Long Xuanmo and his entourage promptly returned to their respective residences or the post station.
The crowd dispersed one after another.
"Is the master satisfied with the servant’s performance?" Now, only Mother Yi and the expressionless Mo Yu remained in the room.
Mo Yu gave a silver note to Mother Yi, ignoring her flirtatious gestures, "This is the reward for your performance. Additionally, you’d best close up and hide for a while, lest you don’t know how you end up dead."
"Alright." Mother Yi took the silver note and tucked it into her bosom, grinning from ear to ear. Having instantly received over a hundred thousand taels of silver, she naturally wanted to go into hiding.
In the blink of an eye, Mo Yu disappeared without a trace.
And Mother Yi immediately gathered all the servants, told them they had two months off, paid their salaries in advance, then took her silver and closed doors to avoid disaster.
At the Xiliang post station.
The several envoys returned to their rooms. This trip to Dong Chu had left them with no face to show, and they would leave tomorrow. Otherwise, they could only hide in the post station, too ashamed to face anyone.
After instructing his trusted guard to find the accompanying doctor, Qi Zonghao carried Qi Qiuxin straight back to her room, threw her heavily onto the bed, then went over to sit by the table, his expression grim, eyes as cold as a frigid pool, filled with a dense murderous intent.
Soon, the guard brought the doctor. The doctor examined Qi Qiuxin carefully before respectfully reporting to Qi Zonghao, "Second Prince, that drug is too domineering. The Princess has injured her body and needs proper recuperation."
Having followed the Second Prince for many years, he knew a bit about the secret medicines of the Xiliang Royal family.
"And?"
The doctor was startled, unsure of what Qi Zonghao meant.
Qi Zonghao stared intently at the doctor and said in a deep voice, "Are there any other drugs in the Princess’s system?"
"Second Prince, no," the doctor answered truthfully.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes!"
Qi Zonghao’s eyes darkened like the depths of the ocean, with an air of cold melancholy between his brows, "Wake the two of them up."
The doctor took out a small bottle and waved it under the noses of Bi Chun and Bi Dong. Not long after, their eyelashes trembled slightly, clearly about to wake up. Seeing Qi Zonghao’s wave, the doctor immediately retreated.
Slowly opening their eyes, Bi Chun and Bi Dong were momentarily disoriented. As soon as they saw Qi Zonghao sitting by the table, they became alert and, ignoring the excruciating pain throughout their bodies, knelt before him and said in unison, "We failed to serve the Princess well, we beg the Second Prince for forgiveness!"
"Tell me everything that happened after you left the banquet, in complete detail." Qi Zonghao was eager to know how such a flawless plan could have had such a serious lapse.
"Second Prince, we were aiding the Princess after leaving the Imperial Garden," Bi Chun said with a trembling voice, "A quarter of an hour later, I used an excuse to send the Palace Maid away. The Princess, along with the two of us, followed the map given by Prince Jing to go to Chaohui Hall (where the male guests were temporarily resting, which was precisely where Long Xuanmo had gone). Along the way, the Princess took the drug given by the Second Prince;
Halfway there, the Princess suddenly insisted on leaving the palace. No matter how much we tried to persuade her, she wouldn’t listen, and we had no choice but to follow her out of the palace. I originally wanted to send Bi Dong to report to the Second Prince, but the Princess wouldn’t allow it, threatening to kill us both otherwise;
The guards stationed at the palace gate said they would send an escort, yet the princess flew into a sudden rage, immediately using her whip to injure several guards. Once she left the palace gate, she ordered the coachman to ’Gong Le Yao’. We two servants failed to stop her and even got injured by the princess.
Upon reaching ’Gong Le Yao’, the princess brazenly stormed in and demanded the ten strongest Xiao Guans. The mother there quickly brought two Xiao Guans, and the princess immediately...
Before long, both Xiao Guans died frothing at the mouth. Seeing that the situation was dire, we went to stop the princess, but she knocked us out cold with a beating, and we only just came to.
We failed to dissuade the princess, we failed in our duties, we beg the Second Prince to spare our lives!" The two kept kowtowing, pleading for mercy.
Qi Zonghao’s expression was icy, devoid of a hint of warmth, his entire being like a sculpture emerging from broken ice, filled with a bone-chilling terror.
"Think carefully, did anything special happen during that time?"
Bi Chun and Bi Dong kept their heads down and tried hard to remember. Suddenly, Bi Dong lifted her head, "I remember, not long after the princess took the medicine, a bird appeared out of nowhere, flew straight at the princess, perched on her shoulder for a moment, and then flew away. Nothing else out of the ordinary happened."
"That’s right, the princess was even happy at the time, and played with the bird’s wings for a while," Bi Chun quickly nodded in agreement.
Qi Zonghao raised an eyebrow and said in a deep voice, "Though you failed to serve the princess well, there is still some excuse for your actions. I’ll dock half a year’s monthly money as both a minor punishment and major warning. Go back and heal your wounds well."
"We thank the Second Prince for sparing our lives!"
Bi Chun and Bi Dong felt a mix of shock and trepidation. The Second Prince was known for his ruthlessness. Given what had happened to the princess, how could he possibly let them off? But outwardly, they kowtowed in thanks and then slowly stood up. They walked to the door and just as they were about to open it and leave,
Their backs suddenly hurt. Looking down, they saw the blade of a long sword protruding through their bodies, blood streaming down along the sword and spilling onto the floor. They spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, turned to glare at Qi Zonghao with anger and said, "You... how venomous..." Their bodies collapsed limply to the floor, and soon their souls departed for the netherworld.
"Throw them in the Indiscriminate Burial Ground to feed the wild dogs!" commanded Qi Zonghao, his voice cold and his gaze tainted with disdain and chill.
Two guards carrying the corpses of Bi Chun and Bi Dong left quietly.
Turning his gaze to Qi Qiuxin lying on the bed, Qi Zonghao’s eyes were sinister, faintly glinting with a brutal light, and tinged with a hint of disgust.
He was certain that the Imperial Younger Sister had behaved abnormally only because she had been drugged by that bird, and Princess Chen, with three Spiritual Beasts at her side, could easily instruct a bird to administer the drug. More importantly, Princess Chen’s unparalleled medical expertise meant she could concoct drugs that other doctors would fail to detect.
Unfortunately, he had no evidence. The Imperial Palace guards and Mother Yi, among others, had all testified that it was the Imperial Younger Sister’s own doing, unrelated to anyone else. He couldn’t even frame Princess Chen and Long Xuanmo.
But this perfect plan was known only to him, a close Staff Officer, and a few of his guards, along with Bi Chun and Bi Dong. How could Princess Chen and Long Xuanmo have known the details and turned the tables on him so resoundingly? He was sure that none of these people around him would have leaked the information.
What exactly was going on?
"Imperial Brother, what are you doing here?" Qi Qiuxin slowly awakened, seeing Qi Zonghao, her muddled mind gradually grew clear. Just as she tried to get up, she felt an excruciating pain all over her body, especially in that place, "Why does my entire body hurt?"
Qi Zonghao said gravely, "You have lost your purity."
Qi Qiuxin immediately became excited, "Does that mean I am now Prince Chen’s consort? That’s wonderful!"
"Imperial Younger Sister, do you truly not remember what happened?"
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