Chapter 103 Chapter 103 I don’t just want to watch you with others…
"Please come in, Empress Zhenfei."
Chang Da poured the Fengming Pill into Wang Rang's hands.
Wang Rang awkwardly held the dark brown pill in his hand. He turned to look at Emperor Jiaqing, then at Chang Da: "General, this..."
Emperor Jiaqing clenched his fists with a sullen face and said nothing.
Nan Qiongshuang glanced at Chang Da's face. The bear-like figure panted heavily when angry. His eyes, with their sparse whites buried deep beneath thick eyebrows, looked like a wild beast lurking in the dense forest.
Today, he wanted to let Emperor Jiaqing know which side had the harder fist: a border general with an army of 200,000 who had already fought his way from Sichuan and Shaanxi to the gates of the capital, or an emperor with a severe headache who only knew how to seek pleasure.
but.
Did he just want to scare Emperor Jiaqing and make him submit, or did he want to use today's incident to take over the entire stall, destroy Qi and Song, and then sit in another chair?
If it is the latter, the outcome will be the same whether she takes the medicine or not.
Nan Qiongshuang couldn't say for sure.
Emperor Jiaqing naturally couldn't say for sure.
When he is unsure, the Crazy Emperor subconsciously relies on someone.
Gu Zhi.
He couldn't help but think of the clever trick he left for him before he left.
"Wait a minute," said the Jiaqing Emperor. "I have a severe headache and can't speak with the general. Wang Rang, go get the Regent."
In a room, is it scarier to have two tigers or one tiger?
A tiger.
Tigers eat people effortlessly and without any need for unity.
The only thing a tiger fears is another tiger.
Things in the world are so mysterious. Sometimes medicine is poison, and sometimes poison is medicine.
Wang Rang ran away as fast as he could, knowing that today's matter was of great importance, and his legs swung so hard that sparks flew.
How could Chang Da not know what the mad emperor was planning? However, Emperor Jiaqing neither agreed nor refused, and insisted on procrastinating. He said he had a headache, dizziness, and it hurt so much that he cried out in pain.
The howling was so intense that Chang Da had no chance to get a word in.
After a while, Li Xuanbai, who received the news, hurriedly put down the letter in his hand, put on his clothes and rushed over.
Today he changed into a slim-fitting brocade robe with purple lotus and narrow sleeves. It was the neat cut he always liked, with straight shoulders and a circle of dragons riding clouds embroidered with gold thread on the collar and cuffs. It was gathered around the waist in the middle and a jade belt was tied around the waist, making him look even more noble and sharp, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, making him look unstoppable.
He folded his arms, tilted his head nonchalantly, dodged through the brocade curtain, and entered the Laughing Paradise. The situation inside was so tense that his first words were:
"Why, you didn't invite me to play Chupu? What's your intention?"
President Wang Maoxing sighed and was about to cry.
Why is the only tiger on the mountain capable of fighting Chang Da so frivolously? Is he truly trustworthy?
Seeing him come in, the Crazy Emperor and Chang Da stood up at the same time to greet him. Li Xuanbai did not need to be invited, and without even looking up, he walked straight to the honored seat facing north and south, casually pushed Emperor Jiaqing away, and sat down.
Nan Qiong Shuang thought to herself that Chang Da sat down without waiting to be invited, which was very respectful.
Li Xuanbai tapped the edge of the table with his fingers bent, scolding Wang Rang, "Bring tea." He then beckoned Emperor Jiaqing, "Sit down."
He has the attitude of a master.
He leaned back in his chair, hugging his shoulders. "Why did you ask me to come here today? I'm busy. It better be something important."
Wang Maoxing knelt and bowed: "General Changda said that he wanted to offer a pill to Empress Zhenfei."
Chang Da took a sip of tea. He particularly liked to drink it hot, and boiling tea was just what he wanted. "Fengming Pills, if taken, can make one's voice as sweet as an oriole. I think this should suit the Empress's taste."
"Such a good thing, why don't you give it to the Imperial Concubine first?"
Li Xuanbai was sitting beside her, and Nan Qiongshuang was not afraid of adding fuel to the fire. She waved her round fan and smiled.
