The eldest daughter's scheming, the crown prince's exclusive favor to the venomous concubi

Everyone fell silent. The events of that year were like a sword hanging over their necks; any move they made would bring about their deaths. If they hadn't hidden in this dark and gloomy place for over a decade, they might already be dead.

With a sigh, the skinny man patted the middle-aged man on the shoulder and said, "I really regret not dissuading you back then."

The middle-aged man smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, "What's the use of regret? There's no such thing as regret in this world. We can only keep going, one step at a time. In any case, as long as this woman isn't dead, we can't leave this place. We might as well be more open-minded. After all, we brothers are still together, aren't we?"

The eighth brother remained silent. After a while, he stood up, limped to another corner, picked up his sword, and said, "It's not my fault, brother. We all agreed to this back then, so naturally we have to share the consequences. I was wrong just now, and I'm sorry to my brothers."

The middle-aged man chuckled: "Alright, enough nonsense. Cheer up. She's just a crazy woman, what's there to be afraid of?"

As they were talking, the stone door behind them rattled. The middle-aged man frowned and turned around, then sneered, "Lord Qiu doesn't come here unless he has something important to say. Besides, this dimly lit cellar, I wonder what he needs our cooperation on this time."

Upon hearing this, Qiu Zhenzhou frowned slightly, but after a moment, he laughed and said, "Qian Yuanbiao, have you been underground for too long and are getting impatient?"

The middle-aged man, Qian Yuanbiao, sneered again: "What do you say? Otherwise, I'll switch places with you, sir?"

Qiu Zhenzhou stroked his beard as he walked in, saying, "It can't be changed, but perhaps my brothers will soon see the light of day again. I congratulate you all."

Upon hearing this, Qian Yuanbiao sneered, "Are you mocking us, sir? Everyone knows that as long as this woman doesn't die, we're stuck here. Or rather, you've already figured out a way to make this woman talk?"

Qiu Zhenzhou smiled, walked to the cage, and wanted to reach out to remove the black cloth, but stopped because of the strong stench. He frowned, covered his nose, and looked around at the people.

Upon seeing this, Lao Ba suddenly burst into laughter: "What, does the master find her undesirable? This won't do! This woman once slept in the master's bed. As the saying goes, even a day as husband and wife is worth a hundred days of kindness. How can the master be so heartless?"

Upon hearing this, Qiu Zhenzhou looked at Lao Ba with displeasure. Qian Yuanbiao stepped forward, removed the black cloth, and said, "It's all in the past. Why would an official discuss past feelings with a madman?"

Qiu Zhenzhou remained silent, but when he saw the person in the cage clearly, his eyebrows furrowed.

A few days ago, he had seen the woman in the cage because of the renovation of the cellar, but he only caught a glimpse of her and did not pay much attention. Now that he was looking at her specifically, he did not expect that the person in front of him, who looked withered, could not be compared with the beautiful and pitiful person he had been fifteen years ago.

The person in front of him reeked of a nauseating stench, with excrement scattered around him. She was rolling around in the excrement, and when Qiu Zhenzhou looked over, she even licked her lips with a grin.

The intense visual assault made her involuntarily take two steps back. Seeing this, Qian Yuanbiao smiled and explained, "She's hungry. She just bit off a chunk of Lao Ba's thigh and almost bit off Lao Liu's hand."

Qiu Zhenzhou glanced sideways and saw that Lao Ba's leg was bandaged, and the blood seeping from the bandage was bright red, obviously it had just been treated. Lao Liu's hand was in the same condition.

He frowned, covered his nose, and asked, "That's strange. The medicine may have some side effects, but it shouldn't cause people to eat human flesh."

Qian Yuanbiao shrugged: "You'll have to ask the person who gave you the medicine. We saw it with our own eyes, didn't you? Five years ago, that little girl was almost eaten by her."

As he spoke, Qian Yuanbiao raised an eyebrow: "But speaking of which, how is that little girl doing now? Has she received any good news?"

Upon hearing this, Qiu Zhenzhou shook his head, his expression somewhat grave.

“That girl is still untouchable. I have already betrothed her to the heir of the Marquis of Qingyan. By attaching myself to the Princess, I believe that it won’t be long before things blossom and bear fruit. On the other hand, if we don’t make any progress here, the master has said that we can’t delay any longer.”

Qian Yuanbiao frowned: "We have done our best. Now, she hasn't improved much in other areas, but she's become much faster at ambushing people. You can tell from Lao Ba and Lao Liu that."

His memory hasn't changed; he's still mentally unstable. Sometimes he's lucid, but he just sits there silently, refusing to speak to anyone. The skinny man tried a few times to communicate, but to no avail. The only solution is to release him for proper treatment, but that's probably impossible.

After a moment's thought, Qiu Zhenzhou asked, "What if we bring the doctor here?"

Qian Yuanbiao shook his head without the slightest hesitation.

"You might think that bringing this in is just food for her, and she'll eat it directly. I've done experiments before; I threw dead infants at her, and the result was..."

