Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Acting from the Shadows

Yao Niang, for her part, seemed oblivious to the rage of the Chai family mother and son. She calmly recounted her ordeal in the Chai household.

"...After I started working at the noodle shop, my mother-in-law often made me wear revealing clothes, claiming it was to attract customers... And... and..." Yao Niang bit her lip hard, as if the words were difficult to say. "My mother-in-law knew full well that I was not pregnant and had no child, yet she forced me to drink that lactation-inducing concoction every single day..."

"That animal!" Upon hearing this, Mrs. Wei couldn’t help but curse viciously in Granny Qiu’s direction.

For a woman who wasn’t pregnant to drink such a potion... it was something usually reserved for the unspeakable "playthings" secretly kept in brothels or by wealthy families.

To put it nicely, it was a lactation formula. In reality, it was a vile concoction designed to make a woman’s breasts grow larger.

"Ordinary women who drink this stuff... it shortens their lives," Mrs. Wei whispered in Ming Lingyi’s ear.

Ming Lingyi’s expression was grim. She knew the fate of women who used such potions. Years ago, when the Li family rose up from the Great Desert, the Li Family Army was invincible. In a mere twenty days, they had thrust like a sharp sword into the heart of the Central Plains.

When they passed through a place called An City, the local officials heard of the Li Family Army’s reputation and fled the city in terror. In contrast, many of the wealthy households took the initiative to open the city gates and welcome the Li Family into the city.

At the time, Ming Lingyi had been by Li Yun’s side and was quartered in the city.

Those wealthy households, eager to host a welcome banquet for Li Yun, had prepared a feast and even provided numerous beauties.

Those beauties had all been raised on lactation-inducing potions. Each one possessed an alluring figure, and many men found such charms irresistible.

Although Li Yun himself did not accept any, the soldiers and generals who had followed him north were not all ascetics devoid of worldly desires. Many of the women were sent to the quarters of the commanders, and a lucky few were even brought back to the Capital City.

It was only later, when Ming Lingyi was in the imperial harem, that she heard one of the generals who had followed Li Yun was considered a devoted lover. The beauty he had taken in An City was now a noble concubine in his General Mansion.

This general had once requested an Imperial Physician from Li Yun, specifically for this noble concubine in his mansion.

From what she heard, the noble concubine was barely twenty years old, but she was already on her deathbed.

In consideration of the general’s merits, Li Yun ordered someone from the Imperial Hospital to treat her, but in the end, the woman still died.

"That kind of medicine might seem to make a woman’s breasts swell, but it actually causes numerous hard lumps to grow in her chest, which have long since filled with pus. Women who take this drug long-term constantly feel a bloating pain in their chest, and the pain is unbearable, especially when pressed. Eventually, it leads to death."

Ming Lingyi still remembered the report from the Imperial Hospital. None of those women had taken the drug voluntarily. They probably didn’t even know its side effects were fatal.

Now, hearing that a respectable woman from a good family in Shangjing City—a proper wife, no less—was being forced by her husband’s family to take such a forbidden drug, Ming Lingyi couldn’t help but clench her fists.

"Lord Governor, I recall that under Dayan Law, if a commoner uses a forbidden drug, they should be punished to serve as a warning to others," Ming Lingyi spoke up.

Gongsun Liangce stroked his full, white beard and nodded. "This young lady is correct. Dayan Law does indeed have such a provision. Now that the aggrieved party has come forward, I must naturally deliver justice for the daughter of the Gu family."

Granny Qiu’s eyes were practically shooting fire, but with her throat injured, all she could manage was impotent rage.

Seeing this, Xiao Chun couldn’t help but snap, "What are you looking at? You broke the law, but you won’t let my lady say anything about it? My lady is ridding the public of a menace! Look at what you’ve done to that poor woman! How dare you glare at my lady?!"

Granny Qiu could only let out guttural, agonized grunts.

Many people had actually heard rumors about Yao Niang’s situation, but seeing it all laid bare now, they couldn’t help but sigh in dismay.

Especially after learning that Granny Qiu, for the sake of the so-called "heir for the eldest branch," had demanded that the second son sleep with his own sister-in-law, nearly all the women in the crowd erupted in curses. They called her demented, a wicked old crone, and cursed Chai Yuanhao as a heartless beast who had no regard for the law.

