Chapter 338 A Life Worse Than Death
The commotion caused by the princess's residence misled ordinary people, who, unaware of the truth, assumed that the government was searching for fugitives. Even Sheng An thought so.
It wasn't until the family finished dinner and the couple took their child back to their room to discuss the matter that Sheng An learned from Xu Jinnian that Mu Yuanzhen had been poisoned.
"Which hero is acting on behalf of Heaven?"
Sheng An opened her mouth in surprise, her eyes scanning the man's face, trying to glean something from his micro-expressions.
"It's said that it was done by one of Mu Yuanzhen's male favorites, and now the man has escaped and his whereabouts are unknown."
A smile flickered in Xu Jinnian's eyes as he picked up the little dumpling who was clinging to his back and trying to climb up his short legs, preventing her from falling off the bed and hurting herself.
"Dede, woo-wa-wa—"
The little dumpling was restless, like a little turtle lying on its back, constantly pawing at its limbs, trying to break free from its father's grasp, stand up from his arms, and climb up his arm to his shoulder.
"Behave yourself."
Seeing that the little one was slow to get up, Sheng An felt tired for her. He reached out and pulled her into his arms, locking her chubby little body in his arms to prevent her from moving around.
The little dumpling was good at reading people's expressions. When she saw her mother glaring at her, she whimpered and stretched out her two chubby little legs, obediently sitting on her mother's lap without moving.
Sheng An kissed the little guy's cheek with satisfaction before looking up at Xu Jinnian and saying in a low voice:
"A mere male concubine like him probably wouldn't be able to escape the princess's pursuit. There must be someone behind him instigating and cleaning up his mess, right?"
Seeing his wife's cautious and tentative look, Xu Jinnian couldn't help but smile, then composed himself and said seriously:
"Yes, after poisoning Mu Yuanzhen yesterday afternoon, he left the princess's residence and disappeared without a trace. He has now left the capital and gone to a place where no one can find him."
With her suspicions confirmed by the man, Sheng An slowly exhaled and felt relieved: "That's good. Such a good person shouldn't be taken back by the princess's mansion to be buried with Mu Yuanzhen."
After saying that, she hurriedly asked, "What kind of poison was used? Could it kill someone? Mu Yuanzhen is the only bloodline of Princess Pingyuan. If she dies like this, won't Princess Pingyuan go crazy?"
This woman is already difficult to deal with. What if she goes crazy and does something earth-shattering, causing her only daughter to be buried with her?
Seeing Sheng An's worry, Xu Jinnian moved closer and embraced the mother and daughter from behind:
"It's not a deadly poison, it will only paralyze someone in bed, but they won't die if they are taken care of properly."
The whereabouts of that private army are still unknown. He wouldn't be so foolish as to completely enrage Princess Pingyuan at this time, allowing her to recklessly instigate internal strife and disrupt the current balance.
Moreover, poisoning Mu Yuanzhen served two purposes: first, to avenge An'an for what happened at the Yongyi Marquis's flower viewing banquet; and second, since the previous imperial examination cheating case had not achieved the desired effect, this incident was a good opportunity to force Princess Pingyuan to expose her true colors.
Sometimes death is not the best punishment. The greatest torment for Mu Yuanzhen, and for Princess Pingyuan, is to leave her lying in bed like a living dead, day after day.
Seeing her only bloodline reduced to this state, Princess Pingyuan might hold onto hope for a short time, but as time goes on, the heartache for her daughter and the growing resentment towards the person behind it all will make it difficult for her to remain rational.
Thus, the purpose of this plan has been achieved.
Xu Jinnian concealed the coldness in his eyes and kissed Sheng An's earlobe: "Will An'an be happy that she will be paralyzed in bed and unable to do anything wrong?"
"Happy!"
Sheng An turned her head and kissed the man's lips directly, feeling moved by his painstaking planning.
Xu Jinnian took the initiative, turning her body around to deepen the kiss.
The little dumpling squeezed in the middle: "..."
Don't you treat a one-year-old child like a human being?
Finally, this passionate kiss was interrupted by the little guy's loud shout.
When they met their daughter's clear, innocent eyes, the couple felt incredibly embarrassed and instinctively raised their hands to cover her eyes.
The little dumpling's vision went black: "..."
The princess's men, together with the troops of the Five Cities Garrison, turned the capital upside down, practically digging three feet into the ground, but still couldn't find the poisoner's whereabouts.
With three days about to pass, neither the murderer nor the antidote had been found, and the entire princess's residence had fallen into a deathly silence.
Princess Pingyuan was exhausted. Fine lines appeared on her once well-maintained face, and the dark circles under her eyes made her look more than ten years older.
At this moment, Princess Pingyuan sat by the bedside, looking at the unconscious Mu Yuanzhen on the bed. Her bloodshot eyes were filled with malice.
Granny Li walked in carrying a bowl of nourishing soup, her face filled with deep pity and worry:
"Your Highness has not had a drop of water today. This is a nourishing soup that I have personally prepared. Your Highness should have some, otherwise your body will not be able to withstand it."
Princess Pingyuan waved her hand: "Put it down, nanny. I'll drink it later."
Granny Li wanted to persuade her further, but seeing her expression was not right, she could only swallow her words, put the tonic soup on the table next to her, and stood quietly to the side.
A moment later, a royal physician came from the next room and said tremblingly to Princess Pingyuan:
"Your Highness, we are incompetent and unable to concoct an antidote to completely cure Miss's poisoning. We can only use a potent medicine to block the toxin from entering Miss's brain and barely keep her conscious."
Princess Pingyuan froze, staring intently at the imperial physician whose forehead was beaded with cold sweat: "Barely maintaining your sanity? What will happen to my Yuanzhen if she doesn't drink this potent medicine?"
The imperial physician's forehead was covered in even more cold sweat, and he stammered, "If...if she doesn't drink it, the poison will cause her to suffer from pain all over her body, and under the torment of the pain, she will lose her mind and become...become a madwoman."
Princess Pingyuan closed her eyes, and after a long while, she calmly said, "Use it."
The imperial physician felt as if he had been granted a pardon. He quickly bowed and took his leave, then went to the next room to finalize the prescription with several colleagues.
However, Princess Pingyuan refused to give up the last opportunity and personally went to the palace to ask Emperor Jinghe to issue an edict to dispatch 5,000 troops from the camp in the suburbs of the capital to capture the murderer who had fled and poisoned Mu Yuanzhen.
Emperor Jinghe did not hesitate and immediately issued an edict ordering the troops in the outskirts of the capital to cooperate with the princess's residence in capturing the murderer.
When the civil and military officials learned of this, they had all sorts of opinions in private, but none of them dared to submit a memorial to oppose it, lest they incur the wrath of Princess Pingyuan.
Five thousand more men were dispatched, and they quickly found the murderer's trail. Someone said that he was seen going to the dock and boarding a merchant ship heading south to escape to Jiangnan.
Having finally obtained a useful clue, Princess Pingyuan immediately dispatched her trusted confidants south to investigate.
It was impossible to catch the murderer in a short time. With three days already passed and Mu Yuanzhen's breathing growing weaker and weaker, Princess Pingyuan had no choice but to have the imperial physician administer that potent medicine to her.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com