Chapter 42: There is more to her than meets the eye. (2/2)
”I am always right”
Su Liya rolled her eyes ”oh be humble Fengyin”. Zhu Fengyin smiled and rested her head on Su Liya's Shoulder. While Su Liya understood that the sixth Prince must have gotten Zhongshan Zuo drunk. She was bothered by a few things, after thing for some time, everything finally clicked.
”But... Fengyin isn't it a little suspicious that the Fifth Prince would get drunk during a major state event like this”.
”How do you mean”.
”Even if the fifth Prince was an alcoholic, I don't think he would get drunk knowingly during a state banquet”
”Do you mean to imply that he was drugged”
”Yes!, Well at least not knowingly”
”How do you mean”.
”While I went out to call the carriage around, I overheard two palace maids talking in hushed tones about the fifth Prince meeting with an imperial physician frequently. I didn't find that suspicious until now, I don't know if you are aware but a few drugs when mixed with alcohol can make a person high”.
”It has been established that the sixth Prince drugged the fifth Prince, how does that have to do with an imperial physician paying a lot of visits to the fifth Prince palace”
”Everything Fengyin. What if the Sixth Prince never drugged him directly?. What if it was the fifth Prince that took the drugs? The fifth Prince frequents a few gambling dens in the capital, gambling dens that are popular for selling drugs. He could be a drug addict, the sixth Prince may have gotten access to his starch by bribing his supplier which is the imperial physician to twerk the dosage”
”.....” Zhu Fengyin wanted to dismiss Su Liya's claims but for some reason, she just couldn't. 'Even if what you said was true, how would an imperial physician have access to drugs?”.
”From the Shi family of course”
”What!!” Zhu Fengyin looked at her eyes wide.
”Fengyin the Shi family has an exclusive right of importing drugs. Imperial consort Shi is a highly favoured consort, the Shi clan and the Emperor are in league with each other. If they wanted to do some business on the side, no one will be the wiser.
”Although Opium is an addictive drug, it is still imported into the country and since it is used as a pain reliever in special cases. The Shi could import a few and sell them to the masses for money”
”If what you said is true such a piece of news would cripple the Shi family. I r that we should investigate this before letting anyone know”
”Okay,” Su Liya nodded. Meanwhile, in her mind, she rejoiced for successfully drawing Zhu Fengyin's attention to the Shi family's bright job. Su Liya had done this to prevent the Shi family from using this against Lu Yaozhu.
In the book, the Shi family drugged Lu Yaozhu with opium after he got injured on the battlefield and got him addicted to the drug. The military doctor had convinced Lu Yaozhu that he was only giving him one because of the pain.
When Lu Yaozhu became addicted to opium, the Shi family reported it to the court. As punishment, the Emperor took away the Lu family's military tally, which marked the fall of the Lu family. Su Liya was drawing Zhu Fengyin's attention to this to prevent that from happening in the future.