Poison

The Chinese New Year is said to be a time for rest, but in fact it is the busiest time.

Qin Yousi received invitations from many families, including the Princess's Mansion, Prince Bao's Mansion, Pingtung County Prince's Mansion, the Ye family, the He family, and the Shi family, and went around to pay New Year's greetings and attend banquets.

Baili Hongyuan also had no time to rest. This year, Yin Tong stayed in the capital to celebrate the New Year, and they were also preparing to go to Beizhou to start border trade at the beginning of the new year, so they were extremely busy.

In the blink of an eye, it is the Lantern Festival. Holding a lantern festival on this day is a tradition in Shengguo, but the location of the lantern festival is slightly different every year.

As early as the end of the year, when preparations were underway, the Taichang Temple found a group of craftsmen skilled in making water lanterns from the public, and chose to hold this year's Lantern Festival on the street near the Baojing Lake at the South City Gate.

Dozens of giant water lanterns were lit one after another by the Baojing Lake, reflecting the lake water, like a glass fantasy, which was much more exciting than previous years.

When the royal carriage arrived at the scene, the area around Baojing Lake had already been cleared and martial law was imposed by the city defense camp. The people could only go boating and watch the lanterns after the lantern-lighting and blessing ceremony was over.

The Empress Dowager arrived at the Lantern Festival under the escort of the Imperial Guards. When she got off the imperial carriage, she was delighted to see the beautiful lanterns and scenery.

The prayer lampstand was set up on a lotus platform in the middle of Baojing Lake, only twenty steps from the shore, connected by a small arched bridge. In the center of the lotus platform hung an unlit box lantern, waiting for the Empress Dowager to light it.

The ceremonial officer of the Taichang Temple chanted something and handed the burning incense to the Empress Dowager.

The Queen Mother walked gracefully onto the lotus platform and lit the long fuse. Soon, the box lights were lit and fell layer by layer. The lights on each layer were different, just like a shadow play, which was very exciting.

The sound of people cheering came from the lake in the distance. The empress dowager looked on with satisfaction. Just as she was about to praise the Taichang Temple for its good arrangements, a puff of smoke blew in with the wind. Suddenly, the empress dowager's feet went weak and she fell headfirst into Baojing Lake.

In an instant, the entire lantern festival became chaotic.

The Queen Mother's fall into the lake cast an uneasy shadow over the entire New Year. Although she was quickly rescued by the imperial guards, she remained in a coma.

At first, people thought it was just an accident, but when the imperial physician examined the queen mother, he found that she showed signs of poisoning, and things got out of control.

In the Yangxin Palace, Emperor Sheng had just vented his anger and punished the people in the Taichang Temple who were in charge of the Lantern Festival. He was now listening to the reply from the Imperial Hospital.

The current Imperial Medical Bureau physician is none other than Doctor Feng, who was promoted by the Empress Dowager and is the most trusted by both the Empress Dowager and the Emperor.

When he tremblingly said that the Queen Mother was poisoned by Xizhu's three souls, Emperor Sheng couldn't believe it!

The last time the Three Souls Poison appeared in the palace was six years ago, when Emperor Sheng’s eldest son died from this poison!

The case of poisoning the royal heir was presided over by the Empress Dowager herself. She finally concluded that it was Concubine Qin who killed the eldest prince in order to win favor. The source of the poison was Qin Wenyu, the father of Concubine Qin, who was in collusion with the Xizhu Kingdom and sent it to the harem.

This case, together with several other cases committed by the Qin family, directly led to the complete destruction of the Qin family.

Emperor Sheng and the Empress Dowager knew exactly where the Three Souls Poison came from, but Emperor Sheng had no idea why it had reappeared.

This case needs to be investigated, but it needs to be investigated carefully.

After thinking for a long time, Emperor Sheng frowned and summoned the new Supervisory Office Director and former Chief of the Imperial Household Department, Eunuch Chang, to meet him.

