Cuddling with the Cold Female Protagonist – Chapter 83
by Little PandaVolume 3: Courtly Winds and Clouds, Each Finds Their Place
Gu Poison
Xiao Zhengyun didn’t understand what was happening, but then he heard the sound of weapons slowly falling to the ground behind him.
His heart went cold. As if frozen, he turned his head inch by inch.
The soldiers dressed in Dongli Kingdom army attire began taking off their armor one by one, revealing Yanxue Kingdom clothes underneath. They dropped their weapons, dismounted, and knelt on the ground.
The leading woman who was with him took off her general’s hat, also dismounted, and knelt. “Cavalry Captain Lin Yue, pays respects to Your Highnesses.”
“Rise,” Ji Qingchi said. This Lin Yue looked somewhat familiar. Ji Qingchi glanced at her a few more times. Although the woman kept her head bowed, her back was straight and her posture upright; she clearly had military training. She must have seen her in the barracks before, but Lin Yue was likely of low rank and soft-spoken, so Ji Qingchi hadn’t paid her any mind.
With that thought, Ji Qingchi didn’t dwell on her further and turned her gaze back to Xiao Zhengyun.
She smiled faintly. “Young Master Xiao, what do you think now? Who will win?”
The sounds of clashing weapons nearby stopped, replaced by the continuous thud of weapons hitting the ground.
The rebellious soldiers Xiao Quan had brought in were cut down, with only a few remaining. As for the “Dongli Kingdom soldiers” Xiao Zhengyun had brought, they had all removed their armor, dropped their weapons, and knelt.
At this moment, another troop of cavalry entered from outside the palace gates, long sabers in hand, surrounding all the remaining rebels present. “Nobody move!”
The situation reversed in an instant.
Xiao Quan, in disbelief, staggered backward. “How could… How could this be…”
She whipped her head around, glaring at the Second and Seventh Imperial Daughters closest to her, her breath coming in ragged gasps. “You! You did this on purpose?! You deliberately lured the snake out of its hole1?!”
The Second Imperial Daughter sheathed her saber and snorted. “Only realizing it now? You’re not so stupid after all, old thing.”
Su Yi, who had been playing dead, also got up with the help of the Third Imperial Daughter and Feng Ruoqing.
She smiled at the dumbfounded Xiao mother and son. “Well? Pretty unbelievable, isn’t it?”
Xiao Zhengyun was stunned. When he saw Her Majesty the Emperor emerge unharmed from the secret passage, his heart turned completely cold.
He knew his dream of becoming emperor was utterly shattered, and he might even lose his life.
In his panic, he quickly turned his gaze to the Fifth Imperial Daughter, adopting a pitiful and helpless expression. “Fifth Highness… Fifth Highness… This servant was forced… It was all my mother… My mother, she forced me…”
Xiao Quan realized he was shifting blame and cursed angrily, “You unfilial son! When did I ever force you! It was clearly you, relying on that Gu poison, who was forcing me!”
The two of them hurled accusations and insults at each other. The Fifth Imperial Daughter listened, her head aching. She had absolutely no favorable impression of Xiao Zhengyun now. On the contrary, the sight of him immediately brought back the strong smell of body odor, making her feel extremely nauseous.
She didn’t want to hear his nonsense at all and called over some soldiers to tie up the incompetently raging mother and son and gag them with cloth.
The rebellion, which lasted only a few hours, was quickly resolved. The Emperor acted with lightning speed, ordering a thorough investigation of the Chancellor’s Manor. The officials, military commanders, merchants, and others found to have secretly colluded with Xiao Quan were all ordered to be imprisoned in the Sky Prison2 to await interrogation, and all their family assets were confiscated.
Those who had rendered meritorious service were all rewarded according to their contributions.
Cui Luo became Chancellor. Other ministers and guards were also rewarded based on their merits. The woman named Lin Yue, who had led the troops, was recommended by Ji Qingchi and became one of her subordinate deputy generals.
Those with merit were rewarded, and those with guilt were naturally punished.
Xiao Quan and Xiao Zhengyun were thrown into the Sky Prison. Cui Luo hated Xiao Zhengyun for corrupting her son and resented Xiao Quan for previously protecting Yiyun Tower, which had harmed her daughter. She had long been dissatisfied with Xiao Quan. Those under her, guessing her thoughts, subjected the imprisoned pair to all sorts of torture, using every cruel punishment.
Xiao Quan couldn’t bear the torture and voluntarily confessed her past conspiracies, also revealing her privately hoarded wealth.
