Chapter 104: Enormous Saving Face
"Oh, aren’t these Mr. Wei’s two attendants? Weren’t you supposed to return to the Capital City? How did you end up like this?"
Han Lei covered her mouth and giggled. Her threefold questioning made the two attendants quickly lower their heads to the ground, not daring to lift them, and they kept pleading for help.
"Please, Miss Han, no, esteemed lady, have mercy on us, save us. We know we were wrong."
Han Lei snorted with a smile. She didn’t need to ask; she already knew the two attendants were poisoned.
"You two didn’t take the antidote when you returned, did you?" Han Lei looked at them leisurely, a contemptuous smile playing on her lips.
"Esteemed lady, we... we did." Attendant A stammered, head down, "We took... took an entire bottle of the antidote."
"Nonsense!" Han Lei rolled her eyes. "I forgot to tell you, the antidote works only before bleeding. If you take it after bleeding starts, it won’t work. Lift your heads. Tell me, what happened? Why didn’t you take the antidote on time?"
One word from Han Lei revealed the crux of the matter, and the two attendants dared not argue further. They slowly lifted their heads, startling the onlookers, including several brothers from the brewery and Ms. Yang.
Are these the attendants who left for the Capital City with Mr. Wei a few days ago?
From their conversation, these two attendants were poisoned? When did this happen?
In their eyes, the two attendants looked utterly pathetic and miserable.
The blood-soaked and dried front of their shirts were now crusty with dried blood, dark red and stiff like a fabric shell. Their faces were dirty and coated with grime. Their nostrils were stuffed with old cloth strips, long since soaked with fresh blood, masking their original appearance. Blood dripped drop by drop from the cloth strips.
The bystanders realized, "No wonder their voices sound so muffled, their nostrils are blocked."
Attendant B, perhaps poorer in speech, nudged Attendant A with his elbow, signaling him to speak quickly.
Attendant A, having no choice, recounted the story with a pained expression.
After hearing this, Han Lei smiled faintly. She had already anticipated that coward Wei Chengchao wouldn’t believe her words and would eagerly seek a renowned doctor to detoxify them once they returned to the Capital City.
Although she had just begun learning poison skills, she happened to be a genius. Her poisons were mixed with modern drugs, and the onset period of her toxins could be as long as half a month. Given the medical skills of this era, these toxins couldn’t be detected before they surfaced, and once they did, they couldn’t be cured.
In this regard, she wasn’t deceiving these ancient people. She had only used Huanglian Shangqing Pills and Gastric Health and Digestion Pills as a distraction to show Wei Chengchao immediate results.
She had estimated the time it would take Wei Chengchao and the two attendants to seek medical help upon their return to the Capital City, with an error margin of just two to three days.
The only discrepancy was that the bleeding came from the nose rather than elsewhere. But it wasn’t a big issue, as long as her first attempt at poisoning succeeded.
The coward Wei Chengchao even sent these two attendants back to monitor her whereabouts and seize an opportunity for revenge. He really had no sense of danger. So, she let them suffer a bit longer!
Thinking of this, Han Lei didn’t intend to immediately help the two attendants but instead reached out with two fingers, pinched the cloth strip in Attendant A’s nostril with a look of disgust, and yanked it off.
As she watched the blood spurt from the attendant’s nose, Han Lei leisurely asked, "When did you two arrive in Taoyuan County?"
Attendant A replied, his voice somewhat weak from excessive blood loss and the bumpy journey, "Esteemed lady, we... we just arrived. We started to have nosebleeds last night. We thought it might be your poison, so we took the antidote, but even after finishing it, the nosebleeds continued. We could only urge our horses to rush here to see you. Sob... Esteemed lady, we were wrong. Please save us!"
As Attendant A spoke, he broke into tears. They had taken the antidote to no effect, torn clothes to plug their nostrils, but none of it worked.
Fortunately, when the nosebleeds began, they were already close to Taoyuan County. Otherwise, they would have perished in the wilderness.
"Alright, stop crying."
Annoyed, Han Lei finally took two small green pills from her space watch and tossed them in front of them.
"I only have two antidote pills now, take them first! I’ll make more for you later."
"Oh! Thank you, thank you, esteemed lady."
"Thank you, esteemed lady."
The two attendants, like receiving treasures, crawled forward two steps, picked up the pills, and stuffed them into their mouths.
After a while, their nosebleeds gradually stopped.
Attendant B had been watching Attendant A’s hanging blood droplet at the tip of his nose, and when the droplet finally stayed without falling, he was convinced it had truly stopped.
He cautiously removed his own nasal plug and breathed heavily.
Having brushed with death, the two attendants looked up at the still sweet and charming Han Lei, their eyes filled not only with gratitude for escaping death but also with deep fear of her.
Seeing the two in such a sorry state, Tao Qing teased at the side, "Haha. Not believing what my lady says, you brought this on yourselves."
"Exactly, our lady is formidable."
"Not listening to the old man’s words brings suffering right in front of you. Hahaha..."
The brewery brothers chimed in, praising Han Lei one after another. Even Ms. Yang, who was watching, was further impressed by Han Lei’s mysterious poison skills.
With such a skilled healer and poison expert right before her eyes, Ms. Yang was more determined to let Yang Xiaomei stay alongside Han Lei to learn skills.
"What bad thing did you do? How did my lady end up poisoning you?" Ms. Yang curiously asked.
"Quick, what bad things did you do?"
"Our lady only heals, she doesn’t harm. You must’ve done something bad."
This question from Ms. Yang also piqued the curiosity of the other brothers.
In their impression, Han Lei was kind and generous. Everyone present had received Han Lei’s kindness, and they were firmly convinced she wouldn’t poison people for no reason.
Upon hearing this, the two attendants knelt on the ground, trembling, too afraid to get up, let alone mention how they had drugged and abducted Han Lei.
The fact that they could ask like this meant Han Lei hadn’t mentioned the incident. Since she hadn’t, it meant she had saved massive face for Wei Chengchao and his three servants, and offered the greatest retreat.
Of course, they also understood what Han Lei really wanted them to do.
Attendant A, being smart, understood this and glanced at Attendant B before quickly changing the subject to pledge,
"Thank you, esteemed lady, for your life-saving grace! After we return, we will surely advise Mr. Wei to follow your guidance and dare not have any disloyalty."
"Please rest assured, esteemed lady, we dare not have any disloyalty."
As Han Lei was about to speak to the two kneeling obediently on the ground, Da Jiu’s cheerful voice came from outside.
"Miss. Miss, I’m back. The Prince has a letter for you."