As soon as Consort Rou opened her mouth, she felt a dull pain on her face. Looking down, she saw bloodstains on her fingernails, mixed with bits of flesh.
"My face!" she cried out, touching her face.
Pushing Xu Lingqing aside, Consort Rou rushed to the bronze mirror, where she was terrified, her face turning pale, and she screamed repeatedly.
"What exactly is going on?"
"Someone come quick!"
Xu Lingqing calmed the person down, then reached out to feel their pulse. Her expression changed slightly; they had been poisoned!
How could someone be poisoned when they were right under your nose?
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me?" Consort Rou pinched her brow, unable to recall anything that had just happened.
Xu Lingqing was at a loss for words. The news alarmed Zhao Zhiyan, who rushed back and frowned as he looked at the bloodstains on Consort Rou's face. "What exactly happened?"
"It's poisoning," Xu Lingqing had no choice but to tell the truth.
"Poisoned?" Consort Rou raised her voice in disbelief, followed by a look of panic as she grabbed Zhao Zhiyan's wrist: "Yan, Yan'er, who exactly wants to harm me?"
While comforting Consort Rou, Zhao Zhiyan assured her that he would find the antidote as soon as possible. He then looked at Xu Lingqing and asked, "Do you know what kind of poison it is?"
Xu Lingqing was speechless.
This poison comes from Japan and is called Sleeping Beauty.
The poisoned person's intelligence will gradually decline, their personality will become irritable and restless, they will self-harm, they will become estranged from their family and friends, and they will live in constant fear.
It causes people to lose their appetite and sleep, and they are sometimes awake, exhausting all their energy until they die.
Xu Lingqing felt a chill run down her spine. It just so happened that it was Japan, and this whole scheme was aimed at her.
"You must know, right!" Consort Rou grabbed Xu Lingqing by the collar: "Your medical skills are superb, you couldn't possibly be unaware of it."
Zhao Zhiyan's eyes were also fixed on her.
Xu Lingqing forced herself to say, "This is Sleeping Beauty, from Japan."
"Japan?" Consort Rou immediately bristled: "You must have offended someone behind my back, and they want to harm me!"
"Mother, how can you say that?" Xu Lingqing looked aggrieved. How could she know that someone would poison Consort Rou?
Zhao Zhiyan frowned and asked, "Is there a solution to Sleeping Beauty?"
Xu Lingqing sniffed: "The antidote requires fifty kinds of medicinal herbs and time to prepare. I will do my best to try."
She needs to contact her master as soon as possible; he must have the antidote ready.
Consort Rou suffered an attack every hour, enduring unbearable pain, which kept Zhao Zhiyan occupied. Xu Lingqing ordered people to prepare medicinal herbs, and they began grinding and brewing them in the courtyard.
When the scent of medicine wafted into the courtyard, Song Yue smiled and said, "The fish has taken the bait."
Yun Dong looked puzzled: "What fish is the Princess talking about?"
"No rush, let's wait and see the show."
Song Yue sat on a rocking chair under the eaves, gently swaying, holding a booklet in her hand, looking quite relaxed and content.
The smell of medicine in the air never dissipated; instead, it grew stronger and stronger.
Song Yue yawned and simply dozed off under the pear tree. Seeing this, Yun Dong quickly brought a thin blanket and draped it over her.
Sweet dreams
The howling in the courtyard not far away lasted all night.
The next day, Consort Rou looked more than ten years older, with white hair at her temples and dense wrinkles around her eyes.
This is also one of the side effects of Sleeping Beauty.
Xu Lingqing spent the whole night searching for medicinal herbs, but all her efforts ended in failure. She didn't dare to hand the medicine over, because if the medicine didn't work, Consort Rou might die suddenly.
Zhao Zhiyan stood under the corridor watching Xu Lingqing frantically busy, holding a medical book in her hand comparing medicinal herbs. He felt a little sorry for her and was about to step forward when the maid said, "Your Highness, I accidentally mixed up aconite and white aconite just now."
A sinister glint flashed in Xu Lingqing's eyes, frightening the maid so much that she trembled and quickly knelt down to kowtow and admit her mistake.
Xu Lingqing caught a glimpse of a familiar figure, her anger dissipated, and she helplessly helped the person up, then casually pointed and said, "This is aconite."
"Thank you, Your Highness." The maid was very excited.
A group of people continued weighing the medicinal herbs.
Zhao Zhiyan's gaze fell on the aconite root, his brows furrowed, thinking to himself that Lingqing must be exhausted and had mistaken aconite root for white aconite root.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
