Rebirth of the Excellent Daughter of the Marquis Household (REDMH) - Chapter 44

“Speak. You with a bear heart and leopard gall, daring to secretly replace the sweet soup given to Miss Gu.” In the Imperial Princess’ main tent, the lights had been on all night. She sat high on an old-fashioned wooden armchair carved from pear blossom wood with four trusted personal palace maids standing by her side. On the carpet in the middle of the tent, a eunuch was kneeling. Rather than saying he was kneeling, it was more accurate to say he was lying on the ground.

Behind him, a dark blue eunuch carried a candle, the light revealing dark red liquid.

The eunuch’s face was pale and his whole body was shaking.

“You’re tough,” Princess Ping Hu smiled coldly. “You really won’t say anything until death. Is there really no way for this princess to control you?”

“Replying to Your Highness, everything is all because this servant could not bear the sight of Miss Gu,” that eunuch would not let it go even until death, taking all the blame himself.

What a joke. What grievances does a little eunuch have with Gu Yu Qi? Just because he could not bear the sight of her, he changed her sweet soup. Princess Ping Hu did not know that servants were so bold now. If this reason had been told to a three year old child, he would not believe it.

“Okay, okay, okay. I could not tell that you have such a backbone,” Princess Ping Hu laughed angrily. She clapped her hands and a guard came in from outside the tent, holding a green leather bag in his hand.

The eunuch lying on the ground glanced at the bag and his whole body trembled even more. He struggled to get up and his eyes were red.

“It’s good that you recognise this bag.” Princess Ping Hu’s heart settled when she saw the eunuch react like this. She just said, how could there be something she could not find out… Over so many years, although she disdained using such means like this to deal with others, it did not necessarily mean that if someone walked over her head, she would not fight back.

They had all grown up in the palace since childhood. In terms of punishing people, whoever was not seen doing it was worse than others. It was just a matter of seeing who was willing to do it.

Perhaps she had been kind for too long. All kinds of cats and dogs dared to stick their paws under her nose to steal food!

Exchanging the sweet soup for Gu Yu Qi in her own tent, wanting to pour dirty water on her but not even looking at where she came from!

When Liang-shi and Gu Yu Qi had been sent away, Princess Ping Hu coaxed Princess Jing Cheng and made Yun Yi and Yun Ke send Princess Yun He and the others away. Then she went back to her tent to investigate. If you really did not want others to know, then you should not have done anything. Quickly, she found this eunuch in the pantry.

The tea given to Gu Yu Qi had been replaced by him halfway through.

He was merely a gopher. How could he have such a precious thing as peacebloom, let alone such a large dose? If there really was no one behind him, Princess Ping Hu would not believe it even if she was beaten to death.

Peacebloom was a speciality of the Qi dynasty and its rarity was no less than that of the Dendrobium candidum. If the concubines in the palace wanted to use some peacebloom spices, they would have to go through the Imperial Institute of Medicine for special permission.

Even if this eunuch refused to say, Princess Ping Hu had a way to continue the investigation. It was just that she did not want to make things worse. If she went to the Imperial Institute of Medicine to verify the usage details, it was bound to alarm the physicians and the empress would know. If she knew, then His Majesty the emperor would know.

It had originally been a harmless little gamble and there was no particular loss to anyone. However, if it got out, then it would not look good for anyone.

So while Princess Ping Hu seized the eunuch, she also seized all his fellow villagers and the people he had come into contact with.

Sure enough, this eunuch was tough but the people he knew were not tough.

The guard carried the green leather bag and walked to Princess Ping Hu, then whispered for a while in a low voice. Princess Ping Hu raised her eyebrows slightly. She looked at her own fingers in a leisurely manner, then cast a sidelong glance at the eunuch.

“If you speak now, this princess may consider sending the contents of this bag to your parents.” Princess Ping Hu said lightly, “If you still insist on not speaking until death, then this princess will not be merciful!”

