Chapter 64 Detoxification
There was chaos in the Eastern Palace, the imperial doctors were helpless, Emperor Liu Jin was heartbroken, and the second prince Liu Cong was like a trapped beast, his eyes bloodshot as he frantically searched for any possible clues.
At this desperate moment, Emperor Xiao Ziran of Nanyue rushed to the gate of the East Palace regardless of everything.
In his hand, he tightly grasped an ancient prescription that he had just found from a dusty secret file, and behind him followed a trusted old minister holding several key medicinal ingredients.
"Let me in! I have the antidote! I know what poison the prince was poisoned with!"
Xiao Ziran shouted at the palace guards who tried to stop him, his voice hoarse with anxiety and guilt.
"Your Majesty Nanyue, the Eastern Palace is under martial law at this moment. No one is allowed to..."
The commander of the guards looked embarrassed, but before he could finish his words, he heard the emperor Liu Jin's roar like a wounded lion from inside.
"Let him go! I don't want to see him! Who knows if he will come to harm my Xiao'er again!"
Xiao Ziran felt heartbroken, he knew Liu Jin would never trust him easily.
"Liu Jin, Ah Jin, please trust me just this once! Just this once! I was wrong. It was my father who stole the letters back then. I misunderstood you for twenty years. It was also me who was bewildered and arranged that 'Drunken Butterfly Powder'...
But I never thought of taking Xiao'er's life, I just wanted... I just hated it and was confused. This antidote is real. Please, save the child first!"
His words were like tears of blood, filled with endless regret and sincerity.
The palace suddenly became quiet, and no one dared to make a sound.
Liu Jin was in the hall, listening to the heart-wrenching confession outside the door and the truth about the "letter substitution". He felt as if struck by lightning and stood still.
...What Xiao Ziran said...was actually true? Those twenty years of hatred...were they really all a huge misunderstanding?
At this moment, Liu Xiao on the couch let out another painful groan, and a trace of black blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.
"Father!" Liu Cong said urgently, "Whether true or not, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can't wait any longer! Since His Majesty Nanyue has a prescription, why not let the imperial physician take a look? If it's a vicious plot, I'll tear him into pieces immediately!"
Liu Jin looked at his son's painful expression, then looked at Xiao Ziran outside the door. In the end, reason and love for his son overwhelmed his hatred.
He gritted his teeth and squeezed out a word: "...Accurate!"
The imperial physician immediately took the prescription and quickly checked it with several judges.
Although the herbs in the prescription are rare, they are not poisonous, and the combination is indeed targeted at the disease of infatuation.
Two of the main ingredients were brought by the old minister of Nanyue.
"Your Majesty! This method...maybe it will work!" the judge said in a trembling voice.
"Hurry! Boil the medicine!" Liu Jin felt like he had grabbed a life-saving straw and no longer cared about anything else.
The decoction was quickly prepared and carefully fed into Liu Xiao's mouth. Everyone watched intently with bated breath.
Perhaps it was the antidote that worked for him, or perhaps it was because Liu Xiao was young and had a good foundation, but less than an hour after taking the medicine, a hint of color returned to his pale face. Although he was still unconscious, his breathing was noticeably steadier.
The imperial physician took the pulse again and exclaimed in surprise, "Your Majesty! Your Highness's pulse has stabilized! The poison... the poison seems to be subsiding!"
The entire East Palace was suddenly filled with an atmosphere of surviving a disaster.
Liu Jin's legs went weak and he almost collapsed on the edge of the couch, but Fu'an supported him in time.
Liu Cong also breathed a sigh of relief, his tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and then he felt exhausted.
Liu Jin slowly stood up and walked out of the hall.
Xiao Ziran's hair was disheveled and his robe was covered in dust. When he saw Liu Chen coming out, he raised his head, his eyes full of hope and anxiety.
"Xiao'er...how is he?" he asked in a trembling voice.
“…It’s stable for now.”
Liu Jin's voice was still cold
He looked at the disheveled man in front of him, whom he had once hated to the core, and thought of the twenty years of suffering and his confession just now, and felt a mixture of emotions.
"Why..." Liu Chen's voice was dry, "Why didn't you say it earlier..."
"I...I just extorted the truth from the confidant who delivered the letter back then..."
Xiao Ziran closed his eyes in pain, "Ajin... I'm sorry... these twenty years... we were all wrong..."
A huge silence fell between the two of them.
Twenty years of misunderstanding, twenty years of pain, can it be easily resolved with just a simple "I'm sorry"?
But looking at the equally deep pain and regret in each other's eyes, the ice-like barrier seemed to finally crack.
Liu Jin didn't say another word in the end. He just waved his hand tiredly and turned back to the East Palace.
No forgiveness, but no expulsion either.
Xiao Ziran knew that this was the best outcome at the moment.
After being in a coma for a day and a night, Liu Xiao finally woke up slowly.
