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Chapter 140 Being poisoned
Chapter 140 Being poisoned
Yuan Qingling went out to have a few words with Ms. Lu.
“Prince Wenhuai is obviously getting better. Watch his diet and be careful not to let anyone tamper with
his food.”
“You think someone’s still planning to hurt him?” Ms. Lu asked.
Yuan Qingling thought for a moment and said, “Hard to say but, better safe than sorry.”
When she heard the news that Princess Ji got sick, she had a weirdly bad feeling.
Prince Wenjun and Princess Ji’s design was obvious now. After Yu Wenhao had been Capital Mayor,
how could it be possible for them to sit and watch Yuan Qingling cure Prince Wenhuai and win honor?
Therefore, they would definitely come up with ideas to deal with Prince Wenhuai. If Prince Wenhuai
died from poison and the poison was exactly related to her medicine, then there would be nothing she
could do to remove the stigma off her name.
Ms. Lu trusted Yuan Qingling well so she ordered the folk to keep an eye on Prince Wenhuai’s diet as
Yuan Qingling advised.
Nevertheless, Prince Wenhuai got dizzy, vomiting and stomachache for no reason at noon, which were
all the symptoms of food poisoning.
Fortunately, Yuan Qingling’s medicine chest was of great help. It got saline prepared, which was
necessary during the course of pumping the stomach. After a rush of busyness, Prince Wenhuai got a
narrow escape and became better.
Ms. Lu was furious and ordered a thorough investigation. But people who had touched Prince
Wenhuai’s food were all trusted by her.
Ultimately, a henchman of Yu Wenhuai said, “There might be something wrong with the ingredients.
They’re bought outside each day. It’s possible for someone to tamper during the course.”
Therefore, Ms. Lu made an order to investigate this day’s food ingredients. All were well except a piece
of lean meat. It had gone bad.
It was neither cold nor hot these days, so the meat couldn’t have gone bad so quickly. It must be
someone else playing dirty.
The henchman said, “But even if the meat goes bad, it won’t result in poisoning.”
Yuan Qingling explained, “His Highness got food poisoning and it can result from bad meat. Other
people may just have stomach pain and diarrhea after eating it. But His Highness is frail and it can be
killing for him.”
She actually thought it might be more than this. But since there was no discovery, there was no need to
make a fuss lest Ms. Lu should get angry and chop off someone’s head when finding no results.
Thus, she said, “Be more careful from now on.”
Ms. Lu was extreme nervous after this and almost saw everyone with a suspicious look.
Prince Wendu came at dusk. He had promised Yuan Qingling a big meal and he kept his promise.
He brought a hamper. It had four layers, each holding one meat dish. The last one was pig knuckle in
brown sauce. Prince Wendu took dishes out and they all made him run at the mouth.
Princess Luoping and Princess Wenjing came to watch and teased Prince Wendu about being stingy
and hiding to eat.
He said with justification, “These are for Yuan Qingling. To thank her for curing Wenhuai.”
“Then why are you eating with her?” Princess Wenjing said with a smile.
“I just keep her company,” he declared haughtily.
The princesses stopped teasing him as they knew he couldn’t resist the temptation of food.
It was time for dinner. Everybody went inside for meal, leaving Yuan Qingling and Prince Wendu
outside. They ate together and let Nurse Xi keep them company in order to avoid arousing suspicion of
private dating.
Yuan Qingling was thinking about the poisoning thing and she suspected someone from Ji Residence
most. She guessed that Princess Ji might not be truly sick.
If there was something wrong with Prince Wenhuai, she could probably jump out accusing Yuan
Qingling of framing her up and making her depressed to get sick.
“What are you thinking?” Prince Wendu pointed to the dishes and said, “Come get them while they’re
hot.”
Yuan Qingling took her chopsticks and said, “Yeah. I’m eating.”
Prince Wendu ate quite much. He was so free with the meat and barely chewed, even gorging more This material belongs to NôvelDrama.Org.
than Dooby.
