Arsenic poison
"Jiang Jin, in your heart, who is more important, me or Princess Zhaoyang?" Looking into Wei Shu's expectant eyes, Jiang Jin asked slowly.
"In our General Wei's heart, who is more important, me or His Majesty?" Jiang Jin returned the question to him.
"I surrender! I shouldn't have asked you that question!" Wei Shu grabbed Jiang Jin's sleeve. "Shall we go back to the courtyard?"
"Let's go, Lord Wei." Jiang Jin rolled up his sleeves, ignored Wei Shu, and walked past him.
"Are you angry?" Wei Shu followed behind Jiang Jin, talking incessantly. "Are you really angry?"
"I'm tired just listening to you say you're not tired, and it's so noisy and irritating!" Jiang Jin stopped, and a hand grabbed her wrist from behind.
"If you let me hold your hand, I won't bother you anymore." Wei Shu finally got her wish and led Jiang Jin back to the courtyard. Li Niang was already waiting in the courtyard, and her eyes lit up instantly when she saw Jiang Jin return.
"Madam, is the information I provided true?" Li Niang looked at Jiang Jin tremblingly, afraid that she had lost her gamble.
"They've been captured. Once His Majesty's decree is issued, I'll have someone buy you." Jiang Jin sighed, looking at her frightened expression.
"I will have your slave status removed. If you need anything in Bianzhou in the future, go to the Fulong Tea House and find the manager. She will help you." Jiang Jin patted Li Niang. "From now on, it will be a new life."
"Madam, may I return to the capital with you? I can serve tea and water, do laundry and cook. I am very useful as a servant!" Li Niang clutched Jiang Jin's sleeve and cried, "Madam, please!"
"Li Niang, this is the greatest guarantee I can give you. If you seek anything else, then I'm very sorry, you are destined not to get it from me." Jiang Jin held Li Niang's hand.
"Alright, I think you have a place to stay at the governor's mansion, so you don't need to stay in our courtyard. Don't worry, Madam Wang and the others won't come looking for you; they've been drugged and won't be awake." Seeing that Jiang Jin wouldn't budge, Li Niang had no choice but to leave.
"Zhou Cong, have someone keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't cause any more trouble." Jiang Jin turned around and saw Wei Shu staring at her.
"Do I have words on my face that you're looking at so intently, or is it that the dignified General Wei is captivated by my appearance?"
"I was just admiring Madam's decisive and efficient manner." Wei Shu pinched Jiang Jin's earlobe. "How do you know there's something wrong with her?"
"There are loopholes everywhere. How could a Wang family girl with the status of a slave know the plan that Madam Wang carefully arranged? How could a slave's fingers be so smooth and delicate with only thin calluses on the fingertips? If I still can't see these loopholes, then I'm really stupid."
Jiang Jin yawned. "I'm tired. I really need to rest this time. Don't bother me." Jiang Jin pushed open the door, took off her outer robe, and collapsed onto the couch.
"Heavens above! When will His Majesty's decree finally arrive? If this keeps happening every day, I'm afraid I'll die young!" Jiang Jin whispered, only slowly emboldening herself when she saw that Wei Shu made no move.
"Wei Shu, should we presume to guess His Majesty's intentions? Do you think he will execute three generations or five generations?" Jiang Jin asked, lifting the curtain to look at Wei Shu, who was untying his sash.
“Three clans, because five clans would mean one branch of the Wang family.” Wei Shu peered through the curtain at Jiang Jin. “What do you think?”
“I also think it should be three clans, but I believe His Majesty intends to exterminate five clans.” Jiang Jin deliberately peeked into Wei Shu’s words.
“His Majesty would like to exterminate nine generations of a family.” Wei Shu pinched Jiang Jin’s earlobe and then patted her back, whispering, “Go to sleep. There will be results in the next few days, and then we can return to the capital.”
"Okay." Jiang Jin found a comfortable position and fell into a deep sleep, holding Wei Shu in her arms. On the other side of the governor's mansion, however, lay a scene of dire straits.
"Let us go!" Madam Wang tried to break free from the drugged food, but her mouth was forcibly pried open and she was forced to eat it.
"Madam Wang, don't be so stubborn. If you try to escape again, it won't be as simple as just taking medicine." Zhou Liao coldly observed the scene inside.
"You lot, give the order: whether it's Commandant Chang's men or General Wei's men, if anything goes wrong, they'll all be punished. Don't take any chances. If this happens again, they'll stay in Bianzhou and won't be returning to the capital!" Zhou Liao looked at the men in the courtyard with exasperation.
"It's Military Advisor Zhou!" The people in the courtyard quickly perked up; none of them wanted to be left in Bianzhou because of a mistake.
Even late at night, the area remained under constant guard. After the escape incident, the soldiers in the governor's mansion dared not slacken their vigilance. "Li Niang" paced anxiously in the room.
"Madam, the Lady and the others have been captured and drugged. Those people are coming this way. What should we do?" The maid anxiously circled around her.
"Alright, what's the panic? We didn't run away." Seeing those people approaching step by step, "Li Niang" decisively climbed onto the bed, wrapped herself in the quilt, and trembled.
"Madam, please have your meal." Zhou Liao had a bowl of congee brought to him.
"My lord, my wife has just fallen asleep. Perhaps we could postpone it until tomorrow?" The maid knelt at Zhou Liao's feet, hoping to soften his heart.
"Wake her up if she's asleep. You have to eat this porridge today, whether you like it or not!" With just a glance from Zhou Liao, someone reached out to wake the woman on the bed.
