“Could it be that you’re afraid Imperial Father will despise you if he finds out?”
Prince Xian thought of the scar he had just seen.
All he had glimpsed was the tip of the iceberg. What would the unseen parts look like?
If that were true, then Mother Consort would surely lose favor!
Consort Shu held Prince Xian’s hand, her face twisted with unspeakable hatred.
“That’s only secondary. I’ve already had the imperial physician prescribe scar-removing medicine.”
“What matters most is that I had the physician take my pulse.”
“The physician couldn’t detect any poison in me at all!”
Prince Xian was startled. He studied Consort Shu closely.
“None of the physicians could detect it?”
Consort Shu nodded.
“Then how can you be so sure you’ve been poisoned, Mother Consort?” Prince Xian began to waver.
“Have you forgotten? The maid by my side has some knowledge of poisons.”
“It was she who alerted me, allowing me to be certain.”
Prince Xian thought for a moment and indeed recalled such a matter.
Still, he frowned.
Changle had poisoned Mother Consort without leaving a single trace.
Yet the poison that Mother Consort had administered to the Prince of Pingyang’s mansion had been brought before Imperial Father!
“Mother Consort, it’s fortunate that I was the one assigned this task!”
“If someone else had investigated this matter, the consequences would have been disastrous!”
Prince Xian couldn’t help feeling relieved.
But Consort Shu laughed.
“No, no one could trace it back to me.”
“Now that you’re the one investigating this, it makes it even less likely that I’m the culprit.”
Prince Xian’s eyes deepened. “Mother Consort, what should we do?”
Consort Shu leaned closer to Prince Xian and spoke softly about her plan.
Prince Xian nodded continuously.
Soon, Prince Xian left.
Consort Shu quietly clenched her fists.
Once again, the Prince of Pingyang’s mansion had escaped unscathed.
How utterly frustrating!
Still, if they could drag down another rival, this wouldn’t be a wasted effort.
The imperial physician dispatched by the Emperor soon arrived at the Prince of Pingyang’s mansion.
After entering, he conducted a diagnosis and found no signs of epidemic illness in the mansion.
The physician let out a long sigh of relief.
When he had heard of a possible plague, he’d been terrified.
Thankfully, it was a false alarm.
The physician’s diagnosis was quickly reported to the palace.
The magistrate of the capital ordered the officers to withdraw.
Lüdou, who had been watching the mansion’s situation closely, gently nudged Duoduo.
“Princess, those people have left.”
Duoduo lifted her head, which felt heavy and groggy. “Hmm?”
Lüdou heard the odd tone in Duoduo’s voice and reached out to touch her forehead.
“Oh no! Princess, you have a fever!”
Perhaps from using her mind to summon water from her palm, Duoduo was completely drained of energy.
She had been waiting for a long time and had grown very sleepy.
Before falling asleep, Duoduo had asked Lüdou to keep watch and call her if anything unusual happened.
Lüdou had been so focused on watching the outside of the mansion that she hadn’t noticed Duoduo’s condition.
Duoduo had gotten drenched in the rain, her clothes soaked through.
The carriage had been filled with several basins of ice due to the earlier heat.
Even though Lüdou had removed the ice basins, the carriage remained very cold.
Now, Duoduo had come down with a fever.
She shook her head, which felt as heavy as paste.
“It’s nothing. What did you say?” Duoduo spoke with a thick, stuffy nose.
Lüdou’s tears began to fall.
“Princess, it’s all my fault. I didn’t notice you’d caught a chill. I deserve to die!”
Duoduo felt utterly weak. She raised a hand feebly to stop Lüdou from crying.
“What did you say had left?”
Lüdou quickly helped support Duoduo. “I said those officers have withdrawn!”
“Princess, we can go home now!”
Duoduo nodded and forced herself to speak through the discomfort. “Then let’s hurry home.”
“Yes! Yes!”
Lüdou helped Duoduo toward the coachman. “Driver, take the carriage back to the residence!”
“Yes!”
The driver cracked his whip, and the horse moved forward.
After only a dozen paces, the carriage stopped.
Lüdou quickly crouched down. “Princess, climb onto my back. I’ll carry you home.”
Duoduo truly had no strength left. She crawled onto Lüdou’s back.
“Thank you, Lüdou.”
Lüdou clenched her teeth and held back her tears.
She supported Duoduo’s bottom and lifted her up.
She stepped down from the carriage and ran all the way back into the mansion.
“Your Highness! Your Highness! Something terrible!”
Yunxiao burst into the main hall in a rush.
In the hall, Xiao Yi was questioning the physician. Seeing Yunxiao barge in, his expression darkened.
“Such a panic—what is the meaning of this!”
Yunxiao stopped and looked flustered.
“Reporting to Your Highness, the Princess has collapsed.”
“What?” Xiao Yi’s hands gripped the armrests of his wheelchair. For an instant, he nearly stood up.
But moments later, he sank back weakly into the chair.
Xiao Yi’s face darkened. “Why haven’t you gone to bring the Princess here at once!”
“We have the physician present; let him examine her.”
“Yes!” Yunxiao hurried out.
Xiao Yi turned to the physician. “I’ll trouble you.”
The physician quickly rose and bowed to Xiao Yi.
“There’s no need for such courtesy, Prince of Pingyang. Healing the sick is my duty.”
Yunxiao soon returned, carrying Duoduo in his arms, with Lüdou following behind.
“Place her on that warm daybed!” Xiao Yi ordered immediately.
Yunxiao carefully set Duoduo down. Without waiting for instructions, the physician stepped forward, took Duoduo’s hand, and began checking her pulse.
After a moment, he withdrew his hand.
“Do not worry, Your Highness. The Princess has merely caught a chill, with heat toxins attacking the heart.”
“I will prescribe a medicine. After a few doses, she will be fine.”
Xiao Yi breathed a sigh of relief.
“Yunxiao, prepare the ink!”
Yunxiao led the physician to a nearby desk to write the prescription.
Xiao Yi then looked at Lüdou. “The Princess was fine this morning—how did you attend to her?”
Lüdou, full of guilt, knelt down.
“Reporting to Your Highness, the Princess returned early.”
“But the officers outside would not let us in.”
“The Princess worried about you and Her Highness the Princess Consort and refused to leave.”
“She made me stay with her in the carriage, waiting. Outside, the rain was so heavy and cold, and her clothes got soaked...”
“Father, don’t blame Lüdou!”
From the daybed, Duoduo’s voice came faintly and weakly.
When Xiao Yi heard Duoduo speak and saw her condition, his chest ached with a dull, heavy pain.
“With such heavy rain, why didn’t you find someplace to take shelter?”
“Look at yourself now—are you stupid or foolish!”
Duoduo heard Xiao Yi scolding her and flashed him a pitiful smile.
“Father, I’m like this now, and you’re still yelling at me?”
Xiao Yi glared fiercely at Duoduo, then turned his gaze to the physician.
The physician had just finished writing the prescription. When he saw Xiao Yi’s look, he quickly bowed.
“Your Highness, I must return to the palace to report. I will take my leave now.”
“Mm, thank you for your trouble.” Xiao Yi said flatly, “Yunxiao, see the physician out.”
Yunxiao escorted the physician out, and Lüdou also withdrew.
Only then did Xiao Yi stand up, walk to the daybed, and sit down.
He reached out and placed his hand on Duoduo’s forehead.
