Chapter 73

The Imperial Medical Academy also confirmed Qiu Qingye's judgment.

Physician Chen was fifty years old and had served in the Imperial Medical Academy for nearly thirty years. His medical skills were among the best of all the physicians. Today, it was his turn to be on duty. Perhaps due to his age, he easily became drowsy as darkness fell. Thinking of the palace banquet today, with all the masters present, he didn't need to send people to each palace to take pulses and examine patients as usual. Physician Chen then rested his head on the table for a short nap. In his drowsy state, he heard a young eunuch frantically calling him. Physician Chen hurriedly grabbed his medicine chest and ran towards Tongxi Palace. He stumbled and nearly fell several times along the way, not even bothering to tidy his disheveled hair and wrinkled clothes.

When they arrived at Tongxi Hall, they saw the scene: the imperial guards surrounded the area in layers, and in the center of the encirclement, the crown prince lay on the ground, with the emperor watching over him, and there were also many officials and their wives whose names they did not know.

Physician Chen immediately regained consciousness.

"Your Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince has been poisoned by cinnabar. He needs to be awakened by silver needle stimulation, and then given a dose of melon seed powder to induce vomiting. After the medicine in his stomach is expelled, a decoction of honeysuckle, coptis, smilax... and other herbs should be taken for three days to detoxify him. Your Highness will receive acupuncture immediately. However, the source of this cinnabar must be found out to prevent him from accidentally ingesting it again!"

"Investigate! Investigate now!"

At the emperor's command, half of the guards remained in place to protect the palace, while the majority went to various parts of the palace to assist in investigating the origin of the cinnabar.

Based on Qiu Qingye's previous assessment, the accidental ingestion occurred around the time of the palace banquet, so the priority for investigation was the food served at the banquet.

Physician Chen arranged for his assistant to prepare the medicine, while he stayed at the palace banquet to help analyze and examine the wine and food consumed by the Crown Prince.

However, he examined everything on the table where Gu Shuan was seated at the banquet, even the spoons and chopsticks, but found not a trace of cinnabar. Not only was there no trace of cinnabar, but the food and tableware had hardly been touched. His Highness the Crown Prince was very careful tonight, and it seemed he hadn't eaten at all.

At this moment, someone suggested, "Just now, didn't Qiu Qing also drink with His Highness the Crown Prince? We should investigate her too!"

Ah, that's it! Everyone suddenly remembered the glass of wine that Qiu Qing had offered. Why would she make such a request out of the blue? Her reason was also weak, making it hard not to be suspicious!

When Emperor Zhaowen looked at her again, his gaze was cold and scrutinizing.

Lin Yi remained calm despite being scrutinized by all eyes. "Your Majesty, I am innocent. I was drinking with His Highness the Crown Prince just now. The wine was prepared by the eunuchs, and I did not handle it. His Highness also chose the wine cup first. If it is truly a problem with the wine, His Majesty will find out once he investigates."

"Investigate the cup of wine the Crown Prince drank just now, and everyone involved, including the Imperial Kitchen. Investigate thoroughly for me!"

Physician Chen has just administered acupuncture to the Crown Prince, and he will wake up in a short while.

Everyone returned to their seats, waiting for the Crown Prince to wake up and for the results of the investigation.

It was already dark when the palace banquet began. With all the procedures involved, plus this sudden turn of events, the event had already exceeded the curfew.

However, as long as the mastermind behind the case could not be found, the emperor did not announce the end of the banquet, and no one dared to utter a word, all waiting in their seats.

The assassination attempt on the crown prince was a major event, and the eunuchs investigated quickly. They returned shortly with a report, but the result was the same: no results.

There was nothing wrong with the cup of wine the prince drank, and the maid who handled it did not find anything amiss.

The cinnabar appeared silently and without warning, from nowhere.

"Of course they won't find any flaws," Lin Yi thought to himself.

Because there was no flaw in the matter itself—it was the result of her negotiations with the system.

While the noble ladies were presenting their gifts, Lin Yi summoned the system and reported the results of the first two tasks.

Why did Lin Yi initiate the process this time, instead of the system verifying it itself? Because the system felt that Lin Yi's completion of these two tasks was rather weak! —Of course, this host completes every task in this way.

It would have been better if we hadn't mentioned it, but once it came up, the system remembered every single one of Lin Yi's previous missions. Yes, every single one of them. From treating someone to wontons at the wonton shop to secretly handing over the Zhan family's token, which was supposed to play a huge role in the later plot, to this mission that was supposedly humiliating but actually caused zero harm and instead brought in a lot of sponsorship for the female lead.

Lin Yi: Tell me, isn't this humiliating? Public fundraising! What's the difference between this and forcing someone to beg, or throwing money in their face?!

The system fell silent, and just as it was about to log off, she made a new request.

Lin Yi: How can I poison someone without being discovered?

System: [This is the host's task; you need to consider it yourself.]

Lin Yi: I've thought it through, but I need your help.

[...]

Lin Yi: You wouldn't want the final mission to fail, and for me to be discovered and beheaded, would you? Or I could expose you before that... and say that all the bad things were instigated by you, and that you are a system above this world, and this world itself is just a book, and everyone is a character in the book... If I said that, wouldn't this world collapse? I guess you would also disappear or be punished?

