"Aren't you going to ask me who it is?" Cao Yuemei asked.
When the men shrugged, she blurted out, "Cao Luomei." And then, observed their expressions. After all, these men were attached to the hip with Cao Luomei in her past life. Carrying out her every whim and pampering her to the high heavens.
Yu Ming arched a brow. The others may not be aware but he was well informed of the situation in the Cao family. Of Cao Long's blatant favouritism and of Wan Ruo's plan to sell off Cao Luomei as a child, after all, he had been the one to save her.
If it had been weeks prior, he would have been reluctant but now, he did not care. Cao Luomei had called off the engagement for no reason and that had made him lose face in front of the ministers in court.
He was dissatisfied. Very dissatisfied. He had been too lazy to deal with her but now that the opportunity had come up, how could he miss it? He was a petty person after all.
The more wonderful fact was that taking care of Cao Luomei would get him Cao Yuemei, he'd always liked Cao Yuemei better, but she'd been very strict and had never given him any chance or opening before.
Cao Luomei could only blame herself for going against him and going against the woman he had set his sights on!
Yu Ming smirked at Cao Yuemei seductively. "Cao Luomei? Who's that?"
Cao Yiemei's eyes widened at Yu Ming's words before she smiled. She looked to the other men.
Shang Wu and Jiang He exchanged looks. They'd thought the Cao sisters had an okay relationship back at the army camp but it seemed like they were wrong.
Shang Wu straightened. His subordinates had been ordered to investigate everything about Cao Yuemei the moment he took interest in her so he was aware of the Cao family situation.
He did not blame Cao Yuemei for Wan Ruo's actions and he even pitied her. She was so beautiful and graceful and yet, Cao Long placed his other daughter over her. It was infuriating.
His mind also went to the time at the camp when Cao Luomei had tried to convince Cao Yuemei to stay away from him and his anger increased. That Cao Luomei was truly shameless.
He smiled gently at Cao Yuemei. "It doesn't matter who it is. Who told them to gain your dissatisfaction?"
"You don't need to speak up, I can handle everything for you." Jiang He said directly. He had never been a good person. If Cao Yuemei had said her enemy was the emperor himself, he would look for a way to bring the old man down.
No woman had ever touched his heart the way Cao Yuemei did and he hated that Cao Luomei anyways. How dare she try to convince Cao Yuemei to stay away from him?!
Cao Yuemei looked between the three men and her smile increased. If only Cao Luomei could see this. The men she flaunted in her past life were now at her, Cao Yuemei's, beck and call, ready to drag Cao Luomei through hell for her sake. How laughable.
She began to state what she wanted and when she was done explaining, she said, "That's all. I'll be waiting for your good news." Next, She adjusted her robes slightly in a way that made it cling revealingly on her body. The eyes of the three men darkened at the same time and she smiled.
Once the three of them left the room, she strutted back to her bed with raised chin. She still did not like them one bit but she had no problems using them.
The weapons Cao Luomei had used against Cao Yuemei in her past life had now changed wielders.
The next day, Cao Yuemei received news that the men had sent her gifts as usual. She went over to the guest hall but found that Cao Xiwang and Cao Luomei were already present. The two of them were looking at her strangely.
She grit her teeth and looked to Cao Luomei. "What is it?"
Cao Luomei sighed. "Cao Yuemei, the prince, general Shang and Mr. Jiang have been sending gifts to you everyday. You remember you used to always speak of how inappropriate it is, why don't you return the gifts so these men don't get the wrong idea?"
Cao Yuemei glared at her. "Cao Luomei, when did you become so nosy? When did my business become yours to worry over? If you're jealous then just say s-"
Cao Luomei waved with a small frown. "I'm not jealous. I'm just concerned. I already told you these men are nothing good so why-"
"Enough!" Cao Yuemei eyed her angrily. How could Cao Luomei be so hypocritical? In her past life, Cao Luomei had gladly accepted attention from these same men.
But now that she was the one receiving the attention, Cao Luomei was trying to get her to reject them. How shameless!
"Cao Luomei, I don't want to have to repeat myself. Stay. Out. Of. My. Business!" When Cao Luomei turned and stormed away, Cao Yuemei scoffed. She couldn't wait until the witch got what she deserved.
