“The divine wood Fusang! Your Highness, what do you need that for?” the physician asked, confused.
The Bai clan was the second-largest family on Liuxian Isle, and in recent years had shown signs of surpassing the Gu clan. For over a hundred years, due to their rivalry for supremacy, the two clans had been bitter enemies—from the patriarchs down to the servants of both households, they would ignore each other and take detours to avoid crossing paths whenever they met.
It was said the Bai clan had a genius young heir who had mastered their vine techniques to such perfection that even the current Bai patriarch could no longer match him.
And now Her Highness had set her sights on the Bai clan!
“That’s an essential item for reaching the isolated island,” Ziqing said flatly, and recounted everything she had learned in the Southern Zhao poison den.
“Your Highness, does that mean the poison in your body still hasn’t been cured!” the physician asked anxiously.
Ziqing nodded. “That wasn’t a cure—it was a blood exchange. I refused it. Prince Yao doesn’t owe the people of Situ City any favor either—have someone release Situ Xin’er when we get back.”
“Your Highness, that was a lead the prince spent so much effort to track down. Do you know, ever since your investiture, the prince has been searching non-stop for a way to dispel the enchantment fragrance!” the physician said earnestly.
“For now, it’s not urgent. I want to find the isolated island, to find…” Ziqing didn’t finish the sentence, but in her heart, she knew—that was her weakest point, wasn’t it? She wanted to find family, family who would shield and protect her.
As they spoke, no one noticed that Jun Beiyue’s fingers had moved again, twitching gently, as though he were struggling, straining to break through something.
For an entire day, neither of the Gu couple had come to see Beiyue, let alone come explain themselves to Ziqing regarding the matter of the physician and Yingzi.
Ziqing hadn’t expected them to anyway, and was rather glad for the peace and quiet. She kept watch by Jun Beiyue’s side, feeding him medicine according to the physician’s instructions—even though his body couldn’t absorb any of it, it still had to be done. Over the course of the day, she sent Yingzi to the storeroom several times.
“Yingzi, you said you two only ever left here once—that time when Jiang Yuan fell ill?” Ziqing asked flatly after finishing feeding the medicine.
She was pondering who among the Jiang household might have administered the poison.
The Gu clan had always passed down through a single line, and Gu Jun himself had few children. Truly speaking, there weren’t many people within the immediate family—most of the rest were daughters who had married out of the clan. Aside from Gu Jun’s sisters, with whom there was still some contact, the rest were essentially distant relatives.
Aside from occasionally visiting the estate or throwing around the Gu clan’s name to show off elsewhere, most of their interactions were within the Gu clan’s vast business empire and had nothing to do with the family residence itself.
The Gu clan occupied the entire Liuxian Mountain. The sunny side of the mountain was the Gu clan’s family residence—the reception hall at the base, the main residence at the mid-slope, with the east wing to the east of the ancestral hall and the west wing to the west, and the main quarters at the summit.
The disciples the Gu clan had taken in were all housed on the shaded side of the mountain, with several martial halls scattered across the mid-slope, each under the management of one of the patriarch’s senior disciples. Unless some major incident occurred within the family residence, the hall masters and disciples would not casually come over to this side.
If one were to look for suspects, they would have to be found here at the main residence. Gu Meiting and Jiang Chen were the primary suspects, and second would be the Second Miss, Gu Suying.
“It was that one time—otherwise, even at night, the physician and I took turns keeping watch!” Yingzi said quickly.
“What exactly happened that time?” Ziqing asked again.
Yingzi explained in detail, growing indignant as he spoke. “Your Highness, it was just a common cold, yet they made such a huge fuss over it—all because it was their grandson! It’s not wrong for them to dote on their grandson, however much they dote on him is fine, but our master was sick at the same time, in the middle of acupuncture treatment, and they dragged the physician away regardless! Later they even insisted he go check on the boy!”
Ziqing’s eyes narrowed, her expression giving nothing away, but her voice grew noticeably colder. “Imperial Physician, did you examine him? Was it really just a cold?”
