The eunuch responsible for food tasting stood to the side, hands trembling as he retrieved the silver needle and silver chopsticks.
Just as he was about to begin testing for poison, the Crown Prince suddenly spoke: "Yesterday I heard you mention you previously served in the Imperial Food Bureau?"
Yun Kui, caught off guard by his question about her, hurriedly bowed her head obediently in acknowledgment.
The Crown Prince glanced down at the dining table. "Very well. From now on, you shall taste my meals for me. How does that sound?"
Yun Kui stared in astonishment at the lavish spread covering the entire table, remaining dazed for a long moment. "Your servant?"
With so many dishes, if she had to taste a few bites of each, she'd be full before even eating her regular meal!
Back in the Imperial Food Bureau, she had always envied those servants tasked with food tasting. They got to sample the nobles' dishes first, especially the Crown Prince's meals which consisted of rare delicacies and precious ingredients. Each dish underwent dozens of complex preparation steps – just one look was enough to make one's mouth water.
Could such good fortune really fall upon her?
The food-tasting eunuch happily handed her the silver chopsticks, greatly relieved in his heart.
Cheng Guang Hall was fraught with dangers, with incidents like last night's assassin attack being far from rare. The Crown Prince's meals were also the easiest target for sabotage. Silver needles couldn't detect all poisons, making the food taster the first line of defense. Every bite was taken with extreme caution, fearing that any morsel might contain lethal poison that could kill instantly.
Now that this duty was being handed over, the young eunuch felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
After learning the poisoning testing procedures from him, Yun Kui had just inserted the silver needle into a bowl of hibiscus chicken slices when she withdrew it to find the tip completely blackened!
"This…" Yun Kui stared wide-eyed, nearly dropping the poisoned needle.
Her mind was in complete disarray, at a loss for words. The very first dish she tested turned out to be poisoned – had she tasted it first, she would likely be dead already.
While others might escape death only to enjoy later blessings, her pattern seemed to be escaping death only to face greater calamities, surviving only to encounter more dangers… In any case, her name was already registered with the King of Hell.
Before she could collect herself, the chef and all the serving attendants had already fallen to their knees in a panicked crowd, begging for mercy.
Cao Yuanlu stepped forward with a frosty expression, grinding his teeth as he said: "Everyone involved in today's food preparation, cooking, serving, and presentation should be taken to the punishment chamber for interrogation. I refuse to believe that going through all eighteen severe tortures won't extract the truth!"
Due to the Crown Prince facing constant assassination attempts over the years, the Eastern Palace had established its own punishment chamber where the tortures were even more terrifying than those in the palace's disciplinary office. Those who entered would at the very least be skinned alive.
The Crown Prince's face remained cold as frost, offering no response as he walked forward directly, his sharp gaze sweeping over the kneeling crowd one by one.
Yun Kui still felt lingering fear, and Cao Yuanlu's words had chilled her to the bone. It turned out that the seemingly kind-faced Eunuch Cao also had such a ruthless side.
All these people kneeling before her were faces she had encountered in the kitchen – the head matron had even given her extra meat before. Now they were all kneeling pitifully on the ground, weeping and begging.
She followed the Crown Prince's gaze, her heart tightening bit by bit, until her eyes fell upon a familiar face.
Cai Ju…
She had seen her outside the side hall last night. Cai Ju had hurriedly bumped into her, picked up the fallen items from the ground, and left without even a greeting. Normally this wouldn't be strange, but last night Yun Kui had dreamed of her precisely.
The dream was unlike reality, where everything proceeded in orderly fashion. Cai Ju was particularly elusive—one moment lurking suspiciously by boiling clay pots in the kitchen, the next craning her neck among the tea-serving procession… Yun Kui suddenly recalled the final image from her dream: Cai Ju drawing a small paper packet from her sleeve, secretly sprinkling white powder into a soup tureen.
Yun Kui shuddered violently.
The Crown Prince had already approached Cai Ju and seemed inclined to pause. Yun Kui watched the scene intently, indeed noticing that although Cai Ju kept her head lowered, she was stealthily reaching for something in her sleeve.
Yun Kui instinctively cried out: "Your Highness, be careful!"
Simultaneously, Cai Ju withdrew the paper packet from her sleeve, preparing to throw it toward the Crown Prince's face.
Qin Ge, standing beside the Crown Prince, heard Yun Kui's warning. His hawk-like eyes immediately locked onto Cai Ju, and he kicked her three zhang away with one swift motion.
Cai Ju was sent sprawling to the ground, vomiting a mouthful of fresh blood before fainting. The paper packet in her hand fell, scattering fine white powder across the floor.
Qin Ge stepped forward, pinched some powder through a handkerchief for examination, and reported: "Your Highness, it's arsenic."
