The one behind her

The three listeners perked up their ears.

It's been a year since they manage to put a spy on Lady Ye's courtyard but the reports that came to them only included details about her misconducts and relationships inside the Manor. Because of the lack of clues, the investigation got stuck. But today finally they find out what they were looking for!

Seeing the three pair of eyes urging him to continue, Ming Peizi cleared his throat and continued.

"This week, Lady Ye asked one of her personal maids to go to the pharmacy and pick this list of ingredients. She gave the maid a stamp with a snake carved. The maid presented the stamp to the pharmacy's attendant and gained all the ingredients without paying. Two days later the spy saw the maid once again going to the pharmacy to deliver a bag of gold coins to this man. According to father-in-law, this is an Elder from the Poison Sect. He's known for his vicious mass killings and is currently wanted by the government"

Passing the list of ingredients and the painting of the Elder, Ming Peizi had a troubled expression. Ming Shu, on the other hand, had her a cold glare once she saw the ingredients on the list.

"As of now, neither the Ming Family nor the Li Family can afford to touch someone protected by an Elder of the Poison Sect. Don't do this face. By touch a mean to completely cut her loose. This past year, your mother and I have been testing the waters and found out that Ye wouldn't do anything drastic even after being oppressed. But whenever talks of a new baby or I didn't visit her for too long, she would do something drastic to turn the situation around. The ingredients on the list are a perfect example. When used in a small quantity their mix is good medicine for colic, but in a larger dose it becomes poison and destroys the womb, incapacitating the woman to be pregnant"

"WHAT? Who does she want to use this with?"

Ming Peng punched the table in fury. He couldn't believe that venomous woman was not satisfied in trying to kill his siblings but was also now to prevent him from having more! What if his future sisters don't born because of her? No! He couldn't let that happen. He wants to be surrounded by cute sisters like Yunning and Shu'er!

Ming Shu didn't pay attention to her enraged brother. She already had identified that the ingredients could poison and now was enthralled with the painting of the Elder.

It is not her Master.

Hundredth thoughts started to pass in her head. She recognized the man in the painting. Two years from now he would slaughter three whole villages and his bounty would triple the price. He was actually her target when she infiltrated the Sect and became her Master's apprentice. She found out that her Master and the Elder in question were not in friendly terms since the guy was absolutely insane in his research. The three villages that were slaughtered resulted from his testing and improving a newly developed poison.

She failed to understand how would Lady Ye be associated with this Elder if she was Master's apprentice. Did she get it wrong? Wasn't Lady Ye related to her Master at all? But it made little sense otherwise. The only possibility for her learning the purple freedom was to be under her master tutoring.

Thinking on the only other option she could guess, she grew colder. That venomous woman probably...

"Shu'er are you listening?"

Ming Shu looked up and saw that everyone was looking at her. With a light blush on her cheeks, Ming Shu realized she had been completely ignoring what her family was saying.

"Sorry I thought I recognized the man and haven't heard what you say. Could you please repeat?"

"Pft- so cute! Imagine what cousins would do if they saw the little tigress blushing in shame? I bet they would mock you for the rest of your life, Xiao Shu haha"

"Don't you dare say to them! I'll kick until you ask for Mom otherwise"

"I'm soo scared! You're even cuter now that the blush is redder. Just let Gege pinch your cheeks- Ouch! Mom, what did you that for?"

"Stop your childish rambling. Ming Shu is a little lady now, not a baby you can pinch left or right, right Husband?"

Ming Peizi averted his eyes to mask his thought. He couldn't admit that he had the same thoughts that his son had right?

"Your mother is right. Anyway, Shu'er we presume that the poison is probably to your mom or Lady Ling. Pay attention to everything that you consume this day"

"Sure. Father should look for the antidote for the poison just in case"

"My men are already searching for a physician that can solve it, don't worry"

"En. Father... should we tell Yunning about all this?"

Ming Peizi raised an eyebrow to the unexpected question.

"What you think Shu'er?"

"Hmm... I think Yunning deserves to know everything. We'll attack Lady Ye in the future, and even if she hates us for that, I want her to know the whole story. This way she can take her own conclusions... but I don't think we should tell her now. We are not sure what Lady Ye will do, so we should gather evidence not only to know our future steps but to explain to her"

Ming Shu's mood dropped even further when thinking about her sister. Undoubtedly, she would be done to suffer the most when they and Lady Ye turn their faces to each other. Although she made sure Yunning wouldn't contact Lady Ye much so as not to be poisoned by her vicious thoughts, Yunning still held Lady Ye dearly in her.

Ming Shu sighed. She didn't know if they could maintain their family relationship like it was now after taking Lady Ye out.