Chapter 224 Death

The palace maid seemed to notice Su Wan’s doubt and explained, “When the Empress had her accident, the Empress Dowager arranged for a large number of people to search for her. Whether they were guards or the sons of noble families, they all went in to look for her.

Among them were even eunuchs who, wanting to earn merit, risked their lives to go in and try their luck. Unexpectedly, he found her, along with another person. The two of them carried the Empress up from the mountain stream, but the other one fell into the ravine and broke a leg. He now holds an idle position in the palace, living out his days in retirement.”

“Is that so?” Su Wan smiled. “He saved the Empress’s life, so arranging a position for him shows that the Empress is both sentimental and righteous.”

The palace maid, seeing that Su Wan truly did not mind, added more silver-thread charcoal to the brazier, poured her a cup of hot tea, and then withdrew.

Su Wan took a couple of sips of tea, wrapped herself in a fur blanket, and planned to rest for a while. She was waiting for Ji Xuan to wake up, as she had questions to ask him.

Unconsciously, Su Wan drifted into a drowsy sleep.

A sharp, twisting pain in her chest jolted her awake.

Su Wan curled up on the chaise lounge, the black fur blanket making her face appear deathly pale, like a vividly colored flower whose petals had faded, on the verge of withering.

With her hands pressed tightly against her chest, she took a deep breath and keenly detected a trace of something unusual.

Su Wan forced herself to get up from the couch and circled the inner hall. Suddenly, her gaze fell on the silver-thread charcoal.

She walked to the corner, picked up a piece of charcoal from the basket, and sniffed it, detecting only a faint, elusive fragrance.

She crushed the silver-thread charcoal, and there was still a hint of moisture inside.

Su Wan let out a cold laugh—there was indeed something wrong with the charcoal.

This charcoal had been soaked in medicinal liquid and dried. Unless one had a keen sense of smell, it would be impossible to notice anything amiss.

Even she hadn’t realized it immediately and had already been affected.

“Luo Cheng!”

Luo Cheng appeared immediately. “Young lady, has something happened?”

A layer of frost covered Su Wan’s eyes. “Take that palace maid from earlier under control, and bind Dechuan, who delivered the charcoal, and bring him to the Empress. Don’t alert anyone else; investigate this in secret.”

Luo Cheng felt a chill in his heart. Seeing Su Wan’s dirt-streaked hands, he knew something was wrong. “Rest assured, I will take care of it right away!”

Su Wan watched Luo Cheng leave, feeling the poison gu writhing restlessly inside her. She called for a palace maid to take her to the Imperial Medicine Bureau, where she gathered a few medicinal ingredients and returned to Yaoguang Hall, locking herself in the inner chamber to neutralize the gu poison.

An hour later, Luo Cheng arrived, bringing with him a chill in the air.

Knock, knock—

With a tense face and suppressed anger, Luo Cheng called out, “Young lady, are you there?”

“Come in.” Su Wan’s weak voice came through.

Luo Cheng pushed the door open and saw Su Wan sitting on the floor, her face pale as if she had suffered a severe illness. Her bleeding hand held a porcelain bottle, from which she poured powder into a bowl beside her, producing a sizzling sound.

As he drew closer, he realized the bowl contained the poisonous gu.

Luo Cheng was shocked. “This…”

“Don’t let this slip,” Su Wan said, tossing the porcelain bottle into the bowl and casually grabbing a cloth to wrap around her wrist. “Did you catch the person?”

“Dead.” Luo Cheng’s face was dark. “He was pulled from the lake in the Imperial Garden, already dead. The Internal Affairs Office checked everything; the silver-thread charcoal was taken directly by Dechuan from the storeroom and hadn’t passed through anyone else’s hands.”

Before Su Wan could say anything, Qi Sixteenth came in and said, “Young Lady, Jiu Yu and Jiu Ge have arrived.”

“Where are they now?”

“They just entered the imperial city.”

Su Wan pondered for a moment. “Find out where they are staying and then inform me.”