Cao Yuanlu, thoroughly frightened, hurried forward to inquire: "Did that woman injure Your Highness?"
The Crown Prince's expression turned slightly cold as he shook his head.
He had approached personally precisely to hear their inner thoughts. While others were crying out their innocence, only this woman—upon seeing the poison detected in the soup—was plotting how to attack him again. As he drew nearer, she conceived the idea of using poison to destroy his eyes.
Unfortunately for her, she failed at the first attempt.
The Crown Prince turned to look at Yun Kui, who had cried out earlier, and approached her step by step.
Terrified, Yun Kui retreated two steps before her legs gave way, dropping to her knees.
Only after kneeling did she realize: she had warned the Crown Prince of danger—surely that counted as merit? She could have answered standing straight.
The Crown Prince's cold, fierce dark eyes fixed on her, his smile unreadable: "You were the one who warned me."
"Yes…" Yun Kui swallowed hard, feeling the Crown Prince's smile was particularly chilling.
The Crown Prince raised an eyebrow, his gaze turning scrutinizing: "I am quite curious—how did you know she was going to attack me?"
Yun Kui's heart hammered like thunder as she carefully replied: "This… this servant saw her reaching into her sleeve and suspected she meant Your Highness harm. In my panic, the words escaped."
She certainly couldn't say she'd dreamed it!
Dream? The Crown Prince narrowed his phoenix eyes. "Earlier, you detected lethal poison in the very first dish. Was that also coincidence?"
Yun Kui stared blankly: …Wasn't it?
Could it be that the Crown Prince suspected her and Cai Ju were accomplices? That she knew all of Cai Ju's plans—perhaps even participated in them—knew which dish was poisoned, then betrayed Cai Ju to claim merit and seek favor?
Yun Kui weakly collapsed to the floor.
"I'm tired. Just end me."
"Whoever wants this damn chambermaid job can have it! What wretched luck to be assigned to serve this living ancestor in the Eastern Palace! What a dogshit Crown Prince! If you're going to die, just die already!"
Yet the expected punishment didn't come. Instead, she heard a soft chuckle above her.
No one in the hall dared breathe loudly. Yun Kui tremblingly raised her head.
The Crown Prince's perpetually icy face rarely showed even a faint smile. "Why afraid? I'm not blaming you."
Yun Kui's teeth chattered: "Th-thank… Thank you, Your Highness."
The Crown Prince was about to offer her a reward when he suddenly recalled how, during the previous medicine-serving incident, this girl had been full of bawdy talk about "wanting to see chest muscles." The words reached his lips but he swallowed them back.
"In that case, continue tasting the meals for me."
Yun Kui: …
Not again!
Was her wretched life truly destined to end this way?!
The Crown Prince resumed his seat. Cai Ju was dragged off to the punishment chamber by Qin Ge and his men. Although the kitchen staff had temporarily escaped with their lives, they couldn't avoid interrogation and followed Cao Yuanlu out.
Steeling herself, Yun Kui continued testing the food with a silver needle. Fortunately, after checking everything, the needle showed no signs of turning black. But this didn't guarantee safety—the next step was tasting for poison.
With good luck: fine food and drink.
With bad luck: farewell to this mortal world.
Haha, she hadn't gone mad.
The Crown Prince was drinking tea nearby when he noticed the girl glancing at him from the corner of her eye, followed by her audacious inner thoughts:
"If I detect poisoned food, I'll pounce on the Crown Prince, press him against my chest to kiss him, then spit all the poisoned dishes into his mouth! Haha, let's all die together!"
Crown Prince: …
He should have fed this girl to the dogs long ago!
Every bite Yun Kui took tasted like sawdust. These delicacies that would normally never enter her stomach now went unappreciated.
"I'm still so young, haven't even married a tall, imposing guard yet wuwuwu."
"Never kissed a man, never touched abs either—damn it all, I refuse to die poisoned like this!"
The Crown Prince's head throbbed from her internal wailing. Just as he was about to lose his temper, Yun Kui had finished testing the last dish—shark fin with osmanthus.
She closed her eyes to clear her mind, confirmed she was still alive, and finally breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"This shark fin is truly exquisite, no wonder nobles love it. Pity I can't have a second bite… The lotus pouch pork loin and candied water chestnuts suit my taste best. The fatty goose is good too, could use more spice though…"
Food tasting followed strict protocols: each dish limited to no more than five qian and no less than one qian. She couldn't eat more or less as she pleased.
Having been terrified of dropping dead with every bite earlier, now that her life was secure, the lingering aftertaste of those hastily swallowed delicacies bloomed infinitely on her palate.
The Crown Prince, still recovering from serious illness, had little appetite. He glanced indifferently at the table and said languidly, "Since it's non-toxic, I bestow this entire meal upon you."
