Transmigration: Reverse Exploitation, the System Works for Me

The wet nurse looked down at Huanbi, who was sitting in the middle of the room with her knees drawn up, and said arrogantly, "You don't need to know who I am. You just need to tell me whether you want to take revenge on Zhen Huan."

She discussed the matter with the Fourth Prince for a long time, but they couldn't find an opportunity to take action against Zhen Shi. After thinking it over, she still felt that she should ask Huan Bi, who had once been Zhen Shi's confidante, because maybe that would lead to a breakthrough.

"Zhen Huan? Zhen Huan!"

Huanbi's originally dull and wooden expression suddenly turned violent and ferocious upon hearing this name, as if she had a mad feeling that she wanted to skin him alive and tear him apart.

She suddenly stood up from the ground, but due to prolonged immobility and physical weakness, her legs were weak and numb, making it impossible for her to stand steadily. With a thud, she fell heavily to the ground, knocking over a dilapidated stool next to her.

A rather loud noise carried far through the desolate night of the Cold Palace.

But Huanbi didn't care about any of that. She struggled to crawl towards the wet nurse, shouting, "You're going to get back at Zhen Huan! You're going to get back at Zhen Huan! Hahaha~"

"Zhen Huan, you vile woman! I'm not the only one who hates you; many more want you dead. You'll die a horrible death! You vile woman, you'll die a horrible death!"

The sounds of laughter and crying were like the wailing of ghosts. The wet nurse took a step back, her scalp tingling, to avoid Huanbi's hand that was trying to grab the hem of her skirt.

The wet nurse frowned deeply. Had this woman gone mad? Had she made a wasted trip today?

"Shut up! Stop howling. Since you also want that Zhen family woman dead, hurry up and tell me what you know. Otherwise, I'm leaving."

Upon hearing that she was leaving, Huanbi automatically interpreted this as her not helping her kill Zhen Huan, so she quickly stopped howling and pleaded desperately, "No, no, no, don't go, don't go! Help me, help me, help me kill that bitch, kill that bitch!"

The wet nurse's brows relaxed slightly, and she could still understand what was being said, indicating that she hadn't completely gone mad.

"Speak, tell me everything you know. Once I've killed Zhen, I'll come to tell you the good news myself."

"I know, I know a lot. I know that bitch has been dancing since elementary school, I know she likes to read, I know she is aloof and arrogant, and I know she is ruthless."

Huanbi stared blankly into the dark night: "She studied from a young age, reading books meant for men. She didn't want to enter the palace, but she did anyway. She wanted a lifelong, monogamous relationship... she..."

Huanbi tried hard to recall, but there were very few things she could say to criticize that vile Zhen Huan.

The wet nurse frowned again. She could see that Huanbi's defeat was not innocent. With a brain like that, she would die in the harem sooner or later.

Just as she was about to turn and leave, the door to a room next door suddenly opened, and a young woman who looked haggard and thin, but was dressed fairly cleanly, stood behind the door staring straight at her.

"Your master is going to deal with that vile woman, Zhen?"

The wet nurse was startled and looked over with lingering fear, clutching her chest. Seeing that she had managed to maintain a certain dignity even in the cold palace, her heart immediately warmed.

"But was it in front of Consort Xia?"

Back in the Yuanmingyuan, there was a Consort Xia who was banished to the Cold Palace for false accusations. Although the wet nurse had never seen her, given that she had a grudge against Lady Zhen and was so young, there should be no one else in the Cold Palace.

Xia Dongchun's face was ashen, and she stared intently at the wet nurse. "It's me. Your master wants to deal with that bitch Zhen?"

She asked again, this time with a noticeably more urgent tone.

The wet nurse nodded, "Yes, but my master is of low rank and lacks influence, so he has little support."

Upon receiving an affirmative answer, a ruthless glint flashed in Xia Dongchun's eyes: "I can give it to you. Although I have been banished to the cold palace, my father is a bondservant captain, and he has quite a few bondservant families under his command."

“My father loves me the most. Now that I have been crippled by that vile woman Zhen, my father will definitely help me get revenge. Go to the Imperial Household Department and find an aunt named Cuiyun. She will help you.”

Those were the people her father had arranged for her.

The wet nurse's eyes lit up. What does it mean to have a sudden and unexpected turn of events? This is it!

The wet nurse didn't completely believe what Xia Shuren said about the Xia family helping her deal with Zhen Shi, but she believed it to a large extent.

What kind of place is this Cold Palace?

The deposed concubines placed here, like Huanbi, are normal, but this one is still dressed neatly and cleanly, and is quite energetic and normal, which shows that someone takes care of her often.

Although the position of "Baoyi Zuoling" was only a fourth-rank official, it was very useful in the palace.

Moreover, her brother is eleven years old now, so he should have some connections by now.

"Don't worry, Miss Xia, I will come again when Lady Zhen is on her way."

The wet nurse took her leave, completely unaware that a pair of eyes were watching everything from the shadows.

The last few days of October were spent in Xi Qiao's busy buying people, land, and estates.

Zhuangzi, in particular, was crucial to her future ability to eat fresh vegetables in the winter. For this reason, she specially bought a piece of land in Xiaotangshan and spent a fortune to hire people to build Zhuangzi.

The land she bought was twenty acres in size and had several springs, but the water was boiling hot and had a strong sulfur smell, making it unsuitable as a retreat for the cold, and the price was higher than that of fertile land.

Expensive and useless, that's exactly what this piece of land is like.

But it doesn't matter, since she didn't buy it to live in as a separate residence anyway.

The boiling water from that spring is a natural source of warmth, which is perfect for growing vegetables.

Although the sulfur smell could not be removed, the vegetable shed she had built was some distance from the spring. According to the eunuch she sent to survey the terrain, the smell could still be detected at the location of the vegetable shed, but it was much fainter.

Then she can plant fruit trees between the spring and the vegetable shed, which will make the taste milder, and maybe there will even be fruit to eat.

This land has another drawback: two-thirds of it is sloping and the soil is extremely thin, consisting almost entirely of gravel.

To fulfill his wish of having fresh vegetable leaves to eat in winter, Xi Qiao had to purchase another sizable grove of trees. After the vegetable shed was built, he would have the fertile soil from the grove dug over.

The manpower, material resources, and financial resources consumed in this process were considerable.

They really made a huge plate of dumplings just for a dish of vinegar.

As November arrived and the weather turned cold, Xi Qiao was shocked to discover that General Nian, who should have returned victorious from pacifying the Northwest campaign the previous month, had not sent any good news.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Rites has already begun the procedures, and the wedding date has been set for the end of November.

The Ministry of Works officials responsible for repairing the Prince's Mansion dared not slack off, but because the time was too short and tight, there was simply no time to renovate the entire mansion. They specially sent someone to consult Xi Qiao's opinion.

Xi Qiao didn't make things difficult for them, only asking them to renovate the places they would use daily, the main courtyard where she lived, the flower room she had specifically requested, and the servants' quarters where the people who served her lived.