Chapter 658 Each with their own ulterior motives
The door creaked shut in front of them.
Xiao Yuanshan's eyes were filled with coldness, but his smile deepened. He sat down in the armchair brought by the palace servants, took a sip of hot tea, and said in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, "Fellow colleagues, you have seen commoners fighting over food, but have you ever seen royalty killing each other? Today, I will invite you to watch a grand show."
Clearly, all the palace officials had been brought to the gate by him.
Wang Yong, Grand Tutor Fang, and Jiang Ren, among others, were all being escorted by soldiers.
Grand Secretary Zhang, Lord Xie, and their entourage, along with Xiao Yuanshan's close ministers, have now also been granted the Grand Master's chair and are sitting comfortably in it.
Facing the angry glares of the crowd, Xiao Yuanshan's eyes turned cold again, but he smiled and said, "Waiting like this is too boring. Why don't we make a bet? But, everyone, you'll have to put up some stakes."
As he spoke, looking at the indignant Jiang Ren, a cruel smile curled at the corner of his lips: "Let's start with Lord Jiang."
Meanwhile, inside the house, Jiang Nuanzhi and the others watched as the door locked the last ray of light outside.
It was a snowy day, and the palace became even darker.
Jiang Nuanzhi frowned, and almost everyone's eyes were fixed on Xuan Ting.
Like a pack of jackals and tigers eyeing a lamb in the dark.
Taking a breath and calming himself down, he saw smoke pouring in from all directions through the window and knew that Xiao Yuanshan was definitely up to his old tricks again.
Although we don't know what he's planning to do now, it's unlikely to be anything good.
Luckily, I managed to steal a lot of antidote pills from the old man yesterday. He wasn't stingy at all; he opened a big bottle and distributed them directly: "These are for preventing poisoning, take one each!"
She now has two guardians, Azure Dragon and Black Tortoise, by her side, along with two bodyguards, Li San and Li Jiu. Add to that Xuan Ting, his two assassins, and An Dehai; with so many people involved, the bottle is almost empty. In the end, only one is left.
She glanced at the magpie doctor she knew, but before she could speak, she heard a fierce voice: "You wretch, hurry up and hand over the medicine!"
The nanny beside the Empress Dowager reprimanded her sternly.
However, the next second, he was choked by the smoke and staggered, his body went limp and he collapsed to the ground.
Almost simultaneously, all the guards around, including the imperial physicians, began to appear unsteady on their feet.
"Damn it, this is the most potent bone-softening powder! It will render people powerless, unable to even lift a weapon, leaving them like fish on a chopping block," the physician said with a grim expression.
"Physician Jiang! Quickly, the Emperor also needs to avoid poison! Give the medicine to the Emperor!" Li Quan said urgently.
Even though he could no longer stand, he still managed to walk towards Jiang Nuanzhi.
Jiang Nuanzhi noticed that both the Emperor and the Empress Dowager were staring intently at her. After a moment of hesitation, she smiled and said, "This is the last one I have. I don't know what to do with it, so I'll give it to you."
With that, she threw it far away.
The Emperor's and Empress Dowager's secret guards, who were still able to resist the effects of the medicine, rushed towards the bottle of medicine almost instantly.
However, after only a couple of steps, their movements slowed down.
To Jiang Nuanzhi, these people posed no immediate threat. However, she glanced at Physician Que out of the corner of her eye and saw that he was already treating the Emperor and the people around him with poison—clearly, these physicians all carried antidotes, but he obviously didn't have many. However, given his medical skills, treating such poison shouldn't be difficult; it would just take him a while to administer the acupuncture.
Half of the people in this room were actually imperial physicians.
Xiao Yuanshan was clearly not worried that the imperial physician could cure the poison, because the poison gas he released was becoming increasingly concentrated, so concentrated that it was almost impossible to see anyone in the entire room. Even if the most potent medicine were used, it probably wouldn't last long.
Fortunately, Jiang Nuanzhi obtained the antidote from the old man; otherwise, she would have been tricked this time.
Now, without the help of physicians, it was the Empress Dowager who, despite having several imperial physicians brought in to administer the antidote, seemed to have little effect.
The room was in disarray, but the atmosphere was strangely eerie.
Although everyone appeared to be busy with their own things, the glances that occasionally swept over each other revealed that everyone's mind was far from at peace.
The Empress Dowager probably wouldn't want to kill Xuan Ting; what she wanted was to rule from behind the curtain and have a weak monarch. Clearly, Xuan Ting was the best candidate.
But the way she stared at the emperor was rather intriguing.
The Emperor's gaze would inadvertently sweep over the Empress Dowager, and also inadvertently over Xuan Ting. His eyes were deep and unfathomable; Jiang Nuanzhi could not know what he was truly thinking.
As for Xuan Ting, he was standing beside Jiang Nuanzhi, his small face as pale as paper, so he was probably not having a good time either.
In the middle, Xiao Yuanshan had someone bring in incense, a small section of which had already burned, with sparks flickering in the poisonous fog.
Half an hour
Time was of the essence, and as long as these two parties didn't provoke Xuan Ting, Jiang Nuanzhi was too lazy to bother with them for the time being. The biggest threat at the moment was actually Xiao Yuanshan, who was blocking the way outside the door.
Whether it's the current emperor or the empress dowager, they're not difficult to deal with. But Xiao Yuanshan, that madman, is different.
Jiang Nuanzhi frowned and looked out through the crack in the window. She summoned all the experts around her and asked in a low voice, "Can we force our way out?"
“The strongest opponent right now is Xiao Yuanshan. Qinglong and I have a chance against him alone.” Xuanwu Protector said, then frowned again. “The young master’s guards are quite skilled and can protect him. However, Xiao Yuanshan has many experts around him, and we can’t figure out their strength. Moreover, he is extremely skilled in using poisons and gu, making him difficult to defend against. And he has so many troops here now. It will be difficult for us to leave the capital safely.”
“Difficult? That’s simply impossible!” Protector Qinglong frowned. With 100,000 Imperial Guards under his control, where can we escape to? Even if we risked the entire Imperial Preceptor’s mansion, it would be a drop in the ocean.
The Azure Dragon Protector tugged at his hair, looking at Jiang Nuanzhi with a puzzled expression: "Why don't we kill all of them? Didn't Xiao Yuanshan say that as long as we can get out of here..."
The rest was self-evident, and almost everyone present understood it.
Xuan Ting's face paled again, and his small hands under his sleeves gripped the cuffs tightly.
The bodyguards around him seemed to sense his unease and instinctively protected him. An Dehai was so nervous that he kept swallowing and staring intently at Jiang Nuanzhi.
If Jiang Nuanzhi stops protecting His Highness now, what should they do?
An Dehai himself was unaware that his palms were now soaked with sweat.
"You want me to help Xuan Ting kill his father and relatives to curry favor with Xiao Yuanshan? Are you crazy?" Jiang Nuanzhi's delicate eyebrows furrowed tightly. "If that's really the case, how will he be able to convince the people when he ascends the throne?"
(End of this chapter)
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