Hearing his master’s command, Shan Lan’s movements went stiff. He immediately reined in his momentum, retreated, dropped to one knee, and said, “This subordinate deserves death!”
Yet the gaze he directed toward Ye Xunyang remained filled with vigilance.
Panting heavily, Ye Xunyang also came to a halt. His chest rose and fell violently, and the place on his neck where the blade had grazed transmitted a burning sensation. However, he was far more concerned with Lou Jin’s condition at the moment. “Your Highness, you are awake? How do you feel?”
Instead of answering him immediately, Lou Jin first instructed the resident physician, “The medicine, get it brewing first.”
The physician hurriedly acknowledged the order and went to the outer room to prepare the medicinal ingredients.
Only then did Lou Jin shift his gaze to Ye Xunyang. Seeing the bloody scratch on his neck and his slightly disheveled robes from the scuffle, a complex look flickered in his eyes before he finally instructed the physician, “Examine the Consort’s injuries first.”
“I am fine! Just a tiny scratch!”
“Your Highness, I really ate those chestnuts too. I…”
Yet the physician had already stepped forward as instructed, speaking respectfully, “Consort, please allow this subject to inspect the wound on your neck, and conveniently take your pulse to be safe.”
He thought that perhaps the Consort had a special constitution, causing his poisoning symptoms to not be obvious.
Though Ye Xunyang felt it was unnecessary, seeing that Lou Jin insisted, he had no choice but to extend his wrist.
The physician pressed his fingers onto Ye Xunyang’s pulse, concentrating deeply to make a careful diagnosis. At first, his expression was ordinary, but gradually, his brow furrowed tighter and tighter, and an expression of utter disbelief appeared on his face.
“How is it?” Lou Jin’s voice carried a trace of imperceptible tension.
Withdrawing his hand, the physician’s expression turned extremely unsightly as he said with a trembling voice, “Reporting to Your Highness, the Consort’s pulse indicates that the Consort is also poisoned! It is only that the poison seems to be temporarily suppressed by an extremely strong surge of yang energy, and has not yet broken out!”
“What?!”
Ye Xunyang was completely dumbfounded, subconsciously refuting, “Impossible! I do not feel anything at all!”
At this moment, Wang Quan also remembered that bag of chestnuts and hurriedly brought over the few remaining ones left on the table.
The physician took them, inspected them carefully, and scraped off a small amount of residue to test with a silver needle. To their astonishment, the silver needle rapidly turned black!
“Your Highness, Consort, these chestnuts truly are poisonous!” The physician’s voice carried lingering fear.
The truth came to light. The poison indeed came from the chestnuts, but the target of the poisoning might not have been Lou Jin alone, as it included Ye Xunyang as well!
It was simply because Ye Xunyang possessed a special constitution that he temporarily resisted the outbreak of the poison.
Seeing this, Shan Lan silently returned his blade to its scabbard and retreated back into the shadows.
Looking at the blackened silver needle, then touching his own completely normal body, and finally looking at Lou Jin, who was left extremely weak on the bed due to the poison, a chill surged straight from the soles of Ye Xunyang’s feet to the top of his head.
Who was it? To actually use such a method to target both him and Lou Jin at the same time?
Lou Jin leaned against the head of the bed and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his gaze was an expanse of chilling ice.
Looking at Ye Xunyang, his voice was faint yet carried a stabilizing force, “This matter has nothing to do with you. Someone is trying to kill two birds with one stone.”
He paused for a moment, then instructed Wang Quan and Shan Lan, “Seal off the news. Investigate in secret the vendor who sold those chestnuts, as well as everyone who handled this bag of chestnuts.”
“Understood!” Wang Quan and Shan Lan responded in unison.
Lou Jin looked back at Ye Xunyang, his tone softening slightly. “You are poisoned as well. Have the physician prescribe medicine together to purge the poison.”
Ye Xunyang walked over to the bedside, looked at Lou Jin’s pale face, and said solemnly, “Your Highness, rest assured. I will definitely help you dig out the bastard who poisoned us!”
Lou Jin nodded slightly and wearily closed his eyes.
The physician’s detoxifying decoction was brewed very quickly, and the rich medicinal scent permeated the room.
Carefully supported by Ye Xunyang, Lou Jin was propped up to drink the medicinal soup. Fine beads of cold sweat beaded on his forehead, but his violent coughing and wheezing finally subsided slightly before he fell into a deep sleep.
When it was Ye Xunyang’s turn, he looked at that bowl of pitch-black medicinal juice and frowned.
He truly felt that he had no major issues. Aside from the wound on his neck stinging somewhat, there was no discomfort whatsoever within his body.
However, the physician insisted that his pulse was abnormal, and the result of the silver needle testing for poison was right there before his eyes, leaving him no room not to believe it.
“Consort, this poison is bizarre. Although it is temporarily suppressed, delaying its treatment might give rise to variables. It is still best to clear it out as early as possible,” the physician earnestly and repeatedly advised.
Thinking of the horrifying sight of Lou Jin coughing up blood just moments ago, a chill ran through Ye Xunyang’s heart. Hesitating no longer, he took the bowl of medicine and tilted his head back to drink it all in one gulp.
