Chapter 61: The Changing Countenance

Zhao Yizhen was stunned.

That sounded quite reasonable, too.

There are only two ways to make someone quiet.
Kill them or shut their mouth.

"Wang Rukai, how is the antidote coming along?" Zhao Yizhen took a deep breath, suppressed the rising anger in his heart, and asked calmly.

Seeing that the situation was turning bad, Yu Zhong hurriedly stepped forward and removed the cloth from Li Xubai's mouth.

Li Xubai's groans immediately grew louder.

Wang Rukai spoke vaguely, "Your Humble Servant... has already concocted half of the antidote."

"Half of an antidote?" Zhao Yizhen was puzzled.

Biting the bullet, Wang Rukai repeated what he had said half an hour ago to Zhao Yizhen. Seeing Zhao Yizhen's expression grow increasingly grim, he hurriedly tried to remedy the situation, "Your Majesty, please rest assured. Your Humble Servant already has a clue and will be able to concoct the antidote very soon."

Zhao Yizhen slammed his hand heavily on the table, "By the time you concoct the antidote, Erlang will have suffered to death."

Li Xubai wept and nodded heavily with muffled sounds, tears streaming down his face.

"Lord Li, please don't cry. Lord Director, Lord Li is crying from pain," Yu Zhong hurriedly used a handkerchief to wipe Li Xubai's tears.

In too much pain to speak, Li Xubai felt that he had no way to clear his name.
He wasn't crying from pain; he was crying from being touched, alright?

Wang Rukai glared resentfully at Li Xubai and weighed his words carefully, "The poison Lord Li ingested originates from the Liao Dynasty. It is concocted from four poisonous ingredients and is called 'Crimson Face Transformed'. It is not native to our Great Yu, hence—hence it was somewhat difficult to identify. However, Your Humble Servant has already identified its primary poisonous component as nux vomica, and the antidote will be concocted very soon."

Hearing that the poison came from the Liao Dynasty while the assassins came from Western Xia, Zhao Yizhen's thoughts were thrown into turmoil. Realizing something shortly after, he offered a few words of comfort to Li Xubai and hurried back to the Wende Hall.

Tossed about like this for the entire night, Li Xubai was cajoled, deceived, threatened, and coerced by Wang Rukai into swallowing two more bowls of the so-called antidote.

During this time, the stomachache ceased, but a headache began. Once the headache stopped, the pain migrated into the marrow of his bones.

It was a torment worse than death.

Relying solely on silently reciting the phrase, "When Heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, strains his sinews and bones, subjects his body to hunger," Li Xubai managed to keep himself from howling in bitter grief.

Seeing this scene, Wang Rukai was clearly losing his composure as well.

Fortunately, Zhao Yizhen had been persuaded back by Yu Zhong; otherwise, no matter how benevolent the emperor was, he would have started threatening to execute entire clans on the spot.

Song Shiyu watched as Li Xubai endured excruciating pain, finding it truly unbearable, and turned to walk out of the hall doors.

It was currently just before dawn, and the night was pitch black without a shred of light.

Unable to light a lamp or walk along the main roads where the Imperial Guard patrolled, Song Shiyu could only use the shadows beneath the palace walls to conceal her figure. Relying on her memories from her past life, she threaded her way through the dark of dawn.

Her figure and presence were restrained to the point of being virtually imperceptible, and her footsteps were light. In the span of just two quarter-hours, she arrived safely and without alarm at the Chenggong Palace.

The gates of the Chenggong Palace were tightly shut. Both inside and outside the palace were pitch black, as if everyone within had already retired for the night.

Song Shiyu glanced up at the towering palace walls, leaped into the air, lightly tapped her foot against the wall, and vaulted over the parapet as light as a swallow, landing silently and softly within the Chenggong Palace.

She hid in the shadows for a moment, and seeing that she had not alerted anyone, she followed her memory to locate Empress Dowager Yang's sleeping quarters.

The bedchamber was likewise pitch black, lacking even a minor eunuch on duty along the corridors.

Song Shiyu pursed her lips and was about to push the door open when she heard the faint sound of conversation coming from within the sleeping hall.

