After the emperor read her mind, the salted fish concubine effortlessly won the title of empress.

Chapter 127 Poisoning

"You've arrived!" Lin Guiyou was dazzled by the hairpin in her hair. "The Emperor is really generous in rewarding you. This hairpin is hard to come by, isn't it? All the good things have ended up in your hands."

Shen Shixi adjusted her hairpin. "What can I do? I'm the favored concubine! Tell me, what do you want?"

Lin Guiyou pushed the package on the table. "These are the pelts from the two black foxes my father hunted. I wouldn't have given them to you if you hadn't helped me. Do you want them?"

Shen Shixi naturally refused, not even glancing at it, "That's it?"

"Are you afraid I'll hurt you? Shen Shixi, don't you have a heart? Haven't I been good enough to you? Why do you always keep me at arm's length? Don't you trust anyone? Then why do you trust the Emperor?" Lin Guiyou was deeply hurt.

Shen Shixi squinted at her, "Lin Guiyou, what do you mean by this? You don't actually like me, do you?"

Lin Guiyou opened her mouth, but couldn't speak for a long time. Finally, she blurted out, "What's wrong with that? Why can't I like you?"

Shen Shixi was struck dumb, unable to believe it. "You dare to steal a woman from the Emperor?"

Lin Guiyou understood what she meant and jumped up in anger, "Shen Shixi, you're so despicable!"

"That's good. I could never like you. Just give up on me!" Shen Shixi said.

Lin Guiyou flew into a rage, picked up the black fox pelt, turned around, and left.

Take it or leave it!

Shen Shixi certainly didn't want it. Didn't she have enough leather in her warehouse? What would she do with it? What if something happened and she got hurt?

Why be greedy for such a small gain?

As for betraying Lin Guiyou's kindness, Shen Shixi felt no remorse whatsoever; she was simply not a very moral person to begin with.

Shen Shixi led a group of people to pick persimmons in the persimmon orchard. There weren't many persimmon trees to begin with, so they planted a few in the corner of the wall, and there weren't many left on the trees.

Shen Shixi observed, "Quite a few people have come to pick them. Luckily, we came today. If we had come any later, there probably wouldn't be any left. Chao En, take down these few at the bottom."

Chao En took a stick and started hitting them, while Bai Ping below caught the blows. They only hit a few before stopping, as they couldn't reach the taller ones.

Frozen persimmons are so sweet. Shen Shixi wiped the outside clean with a handkerchief, peeled off the skin, and sucked on it.

Bai Ping advised, "Your Highness, please go back and wash it clean before eating. It might be too dirty."

"They've all been frosted and snowed over, and they're hanging on the branches, so how dirty could they be? They're perfectly clean."

There's no pollution these days.

Compared to the fruits of later generations that are waxed, polished, and coated with medicine, how could fruits picked directly from the branch be dirty?

Shen Shixi took a sip; it tasted sweet.

Chao En said, "My lord, there are quite a few birds in this imperial garden, and these persimmons hanging on the branches haven't been eaten..."

Shen Shixi dropped the persimmon from her hand, followed by excruciating pain. Supporting herself on Bai Ping, she cried, "Quick, quick, summon the imperial physician! I'm dying!"

She turned her head, grabbed her throat, and vomited up everything she had eaten.

He vomited up jaundice fluid.

Everyone was terrified.

Chao En was so frightened he almost went mad. He called for the carriage to come over, said "I'm sorry," picked up Shen Shixi and put her on the carriage. "Quickly, go back to the palace. You go and invite Imperial Physician Jiang, and you go and invite the Emperor."

Shen Shixi was in so much pain that she was covered in cold sweat. She never dreamed that someone would put poison on a persimmon. The worst part was that the skin had already been peeled off, and she had only taken a sip, yet it had already caused this much poisoning.

The pain shot from her mouth to her throat and then to her stomach. Luckily, she vomited it out; otherwise, she would have surely died.

Whether he can be saved now depends on the imperial physician.

The Jiangling tour arrived quickly; the persimmons were still there, and the poison was still on them, applied to the skin and seeping in.

"Fortunately, Her Majesty reacted quickly and vomited rapidly. Although she was poisoned, the poison was mild and there was no serious injury..."

The word "碍" never got a chance to be spoken.

Shen Shixi glared at him, and Bai Ping said from the side, "Imperial Physician Jiang, Her Majesty is in great pain, she's almost dying."

Jiang Lingyou quickly changed the subject, saying, "Yes, Your Majesty, I will do my best to treat her. Whether Your Majesty can pull through depends on tonight..."

Li Yuanke strode in and heard this, and he was furious. He roared, "Are all the imperial physicians dead? If anything happens to Consort Yuan, I will make you all be buried alive with her!"

Jiang Lingyou's body went limp, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

He didn't want to die!

He's not married yet.

Li Yuanke sat on the edge of the bed. Shen Shixi looked at him and reached out to touch his face, but her arm seemed weak. She was indeed in pain and discomfort, but she had not yet reached the point of death.

