Chapter 500: Antidote, do you believe him or me? (1/2)

Chapter 500: Antidote, do you believe him or me?

When Baili Mingxiang saw esteemed wangfei walking over all alone, she quickly ran to receive her. “Esteemed wangfei, come onto the carriage! His Highness is waiting!”

“Where to?” Han Yunxi asked listlessly.

“Back to the estate with His Highness! Esteemed wangfei, you said yourself that you’d go if he picked you up personally. Just come home, quick. His Highness is waiting.” Baili Mingxiang was all smiles, but her heart was clenched up in her chest. She had never expected His Highness to climb into the carriage first. Had something else happened between the pair in the palace? Why did esteemed wangfei look so despondent?

Han Yunxi didn’t speak, but looked carefully at Baili Mingxiang. Baili Mingxiang could put on a confident front at first, but she soon quailed and avoided her mistress’s gaze.

“Tell him…he doesn’t need to wait for me anymore.” Han Yunxi was about to leave when Baili Mingxiang finally caught her.

“Come on the carriage first. You know His Highness’s temper. If you yield one step, His Highness will definitely yield you ten more.”

Han Yunxi still insisted on leaving, but Baili Mingxiang simply refused to let her go. She coaxed her mistress now with all her might, “Esteemed wangfei, His Highness would have long left if he didn’t have you in his heart, right? He’s still waiting in the carriage, so you should seriously reconsider!”

Han Yunxi’s eyes suddenly turned red as she looked at Baili Mingxiang, recalling all the injustices she’d suffered in the imperial study. “Mingxiang, my legs really hurt.”

“Legs? What’s happened to esteemed wangfei’s legs?” Baili Mingxiang panicked. She was about to crouch down and check them when an impatient voice sounded from inside the carriage.

“Han Yunxi, you’re still not leaving?”

What a fierce and ferocious tone. She had never heard him sound so angry since she’d gotten to know him! Ever since their first visit to Empress Dowager Li’s palace, he’d always called her like this.

No matter how impatient or frantic he was, he would always stop three to five steps away and turn around to ask with a cold voice, ‘Han Yunxi, you’re still not leaving?’

But he’d never abandoned her so utterly as he had today, much less lose his temper. Now she was left in the streets while he sounded terrible and fearful. Han Yunxi walked straight to the carriage window and said in a chilly voice, “Your Highness, please wait. I just have one thing to ask Your Highness before I leave.”

Actually, she’d been holding back ever since leaving the Han Estate for the palace. She desperately wanted to ask him about Duanmu Yao’s visit and Gu Qishao’s explanation so they could have a big argument. But after she was forgotten in the imperial study, she suddenly lost all her will. Now she didn’t want to ask a thing.

If, for the sake of being loved by another, I have to try harder and harder to earn that right, is there any point?

Now all she wanted to do was get her answers and leave.

“Speak,” he said coldly.

“Was Gu Qishao’s bottle of antidote really only eight-parts full?” Han Yunxi asked seriously.

Silence came from the carriage.

“He said he handed over a full bottle,” Han Yunxi added.

The silence remained unbroken. Han Yunxi waited patiently without pushing him. Finally, Long Feiye spoke.

“So you believe him?”

Han Yunxi ignored his question. “I’m only asking Your Highness, that’s all.”

“You believe him and you suspect your lordship?” Long Feiye asked again.

Han Yunxi only heard how cold his voice was and hadn’t realized it was because he’d grown completely spiritless inside the carriage. She had no idea that this man had resolved to hide this incident utterly, including the reality of Mute Granny’s suicide. She was ignorant of all the hatred he had suppressed, the cares he had taken, the plans he had delayed and the countless nights he’d spent without sleep in order to keep everything a secret. Ever since they stepped into the palace, he’d been neglecting her on purpose just to goad her into opening her mouth to yell at his face.

But instead of yelling, she’d come to ask him about this instead.

She’s asking about Gu Qishao! It’s Gu Qishao again!

I see, so the only reason she had faith in me at Pill Fiend Valley was because she didn’t know Gu Qishao was the hated Gu Qi Sha. Now that his identity’s been exposed, she instantly calls me into question.

Now it was Han Yunxi’s turn to fall silent.

“Han Yunxi, answer your lordship’s question!” Long Feiye raged.

“Gu Qishao took me to find Mute Granny, so if he’s Gu Qi Sha, he’d never hide the antidote for himself,” Han Yunxi replied politely. She wasn’t an idiot. When she was first facing off against Gu Qi Sha, she chose to believe that the latter had tricked them out of one portion of pure antidote, but logic told her that Gu Qishao wouldn’t do such a thing. Although she hadn’t put things bluntly, her insinuations were clear: whoever took that last portion of antidote was the one hiding Mute Granny! And whoever was hiding Mute Granny, was trying to hide the secret of her own origins.

“You think that Mute Granny really is in your lordship’s hands?” Nobody could see Long Feiye’s expression in the carriage, but he got straight to the point.

“Gu Qishao would ‘never’ hide the antidote for himself? Then why did he mix those other dregs into the medicine? Why did the bottle get so conveniently dyed black to prove his point?” Long Feiye asked back. Gu Qishao was not only the Pill Fiend, but he was as well as the black-robed man back at the Hidden Pavilion who’d attacked him. If he’d done everything just to incite Han Yunxi’s doubts, then he’ll never forgive the man!

He, Long Feiye, had never needed to lie to this woman. But since she was accusing him now, he’d never admit to the lie!