Zhan Yuheng had indeed been poisoned — though the toxin was now under control, and there should be no grave danger.

The imperial physician reported that since His Highness had previously suffered serious injuries that had not yet fully recovered, to now be poisoned on top of that was a wound layered upon a wound.

Although the poison had been contained and was not immediately life-threatening, he would not recover consciousness for some time. Even once he woke, he would require an extended period of recuperation. After such an ordeal, his vital energy had suffered severe depletion; a full recovery in the near term was entirely out of the question.

Emperor Qiwen was beside himself with heartache. His son had been so well-behaved and dutiful — who could have anticipated that he would be struck down one blow after another.

And this was the imperial palace — in the Crown Prince’s own Yuyang Hall — and he had still fallen victim to such misfortune.

Emperor Qiwen was consumed by guilt and regret, lamenting that he had ever allowed Feng Jiu’er to remain at his son’s side.

“Your Majesty, you must seek justice for our son!” Empress Rong had barely finished speaking when a fresh trickle of blood slid from the corner of her lips.

Emperor Qiwen turned and took one look, then said at once: “Empress, you have also been injured — let the imperial physician examine you right away!”

“It is of no consequence. As long as our son is unharmed, this consort will naturally recover.” The Empress spoke with detached composure, yet there was one matter she was unwilling to release under any circumstances. “Your Majesty — Feng Jiu’er poisoned Heng’er and then made an attempt on the Dowager Empress. Your Majesty must not pardon her for this.”

If this were truly the case, of course he could not pardon Feng Jiu’er. The concern was only that there might still be more to the matter beneath the surface.

Seeing the hesitation cross his face, the Empress recognized that this man had not yet made up his mind. Her voice cooled: “This trifling injury of mine is nothing to speak of. However — should the brothers of my Nanmen clan learn of what Feng Jiu’er has done, I fear they would not let it pass so easily.”

Emperor Qiwen’s hand clenched tight. He was not unaware that she was using the Nanmen clan to apply pressure to him.

Though he felt a measure of defiance in his heart, making an issue of it over a single Feng Jiu’er seemed to serve no purpose.

The real question was whether Feng Jiu’er had truly intended to assassinate Heng’er. And if so, why had she also been the one to save Heng’er’s life?

“This matter — We will have it thoroughly investigated.” He looked at the Empress once more and continued to urge her: “Since Heng’er is temporarily out of danger, Empress, why not return to your chambers to rest? Have the physician prescribe something to help you recuperate.”

The Empress pressed her lips together, as though she still had much more to say. But when she looked one last time at Zhan Yuheng, she resolved in the end to swallow her words for now.

Heng’er’s complexion was truly awful. Any quarrel she engaged in here, with anyone, would do nothing but harm him.

“In that case, this consort will take her leave.” She inclined her head; given her injuries, she was not expected to bow. Then, leaning on the matron’s supporting arm, she turned and left Yuyang Hall.

Once she returned to her own Xuanhua Hall, Empress Rong’s composure dissolved at once. “Bring Feng Qingyin to me,” she said.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Feng Qingyin was still lodged in Xuanhua Hall that day. With her Crown Prince elder brother not yet recovered, she was still scheming for a chance to go and visit him.

When she heard that the Empress was seeking her out of her own accord, Feng Qingyin thought that perhaps her good opportunity had finally come.

She arrived in a state of heightened excitement and anticipation — only to be met, without any warning, by a vicious, heavy slap from Empress Rong.

With a sharp crack, Feng Qingyin was nearly sent flying off her feet. She crashed hard into a nearby chair, her head spinning, and came within a breath of coughing up blood.

Had the Empress not been injured today and unable to channel her inner energy, that single slap alone might well have cost Feng Qingyin half her life.

“Your Highness?” Feng Qingyin struggled slowly to catch her breath, hauled herself upright, and knelt on the ground. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.

“Your Highness, Qingyin does not know what she has done wrong. Please, Your Highness, make it clear to her.”

The pain was terrible — half her face felt as though it had been utterly destroyed, the agony so severe that tears and snot streamed down together in an uncontrollable torrent.

Yet she dared not show anger. In front of Empress Rong, could she?

“Your Highness, what has Qingyin done wrong?”

“You don’t know what you’ve done wrong?” Empress Rong walked toward her, clearly about to deliver a kick.

But the matron, fearing that the exertion would aggravate her injuries, rushed to intervene: “Your Highness — your noble health must come first!”

And in truth, the surge of fury had nearly brought up another mouthful of blood.

That palm strike from Feng Jiu’er had been devastating — it had wounded her very heart meridian. Had her own cultivation been any less formidable, that single blow would have taken her life outright.

She truly should not be stirring up her temper right now — yet how could she not, with her son reduced to such a state?

“Answer me — was it you who administered the poison?” She pointed at Feng Qingyin, her finger trembling with rage. “This Empress warned you: you were not to touch so much as a single hair on our son’s head. How dare you truly act on it?”

“A poison? What — the Crown Prince elder brother has been poisoned?” Feng Qingyin’s heart lurched in alarm. She immediately crawled toward the Empress on her knees: “Your Highness, what do you mean? The Crown Prince elder brother has truly been poisoned?”

“How is he now? Has the poison been treated? Has he recovered?”

Feng Qingyin’s face was full of desperate urgency, and tears rolled down in streams: “Your Highness, please, tell Qingyin — what is the Crown Prince elder brother’s condition right now?”

“You still dare weep crocodile tears in this Empress’s presence? Was it not you who proposed the idea of using poison last night?”

“Poison…” A look of bewilderment crossed Feng Qingyin’s face. Had the Empress not already refused that suggestion? “Your Highness, you… did you actually go through with it?”

“How impudent!” Empress Rong erupted in fury, and a mouthful of pent-up blood immediately surged upward.

Even a tiger will not devour its own cubs — and this wicked girl had suggested that she poison Heng’er. Though what she had proposed was not a true poison, but rather a compound that would merely cause him to appear as though he had been poisoned.

Even so, Heng’er’s present condition was one of severe injury not yet mended — he could not afford any further strain. So she had dismissed the notion without a second thought.

What she had never anticipated was that her son would genuinely be poisoned today.

The matron immediately began patting and rubbing her back to help settle the surge of blood, soothing her gently: “Your Highness, I fear this matter is not so straightforward. The Eighth Miss did propose a scheme to Your Highness last night, yet it was only a suggestion. Moreover, what the Eighth Miss described was merely something that would mimic the appearance of poisoning, not a true toxin.”

“Yet the poison afflicting the Crown Prince today is an acute and deadly toxin — nothing remotely like what the Eighth Miss described.”

“Even so, this wretched girl truly said it!” Empress Rong’s rage remained unabated.

Listening to this, Feng Qingyin had at last pieced together the full sequence of events.

She hastened to explain: “Your Highness, Qingyin has been confined within Xuanhua Hall the entire day today, with no opportunity whatsoever to go anywhere.”

“Your Highness — without authorization, no ordinary person can even gain entry to the Crown Prince’s Yuyang Hall. And Qingyin has no martial arts to speak of. How could she possibly evade everyone and slip inside to administer poison to the Crown Prince elder brother?”

She bit her lip, weeping through the tears like rain falling on pear blossoms: “Moreover, Qingyin has harbored feelings for the Crown Prince elder brother for many years. How could she bring herself to harm him?”

“Feng Jiu’er has been keeping watch at the Crown Prince elder brother’s side the entire time — why could this poison not have been administered by Feng Jiu’er? Your Highness, please be discerning!”