The Favored Heiress
Chapter 672: There is a Problem with the Dosage of Medicinal Herbs

Chapter 672: Chapter 672: There is a Problem with the Dosage of Medicinal Herbs

Luoyu straightened her face, then shook her head in an instant, "No, he..."

Before she could finish, she silenced herself.

Li Qiao turned her head toward her, a smile playing on her lips that was cool in its warmth, "All of this today, quite the coincidence, isn’t it?"

...

In the tea room, Li Qiao walked in with a rather wooden mood.

Housekeeper Xiao was not present, only Shang Zonghai stood in front of the tea rack, lost in thought while staring at an aged tea cake.

He didn’t speak, so Li Qiao didn’t disturb him either.

The two of them shared the quiet space, each harboring their thoughts.

After a while, Shang Zonghai’s extended and profound gaze gradually regained clarity. He turned around with the Buddha Beads in hand, his eyes gentle, "Girl, have you found out everything?"

Li Qiao had anticipated thousands of possible opening remarks, so she was surprised by Shang Zonghai’s blunt approach.

She discarded all her thoughts and stared unwaveringly at the eyes behind his glasses, "Is there an issue with the dosage of the medicinal ingredients?"

Shang Zonghai laughed with his usual composure, "Correct."

Li Qiao felt a chill spread through her.

That Shang Yu... must be unaware.

Shang Zonghai slid the Buddha Beads onto his wrist, turned around to take a seat back at the tea table, and gestured to her, "Don’t just stand there, I’ll tell you everything you want to know today, my dear niece."

Li Qiao adjusted her breathing continuously, moved stiffly over, and as she sat down, she asked directly, "The old residence’s secret recipes, there’s more than one?"

It was a question, yet she spoke it with the tone of a statement.

Shang Zonghai seemed pleased as he nodded with pursed lips, "Girl, you are very smart and haven’t disappointed me."

"The reason you did this... what is it?" As Li Qiao voiced the question, her voice was raspy.

If Shang Yu found out that the medical principles of his family he had been learning since childhood were wrong, or that the fetal protection medicine recipe was also incorrect, he would never be able to unshackle the constraints in his heart in this lifetime.

Shang Zonghai pressed the button to boil the water in the tea kettle, looked up at Li Qiao with a comforting tone, "You don’t need to be hostile toward me. Of the old house’s secret recipes, only the contraceptive recipe was tampered with by me. All the other recipes are genuine."

Hearing such words, she should have breathed a sigh of relief, yet the heaviness in her heart didn’t lessen in the slightest.

No wonder Uncle Shen from the Sixth Bureau called him an Old Fox.

She was no match for such deep and calculating schemes.

In the time that followed, Shang Zonghai explained his intentions for altering the recipe briefly and to the point.

Just as expected, it involved Madam Xiao.

It seemed to be a resurgence of past affairs, and as Shang Zonghai recounted the story, his pace was slow, tinged with an indescribable melancholy.

"The arranged marriage between Shang and Ming families was orchestrated by me, and naturally, I could not allow my wife to take contraceptive measures behind my back."

Li Qiao’s fingers curled in, her eyes reflecting complexity, "Her medical skills..."

"Correct, I taught her," Shang Zonghai touched the Buddha Beads, his expression profound, "The Ming family were merely a family of cobblers back then. As Parma’s number one beauty, how could she be content with making shoes at home every day?"

Back then, half of Parma’s noblemen coveted Ming Dailan’s beauty.

Shang Zonghai was no exception.

In all of Parma, aside from the Mu Family, the foremost blue-blooded nobility, the Shang Family held the highest status.

He wanted Ming Dailan, at any cost and by any means necessary.

However, Parma’s number one beauty was so proud; her beauty bolstered her ambition. She wouldn’t even consider the Mu Family, all because she had a better option.

The eldest son of the Duke Charlman Family, Xiao Hongdao.

Shang Zonghai rarely mentioned the true nature of his union with Ming Dailan to anyone, a young and energetic youth who nearly crushed the Ming family to the brink of destruction with an overwhelming display of power.