Xiao Quan was a miser. She had secretly bought over a dozen inconspicuous private residences in Jingdu. Beneath each house, she had built four cellars, filled with gold, silver, and jewels. Even the granaries were full of gold.
Ji Qingchi led people to confiscate the assets. The moment the soldiers pushed open the doors, their eyes were nearly blinded by the glitter.
After raiding her properties, the national treasury was suddenly overflowing. Ji Qingchi calculated carefully: if this gold and silver were used for warfare, it could last at least fifty years.
After finishing the confiscation, Ji Qingchi went to find Su Yi and told her about these things.
Su Yi found it very strange. “Letting such a big rat into her own granary, could the Emperor not have known?”
Ji Qingchi shook her head. “How could she not have known?”
The court was originally divided into three factions: Marquis Ding’an’s3 faction, Marquis Zhenwei’s4 faction, and Xiao Quan’s faction. Her Emperor Mother was very clever, using these three powers to counterbalance each other. For so many years, there hadn’t been any major incidents inside or outside the court.
It was just that Xiao Quan’s ambition had grown too large, and they had no choice but to bring her down. To maintain the balance of power, her Emperor Mother would inevitably have to support another powerful minister.
Ji Qingchi hugged her and kissed her cheek, smiling. “Your family is about to hit the big.”
“Huh?” Su Yi didn’t quite understand. Soon, when the rewards were distributed, she found out.
Throngs of palace maids and eunuchs carried chests of gold, silver, and valuables into their residence. The leading palace maid read out the Emperor’s Imperial Edict5.
Although her great-grandmother’s marquis title wasn’t raised, her official position was promoted by two ranks, making her the Director of the Secretariat6, assisting Cui Luo, who had already become Chancellor. Her grandmother and mother were respectively made Vice-Ministers7 in the Six Ministries8. She herself was given a fifth-rank9 sinecure, allowing her to draw a salary without attending court.
Even Su Yi, who didn’t understand politics, understood what this meant.
After Su Ban received the Imperial Edict, she felt both joy and worry. Joy, because after scheming for so many years, her long-cherished wish was finally fulfilled. Worry, because the Emperor’s actions were tantamount to pushing their family into the eye of the storm10, putting them in direct opposition to the other two Marquisates.
“Great-grandmother, Her Majesty the Emperor is…”
“Don’t worry.” Su Ban sighed, patting her head. “We’ll be law-abiding and dutiful, nothing will happen.”
Su Yi pondered that it probably wouldn’t be that simple.
She wanted to find Ji Qingchi to ask what would be the most prudent course of action, but that very night, a major incident occurred.
Xiao Quan and Xiao Zhengyun in the Sky Prison suddenly died violently.
Two of the Emperor’s Attendant Lords also died violently.
Before dying, one of the rather favored Attendant Lords reached out unwillingly, pleading with the Emperor for help, “Your Majesty…”
His voice trailed off before he could finish, and he stopped breathing.
The Emperor looked at the two Attendant Lords who died tragically, finding the sight shocking.
Someone could harm those around her without her knowledge. Would she and her daughters be next?
The Emperor ordered a thorough investigation. The Imperial Physicians worked for several days without eating or drinking before they finally discovered that the two had died from Gu poison.
They wouldn’t have known without investigating, but once they did, they found that there were also successive cases of commoners dying violently from Gu poison among the populace.
To protect the imperial family’s safety, Feng Ruoqing was dragged out of bed by Ji Qingchi in the middle of the night and asked to examine the poison.
After a careful examination, Feng Ruoqing’s expression was not good. She shook her head. “This Gu poison, this commoner cannot neutralize it.”
The Emperor was not surprised. She had summoned all the Imperial Physicians, and they had told her the same thing.
“Then where did this poison come from, Doctor Feng, do you know?”
Feng Ruoqing hurriedly knelt. “This commoner does not know.”
Ji Qingchi frowned, looking at her. Seeing that she didn’t know, the Emperor didn’t make things difficult for her and let her go back.
That night, Su Yi vomited blood and fell unconscious.
She had also been afflicted by Gu poison.
When Ji Qingchi received the news, regardless of anything else11, she grabbed Feng Ruoqing, dragged her to Su Yi’s bedside, and, gripping her neck, said coldly, “If you want to live, tell This Palace what this poison is all about.”
“This commoner said… cough… I… don’t… know…”
Ji Qingchi ignored this, her eyes growing colder, her grip tightening.
