Chapter 208 Young Madam, it's time to take your medicine!
She looked up when she heard the knocking.
The door was pushed open.
Li Ma walked in carrying a tray, her head down, not daring to look Su Yue in the eye.
"Young Madam, it's time to take your medicine."
Su Yue looked at the tray in her hand, at the bowl of dark brown herbal soup that was still steaming, her eyes calm and unwavering.
But in her mind, a dangerous aura a hundred times stronger than before had already locked onto that bowl of soup.
[The concentration of aconitine derivatives exceeded the limit by 300%.]
[High concentrations of the active ingredient "safflower" were detected, which, when combined with the "angelica" component in the herbal decoction, will produce a strong uterine contraction effect, expected to induce premature labor and massive hemorrhage within thirty minutes.]
Su Yue put down the medical book in her hand, raised her head, and looked at her quietly.
She neither took the bowl of the medicinal soup that smelled strongly of medicine, nor did she say anything.
The room was eerily quiet, with only the monotonous ticking of the second hand of the wall clock, each tick like a blow to Li Ma's heart.
Li Ma felt uneasy under her gaze, and her hands holding the tray trembled even more violently, causing a few drops of soup to spill onto the tray.
"Young Madam?"
Su Yue finally spoke, her voice calm and without any emotion.
"Sister Li, you've been with the Gu family for over ten years. My mother-in-law has treated you well, hasn't she?"
This seemingly ordinary question struck Li Ma like a heavy blow.
Her body jolted, and the tray in her hands nearly fell to the ground with a clatter.
"Young...Young Madam, what are you saying? The Old Madam is of course very kind to me..."
Li Ma's face turned deathly pale in an instant. Her lips trembled as she desperately tried to force a smile, but it looked worse than crying.
"Is that so?" Su Yue smiled lightly, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "Since I've treated you well, why did you harm me?"
"What's in this soup?"
The last sentence, though spoken in a calm tone, was like a thunderclap in Li Ma's ears.
"I didn't! Young Madam, you can't wrong me!"
Like a cat whose tail has been stepped on, Li's mother screamed instantly and vehemently denied it.
"The old lady personally oversaw the brewing of this medicine. I just brought it in; what could I possibly put in it? I didn't!"
She pinned all her hopes on Zhang Huilan, trying to use her as a shield.
Su Yue watched her clumsy performance, a cold smile appearing on her lips.
"Yeah?"
She slowly took out a small paper package wrapped in a handkerchief from under her pillow.
Under Li Ma's horrified gaze, she slowly opened the paper package and poured some grayish-brown powder onto the white porcelain plate on the bedside table.
"This is the powder of plantain root and stem. It is cold in nature, colorless and odorless, and extremely difficult to detect when mixed into decoction."
Su Yue's voice was not loud, but every word was clear, like the most precise scalpel, dissecting Li Ma's last pretense inch by inch.
"Plantago asiatica itself is not fatal, but it clashes with Atractylodes macrocephala in the formula for preventing miscarriage. Atractylodes macrocephala strengthens the spleen and replenishes qi, consolidates the foundation and prevents miscarriage, but when it comes into contact with a large dose of plantago asiatica, its medicinal properties will be completely reversed, turning into a potent drug that can cause pregnant women to experience uterine contractions and miscarriage within half an hour, or even massive bleeding."
"Sister Li, are you still going to try to deny it?"
Li Ma stared blankly at the plate of powder, listening to Su Yue's words, which sounded like a verdict, her mind completely blank.
How could she know?
How could she possibly know so much! She even explained the incompatible properties of the medicines perfectly!
That's impossible!
She was just an old woman from the countryside. She didn't know anything about pharmacology. All she knew was that the packet of powder Yun Chao gave her could make Su Yue's baby fall out!
Fear, like an icy tide, instantly engulfed her from the ground up.
Her last line of defense crumbled completely under the all-knowing, calm gaze of Su Yue.
"Thump!"
Li Ma's legs went weak, and she knelt heavily on the ground. The tray in her hands fell to the ground, the soup bowl shattered, and dark brown medicine spilled all over the floor.
"Young Madam! I was wrong! I'm not human! I deserve to die!"
She wept bitterly, slapping herself hard across the face as she spoke.
"It's...it's someone who forced me! They kidnapped my son! My good-for-nothing son gambles and owes a huge debt. They said if I don't do what they say, they'll chop off my son's hand!"
"I really didn't mean to! I didn't want to kill anyone! Please, I beg you, spare me this time!"
Li Ma knelt on the ground, crawling to grab Su Yue's trouser leg, crying her heart out.
So that's how it is.
Using the lives of family members as a threat is the most insidious act.
Su Yue looked at Li Ma, who was crying her eyes out, without a trace of sympathy.
There is always a reason why someone is pitiful.
"The person who instructed you is named Yun Chao, right?" Su Yue asked coldly.
Li Ma was terrified, staring at Su Yue as if she had seen a ghost, and even forgot to cry.
How did she even know that?!
At that very moment.
"Squeak—"
The door to the room was pushed open from the outside.
A tall, imposing figure, exuding an aura of coldness, walked in.
It's Gu Beichen.
Didn't he go to the port?
Li Ma's heart skipped a beat.
Gu Beichen didn't even glance at Li Ma kneeling on the ground. He went straight to Su Yue's bedside, took off his coat, which was still damp with the chill of the night dew, and wrapped Su Yue in his arms.
"It's all resolved."
His voice was deep and steady, carrying a reassuring power.
Su Yue then realized that there were two armed guards following behind him.
"The port explosion..."
“A feint.” Gu Beichen smoothed the stray hairs from her forehead. “Their target has always been this place.”
It turns out that from the moment Huo Shouzhen informed Elena that her men had entered the port, a trap had already been quietly set.
The port explosion was merely a deliberate opening they deliberately created for the enemy, designed to draw everyone's attention and force the lurking rats to emerge.
Gu Beichen didn't go far at all; he stayed with his men, guarding outside the courtyard.
He walked up to Li Ma, who was kneeling on the ground, and looked down at her.
Then, he took a small tape recorder out of his pocket and pressed play.
"...My sister said we need to see results within three days. Otherwise, your precious son won't just have a broken arm or leg..."
From the tape recorder came a man's vulgar and ruthless voice, followed by Li Ma's suppressed sobs and pleas.
It was her conversation with Yun Chao's men that day!
The evidence is irrefutable.
When Li Ma heard her own voice on the tape recorder, the last trace of color drained from her face, and she collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud.
It's over.
Everything is over.
"take away."
Gu Beichen coldly uttered two words.
Two guards immediately stepped forward, one on each side, and helped up Li Ma, who was already in a daze.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com