The medicinal juice was bitterly astringent, causing his entire face to wrinkle up.
Wang Quan hurriedly handed over a cup of clean water for him to rinse his mouth, his face filled with apology and lingering fear. “Consort, this old servant was presumptuous just now, and Shan Lan as well.”
Ye Xunyang waved his hand. Although he still harbored some lingering resentment in his heart toward that slash from Shan Lan, he also understood the duties involved.
“Forget it. You were just being loyal in protecting your master.”
Touching the wound on the back of his neck that had already been simply bandaged, his gaze grew sharp.
“The top priority now is to find out who did this. That chestnut vendor…”
“Qingshan has already taken men to go.”
“However, the hope is probably slim. Since the other party could use such a covert method to poison them, they must have already calculated an escape route.”
Sure enough, in less than the time it takes to burn half an incense stick, Qingshan hurried back with a solemn expression. “Your Highness, Consort, this subordinate went too late. That candied chestnut vendor has already died suddenly at home. Preliminary checks show he died of a sudden cardiac seizure, but the timing is far too coincidental.”
The clue seemed to be severed right here.
The room fell into a heavy silence, with only the candle wick crackling.
Tightening his brows, Ye Xunyang forced himself to recall every single detail of buying the chestnuts that afternoon.
The bustling street market, the ordinary vendor, the process of stir-frying them fresh on the spot.
He suddenly raised his head. “No! I remember when I bought them, there was also a woman with a child nearby buying them as well. The child threw a tantrum wanting to eat first, and the vendor even gave that child a chestnut first. If the vendor himself was the problem, or if the chestnuts had already been poisoned beforehand, why was that child completely fine?”
Lou Jin had already woken up at some point. Though weak, he listened with a clear gaze.
Speaking slowly, his voice low and hoarse, he said, “That being said, the poison was planted after the chestnuts left the vendor, and before they reached my hands.”
The scope narrowed instantly.
From the moment Ye Xunyang bought the chestnuts, brought them back to the Prince’s Estate, and delivered them into Lou Jin’s mouth, the people who handled them during this period were only Ye Xunyang himself, his personal attendants, as well as the estate gatekeeper and maids.
A layer of cold sweat instantly broke out across Ye Xunyang’s back.
This meant the poisoner was very likely hidden right inside the Prince’s Estate, or among the attendants he brought with him from the General’s Mansion.
After listening to Ye Xunyang’s analysis, Lou Jin commanded, “Wang Quan.”
“Investigate. Everyone who touched this bag of chestnuts today, investigate them one by one. This includes the servants who handled and passed them when the Consort brought them back into the estate.”
“Understood!” Wang Quan accepted the order and withdrew with a solemn expression to make arrangements.
Shan Lan stood guard in the dark like a shadow, his aura icy cold.
Carrying a heavy heart, Ye Xunyang sat down on the round embroidered stool by the bed.
He had originally thought marrying into the Prince’s Estate was merely an expedient measure, yet he never expected that conspiracies and poison would play out right by his side, even dragging him right into the middle of it.
“Frightened?” Lou Jin softly asked all of a sudden, his gaze falling upon Ye Xunyang’s tightly clenched fists.
Hearing this, Ye Xunyang raised his head, meeting Lou Jin’s deep eyes.
There was no blame in those eyes, nor any panic, only a calmness that saw through worldly affairs.
“Frightened?”
Stirring up his courage, Ye Xunyang straightened his spine.
“The word frightened does not exist in the dictionary of Ye Xunyang! I am angry!”
“Hiding in the shadows to poison people, what kind of skill is that? If you have the guts, come at me with real blades and genuine spears!”
Watching him bare his teeth and brandish his claws like an angered young beast, the corners of Lou Jin’s mouth curved in an imperceptible arc, though it was immediately replaced by a bout of low coughs.
Catching his breath, he then said, “Open spears are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows are hard to guard against. In the future, you must be even more careful when coming and going, and whatever you hand to this Prince will also require greater caution.”
Hearing these words sound like a reminder made it feel all the more unsettling to Ye Xunyang.
The things he brought back had almost cost Lou Jin his life, even if he was a victim as well.
“Your Highness, I…” Ye Xunyang wanted to apologize, yet felt that apologies were useless.
As if seeing right through his thoughts, Lou Jin closed his eyes, his tone exhausted.
“I do not blame you. They were aiming at me. You were implicated.”
Pausing, his voice grew even lighter, “Perhaps I should not have dragged you into this in the first place.”
Looking at his pale and fragile profile, and recalling how Lou Jin had seemed cold over these past days yet had never treated him harshly, even granting him a fair amount of freedom and trust, Ye Xunyang felt a pang of sympathy.
“Your Highness, do not speak like that!”
“Since I married in, we are people on the same boat! Rest assured, with me here, I will never let those petty scoundrels succeed again!”
Slowly opening his eyes, Lou Jin looked deeply at Ye Xunyang. That gaze was complex and hard to decipher, ultimately transforming into a barely audible sigh, “Ah, go ahead and look after yourself first.”