Chapter 530: Unforeseen circumstances at the Grand Medicine Testing Convention
By revealing everything that went on behind the scenes, Head Elder Xie was completely antagonizing Jun Yixie.
Although Han Yunxi was surprised, she quickly understood that Head Elder Xie was offending Jun Yixie for Medical City to see. By displeasing the Hundred Poisons Sect and even all of Northern Li Country, he could curry favor with Medical City and consolidate strength for his position as Head Elder. The gains were far greater than the losses. Here was killing two shots with one arrow. It had to be said that Xie Deyi wasn't the leader of the Council of Elders for nothing. He was a complex man! Moreover, behind him stood Ouyang Ningnuo, another man hard to deal with.
Han Yunxi dropped her head and muttered to Long Feiye, "Let's not end up making the wedding clothes1 for the Xie Clan!"
It was Han Yunxi who had helped Head Elder Xie believe that Mu Yingdong and Jun Yixie were long in cahoots. But if all their effort ended up leaving the Xie Clan unscathed, then she would definitely cry.
Long Feiye only glanced at her and murmured back, "Just wait."
With His Highness Duke of Qin's words, Han Yunxi felt better as well. The best part of the show must be coming up later!
The agreement with the Mu Clan Head's seal was being passed around the crowd. When it reached Lady Lianxin, she only glanced at it before shooting Mu Yingdong a hateful glare! Mu Yingdong could only stand rooted to the spot as if struck by lightning. His face was so black it might as well be charred. He was so stiff that he couldn't budge a muscle, aside from his pair of trembling hands. His mind was completely blank, his senses still fighting to recover from the shock!
After all, Head Elder Xie's attitude had been suspicious to him from the start, but he never expected to be so thoroughly tricked! Or for developments to get to this point!
How was he supposed to explain himself with such ironclad evidence? How could he cut his losses?
He could only acknowledge his mistakes!
"Head Elder Xie!" Mu Yingdong suddenly shouted. "Head Elder Xie, this one was wrong! It was a gross error on my part. It's all because Jun Yixie used bribes and threats on me. This one dotes on my daughter and wanted to earn more benefits for Medicine City, so I agreed to Jun Yixie's demands! This one may have collaborated with Jun Yixie in secret, but this one had long planned out everything. Once Linger was married, this one was to hand over the other snow mountain to the Council of Elders for public use by Medicine City!"
His words were practically a joke. Who would believe them now?
Head Elder Xie was about to retort when Lady Lianxin rose to her feet. "Mu Yingdong, you're an absolute fool! How could you accept any offers from the Hundred Poisons Sect?"
Jun Yixie already looked gloomy after Mu Yingdong turned him into a scapegoat, but Lady Lianxin's curse only turned his expression darker… Still, he didn't say a word.
"Fifth Elder, this one was a fool! I deserve death! But, this one only wanted to protect my daughter and the city, ah! For the sake of Northern Li's imperial clan, this one…aye!" Mu Yingdong seemed unable to explain any further, and trailed off with a regretful tone as he boxed his ears.
Lady Lianxin laughed coldly. "You've lived for so long but you've still made such a griveous error. Hurry and get out of here to reflect on your mistakes!" Then she turned to face Head Elder Xie. "Head Elder Xie, this is the Grand Medicine Testing Convention. Everyone came to show off their pharmacy skills, so it's better to avoid airing your Medicine City's dirty laundry here. Take care of things once everyone's gone home! As for the Hundred Poisons Sect members….heheh, I think Medicine City would agree with Medical City that nobody welcomes them here!"
Lady Lianxin was indeed a daughter of the Mu Clan. As Mu Yingdong's third younger sister, she was also the only female on Medical City's Council of Elders. In the span of a few sentences, she had protected Mu Yingdong, rejected Jun Yixie, and paraded out Medical City as pressure against Head Elder Xie. First she would chase off Jun Yixie, then send Mu Yingdong home, and finally sweep the whole incident under the rug. Once the Grand Medicine Testing Convention was over, there would be plenty of chances for the Council of Elders to decide on how to punish Mu Yingdong.
To be honest, many of the spectators were disappointed by the results. They thought they'd get to see a good show from the Mu Clan, but Medical City's Fifth Elder, Lady Lianxin, had blocked all that. Head Elder Xie would have to give her face even if he didn't want to. Despite her young age and ordinary medical skills, Lady Lianxin was able to climb into the position of an Elder. Who didn't know her methods at Medical City? It was obvious!
But Head Elder Xie didn't yield. Instead, he grew more stubborn and came straight to the point. "Lady Lianxin, these are our Medicine City's personal affairs. You're not the one to decide whether Mu Yingdong can go back!"
Lady Lianxin stood ramrod straight, surprised by the turn of events. But she quickly calmed down. "Head Elder Xie, we Medical City denizens naturally have no say in Medicine City's affairs. I am merely making a suggestion; after all, I and the rest of the audience are all here to see a competition, not your city's scandals."
Tsk tsk, what formidable words! In the distance, Han Yunxi almost wanted to clap.
"As the head of the association, I announce that the Grand Medicine Testing Convention will break for one hour! There are tea and snacks within the hall, may everyone partake of them at their leisure!" Head Elder Xie refused to budge a step as he countered with his next move.
Lady Lianxin clenched her hands into fists, but she had nothing more to say. Now all she could do was nurse this grudge for the future. She refused to believe that Head Elder Xie was targeting Mu Yingdong simply because of some 'private agreement.' Meanwhile, none of the audience members were willing to leave the scene despite the break. Even Jun Yixie, who had been asked to leave twice, refused to move a muscle.