“It’s said that Wenhuai got poisoned today,” Prince Wendu asked with his mouth filled with oily meat.
“You’ve already known? Where did you hear that?”
“Yes. Lin told me when I arrived.” He snorted and said, “Those guys are getting seriously bold to
challenge Father’s authority.”
“Do you know who was it?” Yuan Qingling asked.
“Of course, I know. But I don’t have evidence.”
Right. No evidence.
‘Emperor Mingyuan should have known what Prince Wenjun has been planning. But why did he never
stop him? If he interfered, Prince Wenjun wouldn’t be so bold like this. Or was Emperor Mingyuan really
going to choose Prince Wenjun as crown prince? But if so, will other princes get chances to live?’
Yuan Qingling was very worried as the emperor’s decision was unpredictable.
She asked, “Wendu, do you think His Majesty is clear about all these things?”
Prince Wendu had unexpected views sometimes and it was no harm in asking him.
He shook his head and said, “No. Who can guess his mind? Anyway, I’d thank God if he didn’t scold
me.”
As a royal foodie, he was quite easy to feel satisfied.
He stared at the last piece of pig knuckle in brown sauce, which were mostly eaten by him. Yuan
Qingling merely ate a little.
She knew he wanted to eat it, so she said, “I’m full. You can have it.”
“No. I’m on a diet.” Prince Wendu put down his chopsticks while his eyes were attached to the meat.
“Are you sure?” Yuan Qingling grinned.
He gazed at it for a while and shook his head slowly, “I’m sure. I shall stand my ground.” Then he
asked someone to take it away in case that he would regret.
He decided to control his appetite and if he could do it well, he could control everything.
After dinner, Yuan Qingling walked around the yard for some while. Yu Wenhao didn’t show up yet. Gu
Si wouldn’t come as he had been told not to in the morning.
It was not until almost 9 p.m. that Xu Yi turned up. As soon as seeing Yuan Qingling, he was so excited
that he nearly kowtowed to her. He expressed his gratitude for her pleading with Prince Wenhao to let
him stay.
Yuan Qingling disrupted his words and asked, “Where’s Yu Wenhao?”
“His Highness has no time to come here. He ordered me to escort Your Highness home,” Xu Yi
answered.
“He’s so busy. Has he had dinner?” Yuan Qingling asked with concern.
Xu Yi sighed, “He’s got no time. He didn’t even have lunch. There was a big case that another family
was butchered in their home.”
Yuan Qingling got frowned, feeling sorry for the victims and worried about Yu Wenhao’s eating nothing.
“Just the same as the former case. Only a kid survived,” Xu Yi said.
Yuan Qingling truly hoped the killer to be caught early but she could do nothing to help. Thus, she had
to say, “OK. Let’s go.”
“The carriage is waiting outside.”
Prince Wendu heard this and said, “Drop me off in my residence.”
“Didn’t Your Highness ride a horse?” Xu Yi inquired.
Prince Wendu shook his head. “No. I’m losing weight recently so I walk.” This was Princess Sun’s
request.
Xu Yi smiled and said, “Well, then.”
Since Prince Wendu asked to stay in the carriage, Yuan Qingling didn’t leave Nurse Xi behind but took
her on the carriage together.
Although both Yuan Qingling and Prince Wendu didn’t care about these rules, it was just in case.
Before leaving, Yuan Qingling warned Ms. Lu repeatedly to watch over Prince Wenhuai’s diet.
Ms. Lu didn’t dare to be careless any longer after what had happened at noon. She commanded the
folk to keep a close eye on Prince Wenhuai and guarantee that everything he ate or drunk was clean
and safe.
The carriage left Prince Wenhuai’s Residence.
Prince Wendu didn’t live far from Yu Wenhao’s residence, just three blocks away and in the same
direction.
It was past 9 p.m., and scarcely anyone was walking in the street. All the stores were closed. There
were no streetlights in ancient times. Only the manservant of Prince Wendu and Xu Yi sat in the
miniature chamber in the front of the carriage, each holding a lantern.