When he opened his eyes, he saw his father's bloodshot eyes filled with surprise, and his second brother Liu Cong's unconcealable concern and relief.
"Father...Brother..." His voice was weak and confused. "What's wrong with me?"
Liu Jin held his hand tightly, his voice choked with sobs: "It's okay... Xiao'er, it's okay, it's all over."
During Liu Xiao's recuperation, the truth of the matter was slowly pieced together.
Liu Cong found out that the "Drunken Butterfly Powder" was introduced into the Eastern Palace through the incense in the inner treasury, and thoroughly cleaned up the relevant links.
Xiao Ziran also revealed everything he knew, including his father's calculations, his misunderstandings, and his revenge plan.
Liu Xiao, who learned all this, also felt complicated.
He never expected that he would be involved in such a deep old love-hate relationship with his father, and he never expected that the poison he was poisoned with was caused by a misunderstanding caused by love turning into hate.
The crisis in the Eastern Palace was resolved with the antidote offered by Xiao Ziran.
After several days of coma and pain, the poison gradually subsided in Crown Prince Liu Xiao, his complexion regained its rosy complexion, and his breathing became steady and long.
The imperial physician confirmed again and again that the prince's life was no longer in danger and that he would recover if he just rested well.
Liu Jin's heart finally settled down. He looked at his son sleeping peacefully on the couch, and then at the haggard Xiao Ziran outside the hall.
The truth about the "letter swapping" mentioned by the other party finally created a crack in the frozen wall of his heart.
He eventually acquiesced to his stay in the capital, and even allowed him to occasionally visit the prince who was still recovering.
This is a silent and extremely limited concession.
Xiao Ziran knew very well that he had committed a grave sin, and he no longer asked for forgiveness.
He used the abundant resources of Nanyue to collect various rare tonics and medicinal herbs, and sent them to the Eastern Palace continuously.
He remembered that Liu Jin had loved the spring tea from the south of the Yangtze River when he was young, so he ordered someone to rush over 800 miles to send the freshest Mingqian Longjing tea.
Hearing that Liu Jin had been reviewing memorials late into the night, he found some night-shining pearls, which are unique to Nanyue and can brighten the eyes and calm the mind, ground them into fine powder, and mixed them into candlesticks before sending them to him.
He even racked his brains to find some folk gadgets that they both liked back then.
Or he would copy some poems they had recited together and carefully include them in the gift, trying to evoke even a trace of the old warmth in Liu Jin's heart.
These actions, sometimes clumsy, sometimes delicate, are all filled with a desperate sincerity and regret.
Liu Jin's attitude towards this has always been complicated.
He would sometimes stare at those familiar objects in a trance, with bitter ripples in his heart;
Sometimes they get annoyed when others try to interfere in their lives and order the items to be returned intact.
His heart swung wildly between hatred and the love that had never truly died.
During a brief visit that was allowed, Xiao Ziran sat on a chair slightly away from the bed, quietly watching the palace servants feed medicine to the gradually improving Crown Prince Liu Xiao.
The sunlight shines through the window lattice and softly falls on Liu Xiao's face.
Because he had just recovered from a serious illness, he looked a little thin, but his spirits were obviously much better, and he would occasionally speak gently to the palace maids.
Xiao Ziran's eyes were originally full of guilt, but as he looked at it, his brows furrowed slightly.
Before, either the situation was critical or he was at a distance, and he had never looked at the appearance of the Heavenly Prince so carefully and calmly.
At this moment, in the bright spring sunshine, he suddenly discovered that this child did not seem to look like Liu Jin!
Liu Jin's appearance is handsome and profound, with the majesty and coldness of an emperor.
The young man on the couch, however, had more delicate and gentle features, a straight nose, and the shape of his lips... especially his clear and gentle eyes that occasionally lifted up...
Xiao Ziran's heart skipped a beat! Those features... that expression... why... why did they feel vaguely familiar? Who did they resemble?
He searched hard in his memory.
Suddenly, a daring and absurd thought exploded in his mind like thunder: This Heavenly Prince... looks... like me when I was young?!
He was so frightened by the thought that he almost jumped out of his chair! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
He forced himself to calm down, took a deep breath, and looked at Liu Xiao carefully again.
The more I look at it, the stronger the strange sense of familiarity becomes.
Especially when he occasionally frowned and thought, that expression... was almost exactly the same as what he saw when he looked in the mirror!
Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.
A crazy guess started to arise uncontrollably: Could it be... Could it be that Liu Xiao...? !
Once this idea came into being, it grew wildly like weeds and could no longer be contained.
After returning to the inn, Xiao Ziran immediately summoned his trusted shadow guard who was good at covert investigations.
"Ying, I want you to investigate something secretly at all costs."
Xiao Ziran's voice trembled slightly with excitement.
"Investigate the background of the Celestial Crown Prince Liu Xiao! Focus on the Imperial Palace fifteen years ago, especially everything that happened before and after the birth of Marquis Weiyuan's wife! Don't miss any details! Especially... the rumors about the child being swapped..."
