“What’s the matter?” Shao Yanru asked with a frown, displeased with her plan being disrupted at this time.

“First Miss, please… please save Madam… Something… happened to Madam!” The old maid said anxiously with a look of panic as she got up.

“What?” Shao Yanru stood up in a hurry and said with her face changing dramatically in shock.

“Something happened to Madam… First Miss, please go and have a look. Hurry up… Someone intended to hurt Madam!” The old maid wiped the sweat off her head and said anxiously.

It could be seen that she was really in a panic.

“Let’s go and have a look!” As Shao Yanru said, she picked up the lower of hem of her clothes and went out. How could she sit still on hearing that something had happened to her biological mother?

What was more, the two etiquette instructors were also present.

“Let’s also go and have a look!” Nanny Xi stood up and said to the rest.

Since she was sent to check on the situation in Duke Xing’s Mansion, how could she not go?

Nanny Zheng stood up and replied lightly, “Let’s go!”

Hearing the two nannies say so, the remaining three Misses naturally had no objection. A large group of people followed Shao Yanru to the ancestral hall.

On a simple couch in the ancestral hall, Nanny Sheng held Madam of Duke Xing in her arms and sweated profusely in a fever of anxiety. When she saw Shao Yanru come over with a group of people, she screamed anxiously, “First Miss, come and have a look. Something happened to Madam. Is she… poisoned?”

Poisoned? With their faces changing, those, who followed Shao Yanru here, took a few steps forward hurriedly and looked at Madam of Duke Xing.

Madam of Duke Xing, who was half lying there, looked horrible. Her face was unusually pale, looking dark and ashen at the same time. At first glance, one could tell that she looked unusual.

She lay there with her eyes closed, and there was a trace of black blood at the corners of her mouth.

“Mother!” As Shao Yanru said, she rushed over and took Madam of Duke Xing from Nanny Sheng’s arms and burst into tears.

“First Miss, don’t worry. We should send for a doctor first!” Shuqi, who was behind her, hurriedly reminded her.

“Yes… yes, we should send for a doctor first. Shuqi, go and ask a doctor to come here. Be quick!” Shao Yanru looked up at Shuqi blankly and said helplessly.

“Yes, Miss. I’ll go right away!” Shuqi said, and then turned around and went out in search of a doctor.

Shao Yanru pulled herself together and looked at Madam of Duke Xing, who was still closing her eyes tightly. Everyone could tell that she was trembling all over, but she still tried hard to grit her teeth and calm herself down.

“First Miss, take it easy. Don’t worry!” Nanny Xi couldn’t help stepping forward to comfort her.

“Nanny… what… what should I do?” Shao Yanru grabbed Nanny Xi’s hand tearfully and choked with sobs.

“First Miss, take it easy. You have to deal with things here and inquire about what happened. If you are also panic-stricken, how can you deal with things?” Nanny Xi reminded her.

Shao Yanru lowered her head and wiped off her tears with a handkerchief. After pulling herself together, she raised her head, looked at Nanny Sheng with calm eyes and said, “Nanny Sheng, why happened to my mother? Did she eat anything by mistake?”

Seeing that Shao Yanru managed to calm herself down and deal with things so quickly in such a situation, Nanny Xi nodded secretly and approved of Shao Yanru’s starting with the questions.

“This First Miss Shao is quite capable, and the Empress has chosen a good candidate.” Nanny Xi thought.

“First Miss, I don’t know why happened to Madam. Madam didn’t eat much today, and then she became like this. I fetched the dishes from the big kitchen. How could there be anything wrong with them? Otherwise, since plenty of people have also eaten the dishes from the big kitchen, Madam wouldn’t be the only one who suffers from it.”

As Nanny Sheng said, she burst into tears.

“Did she become like this after finishing her meal?” Nanny Xi, who had a good impression of Shao Yanru, asked on the side.

“Yes, she became like this after the meal, but… but I also took a bite of the meal and I’m fine…” Nanny Sheng said and beat herself hard to prove that what she said was true.

“You also took a bite? Did you do that before or after Madam had meal?” Nanny Xi asked another question. It was obviously a fight in the backyard. This kind of things happened all the time in the imperial palace. It was said that there were only the second branch and the third branch in Duke Xing’s Mansion now. Could it be that the third branch was behind the scene?

Glancing at Shao Caihuan and Shao Cailing, who followed her here, she secretly wondered if the Madam of the third branch did this to clear the way for her two daughters.

Thinking of it, she found it possible!

She curled her lip secretly. With the First Miss and the Fifth Miss around, how could the Third Miss and the Fourth Miss stand out? The third branch was obsessed with ambition.

“The doctor is here. Step aside. The doctor is here!” There came Shuqi’s nervous voice from behind. She met the doctor halfway.

As the crowd got out of the way, the doctor came in.

Shao Yanru stepped back to the side of Nanny Xi and looked at Madam of Duke Xing with tears in her eyes. She looked nervous and anxious, holding her handkerchief with trembling fingers.

Meanwhile, she tried hard to keep her composure. Seeing this, Nanny Xi couldn’t help sighing and thought, “The First Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion has a deep affection for her mother and is calm when dealing with things. Although she lost her sense of propriety just now, it was because her mother is the victim. She just needs a little more training!”

