The emperor was startled by Gu Qingqiu and immediately ordered the people around him to help her up. "Please get up quickly. I cannot grant you this request. If something happens to you, I will not be able to explain to Yunhan and General Gu. Don't worry! I will definitely increase the search efforts. Everything will be alright."

Gu Qingqiu performed her role dutifully for another five minutes before being taken away and appeased by the emperor's orders.

However, this incident lessened the emperor's suspicions about Chu Yunhan, since the emperor was not entirely unaware of some of Chu Yunhan's secret actions.

Not only the emperor, but many of the women present also took the initiative to comfort Gu Qingqiu.

"Your Highness is blessed with good fortune; nothing will happen to you!"

"That's right! His Majesty has already sent elite troops to search for him, so the prince should be standing safely in front of you in a few hours."

Gu Qingqiu had only managed to squeeze out a few tears, but as more people gathered around, her desire to perform intensified. She cried so hard that she almost couldn't breathe, and eventually she actually fainted from crying.

Before losing consciousness, Gu Qingqiu's last thought was—how embarrassing! If Chu Yunhan knew this, he would definitely imagine a whole bunch of things!

Sure enough, after Gu Qingqiu woke up, things had progressed—it was said that the princes were suddenly attacked by a pack of wolves, and in their haste to escape, they got separated. The second prince even accidentally fell into a trap that someone had set up beforehand, and his whole body was covered in bruises and his skin was pierced by thorns.

The fifth prince was even more unlucky; he accidentally bumped into a hornet's nest in a tree and was stung so badly that his face was swollen and unrecognizable when he was rescued.

The sixth prince suffered some minor injuries, but his guard had his arm bitten off by a wolf.

The group was in a sorry state, and the emperor was furious—several princes and Chu Yunhan were nowhere to be found.

Gu Qingqiu seemed to be deep in thought. For such outdoor activities, especially those involving princes, there must have been special personnel to inspect the site and assess its safety. How could such an accident have happened?

Unless this accident... was man-made.

However, Chu Yunhan failed to appear, and Gu Qingqiu couldn't help but start to feel anxious and nervous.

Chu Yunhan didn't mention telling me about this "plan," one possibility being that he was afraid his actions would be exposed, and another possibility being that Chu Yunhan may not have intended to create any accidents during this autumn hunt, and he simply fell into someone else's trap.

etc……!

Gu Qingqiu had a sudden inspiration: the Love Moon Poison that Chu Yunhan had recently been poisoned with must be something special.

I didn't ask in detail before, but now that I've pieced together the clues, maybe the Poison of Love and Moon and today's accident were both done by the same person.

Thinking of this, Gu Qingqiu couldn't help but observe the women and ministers around her. Most of them looked anxious, some nervously rubbing their sleeves, some pacing restlessly, and some wiping away tears like Gu Qingqiu had before.

I can't see anything wrong with it.

Gu Qingqiu sighed inwardly. She had indeed been presumptuous. How could she possibly judge who the murderer was from their expressions? Without the help of the male protagonist system, she was just like a headless fly, running around aimlessly.

As night deepened, waves of people searched the mountain, but the remaining searchers were still nowhere to be found.

Gu Qingqiu's body was exhausted, but her mind was highly tense, so she could only clench her fists uncontrollably, her nails digging deep into her flesh, which gave her great stimulation and clarity.

At dawn, someone finally shouted – “The prince has been found!”

Upon hearing this, Gu Qingqiu immediately rushed out, and everyone tacitly made way for her.

A strong man was carrying Chu Yunhan on his back, while Chu Yunhan had a furrowed brow, closed eyes, a pale face, and purple lips.

"Your Highness? Your Highness?" Gu Qingqiu called out tentatively, but Chu Yunhan did not respond.

The imperial physician arrived just in time. "Get the prince to bed first, quick!"

After finally laying Chu Yunhan flat, the imperial physician solemnly took Chu Yunhan's pulse. His expression grew increasingly grim. Finally, he took out a dagger and made several cuts on several parts of Chu Yunhan's left arm. Instantly, several spurts of black blood gushed out, startling everyone around.

"Go find some ropes," the imperial physician shouted, while keeping an eye on Chu Yunhan's wounds.

Soon someone brought ropes, and the imperial physician immediately inserted several acupuncture needles into acupoints on Chu Yunhan's left arm, then bandaged the wound with cotton cloth, and finally tightly bound the lower middle section of Chu Yunhan's left arm with ropes.

Gu Qingqiu was puzzled. "What is this...?"

The imperial physician sighed, "I'm afraid the prince's arm is beyond saving. He was bitten by a poisonous snake. I just drained most of the venomous blood, but since his blood vessels are interconnected, if this poisoned arm isn't severed in time, the toxins will likely spread throughout his body. I'll bind the prince's wound tightly until it becomes numb and congested before cutting it off. That might alleviate the prince's pain."

Gu Qingqiu's heart trembled, and she took two steps back, collapsing to the ground with a dejected expression. "Imperial Physician, is there no other treatment? If the Prince wakes up and finds out he has lost an arm, he won't be able to accept it!"

“Alas… I can understand, but human life is at stake, and this is the best option at the moment, unless…” The imperial physician seemed to have thought of something, observed the expressions of those around him, and finally gritted his teeth and said, “Unless there is a Gelsemium elegans to neutralize the toxins in the prince’s body!”

"Gelsemium elegans? What is that?" Gu Qingqiu vaguely remembered seeing the name in a medical book, but she didn't look at it closely because the book said that this plant was very rare and almost extinct.

The imperial physician explained, "This is a plant with low toxicity, which grows mostly in wild forests. It has a paralyzing effect on venomous snakes, and correspondingly, it can also be used as a medicine to treat snake venom."

"Then why don't we hurry up and send someone to search for it? Or ask the Emperor if he has this plant in his collection?" Gu Qingqiu was about to call for help when the imperial physician stopped her.

“I happen to have one in my medicine chest, but let me finish first,” the imperial physician continued. “However, the method of use… may be a bit painful. Someone needs to take this Gelsemium elegans first, and then feed it to the prince with their own blood, three times a day, until the venom in the prince’s body is completely dissolved.”

“This…” A minister immediately suggested, “We can capture a few prisoners from the jail, force them to take Gelsemium elegans, and then extract their blood to feed the prince!”

“It’s too late, and it doesn’t make sense.” The imperial physician shook his head. “First of all, we still have half an hour to make a decision. Any later and the poison in the prince’s body will spread. Secondly, the antidote for this Gelsemium elegans requires the balance of Yin and Yang, and it can only be done with a woman’s blood.”

Hearing this, Gu Qingqiu said, "I'll do it."