Chapter 27 - Info Hunt (1/2)

After a long while, Lei Xing said, ”Okay, I see...you should go rest.” Ah Jin bowed and left the room. Lei Xing frowned as she tried to process the information.

...So is this some sort of riddle or what -_-?)...or is he really just lamenting about his poop condition, I wouldn't put it past him...but let's give him the benefit of a doubt and believe that he is aware no one cares about his pooping...and I don't believe he is that crazy...so in that case, he has to be talking about the ring...so, poop...forget the poop! Focus on other aspects -_-)'...pooping process... 24-hour pooping process...okay, let's go with that...so...poop...

Lei Xing stared at the ring on her finger.

...So does it poop?... Wait, can inanimate objects even poop? Or is it alive? If it's alive that would be creepy...plants can be considered inanimate and are alive, and I'm pretty sure they somehow poop after eating, photosynthesis and crap... so let's look at it as a plant then...so did it eat sunlight? then it would have been pooping every day, right? That makes no sense -_-)'...could be acc.u.mulated poop, constipation?...-_-)...Fine, fine, it's not that...

...Ah, he did say it absorbed ”all” the poison in the world...so it eats poison? but it didn't touch anything poisono-...ah the tea! It spilled, right? some of it must have gotten on the ring, I guess...but just that tiny bit and it needs to ”poop”?...also is everything then poisonous to it for a whole 24 hours, isn't that too much?...what if I dropped it in a vat of poison, would it take a month to ”poop process” it?...or maybe the amount doesn't matter...either way, can't it multitask -_-?)'...haah, am I being too greedy?...

...Also, does it absorb in anything poisonous and then sort of ”evaporate” the non-toxic stuff...I'm not sure how that would work with solid stuff, but liquids...say I dropped it in a vat of poisoned tea, would it absorb in all the tea or would it just absorb the toxic bits, like a sort of um, what's the word, ahh...detoxifier!...yeah, that could be useful...how? I don't know you never know...I kind of want test it...yeah, but then it would be out of commission for 24 hours again, I could work around it...so how to get poison...I'm pretty sure anything can be poisonous to ingest, I can make my own...

Lei Xing got up and walked to her dresser and started opening the cosmetics on the table.

...These are probably not good to ingest, right?... Yeah, but I don't think they can kill you, a stomachache at most?... Let's try it...

She walked back to the pot of tea on the side and started pouring the powder, lip paint, blush and anything she found into the teapot and then shook it. Then looked at the ring and it showed no reaction.

...Not enough?...

Lei Xing looked around the room.

...There isn't much else to use here...

Lei Xing walked back to her dresser and rummaged through the drawers, and picked at a bunch of hairpins.

...Jade won't work right?...Ah, what about pearls? No, I'm pretty sure it'd just go down easily to poop...This ruby should work, so if I could break it to sharp pieces, it would be detrimental, shred the intestines and such...Yes!...

Lei Xing took the ruby hairpin and put it on the table, and went to look for a heavy object, and came back with an inkstone, and stood there hammering quietly at the ruby, she managed to dislodge the jewel from the hair stick, but was making slow progress on smashing the ruby. So she decided to just give it one big swing. Just as she raised her hand high ready to swing. The doors opened and Xiao Ruo stood at the doors staring at her wide-eyed. Lei Xing froze when she saw her and then started lifting her hand up and down, ”I'm exercising.” and then dropped the inkstone on the table.

Xiao Ruo looked at her and then glanced down at the table and saw the hair stick and detached ruby on the table, didn't say anything and walked to the side table. She was holding a tray with a fresh teapot and knelt down by the low table and wanted to switch the teapots.

Lei Xing turned and saw Xiao Ruo picking up her poisonous teapot, ”Stop!” Xiao Ruo turned to look at Lei Xing with a puzzled expression. Lei Xing then walked up to her, ”I'm not done with this tea yet.”

”Your highness, you shouldn't be drinking cold tea. It's better to drink a fresh pot.”

Lei Xing grabbed her poisonous teapot and dropped it on the table, ”You can just drop that one too, I will decide which is best. You can leave.”

Xiao Ruo looked at Lei Xing perplexed, then bowed and left the room. After the doors closed behind her, Xiao Ruo heard a loud smash and quickly turned to ask from outside the doors, ”Your highness, are you okay?”

Lei Xing shouted, ”Yes, I'm fine. I just dropped something.” She used the inkstone to further grind the smashed pieces putting all strength in her arms. By the time she was done she had worked up a bit of a sweat, but was pleased with the result. She poured the pieces into the teapot with a smile.

...Hahaha this is excellent...

She swished the teapot and then dropped it and looked at the ring and then frowned.

...What is wrong with this thing now?...It worked on the shards in the bottle in the store the other time...so why is not working or is this really not a toxic mix...maybe I need more?...I'm pretty sure if I drink this I'm going to die...Don't tell me it's not working because I made it myself...so if I tried to poison myself, will it just let me? or could it be that it is aware that I am not in any danger since I won't be stupid enough to drink my own brew, so it's not reacting?...

...No way, that's possible, it's not conscious...we're talking about a magic poison absorbing, pooping, poison detection ring here -_-)'...still...actually, maybe these components aren't toxic per se, how would it even absorb the toxicity from crushed jewels, by absorbing their hardness and turning it mush? I don't think so...I think I may have overestimated its capabilities...haah...maybe I should go ask the empress dowager for some tea instead...haha so funny -_-)...Whatever, forget it...

Lei Xin picked up the pot and emptied its contents into a plant in the corner.

...the bottom line is don't let it touch poison, it'll be troublesome...this old man should have given me a manual or something...maybe I should ask for one? I'm sure he'd be too busy sleeping to write one...that, or I would get another poop manifesto, and this time it may really be about poop -_-)'...

***

The next few days were quiet and peaceful for Lei Xing. No one tried to poison her again, the dowager's tea time was fine, which made her feel that they really gave up too easily. Her days comprised of going to the empress dowager's palace for their study sessions, the woman actually had them take turns reciting parts of the book and whoever failed was punished with copying multiple volumes of the book. Of course, Lei Xing planned for this kind of jobless behavior and so put in the effort in reading the book and so passed her test.