Chapter 38

Mu Yuanzhi said: "Don't rush; if I haven't returned after two hours, then you can go."

Understood, master!

Mu Yuanzhi brought only the servant Hongdou with her to Changle Palace, but even Hongdou was stopped upon arrival.

The palace where she used to live now belongs to Pei Yunxi; things have changed, and it's not just the palace that's different.

Mu Yuanzhi didn't linger; guided by a servant of Changle Palace, she went to Pei Yunxi's bedchamber.

There were many people.

The emperor, the Virtuous Consort, and several princes need not be mentioned; all the consorts from every palace arrived, along with the physicians of the Imperial Medical Institute, and even the vast bedchamber was packed to the rafters.

Not long ago, Mu Yuanzhi herself had experienced such a scene of being surrounded like stars around the moon; back then she suffered a relentless fever, the emperor skipped morning court and stayed by her side day after day, and the Virtuous Consort personally attended to her without even changing clothes—but times have changed, and those days are now beyond reach.

Before Mu Yuanzhi could even begin her formal greetings, the emperor hastily beckoned: "Yuanzhi, come quickly and see your sister—she's been poisoned."

"Yes." Mu Yuanzhi replied respectfully and approached, only then seeing Pei Yunxi surrounded by people, seated on the bed.

She looked worse than usual.

Seeing her arrive, Pei Shangling reluctantly shifted aside just enough to let her pass, his whole body on high alert, as if fearing she might harm Pei Yunxi, he stared at her intently.

"Sister Yuanzhi has arrived." Pei Yunxi's eyes filled with hope; she pulled her hand, tightly held by the Virtuous Consort, and eagerly handed it to Mu Yuanzhi: "Sister, you understand medicine and poison best—you can surely help me detoxify, right?"

Mu Yuanzhi said nothing; she sat down to take the pulse, and indeed she was poisoned.

She raised an eyebrow, then drew a drop of Pei Yunxi's blood with a silver needle; during this, she could hear everyone gasp, and immediately felt a prickling sensation on her back, as if several sharp gazes were like knives, while Pei Shangling clenched his fists, poised to act.

So nervous? She always tests poison this way; they're not unaware of that.

Mu Yuanzhi lifted the silver needle stained with a drop of Pei Yunxi's blood into the sunlight, and, combining it with her pulse diagnosis, reached the same conclusion: "It is indeed the toxin of the Southern Border Red Spider."

The Virtuous Consort's heart leapt into her throat as she urged Mu Yuanzhi: "Zhi'er, hurry and help your sister detoxify!"

Others also chimed in, urging her to detoxify quickly, confident she had a solution, and they lavished praise on her genius without restraint.

It seemed that whether she was a genius or a mediocrity depended on how she treated Pei Yunxi.

"Mother Consort, Father Emperor, it's not that I don't want to detoxify my younger sister, but this poison has no antidote, and I have never studied it before." Mu Yuanzhi said this frankly while looking at the Virtuous Consort and the Emperor.

Upon hearing this, the emperor's eyes grew unusually deep, his aura dropped sharply, and his voice turned several degrees colder: "So you're saying you have no way?"

"Even sister can't detoxify it?" Pei Yunxi burst into tears, crying, "What should I do? Xi'er doesn't want to die; she hasn't yet had the chance to be filial to Father Emperor and Mother Consort, nor spent much time with her brothers..."

"Really no way? Or are you trying to bargain for something?" Pei Shangling didn't believe it at all, exclaiming, "Your poison research is supposed to be unparalleled—you recognize this poison, yet you can't solve it?!"

His words made the surrounding atmosphere turn strange, as if everyone agreed with Pei Shangling's view.

Mu Yuanzhi was about to speak when Pei Shangjue interjected: "Since you haven't researched it before, if you start now, how long will it take?"

"Exactly, little sister Zhi, you're so smart—you'll surely figure out the antidote soon, right?" Pei Shangyan chimed in, looking at Mu Yuanzhi.

Mu Yuanzhi said: "I dare not guarantee it."

Who could guarantee that? Nothing is foolproof, let alone an antidote that no one has ever researched before.

Hearing her words, Pei Yunxi cried even harder, breaking many hearts, and Pei Shangling wished he could immediately take the poison upon himself.

Take the poison? Pei Shangling had a flash of inspiration, grabbing Mu Yuanzhi's wrist: "When you research antidotes, you always test poison on yourself to quickly and precisely find the cure—this time will be no different, hurry!"

Pei Shangling was right; she often did this—by poisoning herself, the various bodily reactions told her clearly what medicine to use.

His several brothers had harshly criticized her for this, forbidding her to continue risking her body; at that time Pei Yunxi had not yet appeared, and it was the first time she had seen her brothers so angry, but she also knew they were doing it out of concern for her, so she promised she would never do it again.

Pei Shangling also said that if it really wasn't possible, he would let himself be her guinea pig for testing medicine, unwilling to let her suffer even a bit.

Now Pei Shangling is the first to break their pact, and Pei Shangyan and Pei Shangjue also look at her; though they say nothing, their eyes convey everything.

The emperor listened to Pei Shangling's words, and without waiting for Mu Yuanzhi's assent, he nodded immediately: "If there's a way, then good—Yuanzhi, Father Emperor believes you can certainly save Xi'er."

"Zhi'er, hurry up and act—look at how your sister is tormented by the poison, she's worn out to this state." The Virtuous Consort said, tears streaming as she spoke, then gripped Pei Yunxi's hand tightly, mother and daughter gazing at each other in tears.

Pei Yunxi, as always, expressed her kindness: "But isn't this too dangerous? If sister can't detoxify it, then we'd have two people poisoned."

Indeed, risking everything for someone like Pei Yunxi, Mu Yuanzhi is unwilling; she wouldn't be so foolish as to poison herself just forfeit herself just for a woman who caused her miserable death—whoever wants to try, let them try!

She was about to speak when Pei Shangling said: "Having both of them poisoned is certainly not worthwhile; why not transfer the younger sister's poison over, so that only one person is poisoned?"

Mu Yuanzhi snapped her head up to look at Pei Shangling, astonished that he would say such a thing! What a ruthless heart!

"Is the Fourth Prince suggesting a blood transfusion?" the elderly physician exclaimed, face full of shock: "Absolutely not! It's too dangerous—if mishandled, the person receiving the blood could lose their life!"

Pei Shangling dismissed the concern: "With so many physicians present, and Mu Yuanzhi herself being a master of poison medicine, where's the danger? Besides, the poison is in the younger sister, whose frail body could hardly bear it, whereas Mu Yuanzhi is accustomed to testing poison on herself and is robust—better to have one person poisoned than two; we might as well exchange all the blood, which could perhaps lead to a faster, better discovery of the antidote."

That reasoning made sense; the other physicians of the Imperial Medical Institute nodded in agreement, noting that although blood exchange is risky, it is also an extraordinary medical measure—with so many physicians on hand, surely they could manage a single exchange without failure.

Pei Shangjue raised a question: "If we're going to exchange blood anyway, why must it be Yuanzhi specifically?"

"Second brother, you wouldn't think that just any random person's blood of unknown origin is suitable to transfuse to little sister, would you? Besides, where would we find someone on short notice? Naturally, the readily available Mu Yuanzhi would be better, and what if little sister's toxins aren't completely cleared? In the end, we'd still have to have Mu Yuanzhi test the poison on herself to develop an antidote!" Pei Shangling said in a matter-of-fact tone.