Gu poison
Meanwhile, Fu Zhiqiao was idly daydreaming in Wenyuan Villa.
How's business at Taibai Tower? Did Old Gao finish the alcohol order for the imperial court? Taibai Academy has started classes; when is Mother returning to the capital? Is Qiuqin adjusting well to life at Fuyun Pavilion? Did Wang Qi manage to buy beef and mutton with his caravan? When will he return?
Although she had a lot on her mind, there was nothing she could do.
She was confined to the villa, unable to leave or hear any news from the outside world, and lived a life of utter tranquility during this period.
Sheng An only came out after she took the initiative to ask and repeatedly requested to see Xie Zhuo. Before that, Sheng An had been protecting her in secret and had never shown his face in front of her.
"Go back and tell your young master that I want to see him."
Sheng An remained calm and composed: "Reporting to Miss Fu, I have no knowledge of the young master's whereabouts."
"Still pretending?"
Sheng An lowered his head slightly, showing no sign of panic: "This subordinate truly knew nothing about it. The young master is busy with military affairs, and it is common for his whereabouts to be unpredictable."
Fu Zhiqiao looked him up and down, then coldly uttered, "Don't force me to force my way through the gates of the villa."
Sheng An: "..."
"Furthermore, I'll tell Xie Zhuo later that you have ulterior motives towards me."
Sheng An clenched her fists and pursed her lips: "Miss, please don't joke around. The young master won't believe it."
Fu Zhiqiao smiled faintly, a half-smile playing on her lips, and asked, "Are you sure he won't believe it?"
The voice carried a strong warning.
Sheng An's heart skipped a beat. He knew that, given how much the young master valued Miss Fu, even if he knew she was lying, he would still transfer him to another place according to her wishes.
Fu Zhiqiao didn't miss the fleeting look of surprise in Sheng An's eyes and pressed on, "Speak."
Unable to resist, Sheng An had no choice but to tell her about Xie Zhuo's poisoning and coma.
Fu Zhiqiao frowned: "Poisoned?"
Sheng An nodded.
When did this happen? How serious is it?
"Just a few days ago, the young master was slashed while fighting with thieves. The blade was coated with poison, and the imperial physicians are trying to detoxify him, but the poison is too potent, and the young master has not yet woken up."
Upon hearing this, Fu Zhi Qiao's mind went blank. When she heard that Xie Zhuo had been unconscious for a long time, she could no longer sit still: "Take me to see him."
Meeting her earnest gaze, Sheng An stammered, "The Prince's mansion is heavily guarded..."
“No matter how strict the rules are, I believe you can still get me in.” With that, she walked past him and pushed open the door. Just as her hand was about to touch the door, Sheng An quickly stopped her: “Miss! The rules of the Prince’s mansion are strict. My current task is to protect you, and I cannot enter and leave the mansion at will.”
Fu Zhi Qiao's eyes were deep and unfathomable: "What's wrong with it? Or do you not want me to see him?"
Sheng An's gaze darted away, and sweat beaded on his forehead: "This subordinate dares not..."
Fu Zhi Qiao's doubts deepened. "Tell me, what else are you hiding from me?"
She was initially taken aback by Sheng An, but after careful consideration, she realized something was amiss. During their conversation, he hadn't even dared to lift his head, treating her like some terrifying monster. Besides, if Xie Zhuo were truly facing a life-or-death situation, Sheng An wouldn't be so calm and would desperately try to stop her from seeing him.
Fu Zhi Qiao's face was cold, and her tone was indifferent, "Tell the truth."
A casual remark about telling the truth left Sheng An flustered, feeling as if she had seen right through him. But the young master had previously instructed that Miss Fu be kept in the villa... He composed himself and continued to speak with a forced smile: "Miss, everything I have said is true."
Fu Zhiqiao: "I'll ask one last time."
Sheng An felt a chill run down his spine: "My task is to protect the young lady; I'm not sure about anything else."
