Chapter 706: Seriously Injured (1/2)
Zhu Junyang turned around to look at the patriarch of the Chen Family, who was standing at the threshold, smiling. He sneered and said, “Even the most well thought out plans will have their holes. We only didn't find what’s wrong here!”
Zhu Junyang was willing to bet everything he owned that there was something off about the Chen Family’s patriarch. With his ability to read people’s minds, he only saw a blank white space in the other man’s head. This man either had a natural gift or had been carefully trained by someone else. Ordinary people would always have something appear in their heads when they were talking to others. Thus, it was likely that the latter was true for this man!
Hou Xiaoliang felt his spirits lift at the sign of a breakthrough. He asked excitedly, “Master, does the Chen Family really have something fishy?”
“The patriarch of the Chen Family is not a simple man!” Zhu Junyang mounted his horse in an easy movement and followed the officers as they headed down the road. He coldly commanded, “Ming Xin, Ming Ding, keep an eye on them!’
“Yes!” Two voices could be heard from the street in the area where there were the most people. immediately, a pair of beyond ordinary men disappeared into the crowd.
The Chen Family absolutely had something going on in order to have his master say that they were ‘not simple’. Hou Xiaoliang wanted to cry with joy. They finally had a clue of where his mistress and his Wutong had gone. Wutong, just wait, this older brother will save you soon!
However, for the next few days, the news from Ming Ding and the others only told them that nothing of note had occurred at the Chen Family’s residence. If it weren’t for the fact that this involved his own wife, Zhu Junyang would have praised them for having nerves of steel!
Five days had passed and they still had no leads. Hou Xiaoliang was so frantic that he was running around in circles, “Master, since there’s something wrong with the Chen Family, isn’t it better to make a show of force and take the patriarch out? With Chief Steward Su’s abilities, I’m sure he’d be able to crack that nut!!”
“No! Currently, no news is good news. This means that they need something from my princess consort. Otherwise, I’m sure they would have leaked something regarding her in order to make a nice trap for us to fall in!” Zhu Junyang frowned heavily. The only thing that his lass had that other people might covet was her medicine concocting skills. Was it possible that these people had heard the rumors that he was looking for materials to a life prolonging pill? That was also good as it meant that the lass was at least safe for now.
The thick smell of medicinal ingredients wafted around the secret underground room in the Chen Family’s warehouse. Eunuch Yuan watched as the rare and valuable medicinal ingredients were placed into the medicinal stove one after another. They slowly dissolved into a thick medicinal extract that looked incredibly astounding. A strange, eerie smile appeared slowly on his pale face. The reason why it looked odd was because it looked like someone had drawn the caricature of a smile on a stiff mask as it didn’t have any true emotion to it.
Time had passed and they were getting closer and closer to the forty-nine day mark. Xiaocao and her servants had worked until their eyes turned red and all of them had become markedly thinner. They looked incredibly sallow and wane. In order to reach his goal of obtaining twenty more years, Eunuch Yuan naturally wouldn’t treat them poorly.
However, concocting pills, especially the ones from the recipes that the little divine stone had given her, was not that easy. In the past, when she made pills, she had the little divine stone next to her, helping her to control the flame. Thus, Xiaocao had a much easier time. Only once it left her side did Xiaocao realize just how much she relied on it.
This time, Xiaocao needed to do everything personally by herself, especially the most important part of controlling the heat. Even Wutong’s and Chunhua’s help wasn’t enough to make her confident. Forty days had gone by as she worked tirelessly day and night. They could only sleep a few hours every day, so it’d be more surprising if they hadn’t become run down!
When the sweet medicinal fragrance came out of the stove, Xiaocao extinguished the fire under the stove and tottered over, swaying with each step. She opened up the medicinal stove and retrieved three sparkling white pills that resembled luminescent balls of jade. The pills glittered under the wan light like jewels and their unique smell filled the entire underground room. The fatigue from working overtime for many days seemed to have dissipated as soon as the three of them smelled the pills.
“Are...are these the Prolonging Life Pills? You truly succeeded in concocting them?!” Eunuch Yuan became gleeful and rushed over. He snatched the three pills into his hands and stared at them as if they were the most precious treasures in the world. He gazed at them carefully…
Suddenly, he held his own throat and his eyes bugged out so much that they almost fell out of his head. He glared malevolently at Xiaocao and managed to snarl out, “You bitch!! You actually dare to poison me!”
Yu Xiaocao lightly brushed some dust off of herself as she faintly smiled, “Nothing much. I just made an interesting medicine from the remnant ingredients that were lying around in my spare time.”
Fortunately, in order to keep this secret, Eunuch Yuan had sent all of his subordinates out of the secret room. Other than Xiaocao and her two servants, there was no one else in the medicine concocting room. Earlier, when he had snatched the pills from her, he brushed past Xiaocao’s hand and that was when she set the poison on him.
Yu Xiaocao slowly walked over and retrieved the three Prolonging Life Pills from his hand while she looked at his furious face. She sneered and said, “Eunuch Yuan, you’re such an ambitious person with a disregard for other people’s lives. Someone like you isn’t fit to spend more time in this world. These Prolonging Life Pills should be given to more worthy people instead ah!”
“Pfffttt——” Before she could finish her thought, her body flew through the air and crashed into the rock-hard wall behind her. A sickly sweet taste flooded her mouth and she expelled out blood that had come up from her chest.
“Young Miss!”
“Your Highness!!”
Wutong and Chunhua both ran towards their mistress, who was lying on the ground like a limp rag doll. Tears streamed down their faces as they supported her up and slowly walked her over to where Eunuch Yuan was standing.