Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 240 Night Journey
The hem of the mourning clothes fluttered, carrying a wisp of pure orchid fragrance, which, mixed with the putrid smell of the prison, somehow gave rise to a strange and compassionate aura.

"Who harmed you? Why did your hair turn white overnight?"

Xue Sui really wanted to laugh.

This is probably what they mean by crocodile tears.

She twitched her lips, slowly raised her head, coughed, and her eyes were bloodshot.

"Doesn't Your Highness know? The medicine I take every day is carefully prepared by Your Highness's people."

Li Huan's pupils suddenly contracted.

The thousands of silver strands in front of him stung his eyes.

"Chen Henian! Summon Chen Henian to see me..."

He flicked his sleeve and called for someone, who quickly unlocked the iron chain on Xue Sui's wrist.

The sound of the splashing water carried a tremor that even he himself was unaware of.

Chen Henian stumbled over, his whole body hunched over like a shrimp. He knelt on the ground to take Xue Sui's pulse. When his fingertips touched the temperature of Xue Sui's wrist, he trembled slightly.

"King, lord..."

The old physician's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and he turned around and knelt down on the ground.

"Consort Xue's cold poison has penetrated to her marrow and has already affected her heart meridian; I fear it is beyond the reach of any medicine..."

Li Huan's pupils contracted slightly, and he grabbed Chen Henian's collar.

"Didn't you swear that if you followed the prescription and got the medicine, you could get rid of the cold toxins..."

His voice was terrifyingly cold, his fingertips gripping the physician's neck. "Tell me, who told you to poison him?"

"Your Highness, please spare me... I didn't poison him..."

Physician Chen was so frightened that his liver and gallbladder trembled.

The scattered dregs of medicine on the ground clumped together.

That was the recipe he personally oversaw the preparation of yesterday, but now it was mixed with strange black blood.

"Throughout my life, I have dedicated myself to healing the sick and have never dared to betray my medical conscience!"

Before the words were finished, the sound of porcelain shattering suddenly came from the corner.

"What 'healing the sick and saving lives'? Bullshit!" Xiao Zhao pointed at Doctor Chen's nose with red eyes and cursed angrily.

“I should have sensed something was wrong when that old man surnamed Wang came to take my pulse a few days ago! You royal family members are all vicious monsters who eat people without spitting out the bones…”

"Xiao Zhao..."

Xue Sui gently shook his head, his white hair being lifted by the draft, overlapping with the shadow on the stone wall, like winter snow falling on dark silk, his skin tinged with a deathly gray.

"Don't talk nonsense. Imperial Physician Wang is highly regarded by the Empress Dowager and used to frequently leave the inner palace to take pulses. How could he do such a heinous thing?"

Chen Henian lowered his head even further.

Li Huan's eyes sharpened, as if he realized something. He bent down, took her hand, and his voice suddenly softened.

"I will definitely seek justice for you..."

Xue Sui turned her head away from his support, retreating half an inch towards the stone wall, her voice as light as snow falling on plum branches.

"Your Highness, please don't overdo it... cough cough... there are no spies from the Censorate in this dungeon..."

Xue Yuechen stepped forward, supporting her pregnant belly, a gentle smile on her lips.

"Sixth Sister, the Prince is also worried about you..."

"It's not necessary..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a heart-wrenching cough.

Li Huan disregarded everything else and pulled open his cloak to wrap her in his arms.

The jailer raised the lantern higher.

The bright firelight illuminated the blood-stained writing on the stone wall—an unfinished poem, "Ge Sheng," whose author was unknown…

"The kudzu vines grow thick with thorns, and the creeping vines spread across the land. My beloved is gone; who will comfort me now..."

Li Huan was suddenly overcome with grief.

He recalled his mother's appearance before her death. Her eyes were unfocused, she vomited black blood, and her fingernails dug into her flesh without letting go.

