Inside, Wang Guanghe was administering acupuncture to the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager's face was ashen, and her head was covered in cold sweat, which Chunxin had to constantly wipe away with a handkerchief.
"Minister Song, tell me the truth, is that Huaiyue really...?"
"Your Majesty!" Upon hearing this name, Song Ting knelt down again, "Your subject deserves ten thousand deaths."
The young emperor tried to pull him again, but this time he couldn't budge him no matter what he did, and his face turned even more pale with anger.
"Get up! Stop kneeling all the time. I just want you to tell me the truth, is that so hard? I don't want his life, I just..."
He looked at Song Ting, whose already reddened eyes became even redder.
Song Ting, however, kept his head down, each word piercing the emperor's heart: "Your Majesty, I can swear on my life that Huaiyue is not a demon. He is merely someone I brought back from Jiangnan. Because he resembled an old friend, I was momentarily confused and..."
"Minister Song, as I said, I don't believe in those supernatural things, nor do I think he's a demon. I only want to know whether that Young Master Huaiyue is merely a resemblance to an old friend, or whether an old friend has returned—"
Before the emperor could utter the word "come," Song Ting interrupted him.
"Your Majesty." The latter raised his head at this moment, his gaze piercing him, and said each word with a firm attitude, "Huaiyue is just Huaiyue, and has nothing to do with anyone else."
His gaze was so cold and resolute that it chilled one to the bone. Chu Minghuan's heart skipped a beat, and the faint hope in his eyes vanished.
"I..." I know all too well that the dead cannot be brought back to life, but...
The young emperor slumped into his seat, his eyes downcast, his expression unreadable. But Song Ting could sense that he was in a bad mood.
After a long while, Chu Minghuan spoke in a very low voice, "I understand." Those few words seemed to have exhausted all his strength. After speaking, he paused for a long time before continuing, "Minister Song, please get up. I won't ask any more questions."
"Cough cough...cough cough cough..." Inside, after dozens of silver needles were inserted, the Empress Dowager finally reacted and began to cough. Chu Minghuan couldn't sit still any longer and hurriedly went in.
"Chief Academician Wang, how is the Empress Dowager?"
Just then, Wang Guanghe finished administering the last silver needle, wiped the sweat from his face, and said:
"Your Majesty, the Empress is severely poisoned. The toxins have invaded her internal organs. It is only thanks to Lord Song's daily internal energy cultivation that the Empress has been able to hold on until now."
"Although I have just administered acupuncture to Your Majesty, I am not entirely certain whether it will be successful."
These words, though polite, were actually telling the young emperor that whether the Empress Dowager would wake up was entirely up to fate.
Wang Guanghe was the most respected head of the Imperial Medical Academy, with superb medical skills. It was originally thought that as long as he arrived, the Empress Dowager's poison could be cured, but unexpectedly, even he was unable to cure her.
The young emperor's expression darkened. "According to Chief Physician Wang, the Empress Dowager was poisoned?"
“Of course it’s poisoning,” Wang Guanghe explained. “This poison is called ‘Thousand-Day Intoxication.’ It’s a very peculiar poison that can kill a person instantly or take their life without anyone noticing. If the dosage is properly controlled, it can even take more than a thousand days for the poison to take effect and cause death.”
"When the toxin takes effect, it can remind people of the most feared things in their lives, making them go crazy, as if they are immersed in those fears day after day, hence the name 'Thousand-Day Intoxication'."
"Because it is so rare, it is even difficult for people to see, and they would just think that the person who was poisoned has gone mad. But judging from the Empress Dowager's condition, the person who poisoned her must have used a considerable amount before this old minister discovered it."
These words were almost identical to what Huai Xu had said, which Song Ting already knew, but the emperor was hearing them for the first time, and his expression immediately became anxious: "Is it still possible to make an antidote now?"
"This old minister is of limited knowledge and does not know the antidote for the Thousand-Day Intoxication. He has never even seen a person poisoned by it before. His understanding of this poison is limited to what he has read in ancient books."
The Empress Dowager's condition has been delayed for so long. If there is an antidote, there might still be a glimmer of hope. If even an antidote cannot be made, then it is truly a matter of fate.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became heavy.
"Your Majesty!" Someone burst in.
Chu Minghuan recognized the person: "Grand Secretary."
"This old minister greets Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty!"
Zhang Bingzhi had been unable to eat or sleep properly these past few days, and looked much older than when he was in the capital. The emperor, understanding his advanced age, stopped him from actually kneeling.
"Your Excellency, there's no need for such formalities."
Tears welled in Zhang Bingzhi's cloudy eyes. "This old minister is ashamed before Your Majesty for allowing a sorcerer to infiltrate the Empress's carriage and commit such a heinous act..."
“…” Song Ting’s forehead twitched.
This old bastard is spouting nonsense again. I really want to just kill him with a knife.
The young emperor's expression also carried a hint of speechlessness.
Song Ting pressed the soft sword at her waist, composed herself, and said, "Your Majesty, Lord Zhang, the Empress Dowager is still resting. Let's move to the outer room to talk..."
...
"A thousand-day intoxication? Forgive my ignorance, but I've never heard of it before."
"Director Wang said it's a rare poison from the Miao region. Whether ingested directly or through prolonged contact, it can cause death, with the longest incubation period reaching over a thousand days," Chu Minghuan said.
Zhang Bingzhi's expression was grave: "Could this medicine have been administered by that sorcerer?"
“Lord Zhang.” Song Tingyuan, who had been listening calmly, finally couldn’t take it anymore. “You had previously assured that Master Kongxing that the Empress Dowager was not poisoned, but was under the influence of witchcraft, which is why you said that Huaiyue was a sorcerer.”
"Now it's said that Huaiyue poisoned him? Since Huaiyue is a demon, why didn't she use demonic arts instead of poison? Forgive my ignorance, but I've never heard of any ghost or demon using poison to harm people."
Zhang Bingzhi was momentarily speechless: "This..."
Song Ting didn't give him a chance to react, pressing him further: "Does Your Excellency truly believe Huaiyue is a demon, or does he have to be a demon?"
He disliked using those two words to describe Chu Huaixu; every time he said them, his heart felt like it was rolling on a bed of nails.
"Does the Commander mean that I deliberately framed him?" Zhang Bingzhi's face was very ugly. "Even if Huaiyue is not a demon, he still has serious suspicions."
"If I remember correctly, Young Master Huaiyue once gave the Princess a sachet, but because of an accident that happened to the Princess, the sachet ended up in the hands of the Empress Dowager by some twist of fate."
"After that, the Empress had that incident. Does the Commander think it was just a coincidence?"
"Furthermore, how does the commander explain that someone who should have died five years ago is still by your side every day and even appears in the carriage traveling east?"
Song Ting's face turned ashen: "Does the Grand Secretary mean that I deliberately plotted to harm the Empress Dowager?"
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