Chapter 82: Poisoned
Fu Chen cut the venison and grilled it himself. Liu Zhong tactfully moved aside.
Someone else brought two jars of wine over, and Fu Chen gestured to Tang Ying: "Drink some wine to warm yourself up." Looking around, trying to find a wine cup, Tang Ying had already picked up the jar, skillfully broke the mud seal, took a big gulp, and praised: "Good wine!"
The Imperial Cavalry Division was the emperor's trusted confidant and all the food sent from the Hunting Palace was of the highest quality. Tang Ying had not drunk alcohol for a long time, so she drank several mouthfuls in a row. Before Fu Chen's venison was ready, she suddenly frowned and covered her stomach: "It hurts so much-- " Before she could finish her sentence, she spat out a mouthful of blood.
Fu Chen was so scared that the barbecue in his hand fell into the fire. He turned around to help her, but she had already fallen to the ground.
Everyone in the Imperial Cavalry Division was shocked by this sudden change. Those who were drinking, eating, chatting and laughing all stopped and looked over at the same time: "Sir, what happened to Miss Tang?"
Fu Chen looked in the light of the torch, but saw that Tang Ying's face was as pale as gold paper and her lips were blue, which were clear signs of poisoning.
"See if there's anything wrong with the wine?"
Liu Zhong had already taken out a silver needle for testing poison from his bosom and tried it: "Sir, there is no poison in the wine."
Fu Chen anxiously asked the people who were patrolling the hunting ground with her: "Did you eat anything when you went out today?"
Several people recalled the time they spent with Tang Ying: "Sir, we ate dry food with stream water at noon. We all ate the same thing. If there was poisoning, it couldn't be just Miss Tang."
Fu Chen was worried about her safety before he came to the hunting ground, so Tang Ying stayed with him most of the time, and the rest of the time she was with the people from the Shadow Department. His eyes suddenly darkened: "Go two people, one to invite Aunt Yao over, and the other to Tang Ying's room and bring her dinner. When we came out, she had only taken two bites of her dinner, which was still on the table."
He took out his purse, took out a pill to inhibit the toxicity and fed it to her mouth, then drank some more to wash the pill down, and held her in his arms and waited quietly.
Soon Aunt Yao came running over, and the people who went to Tang Ying's room returned empty-handed.
"Sir, there are no dishes or leftovers in Tang Ying's room. It is clean and tidy."
Aunt Yao flipped Tang Ying's eyelids, sniffed her breath, took out a portable silver needle and let blood on her five fingers, and fed her two detoxification pills before she breathed a sigh of relief: "The amount she took was small, and it was discovered in time, fortunately, it's all good."
Fu Chen: "Aunt, can you guess who did it?"
Yao Niang: "No need to guess, who else could it be?" Apart from the Grand Princess, no one else could be involved. Even the poison he was infected with was made by Xin Niang.
After a while, Tang Ying woke up slowly, and was scolded by Yao Niang: "How old are you? How dare you eat food from outside? Do you think you have too long to live?"
Tang Ying felt aggrieved: "Aunt, I didn't eat anything outside." She had been eating with her colleagues from the Forbidden Cavalry Division in recent days, and only ate a few bites of food at night, in her own room.
Aunt Yao was extremely stubborn and raised her hand to hit him: "How dare you be so stubborn? I told you to eat whatever you want, so eat whatever you want!"
Lord Fu and Aunt Yao were of the same opinion, and they quickly formed an alliance while Tang Ying was falling asleep. Even the tone of their lectures was the same: "How dare you eat the food brought to you by such a random person?" Fortunately, he arrived in time and thought of taking her out to eat, so she escaped the disaster. Otherwise, if he let her eat and then take a nap, he would probably have a hard corpse waiting for him tomorrow.
Whenever Fu Chen thought of this, he felt palpitations and cold sweats broke out: "If you eat carelessly again in the future, I will find a needle to sew your mouth shut, and you don't have to eat anymore!"
Tang Ying was still half leaning in his arms, her whole body weak and without any strength to resist Sir Fu's "tyranny". She quickly covered her mouth - Sir, you are so cruel!
Liu Zhong used his eyes to communicate with her: Did you see that? What did I say? You are so fierce, aren’t you? !
Tang Ying: How scary!
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Two hours later , the eldest princess was taking a nap in Chuihong Palace. Yunniang quietly opened the door of the bedroom and reported in a low voice: "Master, a little girl named Hongxiang from the Imperial Cavalry Department came over. I remember that girl was Yao Niang's subordinate. She said she had something to report to you, Master."
The eldest princess stood up and sat down with the quilt in her arms: "Maybe Yao Niang has contacted Gan Jun. Let her come in."
The little girl was quite obedient. After she followed him in, she kowtowed to the Grand Princess and then knelt on the ground, refusing to stand up. "I have come to see you, Master, to report something important. Please ask your attendants to leave."
