Chapter 78: People Have Thousand Plans 9: Flower Cake
The "little prince" the servants were referring to was the Crown Prince and his wife's only child, a lovely child who had just turned three this year. Pingyang Marquis's mother, Old Lady Li, was very fond of him and often kept him in the courtyard to keep her company.
This morning, after the Crown Prince's accident, the palace was in chaos. The Crown Prince's wife, Qin Huixin, ordered her maids and wet nurse to take the young prince to the old lady's courtyard, not wanting to disturb him. Unexpectedly, just moments earlier, after eating a few snacks, the young prince suddenly complained of stomachaches. The maids immediately left the palace to fetch a doctor, but they were too late. Before the doctor even reached the threshold of the Marquis of Pingyang's residence, the young prince was foaming at the mouth and died a moment later.
After receiving the news, everyone in the main hall hurried to the old lady's courtyard. Crying and shouting echoed from within the house, and a group of people came and went, their faces heavy, and they would occasionally whisper to each other, their words full of regret.
Xun Shu and Li Xuanhe stood in the courtyard, watching the huddle inside the house, but they didn't rush in. Xun Shu softly asked Li Xuanhe beside him, "Are you familiar with this child?"
Li Xuanhe nodded, his eyes dark. "Although Xinu is young, he's very clever. Although my relationship with my brother is distant, I like this child very much."
His face was filled with deep resentment, and he exuded a chilling coldness that made people afraid to approach him and avoid him. Xun Shu had never seen him like this before, and he didn't know how to comfort him, so he could only stand beside him quietly.
Li Xuanhe took a deep breath, suppressed his indifferent emotions, and was about to head inside when he heard a quarrel. His eyes flashed, and without further delay, he strode into the house. Xun Shu followed him, pushing through the crowded crowd and squeezing into the house to see everything clearly.
A small child huddled in the corner of a carved wooden bed, his face pale and lips purple, long dead, as if poisoned. There was unwiped white foam at the corners of his lips, his clothes stained with vomit, his collar pulled open, revealing skin covered in unremoved golden needles. A doctor beside him was pulling them out one by one, shaking his head as he did so.
Not far from the bed sat an elderly woman with silver hair. She must be the old lady of the Pingyang Marquisate, Li Xuanhe's grandmother. Her eyes were red as she stared blankly at the unconscious figure on the bed, tears streaming down her face. The maid beside her wiped the tears from her face with a handkerchief, constantly comforting her.
Not far from the old lady, Qin Huixin knelt on the ground, weeping breathlessly. Her face was disheveled and ferocious, a complete loss of the spirited energy she had shown when they first met two days ago. Xun Shu's gaze swept across her temples, noticing the sudden growth of gray hair, speckled with white, and he sighed inwardly.
In just half a day, first her husband died, then her only son followed, leaving her alone in this world. Xun Shu could not imagine this kind of pain and sorrow, but she thought it must be much more profound than when she was driven out of the Sitian Pavilion or when Jiang Zheng disappeared.
She still had hope of finding Jiang Zheng, but Qin Huixin and these two people would never see each other again in this life.
Nothing could be more world-shattering than this.
Qin Huixin knelt on the ground, grabbing the hem of the eldest princess's clothes, and begged, "Your Highness, please use the sign to ask the imperial physician to come. They must have a way to save my rhinoceros slave..."
The princess looked at the small body on the bed, whose chest had long since calmed down, and sighed, "Hui Xin, Xi Nu is gone. You... let him rest in peace."
How could a mother immediately accept the departure of her child? Qin Huixin shook her head frantically, a mad light flashing in her eyes: "No, it's impossible. Xinu has been strong since he was a child, and he loves me the most. How could he abandon me and leave alone? He is still so young... He is still so young!" She crawled down and knocked her forehead to the ground repeatedly, her voice clear and crisp, "Your Highness, please, save Xinu."
"Hui Xin, don't be so stubborn."
The princess offered good advice, but Qin Huixin couldn't accept it. She suddenly looked up, trembling all over. "Your Highness, I know you've always wanted Sanlang to be the heir of the Pingyang Marquis's mansion. Now that my husband is gone, I and Xinu will never compete with you or Sanlang again. Please, just save Xinu, and I will take him away from the Pingyang Marquis's mansion immediately and never set foot inside this door again!"
The princess didn't want to argue with her, but in Qin Hui's eyes, it looked like she was deliberately ignoring it. Her body trembled more violently, and her face turned pale. Xun Shu looked at her, remembering that he had seen this happen before, and immediately shouted, "Knock her out quickly! She's going to be possessed!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Li Xuanhe quickly stepped forward and struck Qin Huixin on the back of her neck. Qin Huixin's eyes rolled back and she collapsed to the ground. The doctor at the bedside hadn't finished administering the needles when he was pulled back to check on Qin Huixin's condition.
Suddenly, the room became more and more chaotic.
Fortunately, Xun Shu discovered the situation in time and saved Qin Huixin. The maids helped Qin Huixin out of the room and into a quiet place for treatment. The people in the house gradually left, leaving only the few masters of the Pingyang Marquis's residence and Xun Shu.
Li Xuanhe walked to the bedside, carefully examined the rhinoceros slave's body, and asked the nurse beside him, "Where did he go today? What did he eat and use?"
The wet nurse was in her twenties. Ever since Xi Nu was born, she had been chosen by the old lady to come to the Pingyang Marquis's residence to take care of him, treating him as her own. Now that Xi Nu had died, her grief was no less than Qin Huixin's. She forced herself to sob and replied, "To the Third Young Master, this morning, such a big thing happened in the mansion. Madam was afraid of disturbing the young master, so she asked me to bring him to the old lady's place. I haven't left since then. At noon, the young master and the old lady had lunch together. There was nothing unusual. After that, I waited on the young master for a nap for half an hour. After he woke up, I served him some fruit and snacks. Not long after that, the young master started complaining of a stomachache. I immediately went to find a doctor, but the doctor hadn't arrived yet... the young master..."
