Volume 3, Chapter 300 – Creating an Opportunity for You

Bu Lianshuang’s outburst drew every eye in the room.

Lu Zhuxin held the cup aloft and smiled. “What is it, Shuang’er?”

“My lady,” Bu Lianshuang said in a low voice, “would you allow me to examine this cup first?”

“Why?”

“I am your personal attendant. Anything that passes your lips should be checked by me first.”

At those words, the breath caught slightly among the young men around Chi Zhong.

Chi Zhong’s plan depended on getting the poison into Chi Muxue. If this maidservant actually found something in the wine, it was all over.

One of the young men stepped forward immediately. “Miss Shuang’er, are you suggesting there’s something wrong with the Chi family’s own wine?”

Bu Lianshuang ignored them. She looked quietly at Lu Zhuxin.

Within the Chi family, she answered to one person only.

Lu Zhuxin didn’t agree right away. She swirled the wine gently in the cup, let her gaze drift over the young men around her, and gave a mischievous smile.

“What Shuang’er means is that she suspects the wine’s been poisoned, doesn’t she?”

The group’s expressions shifted.

One of the young men couldn’t hold himself back. “Miss Muxue, Brother Chi Zhong’s apology is sincere. If you have a problem with it, just say so. Why go this far to humiliate someone?”

“Exactly! Miss Muxue, doing this is like trampling Brother Chi Zhong’s genuine intentions into the dirt!”

“Miss Muxue, even if you are the main line’s young lady, you shouldn’t treat branch family members this way.”

The young men were growing agitated.

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“My lady.” Bu Lianshuang sent a voice transmission to Lu Zhuxin. “These people have bad intentions. When someone fawns for no reason, there’s always an angle.”

“Everyone, please.” Chi Zhong stepped forward on unsteady feet to smooth things over. “I don’t think Miss Shuang’er meant it that way… She is the Second Young Lady’s personal attendant. Being cautious is only natural.”

“If Miss Shuang’er isn’t satisfied, she is welcome to check however she likes.”

He reached over and pulled at the sleeve of the young man who had spoken up for him, sending a quiet transmission: “Let the woman check. She won’t find anything.”

“And it’ll be even better if she ends up drinking some.”

The young man relaxed and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

On the other side, Lu Zhuxin’s lips curved slightly. She held out the cup to Bu Lianshuang.

“Go ahead and check, Shuang’er. Can’t have people saying I’m being difficult again.”

Bu Lianshuang took the cup in silence and raised it to her nose.

Her fine brows knitted together.

The wolf clan’s sense of smell was formidable. They could detect things most others couldn’t. But from this wine, all she could pick up was the scent of alcohol and spirit herbs.

The Chi family’s wine was brewed from spirit fruits and medicinal herbs, rich with spiritual energy. As a Wolf Clan princess, Bu Lianshuang was no stranger to medicinal plants. The spirit herbs she detected carried no trace of poison.

Had she been wrong?

Her brow furrowed deeper.

“My lady, may I drink a small amount to be sure?”

Lu Zhuxin gave a small wave of her hand. “Do as you like.”

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One of the spectating young men couldn’t resist a pointed remark. “Miss Shuang’er, you may drink it, but if nothing happens to you, then doesn’t that prove Brother Chi Zhong’s wine is perfectly fine?”

Bu Lianshuang didn’t respond to him. She brought the cup to her lips and took a small sip.

The moment the spirit wine touched her throat, its spiritual energy bloomed outward. Bu Lianshuang immediately wrapped it in her demonic power, containing the liquid and slowly breaking it down to analyze its components.

If there was any poison in the wine, she would detect it immediately and hold it in check.

In the harsh conditions of the Far Northern Ice Plains, the wolf clan had long developed methods for dealing with toxins.

Lu Zhuxin knew exactly what Bu Lianshuang was doing, and she made no move to stop her.

Bu Lianshuang was sharp, but she had been led astray by the shape of her own suspicion.

Chi Zhong was indeed up to no good. But he wasn’t foolish enough to hand Lu Zhuxin a visibly poisoned cup in front of an entire room of witnesses. If something happened to Lu Zhuxin after drinking it, he would be the first person anyone suspected.