Eunuch Chang was originally a household slave of the Empress Dowager's maiden family, the Chang family. He was one of a group of young eunuchs who were brought into the palace as a dowry when the Empress Dowager entered the palace as a concubine in her early years.

He has served the Empress Dowager and the Emperor for many years and can be said to be their most trusted confidant.

When Eunuch Chang heard that the Emperor had assigned him to handle the case of the Empress Dowager's poisoning, cold sweat broke out in his palms.

Back then, he was the one who personally framed the Qin family for the Three Souls Poison at the Queen Mother's behest, and the Emperor was well aware of this. Now that he wants him to investigate the poison, the Emperor's intention is obvious.

If the investigation goes well, it will not bring up the past but will catch the real culprit. This is the best strategy. But if the investigation goes badly and the past is involved, Eunuch Chang will probably have to be the scapegoat!

Emperor Sheng then ordered, "The Imperial Hospital is helpless against this poison. The Empress Dowager has been in a coma for three days. Supervisor Chang must assist the Imperial Hospital in finding an antidote as soon as possible."

The emperor's order was hard to disobey, and Eunuch Chang dared not disobey and had to accept the task. However, he was complaining bitterly in his heart. The Three Souls Poison was an incurable poison in Xizhu. The amount of poison the empress dowager was poisoned by was not large, and she did not die instantly, but it was not easy to detoxify her.

Six years ago, the person who handled this poison had already been killed. Where could he find the antidote now?

Right now, he had no choice but to find the person who poisoned the patient as soon as possible, in the hope of following the clues to find the antidote.

He did not dare to delay for a moment and immediately went to the Imperial Guards Office to find Commander Zhou You - the craftsmen who organized the Lantern Festival and the officials of the Taichang Temple were now detained by the Imperial Guards.

Zhou You had been interrogating the case for several days without finding any useful clues. Seeing that the Supervisory Office had taken over the case, he felt it was a good opportunity to hand over this hot potato. He politely said to Eunuch Chang, "This is a serious case. I can only rely on the Supervisory Office and Supervisor Chang to handle it. Thank you for your hard work."

Eunuch Chang was inconsolable. He shook his head and asked, "Commander-in-Chief Zhou has been interrogating these past few days. Has he found any clues?"

Zhou You frowned and said, "We've checked every instrument and person at the scene, and nothing seems out of the ordinary. We can't even pinpoint where the poison came from. It's truly bizarre."

Eunuch Chang was puzzled and asked, "Isn't it the smoke from the burning lanterns?"

Zhou You hesitated, "I can only speculate this, but the fireworks in the box light have burned out, and the smoke has dissipated, leaving no trace."

Eunuch Chang's face turned several shades darker.

After the two men handed over the case, Zhou You left the palace and returned home.

He had been working on this case for several days in a row and could not bear it any longer.

As soon as he returned home, the servant reported that Prince Ning was waiting for him in the hall.

Zhou You was secretly amazed. He walked into the flower hall and saw Baili Hongyuan. He asked, "Your Highness, how did you know that I could leave the palace today?"

Baili Hongyuan ignored his probing and said, "Even if you're an iron man, you'll be done for after three days."

Zhou You knew Baili Hongyuan wouldn't come to him without a reason, so he took the opportunity to ask, "Your Highness, you know I'm tired and my eyes are blurry. Is there anything urgent you need from me?"

Baili Hongyuan said slowly, "Ever since the Empress Dowager was poisoned, all of your Imperial Guards have been transferred to the Imperial City to strengthen the defense. The defense of my mother's Princess Mansion has been lax, so I came to you to ask for more manpower."

The household soldiers of the royal family living in the capital were also allocated from the imperial guards.

Zhou You was puzzled: "You live in the princess's mansion now, who would dare to go there and cause trouble?"

Baili Hongyuan said, "I'm just an idle prince now, with no soldiers or troops under my command. I'd better ask Commander Zhou to transfer some men here. After all, my mother is different from others. The bandits in Xizhu have not given up on her and have repeatedly sneaked into the capital to cause chaos. We can't let our guard down."