“Your Highness… This servant will speak… This servant will speak…” The eunuch finally could not stand the torment in his heart, “This servant just requests Your Highness to keep her promise and send the money in that bag to this servant’s hometown, and hand it over to this servant’s parents.”

Princess Ping Hu snorted coldly, “You really dare to negotiate conditions with this princess. Well, this princess is in a good mood now and will agree. You probably know that you can’t live. Just treat that money as the cost of selling your life. Don’t worry, this princess always does as she says she will. Since it has been promised to you, then the promise will never be broken. But if you tell even half a lie, don’t blame this princess for going back on her word!”

The little eunuch gritted his teeth. With a white face, he told the whole story.

With just 300 taels, an eunuch by her side was bribed. Princess Ping Hu listened while suppressing the anger in her heart.

What a crown princess. At such a young age, she was already attacking this imperial aunt.

This eunuch was also pitiful. His hometown had been hit by disaster and as winter set in, his parents had asked people to send him letters many times to say that the family could no longer survive. He was just an errand eunuch and his monthly salary was pitifully small. He had already sent all his money back to his hometown, but a few days ago, a letter came to him saying that his mother had fallen ill and needed money to be healed. He had asked to borrow money from someone but it had not been enough to pay the medical bills. He happened to be inquired about by a palace maid under the crown princess. So, the crown princess contacted this eunuch quite coincidentally, and changed Gu Yu Qi’s sweet soup.

“Tell the truth, were you contacted by the Crown Princess’ maid for everything?” Princess Ping Hu asked calmly.

“Yes, it was the maid beside Her Highness the Crown Princess who contacted this servant.” After the eunuch spoke, his face turned paler. He tried his best to make himself kneel a little more decently, “This servant knows that due to the mistakes made, this servant can no longer live. It does not matter if this servant dies, but this servant requests Her Highness to send this servant’s money to this servant’s parents in the name of filial piety, and have the money reach the hands of this servant’s parents.” After he finished speaking, he kowtowed respectfully towards Princess Ping Hu. “This servant is willing to die.”

Princess Ping Hu looked at his thin body for a long time, her eyes flickering and her brows stretching slightly. She gestured at the palace maid beside her. The palace maid approached and Princess Ping Hu whispered a few words to the palace maid. The palace maid understood and took a few steps forward. Then she picked up the eunuch with one hand and walked out of the tent with light steps. She really was talented. She carried the eunuch directly out of the tent and no one knew where they went.

Princess Ping Hu said to a guard, “Make a trip to his hometown.”

The guard cupped his fists in salute, then left the tent.

Princess Ping Hu then leaned on the back of the old-fashioned wooden armchair and sighed.

She rubbed her slightly swollen eyebrows. This matter actually involved the crown princess. She did not know if it was the crown princess’ own intention or if the crown prince had instructed her to do so because he could not afford to lose.

After all was said and done, it was her fault in the end. The gamble that she had set up on a whim had almost killed Gu Yu Qi. If something had really happened to Gu Yu Qi here, then she was afraid even she could not wash herself clean of it.

Also, Gu Yu Qi was a lucky person. Imperial Physician Ning just happened to have been dragged here by her. If it had been another imperial physician, it was likely that they would have been helpless.

It was just that she said she would give an explanation to Liang-shi. Now that it involved the crown prince’s residence, how could she explain?

Headache!

On this side, Princess Ping Hu had a headache after finding out about it. When the crown prince returned to his tent, the crown princess had been waiting there for a long time. She had also sent for a fragrant tea that the crown prince liked to drink in a timely manner.

The news that Gu Yu Qi fainted had long spread throughout the camp. How could the crown princess, who had been concerned about the hunting situation, not know?

Others only thought that Gu Yu Qi’s cold had recurred, but the crown princess was well aware of the real reason. When the crown prince came back, there was no joy on his face. This made the crown princess, who was in a good mood at first, become uneasy.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, is Miss Gu alright?” She first asked tentatively.