Li Yuanke's eyes were bloodshot as he grasped her hand. "Xi'er, don't be afraid. I'm here. I won't let you die!"

【What's there to be afraid of? I'm not afraid at all! I'm not afraid of living, and I'm not afraid of dying either!】

"Li Yuanke, if I die, please cremate me and scatter my ashes in the great rivers, okay?"

Her voice was hoarse and weak, and her face was pale, making it seem as if she were giving her last words.

Pfft!

Everyone in the inner palace knelt down.

The sound of sobbing could be heard from Bai Ping and the others.

Outside, the Empress and others arrived. Hearing the commotion, their hearts sank. Consort Yuan had been poisoned!

They were all wailing!

"Shut up!" The emperor pulled her into his arms. "I forbid you to say such things, I forbid you to die. If you dare to die, I will seal you in Zhaoyang Palace, and when I die, you will be buried with me in the mausoleum!"

"No, I don't want to be buried underground."

[That bastard's gone mad! Putting me in Zhaoyang Palace, rats will come and gnaw on me at night, and lots of worms will grow on me! Ugh, it's disgusting! I don't want to! I want to be burned to ashes!]

"Don't even think about it! How could I... possibly grind you to dust? Xi'er, live!" he roared. "Imperial physicians, if you cannot cure her, I will exterminate your entire clan!"

Jiang Lingyou trembled. "Your Majesty, this poison is extracted from the juice of the Soul-Severing Grass. Its toxicity is extremely potent. Just one drop can kill an adult male. It is fatal upon contact with blood. We can only try our best."

The thing I regret most in my life is that I traveled to the capital with Shen Shixi. What a strange twist of fate!

I regretted my trip to Jiangling so much.

The emperor swayed.

"No matter the cost, I want you to heal her!" The emperor's face was ashen.

"yes!"

Shen Shixi rested her head on Li Yuanke's lap, feeling his rage. Anyway, it wouldn't affect her. It was the women in the harem who deserved it. They actually came up with such a brilliant poisoning method. She admired them too.

Even Yixiu isn't this powerful!

Jiang Lingyou had given her acupuncture once, and after she drank a bowl of herbal medicine, Shen Shixi vomited again. After drinking another bowl of herbal medicine, she felt much better and was exhausted, so she fell into a deep sleep.

She didn't know how long she had slept, but when she woke up, she saw Li Yuanke staring intently at her.

Seeing that she was awake, he visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

He took her hand. "Xi'er!"

Shen Shixi wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him down, and kissed him on the cheek. Her voice was very hoarse. "I'm much better. You can go ahead and do your work. I'm fine now."

Let him experience the feeling of something lost and then regained; even if you're being harassed, you should know when to stop.

If you're usually difficult, being well-behaved at times like this will touch a man's heart even more.

A bad person who does bad things year after year, but occasionally does a good thing, will be appreciated by everyone; a good person who does good things year after year, but occasionally does a bad thing, will be condemned by all.

Li Yuanke felt very uncomfortable. He leaned down to kiss her lips, but she turned away and avoided him.

This made him feel that she was afraid her lips were poisoned and that she would poison him.

"Go away, I'm sleepy and want to sleep."

"I'll stay with you!"

It was still bright outside, and Shen Shixi nudged him, not wanting him to stay with her.

The key issue is that he's keeping an eye on her, making it a little difficult for her to fall asleep.

Not having much strength left, he closed his eyes again.

After Li Yuanke finished sleeping, he checked her breathing and found she was fine.

Jiangling You said, "Your Majesty, this poison is very potent. Fortunately, the Empress did not eat much and was able to induce vomiting in time, which is why she has been able to save her life temporarily. If there are no relapses tonight, she will be out of danger."

In fact, after taking the medicine, Consort Yuan's health was no longer a problem.

But Jiangling You was forced to lie and deceive the emperor.

As for Zhang Yuanpan and others, the imperial physicians always exaggerate minor cases into major ones, and if it's a minor case, they say it's life-threatening.

If you say the Empress is fine, but something happens, won't the imperial physician end up taking the blame?

Therefore, when Jiang Lingyou said this, the imperial physicians all understood and echoed his sentiments, saying that the Empress's survival was a stroke of luck, thanks to the Emperor's blessings, and so on.

The emperor's heart was in his throat.

Bai Ping knelt on the ground, crying, "Your Majesty, you must do justice for my mistress! Who would have thought that someone would poison the persimmons on the tree? Fortunately, Chao En said something about why the birds hadn't eaten them, and the mistress quickly induced vomiting. Otherwise, I'm afraid..."

That's the truth. If he hadn't spat out that first bite, and had eaten another, even a celestial being couldn't have saved him.

Chao En also said, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid someone already knew that the Empress was going to pick persimmons. When the Empress took us there today, there were only a few persimmons left on those trees. At the time, we thought it was because too many people were picking them."

Looking back now, I'm afraid I was tricked.