The white banners in Ruijin Hall were just like her hair, starkly white. Even with bright lipstick, her mother's lips were still bluish-purple. Her face, swollen and distorted beneath her burial clothes, was as pale as paper. She wore the phoenix crown she had always wanted, but she could only sink into the coffin along with her wealth and glory...

That's what death looks like.

Death takes everything away...

He gripped Xue Sui's arm tightly in his palm, veins bulging.

"Chen Henian! What exactly is the illness that the concubine is suffering from?"

"Your Highness, it is indeed a cold..." Chen Henian was drenched in sweat. He thought of Wang Bo'an's previous consultation with Xue Sui, and though the words were on the tip of his tongue, he dared not speak them aloud...

"Unless... unless something went wrong with Physician Wang..."

Xue Sui smiled sadly, his white hair falling down to cover his eyebrows and eyes, his breathy voice as soft as a sigh.

"Your Highness framed me back then just to take my life, so why are you pretending to be merciful now?"

Before the words were even finished, her eyelashes trembled slightly, and she suddenly coughed up a mouthful of black blood.

Li Huan trembled violently and hurriedly reached out with his sleeve to catch a black lotus flower that landed on his snow-white mourning clothes.

"I'll use my worthless life to salvage the Crown Prince's declining fortunes. Your Highness's calculations are flawless..."

Xue Sui stared down at his blood-stained fingertips as if looking at an insignificant painting.

It hurts, yet it's also calm.

"Power, popular support, imperial favor, glory, and offspring—Your Highness already has everything you desire. Why the need for such ruthless persecution?"

Suddenly, a chilling wind swept through the dungeon. In the flickering light of the oil lamp, Li Huan saw blood and foam at the corner of her lips, her pupils gradually dilating, and the image of Consort Xiao before her death repeatedly flashed through his mind...

The thought that the person before him would also lie stiff and cold in a coffin, just like his mother, with people applying powder and inserting hairpins into her face, suddenly overwhelmed him with emotion.

"It is not me."

His voice was hoarse as he suddenly grabbed the back of her neck and gripped her delicate wrist...

She wanted to explain something, but when she touched his skin, she was burned and her heart skipped a beat.

In an instant, those meticulously planned chess games suddenly became laughable.

He clearly intended to avenge his mother, luring Li Zhao into a trap and using Xue Sui to solidify the Eastern Palace's charge of murdering the concubine and treason, yet he personally handed the poisoned knife to the Empress Dowager...

"I... never intended to take your life."

"Your Highness has won this round." Xue Sui leaned against the wall, panting, his silver hair spreading across his shoulders like moonlight. "Using my corpse as a pretext, you can still make the entire court and the public condemn the Crown Prince. Your Highness can reap the benefits and win over the hearts of the people..."

After saying that, she glanced at Xiao Zhao, her fingertips twitching as she reached out half an inch towards her, but then fell limply, curling up in the straw pile and vomiting more black blood.

Blood splattered onto her pure white hair...

Beneath her thin prison clothes were her protruding spine, a pitiful sight.

"But my maidservant, who grew up with me since childhood, is honest and simple-minded, timid and lacking in guile... She doesn't understand the bloodshed and ruthlessness of the capital. I beg Your Highness to spare her life. Don't let her die with me..."

"Girl!" Xiao Zhao cried out and rushed over, clutching her blood-stained sleeve tightly, her knees slamming against the ground with a dull thud.

"Even if it means death, Xiao Zhao will die with you."

"Don't be silly..."

Xue Sui raised his arm, wanting to touch her face, but a brocade pouch stained with medicine slipped out from under his prison clothes...

Li Huan bent down and picked it up.

This was the very purse he had stuffed into the jade pendant to frame her that day.

At this moment, inside was a pill—dark red in color, like congealed blood.

"What is this?" Li Huan asked in a cold voice.

"...It was sent by Physician Wang, who said it was a secret recipe from the Imperial Medical Academy called Jade Dew Pill...After taking it for two days, I noticed something strange, so I kept one pill..."

