Ye Chutang rejected Qi Yanzhou's proposal.
"Your Highness, you should be well aware of how precious ice leeches and cold cicadas are. I'm not afraid that you won't return them; I'm just worried that you won't be able to keep them alive."
If an ice leech dies, there are backups, but if a cold cicada dies, it has to be hatched again.
Given Qi Yanzhou's physical condition, he couldn't afford to wait for an egg to turn into a cicada.
After learning about the specific operation to cure the fire poison, Qi Yanzhou had consulted the mansion doctor about ice leeches and cold cicadas.
The doctor said that ice leeches hatch in cold and humid places, grow in hot and humid places, and then return to cold and humid places to lay eggs.
Cold cicadas are exactly the opposite.
They need two connected extreme environments to survive, and they are hard to come by.
If he were in the capital, Qi Yanzhou was confident that he could keep ice leeches and cold cicadas alive.
But on the way to exile, it was really uncertain.
"Miss Ye is right. It was my oversight. If the witch doctor from the Southern Border can come in time to detoxify the poisonous gu, I will arrange everything for the long - distance journey and try not to let Miss Ye suffer."
Thinking that she originally planned to leave the capital to give birth, Ye Chutang nodded.
"Your Highness, rest assured. I will never go back on my word regarding what I've promised. Please wait in the yard for a while. I'll come out after I pack up."
Qi Yanzhou immediately got up and left the boudoir.
Ye Chutang put the ice leeches and cold cicadas into her space, poured out the water in the teapot, and filled it with spiritual spring water.
She carried the teapot and a teacup and placed them on the stone table in the yard.
"Your Highness, have some water first. I'll go to the kitchen and take a look."
Le'er had already returned and was busy in the kitchen.
She had brought back a lot of dishes from the main kitchen, and most of them only needed to be processed a little.
Seeing Ye Chutang enter the kitchen, she quickly said, "Miss, you go and entertain His Highness. I can handle it myself."
"His Highness is injured. Make the dishes light."
"Yes, miss."
Ye Chutang couldn't stand the smell of cooking oil, and her stomach started to churn. She quickly left the kitchen.
She sat down at the stone table and discussed with Qi Yanzhou the matter of attacking the "Night Fiends".
After the discussion, she asked, "Your Highness's internal injury is getting worse. Should we postpone the time?"
Qi Yanzhou shook his head. "I don't have much time left in the capital, and Miss Ye is in urgent need of reliable people."
He wanted to make Ye Chutang more confident in life before leaving the capital.
Ye Chutang asked curiously, "Your Highness is thinking so much about me. Is it because I can help you cure the fire poison?"
Qi Yanzhou hesitated for a moment and then nodded. "Yes."
If he hadn't chosen the path of exile, he would definitely have expressed his feelings to Ye Chutang.
But now, there was no need to say it and make her worried.
Ye Chutang thought to herself: Sure enough, she was overthinking.
She poured a cup of spiritual spring water for Qi Yanzhou. "Your Highness has done so many good deeds. You will surely overcome all difficulties."
"Thank you for your kind words, Miss Ye."
Just as he finished speaking, Le'er walked out of the kitchen.
"Miss, Your Highness, dinner is ready. Shall we have the meal now?"
Ye Chutang stood up. "Yes, set the table."
After the dishes were set, she went to the dining room and chose a seat farthest from the fish and sat down.
"Your Highness, it's just simple food. Please don't mind."
Qi Yanzhou thought Ye Chutang wanted to avoid suspicion, so he sat down opposite her.
"It's more sumptuous than what I usually eat in the mansion."
"Your Highness, help yourself."
Ye Chutang had vomited everything out of her stomach and was extremely hungry, so she didn't care about table manners.
She specifically picked the light dishes that were not likely to make her nauseous.
Seeing Ye Chutang eating heartily, Qi Yanzhou's appetite improved, and he ate more than usual.
After dinner, he got up to say goodbye.
"Thank you, Miss Ye, for your hospitality. See you at Prince Chen's Mansion tomorrow."
Ye Chutang understood what Qi Yanzhou meant, which was to let her go to Prince Chen's Mansion to choose gold, silver, and jewels.
Thinking that most of the Qi family's treasures couldn't be taken away except for banknotes, she agreed.
"Okay, I'll see you off, Your Highness."
"Miss Ye, please stay. I can leave the mansion by myself."
"I'm going to the front yard anyway. Let's go together."
The two left Ningchu Courtyard.
Looking at the bloodstains at the courtyard gate, Qi Yanzhou reminded, "Miss Ye, people's words are fearsome. Be careful of that woman before."
"Okay, I will."
When they reached the front yard, Dan'er and Jinzhi had just finished counting the dowries.
Among the 128 sedan - chairs of dowries, Tang Wanning's dowry accounted for more than 100.
"Minister Ye is really greedy."
After saying that, Qi Yanzhou quickly left the Minister's Mansion.
Ye Chutang called the guards and asked them to carry the dowries to Ningchu Courtyard.
"Don't take the boxes. Take out the dowries and put them in the wood - shed."
Otherwise, Ningchu Courtyard simply couldn't hold them.
"Yes, miss."
"Dan'er, Aunt Jin, you go back and have dinner. I'll go to see Concubine Jiang."
Concubine Jiang had been beaten with 50 blows of the sole of the shoe by Dan'er and Le'er before. She fainted with a bloody face and was then sent back to her courtyard by the maids.
She was not in favor, and her Qingyou Courtyard was relatively remote.
Ye Siyin had gone to the palace banquet.
Since Concubine Jiang was beaten for offending Ye Chutang, the maids didn't dare to make their own decisions to find a doctor. They could only simply clean the wounds and apply external medicine and hemostatic medicine.
The bleeding had stopped, but Concubine Jiang's face looked pitted and hideous.
Ye Chutang didn't show any mercy to Concubine Jiang just because she looked so miserable.
She picked up the teapot on the table and poured the already cold water on her head.
The tea water soaking the wounds was extremely painful.
"Ah!"
Concubine Jiang let out a scream, sat up, and felt her injured face with her hands, shivering all over in pain.
Ye Chutang looked at her coldly and said, "If you dare to spread rumors and ruin my reputation again, I'll make Ye Siyin a promiscuous woman!"
These words made Concubine Jiang feel as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.
Her mouth was broken, and she couldn't speak. She could only shake her head desperately.
"Don't provoke me, or your end will be like Kong Ru's today!"
After saying that, Ye Chutang left Qingyou Courtyard and went to Wenbo Courtyard where Ye Anzhi was.
Before she entered the courtyard, she heard the gasps of a man and a woman.
She casually picked up a flower pot by the road and smashed it on the window of the bedroom.
"Ye Anzhi, come out!"
Ye Anzhi, who was in the middle of his passionate act, was so frightened that he lost his erection. He immediately got off Shuang'er's body.
He didn't dare to delay for a moment. He quickly put on his clothes and appeared bare - footed in the yard.
"Elder sister, you're here. Please sit down."
Ye Chutang looked at Ye Anzhi, who had put on his clothes in a mess, and the disgust in her eyes couldn't be hidden.
"Ye Anling is already married. If you want to live, act tonight."
Ye Anzhi knew that Ye Chutang was reminding him to kill his mother.
He also knew that Ye Chutang had exposed his mother's attempt to murder the late mistress at the wedding banquet.
Even if he didn't kill his mother, she wouldn't live!
So, without any psychological burden, he said, "Elder sister, rest assured. I'll finish the task before midnight."
