"Ah, Princess Lixue, all the animals around you have been poisoned!" A scream of alarm instantly echoed across most of the hunting grounds.
Everyone was startled and looked over. The animal at Shen Lixue's feet had black lips, exactly the same symptoms of poisoning. Li Youlan was an expert in poisons, so her judgment should be correct.
Looking at Dongfang Heng with suspicion and uncertainty, although the competition did not discriminate based on means, using poison to catch prey was too much of a trick, it was just being cunning and lacked real skill.
As the Azure Flame War God, Prince An possesses superb archery skills and extraordinary abilities. He doesn't need to use this method to catch prey. Women are meticulous and petty, and they love using poison. Shen Lixue is also knowledgeable in medicine and pharmacology. The poisoned animal must have been caught by her. She is not helping Prince An, but harming him, leaving an indelible stain on his glorious life.
Shen Lixue raised the corners of her mouth. Li Youlan was indeed clever, seizing every opportunity to strike her mercilessly.
Seeing Shen Lixue, who looked guilty and remained silent, and the reproaches, mockery, and disdain shown to her by the crowd, Li Youlan covered her face and chuckled to herself, secretly delighted. She had thought Shen Lixue was so capable, but it turned out she was nothing special. Poisoning her prey to catch such a despicable trick, how could she even think of it?
Perhaps she was prompted by her own poisoning of that little rabbit to come up with such a shameless method, hahaha! She wasn't there when the white rabbit turned into a black rabbit, so one can imagine that Shen Lixue's expression must have been extremely unpleasant.
“Princess Lixue, the Emperor just said that he wanted to select some game to take back to the palace for cooking. Fortunately, your game quickly showed signs of poisoning. Otherwise, if it had been taken back to the palace and given to the Empress and the princes to eat, it would have been a disaster.”
Shen Lixue suddenly raised her head and looked coldly at Li Youlan: "Miss Li, we hunted these prey with our own skills, without using any underhanded methods. You keep saying that the prey is poisonous, but do you have any evidence?"
"Whether it's a person or an animal, their lips will turn purple or black after being poisoned. Your animal's mouth is black, isn't that poisoning?" Li Youlan pointed at the animal and spoke eloquently, her tone arrogant.
She was most skilled in using poison and also loved studying it. Standing here, she could tell at a glance how many animals had been poisoned and how many hadn't. She knew it perfectly well. Shen Lixue actually tried to argue, which was extremely foolish.
Looking sideways at Dongfang Heng, Li Youlan smiled brightly, as if to say, "See? It was Shen Lixue who made you lose to Dongfang Zhan!"
Dongfang Zhan frowned and looked at Shen Lixue. She used poison to help Dongfang Heng catch prey. She was really thoughtful!
Looking at Dongfang Heng, who was standing quietly, expressionless and silent, a cold smile appeared on his lips: "Using poison to catch prey was not Prince An's original intention. The poisoned prey will be removed, and this matter will be considered over. Let's not mention it again!"
At first glance, it seemed he was helping Dongfang Heng out of a predicament; upon closer reflection, it was clear he was mocking Dongfang Heng for resorting to any means to win the competition, including using poison to catch prey, thus disgracing the Dongfang royal family.
At the same time, it also established a reputation for him as gentle, polite, and magnanimous.
Dongfang Heng coldly looked at Dongfang Zhan: "Thank you for your kindness, Prince Zhan, but I do not need any leniency!"
Dongfang Zhan frowned, feigning helplessness, and said, "If we don't reduce the number of poisoned animals, Prince An will be branded with the infamy of hunting with poison!"
A faint, cold smile appeared on Dongfang Heng's lips as he turned to look at Shen Lixue: "Lixue!"
"Miss Li, Prince Zhan, look carefully!" Shen Lixue smiled brightly, squatted down under everyone's gaze, took out a silk handkerchief, and wiped the little rabbit's mouth. Wherever the handkerchief touched, the blackness disappeared without a trace, and the rosy, three-lobed lips pouted, making it very cute.
With her small, fair hands, she grabbed the rabbit's ears, and the 'dead' rabbit instantly opened its eyes, looking timidly at Shen Lixue, its four short legs kicking wildly.
Everyone was instantly shocked. Wasn't the rabbit poisoned and dead? How did it come back to life?
Shen Lixue smiled slightly, looking fresh and natural. With a strong kick, the animals at her feet opened their eyes one after another, tumbling and swaying as they stood up!
How could this be? Li Youlan was shocked beyond words. The lips of these animals were all black. They were clearly poisoned and dead. How could they come back to life? Shen Lixue must have done something.
She narrowed her eyes and looked coldly at Shen Lixue. When she found that Shen Lixue was also looking at her, a sinister smile appeared on her lips: "I remember that Miss Li likes white rabbits very much, so this one is for you!"