Before he could finish speaking, another mouthful of black blood gushed from his throat.

Amidst violent coughing, she suddenly slumped forward, her entire body sliding limply onto Xiao Zhao like a puppet with its strings cut...

The last syllable faded in the throat...

"Girl!" Xiao Zhao hugged Xue Sui tightly, a sob escaping her throat.

"Your Highness..." Xue Yuechen cried with tears streaming down his face. He wanted to rush over to see her, but was held tightly by Emerald and slumped weakly in her arms, sobbing.

"I would be grateful if Your Highness could find a good imperial physician, so that Sixth Sister doesn't leave in pain..."

“No need.” Li Huan suddenly tore off his cloak and wrapped it around Xue Sui, then picked her up in his arms. “I will personally take her to the imperial physician.”

"Your Highness, you mustn't!" Xiangyang hurriedly stopped him.

"Taking the concubine away now would likely result in us being accused of releasing a serious criminal..."

Before he could finish speaking, Li Huan kicked open the prison door and strode out.

A cold wind blew in through the prison passage, causing his sleeves to flutter.

The woman in his arms was so light that she seemed to be nothing but bones, as if she might melt into the shadow of the prison lamp at any moment.

He glanced down, his jaw clenched, but his voice remained as steady as a rock.

"I will meet with my father and admit that I framed Yu Jue, and that the case in Qinghui Palace has nothing to do with the Xue family..."

Everyone was shocked.

The jailer on night duty stood frozen in place, not daring to utter a sound.

Xiangyang knelt down with a thud, his forehead hitting the stone slab heavily.

"Your Highness, please reconsider! If this matter alarms His Majesty, the consequences will be unimaginable..."

"Your Highness!" Xue Yuechen was completely taken aback when Li Huan revealed that he had framed her in front of everyone.

For a moment, she felt a metallic taste in her throat and was so angry that she almost fainted.

"The crime of deceiving the emperor is intolerable to heaven and earth. Does Your Highness know that stepping out of the prison gates now means certain doom?"

A flicker of sorrow burned in her eyes as she looked at Li Huan and approached him step by step.

"If Your Highness were to ruin your reputation, how could the Imperial Concubine rest in peace in the afterlife?" With that, she grabbed Li Huan's hand and pressed it against her pregnant belly.

"Your Highness, feel this. This is your own flesh and blood! The child hasn't even been born yet, and Your Highness is already completely disregarding it?"

Li Huan suddenly fell silent.

Slowly, she withdrew her hand and hugged Xue Sui tightly again.

"Your Highness, please move aside."

"Unless Your Highness kills me and the child in my womb first..."

Li Huan sneered and strode past her stiff arm.

"Your Highness!" Xue Yuechen clutched his clothes, her pregnant belly showing its bulge under the white robes, and tears of pain welled up in her eyes.

"Now put Sixth Sister down, and you'll still be a clean and innocent Prince Duan..."

The surrounding jailers all lowered their heads, pretending they hadn't heard anything.

The guards exchanged glances, then gripped their sword hilts tighter.
As long as Xue Sui and Xiao Zhao die, no one will know what Prince Duan said, nor will they know the secret of the jade pendant...

however……

Li Huan held the unconscious Xue Sui tightly, unmoved.

"From the moment the jade pendant was placed in Qinghui Palace, I was destined to be an unclean person."

Seeing him turn to leave, Xue Yuechen suddenly pulled out the white hairpin from her hair and held it to her throat.

"If Your Highness insists on acting recklessly, I will spill my blood in prison today..."

The unspoken words remained, lingering between the teeth.

Li Huan acted as if he didn't see her tears and pleas, and strode towards the prison gate.

A metallic taste spread through Xue Yue's throat.

She watched Li Huan's retreating figure, his youthful naiveté and impulsiveness relentlessly crushing worldly rules and smoothing away the rough edges of the power struggle, all for the sake of one woman.

That's her husband...

