Chapter 179 Inviting the Enemy into the Trap
Chu Jichen's lips curled up uncontrollably.
Looking at Shen Qingci's radiant and ingenious demeanor, he felt his heart filled with an unprecedented sense of satisfaction and pride.
He couldn't help but reach out and gently pat the empty spot on the bed, his voice husky with a hint of seduction: "Qingqing, you've really had a hard day. Come here, lie down and rest for a while."
Shen Qingci glanced at the still bright sky outside the window and was somewhat speechless.
Sleep? Now?
Chu Jichen had already reached out and pulled her over in a way that left no room for resistance.
Shen Qingci stumbled and fell directly into his broad and warm embrace, lying on top of him.
Immediately, she clearly felt that the body beneath her, which should have been "weak," was actually... reacting with unusual excitement!
Shen Qingci: "..."
She looked up helplessly, meeting his phoenix eyes brimming with laughter, and said through gritted teeth, "Your Highness, are you still 'poisoned'? Is this play... still going to be performed?"
Upon hearing this, Chu Jichen chuckled softly.
“I can’t help it,” he said innocently, but his hand was restlessly caressing her waist. “My body reacts instinctively whenever it touches you.”
“Fortunately,” he changed the subject, leaning close to her ear and whispering intimately, “just now in the palace, you only held my hand. If… you were holding me like this now, then… we would really be exposed.”
He kissed her cheek, his voice filled with tender affection: "My body will always... be most loyal to you alone."
Shen Qingci's ears burned from his words, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes.
She didn't believe him at all, taking it as sweet talk. She glanced at him and deliberately said, "That's good. From now on, if Your Highness tries to fake death or unconsciousness again, I will use this method to test you. Maybe... we'll know the truth after a test."
"Hehe..." Chu Jichen laughed so hard his chest was shaking. "The princess is absolutely right."
Shen Qingci didn't take the matter too seriously.
Although she knew Chu Jichen was alright, he was still trapped in the palace, and a heavy weight was always on her mind.
Now that the weight has finally been lifted, an indescribable sense of exhaustion instantly washes over me.
She lay beside him, inhaling his reassuring, cool scent, and unknowingly drifted off to sleep.
Chu Jichen stared quietly at her peaceful sleeping face for a long, long time before slowly lowering his head and placing a precious kiss on her soft hair.
...
The next morning, Shen Qingci had just gotten up and hadn't even had her meal when the steward rushed over to report.
"Your Highness, someone from the Prime Minister's residence has arrived and is currently waiting in the front hall. They say... they absolutely must see you."
Shen Qingci raised an eyebrow.
So fast?
She asked, "Who is it?"
“Your Highness,” the steward said with a strange expression, “it is… the Prime Minister’s wife and Liu Ruolan.”
Liu Ruolan?
interesting.
With these thoughts in mind, Shen Qingci took Wanqing and went to the front hall together.
As expected, the Prime Minister's wife and Liu Ruolan were sitting in the hall, both with somber expressions and dark circles under their eyes, clearly having not slept all night.
Upon seeing Shen Qingci enter, the Prime Minister's wife disregarded even the most basic etiquette and went straight to the point, demanding in a stern voice, "Regent's Consort! What kind of deadly poison did you give the Prime Minister yesterday? Hand over the antidote at once!"
Shen Qingci looked completely innocent and bewildered: "I don't understand what you're saying, Madam."
"What I administered was, of course... the poison that the Prime Minister originally intended to administer to the Regent."
“Now,” she sighed, her face full of “worry,” “the prince is still unconscious. The poison has not yet been cured.”
"You're lying!" Liu Ruolan suddenly stood up from her seat and retorted sharply, "The poison my father suffered from is definitely not the same as the Regent's!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingci's eyes instantly turned cold, and a mocking smile curled at the corner of her lips: "Oh? So, Miss Liu admits that your father... did indeed poison the Regent?"
"That's wonderful!" Her voice suddenly rose. "This princess will go to the palace immediately and beg Your Majesty... to do justice for the prince!"
"you!"
"Ruolan!" Upon seeing this, the Prime Minister's wife quickly grabbed Liu Ruolan, who was speaking recklessly, and forced a sheepish smile: "Your Highness, please calm down. That's not what my daughter meant. She was just... just too worried about her father, and in her haste, she spoke without thinking."
Shen Qingci's gaze remained icy: "All the officials present can testify to what happened that day! The teacup and the so-called ink powder were both found on the Prime Minister's accomplices! I, the Princess Consort, also drank that cup of tea in front of everyone!"
"As for what poison the Prime Minister has been afflicted with, perhaps only he himself knows the answer!"
"My lord has not yet awakened. If the Prime Minister refuses to hand over the antidote, then this princess consort... will certainly pursue this matter to the end!"
The Prime Minister's wife's face also turned completely cold: "So, the Princess Consort is determined... not to hand over the antidote?"
"I, the princess, have no antidote."
The Prime Minister's wife gritted her teeth, a struggle flashing in her eyes. There was no point in continuing to entangle with Shen Qingci.
Shen Qingci insisted that she did not have the antidote, and if she did not relent, her master would not be able to wake up...
The old man is the pillar of the family; we can't afford for anything to happen to him.
Shen Qingci poisoned her master, most likely because of the poison in Chu Jichen's body.
She might as well be more direct and discuss a deal with Shen Qingci.
Thinking of this, she slowly spoke up: "Your Highness, we can... make a deal."
"Ahem, although my master did not poison the Regent, my Prime Minister's residence also employs several highly skilled physicians, who should be able to... detoxify the Prince."
“I can have someone send the Prime Minister’s physician over to examine and treat the prince.”
"Similarly, I've heard that Physician Li of the Regent's Palace possesses extraordinary medical skills. I would also like to... borrow Physician Li to examine my master."
Shen Qingci slowly lowered her eyes.
Everything was exactly as she had predicted.
As expected, the Prime Minister's wife proposed exchanging medicine for medicine.
Unfortunately, Liu Wenyuan ultimately... made a wrong move.
How could his men possibly know that Chu Jichen... had never been poisoned by them at all?
Trying to use the poison in Chu Jichen's body to control her won't work.
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