yang Zijin had persuaded Uncle Liu more than once that others opened their clinics in the crowded market. But Uncle Liu opened his clinic in a remote place. Every time she wanted to find his clinic, she had to detour several alleys. While Uncle Liu didn't care about it, he always told Yang Zijin that good wine needs no bush.

After a long detour in the alley, Yang Zijin finally saw Uncle Liu's clinic, which was still very dilapidated. There were several pots of strange plants that she couldn't name at the door. The decoration in the clinic was extremely simple, with an old lattice cabinet filled with herbs, a broken table, a few old chairs, and no other furniture to be found. It looked dest.i.tute.

A young man was dozing off on the shabby table.

Yang Zijin tiptoed to the young man and suddenly slapped on his back, which made him sit up out of instinct. Seeing that it was Yang Zijin, he breathed a sigh of relief. If the master saw him slacking off here, he would be in trouble.

This man was Uncle Liu's apprentice, Mo Shang, who was young and thin.

Mo Shang was still in a state of panic and looked at Yang Zijin with complaining eyes, “Why are you free to come here today?”

“I've been waiting to come to see you guys for a long time. I'm just free today. Where's your master?” Yang Zijin looked around and didn't find Uncle Liu, so she put the wine and food on the table and asked about Mo Shang.

Mo Shang stared at the food that Yang Zijin had placed on the table.

“Wanna eat? Hurry up and tell me where your master is.” Yang Zijin teased Mo Shang.

Mo Shang glanced at Yang Zijin and replied, “You know that master likes to travel. He never tells me where to go. He has been out for several days. I think it's time to come back.”

Mo Shang looked at the food with his eyes s.h.i.+ning.

Yang Zijin didn't think too much and deliberately talked to Mo Shang about the daily life, “Uncle Liu is not here recently, and no one is in charge of you. How is your life?”

“How's my life? Master left me alone without telling me anything when he left. He is a miser and gives me three cents when he left. I could only live on a little business. Every day I only have watery soup.” Mo Shang looked pitiful and kept pouring out his grievances to Yang Zijin.

Yang Zijin felt helpless and thought that could she take back what she just said?

However, looking at the grievance on the face of Mo Shang, Yang Zijin felt unbearable and pushed the food to him. Mo Shang grabbed a chicken leg, as if someone were s.n.a.t.c.hing it from him. After only two bites, he gulped down the meat. It made Yang Zijin stunned.

While talking, Yang Zijin felt a sudden headache. Now she only felt no strength in her body and broke out in a cold sweat.

When Mo Shang saw Yang Zijin's pale face and weakly lying on the table, he hurriedly put down the chicken leg in his hand, even without wiping hands. He pulled Yang Zijin's hand out to check her pulse.

Immediately, Mo Shang asked seriously, “How long has this been going on?”

“Just in recent days, it was strange that I suddenly had a headache.” Yang Zijin said in a weak voice.

Mo Shang continued, “Are there any signs before headache?”

When he said it, Mo Shang went behind Yang Zijin and found the acupuncture point on her head and pressed it.

“There are no signs. It feels more and more severe, but the pain will disappear fast.” Yang Zijin felt better now when she spoke.

Mo Shang nodded and then asked, “I didn't find anything wrong with your body just now, so I prescribe two medications for you first. If you are still not good, when the master comes back, you just come here and have a look, OK?”

“All right.” Yang Zijin was trustworthy to the medical skills of Mo Shang.

When Uncle Liu was traveling outside, he picked up a child on the road and named him Mo Shang. Mo Shang learned medical skills from Uncle Liu when he was a child. Uncle Liu was very strict with him in medical skills. Mo Shang was always playful, and he was only cautious when he was prescribing medicine to people. Because the result of the diagnosis and the dose of medication could kill a person by his negligence, Mo Shang never took it lightly.

In the mansion of Marquis.

The guard informed Shuo Ling that Eunuch Li, who served the Emperor, arrived at the mansion of Marquis with the instruction.

Seeing Shuo Ling came out, Eunuch Li said, “Pa.s.s on the message of the Emperor.”

Shuo Ling and all the guards knelt.

“The Emperor summons Marquis Shuo to the palace at once.”

After pa.s.sing on the message, Eunuch Li looked at Shuo Ling and instructed, “Marquis Shuo get ready and go to the palace with me immediately. The Emperor is busy with his official duties. We shouldn't delay too long.”

When Qiao Shu heard that the Emperor summoned Shuo Ling, she began to panic. Was it because of the rumor in the city? If so, she was afraid that she had made a wrong move!

At that time, she asked people to spread the rumor, just to let Shuo Ling stay away from Yang Zijin. But she didn't expect that the rumor would become more popular… This move not only didn't realize her wish but also hurt Shuo Ling.

Qiao Shu hid her inner anxiety and walked towards Shuo Ling's courtyard hurriedly. Shuo Ling was coming out of his room after changing his clothes.

Qiao Shu hastened to the side of Shuo Ling. She asked tentatively with a salute, “My lord, do you know the Emperor summons you for what?”

“I don't know.” Shuo Ling replied without an expression.

Qiao Shu didn't give up and then asked, “My lord, could it be related to the rumor outside? If so, is there a risk to the palace? Do you have a way to deal with it?”

“Don't worry, Qiao Shu. This trip will turn ill luck into good.” Shuo Ling's complexion was as usual, and he didn't panic at all.

Hearing Shuo Ling said so, Qiao Shu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She thought that Shuo Ling should have a way to cope.

When Shuo Ling knew that someone was coming from the palace, he had already guessed why did the Emperor summon him? But he was wondering who spread the rumor. Why did he do this? What was the purpose?

Could it be the Prince Chus.h.i.+ Weiming? Obviously, he wanted to take advantage of Yang Zijin's friends.h.i.+p to get along with the Duke of Mu. It was reasonable that he wanted to give Shuo Ling a bad reputation, but why did he involve Yang Zijin?

Shuo Ling couldn't figure it out. He stopped thinking about it and decided to act according to the situation after meeting the Emperor. He left a few words to Mo Li and walked out of the mansion.

Seeing Shuo Ling come out, Eunuch Li made a gesture of invitation to the carriage beside him.

Shuo Ling returned the salute and went up. He was thinking about how to deal with it when he met the Emperor.