Yunniang signaled all the palace servants in the palace to leave, leaving only the three of them in the palace: "Can you tell me now?"
Hong Xiang had obviously been patient for a long time. She looked up with tears in her eyes and cried, "If it wasn't absolutely necessary, I would not betray Aunt Yao and tell the master about it!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the eldest princess sat up straight and exchanged a glance with Yunniang, weighing the truthfulness of her words in her heart. Was it Yao Niang who released the girl or was this little girl really alienated from Yao Niang?
"Don't be afraid, little girl. Tell me what happened."
Hongxiang told how Zhang Ying entered the Imperial Cavalry Division and how she won the favor of Yao Niang, and wanted to focus on training her, but she was ignorant and refused to even have her ears pierced. Yao Niang teased her, disguised her as a little beggar, and threw her out of the Imperial Cavalry Division, ordering her to beg for food. Unexpectedly, Zhang Ying was so thick-skinned that she actually enjoyed being a beggar. Later, the Fourth Prince asked to die in the Golden Palace. It was only later that she heard that Zhang Ying actually testified for the Fourth Prince by going to the palace as a beggar...
"...Aunt Yao heard that Zhang Ying had forced Prince Huan to be punished by His Majesty in the Golden Palace. Not only did she not appreciate the master's kindness, she even cultivated Zhang Ying and took her to the training camp of the Shadow Department to focus on her training. After thinking about it, I felt that Aunt Yao's move was inappropriate, so I had no choice but to come and report to the master!" She expressed her loyalty at the right time: "Whether the master is in the Forbidden Cavalry Division or not, I will only be loyal to the master, so I dare not hide it!"
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Yuan Heng was so angry that he was shaking all over when he heard half of it. His nails dug deep into the soft quilt and he gritted his teeth, "Bitch! I treated her well, but she dared to fool me by saying one thing to my face and another behind my back!"
Hong Xiang kowtowed repeatedly: "Master, I don't know what Aunt Yao is thinking, but I am loyal to you and I can't bear to see you being deceived by Aunt Yao. Aunt Yao really shouldn't have deceived you like this..."
Yunniang walked over and helped Hongxiang up herself: "Good child, the master knows your loyalty. If you have any news about your aunt in the future, come and tell the master. The master will not treat you unfairly. You go back and continue to keep an eye on your aunt to prevent her from doing anything out of line again."
Hongxiang came out of the Grand Princess's Chuihong Palace. The phoenix-headed red jewel hairpin in her hand was hard against her palm. She walked slowly on the palace road with a sneer on her lips, thinking: Let's see who has the last laugh!
In the Chuihong Palace, after Hongxiang left, the eldest princess could no longer suppress her anger. She waved her hand and knocked over the teacup on the bedside table. The porcelain fragments and tea splashed up and wet the corner of Yunniang's skirt.
The eldest princess was still furious and still unsatisfied. She got out of bed and smashed several ornaments. Her anger finally dissipated a little, but the remaining hatred was hard to dissipate: "Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!" She felt distressed when she thought of her son: "I have raised a tiger to cause trouble. I actually raised such a treacherous servant. Not only did he refuse to help me, he even took advantage of my misfortune and stabbed me in the back!"
Her son is her eyeball. Whoever gouges out her eyeball will become her eternal enemy!
Yunniang waited until the eldest princess stopped smashing things before she went up to persuade her: "Master, calm down. If it weren't for Hongxiang, we wouldn't know that Yao Niang would do such a thing. Master, please take care of yourself, and we will make a long-term plan."
The eldest princess was so angry that she almost lost her mind, but her determination remained unchanged: "Why are we still considering the long-term plan?" She sneered: "Doesn't Yao Niang value that girl named Zhang Ying?" When she mentioned the little beggar, she was irritated and said: "First kill that girl, then accuse her of treason, and see how long she can be so proud?"
"Go call Xin Niang over and ask her to do this herself. Make sure she succeeds in one go."
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"Xin Niang?" Tang Ying leaned against Yao Niang like a boneless person, gnawing on the meat roasted by Master Fu: "Aunt, are you saying that it was Xin Niang who poisoned me?" She murmured to herself: "When did I become so important?"
Yao Niang pushed her impatiently: "Don't lean on me!" She frowned. Her years of experience as a cavalry officer had made her sense of smell very keen, and she clearly felt the approaching danger.
Not long after Tang Ying regained consciousness, she found it inappropriate to stay in Lord Fu's arms in front of the searchlight-like gazes of the rough men from the Forbidden Cavalry Division. She had no strength left, so she turned to Aunt Yao and clung to her.
Yao Niang was very skilled at doing this kind of thing, but when it was her turn to have someone stick to her, she felt very uncomfortable and tried to push them away several times but to no avail.
Tang Ying even rubbed her shoulder like a playboy: "Auntie, you smell so good."