"It is precisely because it is a good thing that it should be presented to Concubine Zhen first."
Chang Da was serious, his face calm and his heart steady.
With Li Xuanbai in charge, Emperor Jiaqing felt a bit bolder and chuckled complacently, "That's not necessary. Linyan is also my beloved concubine, and we've been married for many years. The precious things should be given to her first."
One insisted on giving it away, the other refused to accept it, and even asked his family to accept it first. As both sides pushed back like this, Li Xuanbai immediately understood why they had to invite him out today, and he didn't need to hear anything else.
"Hey, hey, hey." He knocked on the table again, "Have you forgotten someone?"
Chang Da and Emperor Jiaqing looked at him suspiciously.
Wang Maoxing knelt on the ground and raised his head. He was nearly 70 years old and his face was full of confusion.
As soon as Nan Qiongshuang heard his tone, she knew that something bad was going to happen.
"General Chang, I have a question for you." He played with Chupu's chess piece, "If you want to give away precious medicines like these, should you give them according to social status, from high to low?"
Upon hearing this, Emperor Jiaqing cursed inwardly, saying that this monkey was not here to save the situation, but to disrupt it. He wanted to give the poison to him instead of his beloved concubine.
Wang Maoxing sighed and covered his face with his wide sleeves.
When will Mr. Gu return to the palace?
"If we don't prioritize people by status, shouldn't we prioritize people by need?" He laughed. "Give it to those who need it most first."
These words made everyone present dizzy.
"Both standards ultimately point to one person."
Li Xuanbai pointed his thumb at himself: "Me."
Nan Qiongshuang couldn't stand what she heard. She held her forehead, pretended to be busy, took a sip of tea, and got burned.
"This good stuff, even I haven't tried it yet, who should I give it to?" He extended his palm towards the king holding the medicine, "Give it to me."
"Your Highness, this medicine makes one's voice sound like an oriole..."
"That's right!" Li Xuanbai pulled out a precious fan from his waist and tapped it in front of the stunned Chang Da. "It sounds like an oriole. Where can I get such a good thing? When I become an oriole, I will surround the general and sing for him every day."
Nan Qiong Shuang looked up at the ceiling, covered her lips with her sleeves, and sighed.
A quirky guy.
Chang Da's face turned ashen.
Although Wang Maoxing found it difficult to understand, after thinking carefully, he felt that it did not harm Emperor Jiaqing, so he lowered his head silently.
"Why?" Seeing Chang Da didn't answer, Li Xuanbai knocked the chess piece on the table, "General Chang is reluctant to part with it."
"How dare I." Chang Da pointed his hand towards Li Xuanbai and said to Wang Rang, "Give it to the Regent."
Wang Rang respectfully presented the pill. Li Xuanbai stroked his chin and examined it carefully.
Nan Qiong Shuang breathed a sigh of relief.
Even if the medicine was poisonous, Chang Da couldn't force Li Xuanbai to take it.
Unexpectedly, Li Xuanbai scratched his temple with his index finger and suddenly said, "Bring that guy..." He thought for a moment, "The one I saw outside... Li Jingtai, right? Call him over."
Everyone was stunned.
After a while, Li Jingtai was led in with a sad face. It turned out that he saw Chang Da coming to see Emperor Jiaqing and was afraid that the situation might change. He wanted to get some information to prepare in advance. He had been sitting at the stone table outside Xiaoleyuan, pretending to drink tea and eavesdropping.
He hadn't run when he was told to, and now he couldn't even if he wanted to. Li Jingtai knelt with a pale face, bowing his head deeply to the ground, not daring to rise. "I, the heir of the Duke of Qi, respectfully wish Your Majesty good health."
Before Emperor Jiaqing could reply, Li Xuanbai raised his hand and said, "Get up."
He raised his chin slightly and said, "Fengming Pills are given to Li Jingtai."
Nan Qiongshuang listened and raised her eyebrows.
