Qiling saw he intended to leave and said, “This subject’s daughter was entrusted by the nanny to bring a vegetarian meal for Your Highness.” She added in a soft voice, “There are also some words that Lord Su instructed this subject’s daughter to convey to Your Highness without fail.”

Zhu Nanxian’s footsteps suddenly halted. He seemed to want to ask something, but hesitated.

Qiling retrieved Zhu Qiyue’s token from her embroidered pouch and showed it to the nearby Eagle Guards. After they retreated to a distance, she handed a note to Zhu Nanxian, saying, “Lord Su also said that after Your Highness reads this note, it should be burned.”

The spring light was simple and serene, illuminating the paper and edging the dense ink with gold.

Just one short sentence, yet Zhu Nanxian read it over and over several times before carefully placing it in his sleeve. He said to Qiling, “Thank you.”

He was wearing mourning for his brother and sister-in-law, with a plain headband tied around his forehead. In just a few days, he had grown much thinner.

Qiling lowered her eyes and produced silver needles, presenting them, “These are what this subject’s daughter brought for Your Highness. Although security here is already strict, it never hurts for Your Highness to be more cautious. But Lord Su said that if something seems suspicious, even the silver needles cannot be trusted.”

Zhu Nanxian said again, “Thank you.”

Then Qiling didn’t know what else to say.

Being a woman, she had an innate sensitivity and delicacy. She instinctively felt that Zhu Nanxian was different toward Su Jin, and this difference almost exceeded what could be called a close friendship.

Qiling was puzzled but couldn’t voice her question. She turned to look at the stone table in the courtyard and said, “Your Highness should eat some vegetarian food.”

The Eagle Guards had already tested the vegetarian meal she had just delivered with silver needles. Zhu Nanxian merely hummed in acknowledgment, walked over, aligned his chopsticks on the table, and began eating in silence.

The weather seemed to have warmed all at once. Incense was burning all around, the sandalwood scent so thick it seemed to condense the spring light into mist.

Zhu Nanxian ate very slowly but very carefully, as if this bowl of vegetarian food was the only thing in the whole world worthy of his serious attention. Even his swallowing was deliberate.

But Qiling knew this was because he couldn’t eat. Several years ago when her mother passed away, the dull pain in her heart nearly robbed her of all five senses. For nearly ten days, she hadn’t eaten a single grain of rice.

She didn’t know why she felt increasingly sorrowful and wanted to do something for him, yet didn’t know what his heart desired. So she could only voice the confusion from earlier: “The jade pendant Your Highness cherishes so deeply—is it related to Lord Su?”

Zhu Nanxian’s hands paused. Before he could speak, the sound of women’s successive cries of alarm suddenly came from the direction of the main hall.

Donghua Hall was quite far from the Crown Prince’s main hall, yet the commotion could be heard even here. Something must have happened.

Most of the Eagle Guards had been ordered to guard the inner hall. For a moment, they looked at each other, unsure who should go and who should stay. At this time, someone entered through the hanging flower gate and instructed, “Leave four people here. The rest, come with this prince.”

It was Zhu Qiyue.

He had actually arrived outside the inner hall earlier but hadn’t entered because he truly didn’t know how to face Zhu Nanxian.

Zhu Qiyue glanced at Zhu Nanxian and told Qiling, “You stay here as well.” Then he led several Eagle Guards toward the front courtyard.

Drawing closer, he could actually hear hissing sounds. In an instant, several green-striped snakes extended half their bodies down from the tree branches, mouths open and tongues flicking at the crowd. Several Eagle Guards were about to draw their swords to strike the snakes when Zhu Qiyue’s heart tightened. He immediately commanded, “Never mind here—quickly go to the main hall!”

The main hall was already in complete chaos. Eagle Guards swung their blades rapidly. The ground was covered with snake corpses, yet more snakes continued crawling from all directions. These snakes—green-striped ones, black-spotted ones, coiled and tangled ones—the small ones only as thick as chopsticks, the large ones nearly pythons.

But they couldn’t set fire, because this was where the Crown Prince and Crown Princess lay in state.

The female family members crowded together in panic, some with weak nerves already sobbing uncontrollably. Consort Qi remained relatively calm, protecting the six-months-pregnant Consort Qi behind her, instructing the palace eunuchs, “Take the candlesticks and frighten them away!”

Hearing this, the eunuchs hastily took candlesticks from the incense table. Upon seeing the fire, though the snakes no longer advanced, they still lingered without retreating. At this moment, in an unnoticed corner beside the hall, a snake covered in black patterns raised half its body, staring intently at a eunuch who was looking ahead with no attention to spare. Suddenly, with a hiss, it lunged forward to bite.

