Chapter 638 Detoxification

Chapter 638: Detoxification

Inside the hall, the atmosphere was thick as congealed ink—oppressive and dark.

Xingxing and the imperial physicians rushed around in the inner chamber, testing various medicines using Empress Nie’s blood to see which would work best.

In the end, it was Xingxing who proposed a formula, using Tianshan snow lotus as the primary catalyst to cleanse the poison from Empress Nie’s body.

At this moment, the frantic, blood-curdling pleas of Li Concubine pierced through from outside the palace walls. Her voice rang out, raw with anguish: “Your Majesty, please see the truth! Ming Yi is only eleven—how could she ever plot with assassins to harm you?”

After the assassin’s scheme was exposed, the commander of the guards had swiftly gone backstage and dragged Princess Ming Yi away.

When she was taken, Ming Yi was still in a daze.

Upon hearing the news, Li Concubine was so terrified her legs gave way beneath her, and she scrambled over on hands and knees in panic.

But when she arrived, Ming Yi was already kneeling in the outer hall, while Li Concubine fared worse—she was stopped at the entrance and barred from entering.

Casting aside all an imperial concubine’s decorum, Li Concubine immediately knelt down, her forehead smacking the flagstones again and again, her cries filled with despair as she begged Emperor Jiazheng to spare Princess Ming Yi.

—She had heard along the way that the emperor had already ordered the guard commander to launch a full investigation across the palace. None of the ministers’ female relatives present at tonight’s banquet were allowed to leave. Anyone even slightly suspicious would be arrested on the spot!

Heads would roll!

Li Concubine was paralyzed with fear.

Her voice had grown hoarse from crying, and the pain from her repeated knocks left her trembling, but she dared not stop.

Ming Yi, kneeling in the outer hall, was also petrified.

Before entering the inner chamber, her father had cast her a cold glance, vowing that if so much as a hair on Empress Nie’s head was harmed, and if Ming Yi was involved, he would have her buried alive with the Empress!

Ming Yi had never seen such ferocity in her father before. Terrified, she dissolved into sobs. And with the sound of her mother’s desperate wailing growing louder outside, the young girl couldn’t bear it any longer—she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

The imperial physicians were all occupied treating Empress Nie’s poisoning inside, and the palace maids stood paralyzed, not daring to breathe.

It was Eunuch Hong, one of Emperor Jiazheng’s attendants, who finally took pity. He had someone carry the unconscious Princess Ming Yi aside, then stepped outside to speak to Li Concubine, whose forehead was now bruised and bleeding from her relentless knocking:

“Lady Li, your wailing out here does no good—His Majesty is deep inside, tending to the Empress. He can’t hear you. But Ming Yi, being filial, is distressed by your cries. Look what’s happened—she’s fainted. For her sake, please stop.”

Hearing that Ming Yi had fainted, Li Concubine panicked and tried to rush into the hall. Eunuch Hong was startled and quickly had her restrained. “Heavens, Lady Li! You’ll only make things worse for the princess!”

With no options left, Li Concubine fell apart, sobbing uncontrollably. She even tried to kneel before Eunuch Hong. “Eunuch Hong, please help my daughter and me!”

Startled again, Eunuch Hong quickly had her pulled back up. “Lady Li, you’ll ruin me! Don’t panic. The Empress is under heaven’s protection—she’ll pull through. Once the Emperor calms down, things will improve. But if you keep this up now, it’ll look like you’re strong-arming His Majesty. If he doesn’t hear you now, that’s fine—but if he comes out and hears this later, it won’t end well.”

Tears streaming down her face, Li Concubine was at a loss. “Then… what should I do? What does Ming Yi know? She’s just a child…”

Eunuch Hong offered her one piece of advice: “Do nothing. Just wait. As the saying goes, both thunder and rain are signs of the sovereign’s grace.” *(Footnote: Accepting both punishment and favor as decrees from above.)*

Li Concubine sobbed harder. “But Ming Yi is still unconscious in there…”

Eunuch Hong had only paused briefly to offer guidance. Seeing how distraught and helpless she remained, he lost patience. “That’s all I can say!”

With that, Eunuch Hong hurried back inside. Li Concubine swiped at her tears, disheveled but determined, taking his words to heart. She dared not cry anymore, and knelt upright in silence.

Inside, Xingxing exhaled quietly when the faint, anguished cries from outside finally ceased.

For now, the Emperor’s mind was fully consumed by Empress Nie’s poisoning—he might not have heard. But if he did catch wind of that weeping later, in his current state, he might very well have the offender beheaded then and there for cursing the Empress with their wails.

