"Lord Qi, Lord Hua, the Fourth Prince requests your presence in the main hall to discuss important matters," Steward Zhang announced respectfully from outside the door.
"Xiyin, let's go over there first, and we'll come back to see you later." Hua Shao blinked his big, misty eyes, patted Chu Xiyin's shoulder, and said.
Chu Xiyin smiled and nodded.
As Hua Shao passed by Qi Yu, he nudged the stunned Qi Yu with his elbow.
Qi Yu paused for a moment, then turned to leave, taking a box out of his sleeve and placing it on the table.
After the two left, Chu Xiyin walked to the table and picked up the box that Qi Yu had placed there. The box was exquisitely crafted, with strange patterns and several characters she couldn't understand on the lid.
Chu Xiyin opened the box; inside was a white powdery substance. She brought it closer and smelled it; if she wasn't mistaken, the white powder was probably some kind of medicine.
"Xiyin, come and eat something." Chunhua brought in porridge and pastries.
"Did Lord Qi and Lord Hua come by just now?" Chunhua asked, pointing to the table full of tonics.
Chu Xiyin nodded and scooped up a mouthful of porridge and put it in her mouth.
Chunhua enviously flipped through the items on the table one by one. She said, "I just saw them heading towards the lobby. Sigh! That assassin from yesterday was really something; they still haven't caught him."
"An assassin?" Chu Xiyin recalled the man in black who had swept over her head yesterday.
"I have dispatched men to search the entire city for the assassin. According to Guard Mo, the assassin has a butterfly-shaped tattoo on the back of his neck. I have ordered the city guards to conduct a thorough search. If the assassin is still in Ziling City, he will certainly not be able to escape our search." Qi Yu's eyes blazed with terrifying fury.
The Fourth Prince paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. If the assassin wasn't caught quickly, it would surely cause panic among the people of the city.
"I disagree with Lord Qi's approach. Instead of casting a wide net across the city, we should let the fish take the bait." Despite his usual carefree demeanor, Hua Shao is quite serious when it comes to business.
The Fourth Prince and Qi Yu both looked at Hua Shao.
Hua Shao smoothed his long hair and continued, "The assassin hasn't achieved his goal yet, so he certainly won't give up so easily."
"What do you mean?" Qi Yu didn't quite understand Hua Shao's thoughts.
“This assassin deliberately let us know he was from the Twilight Kingdom, hoping to incite war between our two countries. However, he didn't expect us to be smarter than he thought.” Hua Shao toyed with a small tuft of hair in his hand, continuing, “Therefore, if we want to lure the assassin out, we must remain still and wait for him to…”
“Let him assassinate me again…” the Fourth Prince replied with a smile.
Hua Shao smiled but remained silent upon hearing this.
"So, we just need to sit back and wait for the assassin to take the bait!" Qi Yu said, clenching his fist.
The three looked at each other for a moment, and a plan was brewing in their minds.
"The Imperial Concubine has arrived!"
Why would Consort Zheng suddenly come here? Could she be here to cause trouble? Chu Xiyin wondered.
The proper etiquette should still be observed.
"Xi Yin greets the Dowager Consort!" Chu Xi Yin bowed slightly and paid her respects to the Dowager Consort Zheng.
"No, no, no, you are Chuan'er's savior, get up, get up!" Consort Zheng hurriedly helped Chu Xiyin up.
"Xing'er, Sui'er, bring over the Black Jade Fragrant Ointment and apply it to Miss Xiyin!" Consort Zheng urged the two maids behind her.
"Thank you, Your Highness! Chunhua just changed my dressing. I'll keep this for now and apply it later," Chu Xiyin said with a smile. Unexpectedly, this Your Highness Zheng wasn't a bad person at all.
"No! I brought this to you specially, you must apply it immediately!" Consort Zheng was very displeased because of Chu Xiyin's refusal.
"Xing'er, Sui'er, apply the medicine to her!" Consort Zheng coldly ordered.
Two young maids timidly approached Chu Xiyin, who hurriedly ran towards the door. Unfortunately, the injury on her back and the inconvenience in her lower body prevented her from running more than a few steps before Consort Zheng forcibly dragged her back.
"Close the door!" Consort Zheng ordered the other two maids.
Chu Xiyin had a vague sense of foreboding. Could it be that Consort Zheng wanted to kill her?
Why did Chunhua take so long to go to the outhouse?
What to do? What to do?
Chu Xiyin was pinned to the bed by Xing'er and Sui'er, unable to move.
"Help! Chunhua, help..."
Chu Xiyin's mouth was gagged.
As Chu Xiyin struggled desperately, the wound on her back burst open, and bright red blood seeped through the gauze, staining her clothes red.
"Apply the medicine to her!" Consort Zheng said fiercely, glaring at Chu Xiyin.
Xing'er and Sui'er, with trembling hands, reluctantly removed her clothes.
The black powder slowly dripped from the bottle opening onto Chu Xiyin's wound.
"Don't worry, this medicine won't kill you, it will only slowly weaken your body. As long as your health deteriorates, Chuan'er will not marry you," Consort Zheng whispered in Chu Xiyin's ear.
"Let's go!"
"Hahahaha..." Consort Zheng laughed and strode away.
A burning pain shot through the wound on her back, as if it were scorching her body. Chu Xiyin could feel the medicinal powder seeping into her body little by little.
Slowly, slowly... Chu Xiyin lost consciousness.
"Xiyin, Xiyin, what's wrong? What's wrong?" As soon as Chunhua entered the room, she saw Chu Xiyin lying unconscious half-naked by the bed. The bandage on her back had been torn open, and there was a lot of unknown black powdery stuff stuck to it.
