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Chapter 200 Poison Chicken Soup

After sending the respectful steward away, Zhu Yu took off his outer robe, washed his face with fragrant warm water, sat on the soft bed, and slowly breathed a sigh of satisfaction. He then instructed Lu Qing to wash his face and hands as well, took out the bottle of ointment, and asked Lu Qing to come and sit next to him.

This time, Lu Qing took off his shirt without her asking and sat down with his back to her.

Zhu Yu removed the original cloth and checked the condition of the wound in the light of the bright oil lamp in the room. Seeing that the wound had healed much better than in the past few days, she breathed a sigh of relief. She hurriedly cleaned up the remaining ointment and applied new one.

She spread the ointment evenly on the fresh scar. There was still a little bit left on her fingers. She thought for a moment and gently applied it on a hideous old scar next to it, rubbing it gently, hoping that the ointment could be absorbed by the scar.

Lu Qing felt her movements and chuckled softly, "Those scars have been there for over ten years. Yan Daoxin's ability alone isn't enough to smooth them out. I'd have to ask the gods in heaven to make them disappear."

"More than ten years?!" Zhu Yu was a little surprised.

She had originally wondered if those scars were left when he was practicing martial arts at Shanqing Temple, but she also thought that it was just martial arts practice and wouldn't be that serious.

Later, Yan Daoxin said that Lu Qing had left runes and talismans in the temple to copy scriptures for him, and he went out with Yan Daoxin to gain experience. Zhu Yu couldn't help but wonder if the two of them had encountered some danger during that period.

Unexpectedly, it was left behind more than ten years ago?
Ten years ago...

"When you were still in the palace?" She paused rubbing her fingers and had the answer in her heart.

After saying this, Zhu Yu regretted it.

Whenever the topic of scars on his body came up, Lu Qing would always suddenly change the subject to divert her attention, making it clear that he didn't want to talk about it.

"Lu Zhang's mother." After a brief silence, Lu Qing suddenly spoke unexpectedly, "The scars on my back are all thanks to her."

"Empress Zhao?" Zhu Yu frowned. She had never expected Lu Qing to tell her this, but for some reason, she was not surprised at all when she heard that these hideous scars were caused by Zhao Bi's daughter.

"Yeah." Lu Qing spoke of this old story without any emotional waves, and said calmly, "I've told you before, when I was a child, I was raised by Queen Wang.

Queen Wang was originally weak, and later she gave birth to Lu Chao. The emperor felt sorry for his wife and didn't want her to suffer, so he handed me over to other concubines in the palace to take care of in turn.

Because there was an old wet nurse following her, the concubines did not need to personally take care of anything on a daily basis, and everything was peaceful. Each concubine would stay in the palace for half a year, and then be transferred to another one, and the old wet nurse would follow and take care of her.

Later, it was my turn to live in Concubine Zhao's palace. Not long after, one day when I was taking a nap, several palace servants suddenly rushed in from outside, dragged me off the bed and pulled me into the yard.

I was startled and confused at the time, not knowing what was going on. Then I saw a few more people rush into the room, and a few moments later they came out carrying a bloody dead dog.

When Zhu Yu heard this, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.

This Concubine Zhao is truly worthy of being a woman in the palace. She uses such vulgar methods so skillfully.

Lu Qing just turned around at this moment, and seeing her undisguised eye roll, he lowered his head and smiled, reaching out to take the porcelain bottle from her hand. He held her hand, dipped Zhu Yu's finger in the ointment inside, and applied it to the scar on his chest. Zhu Yu hadn't noticed anything when she helped him apply the ointment a few times before, but now he felt a little uncomfortable with his finger being held like this.

Just as I was about to pull my hand out, I heard Lu Qing continue, "Before I could figure out what was going on, Concubine Zhao came out with a few palace maids. Seeing the dead dog on the ground, they insisted that the dead dog was her favorite one and that I had deliberately hidden the dog in my room and killed it."

Zhu Yu paused in pulling his hand out and asked hurriedly, "What happened next?"

"Later, she didn't even give me a chance to explain and ordered several palace servants to pin me to the ground and beat me." Lu Qing's grip tightened. "I was so scared at the time that I can't even remember what she ordered them to hit me with. I only remember the pain of my skin being torn apart.

The old wet nurse pleaded bitterly, saying that she had been in the room all the time and had never gone out, let alone touched Zhao Guifei's pet dog. Zhao Guifei asked the old wet nurse to think it over carefully, but the old wet nurse insisted on her original statement.

She was then dragged away and I haven’t seen her since.”

Zhu Yu held a curse in his mouth, unable to utter it, and unable to swallow it. He could only grit his teeth and puff out his cheeks to express his anger: "What happened next?"

"Later, I was beaten until I passed out. When I woke up, I was left alone in my room. Every day, only a maid came to bring me a bowl of thin soup, and no one else cared about me.

I had a high fever for several days and almost died, but luckily, the wounds on my body gradually healed and the fever subsided. Although I was very weak, I managed to make it through.

"His Majesty...is not aware of this?" Zhu Yu asked suspiciously.

"He probably really doesn't know." Lu Qing had no doubts about this. "Concubine Zhao was the most powerful person in the palace back then. The palace she lived in was airtight, with only her own people. If she didn't want outsiders to know something, no one would go out and leak it.

It happened that Queen Wang's health was deteriorating day by day. During that period, the emperor rarely visited any concubine's palace except before attending court. Whenever he was free, he would go to guard Queen Wang.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this special moment that Concubine Zhao is so fearless."

Zhu Yu nodded.

If that's the case, it does make sense.

At the same time, she felt that this matter would definitely not be so simple to resolve. Calculating, it seemed that Lu Qing should have been sent to Shanqing Monastery not long after that. "So what happened next?"

"Later, I was on the verge of recovery, but I became extremely thin because of this disaster." Lu Qing picked up the corner of his inner garment and wiped the ointment left on Zhu Yu's fingertips. "One day, the palace maid who delivered soup every day suddenly brought a bowl of chicken soup and said it was specially cooked for me to nourish my body. She poured it into my mouth without any explanation.

I was so weak that I didn't even have the strength to break free. I guess half of the chicken soup went into my stomach and the other half went out."

Zhu Yu couldn't help but roll his eyes again: "I don't even need to guess, you mentioned being poisoned before, so it must be that after drinking that bowl of chicken soup, you almost died again!"

(End of this chapter)