Emperor Jiazheng’s face was as pale as the poisoned, unconscious Empress Nie.

He sat by her bedside, holding her hand, and asked Xingxing, "...When will the Empress wake up? Didn’t you already give her the antidote?"

His voice no longer carried the tone of a lofty emperor, but that of a husband deeply concerned for his wife.

Xingxing reassured him, "Your Majesty, please don’t worry. Her Majesty just took the antidote with Tianshan snow lotus as the main ingredient. Her pulse should stabilize in about fifteen minutes. But she won’t wake up before tomorrow at the earliest."

Emperor Jiazheng silently nodded.

Eunuch Hong personally brought a cup of hot tea to the Emperor. "Your Majesty, please have some water."

The Emperor didn’t respond, still holding Empress Nie’s hand. After a while, he gently slipped her hand under the silk covers, carefully adjusted the blanket, then softly patted her hand.

Only then did he take the tea from Eunuch Hong, drank two sips, handed it back, and resumed sitting beside the Empress’s bed.

Exactly fifteen minutes later, as Xingxing had predicted, the unconscious Empress Nie’s pulse steadied. The kneeling court physicians burst into tears of relief. "Your Majesty, the Empress is out of danger. She is safe now."

"Good," Emperor Jiazheng said, finally standing up, his expression composed. Yet, as he took a step forward, he stumbled. If not for Eunuch Hong’s quick reaction, he would have fallen.

Eunuch Hong exclaimed in alarm, "Your Majesty, are you all right?"

The Emperor gave a faint smile. "The Empress is safe, Old Hong. Did you hear? The Empress is safe."

Tears welled in Eunuch Hong’s eyes. "Yes, yes, this old servant heard. The Empress is blessed by the heavens—how could anything happen to her?"

Emperor Jiazheng gave a faint laugh.

He stood motionless for a moment, then suddenly seemed to remember something, and his face turned cold. "Have they caught the assassins yet?"

Eunuch Hong replied carefully, "The Imperial Guard Commander is still investigating..."

"And what about the Eldest Princess?"

Eunuch Hong answered even more cautiously, "The Eldest Princess... fainted earlier..."

The Emperor snapped, "How dare she faint!"

Xingxing spoke softly, "Your Majesty, the assassin’s methods were unusual, and the poison was strange—it didn’t resemble anything from Great Xia. There's more going on here."

At this moment, the Emperor was willing to listen to Xingxing’s words.

He nodded coldly. "Xingxing, you understand that poison better than most. Earlier, thanks to your warning, your elder brother reacted in time and prevented the assassin’s blade from striking the Empress’s vitals. You will accompany me to the outer hall to question that treacherous daughter!"

Xingxing curtsied in acknowledgment.

Emperor Jiazheng, radiating cold anger, marched into the outer hall.

The vast outer hall was empty except for guards and palace maids. Only one figure knelt trembling on the floor—Ming Yi, who had just regained consciousness.

Ming Yi was still young, just eleven years old.

When she saw the Emperor emerge, she didn’t even dare cry out loud, managing only a shaky kowtow. "Father... your daughter did not conspire with the assassins. How could I ever dare..."

The Emperor said nothing, merely staring coldly at his kneeling daughter.

He was an emperor. Before ascending the throne, he had stood side by side with Empress Nie through many years, never taking another wife.

But his father had handed him a failing empire ravaged by natural disasters.

In order to balance the various factions, he had no choice but to use the imperial harem to stabilize the court, lest human strife compound the natural disasters, leaving Great Xia’s people utterly without hope.

Ming Yi was born under such circumstances.

At the time of her birth, apart from the eldest and third princes born to Empress Nie, there were also the fourth and fifth princes.

Ming Yi was Emperor Jiazheng’s first daughter.

Logically, Emperor Jiazheng should have doted on her.

But in reality, Emperor Jiazheng seemed to treat all the imperial children not born to Empress Nie with equal detachment.

It wasn’t that he was unkind, but compared to the Crown Prince and the third prince, the affection Ming Yi and the others received felt like leftovers.

From a young age, Ming Yi was constantly reminded by her mother, Li Xiurong, to please Emperor Jiazheng and win his approval.

Yet, no matter how hard she tried, the young Ming Yi found she never measured up to the Crown Prince or the third prince in her father’s heart.

Her father would gift her jewelry and precious fabrics, but he would never hoist her onto his shoulders to fly kites.

No one knew that when she was three, she once fell ill with fever after catching a glimpse in the imperial gardens of her distant, unapproachable father—who, in front of the third prince, became an ordinary father chasing his son with a feather duster across half the garden.

