Herbs?

As Lu Qiqi predicted, the Shadow Guards did not find Sudiya, nor did they confront her directly. Where did Sudiya's injury come from?

With that in mind, Lu Qiqi decided to go there herself to check on the situation inside the cave.

Song Yanqing had the same idea, so the two hit it off and rode out of the camp straight to the cave where the bloodstains were found.

The cave is located on the shady side of a mountain, which allows the green vines to grow in the autumn in the north.

However, most of the leaves on the green vine had fallen off; otherwise, the Shadow Guards wouldn't have been able to discover the cave entrance so easily.

Before the two arrived at the cave, the Shadow Guards had already been scouting the area, trying to find any clues to locate Sudiya.

When the Shadow Guards saw the three arriving, they bowed and greeted the young master.

Song Yanqing nodded lightly, and then saw An Yi step forward and cut the green vines on the edge of the cave so that he and Lu Qiqi could enter the cave.

The green vine was cut down, and An Yi took the torch handed to him by the Shadow Guard and went into the cave to light the way for the two of them.

Lu Qiqi followed closely behind An Yi, while Song Yanqing followed behind the two of them.

The cave entrance is small, but the inside is surprisingly spacious, easily accommodating four large beds.

Under the torchlight, Lu Qiqi quickly saw, guided by An Yi, a pool of blood on the ground and crushed grass with a wooden stick and a stone slab beside it.

Lu Qiqi squatted down, and An Yi moved the torch closer to the ground to make it easier for her to inspect it.

The bloodstains had been dripping into the rocky cave for quite some time, and had completely seeped into the rock.

Lu Qiqi did not touch the bloodstains directly. Ever since she saw Xing Zhi's eyes were poisoned, she already knew that Su Diya was skilled in using poison.

"Qiqi, don't touch it."

These words were spoken by Song Yanqing as he urgently reminded Lu Qiqi.

Lu Qiqi remained calm, picked up the stone slab, and said in a low voice, "This medicine is non-toxic."

As she spoke, she took the stone slab, held it to her nose, and gently sniffed it.

Then, in the dim light, she carefully examined the herbal residue on the stone slab.

An Yi held up the torch, subconsciously holding his breath, afraid that he might accidentally interrupt her thoughts.

After a long while, Lu Qiqi put down the stone slab in her hand, stood up and looked at Song Yanqing, saying, "Sudiya has been poisoned."

"Poisoned?" Upon hearing this, An Yi's first reaction was disbelief.

After all, in his view, Sudia must be an extraordinary person to have managed to poison Xing Zhi; how could she have been poisoned by someone else?

Song Yanqing said, "It seems someone wants Sudiya dead."

As for who it was, the three people in the cave all knew very well.

Lu Qiqi said, "Su Diya hid a large amount of silver and sent it out of the pass. Wu Guangping probably knew nothing about this. Now that Wu Guangping has paid the silver out of his own pocket, he will naturally not let Su Diya go."

If I'm not mistaken, these two have fallen out and their alliance has dissolved.

Seeing that the bloodstains had turned black, An Yi looked at Lu Qiqi again and said, "Village Chief, before returning to the camp to report the news, I led people to search the mountain, but unfortunately we found nothing and did not find any trace of Sudiya."

Therefore, he didn't know whether Sudia was dead or not.

Lu Qiqi took the torch from An Yi and held it against the cave wall. The flames occasionally licked the wall, making the paintings on the cave wall clearly visible.

What's drawn on the rock face is more like a draft than a painting.

Upon discovering that Lu Qiqi was standing motionless in front of the rock wall, Song Yanqing also went over to her.

Lu Qiqi crossed her arms and said, "This painting was obviously painted recently."

Look, these three places form a triangle.

The locations they pointed to were Wu's residence, the mine, and Dongying, respectively.

Song Yanqing said, "It seems that Su Diya and Wu Guangping have completely broken off relations. This is the evidence that Su Diya left us, proving that Wu Guangping is a traitor."

An Yi was completely bewildered. "Has Su Diya gone mad? She broke up with Wu Guangping. If she does this, won't Wu Guangping be even less likely to let her go?"

Lu Qiqi didn't think so. Wu Guangping was the person in the Great Jin who knew Su Diya the most, and only Wu Guangping could find Su Diya.

Sudiya did this to push Wu Guangping out, thus saving her own life while also driving her enemy to his death.

Lu Qiqi looked up and met Song Yanqing's gaze. After a moment of eye contact, they both understood why Su Diya had done this.

Song Yanqing said, "There's no need to search this place anymore. Let's make a bigger commotion in the border town and send another group of people to keep an eye on Wu Guangping's movements."

“Yes,” Lu Qiqi handed the torch to Song Yanqing, “Let them fight like dogs, and then catch Wu Guangping in one fell swoop.”

After emerging from the cave, Lu Qiqi went to the Dark Prison and asked Song Yanqing to persuade Xingzhi to stay in the military camp so that he could be detoxified and his eyes treated.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Lu Qiqi spoke, Xing Zhi readily agreed.

"Alright, then thank you very much, Lord Kangle."

Xing Zhi had a white cloth wrapped around his eyes, but he knew the layout of the dark prison very well, and he knew exactly where the chairs and benches were placed.

He walked around the corner of the table and strolled out of the dark prison as if his eyes were completely unharmed.

Lu Qiqi, “…”

Song Yanqing said, "Let's go."

As Lu Qiqi walked out of the Dark Prison, she asked, "Didn't An Yi say that he had a strange temper and that ordinary people couldn't be persuaded? This doesn't seem like someone who can't be persuaded."

They were clearly very happy to agree.

Seeing her chattering, Song Yanqing chuckled and said, "Xing Zhi is a bit eccentric, but he's not stupid."

He could still distinguish between being blind for life and temporary inconvenience.

As Lu Qiqi lifted her skirt and walked up the steps to the ground, she whispered, "If you hadn't said that Xing Zhi was your distant cousin, I really wouldn't have believed it."

After saying that, she added, "His appearance does give him a certain degree of credibility."

After all, Xing Zhi is quite good-looking. If he hadn't spent so much time in the Dark Prison, he probably would have received many offers of marriage from wealthy young ladies.

Xing Zhi's eyes were injured, making it inconvenient for him to ride a horse. Therefore, Song Yanqing had a carriage prepared and took him back to the military camp.

To make it easier for Shi Jiu to take care of Xing Zhi, Song Yanqing specially ordered people to set up a tent outside the main command tent for Xing Zhi to stay in.

Lu Qiqi had previously given Song Yanqing a prescription, instructing the Shadow Guards to find the medicine according to the prescription.

Xing Zhi's eyes were severely poisoned, so only usable medicinal materials could be selected from the limited resources available for him to take orally and apply topically.

But when Lu Qiqi lifted the white cloth covering Xing Zhi's eyes, she discovered that the poison was spreading.

The bruises that were originally there have quietly moved to another location.

It actually moved to both temples!

This poison is so potent that Lu Qiqi has no medicine on hand.

Her first thought was that there were doctors in the army who were even more skilled than her.

Dr. Luo, known as a miracle doctor!