Chapter 162 Acting

Ji Yuntang swayed, and before she could catch herself, the pill slipped from her hand and rolled to the ground.

Imperial Physician Zhu’s eyes lit up right away.

He lunged, snatched the pill from the ground, and shoved it into his mouth.

It stank and made him want to puke. Even though he knew it was poisoned, he forced himself to swallow it.

A flicker of triumph flashed through Ji Yuntang’s eyes, then disappeared. She then looked at him with displeasure.

“What do you think you’re doing, Imperial Physician Zhu?”

“If you want to eat shit, you only need to tell this Princess. My Western Courtyard has dog shit, duck shit, and bird shit—I guarantee you’ll have plenty. Why would you need to snatch it?”

Hearing the mockery in Ji Yuntang’s words, Imperial Physician Zhu wasn’t angered. Instead, he felt quite clever.

With the evidence gone, what could she still use to report him to the authorities?

Ji Yuntang only knew the pill was made of shit; she didn’t know poison had been added.

And Consort Li had repeatedly urged him, before he left, not to leave any loose ends. He certainly didn’t dare gamble on such uncertainties.

“Princess Ye is joking. That pill was dirty and unfit for Prince Ye to consume. I’ve taken it in his stead. I still have to go back to the palace and report to His Majesty. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave!”

Ji Yuntang said coldly, “Get lost!”

Imperial Physician Zhu scrammed away with his medicine box as fast as he could.

Chen Hu came up and asked, “Princess, he had bad intentions and tried to harm our Prince. Why not just kill him?”

Ji Yuntang walked to the pond, washed her hands, dried them on a handkerchief, and said calmly, “He’s an imperial official with powerful backers. If I killed him, it would bring trouble on Prince Ye’s Mansion.”

“He’s going to die, but he can’t die in Prince Ye’s Mansion. Let him reap what he sows by swallowing the poison he prepared himself.”

As she spoke, a cunning glint flashed in her eyes.

“Besides, if Imperial Physician Zhu dies, who’s going back to report to Consort Li?”

Ji Yuntang felt she had gained something today. At the very least, through this incident, she had confirmed who Imperial Physician Zhu was working for.

Consort Li!

She had just offended Consort Li, and right after that, Imperial Physician Zhu came knocking, blaming her over and over for giving away the Ice Stone Bed.

It was obvious they were in league.

Even though he knew damn well Luo Junhe’s condition couldn’t handle sleeping on the Ice Stone Bed, he still made grand claims, using the pretext of treatment to torment him.

When his plan to harm Luo Junhe failed, he swallowed the pill himself, resolutely refusing to leave any evidence.

That also confirmed Consort Li wanted Luo Junhe dead.

Hearing this, Chen Hu’s rugged face blazed with fury, and he began to curse.

“That woman is pure venom! Even a tiger won’t eat its own cubs. She’s our Prince’s birth mother, and she wants him dead. Is there a more vicious woman on earth?”

Ji Yuntang took a sip of tea, her expression calm and composed.

“There are plenty of vicious parents in the world. Not all parents love their children. People are called human because we have a precious emotion that animals don’t have. But some people don’t even deserve to be called human—because they have no heart.”

She was referring, of course, to the two from Yongning Marquis Manor.

Chen Hu understood the implication of her words. He scratched his head and said indignantly, “What the Princess says is right. Those without a heart—we don’t need them either.”

Ji Yuntang smiled. “Yes, we don’t need them.”

Wasn’t that just it?

She would prove on her own that leaving the manor would give her a better life than Ji Qingqing or her three brothers.

After finishing her tea, Ji Yuntang went back to her room and took out a clean set of clothes.

“A He, sorry you had to use fake blood for this act. Let me help you change out of those dirty clothes.”

The reason Luo Junhe spewed blood like crazy in front of Imperial Physician Zhu today was that he had a pouch of fake blood hidden in his mouth.

All he had to do was bite it open, and blood would gush out.

His face had been made up by Ji Yuntang with a sickly pallor and something that looked like rotten flesh, making him look genuinely terminally ill.

The purpose, naturally, was to make Imperial Physician Zhu think Luo Junhe was so sick he didn’t have long to live.

Now it seemed the plan had worked perfectly.

Luo Junhe smiled and nodded. “Alright, thanks for all your hard work, A Tang.”

Ji Yuntang cleaned Luo Junhe, changed him into fresh clothes, replaced his bedding and sheets, and had him brush his teeth and rinse his mouth.

After finishing these tasks, she told Tao Zhi to take the dirty clothes and wash them.

Luo Junhe watched the young woman bustling around for him, his heart overflowing with love.

Seeing it with his own eyes was different from what he had imagined in his mind.

He felt a profound sense of satisfaction and joy.

*

Meanwhile, at Weiyang Palace.

Imperial Physician Zhu had rushed straight to the palace after leaving Prince Ye’s Mansion.

He found Consort Li and reported the entire incident, embellishing it with some fabricated details.

“Consort Li, this official, acting on your orders, deliberately avoided Princess Ye. But just as I was about to feed Prince Ye the poison, she burst in, snatched the pill, and forced it down my throat, threatening to kill me if I didn’t swallow it.”

“This official had no choice but to swallow that pill.”

Consort Li couldn’t give a damn about what Imperial Physician Zhu went through. All she cared about was that Luo Junhe hadn’t taken the pill.

Her face darkened. “So you failed?”

Imperial Physician Zhu nodded in shame. “Yes. That Princess Ye is way too arrogant. She showed me no respect at all.”

Consort Li clenched her fists and asked coldly, “Does she know I sent you?”

When she asked this question, Consort Li visibly became nervous.

Anything she could think of, Ji Yuntang would also be able to think of.

If she found out that Imperial Physician Zhu was her man, she might suspect Luo Junhe's illness, and therefore suspect his identity.

"I don't know about that, Your Highness. I told Princess Ye that I was sent by the Emperor to Prince Ye's mansion to treat Prince Ye, and did not reveal Your Highness's involvement."

Consort Li breathed a slight sigh of relief.

She toyed with the golden fingernail guards on her hands—these had been sent to her by Emperor Jingyang last night, along with two cases of jewelry and accessories.

Consort Li picked out a few pieces and adorned herself with them. At this moment, she appeared resplendent in jewels, extremely regal—no trace of the sickly look from last night.

"Since you failed in your task, at least you should have taken his pulse and determined Prince Ye's condition. How is he now?"

This topic invigorated Imperial Physician Zhu, and he launched into an animated description of what he had seen of Luo Junhe that day.

"Reporting to Consort Li, Prince Ye's pulse was weak, indicative of a death pulse. He is now critically ill, completely lifeless, and on top of that, he keeps spewing blood from his mouth."

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