Chapter 351: Xijin Gu-Poison, Perfect Timing
Chang Lu paced frantically back and forth at the courtyard gate.
When Ji Qingwu emerged, fully dressed, Chang Lu immediately rushed forward and knelt. "Fifth Missy, the Princess Consort sent me to beg for your help."
Hearing that Tao Wanxin had sent him, the last vestiges of her sleepiness vanished. She frowned and asked, "Has something happened to the Princess Consort?"
Chang Lu said quickly, "The Princess Consort is at risk of miscarrying—there are signs of bleeding. It happened because she’s overcome with anxiety. The Prince is in trouble; he’s being detained at the palace."
’The Princess Consort’s baby is in danger? And Prince Yong is in trouble too?’
Qingwu was shocked. She had only just left Prince Yong’s Mansion that afternoon. How could such a disaster have erupted in just a few hours?
Chang Lu said urgently, "Oh, please, Madam! Just come with me now. I’ll explain everything on the way."
Qingwu toyed with her little finger and looked up. "Explain it clearly first. I need to know exactly what happened to make the Princess Consort’s pregnancy so unstable that she’s bleeding. Only then can I decide whether I should get involved."
Seeing her resolute stance, with her two maids standing behind her, Chang Lu relented. "It’s because the Prince is being held at the palace. He used... extreme torture to force a confession in the Imperial Prison, and now Prime Minister Su is just barely hanging on. But the problem is, the rest of the conspirators still haven’t confessed everything."
"His Majesty was enraged when he found out and said..."
’I smelled the blood on Prince Yong earlier, so I already had my suspicions.’ She wasn’t too surprised, merely wondering what kind of torture he could have used to bring Su Fengyue to the brink of death.
She asked calmly, "What did His Majesty say?"
Chang Lu sighed. "His Majesty said that if Prime Minister Su dies, then he can forget about being a prince. When the Princess Consort heard the news, she immediately began to feel unwell."
"Xuemei, go get a cloak for me."
Qingwu wrapped her arms around herself, as if she were a little cold.
She added a specific instruction, "I want the Red Feather Gauze Stone Cyan Embroidery cloak."
Lan Zhi was about to offer to get it herself—Xuemei wouldn’t be familiar with Qingwu’s wardrobe—but she froze when she heard her missy specify the "Red Feather Gauze" one, and simply stared at her.
Qingwu then asked, "Mr. Chang, why aren’t you accompanying Prince Yong at the palace?"
Normally, Chang Lu followed wherever Prince Yong went. The master and servant were rarely ever apart.
Chang Lu replied, "When the Prince went back to the Imperial Prison, he instructed me to stay at the mansion and look after the Princess Consort."
Qingwu smiled and nodded, then suddenly clapped her hands toward a large banyan tree to her left.
The crisp clap startled the hidden "bird" from the tree.
Like a black eagle in the night, Si Hai swooped down from the tree and pinned Chang Lu to the ground.
"Madam, what are you doing! I only came to deliver a message!" Chang Lu shouted, his head pressed to the ground. He’d never imagined someone was hiding in the tree.
Qingwu frowned. "Keep him quiet."
’A few more shouts and he’ll wake up the entire Wei Family.’
Si Hai wasted no words. With a swift chop of his hand, Chang Lu was knocked unconscious.
’I only meant to gag him,’ Qingwu thought. But now...
’...this works too.’
Lan Zhi was badly startled to see Si Hai descend from above, clapping a hand over her mouth to stifle a cry.
She recognized him as the guard who used to watch over Wutong Garden. ’He’s here to help the missy,’ she realized, ’which means there’s something very wrong with this eunuch from Prince Yong’s Mansion.’
Qingwu turned to Lan Zhi. "Go inside and help Xuemei search."
Lan Zhi nodded firmly, her expression grave. "Missy, just cough as a signal, and I’ll bring Xuemei back out."
Lan Zhi knew there was no such thing as a Red Feather Gauze Stone Cyan Embroidery cloak in the wardrobe. Her missy had said it deliberately to get Xuemei out of the way.
Lan Zhi pushed open the door and returned to the room. The night was still and silent, with no one else around.
Qingwu’s gaze fell upon Chang Lu’s face. "Si Hai, check him for a human-skin mask."
Si Hai asked, "You suspect he’s an imposter?"
Qingwu nodded. "The moment he opened his mouth, he called me ’Madam.’ No one in Prince Yong’s entire mansion has ever addressed me that way."
Si Hai observed thoughtfully, "But here in the Wei Family, it’s not entirely out of place to call you Madam. Perhaps he wanted to avoid being overheard by servants who might gossip."
Qingwu said, "I just examined Princess Yong this afternoon. Her pregnancy is very stable. She wouldn’t start bleeding over such news—not unless someone struck her abdomen."
Confident in her own medical skills, Qingwu had begun to doubt his identity the moment he mentioned that Tao Wanxin was bleeding.
It was the first time Si Hai had ever heard a physician speak with such certainty about their own skills, rather than using vague and noncommittal language.
Seeing the brightness in Qingwu’s eyes as she spoke, Si Hai felt a weight lift from his heart. His new master was no embroidered pillow; she was intelligent and a keen judge of character.
He had seen it clearly from the tree earlier tonight: Emperor Wu Su had arrived looking pleased but had left with a grim face. And yet, the Emperor had said nothing about punishing him. Because of this, Si Hai had a new appreciation for Qingwu’s "power."
Qingwu lifted her chin. "Check him."
Si Hai immediately knelt and carefully examined Chang Lu’s face, rubbing and pinching the skin, but he found nothing out of the ordinary.
He reported, "There’s no mask. It’s really Chang Lu."
Qingwu’s brow furrowed. ’That strange feeling... It can’t be wrong.’
She crouched down as well. By the faint moonlight, she noticed a small red mole behind Chang Lu’s ear.
With a nimble flick of her slender wrist, as if performing a magic trick, she produced a gleaming silver needle from her sleeve. Before Si Hai’s astonished eyes, she plunged it straight into the red mole.
Qingwu withdrew the silver needle and held it up for them both to see.
Si Hai said, "Is that..."
That was no mole. Impaled on the tip of the needle was a tiny, blood-red spider.
"It’s a Spider Gu from the San people of Xijin," Si Hai recognized it at once, his brow furrowing in disgust.
Qingwu pressed, "What exactly does a Spider Gu do?"
Si Hai replied, "...I’m not entirely sure."
Hidden Guards receive special training, but the mere sight of a spider makes him nauseous. Everything he’d been taught about them went in one ear and out the other; he hadn’t retained a thing.
Qingwu summarized slowly, "At the very least, we know it can control a person’s mind. The question is, who is controlling it?"
Si Hai said grimly, "He came here to take you away. The person behind this must be connected to Xijin. The Fourth Prince Xijin escaped capture..."
They both arrived at the same conclusion. Qingwu’s lips curled into a faint smirk.
"So it’s him," she murmured. "Perfect timing."
*
Not everything "Chang Lu" had said was a lie.
In order to lure Qingwu into the trap, most of the information had been true.
After Zhao Minghong had found an excuse to slip away during the day, he only returned to the Prince’s Mansion as night fell.