Chapter 296 - Detoxification and the Poisoner (2/2)

Ling Zhang nodded, finding that the whole place was very quiet and there weren’t even any footsteps. “How’s everything going in the compound? The situation is a little complicated. Make sure all the servants keep their mouth shut about what’s going on here. And, tell them to stay calm.”

Xia Feng said, “I understand. I’ve already given every one of them a kick up the backside. The Marshal’s bodyguards are in charge of the procurement for the moment. All servants are forbidden to go outside.”

“Yue Qi is helping deal with the matters in this compound, and all servants are under constant watch, so there’s no need for you to worry. As regards my being poisoned, people inside this compound are the only ones aware of it. No outsiders would find out.” Yuwen Tong walked out, fully dressed.

“Marshal.” Xia Feng paid his respects. As Yuwen Tong had walked out, he took his leave and went to the dining room to supervise the servants serving breakfast.

Ling Zhang returned to his room to get dressed, washed and then went to the dining room with Yuwen Tong. When they had taken seats, Ling Zhang dismissed the servants.

“Do you know who sent the a.s.sa.s.sins?” asked Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong said, “The Sixth Prince and his remaining minions. The Concubine Shu and the Concubine De also played a part in it.”

Ling Zhang frowned. “The Sixth Prince has been under house arrest, and all the forces at his command have been brought down. The Concubine De and the Concubine Shu have been sent to the cold palace (a palace where an emperor installs members of the imperial family who do something wrong). How did they manage to get in touch with an a.s.sa.s.sin group outside the palace? And since when did the Concubine De and the Concubine Shu become allies?”

Questions exploded inside Ling Zhang’s head. The Concubine Shu was the Sixth Prince’s mother, and the Concubine De was the King Hui’s and the Ninth Princess’ mother. Both of these two women were in the cold palace, but they actually still had the power to have so many a.s.sa.s.sins do their bidding?

Yuwen Tong explained, “It was the surviving members of the Concubine Shu’s and the Concubine De’s families who contacted the a.s.sa.s.sins, all of whom are Jianghu kung fu experts paid handsomely. The King Hui and the Ninth Princess are dead. As almost all members of the Concubine De’s family were executed after the failure of the King Hui’s attempt to usurp the throne, this time the Concubine De mainly utilized her connections in the palace and pitched in with money. The Sixth Prince and the surviving members of the Concubine Shu’s family were responsible for hiring a.s.sa.s.sins from outside the palace.”

Ling Zhang felt that something was not quite right. Given that the King Hui had died because of his attempted usurpation, if the Concubine De harbored hatred towards anybody, it should be those who had brought her son down. The Ninth Princess’ death was the only plausible explanation, but shouldn’t she hate him more than she did Yuwen Tong for that? And then there was also the Sixth Prince. If he were the Sixth Prince and really had some men at his command, he would do his best to lay low, slowly gather strength, figure out a way to free himself from house arrest, return to the imperial court, gain a foothold, and then settle the old score with Yuwen Tong who had dealt a heavy blow to him during the affair of Tanyang previously. Why had he gone all out, risking exposing himself, just to kill Yuwen Tong? Were the Sixth Prince and the Concubine Shu insane? Had they lost all their sense of perspective?

Ling Zhang expressed his suspicions. Yuwen Tong sneered coldly, “All the Concubine De’s children are dead, and so are all members of her family, so her hatred for me is purer, and I’m not surprised that she wants me dead. As regards the Sixth Prince and the Concubine Shu… naturally it was because someone promised them something better, something that would spare them many years’ house arrest and allow them to instantly regain their former status.”

“Who did that?” Ling Zhang knitted his brows.

Yuwen Tong looked at him. Beneath his gaze, Ling Zhang gradually came to realize that the emperor was the only one with the authority to set the Sixth Prince free.

“Within merely a couple of days following my returning to the capital city, the Crown Prince sent me two invitations, both of which I rejected. The rare poison named ‘Mrs. Pistil’ hadn’t appeared in Jianghu for a very long time. If it could still be found anywhere, it would be the imperial palace.”

Eyes glinting coldly, Ling Zhang heavily smacked his fist onto the table. “They failed to do it overtly, so they decided to do it covertly, trying to dispose of you with a third party! Even if the whole thing is brought to light, they could just scapegoat the Sixth Prince and the Concubine Shu both of whom have some time ago been regarded as disposable p.a.w.ns that have served their purpose, and the culprits wouldn’t suffer any losses whatsoever!”

So many things had happened recently: resignation of a top-ranking courtier, the rebellion in Cangzhou, to name but two, and yet the emperor and the Crown Prince were still plotting to eliminate Yuwen Tong. It was so unfortunate of the Great Yue to have a ruler and a crown prince like them!

“Since they have so much leisure, I’ll find them some work to do,” said Yuwen Tong with a frosty expression in his eyes.

“What do you plan to do?” Ling Zhang looked at him.

“Do unto them what they did unto me, of course,” replied Yuwen Tong matter-of-factly.

“Marshal, someone from the palace delivered a message here!”

The two of them were eating and talking when Yao Yi walked inside and reported that a eunuch from the imperial palace brought a verbal instruction from the emperor, saying that Yuwen Tong was to go to the imperial palace to attend a banquet tonight.

Ling Zhang slightly furrowed his brows. “It seems that the emperor is intervening personally after the Crown Prince’s plan to nose out your physical condition failed.”

There was no doubt that the palace banquet Yuwen Tong was attending tonight would be full of traps. The whole thing was just a conspiracy.

“I’ll go with you,” said Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong slightly shook his head. “No. We don’t know any details of their scheme. It’s too dangerous. If anything happens to you, it would be the most deadly blow on me.”

“But–”

“Be a peach and stay here waiting for me to come back.”

After a few moments’ silence, Ling Zhang said, “Then you need to bring enough guards with you. Take Xie s.h.i.+.”

“I will,” responded Yuwen Tong, though he knew that his guards definitely wouldn’t be allowed to enter the banquet hall, that he’d have to play it by ear.

After giving it some thought, Ling Zhang said, “The poison named ‘Mrs. Pistil’ takes effect almost immediately once it’s activated, but they’ve never heard any news of you showing any toxicities. You should try and antic.i.p.ate how they’re going to sound you out when they see you appear at the palace tonight without any symptoms of poisoning, so that you could take some precautions.”

Yuwen Tong said, “Since their intention is to nose out the truth, they’ll definitely observe me first and then speculate about my physical condition. It’s most likely that they will believe I haven’t detoxified the concealment poison yet, which is why I’m not showing any symptoms of ‘Mrs. Pistil’, and then they’ll try to detoxicate the concealment poison to activate it.”

“What if they find out there’s no poison inside your body at all?”

“Then we’ll see whether or not they have the b.a.l.l.s to directly try to poison me at the banquet.”

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