Baoqin stood in front of Fu Zhen, barely keeping her composure but speaking at a rapid pace. "The eldest prince has surrounded the Zichen Palace, catching everyone off guard. The second prince was in a hurry to go there, but was ambushed on the way. Now he's poisoned, and several antidotes have had no effect. That's why there's no other way but to send me out of the palace quickly to find the second young lady."
Saying this, she knelt on the ground and kowtowed deeply to Fu Zhen. "Please, second young lady, save the second prince's life!"
"What are you doing?" Fu Zhen quickly helped her up. "If the second prince is in trouble, the Marquis's Mansion will surely offer help."
She turned to look at Lady Bai. Lady Bai looked calm and just nodded slightly. "Zhenzhen is right. The second prince has always been on good terms with the Marquis's Mansion. Now that he's in trouble, the mansion must lend a hand."
Fu Zhen was about to take Baoqin to get the antidote when suddenly there came a chaotic sound of footsteps outside, as if someone was shouting something.
"Madam, the Empress Dowager is here!"
Everyone present changed their expressions. Baoqin turned pale. "No good. The marquis is not in the capital. She might be here to invite madam into the palace as a hostage!"
Saying "invite" was being polite. If Lady Bai didn't comply later, they would surely resort to coercion and threats.
Fu Zhen exclaimed in shock, "Aunt!"
Lady Bai raised her hand to stop what she was about to say and made a prompt decision. "You go to Shaochuan's courtyard with Baoqin right away. There's a deserted gate in the west courtyard. Cuihuan will take Baoqin out of the mansion. You hide in Shaochuan's secret chamber and don't come out."
"Aunt!" Fu Zhen said anxiously. "How can I leave you alone? I'll stay and accompany you!"
The voices outside grew louder. It seemed that the Empress Dowager's entourage had already barged in.
"We can't waste any more time!" Lady Bai immediately gave Fu Zhen a push. "I'm not easily frightened. The situation is still uncertain. She, the Empress Dowager, won't dare to do anything to me."
"Be obedient and go quickly! Saving the second prince is the most important thing now. If he's gone, everything will be over!"
Tears suddenly welled up in Fu Zhen's eyes, but she also knew that Lady Bai was right. They couldn't waste any more time.
She had no choice but to take one last look at Lady Bai, then turn around tearfully and run quickly towards Baiqu Courtyard.
As soon as she left, the Empress Dowager kicked open the door.
Looking at Lady Bai sitting calmly on the main seat, she smiled. "Madam, I've come personally to invite you into the palace for a chat."
On the way, Fu Zhen didn't dare to light a lamp for fear of being discovered by the people in the front yard. She walked quickly and asked, "What are the symptoms of the prince's poisoning? Has a royal doctor been called to examine him?"
Baoqin immediately replied, "The situation was urgent at that time. The prince only sent me to find the young lady. There wasn't time to call a royal doctor for diagnosis. After the prince was poisoned, his face turned blue and purple, his lips were extremely pale, and he kept vomiting blood. The blood he vomited was black, so the poison must be very powerful."
"The prince took the antidote he carried with him, but it could only temporarily suppress the poison, and he still vomited blood..."
Fu Zhen quickly thought of several kinds of medicine in her mind, but she still couldn't be sure which one it was.
She pushed open the study, opened the secret chamber, and looked at the dense antidotes on it. Gritting her teeth, she took several kinds and stuffed them all into Baoqin. "I don't know much about medicine. I can only roughly guess several kinds of poison based on the symptoms. These bottles of medicine can all treat the symptoms you described, but which one to take specifically still has to be decided after Doctor Liu examines the prince!"
Baoqin quickly nodded. While carefully putting these medicines into her bosom, she said quickly, "The Empress Dowager has left the palace. It will probably take her a while to get to Concubine Rou's palace. I'll risk my life to invite Doctor Liu."
Fu Zhen thought of the worst - case scenario. Her eyes quickly scanned the secret chamber and finally landed on a black bottle.
Gritting her teeth, she took the bottle and stuffed it into Baoqin. "This is a poisonous gu worm. It's refined in the Miao village. It's extremely poisonous but also very domineering. It can suppress all poisons in the world. As a last resort, it can be used to fight poison with poison, which can still extend the prince's life. When the heir returns, he will surely find a way to save the second prince!"
Baoqin was speechless. She immediately knelt down with tears in her eyes and kowtowed loudly to Fu Zhen again. "Thank you, young lady, for your great kindness!"
Inside the Zichen Palace.
The old duke stared with wide eyes. "What did you say? What did you do to the second prince?!"
Xie Guang laughed wickedly. "I just gave him a bit of highly poisonous medicine. Judging by the time, he's probably half - dead by now."
Wei Yuan's eyes instantly turned red. "He's your own younger brother!"
"I don't have a younger brother!" Xie Guang immediately flung his sleeve and roared. "Mother only gave birth to me. He, a son of a low - born woman, doesn't deserve to be my brother!"
The old emperor trembled with anger. "Beast, beast!"
Xie Guang laughed a few times on his own. His laughter filled the whole palace.
He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and looked at the old duke leisurely. "Alright, choose quickly."
"If the old duke can't make a choice, then I'll make one for you," Xie Guang said leisurely. "I've heard that the old duke dotes on this son very much. I'm sure the taste of losing a son in middle age is not pleasant, right?"
Wei Yuan struggled on the ground with a flushed face. "If you have something to do, come at me!"
He had always been a shy young man. This was the most embarrassing moment in his life.
The old duke's hand in his sleeve trembled. He had gotten this son in middle age and had poured a lot of his efforts into him. If he watched Wei Yuan die in front of him, how could he live the rest of his life in peace?
"Since the eldest prince is determined to earn the reputation of persecuting loyal officials in front of the whole world, then come," he suddenly calmed down and looked at Xie Guang with a mocking smile. "I've been an official for half my life and have never been afraid of anyone. You, a young boy, can't threaten me!"
Xie Guang wasn't angry at the scolding. Instead, he showed a look of sudden realization. Then he looked at Wei Yuan and tilted his head to ask, "Heir Wei, your father wants to die for you. Do you want him to die?"
He never intended to let the father and son make a choice. He just wanted to play, to watch the father and son fight with each other for the chance to survive, to fight until they blushed and their faces were torn.
Only this would satisfy him.
Unfortunately, not all father - son relationships in the world are as fragile as his and the emperor's.
Wei Yuan sneered. "Stop talking nonsense. If you kill my father today, I'll surely seek revenge on you; if you kill me, my father won't let you off easily either! Do whatever you want!"
Xie Guang's face suddenly darkened. He laughed out of anger. "Good, good!"
"You ignorant fool. I'll kill you right now!"
Saying this, he raised the long sword in his hand and was about to stab it into Wei Yuan's heart.
The next second, the eldest princess somehow got up from the ground and rammed hard into Xie Guang!
Xie Guang was caught off guard and was staggered. But he reacted very quickly and struck back with his sword.
A flash of blood was seen. The skin on the eldest princess's back was split open, and a very long wound was cut. Blood spurted out like a fountain.
The old duke exclaimed, "Eldest princess!"
Xie Lingyun's forehead was instantly covered in cold sweat, but she gritted her teeth and swallowed the cry of pain. She looked up and smiled at the somewhat stunned Xie Guang. "I'm different from you."
"People like you will never deserve to succeed."