Zhou You woke up instantly. It turned out that Baili Hongyuan had gone around in circles just to wake him up.

"Have spies from Xizhu sneaked into the capital? Your Highness is saying... that the Empress Dowager's poisoning was caused by someone from Xizhu?"

Baili Hongyuan put down his teacup and said, "Then I don't know. You can ask Supervisor Chang to investigate in detail."

Zhou You was secretly amazed in his heart. The King of Xizhu was really determined. It had been nearly 30 years since Sheng Kingdom took Princess Linglong back, but he still hadn't forgotten her. He would make trouble from time to time and try to snatch her back.

But if it was just to snatch someone away, why would they poison the Queen Mother? This would be a major event that would provoke war between the two countries!

But no matter how many questions he had in his mind, Baili Hongyuan just said that he didn't know about it and that he came here only to request more troops to protect his mother's safety.

The Queen Mother was seriously ill and bedridden. As a member of the royal family, Princess Bao had to go to the palace to visit her.

She was still in her early stages of pregnancy, and since she was wearing winter clothes, no one noticed anything unusual.

Prince Bao was worried that she was too tired, so he went to the harem to pick her up personally. In the carriage on the way out of the palace, the couple talked about the empress dowager's illness.

Everyone knew that the Imperial Hospital was helpless against this poison. Princess Bao couldn't help but complain, "If Doctor Qin were still alive, why would this have happened? Sang Liuniang has only learned the basics of the Qin family's medical skills, and yet she's already cured our greatest ailment. Surely if Doctor Qin were still alive, he could cure any poison."

After saying that, he observed Prince Bao's expression and asked carefully, "How about... recommending Miss Sang..."

Before the princess could finish, Prince Bao immediately shook his head and said, "Other matters aside, it would be best if Princess did not involve Miss Sang in the matter of the Three Soul Poison."

Princess Bao knew about the case of Concubine Shu six years ago. The reason why she deliberately mentioned the Qin family and Sang Liuniang was because Qin Yousi had previously come to her and asked to enter the harem as a female medical officer.

"Your Majesty, what if Miss Sang really has the ability to detoxify? Perhaps she could help the Qin family redeem themselves from their crimes and earn merit, which would be a good thing."

Prince Bao's expression turned serious. He said, "At this moment, in the eyes of His Majesty, the person who untied the bell is the one who tied it. If Miss Sang insists on interfering in this case, I'm afraid she will never come back."

The princess was horrified and dared not speak.

Prince Bao was silent for a moment, then changed the subject and said, "Tomorrow the princess will send Miss Sang to check on her pulse. You can ask her about the Queen Mother's matter and see what she thinks."

Half a year ago, Qin Yousi took the initiative to surrender to Prince Bao's mansion in exchange for secret medicine and offspring. Since then, Prince Bao knew that this seemingly fragile woman was planning something big.

Although he and Qin Yousi had different motives, they had a common goal, and it was natural for them to reach cooperation.

However, Prince Bao acted cautiously and took a slow approach to things he had in mind, but Qin Yousi acted radically.

In order to seek revenge, she had eliminated the Marquis of Xichang, thus disrupting the balance in the court. Although Emperor Sheng had not stated it explicitly, he was already on guard against Prince Bao, frequently transferring officials from the six ministries and replacing them with several new people trained by the emperor himself.

Seeing that Qin Yousi had begun to take action against the harem, although Prince Bao understood what she did, they had never talked openly about the matter, so he was very worried that Qin Yousi's plan would be exposed and ruin his plan.

"Miss Sang has done us a great favor in terms of having children, but we must not let her lead us by the nose. Princess, please be more careful when interacting with her."

Princess Bao was alert in her heart: "I know."

The princess had something on her mind, and coupled with the discomfort of her pregnancy, she did not sleep well that night.

The next day, Qin Yousi was invited to consult. Seeing that she was worried, Qin Yousi asked, "Looking at the princess's pulse, it seems that she is overly worried and her meridians are blocked. What happened?"