Chapter 173 Liquidation
All eyes were fixed on the strange, spreading black vein on Chu Jichen's body!
"Oh my god! It's...it's almost to my heart!" Someone let out a terrified scream, instantly shattering the already tense atmosphere in the side hall!
Shen Qingci remained as still as a statue, protecting Chu Jichen, but her hands, clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white, had already betrayed the turmoil in her heart.
Just when she was about to give up and wanted to throw the troublesome imperial physician out of the way, a series of hurried and chaotic footsteps finally came from outside the hall!
"Get out of the way! All of you, get out of the way!"
Yuanbao practically dragged, half-carried, the panting Physician Li through the crowd!
When Shen Qingci saw Physician Li, her heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally calmed down a little.
She secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly stepped aside, saying, "Physician Li! Quick! Quickly examine the Prince!"
The imperial physician who had been there earlier stood aside, his face full of displeasure. He stroked his beard and said in a condescending manner, "I have already diagnosed it clearly. The prince has been poisoned with the rare poison, Zhuxian San."
"The poison is about to reach your heart. If you can take the antidote immediately, there is still a glimmer of hope. If you delay any longer... it will truly be too late!"
Physician Li seemed not to have heard him at all, and walked straight to the wheelchair, solemnly taking Chu Jichen's pulse.
Just then, another exclamation erupted from the crowd: "The black line... the black line is already at his heart!"
Shen Qingci's heart jumped into her throat again!
She bit her lip hard, forcing herself to remain calm and not daring to urge him, for fear of disturbing Physician Li's judgment.
After an unknown amount of time, Physician Li slowly raised his head.
He glanced lightly at the imperial physician, then took out a whole set of silver needles of different sizes and lengths from his medicine box!
Without the slightest hesitation, he tore open Chu Jichen's shirt, his movements as swift as lightning and as steady as a rock. In an instant, he had inserted a ring of silver needles into several major acupoints around Chu Jichen's heart meridian!
Then, he solemnly instructed Yuanbao, "Lift the prince onto the bed and let his right arm hang naturally over the edge of the bed!"
Yuanbao immediately stepped forward, picked up Chu Jichen steadily, and settled him down.
Physician Li took a clean white porcelain teacup and placed it on the ground, directly opposite Chu Jichen's lowered hand.
Immediately, he pulled a sharp dagger from his boot, heated it over the candle flame, and without hesitation, slashed a deep gash into Chu Jichen's middle fingertip!
Drops of jet-black blood immediately dripped from the wound into the teacup below.
Shen Qingci keenly noticed that the black thread that was about to spread to Chu Jichen's heart actually... retreated slightly the moment the black blood flowed out!
"This is..." Someone immediately noticed this phenomenon and exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be... that they are trying to stop the spread of the poison by bleeding it out?"
Upon seeing this, the imperial physician raised an eyebrow slightly and let out a disdainful sneer: "This is utter nonsense!"
"The toxin has already entered his bloodstream and is circulating throughout his body via his qi and blood. Now it's about to attack his heart! You want to stop it by bloodletting? Unless... you drain all the blood from his entire body, don't you?"
Immediately, other officials nodded in agreement: "Yes! Poison entering the heart is dangerous, but it may not necessarily kill immediately. But if a person bleeds out... then I'm afraid even a god couldn't save them!"
"Why use such a dangerous method when there is an antidote available?"
"Shut up, all of you!" Shen Qingci turned around abruptly, her crimson phoenix eyes filled with chilling killing intent!
"Guards!" she shouted sternly, "Get all these noisy people out of here!"
Liu Wenyuan glanced at her and Chu Jichen, whose life hung in the balance on the bed, a glint of light flashing in his eyes. He nodded to the people behind him, and the group filed out.
But as soon as they reached the door, Shen Qingci's icy voice rang out again:
"stop!"
Everyone instinctively stopped in their tracks and looked at her in confusion.
Liu Wenyuan frowned and sneered, "The Regent's Consort told us to leave, then told us to stop. Could it be... that she really sees us as puppets to be manipulated at will?"
"Although you are the Regent's wife, you... shouldn't be so presumptuous?"
"I only told you to leave," Shen Qingci sneered, her gaze sweeping sharply across the faces of everyone present like a hawk's, "but I did not... tell you to take anything from this hall!"
"Your Highness, you were poisoned right under the noses of so many of you! The poison was most likely administered to something in this hall!"
"I am currently busy treating the Prince's poison and have no time to investigate in detail. But that doesn't mean... I won't investigate!"
"Everyone who was inside the palace when the Prince was poisoned, please wait outside! I will question you all later!"
Her gaze suddenly sharpened, fixing intently on an inconspicuous official in the crowd!
“My lord,” she sneered, “what are you holding in your hand? Why are you taking the teacups out of the hall?”
The official trembled violently when she called his name!
He quickly lowered his head, looking at the teacup he had picked up without realizing it, and hurriedly explained, "This humble official... this humble official was only worried about Your Highness's safety, and for a moment... for a moment I forgot that I was holding a teacup..."
As he spoke, he quickly put the teacup back on the table.
Shen Qingci's gaze then turned to another person.
Upon seeing this, the man immediately spread his hands and hurriedly explained, "Your Highness, please understand! This official... this official did not take anything!"
"Is that so?" Shen Qingci nodded, and actually stepped forward, walking step by step, to the person in front of him.
She instructed Yunlan behind her, "Bring me some paper."
Then, to everyone's astonishment, she grabbed the official's hand!
He used a clean piece of white paper to gently scrape under his neatly trimmed nails!
Some fine black powder, as fine as dust, slowly settled onto the snow-white paper.
Shen Qingci slowly raised her head, her clear eyes filled with icy coldness.
She looked at the official before her, whose face had already turned deathly pale, and said calmly, "Then, sir, could you... explain to this princess what... is hidden under your fingernails?"
Although she had been keeping an eye on Chu Jichen's situation, she could clearly see out of the corner of her eye that he had looked at his fingernails several times. Almost instinctively, he hid his hands back in his sleeves whenever she looked over.
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