Doctor Xu was originally wondering why Lord Yuexi asked him to inspect the well, but after the inspection, he looked incredulous.

"My Lord, this well seems to be poisonous. I need to take the water back and test it to confirm it."

Although the words were not definite, Ning Xihua knew in her heart that it was almost certain that the epidemic was man-made.

Sure enough, not long after, Doctor Xu met Ning Xihua alone in Yu'an Hall.

"Your Highness, I fed the water to the poultry raised in Yu'an Hall. Soon after, the poultry began to show signs of weakness. All other animals that came into contact with the poultry also showed the same abnormality."

Doctor Xu steadied his trembling voice and continued, "Perhaps poultry's ability to resist is weaker than humans'. Now all the poultry have died. After repeated confirmation by this subordinate, the symptoms... are the same as those of this epidemic."

Ning Xihua sighed deeply. This method of disregarding human life to achieve one's goal really seemed familiar.

"Don't make this public, lest it confuse the people."

If the people knew that this plague was only caused by the conspiracy of the superiors, who knows what kind of chaos would happen. At this time, Yizhou cannot be in chaos anymore.

Doctor Xu also knew the pros and cons of this, and he bowed his head and said, "I obey your command."

Ning Xihua had no time to be angry or to think about how to retaliate. She was only thinking about how to save more people's lives.

During the period when Yizhou was under lockdown, other things were not in short supply, but medicinal materials were in short supply.

There was no other way. Yizhou had a population of hundreds of thousands, and at least one-fifth of the people in the city had been infected with the epidemic. Among the sick, nearly one-third had already developed symptoms of fever.

There is no cure for the epidemic, and all the sick people can only rely on herbs to slightly alleviate the symptoms and hang on to their lives. But the number of infected people is too large, and even though Yizhou is rich, the herbs that can be used in the entire city have been consumed.

Calculating the time, it has been six or seven days since the decree to seal off the city was issued. If Su Bi acts smoothly, assistance from the court should arrive in another four or five days.

Ning Xihua listened to the coughs coming from Yu'an Hall, looked at the busy doctors, and clenched her fists.

Just push a little more, and it will be fine.

…

On this day, Ning Xihua went to Yu'an Hall to visit the patients as usual.

While waiting for Doctor Xu, she saw a little medicine boy, about eight or nine years old, decocting medicine in the yard.

Seeing the little medicine boy squatting on the ground fanning the fire in the medicine stove, she couldn't help but think of Xiao Chunhua, who was about the same age.

The medicine boy saw her staring at him in a daze, with a look of confusion on his face.

"Why is Sister Fairy looking at me like this? Did Xiao Si do something wrong?"

Ning Xihua felt even more dazed when she heard him calling her "Fairy Sister" just like Xiao Chunhua did.

She was afraid that she would scare the child, so she asked him with a smile, "Your name is Xiaosi? How come you became a medicine boy at such a young age?"

When Xiao Si saw the fairy sister asking her questions affectionately, she subconsciously took a few steps towards her, wanting to get closer to her.

"Xiao Si is an orphan, picked up by the master, so he became the master's medicine boy, but the master..."

Speaking of this, Xiao Si was about to cry.

It turned out that Xiaosi's master was one of the doctors who died of the epidemic a few days ago.

Ning Xihua sighed inwardly. She couldn't bear to see the child crying and wanted to comfort the child but didn't know where to start.

Just as she was about to reach out to wipe away Xiaosi's tears, she saw Xiaosi reaching out to her for a hug.

Ning Xihua paused for a moment, stood where she was and did not move forward.

But Xiao Si threw herself into her arms like a wronged young swallow who needed comfort, and Ning Xihua subconsciously dodged back.

Xiao Si rushed over and saw a flash of silver light in his hand. Before Ning Xihua could even scream, Huai Liu immediately stepped forward and kicked Xiao Si to the ground with the knife.

Before Ning Xihua could come to her senses, Huaichuan's scream came from behind her.

"My lord, be careful!

Ning Xihua turned around and saw Huaichuan protecting her with a dagger stuck in his waist.

The murderer turned out to be one of the guards she brought to Yu'an Hall, who had been pinned down by the other guards.

Ning Xihua was still in shock, but as soon as she came to her senses, she immediately asked someone to call Doctor Xu, and hurriedly sent Huaichuan to the treatment room.

Before Huai Liu could go forward to interrogate the two assassins, he saw them spitting out black blood and were no longer breathing.

Song Yi rushed forward in panic and supported her, "Princess, are you okay?"

Ning Xihua shook her head, "I'm fine."

Huaichuan and Huailiu reacted quickly, and the two of them didn't even touch the corner of her clothes.

She looked at Xiaosi's body with mixed feelings.

She felt something was wrong when he asked her for a hug just now.

An orphan who works as a medicine boy in a clinic should be the best at observing people's expressions and protecting himself. He has been in Yu'an Hall for so long, and he knows her identity, but he is not cowardly at all, and even dares to rush up to her. This is obviously not the behavior of an ordinary child.

But what she didn't expect was that Xiao Si was just a cover, and the real killer was hidden among her own people.

She sent all the palace soldiers and guards from Linhua Palace brought back from the capital out to help. Among the guards following her today, except Huaichuan and Huailiu, most of them were the original guards of Ning Mansion.

People would only be on guard against strangers, so how could they have thought that there would be an assassin among the guards who had been with her for so many days? In fact, because the assassin was standing too close to her, Lian Huaichuan didn't have time to stop him, and could only use his body to block the knife for her.

Ning Xihua's expression turned cold, he clenched his fists, and was filled with anger.

Good, very good.

In order to put her to death, not only double insurance was arranged, but even children aged eight or nine were not spared.

If it weren't for Huaichuan, she would probably have met Prince Yan by now.

Ning Xihua looked towards the room worriedly. The knife had stabbed him quite deeply and on his waist. She wondered if Huaichuan would be okay.

"Huai Liu, go to Ning Mansion and inform my uncle. Go with him to screen all the guards and servants in Ning Mansion again. I'm worried that there are other hidden plots."

The selection of servants in the Ning Mansion has always been very strict. With something like this happening today, I think this nail has been buried in the Ning family for a long time.

Huai Liuben paced back and forth anxiously in front of the door, and immediately accepted the order after hearing it.

"Princess, I'm going! Let Huailiu stay here to guard you." Song Yi said.

She just watched the knife stabbing towards the princess, but she could only stare with her eyes wide open. She was even one step later than Huaichuan when she reached out. Her heart was almost broken by the fright.

She now doesn't trust anyone except Huai Liu, and she doesn't know how to fight, so she really doesn't dare to let the princess stay here alone.

Ning Xihua was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, be careful."

Although the assassination attempt has passed, who knows if there will be another assassination attempt. It is always better to be cautious and keep Huai Liu by your side.