Knock knock knock, a knocking sound came from the door. Hong Xiaoduo came out of the bathroom and asked who it was as soon as she reached the door.
"It's me." The voice that responded was that of the children's teacher, Quan Jinghuai.
Hong Xiaoduo quickly opened the door, and sure enough, it was him standing in front of her.
"I noticed you hadn't come back for a while, so I thought I'd go downstairs to check on you. But then the waiter said you were back and had even brought back a drunkard, so I came over to see if you needed anything," Quan Jinghuai quickly explained.
After hearing his words, Hong Xiaoduo remembered something, gestured for him to come inside, and then closed the door behind her.
Then, she gestured for him to follow her into the bathroom.
“Look,” Hong Xiaoduo pointed to the bathtub, gesturing for Quan Jinghuai to look.
What? What's so interesting about a drunkard?
However, when his gaze fell on the man's face in the bathtub, he froze, turned to look at Hong Xiaoduo: "The drunkard you picked up is General Lin?"
“Yeah. Let me tell you, his condition isn’t just from being drunk.” Hong Xiaoduo said to him in a low voice.
Upon hearing this, Quan Jinghuai bent down and examined him carefully again, saying, "He has been poisoned by the Wuyao Powder."
"Wuyao Powder? How are those three characters written? Is it that kind of lewd drug?" Hong Xiaoduo asked curiously.
So Quan Jinghuai explained it to her.
After listening, Hong Xiaoduo nodded, feeling quite proud of herself for being able to make the correct judgment.
"As expected of someone who's been around the block, she can tell what's going on at a glance and even name the medicine," Hong Xiaoduo said, not forgetting to praise her.
Quan Jinghuai wasn't particularly happy to be praised, because of the tone of her voice and her smiling expression when she complimented him.
"Don't overthink it. I can tell and name the medicine because I've encountered people who have been poisoned by it before, and they had these symptoms. It's not..." Quan Jinghuai suddenly stopped halfway through his sentence. Wait a minute, why was he explaining this to her?
"Alright, you should go back and rest. I'll take care of things here," Quan Jinghuai said, shooing him away.
It's already inappropriate for a young woman to take care of a drunk person; there are risks involved, especially since the person in the bathtub was drugged!
"Alright, I'll head back now. Be careful when you take care of him. Even though you're a man, you can't be careless." Hong Xiaoduo said and left the bathroom.
Quan Jinghuai, who was left by the bathtub, turned pale after understanding the meaning behind her words.
Meanwhile, in Prefect Wu's residence, Wu Jinyao, filled with resentment and excitement, had made a difficult decision, only to find that the "guest room" was empty when she entered.
The cold wind blew in through the open back window, which sobered her up quite a bit. In a panic, she quickly found the steward and searched everywhere for the person, but they couldn't find him even after searching the entire mansion.
Realizing the seriousness of the matter, the person in charge dared not delay any longer and quickly went to inform his father, who was still at the banquet serving drinks to the guests.
Prefect Wu made an excuse to leave for a while, and upon hearing that things had come to this point, he couldn't help but panic.
If this matter succeeds, he has nothing to fear.
As long as General Lin touched his daughter, even if he knew it was a setup, he would inevitably hold a grudge. But what's done is done, and the die is cast. After he knew the truth, he would be angry and resentful, but in the end, he would still give Yao'er a proper status.
However, if things don't go well, then it's hard to say.
Wasn't the medicine supposed to be incredibly potent, and the antidote supposed to be extremely difficult to find? So why didn't it work on Lin Ansheng?
The gatekeeper insisted that he hadn't seen General Lin leave the mansion, but the servants searched every corner of the mansion, even checking the pond that was covered with a thin layer of ice.
Prefect Wu was also worried about something else. Since this attempt had failed, he probably wouldn't be able to invite Lin Ansheng to a banquet again. As a result, his daughter Jinyao had even less of a chance.
Prefect Wu also considered what he should say if Lin Ansheng came to question him.
He directly shifted the blame to the servants, saying that there were too many guests, and the servants panicked and grabbed the wrong wine, giving General Lin the medicinal wine they had brewed for themselves.
Prefect Wu thought that the man was getting on in years and was bound to be unable to do certain things. Drinking some specially brewed wine to liven things up, who could say anything wrong with that?
Upon seeing this, Wu Jinyao returned to her courtyard with tears in her eyes. As soon as she entered her room, she pushed all the rouge and powder on the dressing table onto the ground.
After tonight's events, how am I supposed to face General Lin? He doesn't just look down on me anymore, he despises and looks down on me, doesn't he?
For a fleeting moment, Wu Jinyao thought of throwing a white silk ribbon onto the roof beam and hanging herself.
After you die, you won't hear what others say about you.
But then I thought, if that were really the case, it would be so pathetic!
When Hong Xiaoduo returned to the second floor of the inn, she saw the Tian Shu and Tian Xuan brothers sitting at the door of their room practicing calligraphy.
Upon seeing Hong Xiaoduo return, he greeted her quietly, then picked up his small stool, tidied up his writing implements, and went back to his room.
Hong Xiaoduo understood. This was their master. He was worried about her and went out to see what was going on. Then he was worried about the two little girls inside, so he arranged for these two children to guard the door for Yuheng and Yaoguang.
Upon entering the room, she saw that the two little girls were already fast asleep. After a quick wash, Hong Xiaoduo lay down on her own bed, not sleepy at all.
Thinking back to tonight, if I hadn't gone out for a walk because I was feeling unwell, I wouldn't have run into Lin Ansheng.
Perhaps, it was destined that I would help that general overcome a love tribulation?
She couldn't help but imagine the scene where Lin Ansheng was schemed against. If it were another female lead who was powerless to resist and was taken advantage of by Lin Ansheng, the subsequent plot would be that the female lead who was taken advantage of would secretly run away and reappear a few years later with one, two, three or five miniature versions of him by her side.
Then, the man mistook another scheming woman for the one he had taken advantage of that night, and showered her with affection...
Lost in thought, Hong Xiaoduo didn't even realize when she fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, Lin Ansheng woke up in the bathtub. When she opened her eyes, she found herself fully clothed in the tub, shivering from the cold. The surrounding environment was unfamiliar, somewhat like an inn.
He rubbed his still somewhat dizzy temples, reached out and gripped the edge of the bathtub, and sat up straight.
The commotion startled Quan Jinghuai, who was resting with his eyes closed. He stood up and looked over. The two men in the room stared at each other.
"Finally awake?" Quan Jinghuai asked.
Lin Ansheng was taken aback: "How did I end up here? And what's going on?"
"General Lin is asking me? You'd better think about it yourself. Since the general is alright, I should be leaving." Quan Jinghuai had no patience to explain further, and with that, he turned and left...
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