“You may rise.” Before he could straighten up, Li Jiancheng impatiently asked: “What exactly is going on with Shimin? Is it truly a sudden illness?” Imperial Physician Zhou was his man, otherwise he wouldn’t have specifically had Xue Wanche summon him.

Imperial Physician Zhou said with a grave expression: “In response to the Crown Prince, the Prince of Qin is not suffering from a sudden illness, but rather… poisoning!”

“How is his condition?” This response was already within Li Jiancheng’s expectations. What he cared about was whether Li Shimin truly had no mortal danger.

“The Prince of Qin should have been poisoned by Wind Eggplant flower. This poison should have taken the Prince of Qin’s life, but there must have been someone with superior medical skills who immediately acted to protect his heart meridian after the Prince of Qin was poisoned, and found the antidote herbs, thus saving the Prince of Qin’s life.”

Upon hearing this, Li Yuanji’s face darkened as he said: “Wasn’t it said that Wind Eggplant flower poison was extremely toxic with no antidote? How can it suddenly be cured?”

Imperial Physician Zhou asked in surprise: “How would the Prince of Qi know about Wind Eggplant flower poison?”

Li Jiancheng, fearing he might reveal something, spoke for him: “Yuanji only heard about it by chance from another physician. Imperial Physician Zhou, can Wind Eggplant flower poison truly be cured?”

Imperial Physician Zhou nodded: “Yes, in fact, every poison in this world has a corresponding antidote. Wind Eggplant flower is no exception. However, many physicians, including myself, and even the imperial physicians in the court, don’t know how to cure Wind Eggplant flower poison. But the one who treated the Prince of Qin obviously knew how.”

“What method did they use to cure the Wind Eggplant flower poison?” Faced with Li Jiancheng’s inquiry, Imperial Physician Zhou shook his head: “This subject doesn’t know.”

Li Yuanji frowned: “Didn’t you examine that prescription? How could you not know?”

“Not to deceive the Prince of Qi, that was merely an ordinary prescription for body conditioning, not the one for the antidote. Based on my guess, the Princess of Qin must have deliberately concealed it. It’s just that… this subject can’t understand why they insisted on calling the poisoning a sudden illness, and…” He glanced at Li Jiancheng and said quietly: “How did the Crown Prince know in advance?”

On the way to the Prince of Qin’s mansion, Xue Wanche had already warned him beforehand that regardless of what he discovered in Li Shimin’s pulse, he must not speak of it, and should simply go along with Princess Zhangsun’s words and call it a sudden illness.

At the time, he didn’t understand the meaning behind Xue Wanche’s instructions. Now, thinking about it, Li Jiancheng probably already knew that the Prince of Qin was poisoned rather than suddenly ill, and had summoned him merely for confirmation.

Faced with Imperial Physician Zhou’s words, Li Jiancheng smiled slightly and said gently: “When did Imperial Physician Zhou become so curious?”

His words made Imperial Physician Zhou shudder, immediately realizing that his momentary carelessness had already committed an error. He quickly lowered his head: “This subject spoke out of turn. Please forgive me, Crown Prince!”

Li Jiancheng patted Imperial Physician Zhou’s shoulder with a warm smile: “I’m just reminding you. It’s nothing. You may return now!”

Imperial Physician Zhou breathed a sigh of relief and quickly departed. After he left, Li Yuanji heavily pounded the table with his fist, gritting his teeth: “Damn it! What a wasted effort – we didn’t take his life.”

Li Jiancheng’s expression was also unsightly. He had fully expected to use Li Yuanji’s hand to completely eliminate Li Shimin as a threat, but it turned out to be a wasted effort. Moreover… Li Shimin must certainly know of their intentions now.

Just then, Li Yuanji suddenly stormed toward the exit in anger. Li Jiancheng blocked him: “Where are you going?”

Li Yuanji gritted his teeth: “I’m going to kill that damn physician! He said Wind Eggplant flower poison had no antidote, but what happened? Someone still cured it!”

“Enough!” Li Jiancheng rubbed his throbbing forehead. “Aren’t things chaotic enough already? Sit down!”

Although Li Yuanji had a rebellious nature, he was most obedient to Li Jiancheng. Under his scolding, he obediently sat back in his chair. After waiting a while without hearing Li Jiancheng speak, he couldn’t help but ask: “Elder Brother, what do you say we should do now?”

“I’m thinking about it!” Li Jiancheng said irritably, then continued: “From the current situation, Shimin must know that we want to put him to death. I just can’t figure out why he would help us conceal it by calling the poisoning a sudden illness.”

Li Yuanji’s eyes rolled as he said: “Elder Brother has always said Second Brother has a woman’s kindness. Could it be that he hasn’t decided whether to deal with us? After all, Father Emperor is on our side.”

“Perhaps, but I always feel his thoughts aren’t that simple.” Saying this, he added: “These recent events, I always feel there’s something strange about them, but I can’t say what the problem is.”

“Recent events?” Li Yuanji asked puzzledly: “Besides today’s matter, what else is there?”

Li Jiancheng frowned: “Have you forgotten about the hunting incident? Consort Yin clearly said that after Father Emperor heard her words, he was very angry and seemed ready to punish Shimin. But suddenly, somehow, he remembered to summon Xia Houduan for an audience, and it was at the third watch, specifically opening the palace gates.”

“That is rather strange. By the way, did Consort Yin say why Father Emperor summoned Xia Houduan for an audience?”

Li Jiancheng shook his head: “No, before Xia Houduan arrived, Father Emperor had already dismissed Consort Yin, so she knew nothing of their conversation. The only thing she knew was that the next day, Father Emperor took Shimin to Profound Tranquility Temple, saying he was going to play chess with Master Wang.”

“Master Wang…” Li Yuanji slowly repeated the name: “Could that be the famous Taoist Wang Yuanzhi?”

Li Jiancheng said in surprise: “You actually know of him. I thought all you had in your mind was warfare and hunting.”

Li Yuanji said somewhat embarrassedly: “That’s not true. I know to go hunting occasionally.”

“Occasionally?” Li Jiancheng shook his head: “From what I know, you run out to hunt every few days. You’ve almost hunted all the game in Chang’an’s suburbs.”

“Elder Brother always criticizes whatever I do. Let’s get back to the main topic.” Seeing Li Jiancheng remain silent, he added: “Father Emperor has never been particularly fond of Second Brother. No matter how he praises him openly, he’s always been indifferent privately. Why would he think to bring him along that day?”

Li Jiancheng narrowed his eyes: “I’m afraid Father Emperor’s visit to Profound Tranquility Temple wasn’t as simple as playing chess.”

Li Yuanji said dismissively: “If not chess, what else could it be? Could he have gone to Master Wang for fortune-telling?”

“Fortune-telling…” Li Jiancheng slowly repeated these four words. A flash of inspiration crossed his mind, as if he remembered something, but it passed too quickly for him to grasp, so he could only try hard to recall.

Li Yuanji waited for a long while, seeing Li Jiancheng only repeating these four words, and said somewhat impatiently: “Elder Brother, why do you keep repeating that? Don’t tell me you want to go to Master Wang for fortune-telling?”

As he spoke, Li Jiancheng finally caught that flash of inspiration and blurted out: “I remember now! Xia Houduan also practices fortune-telling. He was the one who originally saw that Father Emperor had extraordinary bone structure and the appearance of a Son of Heaven!”