Feng Ruoqing’s face turned red from suffocation. Just as she was about to die, Ji Qingchi slowly loosened her hand.
“Cough… cough cough…”
She coughed for a while, feeling fresh air enter her lungs again, when suddenly she heard a “thump” in front of her.
“I’m begging you.”
Feng Ruoqing looked down, stunned, to find Ji Qingchi kneeling before her, her eyes red-rimmed. “Save her. Whatever you want, I can give it to you.”
Feng Ruoqing looked at the unconscious Su Yi nearby. Her face was pale, her breathing shallow; she seemed on the verge of death.
Recalling the time she had spent with Su Yi and Ji Qingchi, Feng Ruoqing slowly closed her eyes and let out a heavy breath. “Alright, I’ll talk.”
“That Gu poison, judging by the style of medication, seems like something my master would make.”
“Your master?”
“Yes.” Feng Ruoqing’s teeth chattered. She had been raised by her master since childhood and regarded her master like her own mother. If her master truly made it, then she had poisoned Yanxue Kingdom’s people, and Yanxue Kingdom would surely not let her off. They might even send troops to Changsheng Valley.
She didn’t want anything to happen to her master, nor did she want the peace of Changsheng Valley to be disturbed, so she was unwilling to say who had created the Gu poison.
“Perhaps you’re mistaken.”
“I also hope I’m mistaken.” Feng Ruoqing bit her lip. “But for so many years, only people from Changsheng Valley can make poisons. Even if… even if this wasn’t made by my master, it still originated from Changsheng Valley… because only Changsheng Valley cultivates Gu.”
Ji Qingchi grabbed her arm, pointing to the unconscious Su Yi. “Never mind that now, save her quickly.”
“To save Miss Su, we first need to find out how Miss Su was poisoned. Miss Su and those two Attendant Lords who died violently were afflicted with the same type of poison.” Feng Ruoqing analyzed, “But she shouldn’t know those two. How could she have contracted the same poison?”
Ji Qingchi thought carefully. If Su Yi had any interaction with those two Attendant Lords, it was only a few months ago on New Year’s Eve, when they all ate a lot of hot pot.
Ji Qingchi quickly mentioned this. After hearing it, Feng Ruoqing paused for a moment. “The poison manifested after almost five months… Why… If it really was the hot pot, then I’m afraid it wasn’t just them. So many people attended the banquet then, there must be others who were also poisoned.”
Ji Qingchi was about to die of anxiety from her dawdling. “Stop worrying about them for now, just save her first!”
Feng Ruoqing quickly fumbled in her medical kit and took out a small white bottle. “The contents of this can temporarily slow the spread of the poison, but for a complete cure, I’m afraid we’ll have to return to Changsheng Valley to get to the bottom of it.”
Footnotes
- 引蛇出洞 | yǐn shé chū dòng | Literally ‘lure the snake out of its hole.’ An idiom meaning to entice an enemy or opponent out into the open so they can be dealt with.
- 天牢 | tiānláo | Imperial prison, typically for high-profile criminals or political prisoners. The ‘Sky’ part implies it’s under direct imperial authority or of utmost severity.
- 定安侯 | Dìng’ān Hóu | Marquis Ding’an; ‘Ding’an’ likely means ‘Stable Peace’.
- 震威侯 | Zhènwēi Hóu | Marquis Zhenwei; ‘Zhenwei’ likely means ‘Awe-Inspiring Power’.
- 圣旨 | shèngzhǐ | An official decree or order issued by the Emperor.
- 中书令 | Zhōngshū Lìng | A high-ranking official, often translated as Director of the Secretariat or Grand Chancellor, responsible for drafting edicts and advising the ruler in historical Chinese government.
- 侍郎 | Shìláng | An official title, often translated as Vice-Minister or Assistant Minister, serving as a deputy head within one of the Six Ministries or other government departments.
- 六部 | Liù Bù | The six main administrative divisions of the central government in imperial China, typically including Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, and Public Works.
- 五品 | wǔ pǐn | The fifth rank in the nine-rank system of imperial Chinese bureaucracy, indicating a mid-level official position. ‘品’ (pǐn) refers to a rank or grade.
- 风口浪尖 | fēngkǒu làngjiān | Literally ‘where the wind blows and the waves break.’ An idiom meaning to be at the center of a struggle, controversy, or a critical, volatile situation.
- 三七二十一 | sān qī èrshíyī | Literally ‘three sevens are twenty-one.’ An idiom meaning to act decisively without regard for the details or consequences; to cut to the chase or act recklessly.
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