Chunhua hurriedly tried to wipe away the black powdery substance with her handkerchief, but the black medicine was like a blood-sucking leech, slowly burrowing into Chu Xiyin's wound, and no matter how she wiped it away, she couldn't get rid of it.
Chunhua was so anxious that she was flustered, and tears dripped onto Chu Xiyin's fair skin.
"Oh, Chu Xiyin!" Hua Shao rushed into the room and shouted without regard for his image.
"What...what happened?" Hua Shao looked at the unconscious Chu Xiyin with a anxious expression.
“She’s been poisoned by the ‘Black Queen’,” Qi Yu said, frowning.
"Black Queen?" Hua Shao and Chunhua asked in unison.
"Because the Black Queen has a bloodthirsty nature, once it enters a person's body, it will cause them to bleed profusely. Although those poisoned by this will not die, they will suffer a hundred or a thousand times more than death. Not only will they remain in a coma for a long time, but they will also have to endure excruciating physical pain," Qi Yu said painfully, turning his head away.
"What should we do? Quickly call Physician Li over!" Hua Shao nudged Chunhua, who was crying with tears and snot streaming down her face, and said.
"It's no use. There's only one way to cure this poison." Qi Yu's expression grew increasingly pained.
"Then hurry up and tell me!" Hua Shao urged impatiently.
“The Black Queen is an extremely yin poison, and only an extremely yang substance can neutralize its toxicity! Miss Chu is innocent, and no one can cure this poison except for the men who are intimate with her,” Qi Yu said with a sigh.
"Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda, who cares about all those ethics and morals!" Hua Shao stood up angrily.
"Cough cough..." Two coughs came from outside the door.
"Fourth Prince..."
He heard Qi Yu's words clearly...
Looking at the poor girl on the bed, he couldn't bear to see her suffer any more harm because of him.
Chapter 22: Detoxifying Her (Part 1)
"Didn't I tell you to serve her every step of the way?" The Fourth Prince's eyes were filled with rage.
He verbally blamed Chunhua, but his heart was filled with endless self-reproach. He hadn't protected her; he had caused her to get hurt time and time again!
"This servant deserves to die! This servant deserves to die!" Chunhua was so frightened that she knelt down on the ground with a thud and kowtowed repeatedly.
The Fourth Prince held Chu Xiyin's hand, feeling a pang of pain in his heart.
"Tell me, how can I save her?"
"Your Highness, she has been poisoned by the 'Black Queen.' This 'Black Queen' is a powdery poisonous insect that can enter the human body through the bloodstream. Due to its bloodthirsty nature, once it enters the human body, it will frantically suck blood. While sucking blood, it will also expel its own poisonous blood into the body, causing poisoning. Furthermore..."
"And what?" the Fourth Prince asked Qi Yu nervously.
“The Black Queen multiplies rapidly in the blood. Once Xi Yin’s blood is filled with poisonous blood, she will become the Black Queen’s permanent host, and she will never be able to wake up again.”
Hua Shao shuddered and said, "That's terrifying! Didn't you just say you had a way to save her?"
“My father once said that everything in the universe has its counterpart. The only nemesis that the Black Queen fears is the White Gentleman.”
This Qi Yu truly lives up to his reputation as the son of Qi Gui, the world's number one "poison doctor." He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the properties of all kinds of poisons.
"Bai Junzi? Never heard of it. Does such a medicine exist?" Hua Shao scratched his head and asked.
Qi Yu nodded and continued, "This 'White Gentleman' is not medicine, but a person!"
"A person? Does the Ziling Dynasty have anyone named 'Bai Junzi'?" Hua Shao was even more puzzled.
Qi Yu smiled awkwardly and said, "'Bai Junzi' could be any man in the world who has never touched a woman."
"So, I can do it too?" Hua Shao blinked and said.
"You can't!" Qi Yu replied with unusual firmness.
Hua Shao glanced at the Fourth Prince and said, "Your Highness, I was just joking, please don't take it seriously!"
"Just as the name 'White Gentleman' suggests, the person chosen to be 'White Gentleman' must stand naked in front of the poisoned person, but must not have any impure thoughts. Once the 'White Gentleman' has any evil thoughts, it will arouse the 'Black Queen's' lust and accelerate its reproduction."
"According to you, what if a man is poisoned by the 'Black Queen'? What if two grown men..." Hua Shao's mind was always filled with strange and unusual questions like these.
Qi Yu smiled helplessly and replied, "'Black Queen' can only survive in a negative host body. Men are positive beings and cannot be parasitized."
“It’s really hard to find a ‘gentleman’ like him. When a man and a woman are naked together, what normal man can resist?” Hua Shao looked at Chu Xiyin lying on the bed and shrugged helplessly.
Qi Yu glanced at Chu Xiyin and blushed slightly without realizing it.
The Fourth Prince held Chu Xiyin's hand, gazing intently at her. He wasn't sure if he possessed such strong self-control; after all, he was in the prime of his life.
"Isn't there any other way to save her?" The Fourth Prince gripped Chu Xiyin's hand even tighter.
Qi Yu shook his head.
"Who would be so cruel as to poison a young, innocent girl like this?" Hua Shao exclaimed.
"Who is it?" Qi Yu shouted, taking a few steps to the door.
A young maidservant outside the door was so frightened that she collapsed to the ground, trembling uncontrollably.
"Xing'er?" The Fourth Prince recognized the maid at a glance as the personal maid of Consort Zheng.