Chapter 240: Night Journey
The hem of the mourning clothes lifted, stirring a scent of Suxin Orchid Incense, which, mixed with the stench of the prison, evoked a strange sense of compassion.
“Who harmed you, and why did your hair turn white overnight?”
Xue Sui really wanted to laugh.
Was this what they called crocodile tears?
She twitched the corners of her lips, slowly raising her head, coughing, her whites of the eyes filled with bloodshot veins.
“Your Highness doesn’t know? The medicine I take daily, isn’t it all carefully prepared by Your Highness’s people?”
Li Huan’s pupils contracted sharply.
The myriad silver strands before his eyes made his own eyes ache.
“Chen Henian! Summon Chen Henian to see this prince…”
He flicked his sleeve to call for someone, and in a few swift movements, unlocked the iron chain on Xue Sui’s wrist.
Amidst the clatter, there was a tremor that he himself hadn’t noticed.
Chen Henian rushed over, stumbling, his entire body hunched like a shrimp. He knelt on the ground to feel her pulse. The moment his fingertips touched the warmth of Xue Sui’s wrist, his whole body trembled slightly.
“Prince… Prince…”
Cold sweat beaded on the old medical officer’s forehead. He turned and prostrated himself on the ground.
“Consort Xue has cold poison that has entered her marrow and already invaded her heart. I fear it is beyond medical help…”
Li Huan’s pupils contracted, and he grabbed Chen Henian by the collar.
“Didn’t you swear that following the prescription would remove the cold poison…”
His voice was terrifyingly cold, his fingertips gripping the medical officer’s neck, “Speak, who told you to poison her?”
“Prince, Prince, spare my life… This subordinate did not poison her…”
Medical Officer Chen was so terrified his liver and gall bladder trembled.
The scattered medicinal dregs on the ground had clumped together.
These were from the prescription he had personally supervised boiling yesterday, and now they were mixed with strange black blood.
“This subordinate has dedicated his life to healing the sick and has never dared to violate medical ethics and conscience!”
Before he finished speaking, the sound of porcelain shattering suddenly came from a corner.
“What dedication to healing? Nonsense!” Xiao Zhao, with red eyes, pointed at Medical Officer Chen’s nose and angrily cursed, her neck stiff.
“The old man surnamed Wang who came to feel my pulse a few days ago, I should have sensed something was wrong! All of you royals are like man-eating devils who don’t spit out bones…”
“Xiao Zhao…”
Xue Sui gently shook her head. Her white hair was lifted by the draft, overlapping with her shadow on the stone wall, like winter snow falling on black silk, her skin tinged with a deathly gray.
“Don’t speak nonsense. Imperial Physician Wang is favored by the Empress Dowager. He often came from the inner palace to feel pulses before, how could he do such a wicked thing?”
Chen Henian lowered his head even further.
Li Huan’s gaze sharpened. As if realizing something, he bent down, took her hand, and his voice suddenly softened.
“I will definitely seek justice for you…”
Xue Sui turned her head to avoid his support, shrinking back half an inch against the stone wall. Her voice was as light as snow falling on plum branches.
“Your Highness, don’t overact… cough cough… there are no ears from the Censorate in this dungeon…”
Xue Yuechen stepped forward, supporting her pregnant belly, a gentle smile on her lips.
“Sixth Sister, His Highness is just worried about you…”
“I don’t need it…”
Before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by a heart-wrenching cough.
Li Huan could no longer hold back. He pulled off his cloak and wrapped her in his arms.
The jailer raised the lantern.
The bright light illuminated blood-stained writing on the stone wall—an unfinished poem, written by an unknown hand…
“The grass grows through the thorns, the vines creep through the fields. My beloved is not here, with whom can I alone survive…”
Li Huan’s heart suddenly ached.
He remembered his Imperial Mother’s appearance before her death. Her eyes were unfocused, she vomited black blood, and her fingernails dug into her flesh, yet she wouldn’t let go.