Yun Kui was astonished. She'd be happier if these dishes weren't being given to her precisely because she'd confirmed they weren't poisoned.
But as a mere palace maid, even if her master slapped her then offered dates, she could only kneel obediently and give thanks.
When Cao Yuanlu returned and saw her retreating with a long face, he chuckled: "This girl isn't too bright. If any remaining dishes were poisoned, Cai Ju wouldn't have made that desperate attempt to assassinate Your Highness."
The Crown Prince shot him a cool glance.
Cao Yuanlu immediately straightened up and reported: "Cai Ju is dead."
The Crown Prince showed no surprise.
"She took Seven-Day Powder poison in advance," Cao Yuanlu continued. "The mastermind must have given her a deadline to assassinate Your Highness. Today was the final day—if she failed to kill you, she wouldn't get the antidote. Death was inevitable. Your Highness… any suspicions about who's behind this?"
The Crown Prince rotated the black jade ring on his finger and let out a cold sneer.
There are far too many people in this world who want his life, and now is the perfect opportunity. Yet, in the capital, those capable of concocting the Seven-Day Powder are few and far between.
The Crown Prince quickly narrowed down a few names in his mind.
…
When Yun Kui returned to the side hall, palace servants began streaming in with trays of food.
In that short span, she had undergone poison testing, endured fear and anxiety, and even witnessed an assassination attempt firsthand. Drenched in cold sweat, Yun Kui felt utterly unwell.
She never expected that her dream would coincidentally reveal the assassin.
But upon reflection, it made sense—just like those mornings when she struggled to get out of bed, she often dreamed of having already dressed, washed up, and headed to the kitchen to work, only to wake up and find herself still curled under the covers.
Perhaps Cai Ju was the same. Before carrying out the assassination, overwhelmed by tension, she repeatedly pondered how to administer the poison even in her sleep, and Yun Kui happened to glimpse this in her dream.
So dreams could serve such a purpose!
She had thought it was the heavens taking pity on her dull life and spicing things up for her, never imagining it could help catch an assassin.
After resting for a while, the fragrant dishes on the table stirred her appetite once more.
Yun Kui licked her lips and ate two pieces of pearl duck feet, a plate of jade-and-white jiaozi, half a plate of phoenix-tail shrimp balls, and finished the remaining shark fin soup.
The Crown Prince’s meals were far too lavish. With her appetite, even if she stuffed herself at every meal, it would take her three to five days to finish it all—assuming the food didn’t spoil, of course.
…
News of Yun Kui having attended to the Crown Prince the previous night, identifying the assassin and being rewarded with a feast, quickly spread throughout the Eastern Palace.
"Did you hear? She attended to His Highness last night. She must be the first woman for the Crown Prince, right?"
"But she was in Cheng Guang Hall for less than half an hour before His Highness sent her away."
"What’s half an hour? Do you think all men are like those in romance novels, vigorous and energetic all night? Half an hour is plenty! Besides, given His Highness’s health… he’s not exactly in peak condition. In half an hour, he could’ve done everything."
"She’s always been shrewd. If she hadn’t taken the initiative to serve His Highness his medicine earlier, she wouldn’t have caught the Empress’s eye and been promoted to an attending maid. Now she’s really soared to the branches like a phoenix! In a few days, she might even become a consort."
"But with the Crown Prince’s health as it is, how many good days can he give her?"
"Who knows? If she displeases him one day, he might just slit her throat…"
Though the Eastern Palace maintained strict discipline, and people dared not gossip openly, behind closed doors, they couldn’t resist whispering.
The palace maids, though green with envy and unable to resist a few sarcastic remarks, mostly adopted a wait-and-see attitude.
After all, the Crown Prince was critically ill, and it was uncertain whether he would survive the month.
Others, detached from the situation, had few strong opinions, but Si Zhang, also an attending maid, felt particularly resentful.
Now that Cao Yuanlu had returned, he was largely in charge of the Crown Prince’s personal care. Since the Crown Prince disliked having people too close, Si Zhang, on duty that day, could only assist from a distance and wait to be summoned.
From several yards away, the Crown Prince overheard her silent grumblings.
What’s so great about her? Is it just because she’s prettier, with a fuller chest and a slimmer waist?
Does His Royal Highness the Crown Prince prefer that type?
The Crown Prince: …
He closed his eyes, and indeed, that delicate, enchanting face surfaced in his mind.
The faint scent of grass and flowers lingered at the tip of his nose. Her thin garment clung tightly to her slender figure, and the soft, snowy flesh trembled subtly beneath his rough palm.
That elusive, almost imperceptible touch, when recalled, made him momentarily lose focus.
The Crown Prince's eyes darkened.
Outside the palace doors, Cao Yuanlu was taken aback to hear his master's summons: "…Summon Yun Kui to attend."