So the wine itself was clean.

It only contained something a little extra. Something a cultivator would look straight past, something that caused no real harm to the body on its own.

Chi Zhong’s role was simply to pass the baton. He had never intended to do the actual poisoning himself.

After a moment, Bu Lianshuang’s brow remained creased as she returned the cup to Lu Zhuxin. “My lady, there’s nothing wrong with the wine.”

“Ha! Now then, Miss Shuang’er, can you acknowledge that Brother Chi Zhong’s apology is genuine? That he meant no ill will toward Miss Muxue?”

Bu Lianshuang’s face stayed cold.

Even with no poison detected, her suspicion hadn’t lessened in the slightest. These people were up to something, it just wasn’t in the wine. It was somewhere else. Somewhere she hadn’t found yet.

“Young Master Chi Zhong.” Lu Zhuxin raised the cup. “I’ve seen your sincerity. Since the matter before was all a misunderstanding, I forgive you.”

“We’re all part of the Chi family. Drink this cup with me, and let whatever was between us be written off entirely.”

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With that, Lu Zhuxin drained the wine in one go.

“Miss Muxue is so gracious!”

The young men around her added their praises.

The tension from before seemed to dissolve with that single cup. The group pressed in around Lu Zhuxin at the center, the mood warm and cheerful.

Only Bu Lianshuang remained unmoved, watching the young men with cold, steady eyes.

Protecting the fox lady was her responsibility, and their calculated closeness sat uneasily with her.

Then, quietly, Lu Zhuxin reached over and took Bu Lianshuang’s hand, and sent a voice transmission directly to her.

“Your Highness. I need you to do something for me right now.”

Bu Lianshuang’s attention sharpened at once. In all the time she had followed the fox lady, this was the first time she had ever made a request this serious.

Lu Zhuxin continued. “Before, someone in Qin Qingfen’s employ launched a hidden attack against me. I’ve since located their hiding place within the Chi residence.”

“With the engagement banquet tonight, all of the Chi family’s guards are concentrated in the front hall. This is the best opportunity.”

“Go flush them out for me.”

“You don’t need to fight them. Just draw them out, the Chi family’s own guards will deal with them once they’re in the open.”

Bu Lianshuang’s expression grew serious.

When Lu Zhuxin finished the transmission, she swayed slightly on her feet and leaned against Bu Lianshuang’s shoulder.

“Shuang’er… I think I can’t handle wine very well. My head feels a little dizzy.”

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Across the room, Chi Zhong saw it and understood. The additive in the wine was taking effect.

There was no poison in that wine. Only a few ordinary herbs that accelerated the rise of alcohol’s effects. For cultivators, they were completely useless.

But for an ordinary person with no cultivation, they would send the alcohol rushing to the head faster than usual.

It wouldn’t genuinely knock the girl out as she would stay conscious throughout. But the spinning head and general discomfort were unavoidable.

“It seems Miss Muxue really can’t hold her liquor,” Chi Zhong remarked. “Miss Shuang’er, should you take her back to rest?”

The idea was to move Chi Muxue away from the busy front hall, then find a reason to send her maidservant away. As long as Chi Muxue wasn’t in the front hall, others would carry out the actual poisoning on his behalf.

His last task would be to wait for the appointed time and find a way to bring people to the agreed location.

Neither the poisoning itself nor anything else would pass through his hands directly. Even the wine had been publicly cleared of any wrongdoing by Chi Muxue’s own attendant.

He was clean. Whatever happened, none of it could be traced back to him.

With that maidservant essentially helping his plan along, this had all gone almost too smoothly. It felt almost unreal.

“My lady, let me take you somewhere to rest,” Bu Lianshuang said.

“No!” Lu Zhuxin flushed pink with the wine, her cheeks prettily red. “I still want to stay and see Sister Xiyan’s engagement ceremony!”

“Then what do we do?” Bu Lianshuang’s expression showed a faint trace of helplessness.

Lu Zhuxin rubbed her head. “I’m just a little dizzy. Would you go find me something for the alcohol?”

Bu Lianshuang understood immediately.

The fox lady was creating an opportunity for her to slip away alone.