Chapter 597 My Husband Has Undergone a Small Change
Doctor Xu lowered his voice and said slowly, "Let me tell you slowly. There were eighteen of us who went into the woods that day, but only ten survived. The other eight got separated from us, and when we found them, they were all poisoned. I tried everything I could, but I was powerless to help them."
"Later, before they died, they told me that they were poisoned because they fell into a flower bed."
Lu Yan raised his eyes, "A flowerbed?"
“That’s right, it was the flower bushes. The flowers were very beautiful, bright red, like human blood, and very fragrant. They were poisoned because they smelled the fragrance.” Doctor Xu continued, “Their symptoms were exactly the same as His Highness’s. I think the two assassins must have used this flower to make poison and coated it on their arrows.”
Lu Yan's eyes lit up with joy. "It seems that as long as we find the person who made the poison, we can find the assassin. Doctor Xu, besides Qilin Mountain, are there any other places with this kind of flower?"
Doctor Xu shook his head. "It only grows on Qilin Mountain, and everyone who has seen this flower is dead. I only learned about it from those who were dying. I don't know what this flower actually looks like."
Lu Yan pondered for a moment, "It seems to you that we need to go to Qilin Mountain."
He turned to look at Doctor Xu, "Doctor Xu, you just said that what the shopkeeper said might not be true. How did you come to that conclusion?"
Doctor Xu raised his head and said, "It's because of this flower. Just smelling its fragrance can poison you, let alone carrying arrows coated with poison. These two assassins are either immune to all poisons or they have antidotes. If the innkeeper really saw them enter the inn, he's probably already poisoned and on his way to the underworld."
"Is this poison really that potent?" Lu Yan asked in surprise.
Doctor Xu waved his hand and said, "Of course, it's already a miracle that His Highness survived."
Lu Yan sorted out his words and slowly said, "It seems that the innkeeper did not see the assassin enter the inn at all. He lied to us."
Doctor Xu nodded slightly. "That's right. I think he probably didn't want to get into trouble, so he made up two people and asked you to investigate them, so he could stay out of it."
Lu Yan slammed his hand on the rattan chair next to him. "He really has a lot of nerve, making us all happy for nothing."
Doctor Xu continued, "But it's not all just empty hope. At least now we can confirm that the poison came from Qilin Mountain. Qilin Mountain is on the border of the Southern Barbarians, so I think it's still related to the Southern Barbarians."
Lu Yan's eyes darkened, as if he had been awakened.
"So their target that day was never Ruiyuan, but Wanchun?!"
Doctor Xu was not very knowledgeable about court affairs, so he didn't feel comfortable continuing the conversation.
Lu Yan clenched his right fist and slapped it against his left palm. "That's right, that's exactly how it is. But I don't understand why the Southern Barbarians wanted to kill Wan Chun. Wan Chun was just an ordinary peasant woman in Changliu Village. Even though she later became the manager of the Zhou family and started a rice and incense shop business in Cheng'an County, it has nothing to do with the Southern Barbarians!"
Doctor Xu shook his head. "I don't know about that."
Lu Yan gradually recovered from his shock, looked up at Zhou Ruiyuan's bedroom door, and sighed, "I'll talk to Ruiyuan and Wanchun in detail after Ruiyuan's injuries have healed."
Doctor Xu followed his gaze and looked over, "For now, this is the only way."
Lu Yan did not stay in the palace for long and immediately returned to his residence to interrogate the shopkeeper again.
Just as Doctor Xu had said, the shopkeeper had never seen a man and a woman wearing black straw hats.
The inn operated as usual that day, and no suspicious people were seen.
Because there was nothing suspicious, the shopkeeper was even more afraid that the Crown Prince would blame him, so he came up with a plan to fabricate two people at random.
Lu Yan was furious. He sent men to beat up the shopkeeper and lock him up. Then, without telling anyone, he immediately sent two trusted men to Qilin Mountain to see if the deadly poisonous flower that Doctor Xu had mentioned actually existed there.
As soon as Zhou Ruiyuan woke up, Aunt Zhou and the Third Prince arrived.
Inside the bedchamber, Du Wanchun slowly emerged from Zhou Ruiyuan's embrace, raising her eyes to look at him with a serious expression. "Ruiyuan, in the future, no matter what happens, never do it the way it was that day."
"Like what? To shield you from arrows?" Zhou Ruiyuan reached out and cupped her cheek, asking softly.
His hands were large, and his palms were very soft and warm. Du Wanchun's face was nestled in them, and her heart followed Ruan Ruan.
She reached out and placed her hand on the back of his hand, responding softly with a serious expression, "Mmm..."
Just one word, yet it revealed her deep heartache.
Zhou Ruiyuan lowered his head and gently kissed her forehead. "I can agree to anything you've asked me to do, but there's one thing I won't agree to."
Du Wanchun's eyes widened in surprise.
Before she could object, Zhou Ruiyuan kissed her lips.
His kiss was gentle, soft as a spring drizzle. His fingers, cupping her cheeks, tightened slightly, filled with a strong possessiveness. But as his heart raced, the kiss deepened, causing Du Wanchun's cheeks to flush and her heart to pound.
She could only tilt her head back to meet his kiss, and couldn't help but reach out and hug him tightly.
During the kiss, Du Wanchun didn't sense Zhou Ruiyuan's weakness due to poisoning at all; on the contrary, she felt an indescribable strength from him.
Without thinking too much about it, she was overjoyed to see that he was much better.
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