“Your Majesty has forgotten that I’m a doctor, and I naturally know more than a commoner.”
“That’s true. Then take a look at him and diagnose what illness he’s suffering from.”
Lou Qianxue nodded and took a few steps forward. She carefully observed the Crown Prince.
The more she looked, the deeper her frown became.
The expressionless face of Dan Taiyuan, who had been purposely ignored, also became colder and colder…
Finally!
“You’re not allowed to look.”
He could not tolerate it and stared at Lou Qianxue. “You’re not allowed to look at him.”
“…” Lou Qianxue came back to her senses and perfunctorily touched his face. “I’m doing my job. Don’t make trouble.”
Dan Taiyuan’s body instantly stiffened. A thin layer of redness slowly climbed up his earlobes…
“Cough.” Emperor Ying lightly coughed.
Lou Qianxue’s face became slightly red. She corrected her gaze. “Your Majesty.”
She signaled at the surroundings.
Emperor Ying instantly understood what she meant. He raised his hand and tapped twice. The well-trained palace servants received the command and retreated like the tide.
When only the four of them remained in the entire place, Emperor Ying and Crown Prince looked at Lou Qianxue. “Miss Jade-Masked Blast, tell us.”
“Your Royal Highness, it’s not an illness. It’s poison.”
Lou Qianxue’s words astonished them.
“Impossible!” Emperor Ying immediately denied it. “Our fourth-grade alchemist from Tian Zhao, Master She, has been treating Crown Prince. He never mentioned anything about poison. Moreover, everything that Crown Prince uses and the food he eats goes through the hands of my trusted subordinates. How can he be poisoned?”
Lou Qianxue was not fearful. She reasoned with logic. “If Master She said that Crown Prince was not poisoned, then could he treat Crown Prince’s illness?”
Emperor Ying frowned and deeply thought. Then he shook his head. “He could not.”
“That’s it. That explains he has yet to discover these symptoms. This poison is rather special, and detecting them is difficult for ordinary people. I know of it because… I happened to browse an ancient book and saw a mention of it.”
Emperor Ying swiftly calmed down, and his face turned sullen. “Tell me, how special is this poison?”
“It’s very special. It is a toxin formed by two types of items contaminating each other. In order to form this toxin, those two indispensable things are used.”
“What are they?”
Lou Qianxue exerted her strength to smell the room. “One of them is the condiment to calm the nerves that’s in this room.”
Emperor Ying frowned. “Master She specially formulated that item for Crown Prince! What about the other type?”
Lou Qianxue turned around and looked for it in the room. Suddenly…
Her footsteps paused at a certain area, and she picked up a cushion from the ground. “This is?”
“This is a supreme-grade spirit-gathering jade. When one sits on it, one would gather the Essence Martial Power faster. Master She even said that it would greatly benefit Crown Prince’s body. Crown Prince got it outside two years ago.”
“It’s this.” Lou Qianxue said, “This item is not problematic on its own. It’s just that someone has tampered with its top, and it now emits a special smell—”
Lou Qianxue stopped speaking.
She suddenly recalled an old matter from two years ago.
Two years ago in the Prefectural Governor’s mansion in Fengyang prefecture, she had accidentally bumped into the Lou family head, Lou Jinglei, and Fourth Master Lou, Lou Jingtao discussing something in the night. They seemed to be secretly plotting to kill someone…
Could it be…
Lou Qianxue’s complicated gaze landed on the Crown Prince.
“So… someone was behind it…” Crown Prince, whose handsome face was pale, sighed as he shook his head. “Miss Jade-Masked Blast, how is my poison? Is it easy to detoxify?”
Lou Qianxue nodded. “Yeah! I wouldn’t dare say for others, but detoxifying… to me is very easy now.”
She pondered for a while, then said, “If your Royal Highness can endure pain for at most one hour, I can help you purge the residual poison. But in the future, you’ll have to choose only one between the nerve-calming condiment or the spirit-gathering jade.”