Yao Niang slapped her on the head and said, "Sit up straight!"
Tang Ying played the victim: "I have been without a mother since I was a child. Sometimes I think my mother's body must be as fragrant and soft as this, right?"
Yao Niang had already heard about what happened in the hunting palace square, and she slapped her on the shoulder fiercely: "You damn girl! It's fun to lie to me, right? What Tang Shu's daughter? Tang Shu's daughter who saw a ghost!"
Tang Ying almost choked on the barbecue. She sat up straight involuntarily and said with a wry smile, "Aunt is really well-informed. You found out so quickly? This is not... At that time, 'I' was still living in the Second Prince's mansion. You said that another Tang Ying appeared out of thin air. It doesn't sound real. What if you don't believe it?" She offered the half-eaten venison with both hands, "Aunt, please eat!"
"Do you want me to eat your saliva?" Yao Niang was both angry and amused, and pinched her face hard: "The little girl is quite smart. She opened her heart and soul and offered all her secrets to me without even meeting anyone!" If those who do this job are not careful, they are in danger of losing their heads at any time.
Tang Ying blinked her eyes and pretended to be pitiful with heartache and guilt: "Aunt loves me, I didn't want to hide it from you!" She frowned, stopped eating the venison, and said sadly: "But I am isolated and helpless, without any relatives. If I tell everyone who I am, people might think I am jealous of the wealth that others' fathers and brothers have earned with their lives. It is better to hide it for the time being and wait for the opportunity..." She really had no choice.
Yao Niang has lived most of her life without control, and she has a deep understanding of the word "forced to do so". The force of the pat on her shoulder turned into a gentle caress: "Hey, you little girl, you have a miserable life too!" Although she was born into a loyal and good family, her family was broken up and she drifted to the capital alone, and her identity was replaced by someone else. She is already miserable enough without even having to play the victim!
"Eat, eat. You're a little girl, you should have some flesh to look good!" She rubbed the red spot she pinched, then changed direction and bombarded: "Is this how Master Fu takes care of Yingying?"
Master Fu, who was focused on grilling meat and feeding the fish: "..."
"This girl is so stupid. Since you transferred her from me, she didn't even have a full meal, and she almost lost her life! If you can't protect her, let her come back as soon as possible. I have a lot of things waiting for her to do."
Master Fu: “…”
Liu Zhong and the others from the Forbidden Cavalry Division were first frightened by Tang Ying's poisoning, and then they saw the tigress show her power with their own eyes. While watching the show, they were afraid that the war would spread to them and they would be implicated, so they carefully moved to a farther place and huddled together to whisper.
"Guess, will Lord Fu release them?"
"How about a bet?"
"Come on, let's place the next bet. Sir Liu, do you want to place the bet or not?"
“No, no, no!”
"I'll buy it!"
"Hurry up and place your bets..."
Tang Ying listened to the group of people betting recklessly, feeling uncomfortable being sandwiched between Master Fu and Aunt Yao. She suddenly raised her voice and said, "Master Liu, lend me some money to buy a bet too!"
Liu Zhong: “Ah——”
A group of people looked over in surprise, and when they met Lord Fu's warning gaze, they suddenly scattered like birds and beasts and went into their respective tents.
"It's getting late, so go to bed quickly. You have to take turns on duty tomorrow."
"Hey, this is my tent. You've entered the wrong one..."
"It's cold, can't we two brothers sleep together in each other's arms?"
Immediately afterwards, a person was kicked out of the tent, and the person inside cursed: "Take him home and take his wife..."
The camp was lively for a moment, but soon became quiet again.
Yao Niang rubbed Tang Ying's head and said, "It's not easy for you, little girl." It was not easy to crawl out of the hell on earth alive, and she stepped into the muddy pond of the Forbidden Cavalry Division. "Don't come back recently, follow Master Fu."
"aunt--"
Aunt Yao: "You will live and eat with Master Fu." She glanced at the largest tent in the camp: "Master Fu's tent is big enough to accommodate two people. Don't be so hypocritical. Your life is more important!" She stood up and brushed off the grass on her skirt: "I still have to report to His Majesty. There is someone trying to poison the loyal and good people. This matter cannot be let go no matter what."
Fu Chen's eyes flickered: "Since someone wants Yingying to die, why not..."
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The next day, Chuihong Palace received news that Tang Yao's daughter, who had just proved her identity, had been poisoned.
The eldest princess had not attended the night banquet and did not know about the dispute over prey in the square. When she heard the news, she felt sorry for the second prince: "The second son's wife died before he even got married." The child was filial. After Huan Yanbo was exiled, he came to visit the patient from time to time. Even when he came to the hunting palace, he did not forget her health and asked people to send her several baskets of silver charcoal, for fear that she would catch a cold.
She would never lack silver charcoal.
