The man turned around at the sound and saw Su Hua and her maid getting off the carriage. His eyes lit up slightly. "Greetings, Princess Protector of the Nation."
"Your Highness, the Prince of War." Su Hua nodded in greeting.
Her gaze fell on the man's bloodshot eyes. This was their second meeting. At the banquet last night, they were quite far apart and couldn't see him clearly. Now that they were closer, she finally understood why Xiao Zichen had mistaken Zichen for his father that day.
However, his aged appearance was truly alarming.
Before he was even forty, he had a full head of white hair, and his face and figure were not what one would expect for someone his age.
However, Su Hua had come here on important business. She shook her head to suppress her surprise and was about to step into the mansion when she saw Xiao Hongyu bow deeply and say, "I am here to thank the Princess Protector of the Nation."
"Where does Your Highness's gratitude come from?" Su Hua quickly took a step back.
The man wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes. "Your Highness deserves this thanks. Your family has always taken good care of Chen'er, which is a great kindness to me."
Su Hua's almond-shaped eyes flickered slightly. "Your Highness has been to Shanghe Village?"
"Yes." Xiao Hongyu nodded. "It's just that I was a step too late and couldn't make it in time."
And he has always been unwilling to see him.
Su Hua's feelings were complicated. A person's eyes don't lie. His eyes were filled with a mixture of gloom and expectation. When he mentioned Zi Chen, his eyes turned red. If that was the case, then what about all the things that happened in the past? Did he not know anything about them?
As they approached the pharmacy in the manor, they heard Old Xue's voice, "Girl, come and see quickly, this is the stone under the cat's grass after it has been refined."
Su Hua looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Elder Xue was holding a small bowl of red and yellow medicinal powder. At his feet were two silent mice.
Old Xue rubbed his messy hair, his face looking rather grim. "Girl, this stone is truly poisonous. I only used a tiny bit of powder, and the rats died instantly. Is this the thallium ore you mentioned the other day?"
"We still need to verify a few things." Su Hua pursed her lips. "Is there any catnip here?"
"Yes." Xiao Jinhan nodded and ordered Yu Yu to bring over a pot of cat grass.
Su Hua scooped two spoonfuls of medicinal powder and placed them in the pot of cat's foot grass. She then poured some water on it. The cat's foot grass, which was originally just an ordinary plant, visibly changed its appearance. The petals gradually changed from pink to seven colors, and each of the seven colors had a different face.
It was exactly the same as what Granny Zhao had said that day.
Xiao Jinhan stared at the seven-colored cat's face and the dead rat on the ground, his eyes cold and devoid of any warmth. "Is he still at the door?"
Yu Feng: "Yes, Prince Zhan has been guarding the gate ever since the birthday celebration last night."
Upon hearing this, the man picked up the cat-faced creature and strode towards the door.
At the gate of the mansion, Xiao Hongyu looked up at the sound of footsteps. His dark eyes suddenly shone with an alarming light. His lips moved for a long time before he finally found his voice, "Chen'er! You've finally agreed to see your father..."
"Give this pot of cat's foot grass to Consort Qu."
Xiao Jinhan remained unmoved, put down the catnip, turned and left, "Yu Feng and Yu Yu, immediately buy all the thallium ore in the capital, I want to give Princess Zhan a grand gift!"
"Thallium ore?" Xiao Hongyu was completely confused, but he immediately recognized the brightly blooming flowers at his feet as Ah Heng's favorite plants when she was alive.
Ever since Ah Heng left, all of Ah Heng's belongings were taken away by Prince Gong's Mansion, leaving not even a single needle or thread behind.
He once wanted to buy a pot of the same cat's foot grass to remember it, but he couldn't find it no matter where he went.
The man gazed at the vibrant petals, his nose stinging with tears. Finally, he could no longer hold back, and tears welled up in his eyes, falling like beads from a broken string.
At the Zhan Prince's residence, Consort Qu was eagerly waiting at the courtyard gate.
Over the years, whenever she and Cong'er attended palace banquets, they would always incur the emperor's displeasure and be punished or reprimanded. After a while, she figured out the trick and stopped trying to provoke him.
But last night was the Emperor's birthday, and the Prince did not return home.
Her heart was pounding wildly, wondering if the two had already recognized each other.
Just as they were getting anxious, they finally saw that familiar figure appear and hurriedly went to greet him, "Your Highness, you've finally returned!"
Halfway through her sentence, she noticed the catnip in the man's arms, stumbled, and fell to the ground in fright.
Xiao Hongyu narrowed his eyes slightly. "I remember, eighteen years ago, you gave Aheng a pot of cat's foot grass, which looks exactly like this one."
"No! I never sent it!" Qu Feiqing denied it without even thinking.
It wasn't until a sharp pain struck that she regained some clarity, and she quickly added with a smile, "What I meant was that the pot I gave to my sister at the time, although similar to this one, was certainly not the same one."
Eighteen years have passed; the catnip must have long since withered.
"Is that so?" the man said in a deep voice. "Then why were you so flustered when you saw this catnip just now?"
Qu Feiqing bit her lip, her face aggrieved. "What are you saying, Your Highness? I waited here all night for Your Highness. I was so happy to finally see you that I accidentally fell."
Xiao Hongyu's eyes darkened slightly, and he was unsure why Chen'er had given him the catnip.
At this moment, a personal attendant entered the courtyard and said, "Your Highness, the Grand Princess has sent this note and a box of letters."
Xiao Hongyu took the note and slowly unfolded it. On it was written a line of small characters: Thallium ore, which can change color, is poisonous upon contact, and there is no cure.
A chill ran down the man's spine. He hurriedly opened the letter box, and the three characters 'Qu Feiqing' at the bottom of the letter caught his eye.
Upon learning the news at Prince Gong's Mansion, Yu Xiao was so enraged that he fainted. Fortunately, he took the ginseng pills that Su Hua had sent earlier, which saved him from a stroke.
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