If Gu Yu Qi was really injured, it could not be guaranteed that Princess Ping Hu would not investigate the matter. When that time comes… No, she must get rid of that eunuch first!

Just when the crown princess was thinking chaotically, the crown prince shook his head slowly, “She had been poisoned. It’s strange, how could she be poisoned by Imperial Aunt? Fortunately, Imperial Physician Ning was there and was just in time to save her life.”

After hearing this, the crown princess felt her whole body stiffen. Poisoned? She had told someone to put in a lot of peacebloom, but it was not to the point of poisoning. Peacebloom was non-toxic, and would just make the person’s arms and legs feel weak after eating more. As long as Gu Yu Qi was powerless, she would not be able to pull a bowstring and shoot an arrow. Not to mention fighting for the first place, it would be a question of whether she could even hunt things.

How did she get poisoned?

“Is Princess unwell?” The crown prince raised his eyes inadvertently and found that his wife’s face was a little pale, so he asked casually.

“No.” The crown princess returned to her senses and hurriedly lowered her head to cover it up. She smiled, “It’s just that this concubine did not rest at noon.”

“Oh.” The crown prince did not have doubts and nodded, “Princess should pay attention to her body. Things out here are not as smooth as they are inside the palace.”

“Yes, yes. This concubine thanks Your Highness for his concern.” The crown princess’ heart felt like it was pumping 15 big buckets of water, agitated and in a flurry. She bent her knees quickly, “Your Highness, this concubine has prepared dinner for Your Highness. This concubine will go to see if it is ready and will take leave first.”

“Mn. Go ahead,” the crown prince nodded.

The crown princess then withdrew and hurriedly called her personal palace maid, “Go and find out where the eunuch is. If…” She gave the palace maid a look. The palace maid nodded and hurriedly turned away.

In the middle of the night, the crown princess was a little restless. The palace maid had been gone too long, so long that her heart skipped a beat.

Sure enough, in the middle of the night, the palace maid came back with an ashen face. She spread the news into the crown princess’ ears that the eunuch had been captured by Princess Ping Hu.

The crown princess was instantly struck by lightning, pale with fright. Immediately, she broke out in cold sweat. Just as she was pacing around the tent like a blown-up mouse, the crown prince parted the curtain and entered. The crown princess was caught up in her own problems and did not even see the crown prince standing in front of her.

The crown prince frowed, his heart unhappy, but he still asked patiently, “What’s wrong, Princess?”

Only then did the crown princess realise that the crown prince was standing in front of her. Frightened, she knelt down with a thump. “Your Highness the Crown Prince,” she grabbed the hem of the crown prince’s clothes and raised her little face. There were already tears on her face. “This concubine did a stupid thing.” She had pondered over it and had decided to tell His Highness about the matter.

“What’s wrong?” Seeing his crown princess weeping like a pear blossom in the rain, his heart softened and he picked her up. He asked softly, “What happened?”

The crown princess gritted her teeth and told the crown prince what she had done.

The more the crown prince listened, the uglier his expression became. When the crown princess finished talking as she cried, he really did not know what to say to his wife!

“You, really!!!” He flicked his sleeves, flicking away from the crown princess who was tugging at the hem of his clothes, “You really are a good crown princess!” He practically forced those words out between his teeth and there was uncontrollable anger in his brows! “If you lose, you lose! Even if we’re poor, we can bring out that kind of money! Great now, what kind of person is Imperial Aunt and you dared to poke her in the eye! You really desire to see the world plunged into chaos!” After speaking, he turned to leave. The crown princess was startled and hurriedly pulled his sleeves, “Where is Your Highness going?”

“Where am I going?” The crown prince snorted coldly and pushed Li-shi away, “Naturally, I’m going to help you deal with the consequences!”

After speaking, he angrily walked out of his tent and went to find Princess Ping Hu.