The next morning, Li Ting told others that his wife was not feeling well and asked the maid to tidy up the house.
Qiu Feng volunteered to clean up and saw that the soup had been drunk and there was no trace of it being poured out in the room. Xu Ningyou was feeling unwell and lying lifelessly on the bed, so Qiu Feng assumed that her evil plan had succeeded.
Li Xingran woke up and looked for her mother. Li Ting noticed Li Xingran's little head twisting and turning, and immediately picked her up and carried her to Xu Ningyou's side.
[Waaah, oh no! Mother looks so pale. Could it be because she drank the soup that maid brought her last night?]
[You damned King Yama, you bastard King Yama! What happened to the promised good fortune? You couldn't even protect your own mother! What kind of king Yama are you?! I will pray to Heaven every day!]
Li Ting then quickly touched Xu Ningyou's body with his finger, and Xu Ningyou slowly woke up.
Her face gradually flushed. She seemed to be having a long dream, in which she personally killed Zhao Yunwan, avenging her junior sister. The villains that Ruan Ruan had mentioned were also all killed by her own hands.
The Li family was not executed; instead, they assisted the crown prince in ascending to the throne.
"Madam, Ruan Ruan was looking for you as soon as she woke up." The love in Li Ting's eyes was so intense that Xu Ningyou could hardly look away; it was love for her as well as love for her daughter.
Li Ting stayed by Xu Ningyou's side all night last night, and she knew it.
Just as dawn broke, Li Ting pressed Xu Ningyou's acupoints, making her appear as if she were terminally ill.
She knew all of this. It seems she wasn't the only one who could hear her daughter's thoughts.
Xu Ningyou pondered for a while. Her husband must have thought she couldn't hear Ruan Ruan's true feelings, which was why he acted this way. So she decided to keep it a secret for now! Otherwise, it would scare her daughter, and she wouldn't dare to say anything in the future.
"Husband, I'm hungry," Xu Ningyou said gently, taking Li Xingran from her and holding her in her arms.
Li Xingran, still in her swaddling clothes, reached out and scratched with her tiny hands and feet. So adorable.
Xu Ningyou could sense that Li Xingran was extremely happy. She was probably excited to see that Li Xingran hadn't drunk the soup and had woken up unharmed!
Li Ting instructed Aunt Cheng to go to the kitchen to prepare food. He then turned around and sat on the edge of the bed, teasing Li Xingran with Xu Ningyou.
Having just enjoyed a brief moment of peace, the sons rushed in. Upon entering the room, seeing Xu Ningyou and Li Ting's eyes filled with affection for their little sister, and their mother's rosy complexion and the strength to hold her sister safely, the five men finally felt relieved.
[That's wonderful, wonderful! Mother didn't drink the medicine. But the sachet she always loved to use can no longer be used. Because soon other plants will appear in this room, and the combined scents will numb the senses of those of us who frequently enter and leave Mother's room.]
The seven people in the room: What does "paralysis" mean? What does "nerve" mean? Ruanruan, can you explain it more clearly?
Seemingly sensing the thoughts of the Li family, Li Xingran repeated herself to herself. However, this time she changed her words.
If I remember correctly, those potted plants were called poinsettias? They emitted a delicate fragrance. Smelling them individually was harmless, but when mixed with the scent of my mother's sachet, it became a slow-acting poison. And the soup my mother drank last night was the trigger for this poisoning.
The toxin gradually cloud a person's judgment, eventually causing them to do things they themselves are unaware of, as if they were being manipulated. This is precisely why the Li family suffered their fate.
Ah, I remember now, that old man who manages the Li family garden is very suspicious. He recommended many of the flowers and plants to Mother.
【Ugh, I'm hungry again. When will I grow up and not need to drink milk anymore?】 Li Xingran smacked her lips, and Xu Ningyou saw this and prepared to feed her.
Li Ting gestured for his sons to wait in the outer room, while he went to the kitchen to investigate what had happened there the previous night.
By the way, use some tricks to get rid of that maid.
Li Ting first went to the housekeeper to check the list of kitchen staff on duty for the past few days.
Butler Liu Fu is an old member of the Li family, someone they know well, and he would never have any ulterior motives.
After receiving the kitchen duty roster, it was discovered that, just as Qiu Feng had said, Qiu Shuang was originally supposed to be in charge of the lady's soups, but Qiu Shuang had a stomachache from her gluttony, so she begged her good friend Qiu Feng to take her place.
Liu Fu muttered from the side, "Logically, there shouldn't have been soup last night! As is customary, I prepared sweet fermented rice balls for Madam. Every time Madam gives birth, she must eat sweet fermented rice balls on the night of delivery."
This was also what puzzled Li Ting. Something was definitely amiss. Ningyou had given birth to five children, and after each delivery, she always ate sweet fermented rice balls. The kitchen must know that, so why did things change last night?
"Liu Fu, go and find out who ordered the soup. Once you find out, seal off that person's courtyard first," Li Ting whispered to Liu Fu.
Liu Fu received the order and quickly left to investigate. What he found was that his aunt had instructed him to replace the sweet rice balls with soup.
Liu Fu had no choice but to quietly arrange for guards to surround the courtyard where Fu Qing lived. Fu Qing, the cousin in the courtyard, had no idea that her careless words had caused such a big trouble.
Fu Qing is the daughter of Li Ting's aunt, and she married far away to Lizhou.
After becoming a widow, she faced constant ostracism from her husband's family and decided to return to the capital to seek refuge with her cousin, Li Ting. So, under the pretext of visiting her parents' home, she brought her daughter and son to the capital.
Fu Qing's family had fallen on hard times and had been barely surviving thanks to Li Ting's help. So when she returned to the capital, she didn't go directly back to her family home, but instead went to the Li family home.
Seeing how pitiful the mother and her two children were, Li Ting took them in at his residence.
Xu Ningyou gave birth yesterday, a sudden labor, and Fu Qing wasn't home; she had taken her son and daughter out to see the world.
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