"Big sis?" Cao Luomei finally turned her attention to Cao Xiwang and raised a brow, indicating for him to continue.
The boy clenched his fists and tilted his head to the side. "Did Xiwang do something wrong?"
Honestly, Cao Yuemei couldn't care less what happened to this second son. She was just angry that the entity that was supposed to counterattack on her own behalf, spent all their time nurturing the boy instead.
She also couldn't get over the fact that the boy did not get to feel the brunt of their fathers rejection like she did or the fact that he got to live on whilst she was tortured to death!
"You shouldn't hang around me all the time. You should focus more on learning how to become a good prime minister." After all, she planned to go after Cao Feng too and when that happened, she needed the second son to be able to take over the title.
Cao Xiwang frowned. "But big sis, Cao Feng is already there and you had told me not to concern myself too much with the title and focus on being happy since I was talented in medicine and could use that to survive on my own."
Cao Yuemei's eyes blazed. That entity had done too much! What did they know about the intricacies of noble life?! "Forget what I said before. I was just spouting nonsense."
Cao Xiwang lowered his eyes sadly and nodded before walking away.
After that day, Cao Yuemei spent her time waiting for something to happen to Cao Luomei but an entire week passed and the lady was still strutting around the Cao mansion. She was furious.
She was about to secretly head over to the Shang mansion when Wu Bai burst into her courtyard.
"Miss!" She came to a stop before Cao Yuemei and inhaled deeply before saying, "Eldest miss has been kidnapped."
Cao Yuemei's eyes widened and she caught herself before she jumped and squealed happily. Finally Cao Luomei was getting what she deserved! But why was she kidnapped? She wanted Cao Luomei's reputation to be completely ruined and for Ba He to deal with her!
Cao Long, on the other hand, was frantic. He sent out teams of the Cao family guards and secret guards. He even rushed to the imperial palace and fell at the feet of the emperor. The emperor was benevolent and involved the imperial guards.
Although Cao Long tried his best to keep the news under wraps as it wasn't good for a woman's reputation if she was kidnapped, the news still got out somehow and the people, nobles and commoners alike, were discussing it everywhere.
On the third night of Cao Luomei's kidnap, the three men showed up in Cao Yuemei's room. She quickly stood up.
"Why was she kidnapped instead?!"
Jiang He smiled. He had drugged Cao Luomei heavily and Shang Wu's subordinates had delivered her to the Ba mansion in a fancy carriage that had been prepared by Yu Ming. The crown prince had duplicated the Cao family emblem on it but made it not to be too obvious.
They made sure to let a lot of people see her going in 'willingly' but it was dark, so they wouldn't be able to tell it was the Cao family daughter that had gone missing for now.
But once she was exposed, the image would click in their heads and those people would be the first to come out and testify.
Shang Wu cleared his throat. "We thought that doing it this way, would make it harder for her to get out of the situation."
"How did you get past the Ba family guards?" Cao Yuemei asked, she had to be cautious.
Yu Ming shrugged. "Ba He handled them. My subordinate had forged a letter from Cao Luomei to Ba He so the idiot thinks Cao Luomei was into him." He had been with Cao Luomei for years so forging her handwriting was a piece of cake to his subordinate.
"I also drugged Ba He slightly, so they're both muddleheaded. It's a type of colourless and odourless aphrodisiac, no one would find a trace after seven days." Jiang He added.
In five days, the Ba family eldest son was going to get married and since the Ba family's first daughter was currently the emperor's most favoured concubine, the emperor would attend to give her face.
Since the emperor was attending, his ministers would have to attend, that meant that Cao Long would have no choice but to attend and if Cao Long tried to exempt himself, Yu Ming could subtly apply pressure in court to force him to attend.
When this happened, they could easily coax a large group of people to Ba He's courtyard and expose Cao Luomei. Ba He was the last child of the Ba family so this was very convenient.
Jiang He was going to sneak in a night prior to make sure Cao Luomei was patched up and made to look as 'contented' and 'happily pleasured' as possible for the reveal.
The forged letter would act as proof to further solidify Cao Luomei's misdeeds.
Cao Yuemei leaped happily when she heard this and the three men stared at her fondly. Cao Yuemei was so prim and proper so for she to act so excited before them, it meant that they were already in her heart.
They went on to glare at each other fiercely. The question was, which one of them exactly was in her heart?