Chapter 90: Tea leaves, results of the investigation (2/2)

Upstairs in the Leisurely Cloud Pavilion, Han Yunxi leaned lazily against the window as she looked towards the mysterious hall in the distance, brows furrowed. The little pageboy hadn’t come back with the tea leaves yet and Chen Xiang wasn’t here. Bored and listless, she somehow climbed upstairs to space out by the window.

Not long later, she saw Chu Xifeng exit the building in a hurry as if he had urgent business. What was Long Feiye busy with these days? He had weight and importance in Tianning Country, enough that a single sneeze could make all of Tianning stir in response. But he very rarely went to court to discuss official business, much less visit the palace. Could it be that he was still working on the case of the Northern Li spies?

As Han Yunxi pondered, a guard came by to deliver tea leaves. Within the Hibiscus Courtyard, all the servants were Long Feiye’s guards. There wasn’t a single female servant. Long Feiye only left her with a single little Chen Xiang, but now that she was gone, Han Yunxi could only use Long Feiye’s men.

“Reporting to wangfei, this was delivered by the little pageboy from the kitchens,” the guard stood respectfully by the door, arms laden with tea. He didn’t dare enter.

“Help me bring it to the study,” Han Yunxi yelled from upstairs.

But the guard only replied, “To reply esteemed wangfei, His Highness Duke of Qin has orders for no one to step inside Leisurely Cloud Pavilion.”

Surprised, Han Yunxi thought she heard wrongly. “What?”

“To reply esteemed wangfei, His Highness Duke of Qin has orders for no one to step inside Leisurely Cloud Pavilion.”

Now Han Yunxi understood and blurted out angrily, “Why?”

How could the guard know? This was a recent order issued down from Chu Xifeng. It wasn’t just Chu Xifeng, but many others who saw his highness sitting on the roof of his living quarters the other day. Nobody knew the reason why.

“Your subordinate doesn’t know. I must trouble esteemed wangfei to come retrieve her items personally,” the guard said, leaving the things by the door before leaving.

Han Yunxi rolled her eyes. Long Feiye, you miser!

With no other choice, she could only come downstairs and get the tea leaves. They weren’t heavy, but there were many of them, forcing her to make three trips to carry them all. The pageboy from the kitchens was reliable and brought her most of every variety of leaves, clearly separated by category. Red tea, green tea, white tea, and black tea were further divided by place of production and individual strains. There were about 50 tins altogether.

Different strains of tea could vary based on soil type, watering conditions, climate, and degree of drying. Variations in time and preservation methods, as well as the composition of the tea leaves themselves, also affected the flavor of the tea. Of course, only a senior expert in tea could taste these differences. Han Yunxi liked tea, but she wasn’t skilled enough to tell by a sip.

But she had the detoxification system! Its built-in pharmacy was capable of distinguishing all sorts of medicines and the proportions of their makeup. Chinese medicine were called herbs in the past, and included flora (roots, stems, leaves, fruit), fauna (internal organs, skins, bones, etc.) and minerals in its makeup. Tea leaves counted as a type of plant medicine as well.

Han Yunxi took a sample from each of the 50 tea types and steeped 50 cups of tea water before placing each and every one in her detox system for analysis. Then she went to sleep.

Her consciousness was most relaxed when she was sleeping and the least likely time to be disturbed. This was prime time for the detox system to reach maximum efficiency with its work. Perhaps she’d given it a heavy workload, because Han Yunxi didn’t wake up until early morning the next day.

And the results?

Han Yunxi was very disappointed. She didn’t expect that both the tea leaves and the tea water were incompatible agents to Ten-Thousand Snake Poison. In other words, it’d be impossible to add the Ten-Thousand Snake Poison to any of these leaves or the tea itself. As soon as it was added, either the poison would show itself directly by ruining the tea, or its poison potency would be affected. Those who drank it wouldn’t reveal Ten-Thousand Snake Poison when tested for toxins.

Han Yunxi sat amongst the tea leaves in her study, her pretty brows scrunched tightly together. Was she wrong again? The poison wasn’t added to the tea leaves? If not water or tea, where else could it have gone? She’d interviewed Mu Qingwu before. Besides his usual three meals, he didn’t eat anything special or snack. All he drank was water and tea. Of course, when she went to examine the general’s estate the first time, she had inspected Mu Qingwu’s things first, including all the tea leaves in the household. There was nothing peculiar about them.

After a long sleep, her head felt heavy. Just looking at the mess on the table made Han Yunxi unhappy. Exactly where had she gone wrong? Which detail did she overlook? Counting today, there were only 14 days left until a month. There wasn’t any news from Mu Qingwu’s side recently, either. These thoughts made Han Yunxi’s brows crinkle even further. Her gaze grew heavy as she stared for a long time at the table, her entire body turning solemn and serious. The expression on her face warned others not to get near.

That’s right, she was…in a bad mood!

She didn’t know how much time had passed before she stood up and walked away. Han Yunxi decided to get some fresh air by going to the Han Family to visit Han Yunyi…

—

In the Han Family’s Cloud Water Pavilion, little Chen Xiang was currently doing handiwork with Seventh Madame in the courtyard. Whether or not Han Congan was here, it was Lady Xu who oversaw the household finances. The stipends she gave to various courtyards were limited, especially Seventh Madame’s share. A part of her stipend was always embezzled away, so she had no choice but to do some handiwork to add to her allowance.

Even though Seventh Madame was favored by Han Congan’s, she endured without complaining. She always yielded to everyone else. In fact, Han Congan knew that Lady Xu was unfair, but had no choice before the power and influence of Lady Xu’s family. Thus, Seventh Madame could only suffer through it all.

Maybe the reason Han Congan liked her was because she never fought for anything.

“Seventh Madame, just you wait. When esteemed wangfei gives our young master his rightful status, you’ll be in charge of this house. Fortunes rise and fall with the times, so I’ll definitely help you find ways to settle things with Lady Xu!”

Chen Xiang was very earnest with her words, but Seventh Madame’s face only looked terrified. “Hush…Chen Xiang, what are you saying? Speak softer!”

Little Chen Xiang looked helplessly towards the skies. She felt like falling apart! These few days, she’d tried to urge Seventh Madame and give her confidence, but Seventh Madame was still careful and timid, afraid to displease Lady Xu even in her speech and get in trouble. Chen Xiang dropped her hands and sighed deeply before standing up.

“Seventh Madame, the storehouse key is already in my Mistress’s hands. What are you still afraid of? That day when my Mistress settled accounts with eldest young master, didn’t you see it all with your own eyes?”