They deliberately left a few, and smeared them all with poison.

"Take good care of her!" Li Yuanke stood up angrily.

Once outside, the Empress and the others were getting impatient.

Quite a few people came, including Consort De. This matter is really too important. If they hadn't come, what if they had been suspected?

"How is your master?" Seeing the emperor's dark face, the empress didn't dare to ask and could only ask Bai Ping instead.

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty the Empress and all the masters. My lady's life is not in danger for the time being," Bai Ping said, bowing.

These people all wish their master were dead, but he's unharmed, which infuriates you.

Anyway, as long as the emperor knows it's very dangerous, that's fine.

The Empress also breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't been feeling well today either, and was currently experiencing dizziness, nausea, and general weakness. She couldn't help but say, "Your mistress is really something. She wanted to eat persimmons, so instead of having the Imperial Household Department send them over, she insisted on picking them herself..."

boom!

Before she could finish speaking, Li Yuanke kicked over a Han Dynasty gilded Boshan incense burner, his gaze turning cold as he looked at the Empress.

Consort De didn't let this opportunity slip by. "Your Majesty the Empress is absolutely right! Can't Consort Yuan even pick a persimmon from a tree to eat? Today the persimmons are poisonous, but tomorrow, who knows which flower, which tree, might be poisoned? How can anyone live in this palace then?"

Before the Empress could react, Li Yuanke was already furious. "What kind of Empress are you? Is there ever a day of peace in my harem?"

"Your Majesty, I am guilty! Please calm your anger!" The Empress knelt down, and everyone else followed suit.

Everyone was trembling like quails.

Li Yuanke's gaze swept over everyone. "Whether you're scheming and plotting in the harem, or scheming for your offspring, or even for your own lives, I can't be bothered to care."

However, everything has its limits. You have crossed my bottom line and given me leverage over you, so I will not tolerate you! You may risk your lives, but you had better think about your extended family outside the palace; there are always one or two people you care about!

Everyone bowed their heads deeply.

"Summon Cen Yin, conduct a thorough investigation!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lady Song cried out, "Your Majesty, I suspect it is my sister. She has always hated Consort Yuan to the bone. A few days ago, I saw her talking to someone in a room for a long time. I didn't dare to go near her, but I heard something about poisoning, but I couldn't hear clearly."

Cen Yinlai took Xiao Songshi away, along with Bai Ping and Chao En. Li Yuanke dismissed all the concubines.

But he didn't leave; instead, he had someone send the memorial to Zhaoyang Palace for approval.

As evening approached, Shen Shixi woke up and saw Li Yuange standing by her bedside. She asked for water, and Li Yuange had someone make her some rose syrup. "How are you feeling?"

Shen Shixi leaned against him, her face pale, and she didn't say a word.

Firstly, it was indeed painful, and secondly, her life was hanging by a thread, so she had to put on a convincing act.

She didn't even ask who wanted to harm her; it was probably someone from the harem.

"Li Yuanke, am I going to die?"

Li Yuanke buried his face in her shoulder, took a few deep breaths, and said in a muffled voice, "No, I won't let you die."

"If I die..."

Before she could finish speaking, Li Yuanke silenced her with a kiss, saying, "I won't let you die!"

Stop talking about burning to ashes!

Shen Shixi turned away, closed her eyes, and thought, "I can't eat. Ugh, so annoying. I'll just sleep for a while."

【I won't die! Even if you die, I won't. After you're gone, I'll find seventeen or eighteen male lovers and have fun with you every day, just to make you angry enough to come back to life!】

Li Yuanke held her, so angry that he vomited blood, and had an urge to smash her to death.

But she was so limp, like a noodle, that he felt more sorry for her.

Lan Ying came to report that Cen Yin had arrived and had something to report.

"Let him in."

With a screen separating them, Cen Yin didn't dare to look up. He simply reported, "Your Majesty, the one who poisoned the persimmons was a palace maid named Huanzhu. She used to work in Consort Shu's palace. She confessed that she didn't forget her former mistress's kindness and wanted to fulfill her wish."

She is currently serving under Consort Song. A poison called "Soul-Severing Powder" was found in her cabinet. When I obtained her, she endured severe torture but still failed to confess to the mastermind. Consort Song also refused to admit it.

His so-called wish was to kill his younger sister, Shen Shixi.

"The two Song families, elder and younger, are vicious and wicked, plotting to murder a palace concubine. They are to be executed! The palace maid is to be beaten to death and her entire family is to be exterminated. Those who serve closely to the emperor are to be beaten to death and their entire families exterminated if they refuse to confess. If they do confess, they are to be beaten to death and their bodies are spared. Summon Song Piyang to see me!"

Li Yuanke gently patted Shen Shixi's back.

(This chapter is over 4,000 words, combined into one chapter. That's all for today! I'll continue tomorrow! (๑′ᴗ‵๑) Ⅰ Lᵒᵛᵉᵧₒᵤ❤)