Chapter 46: The Highest-ranking Imperial Concubine Was So Caring

Proofreader: Prof. Zhu Yuan

In order to check whether these treasures were poisonous or not, someone needed to run a poison test, pure and simple.

Who would be the Emperor’s choice to run this poison test?

Ruan Qingqing was harboring intense hatred towards Ruan Jiujiu. Upon hearing the Emperor’s words, Ruan Qingqing went all out to get rid of the guards clamping their hands on her. Then she screamed: “Your Majesty, I’m equipped with medical skills. Let me run the poison test.”

The Emperor made no response, frowning slightly.

Ruan Jiujiu insisted that it was Ruan Qingqing who told her the treasures were poisonous.

He didn’t trust Ruan Qingqing.

“Your Majesty, Ruan Qingqing did possess medical skills. You may let her have a try,” Empress Xiao, having been kneeling on the ground for a while, proposed. She looked carefully at the Emperor as she was trying to figure out what the Emperor would do next. She continued: “We are here to welcome our brother. There is no need to waste our time dealing with those unimportant matters.”

The Emperor nodded his head slowly. What Empress Xiao said hit home. His original intention was to humiliate Beiming Xuan. Why would he devote his energy into something else?

Empress Xiao’s words smoothed his ruffled feathers. He raised his hands and signaled to Empress Xiao: “The Empress may stand up.”

Empress Xiao expressed her gratitude and stood up. She cast a glance at Ruan Qingqing with a comforting look in her eyes as she turned round.

Ruan Qingqing, however, bore a grudge against Empress Xiao.

The Empress finally came to realize the need to bestow some favor on her? Empress Xiao didn’t even intercede on her behalf when her life was at stake just now.

She was no fool! The Empress thought it easy to get her deceived!

“Your Majesty, Ruan Jiujiu claimed just now that it was I who insisted that the treasures were poisonous and people would die upon touching it. I’m going to run the poison test. If I stay alive, then we can conclude that Ruan Jiujiu was lying!” Ruan Qingqing raised her head and pronounced every word in emphatic voice.

Ruan Jiujiu intended to drive her into a corner? She would pay Ruan Jiujiu back what Ruan Jiujiu did to her!

If those treasures were proved non-toxic, Ruan Jiujiu would definitely be sentenced to death!

The Emperor nodded his head. Ruan Qingqing trotted to those boxes.

She couldn’t bear Ruan Jiujiu’s presence any longer. She felt that she would go mad as long as Ruan Jiujiu stayed alive.

Ruan Qingqing walked as if on wings, in complete disregard of her wounds which were still aching.

She walked to the Jade Beauty and reached her hand.

All of a sudden, .a small object flew to Ruan Qingqing. Ruan Qingqing felt a dull ache in her forefinger. Then something strange happened. Her forefinger fractured with a snap, her hand twisted out of shape!

A sharp pain!

What happened to the ten fingers would be passed on to the heart.

“Ouch!” Ruan Qingqing cried. She fell to the ground and passed out in pain.

Silence descended upon the scene. Everyone turned to Ruan Jiujiu.

Ruan Jiujiu put on a regretful tone as she was fiddling with a stone: “It was a slip of my hand! I shouldn’t have hit her so hard.”

A slip of her hand? Nobody bought her story!

The Emperor turned angry and roared: “Ruan Jiujiu, how dare you!”

“Your Majesty, I think it is inappropriate to let my sister run the poison test,” Ruan Jiujiu said seriously, pretending not to notice the Emperor’s fury.

“What do you mean?” The Emperor’s face darkened with anger.

Ruan Jiujiu made her position clear without being intimidated by the Emperor’s anger: “Ruan Qingqing is likely to play dirty! Both of us are involved in this case. It would be inappropriate for either of us to run the poison test.”

“You have said that whoever touched these treasures would die immediately. If that is the case, nobody would be able to play dirty. As long as she remains alive, it could be proved that the treasures are non-toxic. If she died, it could be concluded that the treasures were toxic!”

The Emperor was burning with rage. Even the Buddha would stamp his foot in anger if his plan got recurrently thwarted, let alone an ordinary human being like the Emperor.

