Chapter 183 Antidote
Inside the palace, the atmosphere was suffocating.
The King of the Southwest was dragged up roughly. His clothes were tattered, blood was dripping, and his body was covered with scars. Every wound seemed to tell of the torture he had suffered.
Su Qingwan's eyes instantly turned red when she saw this scene. She felt heartbroken and rushed over desperately, hugging her father tightly. The King of Southwest was already somewhat unconscious, and he was mumbling a name: "Bo Yuan..."
Su Qingwan's heart was shocked. Bo Yuan, that was her father's name. Her father and the King of Southwest were close friends. They met by chance in the desolate northern border and formed a deep friendship from then on.
Su Qingwan tried hard to hold back her tears. She knew a little about medicine, so she stretched out her hand tremblingly and felt for her father's pulse. The pulse was very weak, so faint that it seemed like it would die out at any moment.
Su Qingwan looked up at the emperor, her eyes full of hatred. She called out "Father" several times but received no response.
The emperor looked stern, his voice low and majestic: "I have brought the person here as promised, where is the antidote?"
Su Qingwan gritted her teeth, took out a jade bottle from her bosom, and said with a hint of determination: "There is only one antidote."
The emperor looked at the jade bottle, a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes. After all, he didn't know whether the antidote was real or fake.
"If you are afraid, don't detoxify the eldest prince." The princess' voice was tinged with provocation.
The eldest princess stood aside, looking nervous, and quickly said to the emperor: "My sister doesn't seem to be a cruel person. The eldest prince's life is at stake. Give him the medicine."
The emperor motioned for the imperial physician to come forward, and the imperial physician tremblingly took the jade bottle and checked the ingredients of the pills. This inspection made the imperial physician's face turn pale instantly, and he found that the pills were poisonous.
But the imperial doctors dared not say anything. The eldest prince's breath was getting weaker and weaker. If he died, they, the imperial doctors, would be buried with him. But if they said the antidote was poisonous and delayed the treatment, the emperor would be furious and would still kill them.
In extreme fear and entanglement, the doctor still gave the pill to the eldest prince. Everyone held their breath and stared at the eldest prince nervously. The eldest prince's lips gradually became less dark and he had a little blood. Suddenly, he spat out a mouthful of black blood and woke up.
The Emperor and Concubine Lu rushed over excitedly. Prime Minister Lu's eyes were red as he murmured, "It's good to be alive!"
Lu Jing glanced at Su Qingwan, who was kneeling in the hall, hugging the King of Southwest, with a sneer on her lips. He had an ominous premonition in his heart.
Seeing this, the eldest princess hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, your sister has done a great service in treating the eldest prince. Please send the imperial physician to treat your uncle."
The emperor said coldly: "They almost killed my son. I want them to pay the price. Come, drag the uncle away and chop off his head!"
The imperial guards obeyed the order and quickly stepped forward to take the King of Southwest out. Su Qingwan sneered, her voice clear but cold: "As the saying goes, the heart of the king is hard to predict, and it is true. Your Majesty, if you kill my father, the eldest prince will also be buried with you, you should think it through."
The emperor, Concubine Lu, and the Prime Minister's faces suddenly changed. Concubine Lu asked sharply, "Didn't you detoxify?"
Su Qingwan raised her eyebrows and said calmly, "Yes, he has been cured, but this poison only recurs every two months. If there is no antidote the next time it recurs, he will surely die."
Prime Minister Lu was frozen all over. He could not accept that his grandson would die like this, so he pressed Su Qingwan eagerly: "You must save him!"
Su Qingwan smiled coldly: "I'm not stupid. If you keep going back on your word like this, won't you kill me when I'm no longer useful to you?"
The emperor was furious. He suddenly pulled out a Jinyiwei's knife, put it to the neck of the King of Southwest, and threatened: "If you don't save the eldest prince, I will kill the emperor's uncle now."
Lu Jing looked at Su Qingwan nervously, his eyes full of worry. But Su Qingwan was fearless and straightened her back: "Release my father, I will stay in the palace. The antidote is my life-saving talisman. If you kill me, the eldest prince will also die."
The emperor was furious and roared, "Send people to the southwest immediately. I don't believe that we can't find an antidote to save the eldest prince."
Su Qingwan looked calm and said calmly, "You really can't find the antidote. I am in charge of the Southwest Secret Service. I have the antidote and poison in my hands. I have remixed the poison, but only I know the antidote. You killed my father, and I would rather die. My brothers will definitely avenge me and my father."
The emperor was shocked by Su Qingwan's hateful and determined eyes, and the knife against the neck of the King of Southwest slowly moved away. Su Qingwan took a deep breath and said again: "I'll say it again, let my father go, otherwise the eldest prince will die in two months. I gave you the antidote to prove that I really have the antidote. If you don't care about the life of the eldest prince, you can kill me and my father at any time."
The air in the palace seemed to freeze, and the silence was so chilling that it made people's scalps numb. Everyone knew that every decision at this moment could change the fate of several people, and even rewrite the direction of Dayuan. Concubine Lu's eyes were fixed on the eldest prince, as if he was her only hope in this world.
The eldest prince on the bed slowly opened his eyes and said in a soft and milky voice, "Father, Mother."
His voice broke the suffocating silence.
His voice was weak, but it carried the innocence of a child. Concubine Lu's eyes turned red, tears welled up in her eyes, and like a mother animal protecting her cub, she rushed over desperately and hugged the eldest prince tightly in her arms.
Her hands trembled slightly as she gently stroked the eldest prince's face, as if she wanted to pass the joy of regaining what she had lost to the child through her fingertips.
The eldest prince blinked his ignorant eyes and looked at the imperial physicians kneeling on the floor of the palace. His childish voice sounded again: "Father, I am fine now. Please let them go."
These simple words were like a heavy hammer, hitting everyone's heart hard. Who would have thought that after experiencing life and death, a young child would first think of pleading for others? In this palace full of power struggles, his understanding and kindness seemed so out of place.
Su Qingwan looked at the scene in front of her, and her heart suddenly clenched. Those dusty memories suddenly came to her mind. She thought of those lovely nephews in Huainan. They were once as innocent as the eldest prince, but fate was so cruel that they could not escape the fate of premature death. Thinking of this, Su Qingwan's eyes flashed with a barely perceptible sadness.
The emperor's face was uncertain, he clenched his fists, and the veins on the back of his hands were bulging. As the emperor, he was used to controlling everything, but he never thought that one day he would be threatened like this. His heart was full of resentment and anger, but when his eyes fell on the eldest prince, all his toughness collapsed in an instant.
"The whole world belongs to the king, and all the subjects are my children. Even if fate is unfair and I have no biological children, I can adopt a child from the royal family."
Su Qingwan raised her chin slightly when she heard this, "Okay, you can be adopted. This throne is not mine, you can do whatever you want."
This fearless response once again angered the emperor. The emperor's face instantly turned red, and he almost couldn't breathe. He glared at Su Qingwan fiercely.
Seeing this, Concubine Lu cried even harder. She crawled to the emperor's feet, hugged his legs, and begged with tears in her voice: "Your Majesty, please save Yan'er, nothing can happen to him."
The emperor was upset, his eyes wandering back and forth between the eldest prince and Su Qingwan. He glanced at his sick son again, that was his last blood in this world, and his only warmth in this cold palace. After a long silence, the emperor finally spoke, his voice low and hoarse: "Come, send the emperor's uncle to get treatment."
(End of this chapter)
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