The white banners in Rui Jin Hall were also like that, as white as her hair, glaringly so. His Imperial Mother, though wearing bright lipstick, couldn’t hide her bruised lips. Her swollen and deformed face beneath the burial clothes was as pale as paper. On her head was the Phoenix Crown she wanted most, yet it could only sink into the coffin along with glory and wealth…
That was what death looked like.
Death would take everything…
He clenched Xue Sui’s arm in his palm, veins bulging.
“Chen Henian! What illness does Consort Xue truly have?”
“Reporting to Your Highness, it is indeed a cold…” Chen Henian’s clothes were soaked with sweat. He thought of how Wang Bo’an had come to examine Xue Sui, and the words were on the tip of his tongue, yet he still dared not speak them plainly…
“Unless… unless there was some mistake at Imperial Physician Wang’s end…”
Xue Sui gave a tragic smile, her white hair falling to cover her eyes, her voice as faint as a sigh.
“Didn’t Your Highness frame and slander me that day, wanting my life? Why are you pretending to be compassionate now?”
Before her voice faded, her eyelashes trembled, and she suddenly coughed up a mouthful of black blood.
Li Huan trembled all over, hastily using his sleeve to catch it. A black lotus bloomed on his snow-white mourning clothes.
“Exchanging my worthless life for the decline of the Eastern Palace. Your Highness’s plans were flawless…”
Xue Sui lowered her head, staring at her blood-stained fingertips, as if looking at an unimportant painting.
It hurt, yet she was calm.
“Power, the hearts of the people, imperial favor, glory, offspring—Your Highness has everything you desired. Why must you be so ruthless?”
A sudden gust of cold wind swept through the dungeon. As the oil lamp flickered, Li Huan saw the blood foam at her lips and her pupils gradually dilate. The image of Consort Xiao before her death repeatedly flashed in his mind…
Thinking that the person before him would also lie stiff and cold in a coffin like his Imperial Mother, with people powdering her face and inserting hairpins, he suddenly became overwhelmed with emotion.
“It wasn’t this prince.”
His voice hoarse, he suddenly grabbed her by the back of her neck, his fingers gripping her frail wrist bone…
He wanted to explain something, but his heart trembled as if scalded when he touched her skin.
In an instant, those meticulously planned chess games suddenly seemed ridiculous.
He had clearly intended to avenge his mother, lure Li Zhao into a trap, and use Xue Sui to solidify the charge of the Eastern Palace murdering a consort and colluding with the enemy, yet he had personally handed the poisoned dagger to the Empress Dowager…
“This prince… never intended to take your life.”
“Your Highness has won this game.” Xue Sui leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. Her silver hair spread over her shoulders like moonlight. “Using my corpse as a pretext, I can still make the court and country condemn the Crown Prince, and Your Highness can reap the benefits and win the hearts of the people under heaven…”
Having said that, she glanced at Xiao Zhao, her fingertips twitching as she reached out half an inch towards her, but then weakly dropped, curling up in the straw pile and vomiting more black blood.
Foam splattered onto her pure white hair…
Beneath her thin prisoner’s clothes, her ribs protruded, making her look pitiful.
“It’s just that this maidservant of mine, she grew up with me. She’s simple and honest, without schemes, and easily frightened. She doesn’t understand the bloody storms in the Imperial City. I beg Your Highness to spare her life. Don’t let her be buried with me…”
“Miss!” Xiao Zhao cried and rushed over, tightly gripping her blood-stained sleeve cuff. Her knees hit the ground with a dull thud.
“Even if I have to die, Xiao Zhao will die with you.”
“Don’t be foolish…”
Xue Sui raised her arm, trying to touch her face, but a brocade coin purse stained with medicine slipped out from her prisoner’s clothes…
Li Huan bent down and picked it up.
This was the very coin purse he had stuffed the jade pendant into to frame her that day.
Now, it contained a pill—dark red in color, like congealed blood.
“What is this?” Li Huan asked coldly.
“… Imperial Physician Wang sent it, saying it was the Jade Dew Pill secretly made by the Imperial Hospital… I took it for two days and felt something strange, so I kept one pill…”
Before she finished speaking, another mouthful of black blood surged into her throat.