Why could he cherish another woman so much?
Xue Yuechen collapsed to the ground, feeling as if all her strength had been drained away...

Suddenly, the entire cage began to spin, and a sharp, excruciating pain shot through my abdomen.

Even through the heavy prison gates, one could hear the sound of hearts shattering.

"princess……"

Jade couldn't support Xue Yue's heavy body and cried out.

"Take care of yourself, don't hurt yourself anymore..."

Xue Yuechen watched the disappearing figure with disappointment.

He suddenly chuckled softly.

The expression on his face as he ran towards Xue Sui was exactly what she had hoped for when she married into the Duan Prince's household—

That's a desperate gamble only made for someone deeply in love.

What her husband gave her was a sharp blade, honed by the imperial city, each line engraved with weighing the pros and cons.
-
The rain, like a curtain, shrouded the Ministry of Justice prison in a gray haze.

Dressed in night clothes, Li Zhao stood at the alley entrance outside the Bingzi Prison, clutching an exquisite wooden box containing Zhang Huaicheng's secret antidote.

When I see Xue Ping'an later, I will definitely apologize.

First, give her the antidote, then settle her on the cargo ship. If you want to beat or scold her, just let her be.

He stared at the slippery wall in the rain, his eyes revealing a resolute sharpness.

"Your Highness, we are ready."

The leader of the secret guards behind him stepped forward two steps with his sword at his waist and whispered, "The Twelve Guards have changed into their patrol armor, and the jailers on duty are also our men."

Guan Ya reported in a low voice, followed by several agile subordinates, each with sharp eyes, ready to act at any moment.

Li Zhao nodded and was about to take a step when he saw Yuan Cang rushing over from the other end of the alley, his face pale.

"Your Highness, something terrible has happened! Miss Xue has seen through the food we prepared. She... she didn't take her medicine, and her maid is fierce, preventing the jailers from getting close..."

Li Zhao was startled, and the wooden box almost slipped from his hands.

"I will go and fetch her!"

He lifted his robe to leave, but Yuan Cang stopped him.

"Your Highness, it's too late..."

He spoke in a low voice, not daring to look at Li Zhao's face.

He dared not truthfully report the events that had occurred in the dungeon to Li Zhao.

"Just now, Prince Duan suddenly arrived and took the person away... To avoid any further complications, we had no choice but to retreat..."

Li Zhaoru was struck by lightning, and his mind went blank for a moment.

After a long while, he slowly opened his mouth.

"Why did you only report this now?"

"Sixth Miss Xue is suffering from the Snow-Cold Poison, and is vomiting black blood..."

They witnessed Li Huan going mad for Xue Sui. If the Crown Prince saw such a situation, he would probably lose his composure and suffer the same fate as Prince Duan.

"Lord Mei said that Prince Duan should take him to Wang Bo'an for treatment. Your Highness should suppress your anger for now and consider the matter carefully."

Li Zhao felt a sharp pain in his chest, as if he had been stabbed.

Snow-covered withered leaves couldn't possibly have been used by Wang Bo'an...

He wouldn't risk the lives of his two grandsons by taking such a risky move right under the nose of the Crown Prince.

The only person who could have poisoned him was Xue Sui himself.

He suddenly recalled the cold look in Xue Sui's eyes when he pushed him away that night in prison...

It turns out she wasn't unwilling to leave, but rather didn't want to go with him.

She would rather choose Li Huan than trust herself.

This realization was like a bucket of cold water poured over his head, chilling him to the bone.

He clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles cracking.

Guan Ya looked at Li Zhao's tense body and gloomy face, feeling a pang of pity, yet unsure how to comfort him...

The alleyway was deathly still in the rain.

At that moment, a subordinate rushed over.

"Your Highness, we've found out that Prince Duan has brought Miss Xue to the palace for medical treatment..."

Li Zhao's eyes sharpened, and he immediately turned around.

"Go back to the palace!"

Two chapters combined, see you tomorrow!