“It was Ruan Qingqing who claimed that those treasures were poisonous. What if the poison is slow in taking effect? What if Ruan Qingqing could eliminate the toxin within a few seconds? If that was the case, I would definitely be wronged. It would be inappropriate for me to run the poison test, either. What if I pretend to be poisoned?” Ruan Jiujiu was speaking in a way the Emperor found very irritating. He could barely resist the urge to swallow Ruan Jiujiu raw and whole.

The Emperor was tired of arguing with her. He asked Ruan Jiujiu as he was trying to control his temper: “Do you have any good ideas?”

“We can find someone who is not involved in this case.” Ruan Jiujiu was still trying to preserve her mask of solemnity. Then she added: “He should be under no suspicion of poisoning the treasures!”

Ruan Jiujiu’s words contained overtones. Anyone related to the three treasures was not qualified to run the poison test. What Ruan Jiujiu wanted to express was that anyone related to the three treasures, whether intending to apply poison or not, could play dirty.

“She is right. The one who is going to run the poison test should be under no suspicion of poisoning the treasures. The gift was carefully prepared by my brother. I will let no one tarnish my brother’s good will.”

Beiming Xuan spoke to the Emperor as the Emperor was still chewing over Ruan Jiujiu’s words. Sat in shocked silence, he turned to Beiming Xuan.

Beiming Xuan met his glance frostily. Although the way Beiming Xuan looked at the Emperor was by no means disrespectful, the Emperor still felt quite suffocated.

“Your Majesty, what do you think?” Beiming Xuan said to the Emperor. The Emperor tried hard not to lose his temper.

Beiming Xuan’s words had forced the Emperor into a corner. Since Beiming Xuan had showed his disapproval, the Emperor would have no chance of forcing Beiming Xuan to accept those treasures.

The Emperor was burning with rage. However, he could find no way to give vent to his feelings.

He was getting more and more irritated.

“My brother is right. We should find someone who is not involved in this case.”

Easier said than done. Who was the best option? Was there anyone qualified to run the test right now?

“Your Highness, let me run the poison test.”

The Emperor was torn by conflicting thoughts as to deciding on the suitable person when a sweet woman voice reached his ear. He found a caring gaze fixed on him as he turned round in surprise.

It was the Imperial Concubine Dan?

Every emperor had his favorite concubine. Among all his imperial concubines, the Emperor was particularly fond of the Imperial Concubine Dan. Her son, Beiming Yue, was the third son of the Emperor. Imperial Concubine Dan was inferior only to Empress Xiao in status. She was also the Emperor’s favorite, which Beiming Yue could leverage in the intense competition for becoming the crown prince.

Imperial Concubine Dan volunteered to run the poison test in order to curry favor with the Emperor.

If she successfully helped the Emperor out, she would leave him with a better impression.

Having seen through the Imperial Concubine Dan, Empress Xiao gave her a hard stare, cursing her wiliness silently.

“You are the Emperor’s beloved one. His Majesty has said that he is going to find someone who is not involved in this case. You really lack wisdom of knowing yourself.”

“Your Highness, I am innocent, indeed. You didn’t notice anything suspicious in my behavior, did you?” The Imperial Concubine Dan said gently, and even her rhetorical question sounded pretty pleasing.

Empress Xiao was rendered tongue-tied. Ruan Jiujiu had used ambiguous terms, since what was going on right now should not be explained in an explicit way. Everybody understood that the Emperor was planning to humiliate the Lord Ming by forcing him to accept the treasures, and the Lord Ming didn’t want to be humiliated. Nobody dared to bring that into the open.

She dared not put all the cards on the table even if she was the Empress, the highest-ranking woman in Tiansheng.

The Emperor was sure that those treasures were non-toxic. His beloved one would by no means be exposed to danger. He was deeply impressed by the Imperial Concubine Dan’s brave move.

If the Imperial Concubine Dan could run the poison test, it would be easier for the Emperor to put an end to today’s farce. He couldn’t wait to express his approval. The only thing that worried him was Beiming Xuan’s attitude.

However, Beiming Xuan spoke to the Emperor as the Emperor was trying to figure out a proper wording to gain Beiming Xuan’s approval.

“I think it would be appropriate for the Imperial Concubine to run the poison test,” Beiming Xuan said.