Reborn Divine Doctor: The Abandoned Girl's Legend
Chapter 219 - 89: Large Hush Money

Chapter 219: Chapter 89: Large Hush Money

The items dumped from the sack were a mix of numerous seeds, along with some rocks, rice grains, and broken porcelain shards.

Thinking that Ye Lingyue had to sort through hundreds of bags of mixed seeds alone, Sixth Prince Xiahou Qi was fuming.

This damned servant, how dare they bully Ye Lingyue.

Today, Sixth Prince was determined to make Vice Chief Meng ensure that in this Imperial Palace, no one would dare touch a hair on Ye Lingyue.

Vice Chief Meng’s face twisted in agony as she looked at the pile of junk, especially the broken porcelain shards that were gleaming with a cold light.

To think she herself, a Seventh-rank Expert, had to bow and scrape in front of these juniors who were merely Fourth or Fifth Rank.

Vice Chief Meng felt a suffocating rage, unable to vent it out nor swallow it down, almost causing her to go cross-eyed.

Damn Ye Lingyue, just wait, once the Sixth Prince leaves, she would deal with this little wretch.

Seeing Vice Chief Meng’s shifty expression, Sixth Prince shouted again.

"Do not use spiritual power, clean up this bag of items thoroughly." The command from Sixth Prince struck Vice Chief Meng’s ears like a death knell.

"Complying... complying to the order." Vice Chief Meng didn’t dare to stand up; she crawled on her knees to the tattered sack and like a mother dog, began cleaning up the rocks and porcelain shards with her hands.

Vice Chief Meng was just an Alchemist, without utilizing spiritual power, her body was no different from an ordinary person’s.

Soon, her hands were sliced by the broken porcelain shards, bloodied and raw, Vice Chief Meng didn’t dare make a sound. It took her two to three hours, by which time the moon had risen high above the palace walls, to finish sorting through the bag of seeds.

Lifting her head, she saw Ye Lingyue and Sixth Prince among others. Unbeknownst from where, Ye Lingyue had found some fruit and was enjoying it cheerfully while a good-natured Sixth Prince sat beside, also helping to peel the fruit.

To think Vice Chief Meng, in her whole life, had never suffered such humiliation.

Vice Chief Meng was gritting her teeth in hatred, her face still maintaining the typical servant’s demeanor.

"Sixth Prince, the seeds have all been sorted, may your servant stand up now?"

Kneeling for hours without using any spiritual power, Vice Chief Meng’s body couldn’t take it anymore.

Just as Sixth Prince was about to allow her to stand up, Ye Lingyue, having just finished a pear, threw out a question.

"Junior brother, I heard that Daxia has always had strict laws. According to the court’s decrees, what punishment does an Imperial Mandate officer receive if they accept bribes privately? The lighter being dismissal, the heavier, exile?" When Ye Lingyue spoke, Vice Chief Meng knew it was bad news.

The knees that were ready to rise suddenly plummeted down again, kneeling once more.

Her knees landed squarely on some rocks, the pain was heart-wrenching.

But there was even more pain to come.

"Sixth Prince, Princess Ye, General Chi Yan, please be generous." Vice Chief Meng was smart, having been caught red-handed soliciting bribes today, if she were to be charged, her position as the Deputy Chief of the Imperial Hospital would be gone.

"Vice Chief Meng, what you mean is, you want to give us hush money to keep us quiet, right?" Ye Lingyue blinked. "We are not ordinary people here, the hush money won’t come cheap."

Hearing this, General Chi Yan’s lips quivered, wanting to say something, but a glance from Sixth Prince stopped him.

Xiahou Qi knew that his senior sister disciple was very clever; otherwise, she wouldn’t have come up with such a brilliant idea as the five-colored peony.

This "catching both the thief and the goods" strategy must have been conceived by Ye Lingyue earlier.

Ye Lingyue was right; the Sixth Prince could help her once, but not forever. To survive in the Imperial Hospital, grabbing a hold of Vice Chief Meng’s weakness was undoubtedly the long-term plan.

At that moment, the Sixth Prince couldn’t help but admire Ye Lingyue’s deep and far-reaching strategies. No wonder Empress Liu repeatedly reminded the Sixth Prince that if Ye Lingyue were born a male, she would definitely have been a pillar of talent, a person who must be won over at all costs.

My goodness, Princess Ye is too incredible.

General Chi Yan, standing nearby, was so shocked that he was left speechless.

Earlier, it was clearly Vice Chief Meng who was trying to extort Princess Ye, but in a blink of an eye, it turned into Princess Ye extorting Vice Chief Meng. The wheel of fortune turns too quickly.

Seeing the Sixth Prince again, noticing a trace of darkness in his eyes, he was intently watching Princess Ye. As for Princess Ye’s open extortion, he showed not the slightest displeasure. This was nothing but indulgence.

Having reached this point in the conversation, Vice Chief Meng had no choice but to obediently cough up the money to seal the deal.

"Princess...I am willing to offer 3,000 taels of gold..." Vice Chief Meng had come to realize that tonight’s words were commanded by Ye Lingyue; pleading with others was useless and he had to plead with Ye Lingyue instead.

Reluctantly, as if cutting her own flesh, she fumbled three silver notes from her sleeve and presented them to Ye Lingyue.

"3,000 taels of gold? Vice Chief Meng, you think we are beggars to be sent away so easily? The bribes you’ve taken over the years amount to far more than this number." Ye Lingyue sneered, her hands deftly snatching the silver notes.

Vice Chief Meng gritted her teeth and then took another dozen or so silver notes from her clothes, her voice trembling slightly.

"Princess, this 50,000 taels..."

"Only 50,000 taels? What shall we do, I have a problem; I like to count silver notes. If one night I don’t have enough silver notes, I tend to talk in my sleep. Maybe one night, I might accidentally spill someone’s secrets." Ye Lingyue once again grabbed the silver notes.

A surge of anger rose in Vice Chief Meng’s heart, stuck in her throat, neither able to rise nor fall, almost choking her to death.

You ungrateful wretch, little abomination deserving a thousand cuts, I only wanted to extort 1,000 taels of gold from you, yet repaying fiftyfold is still not enough.

Left with no choice, Vice Chief Meng had to take off her court boots and pulled out another five silver notes from within.

A total of 100,000 taels of gold.

This amount shocked not only General Chi Yan but even the Sixth Prince, who couldn’t believe that an ordinary Fourth-grade Deputy Director of the Imperial Hospital could extort 100,000 taels of gold so easily. What then of Chief Chou...

Having gathered 100,000 taels of gold, Ye Lingyue generously divided it into three parts: she and the Sixth Prince each taking forty percent, with the remaining twenty percent going to General Chi Yan. In this way, the three were now inextricably linked, none able to divulge anything recklessly.

Vice Chief Meng, trembling, finally managed to stand up, her knees and hands still bleeding, but what hurt the most was her heart.

100,000 taels of gold, she hadn’t managed to gain a single copper coin from Ye Lingyue, instead, she had coughed up 100,000 taels. Thinking of this, Vice Chief Meng’s chest felt as though it was being sliced open by a knife.

Only then did the Sixth Prince and others including Ye Lingyue stand up. As they walked past Vice Chief Meng, Ye Lingyue did not forget to leave her with a reminder.

"Vice Chief Meng, let me advise you: walking the night often sees one capsize; proceed and cherish your path."

Hearing these words, Vice Chief Meng, consumed by a rush of rage, eventually failed to catch her breath and with a thud, she collapsed to the ground, lifeless.