Feng Jiu lowered her gaze and returned to her normal expression. She ignored Su Xiaoning and A Lian and calmly continued to teach the girls.
Su Xiaoning helped A-Lian up. After a careful examination, she found that A-Lian's leg hadn't been set properly, so she set the bone herself. To prevent A-Lian from being in too much pain, Su Xiaoning also took out gold needles to temporarily block A-Lian's pain sensation.
The bone-setting process wasn't very long. After Su Xiaoning finished everything, she returned to the school to retrieve A-Lian's crutch and handed it to her: "Take this. You still need to apply medicine to the back of your leg. I'll come to check on you regularly."
A-Lian took the cane somewhat guiltily. She stared blankly at her already injured legs, her voice low: "I did something like this, don't you blame me?"
“How can I not be surprised? But what’s the use?” Su Xiaoning said calmly, and helped A-Lian get up because she had too much trouble. “But sometimes hatred can’t solve everything. This incident is a lesson. I hope you will know what you should and shouldn’t do in the future.”
"I understand... Thank you." Ah Lian's eyes reddened, and her feelings underwent a change.
In the following days, Su Xiaoning disregarded past grievances and came to check on Alian every day. She also changed Alian's dressings again and again without finding it troublesome, and helped her to and from get out of class every day.
One day after class, Su Xiaoning came to help Alian as usual.
Ah Lian's leg was almost healed. She wanted to express her gratitude to Su Xiaoning, but before she could take a few steps, her face suddenly turned blue, and after a violent tremor, she collapsed to the ground!
"ah!"
Most of the students in the school had not yet left. When they saw Ah Lian foaming at the mouth and convulsing, they all turned pale with fright and covered their eyes, unable to look.
Feng Jiu reacted quickly. She swiftly half-lifted A-Lian from the ground, took out several silver needles from her bosom, and pricked several acupoints on A-Lian. Then she pulled out the silver needles and said with a solemn expression, "She has been poisoned."
Su Xiaoning gave Feng Jiu a strange look, still wondering how Feng Jiu knew medicine, when the other girls suddenly looked at her angrily.
"It must have been Su Xiaoning who poisoned it! She's with A-Lian every day, she must have done something!"
“A-Lian reported Su Xiaoning before, so she must be holding a grudge to do this!”
"Good heavens! Even though Ah Lian didn't harm Su Xiaoning that time, I never expected Su Xiaoning to be so petty as to do something like this. I don't want to be in the concubine selection with her anymore. Who knows what else she might do!"
...
The accusations around her grew louder and louder. Su Xiaoning stood there, stunned. The incident had happened so suddenly that she couldn't think of any way to explain it.
The girls all wanted to disqualify Su Xiaoning from the imperial concubine selection, and Feng Jiu's gaze towards Su Xiaoning grew increasingly cold. Seeing the situation was turning sour, Meng Ruqiao stepped forward before Feng Jiu could speak, shouting, "Something's not right! There's something fishy about this!"
Meng Ruqiao pulled Su Xiaoning over and said seriously, "I know about the medicine Su Xiaoning gave Alian before. The dregs are still there. I can ask the imperial physicians to come and examine it. If Su Xiaoning didn't poison her, no one can accuse her!"
Feng Jiu frowned slightly. She hadn't expected Meng Ruqiao to suddenly interfere. It would be too strange to refuse now, so she could only nod in agreement for the time being.
After obtaining approval, Meng Ruqiao immediately set off to the palace to invite the imperial physician, while the head maid, considering the seriousness of the matter, directly sent someone to invite Su Qingcai.
Upon hearing that something had happened to Su Xiaoning, Su Qingcai immediately dropped all his official duties and rushed over. When he arrived at the outer residence, Meng Ruqiao also arrived with the imperial physician.
The imperial physician carefully examined the dregs of the medicine and finally declared that they were not poisonous. Su Xiaoning breathed a sigh of relief, but the matter remained unresolved, and they were immediately at a stalemate.
Looking at A-Lian lying unconscious on the bed, Feng Jiu's eyes darkened. He walked up to Su Qingcai and said seriously, "Your Highness, although those medicines were not poisonous, Su Xiaoning has been in the most contact with A-Lian recently, and she is still the most suspicious person. The selection of concubines cannot be based on immoral conduct or physical weakness. We should remove Su Xiaoning and A-Lian from the selection of concubines to silence the gossip."
Su Qingcai frowned, wanting to refute, but in order to maintain the illusion that he and Su Xiaoning had a bad relationship in front of others, he held back and said coldly, "Sir is right, but the truth of this matter has not been revealed yet. Under such circumstances, arbitrarily punishing others will probably not be convincing to the public."
"Then what does Your Highness think should be done? In any case, this matter is inextricably linked to Su Xiaoning." Feng Jiu's expression remained unchanged, still trying to kick these two out of the game.
Su Qingcai clenched his fists. He glanced at Su Xiaoning, who stood helplessly to the side, and felt a pang of heartache. He gritted his teeth and said, "Alright, since everyone suspects that Su Xiaoning poisoned them, let her cure them. If A-Lian can be cured within two days, then let them stay for now. Otherwise, as you said, disqualify them all!"
"Your Highness is wise." Feng Jiu didn't say anything more and immediately accepted.
The matter was now settled, and everyone dispersed. Although Su Qingcai wanted to comfort Su Xiaoning, he could only follow the crowd and leave as well.
Only Su Xiaoning and A-Lian remained in the room. Su Xiaoning knew that Su Qingcai was stalling for time for her, so she immediately took out her golden needles and began to treat A-Lian. A-Lian's pulse was chaotic and she did not respond to any acupoint stimulation. Helpless, Su Xiaoning made a quick decision and asked Bai Hua to come.
"How is she? Is there any hope for her?" As soon as Bai Hua finished examining her, Su Xiaoning asked impatiently.
Bai Hua shook his head, a solemn expression on his face.
"no."
"Even you can't do it?!"
Su Xiaoning's face turned pale, and her body trembled slightly.
Bai Hua sighed softly and said in a deep voice, "This method of using poison is clearly the work of my old rival, the Poison Hand Doctor. I have fought against him for many years, but I have not been able to figure out his method. There is still no solution to this problem."
"how so……"
Su Xiaoning looked dejected as she stared at A-Lian, who was lying unconscious on the bed, feeling utterly disappointed.
...
News of what happened in the outer residence quickly reached the Seventh Prince's mansion. Upon hearing the informant's report, Su Qinghe laughed a few times and immediately went to Qin Yunyun's residence.
"Yunyun, I already know what you've done. I remember that Ah Lian was someone you sent there. To come up with this plan, you really have a clever mind. I knew I hadn't misjudged you!"
Su Qinghe was very pleased. He praised Qin Yunyun and even sent people to deliver many rewards.
Qin Yunyun seemed somewhat at a loss. She stared blankly at the several boxes of treasures piled up in front of her, filled with doubt.
What exactly happened in the outer quarters? She didn't even make a move!
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