Chapter 579
Xu Chuan and Xu Mu were both stunned when they heard this. They immediately tried to sense whether anyone was inside the courtyard, but they detected nothing at all.
The two men’s hearts tightened. Could the person inside be an expert even more powerful than they were?
At the thought, they became extremely vigilant, afraid that someone might suddenly appear and harm their Princess Consort. If that happened, they would have no way to answer to Prince An.
“There’s no one inside!” Jun Mowen rolled his eyes and said.
“Then why did you say there was a problem?” Xu Mu asked unhappily.
“This courtyard is filled with poison,” Jun Mowen said coldly.
Everyone drew a sharp breath.
Someone had actually poisoned them?
“Elder, do you know what kind of poison has been placed in the courtyard?” Li Zhiwei quickly stepped forward and asked Jun Mowen respectfully.
Just now, she had merely felt that the old man was no ordinary person. Only now did she realize how fortunate it was that she had not looked down on him.
Otherwise, they might all have been trapped here.
“Is it her?” Li Tingzhou stepped forward and asked furiously.
“This poison most likely wasn’t administered by Madam Jiang.” Jun Mowen shook his head. This poison did not seem to be something that existed in Lan Nuo. Instead, he had encountered it before in Lan Wan.
However, he could not explain this clearly to everyone at the moment.
“This poison is extremely potent. Anyone who comes into contact with it will fall unconscious, and not even the strength of ten oxen could wake them. They must have another move planned,” Jun Mowen said as he looked at them. He was somewhat puzzled. Why would the people from Lan Wan poison them?
Clearly, the people of Lan Wan had not intended to leave them alive.
“Elder, can this poison be cured?” Li Zhiwei asked worriedly.
“There is no antidote for it at present.” Jun Mowen shook his head. He did have a method that might cure it, but he was not certain whether it would work.
“Zhou’er, do you have any other place to stay in Lu City?” Li Tianyou asked Li Tingzhou.
“I do, I do. I happen to have a private residence nearby,” Li Tingzhou hurriedly replied. He was fairly certain of this, as he had bought the property with his own private funds.
It had nothing to do with the Jiang family.
“Then we’ll go to your residence and rest for now,” Li Tianyou said.
Everyone nodded. It seemed they would not be able to stay in the county office’s rear compound for the time being.
But who exactly had poisoned them? They needed to investigate and find out as soon as possible.
Could it have been Lu Jinchang?
Or was there someone else behind the scenes? He thought of Xu Heming in Heping.
He had no idea whether things were going smoothly on Xu Heming’s end.
The group returned to Li Tingzhou’s private residence.
By then, everyone was sitting in the courtyard, and no one said a word.
“Have any of you offended someone?” Jun Mowen asked as he looked at them.
“Elder, could you tell us exactly what kind of poison it is?” Li Zhiwei asked cautiously after exchanging a glance with Li Tianyou.
“If I’m not mistaken, it is the Lan Wan poison known as Bewitching Powder. It is colorless and odorless. Anyone who comes into contact with it will fall into an unending sleep,” Jun Mowen said.
“If there is no antidote, will Bewitching Powder keep someone asleep indefinitely, or will it kill them outright?” Li Tianyou asked.
“They will remain asleep until they die,” Jun Mowen replied.
What he did not say was that anyone afflicted with Bewitching Powder would indeed remain unconscious.
But how could a person survive without eating or drinking?
In the end, all that awaited them was death.
“Xu Mu, is Prince An’s current mission related to Lan Wan?” Li Zhiwei asked Xu Mu.
“Princess Consort, my task is to protect you. His Highness did not tell me what he was going to do this time,” Xu Mu replied, shaking his head.
“Prince An’s current affairs should not be directly related to Lan Wan,” Li Tianyou said bluntly.
Li Zhiwei frowned. Not being directly related did not mean there was no connection at all.
But this matter concerned the imperial court. Since Xu Heming had not told anyone else, he was clearly being extremely cautious.
And there were still people from Qin Ningling in the capital.
It seemed that Lan Nuo would be facing difficult days ahead as well.
“Xu Mu, find a way to contact His Highness and inform him of what happened here,” Li Zhiwei ordered after thinking it over.
“Elder, if we leave now, could you provide us with somewhere to stay?” Li Zhiwei asked Jun Mowen.
“If you don’t mind my humble thatched cottage, you may stay there,” Jun Mowen replied after a moment’s thought.
“Xu Chuan, go set fire to the rear compound of the county office. Then hurry back and meet us. We’ll leave at once,” Li Zhiwei instructed Xu Chuan.
“If you all set out with me like this, wouldn’t that attract too much attention?” Jun Mowen asked with a frown.
“Elder Jun, please enlighten us. What should we do?” Li Tianyou respectfully cupped his hands and asked Jun Mowen.
“Go to the nearby farmers and buy several sets of ordinary villagers’ clothes. Leave in separate groups,” Jun Mowen said as he looked at them.
“Hurry and take care of it,” Li Zhiwei ordered the people beside her.
Before long, the group had changed their appearances and set out in three separate directions.
Meanwhile, the fire in the county office’s rear compound grew fiercer and fiercer.
Deep in the mountains outside Lu City, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At that moment, inside the Hospitable Tavern—
Lu Jinchang wiped the cold sweat from his forehead while watching the man before him drink cup after cup.
He felt rather sorry for the two hundred taels of silver notes in his arms.
He had no idea whether they would be enough to pay the bill.
Jin Seven paid no attention to Lu Jinchang and continued drinking to his heart’s content.
He was waiting.
Waiting for news that their people had wiped out everyone in one fell swoop.
At first, he had thought coming to Lan Nuo would be a difficult assignment.
Yet they had dealt with their targets effortlessly.
It seemed that Prince An of Lan Nuo was nothing special after all.
He truly could not understand why their ruler was so wary of him.
“My lord! This is bad, this is bad! The rear compound of the county office is on fire!”
A constable hurried into the private room.
Lu Jinchang sprang to his feet in fright.
The rear compound was on fire?
The whole group was staying there.
At that thought, Lu Jinchang anxiously looked at the man across from him—the man who claimed to be Prince An.
If those people really were Prince An’s party, and that woman was truly Princess Consort of An, how was he supposed to explain this to Prince An?
“Your Highness!” Lu Jinchang called out cautiously.
Yet he carefully recalled that the Prince An he had met before did not look like the man in front of him.
“What is it?” Prince An asked impatiently, finding the county magistrate of Lan Nuo rather irritating.
“This subordinate has something to attend to and needs to return there.” Lu Jinchang had originally wanted to ask whether this Prince An was married.
But when the words reached his lips, he instead said that he needed to return to the county office first.
After all, the identity of the man before him was uncertain.
The people in the rear compound were equally suspicious.
Regardless, this man could not be allowed to die in his county office.
If they truly were Prince An’s people, how would he explain himself to Prince An?
“Go, then!”
Jin Wu waved his hand smugly, believing that their scheme had already succeeded.
