Chapter 344

The sharp porcelain fragments were embedded in the flesh like that. The blood-stained hands were painful just to look at. This woman seemed to feel it was not enough, and her slender fingers kept grabbing tightly, as if she wanted to sink all those porcelain fragments into her flesh before she would be satisfied. With Qingfeng's struggle, blood soon splashed all over the floor. Ming Ze was completely enraged by her, shouting coldly: "Your son is already dead. Even if you drain all your blood and torture yourself to death, he will not come back to life."

Your son is already dead...

Dead...

The angry voice scolded in her ears. The facts that she had long known but was unwilling to believe, mixed with fear and despair, surged into her heart. Qingfeng's stiff body finally stopped struggling, and she was so weak that she almost fell to the ground. Ming Ze was quick-eyed and fast-handed, wrapping one arm around her waist to slow down the speed of her fall, and the other hand quickly dug out the fragments in her two hands and threw them into the corner of the wall.

Qingfeng sat paralyzed on the ground, curling up her body. She felt very cold, as if her whole body were immersed in ice water. She wished she could sink into the darkness at once and never wake up. But her brain was unusually clear, remembering everything that happened today, remembering Zhi'er's giggling laughter, remembering his sweet smile, and also remembering his blue-purple face, and even more remembering his ice-cold hands!

Zhi'er, are you also as cold as mother now? Mother wants to accompany you so much!

Qingfeng sat woodenly on the ground, her hands tightly wrapping around her knees. The unstoppable blood dripped onto the ground along her fingertips, and tears climbed all over her face silently, sliding down without a sound. Watching her heartbroken appearance, Ming Ze did not regret the words he had just said, but he truly felt the taste of heartache. He reached out his hand wanting to help her up, but stopped the moment he touched her shoulder.

Fuling found the medicine and cotton cloth and returned, seeing her mistress sitting on the ground quietly with her body curled up, and Ming Ze's two hands hanging by his sides, but he was extremely close to her, protecting her within the reach of his embrace. In the night, one could not see their expressions clearly, but in those eyes that were always indifferent in her view, there was clearly hidden heartache and pity?! Fuling froze there, he...

Just when Fuling was at a loss, the door of Qingfeng Palace was pushed open forcefully from the outside, and the door slammed against the wall with a 'bang', showing how great the person's strength was.

Fuling hurriedly retreated two steps and looked out from the half-open room door. With just one look, Fuling was so frightened that her eyes widened. The person who came was... the Emperor?!

In front of the dark courtyard, the Emperor was in a black robe that almost blended into the night, his footsteps fast. The Emperor actually came alone, with no eunuchs following behind, no Imperial Physician, and even the Chief Steward Gao who was often by the Emperor's side was not seen. Fuling was suspicious and uncertain in her heart, and suddenly thought of the two people in the inner chamber. If the Emperor saw them leaning like this...

Fuling's heart jumped wildly. She ran quickly to the inner chamber, ignoring everything else, and hugged Qingfeng into her arms. Just before the door was pushed open, Fuling pushed Ming Ze aside and said loudly: "Mistress, this servant will bandage your wound."

The inner chamber was gray and dark. Qingfeng's long hair was disheveled behind her, and she was sitting on the ground barefoot, wearing only inner garments. Her sleeves and knees were all stained with blood. In the small inner chamber, there were bloodstains everywhere. After that tall figure entered, he did not say a word. No one in the room would mistake his anger. Those deep and unpredictable black eyes were tightly locked on Qingfeng. Because of this terrifying anger, Fuling's hand holding the medicine bottle trembled uncontrollably. Seeing her clumsy appearance, Yan Hongtian's face became even more gloomy.

"Get out! All of you get out of here."

Fuling did not dare to look at Yan Hongtian and dared not stay any longer. She placed the medicine to stop the bleeding and the cotton cloth on the low cabinet. When passing by Ming Ze, seeing that he was actually still stunned there, she grabbed his sleeve and pulled him out together.

Hurriedly closing the room door, Fuling's wildly jumping heart finally eased a bit. After finally calming down, looking back, Ming Ze was no longer behind her. He was still standing in the position he usually stood. His hands were also covered in blood, not knowing if it was the mistress's, or if he had also injured his hands when snatching the fragments. Fuling wanted to go over and ask him, but the arrogant aura he exuded made it impossible for people to get close, and those eyes also returned to their usual indifference.

Fuling looked at Ming Ze, then looked at the inner room, lost in thought.

Just now... did she see it wrong?

In the inner chamber, Qingfeng was still squatting on the ground like that, her head leaning against her knees, as if there were only her left in the room. Yan Hongtian walked to Qingfeng's side, his tall figure squatting beside her. Qingfeng's thin body was immediately shrouded in darkness, and Yan Hongtian's breath surrounded her. Qingfeng, who had been indifferent, suddenly moved, raised her head slightly, and after seeing clearly that black robe, lowered her head again.

Her palms were bloody, and blood was still dripping onto the ground along her fingertips. Yan Hongtian grabbed her wrists. He thought Qingfeng would struggle, or bite him fiercely like she did this afternoon, but she did not.

She let him bandage her wounds, let him carry her onto the bed, pinched her chin to lift her face, and forced her to look at him.

