The chaos in Yangquan County wasn’t as severe as Old Madam Cui had imagined. Imperial Consort Ye Jingkuan and Commander Zhou strictly controlled their subordinates, executing a batch of those who started looting and plundering as soon as they entered the city, thus establishing order. Leading troops into battle was like this—if you couldn’t control the soldiers under your command, forget about fighting battles. If a mutiny occurred, you might very well die first at the hands of these soldiers. Therefore, Commander Zhou had always been extremely strict in leading troops. Combined with Ye Jingkuan, who had come from Prince Zhennan’s household, there was only that brief period of chaos when they first entered the city.
But even that brief period truly gave everyone a headache. It had already been agreed beforehand that those who surrendered wouldn’t be killed, yet this group of soldiers who charged in first had their eyes dazzled by the city’s riches—Yangquan had coal mines and copper mines, and supposedly even iron mines. Ma Yuantong had made this his stronghold, and the accumulated gold, silver, and jewels had nearly filled the county office’s storehouses. The common people of Yangquan County were also quite wealthy. It was precisely because they feared losing this wealth that they had followed Ma Yuantong in rebellion. Because of this incident, the hard-won popular support nearly crumbled in an instant.
When Song Chuyi arrived at Yangquan, the battlefield outside the city had already been cleaned up. Soldiers in armor were beginning to drag corpses inside. She lifted the curtain to glance once, then looked no more, galloping all the way to the Yangquan county office.
The temporarily summoned physicians of Yangquan County crowded noisily into a room, discussing what medicine to use. Song Chuyi came around from behind the screen and faintly heard a few scattered words—something about poisoning.
Qing Zhuo sat in the corridor in a dejected state. Beside him, Cuiting and Mingtai each guarded a pillar, no one knew what they were thinking. Upon seeing Song Chuyi, they all raised their heads.
When Qing Zhuo saw Qing Luo, he first blinked his eyes. When his gaze fell on Song Chuyi beside Qing Luo, he froze for a moment. After a while, his eyes lit up. He suddenly sprang up from the ground, crying and laughing as he called out “Sixth Miss,” then hurriedly led them inside. “Sixth Miss! How did you come personally?”
As Song Chuyi watched him push open the door, she followed him, saying, “I came to see if there’s anything I can help with. I brought Physician Yan and Qing Luo, and besides that, several physicians with excellent medical skills from the Cui family’s pharmacy, along with medicinal materials and various detoxifying and wound-treating medicines—all brought just in case. How is His Highness’s condition now?”
“The physicians are writing prescriptions outside. Attendant Hu says the arrow that struck His Highness was poisoned.” Qing Zhuo’s voice suddenly dropped low, then he ground his teeth. “These people truly… We entered the city at night, yet they could still find our position and were waiting right there in the county office.”
There was a traitor? No wonder Lai Chenglong wasn’t here now. Emperor Jianzhang had sent him to help Zhou Weizhao. As the head of the Imperial Guard, to let Zhou Weizhao be injured right under his nose—if he couldn’t provide an explanation, even returning to the capital would be difficult.
Turning around the screen, she saw Han Feng carrying out a basin of bloody water. When they met face to face, Han Feng was somewhat surprised, thinking he had seen wrong. Only when he confirmed it really was Song Chuyi did he widen his eyes. How could a sheltered noble young lady like the Sixth Miss come to such a war-torn place? Although the city had been taken, the remnants hadn’t been completely eliminated yet. Look at His Highness’s injury—it was caused by these remnants. But these weren’t things he should say. He bowed to Song Chuyi and went out with the bloody water.
Attendant Hu had just finished administering needles to Zhou Weizhao. His brow was full of gravity as he sighed and kept shaking his head. Poisoning was certain, but he just didn’t know what poison these people had used. He had bled the Crown Prince several times to no effect. The Crown Prince had been unconscious for a day and night now. Previously there had been moments of consciousness, but if this continued, the situation would be dire.
“Old Hu! How is His Highness?” Ye Jingchuan half-walked, half-ran through the door. Turning around the screen, he caught sight of Song Chuyi, and the second half of his sentence instantly stuck in his throat. He stared wide-eyed and scratched his head. “How did you come too?”
The distance from Jinzhong wasn’t far, but it was still a day and a half’s journey. How could the Cui family feel at ease letting her travel like this? He felt somewhat angry. “The entire road isn’t peaceful. Did you eat leopard’s gall to come so brazenly?!”
Thank goodness they hadn’t encountered Ma Yuantong’s people, otherwise… He closed his eyes, startled by his own thoughts.
But Song Chuyi couldn’t spare time to discuss this with him now. She quietly instructed Physician Yan, Qing Luo, and the physicians they’d brought to go examine the Crown Prince. She looked from afar and knew Zhou Weizhao’s condition was indeed very poor—his face was deathly pale, his lips were black, and on his usually fair and delicate face were two patches of flushed red. It looked like he still had a fever.
Qing Luo hurriedly complied, taking three steps as two to move forward. As soon as she felt his pulse, her brow furrowed into the character for “river.” She switched to the other hand to continue checking, lifted Zhou Weizhao’s eyelids to look, then turned back with an ugly expression and shook her head. “I don’t know what poison this is either. I only know it’s chaotic—the pulse is completely disordered.”
Attendant Hu interjected from the side, “I couldn’t even determine it. If you, little girl, could figure it out, that would truly be strange!” He had been guarding here for a day and night without daring to close his eyes. By now, he was completely haggard and disheveled.
Physician Yan couldn’t spare attention to hear what they were saying. He took the Crown Prince’s pulse of his own accord, then asked Attendant Hu, “Old gentleman, dare I ask—has His Highness vomited blood?”
Attendant Hu raised his eyebrows and nodded. “He has. He vomited blood for half the night last night. I don’t know what poison is this fierce.”
Physician Yan followed them out to find Qing Zhuo and insisted on finding a bit of remaining black blood from the basin. He reached out to dip some and brought it to his nose to smell, then stuck out his tongue to taste it. He spat and returned with furrowed brows to look at everyone. “I may know what poison this is.”
The room fell silent for a moment. After a while, Ye Jingchuan finally reacted and urgently pursued the question. “Really?! Old Hu has been watching for a day and night and doesn’t know what poison it is. We’ve also gathered all the physicians that could be found in Yangquan County, but none knew what poison His Highness was struck with. You really know?!”
Attendant Hu’s beard trembled as he nearly fainted from anger. He had already said his specialty was external injuries! The way Ye Jingchuan put it made him seem so incompetent.
Physician Yan looked at Song Chuyi and nodded with certainty. “I used to travel with Jin merchants in the Jin region. I’ve seen these poisons used in the countryside to poison people. Nine times out of ten, this is it.”