After being forced into a marriage with a wealthy family, the virtuous wife caused a huge uproar.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Taikang stared blankly at the young man kneeling before him.

These were the ministers he had personally promoted, and the children he had watched grow up.

For some reason, the child's eyebrows and eyes resembled his own, and it was this resemblance that made him like the child so much.

Moreover, someone specifically instructed him to treat Gu Ce well, and that if anything went wrong with Gu Ce, that person would hold him responsible.

So over the years, he has tried his best to find doctors for Gu Ce, hoping to cure the poison in his body.

He waited for that person to explain, but after so many years, he still hadn't received an answer. The person only said that the time wasn't right.

Fortunately, Gu Ce was an obedient and sensible child, a rare and excellent minister.

Thinking of all this, Emperor Taikang slowly smiled, and finally laughed heartily, reaching out to help Gu Ce up from the ground.

"Ah Ce, I've finally heard you say that. My hesitation in making a decision was to give you a chance," Emperor Taikang said with a smile. "However, you're not qualified to be prime minister yet. You need to convince all the officials in court."

Gu Ce finally breathed a sigh of relief; it turned out that the Emperor also hoped he would become the prime minister.

That makes things easier.

These days, he couldn't figure out what the emperor meant, but fortunately he volunteered today.

Otherwise, the Emperor would have to test him for who knows how long.

"Your subject will certainly not fail your trust." Gu Ce bowed solemnly again.

"Sit down and talk." Emperor Taikang put away his smile, thinking to himself that it wouldn't be easy for Gu Ce to be promoted to prime minister smoothly.

He is currently only a Vice Minister, a third-rank official, while the Prime Minister is a first-rank official. Such a large leap, without sufficient political achievements, makes it difficult to gain the respect of the people.

"Your Majesty, there is something I am unsure whether I should speak of." Gu Ce feigned hesitation.

"Speak," Emperor Taikang glared at him. It was obvious he wanted to speak, but he was afraid of upsetting him.

"Please don't be angry if I say anything." Gu Ce took the initiative to refill Emperor Taikang's tea and then changed his chair to a more comfortable one.

Seeing Gu Ce's attentive service, Emperor Taikang already knew what was going on. He steadied himself before speaking, "Speak."

Seeing that Emperor Taikang was ready, Gu Ce recounted Rong Yingluo's discovery at Mingyue Tower the previous day and their nighttime raid on Mingyue Tower last night.

"This is outrageous! Someone, go and summon the Crown Prince to me!" Even though Emperor Taikang was mentally prepared, he was still furious.

The Crown Prince disappointed him greatly.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger. This matter requires careful consideration. As for the effects of poppy, I have only heard about them from the Lady and have never actually seen them myself."

"We cannot condemn His Highness the Crown Prince simply because he added this to the dish," Gu Ce immediately advised.

Emperor Taikang's gaze sharpened, his eyes becoming deep. He took two deep breaths and fell into deep thought.

"Gu Ce, you and your wife discovered this matter, so I will entrust it to you as an experiment. I will give you two death row inmates and give me your answer within half a month." Emperor Taikang finally entrusted this matter to Gu Ce.

"Your subject obeys the decree." Gu Ce knelt down to accept the order.

On the spot, Emperor Taikang wrote a handwritten edict to Gu Ce, ordering him to go to the Ministry of Justice to bring two death row inmates who were to be executed the following month.

Gu Ce secretly sent the person to the manor outside the city, which was a gift from the emperor.

This estate was Gu Ce's secret retreat, where he housed all the people he had built up.

There weren't many, only a dozen or so, and Zhong Sheng was their leader.

Having received his master's instructions, Zhong Sheng prepared the necessary items in advance.

"Zhong Sheng, you will stay at the estate for the next few days. Feed the two prisoners poppies three times a day, according to the madam's instructions, and record their reactions," Gu Ce instructed.

"Rest assured, Master, I will make sure they drink it properly." Zhong Sheng bowed.

It was already dark when Gu Ce returned to the manor.

Rong Yingluo thought he would be poisoned that night and assumed he would come back early, but she waited all afternoon without seeing him. She only saw him appear at the main gate of the courtyard when she was having dinner.