The candlelight reflected from outside the screen. Yan Hongtian stood in front of the bed like this, with his back to the candlelight, and she could not see his face.

"Zhi'er is dead." A hoarse voice said calmly.

Yan Hongtian's back stiffened, and his hand pinching her chin tightened. After a long time, he was heard saying "Mm".

"Zhi'er is dead!" Every word seemed to jump out from between her teeth. Qingfeng reached out, grabbed his collar tightly, stared at the face she could not see clearly in the darkness, and asked word by word: "Didn't you say he would be fine? Didn't you say you would protect us? He is dead..."

"You liar! Liar! Liar..." The questions and Qingfeng's crying echoed in his ears over and over again. This night, Qingfeng grabbed his collar tightly, buried her face deep in his arms, and for the first time, cried out in pain. The constantly trembling body and the hot tears transmitted the bone-corroding pain wave after wave. Yan Hongtian stood straight, listening and enduring.

"Who told you to kill that child?"

In a dark, narrow alley, a young man stood in the depths of the alley. The azure-blue gorgeous clothes set off the man's nobility, and the deliberately lowered voice was full of anger. Beside him stood a black shadow, who was covered from head to toe in a pure black cloak. Hearing the man's reprimand, a slender hand stretched out from the cloak, lifted it lightly, and revealed a fair face. It was a woman's face.

The woman raised her head slightly; it was actually the Empress's personal female official—Shui Xin. Under the cover of the black cloak, she lacked the gentleness and dignity seen by everyone in the Imperial Palace, and had a bit more ghostliness. A smile hung on the corner of her mouth, and the expression on her face was leisurely, showing no panic. "Didn't the old man say that there can only be one prince in the palace?" The clear voice carried a bit of laziness, and she did not take Xin Yiheng's anger to heart at all.

Xin Yiheng's tone became increasingly unkind, "But you have to look at the timing. If I didn't give you the order, you shouldn't have acted on your own!"

"Are you blaming me now?" Shui Xin's voice was still gentle, her eyes slightly raised. Swept by her sharp eyes, Xin Yiheng could not help but tremble, and his voice was not as strong as before: "I... didn't say that."

Looking at his appearance, Shui Xin scoffed: "Yan Hongtian has already let Dan Yulan thoroughly investigate the military grain case, clearly wanting to move your Xin family. If that child did not die, and he passed the position of Crown Prince to him, those old things in the court are all old hands at seeing which way the wind blows, and might have defected to Lou Xiyan and Su Ling. Now that the child is dead, a major threat has been reduced. I am helping you all."

Always feeling that he was being led by the nose by this woman, Xin Yiheng felt irritable in his heart and replied: "In short, Father said, don't cause any more trouble, and don't let Ning'er cause trouble either."

Don't want her to manage it? That's fine. She was waiting to see a good show. Shui Xin smiled slightly at Xin Yiheng and replied obediently for once: "Alright!" After saying this, Shui Xin did not look at Xin Yiheng again, and her slender figure soon disappeared into the depths of the alley.

Having seen this woman's methods for nearly ten years, that smile just now made his skin crawl. Xin Yiheng spat secretly. This woman was too unpredictable, and he did not know why his father was at ease using her.

After the Hai hour, the study of Lanyue Lou was brightly lit. Zhuo Qing sat alone in the study, looking at the handkerchiefs that had been cut into several pieces and neatly placed on the wooden tray on the table, lost in thought.

These past few days, Fuling had not come to find her again. Lou Xiyan said that Qingfeng woke up the second day after fainting, and then had been kneeling in Chuxiu Palace accompanying the child. The situation was unclear, and Zhuo Qing did not dare to enter the palace rashly. These past few days, she had been trying to figure out what ingredients were in the silk handkerchief containing the child's saliva, but there were no reagents or equipment here, and the difficulty was really too great. She could currently confirm that there were nitrite components on the silk handkerchief, but the amount was not large. There was nitrite in the child's mouth, so the possibility of death by poisoning was greatly increased, but that amount should not be fatal, and she could not test for other components at this moment.

That bowl of medicine might be the key. If she could find the medicine dregs...

Zhuo Qing was thinking when a weight suddenly fell on her shoulder. Zhuo Qing came back to her senses and looked up. Lou Xiyan was looking at her with a smile, with a bit of blame in his eyes. Zhuo Qing shrugged. People here went to sleep at about eight o'clock in the evening, and for her, it was too difficult to go to sleep so early.

Zhuo Qing stood up, held the slightly cold hand placed on her shoulder, and said a bit aggrievedly: "I really can't sleep..."

Lou Xiyan shook his head helplessly, no longer talking about her, and took out a dark-colored token from his bosom and handed it to her.

"This is?" This token was larger than the one Qingfeng gave her, and the carved patterns seemed to be more exquisite and detailed.

"A token given by the Emperor, allowing you to enter the palace once every three days to accompany Qingfeng."

This was also good. At least she could go and see how Qingfeng was doing. If possible, she could also go to the Imperial Medical Garden.

Thinking of the Imperial Medical Garden, Zhuo Qing pulled Lou Xiyan to the table, pointed to the silk handkerchief on the table whose color had changed after some experiments, and said: "Xiyan, come and see. There is indeed poison on the silk handkerchief. The cause of the child's death is definitely suspicious. Can we..."

(End of chapter)