Quick Transmigration: The Mad Beauty Refuses to Be the Scapegoat!-Chapter 412 - 34: The General Mansion’s Cast-Off Cannon Fodder Wife

Chapter 412: Chapter 34: The General Mansion’s Cast-Off Cannon Fodder Wife

In the night, a shadow slowly approached, sticking close to the bed, watching her.

Jiang Yu opened her eyes to see the face in front of her, and Madam Zhao was startled by the suddenly awakened Jiang Yu, just about to leave but was stopped by her shout.

"Aunt Zhao, do you have something to say to me?"

Madam Zhao, somewhat flustered, quickly denied.

"No, no, I entered the wrong room. Does your foot still hurt?"

"It hurts, how could it not? Your daughter caused this, leaving me unable to walk or dance normally for the rest of my life. Aunt Zhao, what do you say to this?"

"It was Jiang Lai who wronged you. I will help you teach her a lesson. Rest well."

Jiang Yu’s voice came again.

"Teach her a lesson? How do you plan to help me do that? Aunt Zhao, you’re so good to me."

Madam Zhao couldn’t bring herself to look into Jiang Yu’s eyes and replied with a choked voice.

"I will make her give you an explanation. You are the legitimate daughter; she is just a concubine’s daughter. There’s a distinction between legitimate and concubine-born. What isn’t hers, I won’t let her have."

With that, Madam Zhao turned and left, leaving Jiang Yu alone in the darkness, quietly watching her back, with a cold smile slowly spreading across her lips.

——

"Jiang Lai, tell me, what are your plans?"

Little Buding had been extremely idle lately and couldn’t find any place to be useful, so he spent his days watching Jiang Lai eat and drink the moment she opened her eyes and sleep the moment she closed them, showing no sign of progress.

"Most of the evidence has been destroyed. The only evidence left is Madam Zhao. What do you think we should do?"

"Kidnap her and threaten or bribe her?"

"Do you think people would believe anything coerced out of her by force?"

"Then what do you suggest? It can’t be possible to make her admit it herself, can it?"

Jiang Lai remained silent, and Little Buding sneered, no longer interested in courting humiliation.

Before the end of the spring hunt, the Eighth Prince also sent someone to deliver some items, all rare treasures from the mountains, like ginseng and deer antler. In addition to that, there was also a scroll of painting; when unfurled, it was a scene of an army ready to march, alongside a poem she had quickly composed at a poetry gathering, "On Famous Generals."

The painting and writing complemented each other, clearly from the same hand.

Jiang Lai had seen the Eighth Prince’s writing before, which wasn’t as grand as the writing on this scroll, so this painting should be by the Sixth Prince. Didn’t the original storyline mention his prowess in poetry and painting, known for his ink paintings?

The painting was indeed good, clearly something that could fetch a good price in later generations.

Jiang Lai instructed Chunyu to wrap it up and put it in a box to take back; everything was ready except for the last piece.

At the place where the carriages were parked, many young lords and ladies were already gathered to see off Your Majesty. Jiang Lai got off the carriage and scanned the area, noticing Jiang Yu sitting not too far away, her face pale as she sat in a wooden wheelchair, chatting and laughing with the Ninth Princess, showing no signs of the defeat she suffered the day before, seemingly in a good mood.

Jiang Lai took the initiative to approach them, with the Ninth Princess stepping in front of Jiang Yu.

"What are you doing here? Haven’t you harmed Jiang Yu enough?"

"Oh, you’re all here, that’s great. Jiang Yu, you remember our bet from before, right? You even had me sign it back then. Now is the perfect time to settle it."

As she spoke, Jiang Lai pulled out the agreement they had prepared before the hunting competition, unfolded it in front of everyone, and gave it a light shake.

"A thousand taels of gold; as a marquis’ legitimate daughter, surely with the Ninth Princess as guarantor, this amount of money must have been prepared long ago. I’ve already cleared space in my carriage."

Upon seeing Jiang Lai dare to bring out the agreement, the Ninth Princess’s expression changed, countering sharply.

"You dare ask us for money? Jiang Lai, we are still holding you accountable for your sister’s foot injury causing her lasting damage. You have the audacity to come and demand compensation? You should give Jiang Yu an explanation now! How will you compensate for her injury?"

Jiang Lai gave a brief glance and, without unnecessary words, gestured toward the nearby Eighth Prince and also greeted the Sixth Prince.

Seeing it was Jiang Lai, the Eighth Prince eagerly approached, and upon seeing the Sixth Prince slowly making his way over, Jiang Yu’s expression changed, speaking softly to Jiang Lai.

"Do you wish for our matters to be known all over the world?"

Jiang Lai raised an eyebrow, feigning helplessness.

"There’s nothing I can do since your memory is poor. I have to find someone who was there to testify for me. Come on, Sixth Prince, Eighth Prince, you are both of great honor, be my witnesses. You all saw the spring hunt match the past two days, didn’t you?"

"Yes, of course we saw it. We all heard about it. Miss Jiang hit thirteen targets with ten arrows, and even shooting two prey with one arrow wasn’t a problem. I was humbled when I saw it. Admirable, admirable."

"We won’t discuss this today. I am undoubtedly the winner, but there’s still some misunderstanding between me and the Ninth Princess."

As soon as the Ninth Princess heard this, she became furious and shouted.

"What misunderstanding?! Do you dare say Jiang Yu’s foot injury has nothing to do with you?!"

Without the need for Jiang Lai to speak, the Eighth Prince, who had witnessed the entire incident, couldn’t help but speak on Jiang Lai’s behalf.

"Ninth sister, this is unfair! We saw clearly that it was Miss Jiang’s arrow that first went astray, causing Jiang Lai to fall, leading to her arrow going astray. This is purely an accident with no right or wrong; how can you blame Jiang Lai?"

"An astray arrow? Ha, even after falling off the horse, her arrow still managed to hit the opponent’s horse. Anyone who isn’t blind can see it was intentional!"

The Eighth Prince frowned in some displeasure, and at this moment, the usually silent Sixth Prince looked toward Jiang Yu.

"If falling off a horse and shooting astray was intentional, what do you call it when someone seated steadily on horseback shoots astray? Premeditated murder? It seems this matter needs to be reported and thoroughly investigated."

Jiang Yu felt a surge of panic, gripping the clothes by her side tightly, initially thinking that with the Ninth Princess’s presence, she wouldn’t need to say anything to pin the blame on Jiang Lai. Little did she expect the usually uninvolved Sixth Prince to also step forward and speak for Jiang Lai!

To think that a mere unnoticed concubine’s daughter could now have two princes speaking up for her!

Jiang Lai smiled and interjected.

"No need to specially investigate it. After all, in any competition, there’s bound to be some bumps and scrapes. I won’t dwell on this. Let’s return to the matter of the agreement. Jiang Yu, Xu Ruling, Ninth Princess, your names are all on this; you’re all reputable figures, surely I shouldn’t have to take the agreement to seek justice from Your Majesty?"

"You, you’ve gone too far with your bullying!"

The Ninth Princess panicked upon hearing about reporting to Your Majesty.

Such a high-stakes bet, if her father knew, he would surely reprimand her.

"Back when you three made a bet with me, you never said anything like this. So, one word, are you giving it or not?"