He said coldly, "Head Elder Xie, this lord has come as a representative of Northern Li's imperial clan with a sincere desire to improve relations between Medicine City and Northern Li's imperial clan via marriage. I never expected you to use this lord as a pawn to get rid of dissendents. Heheh, weren't you the very one who told this lord to find the Mu Clan head and sign the agreement?" Jun Yixie was bearing the role of Northern Li's Duke of Kang to ask for a hand in marriage. If he screwed up here, he would be in heaps of trouble once he returned to Northern Li. No matter what, he had to stay and fight for his principles.
Head Elder Xie only laughed out loud. "Jun Yixie, you're still pretending?! Before you came to see this old man, you were already collaborating with Mu Yingdong! The two of you planned everything from the start!"
"Head Elder Xie, you need proof for such accusations!" Jun Yixie's tone turned severe.
Mu Yingdong simply lost his temper. "Head Eldr Xie, you're slandering others! I was only muddle-headed for a moment when I agreed to sign that agreement with Jun Yixie. The two of us were never close before this incident!"
Mu Yingdong was much more emotional than Jun Yixie. After all, the most the Council of Elders could do was penalize him for his private agreement with Jun Yixie. But if they found out the pair had long been allies, his crimes would be heavy! The entire nature of his misdeeds would change!
Head Elder Xie only smirked. "Someone come, bring out the evidence!"
"Evidence…" Han Yunxi trailed off in puzzlement. Long Feiye was watching in amusement as well. It was already impressive for Head Elder Xie to stop the wedding talks in their tracks, but where was he to find proof that the Mu Clan and Jun Yixie were long in cahoots? Unexpectedly, everyone was disgusted by the presentation of the evidence—a corpse crawling with worms! Ouyang Ningnuo had the most exaggerated reaction of all. He ran from the first ring all the way to the third ring to sit next to Long Feiye. Both Long Feiye and Han Yunxi simply took him as air, their attention more focused on the body onstage.
Two people on the scene discovered simultaneously that the corpse was poisoned. One was Han Yunxi, while the other was Jun Yixie. The latter was close enough to recognize the worms as the Hundred Poisons Sect's most famous Poison Roundworms. This toxin had never been circulated outside the sect and was closely guarded by its members.
Who poisoned this man?
"This is the proof! This was a jailkeeper in charge of sending meals to Mu Linger. She poisoned the man in an attempt to pressure him to release her, but was fortunately caught by a guard. Heheh, from what this old man understands, this type of poison comes from the Hundred Poisons Sect. It's not anyone who can get their hands on it! So I'd like to ask, where did Mu Linger get her own? She's a pharmacist, so how could she know the poison arts?" Head Elder Xie questioned.
"This lord did not give Mu Linger any poisons!" Jun Yixie roared.
"From what this Head Elder understands, this is a poison exclusive to the Hundred Poisons Sect and not spread to outsiders. Jun Yixie, you say that you didn't give Mu Linger this poison. Could it be that one of your subordinates did it instead?"
Faced with Head Elder Xie's questions, Jun Yixie was left at a loss for words. Meanwhile, Han Yunxi felt even more astonished! How did things end up like this?
Because she was sitting far away, she didn't have a clear sight of the stage, but the detox system had already told her that the corpse contained Poison Roundworm, not the Birthing Roundworm Poison she'd given Gu Qishao. She had been researching Hundred Poisons Sect on her own and its top ten list of poisons. From their descriptions and records, she could more or less manage to make her own variants of the toxins. But because she'd never seen those poisons in person, she could only create poisons with similar–but not exact—effects as the real thing.
The Roundworm Birthing Poison she'd given to Gu Qishao was one such case. The victim would exhibit the same symptoms as one infected by Poison Roundworm, but there were still minute differences. For example, her Roundworm Birthing Poison would cause the worms to rot and fester away with the corpse within a day, but the Hundred Poisons Sect's version would last longer. Moreover, there was the question of the intended target. Gu Qishao had sent a letter saying he'd poisoned one of the Lin Clan's lackeys, so why did the victim suddenly turn into a jailkeeper instead?
Han Yunxi immediately started up a deep scan with the detox system to determine the victim's time of death. The results gave her a fright. This body had been poisoned two days after the death of the Lin Clan rogue. In other words, someone had used real Poison Roundworm to infect the jailkeeper after the incident with the original attacker.
Who did it? Where did this true poison even come from?
Han Yunxi originally created the false impression of the Hundred Poisons Sect poison to convince Head Elder Xie that Jun Yixie and the Mu Clan were working together. She hadn't meant for it to turn into proof for their long-term alliance! After all, they had to suppress the Mu Clan step by step. If the Mu collapsed now, the Xie Clan's power would rise to take their place. It would be even harder to rescue Mu Linger then.
Moreover, "the Mu Clan and Jun Yixie are collaborating" had a completely different tone than "Mu Linger and Jun Yixie are collaborating." If Mu Linger became the scapegoat for this mess, she'd be blacklisted by Medical City!
Troublesome!
Without a doubt, Long Feiye's plot had been thoroughly ruined as well. He narrowed his eyes to stare coldly at Ouyang Ningnuo sitting by his side. The merchant only gave a refined and harmless smile in reply. Han Yunxi was still depressed when Head Elder Xie suddenly called her out.
"Qin Wangfei, I've heard that you're familiar with the poison arts. Please come onstage to verify the evidence."
Now Han Yunxi felt like crying… What do we do now?
"Esteemed wangfei, Head Elder Xie is calling you," Ouyang Ningnuo reminded with a smile.
Han Yunxi ignored him and looked questioningly at Long Feiye instead…
making the wedding clothes (做个嫁衣) – zuoge jiayi, a saying based on how poor tailors end up making wedding clothes for other families during the year while being too poor to afford their own—or to work hard and expend all that effort, only to benefit others instead of yourself. ↩