Chapter 89: Madame Li’s many secrets (1/2)

Han Ruoxue was startled by her mother’s fierceness and hastened to reply. “Mu Liuyue said Han Yunxi didn’t treat the young general’s illness, but his poison instead!”

These words turned Madame Li’s fists stiff. But she didn’t say a word.

“The young general was sneak attacked by an assassin with a poisoned sword. Han Yunxi knew how to treat poisons and saved him, but who knew he had a slow-acting poison too? Fortunately, Han Yunxi discovered that too and treated it,” Han Ruoxue explained.

At these words, Madame Li suddenly relaxed her fists. She was completely speechless, her eyes blank as if stunned. Frightened, Han Ruoxue rushed over to support her. “Mother, what’s wrong? Do you feel unwell somewhere?”

Madame Li only just recovered, her expression still stiff. She shook her head. “No…it’s nothing, help pour a cup of warm water for your mother.”

Han Ruoxue hastily poured the water while Madame Li gave a long exhale to calm herself down. She looked at Han Ruoxue’s back with gloomy eyes, mood uncertain as she finally spoke. “How did Han Yunxi find out there was a slow-acting poison?”

“Mu Liuyue didn’t tell me the details, so I didn’t ask,” Han Ruoxue replied.

“How could the young general have been struck with a slow-acting poison? That sort of poison takes time to administer,” Madame Li asked again.

Han Ruoxue turned around. “Mother, that’s what I thought too. There must be someone trying to harm the young general in the general’s estate. It wasn’t convenient for me to ask such things.”

Madame Li nodded, slowly drinking a few sips. “Xue’er, did you gift young Miss Mu the spring tea you brought along today?”

Only then did Han Ruoxue recall this matter and lowered her head. “I…I left in too much of a hurry and forgot.”

Madame Li’s heart clenched as she spoke. “Those tea leaves weren’t cheap, where did you put them?”

“Right by the table. How about I send someone to get them and deliver it directly to the general’s estate?” Han Ruoxue asked again.

“No need,” Madame Li rejected the idea immediately. “Forget it, we can consider it given to someone with the fate to pick it up.”

A resentful Han Ruoxue didn’t dare say anything more despite her mistake.

“I’m weary. I’d like to sleep for awhile, so you can leave,” Madame Li said mildly before leaning lazily against her pillow.

“Mother, should I take your pulse for you?” Han Ruoxue was very considerate, but Madame Li only waved at her to leave. She’d been like this since Han Ruoxue’s youth, so the latter was long used to it.

“Then, rest well,” she poured her mother another cup of water before retreating. As soon as she left, Madame Li sat up, her calm face immediately darkening like black clouds. Even her usual serene gaze had swiftly turned fierce.

“Come out!” she said in a low voice.

At this, a black-robed female guard appeared from behind a nearby screen.

“Immediately go to the Celestial Fragrance plantation and retrieve that item. Additionally, clear out all the snake poison in the wooden shed!” Madame Li ordered.

“Yes! Your subordinate understands,” the black-robed guard obeyed before she left in an instant.

Madame Li sat for a long time, her phoenix eyes narrowing. “Han Yunxi, ah, Han Yunxi, I’ve really underestimated you. You dared to ruin my good plan! Such skill! I definitely won’t let you off!”

—

Time passed until three days went by.

Only fifteen were left until it was a full month. After leaving things to Mu Qingwu, Han Yunxi hadn’t been idle, either. She didn’t take a step outside the house, but hid in the study of the Leisurely Cloud Pavilion to research the Ten-Thousand Snake Poison. She didn’t have ten different snake venoms on hand, but when she was taking samples beforehand, she’d stored Mu Qingwu’s poison-laced blood into her detoxification system, where it’d naturally disseminated the various toxins before creating copies to fill up her poison storage space. Han Yunxi had been researching the method of poisoning for the last few days.

In many cases, the poisoning method was a big hurdle for the poisoner, especially if the poison reacted with other items to weaken its toxicity. Sometimes, there would be color changes or smells, so the best place to hide it was in clear water. On the other hand, there were poisons that couldn’t touch water because they’d be discovered right away. As Han Yunxi saw it, it wasn’t easy to put poison in Mu Qingwu’s water often. Both the water house and fire house (kitchens), along with Mu Qingwu’s servants, had been thoroughly inspected. Nothing unusual had been found.

Unless she made a mistake and the poison wasn’t added to clear water?

According to the records in the detox system, Ten-Thousand Snake Poison could only be added to water to prevent reactions. After it was created, it only had a shelf life of one day before it started changing colors and smell. But the intellectual prowess of the detoxification system was still limited by human ingenuity. Ten-Thousand Snake Poison didn’t exist in modern times, so its description came from ancient records compiled from the distant past.