By the time Mo Qianhan returned to Guibao Pavilion, the place was already engulfed in towering flames.
The fire had nearly swallowed the entire building, and the water the servants splashed on it was of no use whatsoever.
Mo Qianhan seized a guard nearby and asked with an icy face, "Where is that madwoman?"
"Your Highness, the Princess Consort she—"
Crash!
The window of the burning room was slammed violently open from the inside.
It was Chu Fengge, wrapped in a quilt and clutching Hua An, forced to break through the window to save herself.
Her forehead had already been injured, and that impact had made the wound even deeper. Blood trickled down from her temple, and she looked utterly wretched.
The red quilt draped over her caught the raging flames.
Seeing this scene, Mo Qianhan's thin lips curled with a frosty killing intent, and he strode quickly toward Chu Fengge.
He drew his sword and swiftly flicked away the quilt draped over her back, then yanked her up from the ground, snarling, "Chu Fengge, who are you putting on this staged act for? You think anyone in this Prince's Manor would mourn you if you died? Hand over the antidote."
With a whoosh, Chu Fengge pulled the poisoned sweet cake from her clothes and hurled it viciously at Mo Qianhan, her face equally fierce with rage as she shouted, "Madman! I truly overestimated you. I believed you wouldn't lay a hand on a small child—I never imagined you were such a two-faced, despicable scoundrel."
"This is the poisoned sweet cake. Let me say it again: I did not plant the poison. I never meant to harm your child. The poison in the sweet cake was planted in advance by someone before I even set foot in the Prince's Manor."
"Believe it or not as you please. If you want to beat or kill someone, come at me alone. But don't touch my child again, or we'll go down together and neither of us will come out ahead. Don't believe me? Go ahead and try!"
She clutched the child tightly in her arms, her eyes bloodshot.
Her whole body trembled uncontrollably.
Just moments ago, Hua An had thrown herself over her to shield her and had been struck on the back by a burning stick from the beam, injuring her back.
Hua An's birth mother was dead, and her soul had transmigrated into this body—yet she had experienced that heart-wrenching pain of a mother connected to her child.
She would never forgive this man!
But she didn't know that Mo Qianhan had also come to settle accounts with her. Unable to obtain the antidote, he certainly wouldn't let Chu Fengge off easily either.
Mo Qianhan gripped her arm tightly, having taken in none of her words: "Stop playing the fool with me. Hand over the antidote."
"I don't have the antidote. You should be asking the person who planted the poison."
"Fine, Chu Fengge. Since you're so stubborn, don't regret it later."
Mo Qianhan snatched Hua An from Chu Fengge's arms, then stepped back several paces and ordered his men to lock her in the woodshed, deliberately forcing her to produce the antidote.
Chu Fengge was momentarily stunned. She hadn't expected Mo Qianhan to be so despicable as to snatch Hua An from her.
She lunged forward, roaring, "I told you I don't have the antidote. Give Hua An back to me!"
Just as she was about to rush over and take Hua An back, two guards dragged her forcefully out of the courtyard.
Chu Fengge cursed in despair, "Mo Qianhan, if you dare touch Hua An, I will drag you down with me!"
Mo Qianhan paid her no mind at all, his voice cold as frost: "The moment you hand over the antidote is the moment I return the child to you."
"I don't have the antidote. I didn't plant the poison."
She had no antidote, but she knew how to make one. Yet she couldn't do it—no one would believe she understood medicine; it would only confirm the evidence that she was the one who had poisoned him.
And for a "fool" like her, the only thing worth scheming over was the position of Princess Consort of the Regent.
Once Mo Zilou's poison flared up, she, the new Princess Consort, would be branded as vicious, earning the Prince Regent's disgust. Then someone could seize the opportunity to save Mo Zilou's life, putting the Prince Regent in their debt.
So, someone would soon deliver the antidote to Mo Zilou.
There was no need for her to prepare it herself at all!
Sure enough, after Chu Fengge was forcibly dragged away by the guards, news came from Moyu Pavilion.
"Your Highness, the Cousin used her own blood and two taels of flesh from her wrist as the medicinal catalyst to cure the Young Heir's poison!"