The eunuch’s wrist felt sharp pain. The candlestick in his hand fell to the ground, but the black-striped snake wouldn’t release its grip. Its long, powerful tail began coiling around his body.

Zhu Qiyue arrived at the front hall just in time to see this scene. His sword “Qingya” rang out from his waist, intending to sever the snake’s body in midair.

The snake was quite alert. As if sensing the incoming sword energy, its tail retracted and struck in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t faster than Zhu Qiyue’s sword. The blade arrived, and in this retraction and swing, the snake’s body was split lengthwise from the tail. A great spray of fresh blood burst forth. As if still unwilling, the snake drove its body, now split in two, toward the crowd. But it froze in midair and fell to the ground.

Several female family members, witnessing this horrifying scene, some directly fainted.

Just then, a piercing flute sound came from outside the palace walls. Upon hearing this flute music, the snake horde suddenly seemed to go mad. No longer heeding blade light or fire, they lunged at everyone from all directions to bite.

The snake horde was like a tide, penetrating everywhere. Although the Eagle Guards had surrounded the female family members in layers, several women were still bitten.

These women were either palace consorts, princes’ wives and concubines, or noble daughters from the capital. Zhu Qiyue thought this was bad. While swinging his sword to strike snakes, he ordered, “Go outside and find whoever’s playing the flute and drag them out for this prince!” He also told several Eagle Guards behind him, “Find a way to move the coffins.” The implication was that if the snake horde didn’t retreat, they would set fire.

Fortunately, after this frenzied biting spree, the snakes now seemed tired, and their offensive considerably weakened. Zhu Qiyue seized this opportunity to command the Eagle Guards to attack together. In no time, who knows how many thousands were struck down—the ground was covered entirely with snake corpses.

Behind him, a bold woman, seeing the situation ease, asked, “Are you all right?”

Zhu Qiyue looked back to see that the speaker was Shu Rongxin, younger sister of Shu Wenlan. Because Shu Wenlan was sickly, over time Shu Rongxin had become half a physician.

She was holding Zhao Wan’s hand, examining it carefully. Seeing that the wound was only bleeding with no signs of swelling, she asked, “Do you feel numbness at the wound?”

Zhao Wan shook her head. “It only hurts.”

Seeing this, Shu Rongxin examined the wounds of the other women and breathed a sigh of relief while also becoming suspicious. “So many snakes, yet they all seem to be non-venomous.”

This was a case of the speaker being unintentional but the listener taking note.

These snakes were clearly driven into the Eastern Palace by someone with ulterior motives. Creating such a large commotion, yet all the snakes were non-venomous—this could only mean one thing: a diversion.

Zhu Qiyue’s mind focused. He immediately struck down several more snake insects and instructed the Eagle Guards, “Protect all the noble ladies properly and follow this prince to the inner hall!”

Before even reaching the inner hall, he could already hear the rustling sounds of serpents moving and the clanging of swords striking.

Zhu Qiyue rushed into the courtyard at full speed and saw Zhu Nanxian sever three snake pythons with one sword stroke. His other hand had already taken a withered branch and lit it on fire, burning it toward the snake horde.

His left hand seemed to have been bitten. Blood seeped through his pure white sleeve cuff, yet he didn’t take shelter inside the hall. For some reason, the nearest hall door was closed, and outside lay the corpse of an Eagle Guard.

These snakes were the same as those outside the hall. After hearing the flute sound and lunging to bite for a while, they were now exhausted. With the fire added, they were instantly cut to pieces by the arriving Eagle Guards.

Unfortunately, too few people had been left in the inner hall earlier. Everyone, including Qiling, had been injured.

Zhu Qiyue looked at the Eagle Guard’s corpse before the hall and frowned, asking, “What happened here?”

An Eagle Guard answered, “Your Highness, shortly after you left, these snakes arrived. We originally wanted to help the Thirteenth Highness and Fourth Miss Qi take shelter in the hall, but who knew that Luo Zi would step ahead and close the hall door, attempting to assassinate the Thirteenth Highness. We were blocked by Luo Zi and the snakes. With too few men, our protection was inadequate, and both the Thirteenth Highness and Fourth Miss Qi were injured. Please punish us, Your Highness.”

Zhu Qiyue shook his head. “It’s not your fault. This prince didn’t consider things thoroughly.”

At this moment, an Eagle Guard dragged a person dressed in palace eunuch robes into the courtyard, threw him to the ground, and reported, “Twelfth Highness, this is the snake charmer.”

The snake charmer was short in stature, with a sickly pallor on his face. He seemed extremely terrified, crawling and kneeling on the ground. He glanced at Zhu Qiyue, his whole body trembling continuously.

