Chapter 15 Night Trial.
Jiang Fushi changed into clean clothes, her hair dry and frizzy from the fire.
She coldly observed the unconscious man on the ground and discovered that he was the farmer who had led them here.
Liu Zi said, "This person disguised himself as a farmer and deliberately approached us. His intentions are despicable. This fire must be related to him!"
"...Hmm, wake him up first, and I will question him myself."
"Wait a minute." Rongrong poked her head out, sniffed the farmer's clothes, and said with certainty, "Your Highness, I smell a special fragrance on him. It's the Qinglin Incense from the Duke of Jingguo's mansion. This incense is made with precious ingredients and ordinary people can't afford it. Only the very close attendants of Young Master Cao Zhang would wear it."
Jiang Fushi's eyes turned cold.
Are you sure?
“I’m sure! My family’s shop is rented from the Duke of Jingguo’s mansion. At the end of each month, when the steward of the mansion comes to collect the rent, Cao Zhang will personally come to inspect the accounts and show off his power. So I remember his scent very clearly, there’s no mistake.”
Lou Bingling frowned: "Why did Cao Zhang do this? Could it be retaliation for today's street conflict?"
"But isn't this incredibly audacious? If Her Highness were to meet with misfortune here, His Majesty would certainly investigate thoroughly. How can he be so confident that he can escape unscathed without leaving a trace?"
Jiang Fushi gave a cold smile in response to Lou Bingling's question.
"Perhaps in Cao Zhang's eyes, my life is so worthless. If I die, it will only be an 'accidental fire,' and no one will investigate the crime of the Empress's nephew for a princess who is insignificant in his eyes."
Lou Bingling said indignantly, "This is simply outrageous! When we get back to the capital, I will definitely tell Father everything about this!"
"It's useless. How can the Duke of Jing's grandson be swayed by the one-sided words of a mere attendant and a faint scent?"
Jiang Fushi slowly shook her head.
"They have plenty of ways to deny it, and in the end they'll just find a scapegoat to take the blame."
"Are we just going to let Cao Zhang get away with it?"
No rush.
Jiang Fushi instructed Liu Zi to take the person away and keep a close watch on them. She then ordered Zisu to bring the medicinal herbs she had bought at the pharmacy that day. She then selected Phoenix Perching Bamboo, Earth Fiend Vine, and Lingzhi Mushroom, and put them all into a copper pot to simmer over a low flame. After boiling, she filtered out the thick medicinal liquid, added a little wood ash, and rolled it into pills.
Lou Bingling looked surprised and quickly asked, "Your Highness, what are you doing?"
"It's just a prescription I saw in a medical book when I was bored. It's called the Nine-Turn Heart-Eroding Pill. After taking it, the medicine will lie dormant in the body. As long as you press your brow, you will experience palpitations and angina, as if a thousand ants are gnawing at your heart. You need to take an antidote every three days, and you have to take it nine times in a row to be completely detoxified."
"When did Your Highness read so many medical books? You have truly made great progress!"
You can't make this poison just by reading medical books; it's a skill that Jiang Fushi has accumulated and honed over time.
The pills were ready, and the farmer woke up. He was tied to a chair, his face ashen, and he was trembling like a leaf.
"I already know that your master is Cao Zhang. Tell me, why did he set the fire? And when did he arrange it?" Jiang Fushi got straight to the point, without wasting any words.
The farmer's eyes flickered, but he forced himself to remain calm: "No, no, what arson? I don't know anything about it, let alone who Cao Zhang is."
"Still trying to argue!" Liu Zi stepped forward and struck the farmer's shinbone hard with the scabbard, producing a dull thud that made one's teeth ache.
Presumably out of fear of Cao Zhang's ruthless methods, which far outweighed the immediate physical pain, the farmer gritted his teeth and refused to utter a single word despite being struck several times.
Seeing that pressing for answers was ineffective, Jiang Fushi gave Zisu a wink.
Zisu immediately stepped forward, grabbed the farmer's chin, forced him to open his mouth, quickly stuffed the pill into his mouth, and patted his chest to make him swallow.
"Still not going to talk? It's alright. You've already taken the Nine-Turn Heart-Eroding Pill. If you don't get the antidote within three days, you'll die from ruptured heart and lungs."
Upon hearing this, the farmer kept gagging and coughing, trying to vomit up the pill, but Liu Zi held him down firmly, preventing him from succeeding.
Seeing his skepticism, Jiang Fushi simply came to his side, stretched out her index finger, and pressed it hard against his forehead.
The poison instantly eroded his heart and lungs, and the farmer's piercing screams echoed throughout the entire inn.
“I’ll talk, I’ll talk… I, I’m called Cao San, and I’m Cao Zhang’s personal attendant. He was the one who disguised himself as a farmer and led Your Highness to stay at this inn. Then, in the middle of the night, he set fire to the inn and burned you to death.”
"Cao Zhang did this to vent his anger. He felt humiliated by being publicly shamed by you, so he..."
The guard wrote down the confession on paper and gave it to Cao San to sign.
"Your Highness, spare my life! Cao Zhang has given orders, and I dare not disobey! I beg Your Highness to have mercy and grant me the antidote. I am willing to serve Your Highness like a slave, doing whatever it takes!"
"really?"
"Your Highness, it is absolutely true!"
