"This powder does induce a state of suspended animation, but without the antidote, the person may actually die."

Song Xizhi spoke in a somber tone.

This speculation aligns with the symptoms of Emperor Guangqi's traditional Chinese medicine treatment today.

Song Xizhi thought to himself that He Jingyan had caught a second pheasant.

This time, however, she did not sprinkle the powder directly on the pheasant's wound, but instead fed the pollen directly into the pheasant's mouth.

Pheasants that eat poison powder die quickly.

However, when Song Xizhi fed the antidote to the pheasant again, it did not recover as quickly as the first one.

The two squatted under the tree and waited for a while before they saw the pheasant regain its breath and flap its wings, but it couldn't stand up and looked listless.

Song Xizhi's eyes darkened for a moment, then he heard He Jingyan ask, "What's going on?"

She replied, "This proves that the poison powder was very potent, so it would cause irreversible damage to the body. Therefore, when the pheasant woke up again, its physical condition could not be restored to its original state."

Song Xizhi had such doubts because he saw the emperor's condition.

"Since His Majesty only accidentally got some powder on his wound, yet it directly caused him to fall into a state of suspended animation and be on the verge of death, it proves that this substance cannot be ingested directly."

Now, facts have proven this to be true.

As soon as Song Xizhi finished speaking, He Jingyan suddenly realized something in a flash.

He looked into Song Xizhi's direction with his deep eyes, and parted his thin lips slightly: "If it can't be eaten directly, how about making it into incense?"

"Is the harm to the human body much less?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Song Xizhi felt the world suddenly fall silent.

She looked up and met the man's gaze. Both of them saw what they wanted in each other's eyes, and even their heartbeats resonated.

"If it is processed into incense through multiple steps, the harm of the medicinal powder to the human body can be gradually reduced."

Song Xizhi spoke these words with a dry, hoarse throat, finally connecting all the clues he had obtained.

He Jingyan reached out and grasped Song Xizhi's slightly trembling hand, completely enveloping it in his large palm before saying:

"So your mother was likely implicated in the palace struggle because of making fake death incense, which also explains why... when the Empress died, her face was gentle, but her body had a strong, strange fragrance."

It's likely that the toxic powder underwent several processes, which allowed its fragrance to be fully released.

Song Xizhi nodded: "So the Empress faked her death by using the incense my mother made."

He Jingyan lowered his eyes, unable to suppress his wildly beating heart: "If it was a fake death, then where did she go? Why hasn't she reappeared for decades?"

Song Xizhi did not answer.

She recalled Emperor Guangqi's reaction after being poisoned: "His Majesty seemed unsure whether the antidote was correct, and he even frequently visited the forbidden area to reminisce about the late Empress, which proves... perhaps something happened when the Empress faked her death."

"That's why he disagreed with Consort Zhen going to try the medicine, because something had already happened with another woman of his."

Song Xizhi struggled to articulate his conjecture, as if giving someone a huge hope only to shatter it in an instant.

He Jingyan took a deep breath, remained silent for a long time, and then said, "Then let's investigate all the people who knew about that incident back then."

"Since they're planning to fake their death, they must have already prepared a fake identity and all possible escape routes."

"If we follow that escape route, we might gradually uncover the truth of what happened back then."

A fake identity?

All possible escape routes?

As Song Xizhi listened to He Jingyan's words, his heart inevitably felt as if it had been pricked by a needle.

Her hand trembled slightly, as if she wanted to pull it back, but the man held it firmly in place.

The man frowned at her: "What's wrong?"

Song Xizhi lowered her eyes and repeated his words, her tone seemingly tinged with sorrow: "A fake identity?"

This sorrow seemed to have been there all day, but because of her nonchalance, He Jingyan subconsciously ignored it.

"The emperor and empress used this false identity to deceive everyone in the world. He Jingyan, who do you think is the most hurt person in the world?"

He Jingyan remained silent for a long time, as if time had stretched to eternity, so long that the veins on the back of his hand bulged slightly.

Song Xizhi did not urge him, nor did he try to withdraw his hand again; he simply waited for his answer.

After a long silence, He Jingyan finally said, "Naturally, he is the closest person to me."

Song Xizhi then said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince."

He Jingyan's chest jolted, and his breath caught in his throat.

But then Song Xizhi's voice continued: "I think His Highness the Crown Prince will be the one who gets hurt the most."

"Sure enough, those who are deceived are always the closest to them, and those who are hurt the most are also the closest to them."

He was clearly a bright and radiant prince, yet he was born burdened with the hatred of his mother's clan being wiped out, and his own mother was also cruelly killed by his father.

His cruel father sent him to a temple, where they would never see each other again, in life or in death.

As Song Xizhi pondered, she slowly raised her head. In the moonlight, He Jingyan saw a faint glimmer of water in her eyes.

The woman's voice was soft, like the moonlight at that moment: "He Jingyan, will you be sad?"

He Jingyan felt as if his heart had been torn to shreds, and the blood in his body was almost boiling.

His back was stiff, silent, silent, and still silent.

After a long silence, he finally uttered in a hoarse voice, "Heartbroken."

Song Xizhi smiled slightly, but tears rolled down her cheeks at that moment: "I'm very sad too."

She disliked deception and concealment, and even more so, she feared that, like Consort Zhen and Consort Liang, she would have to proceed cautiously and walk on thin ice in order to gain a vague sense of pity and love.

So she said to the man, "After we finish investigating this matter, shall we get a divorce?"

After investigating the truth behind their respective mothers' deaths.

As soon as Song Xizhi finished speaking, she felt the man's large hands holding her turn ice-cold in an instant.