If Yao Niang hadn’t been treated like a mere object in the Chai family, how would Chai Yuanhao have dared to try and assault his sister-in-law at the noodle shop in broad daylight?

"That Second Brother Chai is brazen beyond belief!"

"It’s clearly Chai Yuanqian who’s impotent! Why should Yao Niang have to bear the blame for all this?"

"The Chai family is a den of demons! I’ve long said that with a mother-in-law like Granny Qiu, marrying your daughter into that family is just like pushing her into a pit of fire!"

The common folk buzzed with discussion over this shocking and scandalous case.

Right there in the marketplace, Gongsun Liangce announced the verdict on the spot.

Mrs. Gu, Yao Niang, is granted a divorce from the eldest son of the Chai Family.

The Chai mother and her two sons, for administering a forbidden drug to Mrs. Gu, Yao Niang, are hereby sentenced to thirty strokes of the cane and a fine of thirty taels of silver, to be added to the public treasury. They will serve two years in prison, to be taken into custody immediately. Upon completing their sentence, they will be exiled from the capital region.

As for Mrs. Gu, Yao Niang, although her actions were understandable, she did injure a man in the street. That final kick to Chai Yuanhao’s lower body was delivered in front of numerous Patrol officers and could not go unpunished. She is sentenced to three months of imprisonment.

As soon as the verdict was announced, the surrounding commoners erupted in cheers.

Although it was a pity that Yao Niang still had to go to prison, compared to the Chai family’s punishment, she was already considered quite fortunate.

Three months would pass quickly.

Ming Lingyi pulled Xiao Chun to her side and whispered a few words in her ear. Xiao Chun looked shocked, but she did as Ming Lingyi instructed, quickly running over to Yao Niang, who was being guarded by the Patrol officers.

Mrs. Wei had been standing next to Ming Lingyi the whole time. Although Ming Lingyi had spoken softly, she hadn’t been deliberately secretive.

"Boss Ming, are you really going to let Yao Niang work at your restaurant?" Mrs. Wei asked.

What Ming Lingyi had just instructed Xiao Chun to do was to run an errand: go tell Yao Niang that after she was released from prison, she could come find her at Ming’s Restaurant.

After the commotion today, even if Yao Niang wanted to enter a Daoist Temple in the future, many of the temples in the Capital City would likely find her troublesome or refuse to take her in because of her "sins."

Even though the onlookers were currently filled with righteous indignation and felt that Granny Qiu and the Chai family had gone too far, afterward, there would probably be no shortage of gossip about Yao Niang.

Ming Lingyi was well aware of this. In fact, it was precisely because she understood this so clearly that she had Xiao Chun deliver the message to Yao Niang.

"Mhm," Ming Lingyi nodded. "I once heard Mr. Du mention that Yao Niang is actually very skilled. It’s just that Granny Qiu turned that noodle shop into such a den of vice that most of the customers were hoodlums and gangsters who wanted to take advantage of Miss Yao. Over time, respectable people stopped daring to go, afraid of being judged. My restaurant is also in need of a female chef, so isn’t it a perfect fit?"

Even if she were to put up her hair and become a nun, she could still run a business.

Mrs. Wei sighed. "It’s her good fortune to have met you." An ordinary person wouldn’t dare make such a promise.

Ming Lingyi gave a faint smile. "It’s mutually beneficial."

Mrs. Wei feigned a pout and laughed. "I don’t believe that for a second! Oh, by the way, my whole family is coming to your restaurant for dinner tonight! Little Tiger doesn’t have school tomorrow, and he’s been craving a bite from your shop all ten-day-week."

Ming Lingyi agreed. She thought for a moment. ’There will probably be a lot of people at the restaurant tonight.’

Zhang Hu has tomorrow off, as do the students from the Imperial College.

Usually, these Imperial College students don’t have much free time. Most of them come in the morning, and fewer show up after their afternoon classes end.

But whenever the monthly ten-day break comes around, the students arrive in wave after wave.

More importantly, Ming Lingyi thought, ’I’ll get to see my Little Huachao today.’

She didn’t know that as she was thinking about Li Yan, someone else was secretly watching her.