An absolute act of forceful acquisition.

In fact, had Ming Dailan been as ruthless back then as she is now, she could have simply walked away without a care for the survival of the Ming family.

But she couldn’t do it, so marriage was the only way out.

What does it matter if Xiao Hongdao is the eldest son of the Duke’s family?

He didn’t dare defy the noble marriage arranged by his ducal father, nor did he have the authority to use the power of the Ducal Residence to compete against the Parma Shang clan for a woman’s sake.

Ming Dailan became the victim of this arranged marriage, marrying into the Shang’s out of concern for her family, with a heart full of reluctance.

She didn’t love Shang Zonghai, yet feared his ruthless methods and worried about causing further trouble for her family.

In the following years, time eroded her ambition and fighting spirit.

With the births of Shang Yu and Shang Lu, her status shifted from Parma’s number one beauty to the gentle and virtuous Matriarch of Shang Family.

The secret contraceptive recipe of the old residence was indeed tampered with by Shang Zonghai.

He was always the kind who could heal with medicine—and just as easily take a life. He was Shang Zonghai, the Medicine King of traditional Chinese medicine.

At this moment, Li Qiao snapped out of his tale. Although many details were still lacking to form a complete picture, what concerned her more was another issue.

"Aren’t you afraid Shaoyan will use the prescription on someone else by doing this?"

With only one contraceptive prescription left, Shang Yu had no choice. If he really used this recipe on someone else, it could easily backfire.

Shang Zonghai brewed two cups of tea, sliding a cup across the table corner towards Li Qiao, "Who can he give it to? And who could persuade him to do so? In this world, aside from you, there is no one else who could make him take up medicine again."

He paused for a second, "Moreover, the prescription isn’t lethal, it only causes vomiting and allergies. Think carefully, did you experience any other discomfort yesterday?"

Li Qiao looked at the cup of tea on the table and easily recalled the indiscernible reaction of Shang Zonghai when he saw her allergic symptoms.

There were signs all along.

To destroy Ming Dailan’s belief in contraception, Shang Zonghai hid all recipes except for one that he personally altered—a family secret recipe.

In those years, was Ming Dailan like her, experiencing vomiting and allergies every time she took the contraceptive brew?

After one or two occurrences, her subconscious might have attributed it all to allergic reactions.

Even if she went to the market to buy contraceptives, she couldn’t escape the watchful eyes of Shang Zonghai.

Shang Zonghai, harming others imperceptibly, killed without shedding blood.

Li Qiao truly felt the depth of his unfathomable nature,

She looked at Shang Zonghai for a long time before asking, "Does the incident eleven years ago have anything to do with the prescription?"

"It’s unrelated," Shang Zonghai took a sip of tea, "It wasn’t Shaoyan’s fault, and there was nothing wrong with the recipe. At that time, the old residence was in chaos, and indeed we missed the ideal opportunity for investigation. But ultimately, she chose to believe what she saw and refused to trust her own son. What could I have done?"

His words seemed helpless yet indifferent.

Li Qiao couldn’t even discern what kind of feelings Shang Zonghai held for Ming Dailan.

She didn’t drink the tea and got up to say goodbye.

When she reached the doorway, Shang Zonghai called from behind her, "Girl..."

Li Qiao stopped and turned around to face him.

Shang Zonghai, who was now playing with the Buddha Beads in his hand and leaning against the Taishi Chair, looked calm. "We all have our obsessions. If Shaoyan did something to hurt you in the name of love, would you hate him?"

Li Qiao was blunt, "No."

Hearing this, Shang Zonghai sighed softly and nodded with a smile, "The incident with the medicine was truly an accident. I apologize to you, Dad. I will have that contraceptive recipe dealt with as soon as possible. As for whether to tell Shaoyan or not, that’s for you to decide."

Li Qiao looked down at her toes, and in just a few seconds, a faint smile appeared on her lips, "It’s all in the past."