Chapter 35: Xiaoman takes poison, the princess's confidant
Shang Yuwan had already noticed that someone was eavesdropping, but Xiao Qinggu only just realized that there were two people standing at the door.
“…”
One of the people outside the door was silent for a while before speaking: "Your Highness, my Lords, Xiaoman has something to say."
Shang Yuwan glanced at Xiao Qinggu, who looked a little nervous, and said, "Come in."
Xiaoman pushed the door open and followed by Ji Suxian, who looked confused.
As soon as Ji Suxian came in, she lay down on the table, unable to lift her head. Shang Yuwan saw her like this and asked her, "Why don't you sleep a little longer?"
Ji Suxian covered her face with her hands, raised her head, and yawned: "She asked me for poison, and I was afraid that she would use the poison to do something bad, so I followed her to watch the show. My senior brother is here too, and he put it on the roof tile above the window..."
Because he had nothing to do, he came here to eavesdrop in the cool breeze - no, Lu Heying, who was monitoring Xiao Qinggu, coughed lightly a few times to indicate that he had indeed been there the whole time.
Shang Yuwan, who knew everything from the beginning to the end, nodded.
Xiao Qingxu was not surprised as he knew that someone would always be watching over him when he was in poor health.
Xiao Qinggu, who had a very poor foundation and therefore could not practice martial arts and had not heard anything about it, said: ""
Shang Yuwan looked at Xiaoman, who had been silent since she came in, and asked, "Don't you have something to say?"
Xiaoman lowered her head and said respectfully, "Your Excellency has questions too. Perhaps I can answer one or two of them."
"Is it one, or two?"
Xiaoman still looked the same, "That depends on what the adults are asking."
Xiao Qingxu asked her: "Why do you want to kill us?"
Xiaoman replied: "Because of the Shang family."
"You are quite frank." It was indeed the first time that Xiao Qingxu met such a person.
Shang Yuwan secretly suppressed the hatred in his heart and said, "If you leak the secret now, aren't you afraid that your master will send someone to kill you?"
Xiaoman replied: "As long as Her Royal Highness is safe and sound, my death is not a pity."
"and."
Xiaoman slowly raised her head and said, "In this life, I have only one master, the Princess."
Shang Yuwan snorted and laughed.
"Then let's put it another way. Who is the person who asked you to kill us?"
Xiaoman lowered his head again and was silent for a long time before he slowly said, "If you tell me now, you will all die."
Xiao Qinggu frowned slightly, and with a little hope, he asked her, "Does it include me?"
"......" Xiaoman stared at the ground and answered truthfully: "Yes."
Xiao Qinggu was stunned.
Xiaoman was extremely calm, like a piece of wood without any emotion. "Even Her Royal Highness the Princess will die."
In that case, it couldn't be the prince who ordered her to kill people.
"So are you here to...surrender? Or to threaten?"
Shang Yuwan supported his head with one hand and tilted his neck, looking quite interested.
"How can you guarantee that you won't come and kill us, or tip off others?"
Xiao Man didn't even look at Xiao Qinggu's expression at the moment. She knelt on her knees and bowed her head and said, "If Her Highness the Princess doesn't want me to kill you two, I will naturally not harm you. Tipping you off is also impossible."
Xiaoman straightened up and looked directly at Shang Yuwan, "But I don't want to die at this moment. If you two don't believe me, I can ask Miss Ji for the poison and take it. I can also take the antidote once a month to prolong my life."
Ji Suxian forced himself to cheer up at this time, took out a bottle of medicine from his pocket, threw it to Xiaoman, and then lay down again.
Xiaoman took it accurately and swallowed it without waiting for the other three to speak.
The poison took effect, and she suddenly opened her eyes wide. She curled up on the ground and trembled in pain, suppressing her throat so that she could scream out in pain.
Xiao Qinggu panicked and rushed forward to hug Xiaoman.
"Puff..."
Xiaoman was bleeding from her mouth and nose. She covered her mouth with her hands, but blood still slipped through her fingers. Several black lines appeared deep in her neck and began to gradually spread to her face.
"Xiaoman, Xiaoman..."
How could Xiao Qinggu not feel distressed? But she couldn't beg for mercy.
She loved freedom, but as a child of the royal family, worshipped by the people from a young age, she had spent years among the common people, and she saw more clearly than even the officials in Kyoto how much suffering the people endured. She hated the chaos and suffering of the people, even more than the freedom that was so easily within her reach.
If the second prince really colluded with Lang Jiang to commit treason and framed the Shang family to cause their extermination, she would not allow him to sit in that position!
Xiao Qinggu had thought about building up her own power. After all, it would be more satisfying to hold the sword in one's own hands than to seek protection from others for the rest of her life. But no matter how hard she tried, it just didn't work out. She could only use her limited strength to help some people.