"Don't you really know?"
Sheng An firmly maintained her stance: "I don't know!"
"Ginkgo, find me an axe."
Fu Zhi Qiao's sudden change of topic caught him off guard, and he subconsciously asked, "What does the young lady need an axe for?"
Fu Zhi Qiao turned to look at him and smiled faintly: "Don't you know? I'm going to cause a huge scene at the villa."
The cold, emotionless voice sent a chill down one's spine.
Ginkgo, who was not far away, had already come over with an axe. Sheng An's pupils shrank slightly. "I only know that the poisoning and unconsciousness were the young master's scheme. I really don't know anything else. Please be aware of this, young lady."
Just then, Ginkgo came in with an axe. "Miss, I've brought the axe."
Fu Zhi Qiao waved her hand, signaling her to put the axe aside and go down first. When Yin Xing turned around, she glared at Sheng An fiercely. It was all this stinky guard's fault for making the young lady unhappy.
After Yinxing left, Fu Zhiqiao's expression turned slightly serious: "Tell me everything you know."
*
On the other side, after examining Xie Zhuo's symptoms at the Prince's Mansion, Gao Jiuyong returned to the palace and gathered a group of imperial physicians to discuss the matter, brainstorming together.
"I've never heard of a poisoned person's blood slowly changing color until death."
"Yes, I have never heard of such a peculiar symptom before."
"The blood will change color, and you can only slowly wait to die. This poison is really too insidious."
Several imperial physicians huddled together, discussing treatment methods.
Strange, insidious… Upon hearing these words, a young imperial physician suddenly had a flash of inspiration, “Could it be a Gu poison?”
After a two-second pause, Gao Jiuyong couldn't help but slap his forehead. "Yeah, how come I didn't think of that?"
He began searching through medical books, hoping to find even the slightest clue.
The palace library holds countless books; surely a cure can be found there.
Gao Jiuyong assigned the deputy envoys of the Imperial Medical Academy to look up information about Gu poison. The deputy envoys spent the whole day flipping through medical and poison books, and only stopped when it got dark. They had seen all kinds of Gu poison, such as insect Gu, object Gu, earth Gu, golden silkworm Gu, and corpse Gu, but they still couldn't find any Gu poison that could change the color of one's blood.
"Any discoveries?"
The deputy envoys exchanged glances and shook their heads. Gao Jiuyong was somewhat discouraged; it seemed there would be no gain today.
Gao Jiuyong walked out of the Imperial Hospital with his head down. One day of the ten days had already passed. Just as he stepped out of the gate of the Imperial Hospital, a voice called out to him.
"Physician Gao, please wait."
Gao Jiuyong turned around and found that the person who had caught up with him was the young imperial physician who had proposed the theory of Gu poison during the day. He cupped his hands in greeting and said, "Imperial Physician Mao."
Physician Mao smiled and said, "There is something I am not sure if I should say."
Gao Jiuyong: "?"
Gao Jiuyong felt a bit confused. He had been a royal physician in the Imperial Hospital for more than ten years, while Physician Mao had only joined the Imperial Hospital two years ago. He was not very familiar with him on a daily basis, and he needed to talk to Physician Mao privately if there was anything.
"Doctor Mao, please speak frankly."
"Actually, I heard my master talk about the poison that the young master was poisoned when I was young."
Gao Jiuyong perked up immediately: "Really?"
Physician Mao nodded: "I was just young back then, and I don't remember many things clearly. I only remembered them today when you mentioned them."
Gao Jiuyong pulled him aside: "Come, come, tell me everything you know."
Physician Mao glanced at the people around him, took two steps closer, and lowered his voice, saying, "Have you ever heard of a book that records all the most rare and deadly poisons in the world?"
"You mean... The Way of Poison?"