Amidst violent coughing, she unexpectedly tilted forward, her entire body slumping onto Xiao Zhao like a puppet with a broken string…
The last syllable dissipated in her throat…
“Miss!” Xiao Zhao held Xue Sui in her arms, a sob escaping her throat.
“Your Highness…” Xue Yuechen, her face streaked with tears, also wanted to rush over to see her, but was held back tightly by Fei Cui, collapsing weakly into her arms and sobbing.
“Please trouble Your Highness to find a better Imperial Physician, don’t let Sixth Sister suffer as she leaves…”
“No need.” Li Huan suddenly pulled off his cloak, wrapped Xue Sui in it, and lifted her horizontally.
“I will personally take her to see an Imperial Physician.”
“Your Highness, you must not!” Xiang Yang hurriedly stopped him.
“Taking Consort away at this moment might lead to the crime of illegally releasing a major offender…”
Li Huan didn’t wait for him to finish, kicked open the prison door, and strode out.
The cold wind poured in along the prison corridor, making his sleeves flutter.
The woman in his arms was so light she seemed to be nothing but bones, as if she might melt into the shadow of the prison lamp at any moment.
He looked down, his jaw tight, but his voice was as steady as a rock.
“I will meet with Imperial Father and admit that I framed you with the jade pendant, and that the Qing Hui Hall case has nothing to do with the Xue Shi…”
Everyone was shocked.
The night-shift jailer stood frozen on the spot, not daring to make a sound.
Xiang Yang even knelt down with a thud, his forehead hitting the stone slab heavily.
“Your Highness, think thrice! If this matter alarms His Majesty, the consequences will be unimaginable…”
“Your Highness!” Xue Yuechen had not expected Li Huan to confess to framing at this moment, in full view of everyone.
For a moment, her throat felt a sweet, metallic taste, and she was so angry she almost fainted.
“The crime of deceiving the emperor is unforgivable by heaven and earth. Does Your Highness know that stepping out of this prison door now means eternal damnation?”
A flame of sorrow burned in her eyes as she looked at Li Huan, approaching him step by step.
“Your Highness is about to ruin your reputation. How can Imperial Consort rest in peace in the netherworld?” After speaking, she grabbed Li Huan’s hand and pressed it onto her pregnant belly.
“Your Highness, touch this. This is your own flesh and blood! Our child is not yet born, and Your Highness has already disregarded him?”
Li Huan suddenly quieted down.
Slowly, he withdrew his hand and hugged Xue Sui tighter.
“Princess Consort, move aside.”
“Unless Your Highness kills me and my unborn child first…”
Li Huan sneered and strode past her stiff arm.
“Your Highness!” Xue Yuechen grabbed his collar. Her pregnant belly showed a bulging curve beneath her plain white clothes, and tears of pain welled up in her eyes.
“If you let Sixth Sister down now, you will still be a clean Prince Duan…”
The surrounding jailers all lowered their heads, pretending not to have heard anything.
The guards, however, exchanged glances and tightened their grip on their sword hilts.
As long as Xue Sui and Xiao Zhao died, no one would know what Prince Duan had said, and the secret of the jade pendant would remain unknown…
However…
Li Huan held the unconscious Xue Sui tightly, unmoved.
“From the moment the jade pendant was placed in Qing Hui Hall, this prince was destined to be an unclean person.”
Seeing him turn to leave, Xue Yuechen suddenly pulled out the plain hairpin from her head and pressed it against her throat.
“If Your Highness insists on acting recklessly, I will spill my blood in the great prison today…”
The unfinished words finally shattered between her teeth.
Li Huan, as if he hadn’t seen her tears and pleas, strode towards the prison corridor.
A rusty taste spread in Xue Yuechen’s throat.
She watched Li Huan’s resolute retreating back, with the immaturity and impulsiveness of youth, shattering worldly rules without regard, grinding away the sharp edges of imperial power struggles, all for one woman.
That was her husband…
How could he cherish another woman so much?