If one wanted to test the Fengming Pill's poisonousness, Li Jingtai was undoubtedly the best candidate. A dandy son of a distinguished family, he possessed status but was of little use. He wasn't in a situation where two tigers were lurking in the same mountain. Even if he died, it wouldn't jeopardize the overall situation.
Li Jingtai trembled as he watched the pill being presented to him.
He had always been brought up in a pampered environment and was a famous playboy in Luojing. Today he had only come to serve Emperor Jiaqing in playing Chupu, but he had never expected to encounter such a thing and was so frightened that his knees went weak on the spot.
Li Xuanbai didn't even raise his eyelids: "Give it to him, don't dawdle."
Wang Rang pinched Li Jingtai's chin and, ignoring his terrified struggles and whimpers, stuffed the pill directly into his throat.
Nan Qiong Shuang glanced at Chang Da's expression.
Chang Da remained motionless, without a trace of guilt or nervousness on his face. His expression was as gloomy as water, and he tacitly allowed Li Xuanbai to use Li Jingtai to test the poison.
She stroked her long hair that fell on her chest and thought to herself, if the medicine was poisonous, his current reaction seemed a little too calm; if it was not poisonous, why did he have to give it to her?
Li Jingtai was finally forced to swallow the pill. He supported himself on the ground with his hands, coughed loudly, and gasped for breath.
When he raised his head again, his face looked normal, but he was terrified. His eyebrows were wet with cold sweat on his forehead, and his face was glistening with water, not sure if it was sweat or tears.
"I thank you, the Regent, for your grace."
Nan Qiongshuang sat in the armchair, leaned forward slightly, and looked at Li Jingtai carefully.
What, not dead?
Waited for a moment.
Everyone held their breath. Only Li Jingtai's heavy breathing, still filled with lingering fear, rose and fell in the gambling room.
Chang Da seemed unsurprised. He lowered his eyes, took a sip of the teacup, and passed it to Wang Rang: "Eunuch Wang, the tea is cold."
Emperor Jiaqing woke up as if from a dream, his palms soaked with sweat. He realized that he had been holding his breath and concentrating so much that he felt a little dizzy, so he held on to Nan Qiongshuang beside him.
"Deyin." His voice was weak and exhausted, a voice that had survived a great disaster. "General, I don't want you to die today, nor do I want to destroy my country."
She felt the sweat of Emperor Jiaqing on her palm, and suppressing her discomfort, she shook his hand back with tears in her eyes, blinking, "You're almost scared to death."
"So, despite my deep respect and love for the Empress, the Regent has become suspicious of me." Chang Da took the scalding hot teacup from Wang Rangxin, opened the lid, and took a sip from the steaming tea. "Now, may I ask, Your Majesty and the Regent, if you still have any doubts about me?"
"Why would you doubt it?" Li Xuanbai laughed. "I want to hear what a man's voice sounds like when he transforms into an oriole. If it sounds good, I'll eat one too and sing for the general and the emperor."
Said to Li Jingtai: "Go down."
"Thank you, thank you, Regent..."
As soon as the words came out, everyone in the room turned their eyes to him.
Li Jingtai himself realized that something was wrong. He pinched his neck and stammered for a long time, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, my throat..."
His voice was already shrill and charming, like a spring bird.
Nan Qiong Shuang: ...
Amidst the silence in the room, Li Xuanbai couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.
"Since the son of the Duke of Qi has already tried it, Your Majesty must have known the effectiveness of this medicine." Chang Da nodded to the servant who was serving beside him. The servant immediately understood and took out a mahogany treasure box and opened it.
Inside, there was actually an identical Fengming Pill.
"I wonder if your Majesty would be willing to accept this one."
Nan Qiong Shuang slowly clenched her hands in her sleeves.
Why did she have to take this medicine? Was it really to make her voice more charming?
Chang Da came in a rage to ask for an explanation on behalf of Mao Linyan, why would he offer this kind of medicine to her.
but.
In a flash, she suddenly understood.
Perhaps it was because Gu Huaijin was coming back the same day, and he particularly hated this kind of voice now. Chang Da wanted to use Gu Huaijin to kill her.
If she died, Mao Linyan would be favored again, and the Chang family would be behind Mao Linyan.
