The Exiled Villainess and Her Shopping Dimension

Chapter 87

Liu Sun could only feel that she had been foolish. All of this was because she had struggled so hard to let the others live here as desired. She had worn herself out planning and struggling to win, meticulously crafting elaborate plans for them to be perfect. If any plan got exposed, she could prepare to face death. Every move required such caution that it gave her headaches. And all of it was for Yueqian.

Even though she didn’t understand why Yueqian had orchestrated things to place her in such a remote and difficult situation, Liu Sun could sense that Yueqian was happier than before. The way she looked at the Young General no longer held any affection; it was as if she had already developed feelings for this husband she had only known for a few months.

Was that possible?

Wasn’t Yueqian have been chasing after the Young General her entire life? How could a normal person’s feelings for someone they met just a few months ago compare to those for someone they had pursued for a lifetime?

What did this mean? Liu Sun could only think of one explanation all of this had been Yueqian’s plan from the beginning.

She never truly loved the Young General and even intended to distance herself from him. That terrifying woman had been planning all this from a young age without no one else learned about it, for it all started when Yueqian was still a child.

Rumors of her spoiled behavior were constantly heard. Living in the Liu Manor, Liu Sun had always heard her parents teaching her not to be like the Eldest Young Miss Qin, who was always self-centered and throwing tantrums.

Initially, she had thought that the Qin family’s young miss was older than her, as her parents even used her bad behavior as an example. When Liu Sun found out who Yueqian was, she was shocked to learn that the other was so young, yet she had numerous notorious rumors.

With all that knowledge, Liu Sun realized that she should no longer concern herself with Yueqian’s affairs. That woman... would rather die than return to the capital or become the Young General’s wife again.

Her true enemy should no longer bear the name Yueqian. The people whom she should be cautious about were those who followed her under the guise of being friends, who were far scarier.

If the Young General wasn’t so easily distracted by people, they might have had more hope. Thankfully, he wasn’t the type to be interested in every woman he met. Back in the capital, it was only her and Yueqian who faced each other as the Young General’s close associates. Although many women eyed him, the Young General never got involved, so others didn’t dare approach him much.

Returning to the present situation, Liu Sun thought seriously because she didn’t want her own reputation to be tarnished along with them.

She was the one who initiated the invitation for her friends from the capital to make the arduous journey to help the people here. Even though she had heard that the Young General was coming, her plans were announced beforehand. Meeting the Young General here was purely coincidental.

As for the mistakes made by the women from the capital, even if she hadn’t committed them, many criticisms would certainly occur.

For instance, those who hated her, the young misses vying for the Young General’s heart, might seize this opportunity to attack, accusing her and her friend of incompetence while trying foolishly to help others.

Moreover, her leadership skills would be questioned. People might think that because she was just a concubine’s daughter, she couldn’t be relied upon in the future.

If they heard this, no matter how much the Young General loved her, his parents would certainly not agree to let her become the main wife. She would need to have such a good reputation that was well-known in every place, so no one could use the fact that she was a concubine’s daughter as an excuse to prevent her from becoming the main wife of the household.

All this pressure had been on Liu Sun’s shoulders for a long time, and she knew she couldn’t afford to make even a single misstep.

"This is indeed quite difficult, but in such situations, we never know if there might be spies of the bandits disguised as food delivery people. It’s possible that poison could be hidden from the food delivery stage," Liu Sun analyzed as if she genuinely believed that. She acted like she had no idea that the real reason was the carelessness and ignorance of the friends she had brought along.

Several beautiful women fell silent for a moment. It seemed hard for everyone to believe like Liu Sun did, yet there was nothing else they could do. Who would admit it was their own fault? If they did, they would be fools.

"Y-Yes, that must be it. It’s definitely the ingredients."

"Liu Sun, you’re absolutely right. I think the bandits might have sent someone to use our food as a tool. In reality, they want to weaken our soldiers."

"Indeed. In that case... let’s report this to the Young General." Upon hearing Liu Sun’s suggestion, the naive and thoughtless women were excited and happy, acting as if they had already been absolved of any military punishment, even though Liu Sun’s suggestion was merely a preliminary way out.

"Calm down. It’s not that simple. If someone comes to investigate, they will eventually find out that there is no poison in the food. Moreover, there is no evidence that the bandits came here to poison us."

Liu Sun quickly stopped them. Otherwise, if they rushed to report to the Young General without thorough thinking, once he started an investigation, it would be hard to hide the truth if their false evidence was not solid enough.

