Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

200. Ridicule

Translator: Bryan

Du Chuxuan put a mint leaf in his mouth and felt a refreshing sensation sweeping over him. He involuntarily narrowed his eyes in contentment. At the sight of it, a smile touched Yuxing Tianrui’s lips. At the same time, Zhao Ling’er was secretly delighted, feeling that her scheme was about to succeed. All people in the house had their respective thoughts.

Luo Qing administered the powder to Du Chuxuan’s hand and everyone looked at it. After all, the Crown Princess taking the lead in this matter suggested that Du Chuxuan had nothing to hide, and everybody held him in higher esteem because of it. The color of Du Chuxuan’s hand remained the same, and there was only one explanation for it.

Luo Qing cleared his throat. On the surface, his facial expression was unchanged, but when he spoke, his voice was tinged with schadenfreude. “It seems that Your Highness have been sleeping very well these days, and you’ve almost recovered from the illness that troubled you a few days ago. I’m surprised you don’t even need to take medicine anymore.”

“Of course,” Du Chuxuan smiled. “Your medical skills are consummate, Imperial Doctor Luo. I also have His Highness to thank for my recovery. If it weren’t for him, my illness might have deteriorated into a chronical disease.”

The two of them exchanged a glance, and in their eyes was a hint of slyness that only the two of them could understand. Du Chuxuan turned his head and said in a very formal tone, “I’ve tried it. It’s your turn now, sis.”

“Impossible!” Before Fang Rui could say anything, Zhao Ling’er suddenly blurted out a word. Her voice instantly became shrill. “Impossible.” She quickly strode over to Du Chuxuan and shot out her hand to grab his. However, before she could get close to Du Chuxuan, she was stopped by Ada, who said, “Concubine Zhao, please mind your manner.”

To some extent, Ada represented Yuxing Tianrui’s authority. Zhao Ling’er instantly caught on and turned to look at Yuxing Tianrui. However, Yuxing Tianrui was sitting bolt upright. “Why are you behaving so impertinently today?” There was manifest displeasure in his tone of voice.

Zhao Ling’er was caught off guard by that question. She stiffly turned to glance at Du Chuxuan. Her lips twitched, but she couldn’t make a sound. She had no idea how things had come to this, but she still had her sense of perspective, knowing that her plan would fall through unless she calmed down right away.

“I did get carried away just now. I know you’ve been feeling unwell lately, sis, and you always carry some medicine with you, but your hand showed no reaction at all, so I thought there was something wrong with the powder, which meant that the previous results were unreliable. That’s why I lost my cool.”

Zhao Ling’er was fairly quick-witted. She immediately made an excuse for her actions, then turned to look at Du Chuxuan with a forced smile. “I misbehaved myself just now. Please forgive me, sis.”

“F*ck.” Du Chuxuan cursed in his mind and thought, “Is this a talent peculiar to women? This woman can change her attitude quicker than I turn pages.” However, as Zhao Ling’er had put it that way, he naturally couldn’t refuse. “You’ve entered the East Palace, which means you’re serving His Highness now. You need to be more careful about the way you comport yourself.”

Zhao Ling’er did not dare to say anything else. She was supported to the side by her personal handmaid and stood there meekly, not daring utter another word. Du Chuxuan glanced at Yuxing Tianrui. “Your Highness, do you think we should resume testing this powder?”

No matter what methods Zhao Ling’er had adopted before, it had nothing to do with her anymore. Now, the outcome depended on whether or not Yuxing Tianrui wanted to continue his investigation. Yuxing Tianrui expressed his displeasure with a snort. “I can’t believe such a thing happened in my palace. This time, it’s a mere concubine who nearly fell victim, but the next time it might be the Crown Princess and what shall I do then?”

Knowing that Yuxing Tianrui decided to get to the bottom of this matter, Du Chuxuan raised his hand, gesturing for Imperial Doctor Luo to take action. Imperial Doctor Luo walked towards Fang Rui and said, “Concubine Fang, please be cooperative.” With that he handed a mint leaf to her.

Fang Rui glanced at Du Chuxuan who was sitting there enjoying the show. She then put the mint leaf under her lips and took the powder. Another few moments passed and her hand became greenish. Though its color had changed, the new color wasn’t really an astounding one, so nobody made any remarks about it.

“Your Highness, I’ve been in the palace for two days, and I accidentally caught cold, so I took some medicine.” After seeing the change in the color of her hand, Fang Rui appeared very calm. She candidly told everybody the reason for the change and then had her personal handmaid bring to the hall the residue of the decoction that the maids had produced in the past few days.

“It’s medicine to treat common colds.” Luo Qing examined it for a while, and there could be no mistake. This farce which had started early in the morning was finally coming to an end. They had not only failed to catch the culprit but also disgraced the imperial family in front of so many servants. How could Yuxing Tianrui forgive Zhao Ling’er?

“I thought you were a considerate woman and that you could keep me company for a long time, but now it seems you won’t be able to stay in this palace for long unless you restrain yourself. You should go back to your house and introspect about your mistakes.”

Zhao Ling’er’s eyes rounded. It had never crossed her mind that things would come to this. However, before she could say anything to justify herself, Ada instructed someone to bring Zhao Ling’er back to her dwelling place where she would be under constant watch.

After seeing what had happened, Fang Rui was not inclined to linger and took her leave immediately. When all of them were gone, Du Chuxuan lazily stretched his arms. “I thought there was going to be a good show so I had you stay, but it turns out to be a mere farce.”

“This is no laughing matter, Your Highness. This medicine is really rare. I don’t think the Zhao Family can get something like this.” Luo Qing had not left yet, and he could not help but make a response.

Yuxing Tianrui had thought that the powder was insignificant. After hearing those words, he said with a frown, “You’ve never seen this powder before?”

After learning that Luo Qing had talent for medicine, Sect Luo had spent a large sum of money to knock him into shape, hoping that he would become a miracle-working physician who was absolutely loyal to Yuxing Tianrui. Naturally, they had offered Luo Qing almost everything related to prescription or medicine.

It could be said that there were hardly any medications that Luo Qing had never seen. Considering that Luo Qing was so convinced of it, the Zhao Family definitely had some other conspiracies.

“Your Highness, I was telling the truth just now. This powder contains virulent substances from the western region. But both drug and poison, because of their efficacy, have their respective catalysts and banes. And there are at least seven kinds of poison in this powder. It would become a deadly poison if used incorrectly.”

Luo Qing’s face was grave. As Zhao Ling’er had taken out such powder as if it were a common drug, the intrigues behind this matter struck them as quite upsetting.