The pampered heiress holds the script and leads her cannon fodder family to a counterattack.

Qin Xiaoyan felt a chill run down her spine upon hearing this.

He remembered that Hongju; she had been trying to get close to him intentionally or unintentionally a few days ago. After his mother sent her to the outer courtyard, he didn't pay any attention to her.

Did she not expect that after failing to seduce him, she would try to ruin his reputation?

He even poisoned his mother?

You've ruined my reputation, fine, but if you actually dare to poison my mother, I will never forgive you.

Qin Yezhong and Yang Xiurong were even more shocked.

I thought that poisoning the mistress was the limit.

I never expected them to spread rumors and ruin their son's reputation. This is truly outrageous!

At this moment, the page boy came in, and the servant in charge of brewing the medicine also came in with the medicine packet.

"Siqin, please take a look quickly. Is this medicine the wrong one? Is there anything wrong with it?"

Upon hearing this, Si Qin broke out in a cold sweat.

This medicine was prescribed by the Fourth Young Master, and he personally prepared it.

Could there be something wrong with this medicine? Could I have gotten the wrong one?

"Yes." Si Qin nervously opened the medicine packet.

This was indeed the medicine he had prescribed earlier. It seemed to be fine. Si Qin breathed a sigh of relief.

But upon closer inspection, something seemed amiss.

Surprisingly, there was some purple powder mixed in with the medicine.

Si Qin's pupils contracted, he picked up the medicine packet, sniffed it, and was shocked.

She hurriedly put down the medicine packet and knelt down, not daring to raise her head: "My lord, my lady, I got this medicine. But later, someone added poison to it, the same poison that the fourth young master concocted before."

"This poison was originally intended to treat a rare disease by using poison to fight poison. If a normal person were to take it, they would become weak, age prematurely, cough incessantly, and spend the rest of their life taking medicine."

"This medicine is usually kept in a hidden place in the pharmacy, not with other medicines. There's no way I could have grabbed the wrong one. Someone must have stolen it and added it in!"

Si Qin was sweating profusely, fearing that the Marquis's wife would mistakenly believe that he was the one who poisoned her.

The Marquis and his wife exchanged a glance, their hearts pounding.

Sure enough, everything matched my daughter's thoughts. It seems she was right. It was the poison hidden under the red chrysanthemum.

Qin Yezhong said, "Get up first. I know you didn't do it."

Upon hearing this, Si Qin felt as if he had been granted a pardon and stood up, wiping his sweat.

They knew perfectly well that Hongju was responsible, but they still needed evidence.

To convict someone without any evidence would be a disgrace to the Marquis's mansion if word got out.

"Has anyone been to the pharmacy recently?" Qin Yezhong asked.

Si Qin recalled, "Usually only the Fourth Young Master and I go into the pharmacy; I haven't seen anyone else come in."

"Has anyone approached the medicine after it was prepared?" Qin Yezhong asked the servant who was decocting the medicine.

The servant preparing the medicine jumped to his senses: "I haven't seen anyone approach." Could they suspect it was me?

Qin Yezhong didn't continue speaking. It seems that Hongju is indeed meticulous and cautious in her work.

The servant breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the Marquis did not press the matter further.

How can they convict someone without any evidence? The family was at a loss.

"Si Qin, go and see how much poison is missing?" Qin Wanying said.

Si Qin glanced at the Marquis, who nodded, and only then did Si Qin dare to go over and look.

After a while, Si Qin returned.

"The poison is about one or two ounces less," Si Qin replied, bowing his head.

"How much medicine was added to this packet?"

Si Qin checked the medicine again: "It's only two qian (a unit of weight)."

"Father, Mother, that means there's still some poison in the hands of the poisoner. Whoever has it found on their person is the one who poisoned them," Qin Wanying said.

Qin Yezhong and Yang Xiurong nodded; their daughter was indeed clever.

But with so many people in the manor, what pretext could they use to search Hongju's room? Besides, the poison dosage was small to begin with, so it might not be detected. If she secretly threw it away somewhere and claimed it wasn't her, there would be no evidence.

I want to see Hongju; perhaps I can find out where she hid the poison.

Her ability is to observe a person and know what's going on with them.

The three people who could hear each other's thoughts lit up.

"Father, Mother, I saw Hongju acting suspiciously in the medicine-decocting room this morning. I wonder if she did it," Qin Xiaoyan said.

In reality, he hadn't seen it at all. He was just using it as an excuse to call Hongju over for questioning, so that his younger sister could see if she could find out where she had hidden the poison.

Qin Yezhong nodded.

Qin Xiaoyan instructed the servant beside her, "Hurry up and call Hongju over. Don't tell her what it is."

The servant immediately understood and ran off to fetch the person.

Hongju was in her own room at that moment.

He administered the poison without anyone knowing.

That despicable old vile woman dared to ruin my plans; I'll make her suffer the agony of wishing for death.

Once the old vile woman is too tired to care for herself, she can try to get into the Sixth Young Master's bed and become his concubine first.

Then, through some more tricks, he will take the position of the main wife.

Just then, someone knocked on my door.

The two women rushed out and saw that it was actually the servant boy beside the Sixth Young Master.

How could he come?

Servant: "Hongju, the Sixth Young Master wants to see you. Come with me."

Upon hearing this, Hongju's face immediately lit up with joy.

What? The Sixth Young Master wants to see her?

After she was sent to the outer courtyard, the Sixth Young Master never contacted her. She even wondered if he had no feelings for her at all.

Now, they've actually sent someone to invite her. It's because they can't see her and miss her!

"Then let's go." Hongju smoothed her hair. There was a hint of disdain in her eyes as she looked at the servant.

From now on, I will be your master!

Judging from her expression, the servant could roughly guess what she was thinking.

I feel like laughing, but I have to hold it in. It's so uncomfortable.

Soon, the servant led Hongju into the guest room.

When Hongju came in, she found that there was more than just the Sixth Young Master. The master, mistress and mistress were also there, as well as a girl sitting down.

Hongju immediately sensed something was wrong.

Has something happened? Why are so many people here?

Qin Wanying stared at Hongju for a few seconds, a flood of information rushing into her mind.

This Hongju (Red Chrysanthemum) is really no good person. Her family is poor, but she dreams of rising to a high social status.

She also had an older sister who treated her extremely well, always giving Hongju the things she herself wouldn't eat. Because of their poverty, the family planned to sell the two sisters to wealthy families as servants. The older sister was gentle and clever; they originally intended to sell her to a noble household and Hongju to an ordinary merchant family.

[But Hongju wanted to enter the Marquis's mansion, dreaming of climbing into the bed of some young master and transforming herself from a pheasant into a phoenix. She begged her parents, but they disagreed, believing that her sister would have a better future if she entered the Marquis's mansion. So Hongju poisoned her sister, rendering her mute, which gave her the opportunity to be sold to the Marquis's mansion.]

The poor older sister, unaware that Hongju had poisoned her and rendered her mute, was so worried about Hongju's well-being that she even made shoes for her before Hongju entered the Marquis's mansion.