[The host is threatening me, a blatant threat.]

Lin Yi: What else?

The system chuckled mechanically twice. [What does the host need me to do? Please tell me.]

The Emperor was present, the Crown Prince was present, and Yue Mingzhang, the brilliant detective of the Mingdu Prefecture, was also present. With so many discerning and intelligent people around, would she really poison him? Suicide by poison would be more likely. Whatever Lin Yi did, the probability of it going undetected was extremely low, practically nonexistent.

Lin Yi's requirements were simple: framing someone was fine, and the stage for the performance was set up, but the poisoned liquor needed to be handled by the system.

"It's nothing for you to do, so don't make me risk my life to replace him. I'll find an opportunity to toast Gu Shu'an later, and you can arrange for someone to poison his drink. Once it's done, just make this tool disappear. As long as the source can't be traced, that's fine."

Creating characters out of thin air that don't exist in the original book requires an enormous amount of energy, and it's crucial to ensure that no character notices. If this is achieved, the system will crash, and the host will face the risk of being directly sent back to their original world.

"Never mind then... Never mind what I said. Switching Gu Shuan's wine with poison remotely without anyone noticing, that should be possible, right?"

Why didn't the host say that the wine would become poisonous after it entered his stomach?

"That makes things even simpler! And I won't let you help me for nothing; I can redeem it with my points."

And so, the system finally agreed to Lin Yi's request. The originally clear and clean wine turned into poison the moment it was poured into his throat and flowed into his stomach.

She wondered if it was just her imagination, but the system's attitude seemed terrible lately, but it was actually more humane than before. Lin Yi felt guilty about such unreasonable and almost sophistry requests, but the system agreed to them, and the price was only 100 points of goodwill.

Lin Yi has become more laid-back. As long as her score doesn't drop to the deportation threshold, there's no problem. Just like money, she can always earn it back. Moreover, an idea is gradually taking shape in her mind.

The investigation reached a stalemate, and the atmosphere in the hall grew even more tense.

The assassination attempt in front of the emperor should have been investigated by the imperial guards who were the emperor's personal bodyguards. However, due to the urgency of the situation, and seeing that the emperor's expression was becoming increasingly grim, someone suggested that Yue Mingzhang, the prefect of Mingdu who had recently gained some prestige, should step forward to preside over the investigation.

This was a hot potato. Yue Mingzhang didn't dare to confidently say that he could find the assassin within a few hours. In fact, he had no clue whatsoever and had already begun to consider supernatural and superstitious theories—but he couldn't say that to Emperor Zhaowen.

He received the imperial decree and, following his usual investigative style, lined up all those who might be involved in the Crown Prince's poisoning and analyzed their possible times and motives for the crime—all to no avail.

For the first time, Yue Mingzhang frowned deeply, and finally, in desperation, a flash of inspiration struck him. "Your Majesty, I dare to ask to recreate all of His Highness the Crown Prince's actions at the palace banquet today."

In desperation, Emperor Zhaowen granted the request, but given the Crown Prince's noble status, no one else could take his place. So, the Seventh Prince, Gu Shucun, was chosen to play the Crown Prince and recreate his actions an hour earlier, before he fainted.

He was close by and could see things clearly. Moreover, he was eager to compare himself with the Crown Prince, so he paid close attention to everything.

From the moment Gu Shucun opened the door, he walked past the guests in turn and sat down in Gu Shuan's seat.

...

"Your subject remembers that it was at this time that Lady Yong'an and Zhan Xian had a dispute, and Your Majesty went to help Zhan Xian out of the predicament." As he spoke, Gu Shucun walked to Zhan Xian's desk.

Zhan Xian's expression was strange, as if she had suddenly realized something.

It was at this moment that Gu Shucun noticed the two earrings on her earlobes.

He felt this was his chance to impress his father, and even excitedly took a few steps forward. Before he even reached the emperor, he loudly proclaimed, "Father—I know who poisoned me!"

He pointed and said, "It's Zhan Xian!"

“Father, the imperial physician just said that my brother has been poisoned by cinnabar. So as long as we find out who among those present was carrying cinnabar, we can deduce the range of assassins—and Zhan Xian was wearing cinnabar earrings!”

Cinnabar is highly poisonous, but it can be used in medicine if used with caution. However, it is also a natural mineral. In ancient times, any brightly colored stone that was mined could not escape the fate of being inlaid and polished.

Zhan Xian was wearing a pair of cinnabar-inlaid earrings today. She noticed them when Lin Yi slipped her silver when they were close together earlier.

The trace amount of powder on the wine glass was nothing more than a laxative—she had initially intended to, but the risk was too great. If it really was the same poison as on the glass, then it would be easy to imagine that 'Qiu Qingye' had touched it. With Zhan Xian's keen perception, she should have noticed her subtle movements. She couldn't gamble that Zhan Xian would choose to remain silent and take the blame for the assassination—that was simply impossible.

Upon seeing that touch of crimson that echoed her dress, Lin Yi realized that he had found a foolproof method.

To frame someone without their knowledge, the poison must originate from the person being framed and be exclusively hers.

Only in this way can it be considered flawless.