With a flick of her wrist, the white rabbit traced a perfect parabola in the air before falling into Li Youlan's arms.
The soft, cuddly creature in her arms was quite adorable, but Li Youlan was filled with terror. She felt as if she were holding a rabbit corpse, dirty and disgusting. She screamed and shook the rabbit to the side. The white ball landed right on the table in front of the two concubines, dazed and disoriented. It lay limply on the table, its innocent eyes looking pitifully at everyone.
The concubines, being women, were soft-hearted. Seeing the trembling little animal stirred their maternal instincts. They boldly touched the rabbit's fur, finding it soft and warm, and tugged at its ears: "This rabbit is really alive!"
Seeing the concubines happily teasing the little white rabbit, Li Youlan felt agitated. What was wrong? Where exactly did things go wrong?
Dongfang Zhan also frowned slightly. All the dead animals had come back to life, and were completely unharmed. Something was wrong!
"While the guards were hunting rabbits, I was standing by and got bored, so I used mud to draw their mouths. I didn't expect you to misunderstand, I'm sorry!" Dongfang Heng had ordered the guards to sprinkle a sleeping potion in the stream. When the animals came to drink, they were drugged and the guards easily caught a bunch of animals.
Shen Lixue's fresh smile was met with Li Youlan's eyes, which were filled with smugness and provocation. The anger in her chest suddenly flared up. "You bitch, she deliberately painted the animal's mouth black to set me up. I should blame myself for being too careless. I was only thinking about finding something to use against her. I judged the animal to be poisoned just because the mouth was black, without checking it carefully."
Everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It made sense that the little girl was just playing around and drawing animal mouths with mud.
"Miss Li, why have the animals around you turned black too?" Shen Lixue exclaimed, feigning surprise, drawing everyone's attention. She pointed to the black animals beside Li Youlan and said:
"Could it be that you, like me, are just idly drawing animals? I only draw their mouths, unlike you, who drew all the fur in black!"
Li Youlan stared in shock at the dark clumps at her feet, quickly taking two or three steps back. She hadn't poisoned them, so how did these animals turn black? Shen Lixue, it must be Shen Lixue who's behind this!
She suddenly looked up and glared hatefully at Shen Lixue.
Shen Lixue did not back down and stared coldly at her. Li Youlan turned her white rabbit into a black rabbit, so she smeared poison on the steel needles in the trap, turning Li Youlan's white prey into black prey. The steel needles had less poison, so the animals turned black much slower!
His cool gaze swept over the small group of black animals, and with a raised eyebrow, Dongfang Zhan had caught quite a few prey with his traps!
"This isn't just mud; they've really been poisoned!" An elderly minister with some medical knowledge approached, examined the prey closely, and narrowed his eyes: "This poison is extremely potent. After being poisoned, the entire body turns black, and the death is gruesome. Judging from the wounds on these animals, they were stabbed by sharp weapons, and those weapons were poisoned!"
Sharp weapons? The guards used bows and arrows, so how could the wounds on the animals have been caused by other sharp weapons?
All eyes turned to Li Youlan. She had followed Dongfang Zhan into and out of the forest. As a woman, she did not have a bow and arrows, so if she wanted to help catch prey, she could only use other sharp tools.
"It's not my fault... I didn't poison her!" Li Youlan waved her hands frantically, her explanation too hasty and somewhat incoherent. In everyone's eyes, she was guilty and flustered.
"Cousin, you know I didn't poison her!" Tears welled up in Li Youlan's beautiful eyes, making her slender body appear even more pitiful.
Dongfang Zhan frowned, his gaze dark. The two of them were leading ten Imperial Guards. If the Imperial Guards followed their orders, and the poison wasn't administered by Li Youlan, then it must have been him.
Li Youlan also realized this, and in a flash, she pointed at Shen Lixue: "It was Shen Lixue, she poisoned me and framed me!"
Everyone frowned. What was going on? How did this get involved with Shen Lixue again?
Shen Lixue raised an eyebrow: "Miss Li, we're not on the same path. There are many trees between us. How could I poison them? Besides, after the game is caught, there are guards watching over it. Do you think they'd just stand by and watch me poison it?"
“Shen Lixue, stop making excuses. You had plenty of time and opportunity to poison me…” Li Youlan’s eyes turned cold, and she was about to blurt out the matter of the trap.
"Youlan, shut up!" Dongfang Zhan's eyes sharpened, and he cut off Li Youlan's words sharply. Using traps to catch prey was also opportunistic. His prey was already poisoned. If he exposed the trap, his reputation would be ruined, and others would laugh at him for losing more than he gained.