"Why are you back so late?" Rong Yingluo stepped forward and took the cloak he had taken off.

As the two spent more time together, Rong Yingluo unknowingly developed a slight attachment to Gu Ce.

"I'm leaving the city." Gu Ce felt a warmth in his heart when he saw the bowls and chopsticks already set out.

It feels so good to have someone waiting for him to have a meal together.

After having dinner, the two went to the study and did not enter the secret room until almost midnight.

The two middle-aged bodyguards that Rong Yingluo had met before were already waiting in the underground secret room.

This time, Gu Ce let An Yi come in as well.

As soon as midnight passed, Gu Ce's face began to turn pale, and that familiar feeling of being bitten by countless ants came over him.

Then my whole body started to ache.

The two guards immediately tied the man to the iron frame.

This time, Rong Yingluo watched him suffer from the poison from the very beginning, checking his pulse from time to time.

As time passed, Gu Ce could no longer hold back and began to go mad.

This was the first time An Yi had seen Gu Ce suffer from the poison, and the shock in his eyes was self-evident.

"Young Madam, does the young master always act like this?" An Yi stared expressionlessly at Gu Ce on the iron frame.

"I've only seen him suffer from the poisoning last time. That time it was much more serious than this time. I had the two of them force the poison to his arm and then use bloodletting to slow down the onset of the poisoning."

His eyes were bloodshot then, and he was much more deranged than he is now.

"So far, there's only a little blood." Rong Yingluo said.

Taking advantage of a moment when Gu Ce quieted down a bit, Rong Yingluo stood in front of him and asked, "Husband, do you recognize me?"

"You...you...are my wife." Gu Ce managed to squeeze out a few words, then gasped for breath.

Rong Yingluo nodded to herself; it seemed that the bloodletting last time had indeed lessened the poison in him.

"Uncles, let's bleed the prince again like last time. He'll be more relaxed next time the poison flares up." Rong Yingluo planned to do it the same way.

Before the red-striped toad could be found and raised, Gu Ce could only endure each attack of the poison. She could only reduce his pain by bleeding him out, but this was not a long-term solution and also damaged his body.

The group worked together to draw another bowl of blood from Gu Ce, and this time the poison took almost half the time to take effect compared to the last time.

When Gu Ce was taken off the iron frame, he was soaked in sweat, but his spirits were much better than last time.

"An Yi, carry him to the couch and let him rest for a while." Rong Yingluo saw that Gu Ce had difficulty even standing.

"No need, I can walk there myself." Gu Ce forced a smile that looked more like a grimace.

He was pleased; this was the easiest time since the poisoning started, and it was over in less than an hour.

An Yi helped the person to lie down on the couch.

Rong Yingluo immediately poured him a large glass of water.

Gu Ce had been roaring for so long that his throat was parched, so he took the cup and drank it down in big gulps.

Rong Yingluo poured him three cups in a row before he was finally quenched his thirst.

She took Gu Ce's pulse and found that the poison had indeed subsided. Although his pulse was weak, it was already quite regular.

"My lord, this bloodletting didn't actually release much toxin. We can't use bloodletting again in the future, as it's not very effective."

"So you need to hurry up and find the Red-Striped Toad. I've also had the Prince of Liao send people to look for it; we need the poison from his body too. Let's see who finds it first. Hopefully, it won't take too long," Rong Yingluo said.

"It's late autumn now, and most toads have already gone into hibernation, so it may take some time to find them," Gu Ce said helplessly.

It's not the peak season for toads right now.

In the following days, Rong Yingluo did not leave the mansion, but instead helped Su Jingyi prepare for the chrysanthemum appreciation banquet.

In order to show that she treated Rong Yingluo as her own daughter-in-law, Su Jingyi specially gave her some tasks to do.

That is, how to arrange the flowers in the garden and how to temporarily plant them.

On the evening before the banquet, Aunt Miao quietly came to Yinliu Courtyard. Before entering the courtyard, she looked around to see if anyone had seen her.

This is the first time Rong Yingluo has come here since her marriage.