She needs the power and manpower of Baijialou. Besides, they saved her life last night, so she can't break up with them easily. By doing this... Xiaoman can at least save her life.
Shang Yuwan's eyes moved, "Why?"
Xiaoman knew what she was asking, but with blood in her mouth, she could only vaguely answer, "Your Highness, your heart is filled with the people... Your Highness wishes to become emperor. I, your servant, will... help you achieve your wish."
Everyone was not stupid, so they could naturally see why Xiaoman and Xiao Qinggu did this. Xiao Qingxu secretly pulled Shang Yuwan's sleeve.
Shang Yuwan asked Ji Suxian: "What is this poison?"
"It's a poison that activates tendons. I developed it a few years ago. Don't worry, if she doesn't take the antidote in time, she won't die."
Ji Suxian was feeling less sleepy after listening to the opera. She yawned, propped up her head, and looked at Xiaoman and Xiao Qinggu with a smile.
Xiao Qinggu didn't feel happy at all when he heard her words.
Sure enough, Ji Suxian's next words made her and Xiaoman's faces change drastically.
"People won't die, but their tendons and veins will be broken."
"Her martial arts will be crippled, and her spine will be corroded~"
This action would weaken Xiaoman's fighting power, so Shang Yuwan didn't ask any more questions and let Xiao Qinggu help Xiaoman go back to the room to rest.
Ji Suxian thought that it was okay, so he stood up and was about to leave.
Shang Yuwan called her, "Why did you create such a poison?"
This kind of poison is even more vicious than the Moon Poison. Given Ji Suxian's personality, why would he develop such a poison?
Ji Suxian turned around and smiled at her.
"Death would be so much easier."
“It’s painful to be alive.”
Shang Yuwan looked at her profile and always felt that Ji Suxian had been hiding something in her heart recently.
"...Rest well, I'll call you if anything happens."
If she didn't say it herself, Shang Yuwan wouldn't ask.
Ji Suxian waved her hand and said, "No, I'll go see if Liu Niang and Xiao Tao are awake."
After the man left, Xiao Qingxu asked, "You're not going to kill him?"
Shang Yuwan shook her head. "Really kill? After this incident, Xiaoman is likely to become the princess's true confidant. If she really kills someone, won't she fight us to the death?"
Xiao Qingxu chuckled, "That's right."
Originally, the two of them hadn't intended to kill Xiao Man; it was just a show. Keeping him around was risky, but the information they could dig up would be faster than if Lou Ke had gone to Kyoto to investigate bit by bit.
Although he said so and thought so, Shang Yuwan still secretly called several more guests to secretly watch over Xiao Qingxu.
There was one thing she said that was never false.
In Shang Yuwan's opinion, in addition to Twelve, Shang Mingqi, and the Shang family's revenge, the life of the owner of Baijia Tower is equally important.
The owner of Baijialou is the backbone of everyone in Baijialou, and is also the benefactor who helped her to reverse the verdict and avenge the Shang family.
On the other side, in Kyoto, the Princess's Mansion.
The woman was wearing a gorgeous red dress and a set of gold jewelry inlaid with rubies on her head. She stood in front of the camellia, slightly bent over, and carefully trimmed the camellia with scissors in her hand.
"Your Highness, a report has arrived from Luzhou City."
The maid stood behind the woman, holding an oil-paper umbrella to protect her from the sun, and lowered her head to report the latest news.
"The Longwu Army has been completely wiped out, the Crown Prince's assassination attempt has been unsuccessful, Xiaoman has completely become the Fifth Princess's confidant, and is considering leaving the Princess's residence."
"Um."
The woman didn't care much. She had already received the news, and her good brother should have known it too.
The maid bravely asked, "Do you want to send someone to kill him?"
The woman stopped what she was doing, shifted her gaze to the right, and raised her eyebrows slightly.
"Who are you going to kill?"
The maid suddenly realized that she had said something wrong and immediately knelt down and kowtowed: "I know I was wrong!"
"Why......"
The woman's eyes were blinded by the sudden light. Before the maid who said the wrong thing could raise the umbrella again, another maid came over and snatched it from her hands to block the light for the woman.
The woman looked at the man kneeling on the ground, shivering and begging for mercy, and half-knelt down, not at all afraid of getting dirt on her skirt, with a nonchalant look on her face.
She asked her, "Who are you going to kill?"
"I know I was wrong! I know I was wrong!" The maid kept begging for mercy, "I didn't want to kill anyone, I didn't want to kill anyone!"
"You're upset that I let Xiaoman off so easily? But the mission I gave her was to become the Fifth Princess's confidant."
"She did a great job." The woman tilted her head. "Could it be that I remembered it wrong?"
The maid continued to admit her mistakes and beg for mercy.
“…boring.”
"My flowers are in need of fertilizer, so let her be the one to take care of them."
The woman seemed disappointed, dropped the scissors and left.
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