Chapter 441 Poisoning
Li Mingshu looked at the maid who came in carrying a tray and felt a little puzzled. Most of the maids in the Lin family came from the royal palace and were assigned by her mother.
This young maidservant looks completely unfamiliar; it seems I've never seen her before.
"Madam, this is bird's nest that my master asked me to bring you. Please drink it while it's hot."
The maid was in her early twenties, and her hair was indeed styled like a young lady's. She spoke with a slight Taiyuan accent. Although Li Mingshu had some doubts, the Prince's mansion was so large that she couldn't possibly have seen every maid before.
He immediately realized he might be overthinking things, nodded, and gestured for the maid to bring over the bird's nest: "Put it on the table."
The maidservant placed the bird's nest on the table in front of Li Mingshu, then bowed and bent over, preparing to leave.
Seeing Li Mingshu still drinking the lotus seed porridge, he couldn't help but remind her, "Madam, bird's nest doesn't taste good when it's cold..."
Before she could finish speaking, footsteps sounded again outside the door. Lin Changning had returned and pushed open the door to the bridal chamber, exchanging a glance with the maid.
Li Mingshu looked up in surprise: "Why are you back again?"
Lin Changning wore a slightly embarrassed smile as she glanced at the somewhat unfamiliar maid, assuming that Li Mingshu had summoned her.
"I just remembered something, so I came back to tell you."
Li Mingshu smiled gently at Lin Changning: "Hmm?"
Lin Changning glanced at the maid standing at the door and walked directly to Li Mingshu. Seeing the two different bowls of porridge on the table, she was a little puzzled.
"I wanted to come back so you could prepare some hangover tea for me. Judging from the state of the front yard, I'm afraid I won't be able to come back tonight."
Lin Changning joked, then picked up the bowl of porridge on the table and was about to put it in his mouth: "Did you order porridge? Is it because the lotus seed porridge doesn't suit your taste? If you don't like it, I'll have the kitchen make something else next time."
No sooner had she finished speaking than Li Mingshu, looking terrified, knocked the bird's nest out of Lin Changning's hand.
"Don't drink it! Didn't you ask someone to bring this bird's nest porridge to me?"
The sound of a porcelain bowl shattering suddenly rang out in the bridal chamber. Lin Changning's eyes widened abruptly as he realized something. He felt a gust of evil wind rushing straight towards Li Mingshu from behind.
Lin Changning wrapped his long arm around Li Mingshu and pulled her away from where she had just been sitting.
A sound like metal clashing was heard, and some hidden weapon struck the spot where Li Mingshu had just been sitting.
The next moment, two guards appeared in the room, broke in through the window, and quickly started fighting with the maid. Li Mingshu, still in shock, clutched at Lin Changning's clothes.
Once they came to their senses, they quickly checked Lin Changning's body.
"Changning? Are you alright?"
Lin Changning then realized that there was a painful spot on his back, but seeing Li Mingshu's worried look, he gently shook his head.
"I'm fine, how about you? Are you hurt?"
Lin Changning managed to dodge in time while holding Li Mingshu, so Li Mingshu was not injured. However, Lin Changning was grazed on the back by the assassin's hidden weapon because he was blocking Li Mingshu's way.
Seeing that she was no match for the two guards, the maid broke through the window and tried to escape quickly. The two guards exchanged a glance, one of them stayed behind to guard Lin Changning and Li Mingshu, while the other whistled and, along with a group of guards hidden in the shadows outside the door, chased after them.
Shiro hurriedly led his grandfather toward the bridal chamber. When he saw the maid coming out of the broken window, his heart tightened, and he and his grandfather pushed the door open directly.
"Sixth Brother! There's something wrong with that bowl of bird's nest soup that just came from the kitchen, you can't drink it!!!"
After seeing Lin Changning holding Li Mingshu in his arms, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sixth Brother?"
Lin Changning glanced at the broken bird's nest on the ground, frowned, and said, "I didn't drink it. What happened? Shilang, Third Grandfather, why did you suddenly come here?"
Shiro breathed a sigh of relief. After seeing the bird's nest porridge on the ground, he and his grandfather squatted down, took a small amount, and smelled it.
Her brows furrowed instantly as she looked at Lin Changning and said, "Yesterday, when preparing the ingredients, my mother suddenly discovered that several bowls of bird's nest had entered the mansion. I know that my sixth brother and aunt would not buy such precious things unless they were given by a noble person, so she became suspicious."
"I was thinking that there were many things to do at home these past two days, so I didn't want to trouble my sister-in-law and aunt. Just now, I saw everyone having a feast in the front yard, so I went to the kitchen to check the ingredients. I happened to find that the bird's nest that had just been stored away the day before was being cooked today. I asked who wanted to eat it, and a group of people made excuses and couldn't say. I knew that something must be wrong. When I lifted the lid of the pot for cooking bird's nest, I saw powder scattered on the side of the pot. It was the poison that was put in the bird's nest! I asked the person who delivered the bird's nest to come this way, and that's why I hurriedly chased after them."
As Shiro spoke, he carefully probed the swallow's nest on the ground with a silver needle. After observing for a long time and finding that the needle had not turned black, he handed the needle to his grandfather.
"Grandpa, it smells like aconite..."
Third Uncle held the silver needle under his nose and smelled it carefully, then nodded and said.
"It is indeed aconite."
After saying that, he looked up at Lin Changning: "Sixth Brother, are you and the Princess alright?"
Just as Lin Changning was about to say that she was fine, she saw Li Mingshu suddenly pull her up with a somewhat anxious expression: "Changning has injured her back, please take a look, Uncle."
As she spoke, she pulled Lin Changning to sit on the stool: "I see blood seeping from your back."
Just as Lin Changning took two steps forward, Li Mingshu noticed a small patch on his back that seemed to be damp. She gently touched it and found her hands covered in blood.
Only then did I realize that Changning was wearing a bright red robe today, and the bright red blood on the robe looked as if it were damp with water.
Shiro hesitated for a moment, then immediately took Lin Changning's pulse before his grandfather could.
The moment he touched the pulse, his expression changed drastically: "Poison! The weapon is poisoned!!!"
One sentence made Third Uncle's face tense up. He shoved Shilang aside and cursed, "You little brat with no beard, get out of the way. I'm showing this to Sixth Brother."
Just as Lin Changning was about to stop, his third uncle grabbed his wrist and pressed it firmly against his pulse.
After taking Lin Changning's pulse for a while, Uncle San didn't speak. He gently raised his eyelids and glanced at Lin Changning. He looked at Li Mingshu, who was a little nervous on both sides, and Shilang, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"He has indeed been poisoned, but it's nothing serious. I can cure him. Shilang, come with me to prepare some medicine later. First, use silver needles to seal your sixth brother's acupoints."
After saying that, he glanced at Li Mingshu again: "Princess, let me take a look at it for you too."
Li Mingshu hesitated before extending her wrist, and her third uncle only probed it slightly before letting go.
"The princess is unharmed."
After saying that, Third Uncle stood up, looked at Lin Changning and nodded slightly: "Shilang and I will go down and brew the antidote for you. First, have the princess clean your wound. Don't apply the wound medicine yet. Let the blood flow for a while. After you drink the medicine, we can apply the medicine and bandage it."
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