Chapter 159

Qiao Jiaojiao sat on Qiao Zhongguo’s arm, her little ears perked up sharply, and she vaguely heard some extremely ambiguous sounds.

She couldn’t help but mutter to herself.

“Huh, what kind of aphrodisiac is this? It’s so potent!”

Qiao Zhongguo was also puzzled, after all, even he had almost been affected.

Qiao Jiaojiao touched her small chin and continued to ponder.

“Did such a powerful drug ever exist? Let me think… Oh, it seems like there is! What was it called again? Something like… ‘Paradise’?”

Qiao Zhongguo: “…”

What kind of name is that?

Qiao Zhongguo’s focus was mainly on defending against the Northern Kingdom, so he had little knowledge of the Nanli Kingdom. Therefore, he didn’t know that there was an aphrodisiac called “Paradise.”

But Qiao Jiaojiao’s thoughts started to open up.

“It must be this aphrodisiac, right? It has two effects: one is to provoke feelings, and the other is to induce desire. The symptoms of the Grand Princess are similar to being affected by the feeling-provoking effect!”

“But I remember the scent released by the feeling-provoking effect is fragrant. Why did I smell such a stench just now? It was like the smell of an old sewer…”

Qiao Zhongguo secretly nodded upon hearing this.

The scent he smelled was indeed fragrant. The reason Jiaojiao was unaffected and even found the smell unpleasant must be because she is blessed and protected by the heavens, right?

Of course, this was just Qiao Zhongguo’s guess, as his precious daughter was perfect in his eyes!

Qiao Jiaojiao’s thoughts continued to wander.

“I remember this drug appears when the second male character comes into play and brings it to the Yong Kingdom, right?”

“He is the third prince of the Nanli Kingdom. During the Wanshou Festival, he will lead a delegation to congratulate the Yong Emperor on his birthday, and the drug will appear after that.”

“Just like in old-fashioned romance novels, the second male character constantly causes trouble at the banquet, and then the female lead skillfully counters, gaining great fame. The second male character falls for her and is unable to extricate himself…”

“Ahem, got a bit sidetracked there. Back to the Grand Princess, how long will the drug effects on her last? Do we just wait here?”

The Crown Prince had some ideas about this.

According to the information from informants, the aphrodisiac ‘Paradise’ has two components: the desire-inducing powder lasts until its effect is fully spent, while the feeling-provoking pill has about half an hour’s efficacy.

From the time Tan Xiuzhuan left to now, almost an hour had passed…

Qiao Zhongguo was getting tired of pretending and was worried that his precious daughter, who had been running around with him all night, would be exhausted. He felt that time was passing very slowly.

At this moment, several sharp screams suddenly came from the direction of a nearby rock garden.

“Ah! Princess!”

“Servant deserves to die! Servant deserves to die!”

“Get out! All of you, get out of here!”

…

The Crown Prince’s eyes slightly brightened. It seemed the drug’s effects had worn off!

He waited quietly for a while. When the sounds had all stopped, he called out, “Sister?”

“Brother, you can come over now.”

The Grand Princess’s trembling voice responded.

The Crown Prince glanced calmly at Qiao Zhongguo before stepping forward. As he turned around the rock garden, he saw the Grand Princess and several palace maids had already put their clothes back on.

However, their hair was messy, and their expressions were terrified. The Grand Princess had lipstick marks on her face, indicating the recent outrageous and chaotic scene.

The Crown Prince’s face darkened slightly, and he asked in a low voice, “Sister, what exactly happened? Why did these palace maids lose their minds?”

Even though the eldest princess had countless schemes, she was completely at a loss in this situation.

She shook her head, her eyes filled with tears, stammering and unable to answer for a long while.

Seeing this, the crown prince’s expression turned cold, and he said in a deep voice, “Sister, there are too many suspicious points in this matter. We cannot make hasty judgments. It might be that a villain is trying to harm you.”

“We should leave this matter to Father to decide!”

Hearing this, the eldest princess shivered violently and shook her head in panic.

“No! It’s not necessary, Brother! If Father finds out that I lost my composure outside the palace, he will be furious!”

“Brother, why don’t we… why don’t we execute these maidservants?”

“Yes! That’s right! Execute them! As long as they die, today’s incident never happened. Brother, you’ll keep this secret for me, won’t you?”

The palace maids all trembled upon hearing this, and three of them were already kowtowing and begging for mercy.

“Your Highness, Crown Prince, spare us! Spare us!”

Only Cailan knocked her head on the ground, saying in a sorrowful voice, “I deserve to die a thousand times over. I am willing to die to atone for my sins!”

Hearing this, the eldest princess looked down sharply at Cailan, tears welling in her eyes.

Cailan… Cailan truly cared for her…

But after today’s incident, there was no way Cailan could live…

Standing by the rockery and having not revealed himself until now, Qiao Zhongguo suddenly called out upon hearing the eldest princess’s words:

“Eldest Princess, no! We can’t just let it go like this!”

“The princess was frightened in my residence. I am extremely terrified and can’t explain this to His Majesty!”

“Moreover, this matter is bizarre and strange. There must be some villain trying to harm the princess! Just thinking about such a malicious person hiding in the residence makes me sleepless day and night!”

“Princess, if we don’t root out such a black-hearted scoundrel, they might threaten your safety in the future!”

“Furthermore, if I hadn’t arrived in time today, even Tan Xiuzuan would have been implicated in offending the princess. If that had happened, it would have been an irreparable disaster!”

“In my humble opinion, we must report this to His Majesty and let him seek justice for the princess!”

Qiao Jiaojiao raised her head and saw her father speaking passionately, his eyebrows dancing with emotion, and couldn’t help but find it amusing.

[Father is really skilled at insinuation! With such a clever helper, the crown prince must be overjoyed!]

Indeed, the crown prince was secretly delighted. Lord Qiao was truly a shrewd man!

“What? Tan Xiuzuan? Even Tan Xiuzuan was involved?”

The crown prince’s voice rose sharply in “surprise.”

Hearing this, the eldest princess became even more flustered.

If she had successfully schemed against Tan Hanchi, she would be eager for her brother to bring this before their father.

But now that Tan Hanchi had long since withdrawn unscathed, it was she herself who had ended up disgraced!

If this reached their father, she would surely be scolded. If it was discovered that she had orchestrated the whole thing, she would completely lose her father’s favor!

Not only that, her mother consort might also fall out of favor!

Thinking of this, the eldest princess waved her hands repeatedly.

However, the crown prince had already seen through her thoughts and quickly said:

“No! This villain is truly wicked and must not be spared!”

“Sister, don’t worry. Your brother will not let this go today!”

“Come! Let’s return to the palace now and let Father root out the villain and seek justice for you!”