She burned with envy.

Ming Yi yearned for Emperor Jiazheng’s affection.

But now, as Emperor Jiazheng stared coldly at her, she felt nothing but icy dread, fighting back tears as she kowtowed frantically to prove her innocence.

Emperor Jiazheng frowned. “Enough! Why are you just like your mother, kowtowing at every crisis? You are my princess, the highest-born maiden of Great Xia! If you did it, admit it. If not, then say so!”

Ming Yi trembled violently, rooted to the spot, her head bowed low, her spine nearly bent double. “Father… I didn’t do it!”

“Then how did that assassin disguise herself as you, take the stage to perform, and attempt to kill us?!” Emperor Jiazheng recalled the moment Empress Nie shielded him, and a chill ran through him. His voice dripped ice as he interrogated Ming Yi.

Ming Yi shook even harder. “I—I swear I don’t know. It was Jin Baolin! Jin Baolin!... I sprained my ankle yesterday and couldn’t perform, but I was so desperate to delight you with the dance, so... so I listened to Jin Baolin’s suggestion and let one of her palace maids don my costume and veil in my place... I really didn’t know... I didn’t..."

She couldn’t continue. She shook like a leaf, trembling uncontrollably.

Emperor Jiazheng’s gaze was icy, his face a mask, unreadable.

He ordered Xingxing to check Ming Yi’s foot to confirm if she had indeed sprained it.

Xingxing stepped forward. No close inspection was needed—as soon as Ming Yi’s skirt was lifted, the swollen ankle beneath her stocking was clearly visible.

For thoroughness, Xingxing gently pressed the area, and Ming Yi hissed in pain, too afraid to move.

Xingxing confirmed it was indeed a sprain, inflamed and swollen.

At that moment, the Imperial Guard Commander rushed in to report that they had traced the matter to Jin Baolin, who had hanged herself, leaving behind a suicide note.

The note stated that she despised Great Xia and even more so Xidi, which had sent her to be a plaything, ensuring she and her beloved could never meet again in this life.

If the assassination succeeded, dragging Emperor Jiazheng to hell with her, she’d come out ahead.

If it failed, the breach between Emperor Jiazheng and Xidi would still be a victory.

At the end of the letter, Jin Baolin also wrote that she had planted a "gift" for Consort Bai’s unborn child.

After reading the letter, Emperor Jiazheng was furious. “Hack Jin Baolin’s corpse to pieces and throw it into the unmarked graves!”

He took a deep breath and, with a stern expression, ordered someone to summon Consort Bai.

"Both are royal hostages from Xidi..." Emperor Jiazheng's face darkened.

When Consort Bai arrived, she acted as she normally did, even feigning coyness and clinging to Emperor Jiazheng.

Emperor Jiazheng coldly pushed her aside and hurled the letter at her face.

Upon seeing it, Consort Bai trembled violently and immediately knelt before Emperor Jiazheng, weeping, "Your Majesty, please see the truth! This concubine has had nothing to do with that wretched Jin Baolin and knows nothing of her schemes! Your Majesty, please believe me!"

Yet no matter how much Consort Bai pleaded, Emperor Jiazheng only stared at her coldly.

Suddenly, Consort Bai seemed to recall something, clutching her stomach in pain. "...Your Majesty, that vile Jin Baolin said she sent some supposed 'gift' to this concubine's belly... I—I feel such pain..."

Seeing that her distress appeared genuine, Emperor Jiazheng turned to Xingxing. "Xingxing, go check on her."

Xingxing obeyed and stepped forward to take Consort Bai's pulse.

The moment she did, Xingxing's expression changed.

"...Consort Bai, have you eaten or drunk anything suspicious?" Xingxing asked.

Consort Bai, her face ghostly pale from pain, gasped, "...Earlier... Jin Baolin gave me a bowl of sweet soup... something I loved back in Xidi..."

Xingxing nodded and told Emperor Jiazheng, "The poison in Consort Bai matches the one that afflicted Empress Nie."

Blood mixed with her tears as they streamed down Consort Bai's face. Collapsing onto the floor, she reached out toward Emperor Jiazheng. "Your Majesty... this concubine's... this concubine's child..."

Seeing the woman who carried his child in such agony, Emperor Jiazheng's heart softened. He sighed and asked Xingxing if any of the antidote prepared for Empress Nie remained.

The palace never lacked Tianshan snow lotus, so Xingxing nodded and had someone prepare another dose immediately.

"Consort Bai took the poison orally, so its effects were slower than those in Empress Nie," Xingxing explained. "But the child in her womb... I'm afraid we can't save it."