"No need to trouble yourself, sir. I can do it myself." The woman picked up the bowl and drank the porridge in one gulp. "Sir, are you satisfied?"
"Yes, the rest of you, set up a search and maintain order." Zhou Liao sat down at the table with an air of authority. "My wife, don't be afraid. I'm just watching you because I'm worried you might vomit your porridge."
"You flatter me, sir." The woman wrapped herself tightly in the blanket, but soon felt weak all over, with no strength left in her body.
"Alright, let's not disturb your rest any longer, let's go." Zhou Liao led his entourage out of the courtyard in a grand procession.
"My lady, how are you? Is something wrong?" the maid asked softly, leaning over the bedside.
"It's nothing, these people are just too cunning. If I hadn't caught a cold and lost some weight a while ago, I wouldn't have been able to fool them at all. Since they want to confirm my identity as Li Niang, then the real Li Niang can't be allowed to live." The woman could only use her remaining strength to give instructions to the maid.
"I'll have someone increase her dosage, but in this state, Madam can't go to the capital." The maid pulled the blanket up for the woman.
"It's alright, there's nothing in this world that I, Wang Zhiyue, can't do!" Wang Zhiyue tried to get up, but Zhou Liao was never a soft-hearted person; the dosage he administered was naturally full, leaving no other possibility.
"Madam, how about we send a message to..." The maid was interrupted by Wang Zhiyue before she could finish, "Who dares to help us now? Apart from a few people in the manor, everyone else would run away from the governor's mansion like the plague!"
"How about we go and ask Madam Wei again?" The maidservant gently wiped Wang Zhiyue's face.
"No, that woman is definitely not as simple as she seems. Do I still have my medicine?" Wang Zhiyue closed her eyes and finally hardened her heart.
"Yes, but it's a really deadly medicine!" The maidservant tremblingly took out a small paper packet from a hidden compartment in the makeup box.
"Put it in the tea." Wang Zhiyue's eyes were fixed on the paper packet as she watched the maid tremblingly add a tiny bit of medicine, then feed it to her lips using a small teacup.
"Place the teacup and medicine packet on the beam. Remember, I got sick because I drank that porridge!" He then spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Help! My mistress is vomiting blood!" The maid pounded on the door. The guards outside rushed to open it and saw Wang Zhiyue lying face down on the couch, surrounded by blood, still vomiting.
"Quickly, fetch a physician! And also, hurry and inform Commandant Chang, Lord Wei, and Military Advisor Zhou!" Seeing that the matter was settled, the maidservant quickly helped Wang Zhiyue to the bed.
In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the once empty courtyard was filled with people. Looking at Wang Zhiyue's face on the couch, Jiang Jin felt reassured; she was indeed a person with a story.
"How is she?" Jiang Jin asked the imperial physician who was taking her pulse.
"He was poisoned with arsenic, but fortunately not much was used, so he survived." The imperial physician wiped the sweat from his brow.
"What happened? Didn't you find such dangerous items when you searched the mansion?" Wei Shu's face was grim. He absolutely could not allow such a situation, so out of his control, to occur under his watch.
"The most urgent task now is to detoxify this lady. As for punishment, we can discuss that after we've investigated the matter thoroughly." Jiang Jin patted Wei Shu's hand and nodded.
"Madam, our lady vomited blood after eating the porridge that Military Advisor Zhou brought. Even if you don't like us, you shouldn't be so ruthless!" The maid kowtowed repeatedly on the ground. Jiang Jin watched as Xueya arrived with her entourage.
"What happened?" Xueya glanced at Jiang Jin discreetly, only relaxing after confirming she wasn't injured.
"This lady said she vomited blood after eating the porridge we brought." Jiang Jin felt a little relieved. "Zhou Liao, is the porridge still there?"
"It's already been brought over." Zhou Liao handed the porridge to the imperial physician.
"The porridge is fine; no arsenic was found in it." The imperial physician seemed relieved, but the maid's first words brought him back to reality.
"What if the porridge was switched, or what if this doctor colluded with you to wipe out our governor's mansion!"
"Shut up! This is the imperial physician accompanying the princess; how dare you slander him!" Xueya knew at a glance that he was targeting Jiang Jin and the others, and couldn't help but sneer inwardly.
"Since there's no poison in the porridge, it has nothing to do with General Wei. The imperial physician should just focus on detoxifying her." Seeing Xueya about to leave, the maidservant threw herself at her feet.
"Please, please save my wife! These things are definitely related to General Wei and his men!"
"What reason would they have to harm your wife? Given their personalities, they would have simply killed her directly. There's no need for such roundabout methods to deal with the daughter of a disgraced official." Xueya waved her hand, and someone took the maid away.
“A little too much arsenic would kill her. This time, Lady Wang was lucky. Who knows if she will be so lucky next time.” Xueya glanced at Wang Zhiyue, who was pale, and ordered, “Pass on Her Highness the Princess’s decree to send Lady Wang to her courtyard to recuperate.”
"As you command." Having witnessed such a spectacle, Chang Yi naturally wanted to add his own comment. The group helped Wang Zhiyue onto the palanquin.
"It's late tonight, so we won't disturb Your Highness's rest. Tomorrow, my wife and I will go to apologize to Princess Zhaoyang." Upon hearing this, Xueya curtsied.
"General Wei, you're too kind. You and your wife should get some rest today, as you have many things to attend to." He then followed the sedan chair out of the governor's mansion.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com