"Dr. Liang, please take a look. Is there anything wrong with the grass here?" Lanqin led Dr. Liang, Shuhui, and Sihua to the place that Fourth Master had brought her to the night before.
But the sight before her eyes took Lanqin by surprise. The long patch of grass where she had stood that day had been neatly cut in half, just like freshly cut chives.
The group of people stared at the vast expanse of grass that had been cut down, speechless for a moment.
"Consort, what do you want me to see?" Doctor Liang asked blankly.
Lanqin's heart sank lower and lower, and she stammered, "Were these grasses cut down? When were they cut down?"
Si Hua said, "These were cut by the people in the stables. I've seen them carrying them into the stables in bundles!"
"The stable, is this hay for the horses?" Lanqin asked in surprise.
"Of course it's for the horses to eat, otherwise what's the point of cutting so much grass?" Shuhui said.
Lanqin grabbed Doctor Liang's sleeve and said, "Doctor Liang, you must go and see if there is anything on those grasses that you mentioned in the concubine's room?"
Dr. Liang was so startled by Lanqin's action that he stumbled and almost fell forward.
"I'll go right away!" Doctor Liang immediately went to the cut grass roots, squatted down to examine the exposed roots.
Lanqin, Shuhui, and Sihua started walking along the meadow and found many piles of grass containing the corpses of fireflies. As they parted the grass, they discovered more and more firefly corpses scattered in the mud.
Meanwhile, Doctor Liang had already used his own container to collect some of the liquid that had seeped onto the grass.
"Consort, I need to go back and have it checked," said Doctor Liang, having finished collecting the liquid from the grass.
The four hurriedly left and headed back. As Lanqin walked, she kept thinking about the strange scene she had just witnessed.
"Dr. Liang, can the thing you mentioned kill insects like fireflies?" Lan Qin asked.
"It's okay to inhale an excessive amount," Dr. Liang said.
Lanqin had already made up her mind. As she walked, she asked Shuhui, "Does the Tenth Master still have any useful men?" The Fourth Master had brought several guards, but everyone else had gone hunting today.
"Sister, do you have any plans? Tenth Master brought quite a few wrestlers, and some of them stayed behind," Shuhui said.
"Shuhui, go back and select a few skilled riders; they might be very useful." Lanqin felt her heart pounding, and she hurriedly followed Doctor Liang back to test the poison.
Meanwhile, Xin Yi was alone in Lan Qin's tent. During that time, some people did come to visit, but Shui Ling cleverly turned them away.
After the three returned to their tent, Lanqin asked Xinyi if the Seventh Prince still had any useful men. But she only asked casually, guessing that the Seventh Prince probably didn't have many men with him. Firstly, he didn't like martial arts, and secondly, as a disabled prince, he didn't have the pomp and circumstance of having many guards, unlike the Tenth Prince, who was born to Empress Niohuru and also liked wrestling, so he kept many wrestling wrestlers in his residence.
"When the time comes, bring out that Western-style riding outfit and let me change into it. It's inconvenient to ride a horse in such a long robe!" Lanqin said to Sihua.
"Ah, Master, you can ride a horse!" Si Hua exclaimed in surprise upon hearing Lan Qin's words.
"Oh, don't worry. I'm not riding recklessly this time, and besides, I have guards, so there's nothing to be afraid of. The matter is urgent, we need to go find Fourth Master and the others immediately." Lanqin was too lazy to explain and hurriedly urged Sihua to find her some clothes.
After Si Hua and Shui Ling helped Lan Qin change her clothes, Lord Liang had been fiddling with the bottles and jars for a long time before finally coming to a conclusion. He then approached Lan Qin and said, "Your Highness, the liquid we just found on those grass roots is exactly the same as the substance from the tails of those fireflies that you sent to me. Animals that inhale this substance will die; smaller ones, like insects, will die. Larger ones, like horses and sheep, will become agitated, violent, and their temperament will change drastically."
Lanqin had already anticipated this; clearly, someone had scattered these things on the pasture, intending for the horse handlers to cut down these poisonous plants and feed them to the horses.
What Lanqin couldn't understand was why they had to go to such lengths. Wouldn't it have been easier to just sprinkle those things into the feed of the horses that needed to be poisoned?
"Dr. Liang, if a horse inhales a large amount of these substances, will it also die?" Lanqin asked. They went to such lengths to avoid being discovered; this method was more discreet. Who would suspect the pasture was poisonous? Another possibility was that they feared administering it alone, in a larger dose, would be ineffective.
"Of course it will. If the dosage is too high, the affected animals may go insane and even die," Dr. Liang said.
Lanqin nodded, having already made up her mind. She didn't want to inform Consort De because she was afraid of explaining too much. She planned to take her people immediately to find the Fourth Prince and his group, and tell him and Emperor Kangxi about these discoveries.
Someone went to such lengths to tamper with those horses; there must be a huge conspiracy behind it. Without a doubt, the target of this conspiracy must be connected to the Fourth Prince, or even Emperor Kangxi.
When Lanqin and Shuhui's companions went to the stables to fetch the horses, the stable hand refused to give them to them. Looking at Lanqin, he recognized her as the one who had disappeared riding through the dense forest yesterday, and now she wanted to take the horses again. He immediately put on a pained expression and said, "Consort, please don't make things difficult for me. What do you need so many horses for?"
Lanqin wasn't about to waste time arguing with a coachman. She huffed and puffed, "Stop your nonsense. I, your concubine, have important business to attend to. Go quickly and pick out a few good horses, the kind with excellent stamina. You can't afford to delay my business."
Faced with Lan Qinhao's impatient tone, the coachman was truly caught in a dilemma.
"If you keep dawdling and delay my business, you'll be in big trouble!" Lanqin threatened when she saw that he still wouldn't give her the horse.
"But Consort, if anything happens to you, I'll be dead too," the coachman said regretfully.
"I can vouch for the Consort. Go and fetch some fine horses. I will certainly protect her." A familiar voice rang out behind Lanqin. Without turning around, Lanqin knew who it was.
The groom, recognizing Prince Indal, had personally presented Emperor Kangxi with a batch of fine Tibetan horses, demonstrating his exceptional skill in handling horses.
Lanqin turned around and saw that it was indeed Prince Indal. Seeing that his eyes were without any impurity, she readily said to the coachman, "With Prince Indal here, what are you afraid of? This concubine will not run away."
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