"Very well, you may return to the Duke's mansion. Pretend that tonight's events never happened. Continue to stay by Cao Zhang's side as usual. Come to the Princess's mansion in three days, and I will give you the first antidote."
"If you dare to reveal even a single word about what happened today, or if you harbor any illusions about finding another way to cure the poison, then don't blame me for sending your confession to His Majesty's desk."
Cao San was terrified by Jiang Fushi's words and knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly: "Your Highness, rest assured, I will definitely obey Your Highness's orders and would never dare to have any disloyal thoughts!"
Liu Zi grabbed Cao San by the collar and dragged him away.
The entire inn was burned beyond recognition; the rooms collapsed, and the beams and pillars were charred black, rendering it uninhabitable.
The shopkeeper lay on the ruins, crying his heart out, shouting, "It's all gone, all gone, how are we supposed to live?"
Jiang Fushi couldn't bear it, so she instructed Qingdai: "Go get some money and compensate the manager so that he can settle down and rebuild his business."
"yes."
"Your Highness, I have just checked the surroundings. There is a seemingly abandoned thatched hut next to the inn. Although it is simple, it can be temporarily sheltered from the wind and cold with a little tidying up. Please move there and rest with Miss Lou."
After a chaotic night of war, Jiang Fushi was exhausted and nodded.
"Oh, right." She turned to Lou Bingling and lowered her voice, "There's something I'd like to ask you."
"Your Highness, please give your orders."
"After returning to the capital, please find some azure flowers in secret and send them to the princess's residence."
"Okay." Lou Bingling agreed without asking any further questions.
The thatched hut was drafty.
After lighting a bonfire in the center, Zisu took out several thick woolen blankets from the carriage and spread them on the ground to make do with a bed.
The night was cold and still, with only the crackling of the campfire.
The firelight illuminated Lou Bingling's sleeping face, but Jiang Fushi tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
She sat up, wrapped in a blanket, gazing at the leaping flames. The day's dangers and heavy thoughts weighed on her mind, making it impossible for her to fall asleep.
The faint whimper made Zhan Xiao squint slightly and scan his surroundings warily.
He arrived at the hut silently, his cold gaze piercing through the darkness, instantly locking onto the figure huddled by the campfire inside.
Once he was certain that the princess had simply sat up in fright and that there was no lurking danger around, his tense muscles relaxed almost imperceptibly.
It turned out to be an owl swooping down from the top of a dead tree outside the house.
Jiang Fushi let out a heavy sigh of relief, clutching her chest, feeling as if someone was watching her.
She got up and walked towards the door.
As soon as the dilapidated wooden door opened, the cold evening wind made her clothes flutter. Patrolling guards walked back and forth not far away, but there was no one suspicious.
"Your Highness, what are your orders?" a guard asked as he stepped forward.
Has any outsider been here?
"Your Highness, there are no outsiders. We have been on duty here the whole time and have not left for even a moment."
Jiang Fushi returned to the thatched hut, sat by the campfire, and stretched out her arms to warm herself.
Looking back on what happened today, something seems illogical.
Cao Zhang suddenly kneeling before her, the fire suddenly extinguished by the wind, the strange noise that suddenly exploded in her room... it was as if someone was secretly watching her and intervening at a crucial moment.
Jiang Fushi laughed self-deprecatingly.
Who would protect a princess like her who has no power or influence?
It must be because of today's hustle and bustle, and his mind is unsettled.
She lay back down and wrapped herself tightly in the blanket. The warm campfire dispelled the night chill, and this time Jiang Fushi fell asleep soon after.
The next morning, after tidying up a bit, the group set off on their journey home.
Upon returning to the princess's residence, Jiang Fushi immediately washed the red mangoes carefully, dried them in the sun, then crushed them with a jade pestle and stored them in a sealed porcelain bottle.
Then he instructed Rongrong to pick out three qian of snake saliva grass and two qian of bone-rotting flower from the collected medicinal herbs, and to dig up a handful of damp soil from a corner of the garden, put the soil into the stove and bake it until it turned black and ash.
Rongrong was quick and efficient, and could accurately distinguish the quality of medicinal herbs. After a flurry of activity, she was extremely efficient, making Jiang Fushi feel even more that saving her was the right decision.
They worked on it until sunset.
By grinding it together with the previously prepared medicinal ash, a rare poison called Azure Dew Powder can be made.
This poison has a pungent taste, but also a sweet aroma reminiscent of tea.
In the early stages of poisoning, one may experience alternating sensations of cold and heat, accompanied by temporary weakness and fatigue in the limbs.
In the later stages, the poison penetrates into the bone marrow, causing muscle spasms, bone pain, as if someone is gnawing at the bones, and even the skin gradually becomes dry and dull, and the hair falls out.
Until they were completely exhausted, emaciated and died.
When Cao San returned to the Duke of Jingguo's mansion, Cao Zhang was lying on the bed with a pale face, his right arm wrapped in thick gauze, with faint traces of blood seeping out.
He knelt down in front of the bed with a thud, feigning extreme fear.
"Second Master, Young Master, I was so flustered last night that I lost my footing and fell down the hillside, losing consciousness and delaying my return. Please forgive me, Young Master!"
"You weren't discovered by Princess Yuhe's people, were you?" Cao Zhang turned his head to look at him with difficulty.
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