Yet the voices were exceptionally soft, making it exceedingly difficult to discern who was speaking.

Concentrating for a moment, she pushed open the door from the side hall.

True enough, there was a night-duty attendant who was half-asleep in the hall. Hearing the door creak, the person woke up with a start. Before they had a chance to speak or even see clearly who had entered, they were struck unconscious with a single palm strike.

Song Shiyu took a teacup, pressed it flat against the wall, and put her ear to the bottom of the cup. Through the partition wall, she heard the voices of two women talking in the bedchamber.

However, the language they spoke was not the tongue of Great Yu, but rather the language of the Liao Dynasty, which left Song Shiyu slightly startled.

"Is there any news from Wende Hall yet?"

"Yes. They say Wang Rukai has yet to concoct the antidote, and Li Xubai is suffering terribly."

"This is troublesome. If Li Xubai cannot be cured of the poison, His Majesty will certainly not let this matter rest easily and will definitely investigate to the end."

"Then what should we do? We certainly can't just send the antidote to them. To think Wang Rukai is the Director of the Imperial Medical Service—how can he be so utterly useless that he can't even cure a mere 'Crimson Face Transformed'?"

"This is a newly formulated 'Crimson Face Transformed' from the Liao Dynasty, different from the old formula, and it is being used for the very first time. It is only natural that Wang Rukai cannot identify it. Naturally, we cannot hand the antidote over so directly. Let me think. In any case, he is only suffering a bit and won't die anytime soon."

"Understood. It's just that this time Li Xubai has ruined our plan. Opportunities like this won't be easy to come by in the future."

"It doesn't matter. As long as we make a clean escape this time, there will be plenty of opportunities ahead."

"Yes."

"Is she still well-behaved back there?"

"She is well-behaved."

The conversation between the two came to an end here, and no further sound emerged, as if they were deep in thought, pondering how to make the antidote appear plausible without raising any suspicion toward themselves.

Song Shiyu raised her eyes to check the sky, knowing she could no longer linger here. She set the teacup down properly and cautiously left the Chenggong Palace.

Returning to the back hall of the Wende Hall, Li Xubai had already worn himself out from the torment, and his whimpers had grown feeble and weak.

"Director Wang, how is the antidote coming along?" Song Shiyu now doubted her own inexplicable trust in Wang Rukai. She stuck closely to his side, watching him without missing a single detail.

The cold sweat that Wang Rukai had managed to stop moments ago was coaxed out once more under Song Shiyu's unblinking stare. Feeling both impatient and guilty, he stammered, "Almost, almost. It will be concocted in a moment."

Hearing this, Li Xubai caught his breath and shouted weakly, "You—you old fraud, you've tricked me three times already! This fourth time, you can beat me to death and I still won't drink it!"

Wang Rukai turned his head and scolded, "What do you know! If you don't drink it, then just wait to die from the poison!"

Li Xubai: "......"

Pondering the conversation of the two women in the Chenggong Palace just now, Song Shiyu asked with a profound look in her eyes, "Director Wang, have you ever seen the Liao Dynasty's 'Crimson Face Transformed'?"

"I have," Wang Rukai replied, perplexed.

"Then, are the symptoms after being poisoned the same as Li Xubai's?"

Wang Rukai frowned, "They seem to be the same."

"Is that so? I have never seen 'Crimson Face Transformed', but since Director Wang has seen it, you must have also carefully examined and distinguished the poisonous components and the antidote formula in the past, so there shouldn't be too much deviation. Yet judging by Li Xubai's condition, this... doesn't seem quite right."

A thought flashed through Wang Rukai's mind. He strode swiftly over, extracted some more toxic blood from the wound on Li Xubai's back, dissolved it in a bowl, and began to examine it closely.

After the span of an incense stick, he looked at Song Shiyu in utter astonishment, "You are right! I was careless, truly careless! This is not the old 'Crimson Face Transformed'. Although the primary poison remains unchanged, the other three toxic ingredients have all been altered. This is an improved version of 'Crimson Face Transformed'!"

Li Xubai fell into complete despair.

A poison could even be upgraded? There was simply no playing this game anymore!

Could he still leave this place alive?