Hearing Ziqing’s question, the physician was slightly taken aback. Stroking his beard, he tried to recall—he had been rather angry at the time and honestly hadn’t examined the boy very carefully. He only recalled it being an ordinary cold, with a bit of fever.
“It was a cold, with a slight fever—nothing serious,” the physician said, rubbing his chin. “But… I heard that child was raised personally by Madam Gu and the Second Miss. Countless treasures of the Gu clan have gone into feeding him, and he’s never once fallen ill since he was born!”
“Such a coincidence?” Ziqing said flatly.
She said it casually, but both the physician and Yingzi could hear the suspicion in it.
The Second Miss of the Gu clan certainly had motive enough to commit such an act—though unmarried, she would surely marry someday, and in a certain sense, she stood on the same side as the eldest daughter.
The Second Miss usually spoke little, but whenever she did speak, she immediately drew attention. She was already well past the age most women had children, yet she still dressed like a young girl, playing at being cute and mischievous. Hadn’t that quarrel been instigated by her, after all?
“Why hasn’t the Second Miss married yet? Has anyone come to propose?” Ziqing asked flatly.
“There have been suitors, but the Second Miss is quite particular and looks down on all of them. Last time I heard her say she wouldn’t marry at all—that she meant to stay by her parents’ side and serve them for the rest of her life,” Yingzi answered honestly.
Ziqing was still pondering, about to ask more, when Guxi and Shiliang returned, both out of breath.
“Master, we searched every pharmacy on Liuxian Isle, large and small. Of the herbs on the list, we could only find these two stalks—everything else is out of stock!” Guxi reported honestly.
“Out of stock?” Ziqing was startled.
“There’s something odd about this!” the physician exclaimed as well, having drawn up several very carefully chosen prescriptions, all consisting of red, yang-natured herbs.
Yingzi had searched the entire storeroom—and if he hadn’t gone looking deliberately, he never would have discovered it. Only two or three stalks of the red, yang-natured herbs remained in the storeroom—clearly left behind on purpose!
By the looks of it, whoever had administered the poison had made extremely thorough preparations, absolutely determined to prevent their master from waking up.
“Guxi, go find out exactly who bought up all this medicine!” Ziqing ordered at once. If they couldn’t find the herb and time dragged on too long, it would spell trouble.
Guxi immediately went to carry out the order. Seeing Ziqing’s grave expression, the physician didn’t dare say much more and quickly brewed the two stalks he’d found into medicine.
Combined with the one stalk found earlier in the storeroom, Jun Beiyue had now taken three bowls of the red, yang-natured medicine. If it truly was the antidote, it should show at least some effect by now.
That night, the physician anxiously took Jun Beiyue’s wrist, checking his pulse with great care, while Ziqing waited beside him, biting her lip, unconsciously glancing up at the roof, where there was only empty space—no sign of that familiar figure.
Suddenly! The physician cried out in alarm. “Your Highness!”
Ziqing’s heart clenched instantly, nearly making her faint from fright. “What… what is it?”
“His pulse… his pulse has greatly improved! His vital energy has strengthened considerably!” The physician was so overjoyed he fumbled clumsily, lifting Jun Beiyue’s limbs and discovering, to his amazement, that they had regained some strength, no longer limp as before.
Ziqing immediately leaned forward. “Really?!”
“Your Highness, however did you think to use this herb—this really is the antidote!” the physician declared with certainty.
Ziqing naturally wouldn’t explain, and immediately gave the order. “Shiliang, take people up to the medicine mountain right away to gather more!”
Hunting down the culprit could wait and required patience, but saving a life could not be delayed. If they couldn’t buy the herb, they’d simply have to go pick it themselves—the entire medicine mountain was so vast, surely they could find some!
“Your Highness, Yingzi and I will go check the forest behind the mountain—we might just get lucky!” the physician said, thrilled, not even waiting for Ziqing’s reply before dragging Yingzi off with him.
They vanished in a flash. Ziqing looked at the empty doorway and smiled helplessly, not realizing that behind her, the man on the bed was also smiling, his eyes just as bright as hers, achingly handsome.