"Yes, Your Highness." Li Youlan's personal maid curtsied and walked towards the front.
Shen Yingxue was stunned, a chill running through her body. Was this her final destination? Did Li Youlan intend to kill her? She looked up and saw the maid walk to the wall. Her small hand pressed on something, and with a soft sound, a hidden door quietly opened to both sides.
As Shen Yingxue watched the door slowly open, it was as if a wild beast had opened its bloody maw to devour her completely. The chilling aura emanating from behind the hidden door, along with the indistinguishable sound, made Shen Yingxue's frail body tremble slightly.
The personal maid took the torch from the wall and placed it on the wall behind the hidden door. Two other maids grabbed Shen Yingxue's arms from either side and dragged her quickly toward the hidden door. A chilling aura mixed with a faint fishy smell hit them, making Shen Yingxue feel like she was going to vomit. She was filled with fear and dread, as if entering that hidden door meant certain death.
In the blink of an eye, the three arrived at the hidden door. The personal maid had also set up ten torches to illuminate the area behind the hidden door. By the dim light, Shen Yingxue looked down and suddenly her eyes widened. Her pupils contracted violently, and her eyes were filled with fear. Her body went limp, and she sat down on the ground with a thud.
His mouth was agape as he stared incredulously at the pool behind the hidden door. What was that? Red, yellow, green, white, and black snakes slithered densely across half the pool, one after another, thin and slippery, weaving back and forth among each other, their reflection in the firelight making them particularly eerie.
Li Youlan was very satisfied with Shen Yingxue's reaction. She stepped forward with a slight smile, her beautiful eyes full of pride: "These snakes were all secretly captured by my people. Each one is highly venomous. I plan to use their venom to develop poisons."
Shen Yingxue felt a chill run down her spine and collapsed to the ground, staring blankly at the pool full of venomous snakes, her body trembling violently, too shocked to speak.
A sense of vengeful pleasure rose in Li Youlan's heart, and her smile became even more malicious: "With so many snakes, I can't extract all the venom in a day. Keeping them here would require a lot of food every day. Throwing you in should keep you alive for half a day."
Her low voice was like a sharp thorn, piercing Shen Yingxue's ears. Her dazed thoughts snapped back to reality. She let out a scream, turned around, and knelt on the ground, clutching Li Youlan's clothes tightly. She cried out and pleaded hysterically, "Your Highness, you are merciful and compassionate. Please spare me! I swear to God, I will never poison you again. Please, please!"
Li Youlan sneered, kicked Shen Yingxue away, and said angrily, "Now you know fear and beg me? When you poisoned me, you didn't have the slightest bit of mercy. Even after Consort Li died, you still tried to poison me. You've got some nerve!"
"Your Highness, I know I was wrong, I really know I was wrong!" Shen Yingxue cried out hoarsely, pleading desperately. Half a pool of snakes—if she fell in, not only would she not survive, but her bones would be devoured. She shouldn't have brought Li Youlan into this mess, she really shouldn't have.
She was terrified and regretted her actions. If she could just live, she promised never to poison Li Youlan again.
Li Youlan looked down at Shen Yingxue, who had been poisoned by opium and was facing certain death without an antidote. She was determined to get revenge on the person who had harmed her: "Guards, push Shen Yingxue down."
The maids pulled Shen Lixue up again. She screamed, struggled, and tore at herself, her sharp cries filled with misery and despair echoing through the secret room: "I don't want to die... please..."
The maids ignored her and dragged her forcefully to the edge of the pond.
Li Youlan stood aside, meeting Shen Yingxue's desperate and terrified gaze. Her eerie smile was unsettling: "I've been lazy lately and haven't fed them for several days. These snakes are starving. You, a young woman who hasn't reached marriageable age, have delicate skin and tender flesh, which are the snakes' favorite. Even if you can't have a full meal, you can still satisfy their cravings."
With a chilling glint in their eyes, the maids suddenly pushed the horrified Shen Yingxue into the pool. In an instant, red, yellow, green, white, and black snakes swarmed up, crawling densely all over Shen Yingxue's body, coiling around her neck, chest, waist, and legs.
"Ah..." Her terrified and desperate screams grew louder and louder, echoing incessantly in the secret room, like a demonic sound piercing the eardrums.
The maids stood by the pond, watching the long, thin snakes quickly engulf and submerge her, listening to her desperate screams. They were so shocked that cold sweat beaded on their foreheads. Even though they were bold, their hearts couldn't help but clench tightly.
Looking at Li Youlan again, she stared coldly at Shen Yingxue, who was being swallowed by the snake, her eyes flashing with the excitement of revenge, without the slightest fear.
Heh, Shen Yingxue poisoned her with opium, making her wish she were dead. How could she let Shen Yingxue get away with it? She threw her into a swarm of snakes, letting her be bitten by thousands of snakes, letting her die slowly in fear and despair, only then could she atone for the crime of poisoning her.
Whether she was bitten to death by snakes or poisoned, she was dead anyway. Her small body wasn't even enough to fill the gaps between the snakes' teeth. In a little while, she would turn into a pile of bones, and there would be no need to collect her corpse, which would save her some effort.
From now on, anyone who dares to oppose her will face the same fate as Shen Yingxue.
And that vile woman, Consort Li, is the mastermind behind it all. I must dig up her body and throw it into a swarm of snakes, so she won't even find peace in death.