Li Xuanhe's gaze lingered on the food plates still on the table. Each plate had a missing edge, evidently having been eaten. He estimated the missing portions and asked, "There's quite a bit missing. Besides Xi Nu, has anyone else used it?"
The nurse replied, "The young master enjoyed it so much that the old lady also ate some."
Li Xuanhe turned to look at the old lady, his eyes hesitant. After a while, he asked, "Grandma, are you feeling unwell?"
The old lady lost her beloved grandson and great-grandson in one day. She sat there blankly, her soul drained out, weeping. Seeing she didn't say a word, the maid beside her answered for her, "The doctor just came and took the old lady's pulse. He said she's in good health and hasn't been poisoned."
Li Xuanhe glanced sideways at Yuchang, who was standing nearby. Yuchang produced a long, thick silver needle and walked over to the table, testing each dish in turn. The needle remained unchanged until it was inserted into the last dish of tauhua ci (a type of rice cake). The tip instantly lost its luster, turning from silver to black. A single glance revealed the poison.
Xun Shu's eyes widened, unable to believe that such a delicate and beautiful pastry could contain a deadly poison. The nurse watching beside him was so shocked she forgot to cry: "The silver needles have turned black... Is there a deadly poison in this pastry?!"
"Did you take this flower-shaped rice cake from the kitchen?"
"I took it from the kitchen." The nurse knelt on the ground with a plop, and said in a trembling voice, "I didn't do anything. I saw that the transparent flower rice cake was small and cute, and thought that the old lady and the young master would like it, so I put it in a food box and took it to the old lady's courtyard. The young master really liked it after seeing it and used several pieces, but the old lady didn't use any of it..." She paused, as if she had thought of something, looked up at the princess and said in a trembling voice, "Your Highness, I took this plate of snacks from Huang Yu's kitchen... Could it be that Your Highness deliberately put it there..."
The nurse's meaning was clear even before she finished speaking. The people around her hurriedly lowered their heads, sensing a storm was brewing and fearing they would be implicated.
The princess frowned slightly, but before she could say anything, Li Xuanhe beside her suddenly asked, "When you took this plate of glutinous rice cakes, did anyone in the kitchen know? Did anyone try to stop you?"
The nurse stammered, "I didn't notice... I saw that the plate of snacks was exquisite, so I took it... I thought Her Royal Highness the Princess wouldn't argue with the young master over a plate of snacks..."
Li Xuanhe walked over to the table, picked up a Touhuaci (a type of cake) and examined it carefully. The pastry was soft, glutinous, and sweet, and the petals on it were lifelike. He felt a mixture of regret and fear. He said calmly, "This dish has nothing to do with my mother. I specifically asked Uncle Huang to make it. Miss Ah Shu—Xun—likes this pastry. I promised her that when we get to the capital, I'll treat her to the best Touhuaci."
Xun Shu blinked, then he remembered what happened at County Magistrate Zhao's banquet more than a month ago.
She stared at the exquisite pastry in Li Xuanhe's hand for a long moment. It was even more exquisite than the one she had eaten before, and just one glance at it whetted her appetite. If it hadn't been laced with a deadly poison, she would have devoured it all.
Li Xuanhe caught Xun Shu's expression from the corner of his eye, and he felt a surge of anger. He turned his head away from her and continued, "Although I didn't tell Uncle Huang who this cake was for, I did tell him that this taro cake was very important and that he should prepare it carefully. So, he definitely wouldn't let you take it, no matter whose name it was. You must have taken it secretly while the kitchen wasn't paying attention."
The wet nurse stood there in a daze, her lips trembling, unable to utter a word for a long time.
She simply admired the cakes, thinking that the food in the Princess's courtyard was always the most exquisite in the palace, and felt unfair for the young master, so she took the initiative to steal the cakes from Huang Yuchu. How could she have known that they were poisonous and would eventually kill the young master?
As the case evolved from "murder of the young master" to "murder of the eldest princess" and "murder of Xun Shu", things became increasingly serious.
The wet nurse was imprisoned in the woodshed in the backyard, while the young master's body was taken to the ice room where Li Xuanhou's remains were temporarily housed, a sort of "reunion" between father and son. The Dali Temple officials, who had recently left, were recalled to the Pingyang Marquis's residence. Li Song's face was dark, but upon seeing Li Xuanhe and Xun Shu, he offered a forced smile: "Your Excellency, you and Miss Xun have the demeanor of the King of Hell, leading to death wherever you go. One death isn't enough, at least two, and even your own family members won't be spared."
Li Xuanhe had a terrible headache and was in no mood to joke with him. "Give the plate of poisoned Touhuaci to Mr. Zhuang and let him see what's been poisoned. Also, seal off the kitchen and inspect the finished dishes carefully before sending them to the various courtyards."
Xun Shu saw how tired he looked and felt distressed. He took the initiative to say, "You should go and rest. Leave these to me. I will definitely check everything in the kitchen."
The Dali Temple had many officials, and Li Xuanhe hadn't intended to do everything himself. But seeing Xun Shu's worry for him, he was secretly happy and couldn't bear to refuse her kindness. He pressed his head, drooping his eyelashes, looking even more fragile. "In this case, I'll be sorry for the trouble, Shu."
-----------------------
The author has something to say: I put it in the draft box, but forgot to set the time... a little late
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