“What happened?” Someone outside the crowd asked. Everyone turned around and found that it was Old Madam. All of them stepped aside.

“What’s going on?” Old Madam walked into the crowd with Nanny Yu’s help. When she saw Madam of Duke Xing lying on the couch with an ashen face, she asked with her face changing dramatically.

“Old Madam, Madam is poisoned!” The doctor put down Madam of Duke Xing’s hand, stood up and spoke.

“Can… can you save her?” Shao Yanru asked in a trembling voice.

The doctor shook his head and said with a sigh, “Fortunately, you discovered it in time. Moreover, it’s slow poison, which will harm her health rather than kill her at once.”

“Since, it’s slow poison, why did it suddenly take effect?” Nanny Zheng asked after thinking for a while.

Generally speaking, a slow poison would not be discovered. By the time it was discovered, the patient was doomed.

“It’s true that a slow poison can’t be discovered at once. Is there much poison in Madam of Duke Xing’s body?” When Nanny Zheng asked this,, Nanny Xi, who tried every means to make friends with Nanny Zheng, spoke in support of her on one side.

Old Madam looked at Nanny Xi and then looked at Nanny Zheng, who was impressive in bearing beside her. Although Nanny Zheng was only dressed in ordinary clothes, with her bearing she didn’t look like an ordinary old maid. This nanny should be the etiquette instructor Nanny Zheng Shao Wanru brought to the mansion and she had never seen.

“There is not much poison in Madam’s body, and now she has spat some out. There should be nothing serious. Madam is lucky. This slow poison has little effect on most people, so more and more poison accumulate in their bodies before they discover it. But there are also some people who are born with a natural resistance to some poisons, so the slow poison has more effect on them. Although the poison is not strong, it will be discovered immediately.”

The doctor explained.

The maids present did not understand this, but most of the masters understood. Everyone had a different constitution. Although the slow poison was not easy to discover, some people were born with a strong reaction to this poison, so it had a noticeable effect on them.

Of course, this possibility was very rare, and most people had a strong reaction to slow poisons. It was an extremely accidental thing, that was unlikely to happen. But now it happened on Madam of Duke Xing, so the doctor could only exclaim how lucky Madam of Duke Xing was.

Since someone had poisoned her, definitely intended to kill her and prevent others from discovering that she was poisoned.

“Who ever heard of such a thing? Who dare to hurt someone in my mansion!” Old Madam said with her eyes burning with anger. Such a thing happened in the mansion in front of Nanny Xi. What would the Empress think of her and Duke Xing’s Mansion?

“Look into it. Don’t miss any clue. We must find out who poisoned her!”

Old Madam slammed the cane in her hand on the ground and said in a harsh voice.

Shao Wanru came forward and said, “Grandma, let’s start from here. Since the target is Second Aunt, the culprit might have left some traces in the other parts of this room. Now that it happened so suddenly, the person behind the scenes must have neglected something.”

The target was Madam of Duke Xing. Since Madam of Duke Xing lived in the ancestral hall, it was very likely that the culprit had left some traces in the ancestral hall. Judging from this, they should search this room indeed.

Madam of Duke Xing, who was lying on the couch, moved her eyes. Shao Wanru, who had been watching her, raised the corners of her eyes slightly and sneered in her heart. As she expected, Madam of Duke Xing couldn’t bear to keep pretending.

“Search the room now!” Old Madam said with a gloomy face.

“What about my mother?” Shao Yanru, who was now a filial daughter, stepped forward, looked at Madam of Duke Xing with concern and asked.

“Take Second Aunt back so that the doctor can make a diagnosis and give a prescription. Let Nanny Sheng stay and help us investigate into the matter!” Shao Wanru seemed to say that for the sake of Madam of Duke Xing.

Old Madam nodded, thinking it a proper way to deal with things.

“Come here…”

“What… what’s going on…” Madam of Duke Xing opened her eyes, looked around weakly and asked, as if she still didn’t know what had happened.

“Madam, Madam… you are poisoned. You… almost died… If you really die… I… I can hardly absolve myself from the blame even if I die ten thousand deaths!”

Nanny Sheng rushed over, grabbed Madam of Duke Xing’s sleeve, and cried loudly.

Madam of Duke Xing sat up with Nanny Sheng’s help, coughed hard and looked up at Old Madam. She pressed her hand on her chest and said in a low and hoarse voice, “Old Madam… I…”

“Stop talking. You’re still in poor health. Go back and have a rest first.” Old Madam frowned and spoke.

“Old Madam, let’s begin the investigation after Second Aunt goes back. We can’t let anyone hurt Second Aunt without being punished!” Shao Wanru reminded Old Madam.

“Come on, take…” Old Madam raised her hand and intended to instruct some servants to carry Madam of Duke Xing back.

“Wait a minute, mother, wait a minute!” Madam of Duke Xing was anxious and said hurriedly. How could she let them search the ancestral hall, where there was some stuff that would expose her scheme?

“What’s wrong? Since you are in poor health, just go back for a rest!” Old Madam said discontentedly. She had made two attempts to send Madam of Duke Xing back, but she was interrupted by her every time.

“Mother, actually… I know something about this matter… I’m just wondering if my guess is right…” Madam of Duke Xing looked around and said in embarrassment.