Chapter 326: Fifty Charges Against Shen Lanxi!
"I have a prescription for an antidote here. Give it to Lord Shen first; it may suppress the poison!" Physician Li wrote on the paper with a few strokes.
Chunxue quickly took it to brew the medicine.
"I must return to the palace to report to His Majesty. I will leave a physician here to administer the medicine to Lord Shen as soon as it is ready!"
Che Mingyuan hurriedly saw the imperial physician out.
The Shen family arrived shortly afterward, and Shen Yuanjing looked at the person lying on the bed and wailed and cried.
The weeping at the Zhenbei Marquis's residence never stopped all night.
After hearing the imperial physician's report, Emperor Renxiao suffered from a severe headache and could not sleep all night.
"How did they get poisoned?"
Wang Bao: "Your Majesty, could it be that Shen Lanxi was implicated in the Wei family army case and is being retaliated against?"
Emperor Renxiao's eyes flashed, and his gaze instantly turned sinister.
"Investigate! Find the person who poisoned me!"
The news of Shen Lanxi's poisoning spread like wildfire. In less than a night, the entire capital, from civil and military officials to ordinary people, was talking about it.
"How could someone be poisoned when they were perfectly fine?"
"Who knows? Wasn't Shen Lanxi confined to her residence and guarded by the Imperial Guards? How could such a mistake have occurred?"
"First he was dismissed from his post, then he was framed, and then the engagement was called off and he was poisoned. It's clear that someone is targeting the Shen family..."
Overnight, the news of Shen Lanxi's poisoning spread like wildfire throughout the city. A small group of people even said that Shen Lanxi's achievements were too great and that as a woman, she had made great contributions in battle, which was unacceptable to the current emperor!
When this news reached Emperor Renxiao's ears, he was so angry that he smashed an entire set of writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones in his imperial study.
"Investigate who is spreading these rumors. Once you find out, pry open their mouths and find out who is behind this!"
Emperor Renxiao seemed to have aged ten years overnight.
Even the thousand-year-old ginseng offered by Shen Lanxi could not make up for it.
Emperor Renxiao was so angry he was about to go mad.
"Has the imperial physician who went to treat Shen Lanxi returned yet?" Emperor Renxiao asked almost roaringly.
Wang Bao hurriedly wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.
"Your Majesty, this old servant was just about to tell you. The imperial physician just returned and diagnosed it as a poison that originated from the Western Regions, called..." Wang Bao stammered, meeting Emperor Renxiao's murderous gaze, and hurriedly spat out the rest of his words in fear.
"Call it Green Silkworm!"
Emperor Renxiao was shocked into disbelief.
"How could it be a green silkworm? Isn't that kind of poison extinct?"
Wang Bao couldn't come up with a solution either, so he quickly shifted the blame to the imperial physician.
"This old servant will summon the imperial physician immediately!"
When Emperor Renxiao met with the imperial physician, Zhou Ruyuan brought the physician and tonics to the Zhenbei Marquis's residence.
"How is Lanxi?"
The abrupt address startled everyone, followed by an awkward silence.
Madam Shen had been guarding the Zhenbei Marquis's residence the whole time. Zhou Ruyuan was representing His Majesty, so she should have stepped forward to greet him.
"Lanxi is feeling better after taking the medicine; the bruises on her lips and nails have faded somewhat, but she is still unconscious. The imperial physician said that we must find an antidote as soon as possible!" After saying this, Madam Shen wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief.
"The Shen family has just been exonerated, and their good days are just beginning. My poor granddaughter... I wish I were the one who was poisoned..." The more Madam Shen spoke, the more unwilling she became. Before she could finish her sentence, she was already sobbing uncontrollably.
Zhou Ruyuan gave the imperial physician a wink, and the physician went in to treat Shen Lanxi, while Zhou Ruyuan helped the old lady Shen, who was crying so hard she could barely stand, to sit down.
"Madam, please don't be too sad. Otherwise, you'll definitely blame yourself when Lanxi wakes up," Zhou Ruyuan comforted her with concern.
Madam Shen wiped away her tears; this time she was truly crying, her handkerchief soaked with tears.
"I just hope that Lanxi will be blessed with good fortune and recover soon!"
Zhou Ruyuan looked at the Shen family members who were constantly praying for Shen Lanxi, especially the younger generation of the Shen family, each of them holding Buddhist beads and chanting Buddhist scriptures, more devout than the monks in the temple.
"You all take care of yourselves too!"
Shen Yuanjing said as if making a vow: "We will not stop until our eldest sister wakes up!"
Zhou Ruyuan took a deep breath. He wanted to remind Shen Yuanjing that his father had already ordered Shen Yuanjing to go to the Northwest in the Golden Palace. Was the safety of the Northwest less important than Shen Lanxi?
"Lanxi will definitely be blessed with good fortune!" Zhou Ruyuan also hoped that she would get better.
This time, he came not only to visit the sick, but his father also entrusted him with the task of finding the person who poisoned him.
After exchanging pleasantries with the Shen family, Zhou Ruyuan went to investigate who had poisoned him.
Before long, all the servants, maids, old women and guards of the Shen family were gathered in the open space at the entrance.
Zhou Ruyuan questioned them one by one.
Six imperial physicians examined Shen Lanxi's pulse one by one and considered different prescriptions.
They knew they had been poisoned by the Green Silkworm, but dared not tell the people around Shen Lanxi. Whenever someone asked, they would say they didn't know what kind of poison she had been poisoned with.
It has now been confirmed that Shen Lanxi has indeed been poisoned, and it is the Green Silkworm. One of the imperial physicians immediately returned to the palace to report.
...
"Your Majesty, it has been confirmed that he has been poisoned; it is indeed by green silkworms," the imperial physician replied.
Emperor Renxiao's eyes were unfathomable, and even those who served him daily could not guess what he was thinking.
How much longer can she live?
The imperial physician estimated that "with proper care, he could live for more than a month." This was assuming he took the detoxifying decoction; without it, he wouldn't even live seven days.
The imperial physicians dared not risk offending the emperor, for the former empress had died from this poison. At the time, His Majesty had gone mad in his search for an antidote, even going so far as to massacre the entire Ten Thousand Poisons Sect and order the entire Kunning Palace to be buried with the empress.
The antidote for this poison was never found, making it a taboo in the palace.
Emperor Renxiao silently counted the days until Shen Lanxi's final days. The imperial physician dared not disturb her or leave. After an unknown amount of time, when the physician's legs gave way and he could no longer stand, Emperor Renxiao waved for him to leave.
Shen Lanxi is not the only one capable of guarding the Northwest.
But she was the only woman.
During the morning court session, Wu Tian'en, the Vice Minister of Rites, wrote a list of more than fifty crimes, openly condemning Shen Lanxi.
"Shen Lanxi killed Liang and falsely claimed credit..."
"She doesn't uphold traditional feminine virtues and talks back to her elders..."
"Shen Lanxi is indiscriminate and bloodthirsty, causing widespread suffering in the Northwest..."
"Excessive taxation and arbitrary rule..."
The charges against them were enough to wipe out the entire Shen family fifty times over.
Emperor Renxiao coldly looked at Wu Tianen and the courtiers who had joined him in the campaign against Shen Lanxi.
These people are usually quiet in the court, so why have they all suddenly appeared now?
Like vultures, wolves, and hyenas drawn by the stench of blood.
"Your Majesty, we implore you to severely punish Shen Lanxi!" Six or seven court officials petitioned together.
Emperor Renxiao said expressionlessly, "The Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Personnel shall jointly investigate the aforementioned crimes one by one. If they are found to be true, I will show no leniency!"
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