Zhu Qiyue said with exceptional impatience, “Drag him out and kill him.” Seeing the Eagle Guards had already lifted the snake charmer to the gate, as if remembering something, he added, “Wait.” He was even more impatient now. “First tie him up to the side. This prince will interrogate him later.”

In his heart, he thought, what was there to interrogate? Who instructed this snake charmer and whom he wanted to kill—wasn’t it obvious? But he was also puzzled. He knew that Seventh Brother wanted to kill Thirteenth, but Seventh Brother’s methods had always been ruthless—why did he release non-venomous snakes this time?

Zhu Qiyue was someone who genuinely disliked thinking. Unable to figure it out, he stopped trying. He was about to check on Zhu Nanxian’s injuries when Zhu Nanxian walked alone to sit under the corridor.

Before long, the Chief Physician from the Imperial Medical Bureau also arrived. After examining the wounds of Zhu Nanxian and the bitten female family members, he reported, “Twelfth Highness, Thirteenth Highness, these snakes indeed seem to be non-venomous, but to be safe, we humble servants still need to cut open the bitten areas to let the blood contaminated with snake saliva drain out, then apply detoxifying medicine to the wounds.”

Zhu Qiyue nodded. “Do as you say.” After thinking, worried about accidents, he said, “You should first cut and apply medicine to the eunuchs.”

Several physicians then had the injured eunuchs move to one side. They took silver scalpels and medicinal powder from their medicine boxes, about to begin, when someone nearby softly called out, “Twelfth Highness.”

It was the slave girl who bore seven parts resemblance to Qiling, whom they had met at Zhu Zhaowei’s residence a few days ago.

She had come today precisely to accompany the Seventh Prince’s concubine for the mourning. At this moment, she knelt on the ground, presenting a medicine pouch and said, “Your Highness, this slave is from Yunnan, where there are many insects, snakes, and miasma. I always carry medicinal powder for repelling snakes and clearing toxins. Your Highness may use this for the noble masters.”

Zhu Qiyue took the medicine pouch from her hand. His gaze inadvertently fell on the bound snake charmer to the side, seeing him turn his face, looking at the slave girl with shock and uncertainty.

Zhu Qiyue opened the medicine pouch and brought it to his nose to smell. Looking at the wound on the slave girl’s hand, he said lightly, “This prince sees you’re also injured. Why don’t you use it on yourself first?”

The slave girl was terrified. “Your Highness, all the noble masters are still injured. How would this slave dare—”

However, before she could finish speaking, Zhu Qiyue grabbed her wrist and poured the powder onto the wound on her hand. With a hissing sound, the snow-white powder seemed to boil upon contact with the wound. The originally merely bleeding wound instantly swelled and enlarged, oozing thick yellow fluid.

Zhu Qiyue shouted, “Eagle Guards! Seize her for this prince!”

After the physicians finished treating the eunuchs’ wounds and examined the female family members, Zhu Qiyue waited for the time it takes to drink half a bowl of tea. Seeing that everyone showed no unusual signs, he finally relaxed. He personally selected a bottle of the medicine that had just been used and placed it beside Zhu Nanxian, casually pointing to a physician, “Come here and apply medicine.”

The physician knelt and bowed to Zhu Nanxian, placing the medicine box beside him. “Your Highness, please place your wrist on top of the medicine box.”

Zhu Nanxian hummed in acknowledgment and was about to roll up his sleeve when the note in his sleeve suddenly stirred against his skin.

He suddenly remembered the sentence Su Jin had written on the note: what has been used cannot be used again; whom you trusted cannot be trusted again; what you see with your own eyes is not necessarily the truth; what you hear with your own ears is not necessarily fact.

Zhu Nanxian raised his hand to stop the physician, picked up the medicine bottle that had been set aside, retrieved a sword from the ground, and looked around until he found an injured white rat in a corner.

This rat had been bitten by a small snake and was now on the verge of death.

Zhu Nanxian pried open the bottle mouth and sprinkled the powder on the rat. The originally bleeding wound suddenly turned black upon contact with the powder. The rat’s soft body seemed frozen. Beneath its white fur, it showed a purple-gray color and died instantly.

Everyone around stared dumbfounded at this scene, then simultaneously looked at the eunuchs and women who had used the same powder earlier. They were clearly still fine.

Zhu Nanxian lowered his eyes and said nothing, only capped the medicine bottle and placed it back exactly where it had been, untouched.

Just then, someone from the front courtyard came to report, “Twelfth Highness, Lord Zhao and Lord Su from the Imperial Censorate, and the Left General of the Jinwu Guard heard that something happened in the Eastern Palace. Disregarding the Eagle Guards’ obstruction, they’re coming toward the inner hall.”