He gave Qiu Zhenzhou a look and then said nothing more.

Qiu Zhenzhou felt his hair stand on end. Just then, the person in the cage suddenly stood up, pressed his face against the cage, and stared intently at Qiu Zhenzhou as if he were food.

Qiu Zhenzhou took two steps back and after a long while said, "If that's the case, I need to report to my master and see what we should do. If we still can't get anything out of him, we'll have no choice but to use that girl."

Qian Yuanbiao smiled, not asking any further questions, and simply said indifferently, "Anyway, it's not my child, you can do whatever you want with it."

Qiu Zhenzhou didn't say anything more. He just looked at the person in the cage for a while, then turned and left. The stone door was closed. Qian Yuanbiao also sneered and continued to sit on the stool, wiping his sword as if it were his beloved girl.

The others also fell silent, and no one was excited by that congratulation.

The quiet dungeon was plunged into chaos again a quarter of an hour later when the stone door suddenly shattered. Qian Yuanbiao sensed something was wrong, but he was ultimately unable to stop it. He could only watch helplessly as his brothers' heads fell one by one in front of him. The whole process lasted only a moment.

His eyes were wide open, a fatal gash on his neck, yet he could not close them, his eyes remaining wide open, until finally, he collapsed to the ground in despair.

Inside the cage, it was unusually quiet.

No one knew what happened that night. The next morning, the Qiu family was busy as usual, with Qiu Zhenzhou and Madam Sun arguing over the dowry.

In Madam Sun's eyes, everything in the Qiu family belonged to her children, so how could it be allowed to fall into the hands of some outside vixen?

But this vixen is her legitimate daughter, the one chosen by the old lady, and cannot be neglected. What if the betrothal gifts she prepares are too light and people find out?

To put it mildly, it means that Madam Sun dislikes this so-called legitimate daughter; to put it more bluntly, it means that she disrespects the future heir apparent of the Marquis of Qingyan and neglects the residence of the current Princess Dazhang.

However, she was genuinely distressed when she received too many gifts.

She stared intently at the betrothal gift list that Bai Jianan had personally delivered.

Has this young master gone mad?

Western Region glass lamps, wolf's eye stone from the northern desert, purple coral from the East China Sea...

Why were so many precious treasures sent over as betrothal gifts? And why were they all said to be sent back to the Crown Princess as part of her dowry?

This not only made Sun Shi envious, but also jealous to the point of going crazy with jealousy. So much so that when Qiu Zhenzhou asked him to focus on selecting Jian Yue's dowry, she couldn't hold back and started arguing with Qiu Zhenzhou.

Qiu Zhenzhou was so angry that his head ached, so he went to the Buddhist shrine in the backyard to look for his mother.

Then, no one knows what the old lady and Qiu Zhenzhou said, but in the end, all Sun received from the old lady was that they absolutely could not neglect this marriage alliance. Whatever the young master sent over, they had to send something of equal value as a dowry.

The young master values ​​the daughter of the Qiu family, which means he values ​​the Qiu family itself. The future of the Qiu family depends on a single word from the eldest princess.

Sun was so angry that her eyes turned red, but she had no choice but to follow the old lady's instructions and put the treasures one by one into the dowry chest, and then carry it to place it in the same room as the betrothal gifts sent by Bai Jianan.

Fearing that someone might steal from her, she increased security measures even further. But the thought that these treasures would ultimately be given to a bitch who wasn't related to her by blood and had caused her a lot of trouble made her unable to swallow her anger.

"Someone, go and call Sixth Sister. Tell her I want her to come over and learn some manners. Go quickly."

The maidservant hurried out, but returned shortly afterward, saying timidly, "Madam, the people in the Sixth Miss's courtyard said that the Sixth Miss went out early this morning."

Madam Sun's expression changed: "What? He went out? What kind of behavior is this? He's about to get married, how can he be wandering around like this? Find him and bring him back to me."

The maid immediately knelt down and said, "Madam, please calm down. The people over there said that the master knows about this matter and has even sent people to follow Miss Liu to protect her safety."

Madam Sun was startled, feeling a dull pain in her chest. She staggered and sat down in a chair. Her personal maid, Ningxiang, saw this and quickly stepped forward to advise her, "Madam, please take care of yourself. Why bother arguing with a little girl?"

Madam Sun rubbed her chest, tears welling in her eyes, and said sadly, "I thought he was only doing it for the Qiu family, but I never imagined he had ulterior motives."

Seeing this, Ningxiang shook her head and said, "Madam, please don't overthink it. Master truly loves you. How could he become estranged from you for the sake of a mere maid?"

Sun sneered: "True feelings? It's nothing more than using me to get promoted and make money. What feelings are there? Now that she's rising to prominence, she naturally doesn't take me seriously. Perhaps, once that girl successfully marries the heir of the Marquis of Qingyan, the woman in the cellar will be brought out."

Ningxiang, tell me, what have I done for all my life? I bore him children, and in the end, he only has eyes for that despicable woman.