Chapter 136: Look quickly, something’s happened (2/2)

Madame Li’s lips rose into a mocking smile. “Esteemed wangfei, exactly how long will you experiment before we get results?”

“I estimate until daybreak? Hehe,” Mu Liuyue smiled as well. So much time had passed. If there was really poison, the goldfish would be long dead by now. There was nothing in the tea leaves to start, Han Yunxi had told a massive lie!

“Aiya, this is tea water. If we really waited ‘til daybreak, the fish might not live that long,” Han Ruoxue felt relieved of a heavy load as she reminded with a laugh. Tea wasn’t clear water, after all. A goldfish could only stay in it for four to six hours before it died from natural causes.

Han Yunxi gritted her teeth, ignoring them all as she kept staring at the fish. She didn’t even notice that her forehead had long broken out into cold sweat. Enough time had passed to drink half a cup of tea, but the goldfish was still alive. Had the ancient texts been falsified? Was she doomed to fall into these women’s hands today?

“Han Yunxi, you should announce the results of the poison examination now!” Grand Concubine Yi reminded her coldly. She couldn’t wait to see Han Yunxi honor the terms of the bet.

Still, Han Yunxi kept her head down and didn’t reply.

Mu Liuyue gave a chortle. “Aiya, it’s just a bet after all. If you agreed to bet, you must be prepared to lose. It’s no fun if you drag this out!”

“Han Yunxi! Are you listening or not? I’m ordering you!” Grand Concubine Yi said sternly. She didn’t want to waste any more time.

The goldfish was swimming so happily in the tea. Han Yunxi looked and looked before finally shutting her eyes. Slowly, very slowly, she lifted her head. When the crowd saw, they couldn’t help but gloat over her misfortune as they broke out into ridicule.

But!

Suddenly, Chu Xifeng gave out a cry. “Something’s happened! Esteemed wangfei, look quickly, something’s happened!”

Something’s happened?

Han Yunxi’s eyes flew open as she lowered her head, only to see…only to see the fish still swimming, but not as balanced as before. Many times, it kept flopping on its side. This was an omen of it going belly-up and dying!

Han Yunxi’s heart wouldn’t stop pounding as if it was going to burst out of her chest. There was hope! Hope! Her hand hovered excitedly over her chest. She didn’t even dare to blink as she stared rigidly at the goldfish. At the time time, the amazed crowd had turned back to look as well. Even Madame Li, as self-confident as she was, could only look back in disbelief as she shook her head.

How could this be? She didn’t believe it. She wouldn’t. The goldfish couldn’t die. It wouldn’t!

But very quickly, the goldfish stopped moving to float in the water. Again and again it flopped on its side, as if fighting its last rounds with the god of death. Unfortunately, only a few bouts had passed before it completely turned over, its white belly protruding the surface of the water. Soon after that, tiny black dots revealed itself on its white stomach, growing in number and density until the entire fish’s belly had turned black.

Heavens!

In a flash, all of the spectators sucked in a cold breath. The goldfish had not only died, but turned black. This was poison! Even Han Yunxi hadn’t expected such results. After all, she wasn’t even sure if this would work. Back then, she had really been frightened by failure. Right now her heart was still beating wildly, unable to calm itself down.

Of course, she wouldn’t forget proper protocol. As long as the poison showed itself, it was a simple matter of course to diagnose it. She quickly took out an acupuncture needle and collected a sample of blood from the fish’s belly.

“Who will come test this poison?” she asked loudly.

From within the crowd, a voice replied, “I will!”

A old man walked forward, carefully examining the fish belly before touching the poisoned blood with his finger. After a few sniffs, he was convinced. “This is snake poison, a combination of many different snake venoms, the so-called Ten-Thousand Snake Poison!”

He really was a master amongst the common people!

Han Yunxi rejoiced. “I’m sure everyone saw clearly with their own eyes. This tea has poison, the same Ten-Thousand Snake Poison that afflicted the young general!”

At these words, the onlookers slowly recovered from their shock to discuss amongst themselves.

“Heavens, if you drank this daily over the course of years, you’d end up like that fish one day…”

“Too frightful, these methods are so sinister! Detestable!”

“Madame Li and her daughter are the true culprits! That’s horrific! I never imagined!”

… …

Cries of alarm rose on all sides. Madame Li stood at a distance. Her poison skills were superb, but she never expected a trivial goldfish could expose her skills. She prized her poisoning techniques above all, but now her calm and unhurried facade had been thoroughly broken. Everything about her had been denied and exposed. Though she didn’t want to believe it, she couldn’t say anything against her results. Nor did she have any choice but to accept them!

Han Ruoxue stared dazedly at the goldfish. From beginning to end, she never believed that her own mother would put poison in the tea leaves. Had her mother been using her to poison the young general ever since the start?

“Mother, you…” Han Ruoxue hadn’t even confronted her mother before Mu Liuyue suddenly swooped over to grab her by the hair.

“Slut! You actually dared do such a thing! So much for me trusting you, you slut! I’m going to kill you!” Mu Liuyue was as angry as a wild beast as she threw herself at Han Ruoxue and hauled her by the hair.