So that's what's happening.
A faint smile appeared at the corner of her lips. She nodded, took the pill obediently, and put it into her mouth in front of Chang Da.
Li Xuanbai and Emperor Jiaqing had not expected her to be so obedient. They were stunned for a moment and looked at her in confusion.
She just smiled calmly.
It was really interesting. These people, unaware of Gu Huaijin's connection to her, thought that in order to use him to kill her, they had to change her voice first.
They didn't know that her original voice was enough to make Gu Huaijin kill her.
She took a sip of tea, calmly swallowed the pill, and nodded politely to Chang Da, "Thank you for your concern, General. Please go back today."
*
"Why do you have to take that medicine?"
Inside the Daming Palace, a wall of candles flickered.
Li Xuanbai held the brush, and piles of memorials were spread out all over the small table.
"Even if it's not poisonous, how can it be a good thing? I'm sitting there, and if you don't eat it, who would dare to force you to eat it?"
"If I don't eat it, then this matter will be over." Her voice was as thin as a thread now. If it sounded good, it would be crisp and sweet, if it sounded bad, it would be sharp. She ate the lychees nonchalantly, "Li Jingtai tried it, it's not poisonous, and if it was, it wouldn't be fatal. What other excuses do you have?"
"Besides," she smiled, a pair of shallow dimples on her lips, "if he recognizes my voice, I'll be dead. Might as well change my voice and take a chance."
"Die?" Li Xuanbai spread his hands and drummed his knuckles on the small mahogany table, making a deafening sound. "I'm sitting there, who dares to tell you to die? Just relying on a guy like Gu Huaijin? Do you think I'm dead?"
It sounds good, but who knows when you'll be willing to help and when you won't. Nan Qiong Shuang raised her eyelids and glanced at him lazily.
"What's the big deal? I'll go back and take some medicine that will temporarily silence people, and then tell everyone that Chang Da's Fengming Pills are poisonous and frame him."
In the flickering light, she raised her eyes, a spark of light in them shone startlingly brightly. She smiled and passed a grape to his lips, "You've charged Chang Da with murdering the concubine, and you've also handed the regent a handle on the general."
"The Regent and the General are at loggerheads," she chuckled coolly, her face hidden behind a green silk fan. She tilted her head and smiled, "Does the Regent appreciate me?"
With her face covered by a silk fan, the half of her face looked dark and delicate, gorgeous and cunning.
He laughed in anger and tapped the edge of the table with his folding fan. "Even if I wanted to deal with him, would you have to take that poison? What evidence do you have to give me? If you don't give me evidence, will I be helpless?"
"You're just bragging." She lazily leaned back on the soft pillow. "If I lose my voice, I might also lose my favor. There's no such thing as a free gift, so if I lose my favor, you have to help me."
"You mean, not only do I have to watch you and that lunatic being affectionate with each other," Li Xuanbai laughed, "but I also have to help you win favor from that lunatic if he ignores you."
She smiled with her eyes curved: "Yes."
He gritted his teeth and sneered, "I really don't think anyone dares to ride on my head like this."
"I still say the same thing." She stood up, unconcerned, straightening her sleeves. "If the Regent doesn't like me, just kill me."
After saying that, he stood up and was about to leave.
"Where are you going?"
She turned around.
She didn't know if it was her illusion, but after the reunion, Li Xuanbai seemed to love her a little more deeply than before.
"Do you know that the guy named Gu will be back soon?"
She was stunned.
"Didn't you say that day that there were still ten days left? Calculating it, it should be at least five or six more days."
"It's early again. Your crazy husband can't leave him. He keeps urging me to stay here all day long."
He tossed the memorial he had just reviewed aside and leaned against the railing of his bed, crossing his legs. "He said he'd be back the day after tomorrow. We need to have a banquet when he gets back to the palace. I just gave the order today, and the Guanglu Temple is rushing to get it done. They're swamped."
the day after tomorrow.
She dropped her eyes.
"Over the years, he's completely changed. He's no longer the man you knew back on Mount Tianshan." He tapped his fingers on the table. "So, there are some things I need to remind you of."
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