The dilapidated courtyard stood empty.
Everyone had gone to clean the main hall, so no one could hear Lin Ruochu's cries for help.
She curled up in the center of the small room, hunching her body like a shrimp, trembling all over from the pain.
The Female Ghost also woke from her slumber, too weak to even make noise, her voice trembling as she exclaimed repeatedly:
【W-What's happening? Why does it hurt like this every day…】
【Someone, help…】
Clutching her stomach, Lin Ruochu muttered to herself:
"It's arsenic. Only arsenic causes such unbearable pain. Could someone have put arsenic in my food, trying to kill me?"
【What?! Arsenic?!】
The Female Ghost was horrified.
Lin Ruochu's hair was soaked with cold sweat as she continued murmuring:
"There's no cure for arsenic poisoning. The toxin acts extremely fast. I'm afraid my life… will end here…"
【Don't you dare die! How can you die again?!】
The Female Ghost was in equal pain, her panicked cursing equally feeble.
She ignored Lin Ruochu and gasped: 【Sy-System, help, save me… ten Points, I-I'll exchange for another one, hurry, someone's going to die again…】
As she spoke, another pill appeared in Lin Ruochu's hand.
She brought it to her nose and sniffed it – the color and smell were identical to yesterday's. Pretending to put it in her mouth, she swiftly swapped it with the pill she had hidden in her sleeve earlier.
The Female Ghost's pill rolled into her sleeve pouch while she swallowed her own concoction.
The Female Ghost wondered:
【Why does today's pill taste more bitter than yesterday's?】
But as the pill went down, the torturous pain gradually began to subside.
She didn't bother pondering the details anymore.
Cursing like someone who just escaped death: 【This Native Woman is so stupid! Either she arrogantly fights bandits without finishing them off and gets herself chopped, or she gets poisoned while eating!】
【If I don't get my body back soon, this won't be "The Cold Prince Falls for Me" anymore – it'll become "One Hundred Ways for the Marquis' Concubine to Die."】
Lin Ruochu rolled her eyes internally. "Marquis' concubine" indeed – how could she be so shamelessly proud of it? Next time she prepared herbs, she should increase the dosage!
Though she'd have to endure the pain too, the thought of the Female Ghost writhing in equal agony brought her indescribable satisfaction.
After dozens of days of observation, she gradually realized that although the Female Ghost spouted endless grand theories, she was actually a embroidered pillow – impressive on the outside but empty within.
Completely empty-headed and understanding nothing.
Even when Lin Ruochu gathered herbs from the back hill and ground them right under her nose, as long as she used pastries or preserved fruits as decoys when taking the medicine, the ghost remained completely clueless.
A very easily fooled, stupid ghost.
No wonder Jiang Ningxin deceived her completely, and then Shao Mu tricked her too.
What "The Cold Prince Falls for Me" – clearly it was "The Stupid Female Ghost Torments Her."
Lin Ruochu smoothed her hair, straightened her clothes, and headed to the main hall to find Jinyu, filled with simmering anger.
One more day until the twenty-eighth of the twelfth lunar month.
This was normally the bustling period when nobles from the capital came to worship and pray.
But due to the bandit situation, the city gates were under strict orders – no entry or exit without reason – so there were fewer worshippers.
However, because people couldn't enter the city, more were stranded at the temple.
The Kun Dao practitioners took Lin Ruochu and the other woman to clean the side halls near the back hill.
The Xuan Ling who gifted her the bodhi beads must hold a relatively high status, as Lin Ruochu had never seen her participating in such cleaning activities before.
Several Kun Dao nearby were discussing last night's incident.
"I heard things have been unsettled down the mountain recently – a group of bandits has been robbing and killing people."
"Heaven have mercy! How dare they commit such crimes right under the nose of the Military Patrol Office?"
"Exactly! I heard they caused trouble all night, and several households suffered…"
"They say the bandits had internal conflicts and killed each other before the officers arrived."
"Truly, karma comes full circle – the celestial cycle turns, and our ancestors are watching over us."
"The Military Patrol Office has issued a ban prohibiting unnecessary travel outside the city. Dozens of troops are currently searching our mountain, worried that some might have escaped and hidden here."
Lin Ruochu listened with lowered eyes as she wiped the lamp stand.
Jinyu beside her hunched her shoulders and moved closer, her large eyes filled with both pity and concern.
"How can such vicious bandits exist in these peaceful times? If they only wanted money, why did they have to kill people…"
Lin Ruochu recalled how the bandits had deliberately disguised themselves as Western Region people, feeling this matter wasn't as simple as it appeared – there might be hidden circumstances.
The Western Regions and Great Zhou had signed a treaty ten years ago, maintaining peace to this day with open trade. However, the Thirteen Prefectures bordering the Northern Territory continued to experience frequent friction and conflicts.
Especially since over three years ago, when the Northern Territory produced a Northern Territory King who unified more than thirty tribes on the grasslands, they had become increasingly ambitious, showing clear intentions to seize the Thirteen Prefectures.
This was precisely why Li Xuan had gone to the Thirteen Prefectures.
Could it be that the Northern Territory people were using such methods to provoke conflict between the Western Regions and Great Zhou, hoping to profit from their dispute?
The method seemed rather clumsy.
Even she could detect something amiss, let alone the officers in the city.
Could there be additional conspiracies at play?
Lin Ruochu couldn't quite figure it out immediately.
She could only pray that peaceful days would last longer, so their Lin Family Army wouldn't have to endure the suffering of war.
With the city ban in place, neither commoners nor noble families could freely enter or exit the city gates.
White Cloud Temple became unprecedentedly quiet.
Only a few women who had come to the temple before the ban now found themselves unable to return and had to temporarily reside there.
Shao Mu, who had originally planned to give Lin Ruochu a way out and bring her back to the residence, found his plans completely foiled.
Pacing back and forth several times before the empty Linlang Pavilion, he eventually returned irritably to his study.
Zhang Jingwan took a sip of tea and asked Baizhi:
"You say His Lordship has been resting in his study recently?"
Baizhi replied: "Yes, aside from those few consecutive nights he spent with Concubine Sun after returning from White Cloud Temple, he's been resting in his study all these days."
Zhang Jingwan frowned, feeling somewhat agitated.
She had intended to drive that Lin woman to White Cloud Temple so the Heir Apparent wouldn't see her. Given time, their feelings would fade. How had this backfired and made the Heir Apparent lovesick instead?
"Concubine Sun is with child after all, so it's inconvenient for her to serve the Heir Apparent. No wonder he's unwilling to go."
Baizhi added.
But Zhang Jingwan was gradually realizing the truth.
Sending Consort Lin away might have been a bad move.
When someone is out of sight, one tends to remember only their good qualities.
She needed to keep the person right before her eyes, quarreling daily and making trouble nightly, to wear away their affection and break their relationship.
Just like before.
"I need to find a way to get Lin Ruochu back."
She tapped her porcelain bowl, her expression dark.
Two more days passed before Lin Ruochu finally received word from Tao Yuan.