Very quickly, the dishes were served.
“Master Fu, Miss Ling, Master Ling, please partake!” said Jiang Wuhen courteously as he raised his chopsticks. He was swallowing his saliva violently in hunger, but he could still put on his swindler act.
However, very quickly, his smile froze on his face.
“Brother Li, you…” Seeing Li Shaoqiu who was wolfing his food already, Jiang Wuhen really wanted to ask him if he had not eaten in the past three months.
“Brother Jiang, eat quickly, otherwise this meal will be an unrelated thing to you,” said Li Shaoqiu in a blurry manner with bulging cheeks as his chopsticks sped to the plates of dishes in front of him.
Jiang Wuhen acted like he had just awoken from a dream and immediately took action. It was a pity that by then, the dishes on the table were more than half empty. With a bitter look, Jiang Wuhen raised his barren chopsticks, wanting to cry but with no tears coming out.
“That second elder brother of yours is no simpleton. If he didn’t stir up trouble with today’s matters, things would not have ended with such a big scene.” After having enough wine and food, Ling Chuxi elegantly wiped her mouth and started to teach the fifth princess the machinations behind what had happened today.
“I know. Just now I should not have let him off so easily. If it were not for me taking into account my family’s reputation, I would have brutally scolded him earlier,” replied the fifth princess angrily. She was not stupid and with a little extra thought towards the matter, she could understand Fu Chengxing’s intentions.
“A dog that bites doesn’t bark,” said Ling Chuxi faintly.
“I understand. So if I want to bite, I will ruthless bite him quietly,” replied the fifth princess with a smirk.
“That’s right. If you want to bite, then keep a calm appearance and ruthlessly bite down,” said Ling Chuxi as she nodded in satisfaction and stretched out her hand to touch the fifth princess’ chin. “Come, open your mouth and let me see if your teeth are sharp.”
“Master, can we not change the way we speak about this matter?” asked the fifth princess as she opened her mouth while blinking her eyes. The more she thought about it, the more she felt it was not quite right.
“I was just giving you an example. It was you yourself who said you wanted to bite,” replied Ling Chuxi, acting as if the complaint had nothing to do with her.
The rest of the group who were watching could not help but laugh. The insolent fifth princess was forever an obedient kitten before Ling Chuxi.
…
In a capital’s stage station, Si Nanchen’s entire body was immersed in ice water. He was so cold that his lips had turned greenish purple. However, the pain and itching that felt like needles were slowly disappearing.
“Your Highness, are you all right?” a guard asked cautiously.
“Much better,” replied Si Nanchen with a cold shudder.
“Your Highness, why don’t we return to the palace first? If your sickness acts up again, how are we to explain things to the emperor?” said the guard worriedly.
“I was poisoned! Poisoned!” burst Si Nanchen so angrily that he almost leapt out of the wooden tub. These idiots. They have such strong cultivation, yet they weren’t even able to tell the difference between illness and poisoning.
“Yes, yes, I know. Your Highness was poisoned,” said the guard immediately. Yet in his heart, he digressed. After returning, all of the guards had checked a couple of times for any trace of poison, but were totally unable to find any, therefore they were even more certain the hypothesis of Si Nanchen’s hidden disease acting up, was right. It was just that Si Nanchen was unwilling to admit to it in order to protect his reputation. They never thought that the fifth highness was actually someone who had a hidden disease. How pitiful, the throne was very possibly not in the fifth highness’ fate.
“Hmph. Fu Chengyu, Fifth Princess and Ling Chuxi… How dare all of you harm me like this? I will definitely make each of you die a horrible death!” snarled Si Nanchen through gritted teeth. He could more or less tell what his guards were thinking, yet he was unable to explain clearly what was going on regarding the poisoning himself.
The guard who stood by Si Nanchen’s side heard his vengeful words and trembled. Ling Chuxi and the rest of her group had thoroughly gotten into bad blood with the fifth highness. Today, they made the fifth highness feel ashamed, so it was fearful that things would not end so easily for them.