He paused, his eyes flashing with an extremely complicated light, and lowered his voice.
"Also...find a way to obtain some of His Royal Highness's personal belongings...such as his hair...I want the most conclusive evidence."
The shadow guard took the order and disappeared like a ghost.
In the following days, Xiao Ziran fell into extreme torment.
On the one hand, he continued his passionate and persistent pursuit of Liu Jin, trying to reconcile with her;
On the other hand, I was tormented by that conjecture and couldn't sleep or eat.
His attitude towards Liu Xiao also became subtle.
During the visit, his eyes were no longer just filled with guilt, but also with a bit of subtle inquiry, nervousness, and even a hint of... unbelievable, cautious hope.
Xiao Ziran's persistence day after day and those little gifts full of memories were not completely ineffective.
Liu Jin's defenses were gradually softened.
Especially when he is alone, looking at those familiar old things, bits and pieces of memories from twenty years ago will come to his mind.
The sweetness and passion at that time formed a sharp contrast with the pain of the next twenty years, which made him sigh.
He sometimes wondered what the situation would be like now if the letter had not been swapped, if they could face everything side by side.
The thought made him feel a sharp pain and deep regret.
But he still couldn't forgive easily.
The estrangement and hurt of twenty years are too deep, and it involves the identities of the two monarchs. How can it be treated as a joke?
He still remained cold and distant most of the time, but the number of times he returned gifts gradually decreased.
Crown Prince Liu Xiao also noticed the subtle change in Emperor Nanyue's attitude towards him.
That look was no longer pure apology, but seemed to contain some complex emotions that he couldn't understand, sometimes even making him feel... a little too eager?
Moreover, the frequency with which the Emperor of Nanyue came to visit him seemed a bit too high.
He privately expressed his confusion to the Second Prince, Liu Cong: "Second Brother, do you feel that... His Majesty Nanyue has been looking at me in a strange way recently?"
Liu Cong had long noticed Xiao Ziran's abnormality. He was alarmed, but he didn't dare to tell Liu Xiao about his suspicions, fearing that it would affect his recovery. He just calmly comforted him:
"Perhaps he feels too guilty and doesn't know how to make amends. Your Highness, don't worry too much. Just focus on taking care of your health."
But he secretly increased his surveillance of Xiao Ziran, paying special attention to the movements of his subordinates.
Shadow Guard's investigation has made initial progress.
They pieced together some information from the mouths of some old servants who had long since left the Weiyuan Marquis Mansion:
Fifteen years ago, the Marquis' wife, Xiao Zhou, gave birth prematurely in the palace. The child was in critical condition and was dying when he was born.
He was taken to a special nursery and miraculously survived. However, after returning home, the Marquis' wife vaguely felt that the child "seemed a little different"...
At the same time, the shadow guard went through a lot of trouble and finally obtained a few strands of hair that fell when the prince was combing his hair, and secretly sent them back to the Nanyue Inn.
Xiao Ziran's hands were shaking violently as he held those few soft strands of hair.
He took a deep breath and used his own blood to seal a strand of hair - that was the token he and Liu Jin had exchanged when they were in love, and it contained his and Liu Jin's hair.
He needed to do the oldest yet most direct bloodline verification.
Although it may not be 100% accurate, it is enough to provide a strong indication.
When I saw the two hairs slowly blending together in the special liquid, emitting a faint fluorescence that only the blood of close relatives could produce,
Xiao Ziran was struck by lightning, and he froze in place. The jade bowl in his hand fell to pieces with a "bang"!
Really...it's actually true?!
Liu Xiao...is he really his son?!
Is he the son of him and Liu Jin? !
The huge shock, ecstasy, guilt, regret... instantly drowned him like a tsunami!
He remembered the cruelty he had inflicted on the child and wanted to stab himself a few times.
He almost killed his own flesh and blood with his own hands!
At the same time, Liu Jin seemed to be loosening up.
When Xiao Ziran brought him a long-lost cake that he loved most in his youth, Liu Jin did not let it go immediately, but remained silent for a moment.
Finally, he said lightly: "...It's amazing that you still remember it."
This seemingly plain sentence was like a heavenly sound to Xiao Ziran.
His eyes were hot with excitement, knowing that his efforts were not in vain.
The truth is like another shoe that is about to drop.
Xiao Ziran learned about Liu Xiao's life experience, and was filled with ecstasy and regret.
This made his pursuit of Liu Jin more urgent and full of atonement. He longed for his family to be reunited and to make up for the lost time.
As for Liu Jin, his defenses are gradually crumbling under Xiao Ziran's continued softening offensive and memories of their old love.
The second prince Liu Cong sensed a bigger storm coming. He stayed closely beside the crown prince, keeping a vigilant eye on everything.
Crown Prince Liu Xiao gradually recovers, but he is still ignorant of the undercurrents surrounding his life.
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