Poppy is a slow-acting poison. Where there is poison, there is an antidote. If you read more books, you will definitely be able to find a way to detoxify and get rid of the poppy poison in your body.
As the sun gradually set in the west, Shen Lixue gently supported Qiuhe's hand and walked out of a silk shop, with Zimo carrying a bolt of cloud-patterned brocade behind them.
This cloud-patterned brocade is newly released, and its patterns are different from those of the past. It has not yet been widely available in the silk shops of the capital. Shen Lixue went to two or three shops before she finally found one.
Dongfang Heng liked to wear white, so she could make him clothes as many as she wanted from this piece of fabric, as long as the style was different.
"Li Xue." A familiar voice called out, and Shen Li Xue turned her head to see Chu Youran, dressed in a fragrant pink silk dress, and Lin Yan, dressed in a blue brocade robe, walking side by side. The man was handsome and the woman was pretty, and they looked very well-matched together.
"Li Xue, you're pregnant, why are you running around like this?" Chu Youran quickened her pace, came to Shen Li Xue, and carefully took her arm. Her voice was not a reproach, but a sound of concern.
"Sitting in the Prince's mansion for too long was a bit boring, so I came out for a walk. You two are taking a stroll." Shen Lixue's ambiguous gaze lingered between Lin Yan and Chu Youran. Seeing Chu Youran's shy look, she realized that Chu Youran's sweetheart was Lin Yan. Thinking about it carefully, Chu Youran said that during the few days her sweetheart left the capital, her cousin Yan happened to have an urgent matter to attend to and left the capital.
"Miss Chu and I met by chance, and since we were going the same way, we decided to walk together." Lin Yan's calm explanation was very natural, but it made Chu Youran's blushing face pause for a moment. She didn't speak, and her eyes dimmed slightly.
Chu Youran's home is in the southeast, while the Duke of Wu's mansion is in the northwest. They are in completely opposite directions, so how could they possibly meet by chance?
It must have been a coincidence deliberately created by Chu Youran. Lin Yan, that blockhead, didn't realize it, or perhaps he simply didn't think of it that way. It seems that Chu Youran hasn't confessed her feelings to Lin Yan yet.
"Cousin Yan, Youran, I've been walking around for a while and I'm a little tired, so I'll head back to my residence first. I'll treat you to tea sometime." It's not appropriate for her to be a third wheel when the young couple is on a date, all lovey-dovey.
"I'll escort you back to your residence." Shen Lixue was more than five months pregnant, and although her movements were not clumsy, she had to be careful. Lin Yan was worried about her walking back and forth and wanted to escort her back to her residence.
"No need, the carriage from the Holy King's Mansion is just ahead. I can take the carriage back. You two can chat slowly." Shen Lixue pressed down on Chu Youran's hand and gave her an inquiring look.
Chu Youran blushed slightly, her eyelids furrowed, and she nodded gently, tacitly acknowledging that she liked Lin Yan.
Lin Yan's gaze towards Chu Youran was pure; it was simply a friendship, without any deeper thought. Perhaps because he had spent so much time on the battlefield, devoted to his country, and rarely interacted with women, he hadn't discerned Chu Youran's feelings.
Chu Youran is an excellent girl, and her personality is quite compatible with Lin Yan's. As they spend more time together, he should be able to sense it. As her cousin and friend, she shouldn't ruin her cousin and friend's good time.
"By the way, Lixue, my father and mother have already set off from the border. In another half month, they will arrive in the capital." Lin Yan looked at Shen Lixue with a gentle smile as warm as a spring breeze, and his eyes also flickered with a hint of joy. He had been separated from his parents for a year, and they were finally going to be reunited.
"Really?" Lin Qingfeng was Lin Qingzhu's biological brother and loved her very much. Shen Lixue had long wanted to meet him. "After your uncle and aunt return, please remember to let me know. I'll go to the Duke of Wu's mansion to see them."
"Definitely." Lin Yan nodded. She was his aunt's only daughter. His parents would always mention Chen Lixue in their letters, their words full of concern. Even if she didn't come to see them after her parents came to the capital, they would still go to the Holy Prince's Mansion to see her. "Are you sure you don't need me to see you off?"
"No need, you can just walk around with Miss Chu and chat." Shen Lixue's drawn-out tone carried a hint of ambiguity, which made Lin Yan pause slightly. He subconsciously felt that there was something behind her words, and was about to ask her for details when he saw that Shen Lixue had already turned around and walked slowly forward. The faint smile on her lips was deeply imprinted in his eyes, mysterious, strange, and unfathomable, as if she was hinting at something to him.
"Miss Chu, don't you think Li Xue is acting strangely today?" Lin Yan thought for a long time but still couldn't guess the deeper meaning in Shen Li Xue's smile, and his sword-like eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"No, I think Li Xue is perfectly normal." Chu Youran's beautiful face darkened slightly. Li Xue had made it so obvious, yet he still hadn't understood. He was such a blockhead.
Lin Yan watched Shen Lixue's departing figure, his brows furrowing even deeper. Had he misjudged her?
Chu Youran glanced at him and sighed helplessly. His emotional life was probably a blank slate, and he couldn't fathom a woman's thoughts. If she didn't speak up, he would never know her feelings: "Young Master Lin, there's a teahouse up ahead. Let's go have a cup of tea."
Chapter 216: Getting Rid of Li the Scumbag