Physician Mao nodded. "That's right. I saw this book in my master's hands when I was a child. At that time, my master said that I was still young and my mind was not stable. He was worried that I would go astray after reading this book, so he confiscated it. However, I vaguely remember that the book recorded that the poison that makes people's blood change color should originate from the southern border region."
"Southern Xinjiang? Are you sure?"
Physician Mao pondered for a moment: "This humble official dares not guarantee anything. The young master's symptoms of poisoning are so peculiar that there must be a record of it in the 'Way of Poisons.' If we want to find the antidote for this poison, we only need to find the book and check it."
Gao Jiuyong was shocked: "No, that's a forbidden book!"
The book "The Way of Poison" records the methods for making hundreds of poisons. To prevent people from learning it and causing trouble, the book was banned by the imperial court many years ago.
Gao Jiuyong looked troubled; reading forbidden books in the imperial court without permission was a serious crime.
"But without 'The Way of Poison,' how can we find a secret formula to detoxify the prince?"
This Physician Mao is quite bold for his young age, daring to mention forbidden books in front of him. Or is there some other conspiracy? Gao Jiuyong narrowed his eyes and looked at him with considerable doubt: "Why are you so concerned about the matter of the Crown Prince?"
Physician Mao sighed and said, "To tell you the truth, my ancestral home is in Liangzhou. The young master led troops to fight against the barbarians, protecting the country's territory and also protecting my Mao clan from the suffering of displacement. I do not want such a hero to perish."
Gao Jiuyong remained silent, which was taken as agreement with this statement.
"Imperial Physician Gao, I have told you everything I know. The Way of Poison is the only way to save the young master."
"But the 'Way of Poison' was burned many years ago."
The imperial court issued an order that anyone who privately possessed forbidden books would have their entire family, including nine generations of their relatives, executed.
Although "The Way of Poison" records the method of making poisons, it is also a kind of medical book. Those who possessed medical books were generally from families with a long history of medicine. The imperial court ordered "The Way of Poison" to be burned, and no one was allowed to study it privately.
"The copies in the private collection have indeed been destroyed, but there must still be a unique copy remaining in the palace."
Their eyes met, and Gao Jiuyong hesitated, then calmed the turmoil in his heart: "This matter is known only to Heaven, Earth, you, and me."
Gao Jiuyong was personally appointed by the emperor to treat Xie Zhuo's illness. He obtained the key to the top floor of the library from the librarian under the pretext of looking for medical books.
The cabinet on the top floor of the library was locked year-round. Gao Jiuyong used the special iron hook that Physician Mao had given him to open the cabinet.
As Gao Jiuyong picked the lock, he muttered to himself, thinking that at his age, he was actually doing such a despicable thing as picking locks.
After searching around, he found an old medical book in the third cabinet.
It's "The Way of Poison"!
The pages are yellowed, and the whole book exudes an ancient and mysterious aura.
Gao Jiuyong gently opened the book and carefully examined it. The book not only taught people how to identify various poisonous herbs and how to make various poisons, but also recorded witchcraft techniques for casting spells on people.
This book, "The Way of Poison," is truly something special; no wonder it became a banned book.
After reading the book from beginning to end, Gao Jiuyong indeed discovered the symptoms of poisoning.
Unconscious, blood turned purplish-black... After reading this, he was secretly alarmed. The toxin extracted from the fruit of the Illusion Heart Grass and the venom from the fangs of the purplish-black python would slowly turn the blood of the poisoned person's entire body into purplish-black, and then slowly die in a coma without any pain. Therefore, it was named "Drunken Haze".
The "Drunken Haze" is not an ordinary poison; it is a form of Gu poison.
"Imperial Physician Gao, have you found the book? Do you need my help?" Seeing that he hadn't moved for a long time, the official guarding the book downstairs was already urging him.
"Oh, I found it. I'll go down right away."
Gao Jiuyong quickly wrote down the antidote for the hazy intoxication, locked the book back in the cabinet, and rushed to the Prince's mansion with the antidote.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