Xue Yuechen sank to the ground alone, all her strength seemingly drained away…
Suddenly, the entire prison cage seemed to spin, and a sharp pain twisted her abdomen.
Even through the heavy prison doors, the sound of a heart shattering could be heard.
“Princess Consort…”
Fei Cui couldn’t support Xue Yuechen’s heavy body and shouted with a choked sob.
“Please take care of yourself, don’t hurt yourself further…”
Xue Yuechen looked at the disappearing figure with disappointment.
Suddenly, she let out a low laugh.
It turned out that the expression on his face when he rushed towards Xue Sui was the very look she had hoped for when she married into Prince Duan’s Mansion—
It was the reckless devotion of a true love.
But what her husband gave her was a sharp blade, already honed by that Imperial City, each edge carved with calculations of benefit and loss.
—
The rain fell like a curtain, shrouding the Ministry of Justice Prison in a gray haze.
Li Zhao, dressed in night-blooming clothes, stood at the alley entrance outside Bing Zi Prison, tightly holding a delicate wooden box containing the antidote secretly made by Zhang Huaicheng.
He would have to apologize to Xue Ping’an when he saw her later.
First, he would have her take the antidote and settle her on a grain transport boat. Then, whether she wanted to scold or hit him, he would let her.
He looked at the slippery wall in the rain, his eyes filled with resolute sharpness.
“Your Highness, we are ready.”
The leader of the hidden guards behind him stepped forward, his hand on his sash knife, and reported in a low voice, “The twelve guards have changed into patrol armor, and the jailers on duty are also our people.”
Guan Ya reported in a low voice, followed by several agile subordinates, each with sharp eyes, ready to act at any moment.
Li Zhao nodded and was about to step forward when he saw Yuan Cang rushing over from the end of the alley, his face pale.
“Your Highness, something is terribly wrong! Sixth Miss Xue saw through the food we prepared. She, she didn’t take the medicine, and her maidservant is fierce and is preventing the jailers from getting close…”
Li Zhao’s body trembled, and the wooden box almost slipped from his hand.
“I’ll go call her!”
He lifted the hem of his robe to leave, but Yuan Cang stopped him.
“Your Highness, there’s no time…”
His voice was low and muffled, and he dared not look at Li Zhao’s expression.
He dared not report the changes that had occurred in the dungeon to Li Zhao truthfully.
“Prince Duan suddenly came just now and took her away… To avoid further complications, we had to retreat…”
Li Zhao was struck by lightning, his mind blank for a moment.
After a long while, he slowly spoke.
“Why are you reporting this now?”
“Sixth Miss Xue was poisoned by the Snow Withering cold poison and vomited black blood…”
They had watched Li Huan go mad for Xue Sui with their own eyes. If the Crown Prince saw such a scene, he might also lose his composure and follow in Prince Duan’s footsteps.
“Minister Mei said that Prince Duan is taking her to see Wang Bo’an for treatment. Your Highness, please suppress your anger for now and plan for the long term.”
Li Zhao felt a sharp pain in his chest, as if someone had fiercely gouged out a piece of his flesh.
Snow Withering could not possibly be used by Wang Bo’an…
He would not risk the lives of his two grandsons and take such a dangerous gamble under the nose of the Eastern Palace.
The one who poisoned her could only be Xue Sui herself.
He suddenly remembered Xue Sui’s indifferent gaze that night in the prison when she pushed him away…
So she wasn’t unwilling to leave, she just didn’t want to leave with him.
She would rather choose Li Huan than trust him.
This realization was like a basin of cold water poured over his head, making him shiver.
He clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles cracking.
Guan Ya looked at Li Zhao’s tense body and dark expression, his heart aching, but he didn’t know how to comfort him…
The alley in the rain was as silent as death.
At this moment, a subordinate hurried over.
“Your Highness, we’ve found out. Prince Duan has taken Sixth Miss Xue into the palace to seek medical treatment…”
Li Zhao’s eyes sharpened, and he immediately turned.
“Return to the palace!”
Two chapters combined, see you tomorrow~
