Chapter 156: Poisoned

“Poisoned?”

Lu Chang Qing was taken aback by the question.

“Mother’s health has always been poor, and she takes a lot of medicine. The medicine she takes is all personally handled by Doctor Tian from the household.”

“Sister, are you saying that Mother has been poisoned? What kind of poison is it? Can it be cured?”

Lu Chang Qing’s face showed clear anxiety.

“I don’t know yet.”

Ye Xin Ran looked at Madam Leng’s complexion.

“Let me test the blood first. Stay here and keep your mother company. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Ye Xin Ran spoke and stepped out the door.

Lu Chang Qing wanted to follow but Xiao Huai’an took a step forward and blocked the doorway.

He had no choice but to stop.

Ye Xin Ran went to another room and immediately entered the space, where she placed Madam Leng’s blood on the testing equipment.

No matter what the poison was, she wasn’t worried as long as “Riyianan” was available.

What she needed to examine wasn’t the poison’s composition in the blood, but to confirm whether Madam Leng was indeed poisoned.

Given her status, her husband’s high position, and the presence of specialized doctors in the household, this kind of slow-acting poison was most likely administered by someone close to her.

Ye Xin Ran didn’t want to wrong anyone without reason.

She needed to be absolutely certain.

The test results came quickly.

As Ye Xin Ran had suspected, the results showed that Madam Leng was indeed poisoned.

And it was a very difficult poison to cure.

Ancient medical texts described a poisonous insect from the southern frontier, which took three years to hatch and another three years to mature. From the moment it was born, it consumed a specific type of poisonous fruit found locally.

As the insect grew, its toxins could paralyze a person’s nerves.

If consumed over a long period, it would gradually impair memory and weaken the nerves, eventually turning the person into a lifeless shell with no memory or ability to think.

Interestingly, the wings of the insect contained the antidote to the poison.

Crushing the entire insect and turning it into medicine, when consumed, would leave no trace of poisoning in the body.

But once this balance was disturbed, the person would immediately suffer the full force of the accumulated toxins in their body.

The lighter symptoms included headaches and vomiting.

The more severe symptoms could lead to difficulty breathing, fainting, or even coma.

From Madam Leng’s condition, it seemed she had been consuming this poison for a long time.

Ye Xin Ran stared at the test results, deep in thought.

Wasn’t it said that Madam Leng had been living well in the capital?

She had a loving husband, obedient children, and except for her health, everything seemed perfect.

So when had she started to be poisoned?

Ye Xin Ran exited the space and returned to the room where the three were waiting.

Madam Leng had not yet woken up.

Lu Chang Qing was still lost in thought, recalling the words “poisoned” that Ye Xin Ran had just mentioned, unable to shake his confusion.

Wasn’t Mother’s health already bad?

Hadn’t she been seeking out famous doctors over the years, and wasn’t there some improvement?

How could it be poison?

When Ye Xin Ran entered, he immediately stood up. “Sister, did you find out? Is Mother really poisoned?”

Ye Xin Ran nodded.

She took out a small porcelain bottle from her sleeve.

Inside was “Riyianan.”

“Give this to… to Madam Leng. After she returns, she should take one pill every day.”

She paused before continuing, “The medicine she’s currently taking, bring it to me tomorrow. I need to examine it to determine what the problem is.”

“Okay, before we confirm everything, she can’t continue taking those medicines. I’ll gather them all and bring them to you tomorrow,” Lu Chang Qing said quickly.

“No,” Xiao Huai’an suddenly spoke up.

Ye Xin Ran and Lu Chang Qing both turned to look at him.

Xiao Huai’an continued, “Since the issue seems to be with the regular medicine, I suspect there may be someone around Madam Leng who is involved. If we openly examine the medicine, we might alert the person responsible.”

“What should we do then?” Ye Xin Ran asked, not having thought of such a strategy.

“Wait until Madam Leng wakes up, and then inform her of the situation. From now on, she should only take Riyianan and stop taking any other medicines. As for the preparation of the medicine, continue with the usual routine. Just make sure to collect all the remaining medicine residue and broth and bring it here.”

“Brother-in-law, you’re so thoughtful!”

After all this time, this was the first time Lu Chang Qing had truly seen Xiao Huai’an in a new light.

No wonder Sister likes him.

His calm demeanor in a crisis indeed provides a sense of security.

“I’ll bring Mother’s medicine over every day from now on.”

“And don’t mention what happened today to anyone once we go back,” Ye Xin Ran said.

As they were speaking, Madam Leng finally stirred and opened her eyes. She gave a soft groan and slowly blinked open her eyes, seeing the three of them standing by her bed.

When she saw Ye Xin Ran, a faint smile appeared on Madam Leng’s pale lips.

“I think I just heard you call me ‘Mother’ again!”

Lu Chang Qing looked at his mother’s ungrateful expression and clicked his tongue.

He had called her “Mother” countless times since he was a child, but he had never seen her so concerned.

Her body already in such a state, the first thing she said upon waking was this.

“Mother, there will be many more days when Sister calls you ‘Mother’! Aren’t you going to care at all about why you fainted just now?”

“I know!”

Madam Leng’s words caught everyone by surprise.

She gestured for Lu Chang Qing to help her sit up and then said, “Just now, I shouldn’t have been greedy and had the mung bean soup. Three years ago, something similar happened. It was a hot day, and Mama Wang made me some mung bean and lotus seed soup. After I ate it, I had a terrible headache. Later, your father gave me some medicine, and I felt a little better. Since then, I haven’t touched mung bean soup.”

So that was it.

Lu Chang Qing felt a bit regretful.

Over the past few years, due to his estrangement from his father, he often stayed at the academy and rarely returned home. He had also neglected his mother’s well-being.

If he had been around her more, maybe he would have noticed her abnormal condition sooner.

“The Forgetting Worm indeed works this way. Eating mung beans weakens the antidote, which is why it caused an attack,” Ye Xin Ran explained.

“Madam should also be careful now. Don’t eat mung beans again.”

“I used to avoid them,” Madam Leng said. “But it was just a rare occasion…”

She trailed off, not wanting to say more, afraid it might burden Ye Xin Ran.

“Mother, it’s not the mung beans,” Lu Chang Qing urgently interjected. “Do you know that you’ve been poisoned?”

Madam Leng was shocked by these words.

“I’ve been poisoned?”

She looked to Ye Xin Ran for confirmation, and Ye Xin Ran nodded.

Madam Leng’s body seemed to freeze.

“How could I be poisoned?” She murmured to herself. “Could it be that I’ve taken too many medicines over the years, and the effects clashed, causing toxicity?”

“No, it’s not that!”

Lu Chang Qing was anxious, wondering how his mother wasn’t fully aware of her situation yet.

But Ye Xin Ran stopped him, saying, “We still don’t know which medicine has caused the problem. I’ve already told Chang Qing to bring over the medicines you regularly take. We need to check all of them before we can determine where the issue lies.”

“Alright, that sounds good!”

Madam Leng was at a loss for what to do.

“Mother, you must remember, don’t tell anyone about this, not even Father or Lu Zhi Yi,” Lu Chang Qing reminded her.