"W-What should we do then? This isn’t good, and that won’t work either. Liu Sun... are you really trying to help us or not?" Seeing Liu Sun dash their hopes again, one woman cried out in frustration.

She wasn’t a servant to anyone else. By status, she and Liu Sun were the same, both daughters of concubines. Unfortunately, she did not have a lover who was a Young General like Liu Sun. This often made Liu Sun act as if she was on a different level from them. Whatever Liu Sun did, they had to show her respect.

All this time, she had only kept her dissatisfaction to herself. Now, it erupted due to the stress, and her question about whether Liu Sun truly intended to help was not really seeking an answer.

It was merely a remark to make the other women suspicious, suggesting that Liu Sun might just be playing with them.

The feeling of defeat grew into dissatisfaction. Previously, knowing there was no chance was one thing, but now she had a chance too.

Look at the previous time when the general chose someone else as soon as Liu Sun failed to meet expectations. What did this mean? It meant that if anyone was the most well behaved, the position of the Young General’s wife was not something that would slip away easily.

At present, Liu Sun remained favored solely because she was obedient and knew how to please men. With this thought, the initial idea of relying on Liu Sun’s influence to survive in the noble society began to shift. They no longer wanted to depend solely on someone else; they also harbored the thought of becoming the Young General’s wife themselves.

This change in mindset led to a transformation in their behavior. From initially flattering and pleasing Liu Sun, they now started to speak up against her.

Liu Sun’s slender eyebrows knitted together as she observed the arrogant demeanor of those she called friends. The corners of the beauty’s lips lifted slightly. It seemed these people were overly confident in their ability to attract the Young General’s interest.

Fine, let them think what they want. Compared to the status of being a concubine’s daughter, she still had more chances. The Young General’s previous actions were merely a warning for her not to overstep her boundaries.

Unexpectedly, these naive and foolish women took it seriously...

"How... How can you think that way? What I am doing now is to help all of you. Even though I don’t know the real reason because I wasn’t there at the time—I was boiling herbal medicine for the Young General—I still came here to assist you. Do you still think I don’t care about you?" Liu Sun feigned a look of disappointment and sorrow.

Those around her paused slightly. Judging by Liu Sun’s expression, it seemed she wasn’t plotting against them behind their backs. If that were the case, then it must have been their ignorant cooking that caused so many deaths.

It turned out... it was them who caused the deaths of many brave soldiers before they even entered the battlefield.

"Liu Sun, don’t think that way. We were just very worried, which made us speak out of anger."

"That’s right, Sun’er, you must help us. We’re all in the same boat now, so we must help each other."

The shrill voice of the woman grew louder, fearing that Liu Sun might get angry and stop giving advice. This flattery pleased Liu Sun.

"Mmm, I’m thinking of ways to help. I won’t abandon you all, certainly not. Ah... by the way, why were only the soldiers died?" Liu Sun seemed to have just thought of it.

It seemed that earlier, the villagers had also been affected, hadn’t they? Then why hadn’t any villagers come to send off the deceased ones?

Did this mean that the over twenty villagers had recovered and none of them died? This was indeed quite interesting.

"I’ve thought of something, but it’s just a small idea for now. We still need more evidence if we want to escape this," Liu Sun said seriously.

She suggested that everyone should mention the fact that the villagers got sick but not severely. This was true; everyone knew the villagers had shared the meal. On the first day, they were groaning, vomiting, and having diarrhea non-stop, but afterward, they all disappeared without any rumors of their deaths. So, this meant that the twenty villagers would be ready to be key witnesses for them.

The main point was that only soldiers had died. Liu Sun suggested saying that the bandits had targeted the soldiers from the beginning. Therefore, the villagers were collateral damage. Since they weren’t the targets, the bandits didn’t intend to harm them, so they only got a mild dose of poison, which was cured in a few days.

As for the soldiers who died, it was because the bandits had aimed at them from the start, so they were given the most poison, resulting in the sickness of many soldiers, with over ten having died.

"Isn’t this information sufficient? The bandits’ target was the soldiers, so they poisoned the soldiers the most," one woman said, nodding in agreement with Liu Sun’s idea. However, when Liu Sun mentioned the weakness of the plan, which was the need for additional evidence, they didn’t quite see it that way.

The pressing issue now was time. If they wasted more time, only they would suffer. So, their words reflected a certain level of disobedience to what Liu Sun had told them.