Chapter 262 Consort Duan learns she has been poisoned
Master Fang has always treated the Zhou family well, and now that he is getting old, he doesn't care much about the family's wealth.
When he heard that Du Wanchun had arrived, he immediately sent servants to welcome them in.
Du Wanchun followed the servant inside, and upon seeing Master Fang, bowed and said, "Master Fang."
Master Fang quickly stood up and said, "Wanchun, you are now the wife of the county magistrate. How can you bow to me? I should be the one bowing to you."
Du Wanchun smiled slowly and said, "Master Fang, you are an elder, so it is I who should bow to you."
Master Fang welcomed her into the house, and then had the servants serve her two cups of the finest tea.
Zhang Qiuhe sat beside them without any restraint, listening to Du Wanchun and Master Fang's conversation.
"Wanchun, what brings you to my residence today?" Master Fang asked with a smile.
Du Wanchun took a few fruits from the basket in his hand, placed them on the table, and said, "Master Fang, my newly purchased estate has yielded a lot of fruit. I thought I couldn't finish eating them all, so I'm taking them out to sell."
When Master Fang saw the fruit she took out, he was immediately delighted. "Wanchun, how did you know that our Fang family was short of fruit?"
Du Wanchun asked with a puzzled smile, "What does Master Fang mean?"
Master Fang said slowly, "My eldest son runs a fruit business in the capital. He usually supplies the palace and some high-ranking officials with fruit. However, this year his orchard suffered a disaster and the harvest was poor. We are short of fruit!"
Du Wanchun's eyes also lit up with joy. "Master Fang, that's perfect! We can sell our fruit to you. These fruits aren't fully ripe yet, but they'll be fine to load onto a boat and travel by water to the capital!"
Master Fang nodded repeatedly as he listened, “That’s right, Wanchun, you’ve really done us a huge favor. If we hadn’t delivered the fruit to the palace on time this time, the Emperor would have blamed us, and our Fang family would have been finished.”
Du Wanchun comforted him, saying, "Master Fang, there's no need to rush now. Our most urgent task is to pick the fruit and transport it over as soon as possible. Otherwise, if we delay for a few more days, the fruit will probably spoil."
Master Fang nodded repeatedly.
Du Wanchun did not mention the price first.
Master Fang immediately gave her two hundred taels of silver, and promised to give her another two hundred taels after all the fruit was transported to the capital.
Du Wanchun agreed to everything.
Master Fang immediately sent people to Du Wanchun's new estate to pick fruit.
The orchard was very large, and more than fifty people were sent there. They picked fruit for three or four days. To be on the safe side, Mr. Fang specially sent people to move all the ice from his ice cellar over there.
On the fifth day, they were transported together to the capital.
Traveling by water was much faster than riding a horse, and they arrived in the capital in less than five days.
This time, Master Fang personally led a group to the capital, arranged for the unloading of the goods, and delivered the fruit to the palace and some high-ranking officials as quickly as possible.
After delivering the goods, Mr. Fang breathed a sigh of relief.
"The Zhou family's fruit is really good; it hasn't spoiled at all during the entire journey."
The fruit they brought this time not only looked good, but also tasted delicious.
It bumped and bruised along the way, but it didn't break.
When they were served to the emperor's table, each one was bright red and looked incredibly delicious.
He even specially selected a few and sent them to Consort Duan.
After taking the medicine secretly administered by the Emperor, Consort Duan's health deteriorated. Previously, she only vomited blood, but now she is bedridden.
She thought she was just sick and had no idea that the emperor had poisoned her.
She was very happy to see the fruit sent by the emperor. She couldn't eat it at first, but she forced herself to eat two bites.
After these two bites and a foot of rice, Consort Duan's appetite improved, and she even ate a bowl of rice in the evening.
However, at night, Consort Duan began to have frequent dreams.
She dreamed of the late emperor, the concubines she had killed one by one, and finally, she dreamed of Granny Zhou.
When she saw Aunt Zhou, she was overjoyed, "You died too, didn't you? Didn't you?!"
In the dream, Aunt Zhou smiled slightly, then hugged a little girl, "My dear granddaughter~"
Consort Duan suddenly woke up, then broke out in a cold sweat.
She, who had been unable to walk a few days ago, suddenly felt full of strength. She called out twice, but when no one responded, she got up to find a palace maid and asked for a drink of water.
Just then, she noticed a palace maid emptying the dregs of medicine.
She smelled something amiss with the dregs of the medicine and quickly asked the palace maid, "What kind of medicine is this?!"
The palace maid was startled. "Your Highness, this is the medicine you usually take."
Consort Duan, who had some medical knowledge, quickly squatted down, picked up the dregs of the medicine, and smelled them. "No, this is poison! Someone has given me poison to drink!"
Normally, they would add honey to the medicine to mask its effects in order to get Consort Duan to drink it, but now the medicine residue had a very strong smell that was hard to conceal.
The palace maid immediately knelt down without replying.
Consort Duan stepped forward and grabbed her by the neck, asking, "Who told you to do this?"
The palace maid was terrified and stammered out the word "Emperor".
Upon hearing this, Consort Duan was shocked and exclaimed, "How could it be him?!"
Her face was full of confusion, then hatred surged up, and she was so agitated that she coughed up a mouthful of blood and fainted.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
