jdhmnovel Chapter 254 The Arrow is Poisoned
Chapter 254 The Arrow is Poisoned
I saw the heroic Dugu Jingyao, staring at the direction where the thieves fled with a sharp gaze, and her tense heartstrings finally relaxed a little.
Although the operation was extremely dangerous, they were lucky to have captured the man alive, which meant that their carefully planned strategy had worked. She took a deep breath, as if the extremely heavy stone weighing on her heart had fallen to the ground, and she felt a lot more relaxed.
Then, with a solemn expression, she turned to Xun Feng beside her and said, "Xun Feng, quickly take your men to count the number of people. For those who unfortunately died, if they were sent by Prince Guangping, we must arrange for personnel to escort their remains back to Chang'an for a proper burial. If the deceased were soldiers of our Dugu family army, I'm afraid we won't be able to bring them back to their homeland in Yunnan. But we must find a place with good feng shui for them to rest in peace. After returning to Yunnan, we will send some silver and money to their families as a token of comfort."
Xunfeng looked at the corpses lying all over the ground, nodded with a gloomy face and said, "Yes, Princess." After that, he turned around and started to get busy with his men.
At this moment, Si Jian and Shi Jian, who had just been involved in the fierce fight, hurried back to the carriage. Meanwhile, Zhi Shu and Shi Li were sitting quietly in the carriage, carefully accompanying Liu Jingyue.
Shi Jian was sharp-eyed. As soon as he approached, he noticed a wound on his princess's arm. A look of worry immediately crossed his face, and he asked with concern, "Princess, how did you get hurt? Are you feeling unwell?"
Upon hearing this, Dugu Jingyao realized that there was a wound on her arm. It was not big, but because it had cut through the skin, blood was still flowing out.
Dugu Jingyao looked at her wound and thought it was only a minor injury, so she said, "Shijian, don't worry, it's just a flesh wound, nothing serious, it will be fine after a simple bandage."
Then Dugu Jingyao looked at Shi Jian and Si Jian again. Although their faces and bodies were stained with blood, it was not them. They should be the men in black. Only then did she feel relieved.
Dugu Jingyao said to Shi Jian and Si Jian, "Everything will go according to plan." Shi Jian and Si Jian nodded in unison.
After he finished speaking, no one knew whether the taut string suddenly loosened, or whether Dugu Jingyao pretended to faint as planned, or whether the arrow that injured Dugu Jingyao was poisoned. In short, Dugu Jingyao fell heavily to the ground.
Because no one else knew the detailed plan, apart from Dugu Jingyao, only Si Jian, Shi Jian, Liu Jingyue, Zhishu and Shili knew the details.
But in order to make the performance more realistic, Shi Jian and Si Jian pretended to be panicked. Si Jian was a noisy person by nature, and he immediately shouted loudly: "Help, help, the princess has fainted!"
Xunfeng didn't care about the situation over there and went to Dugu Jingyao to check. Liu Jingyue didn't care about the dead and hurriedly got out of the car with Zhishu and Shili.
Because Xunfeng had been in the military camp with Dugu Xin for a long time, and there was a high possibility that Dugu Xin and he would be injured, or someone would poison them, he specially learned some medical skills from the doctor accompanying the military camp. Unexpectedly, he would use them on Dugu Jingyao one day.
Xun Feng hurried forward and said, "Make room for me. I'll take the princess's pulse."
They also knew that Xunfeng had studied medicine, so they made room for him. After all, although it was a plan, if something really happened to the princess, they would not be able to explain to their own prince and His Royal Highness Prince Guangping.
Xunfeng stepped forward to check Dugu Jingyao's pulse, only to see that Xunfeng's complexion changed and his brows furrowed. Liu Jingyue saw Xunfeng's expression and knew that it seemed that he was not acting, but that there was really a problem!
So he asked hurriedly with a tearful voice, "Xunfeng, sister...what's wrong with sister?"
Xun Feng thought for a moment and said, "Let's lift the princess onto the carriage first. Judging from her pulse, the arrow that wounded her is probably poisonous, but I need to examine the arrow first. I'm not sure if I can detoxify it."
Everyone was panicked now, after all, the poisoning was a bit sudden, but Shi Jian and Xun Feng still tried to calm down and directed people to carry Dugu Jingyao onto the carriage.
Shi Jian suddenly remembered that their plan was to find a way to invite Divine Doctor Gongsun to come, regardless of whether the princess was truly injured or not, and no matter how serious the injury was, so she whispered, "Oh right, when we were planning it, to make it more realistic, we intended to invite Divine Doctor Gongsun and her apprentice Murong Linzhi to come."
Si Jian couldn't help but said, "I'll go now!"
Shi Jian pulled Si Jian back and said, "Stop, you're being too impulsive. It could easily lead to bad things. Xun Feng, please go over there."
Xunfeng also nodded and said, "Shijian is right. Sijian, you stay here to take care of the princess. I will go. I will go find Commander Zhang right away and go back to Chang'an with him first." After saying that, he left to find Commander Zhang.
Xunfeng told Commander Zhang about what happened with Dugu Jingyao. Commander Zhang also knew that the matter was very urgent, so the two of them discussed that since this place was not far from Chang'an, the others would first stay in a nearby inn while they returned to Chang'an.
The two of them rode back to Chang'an at full speed and arrived at Prince Guangping's Mansion in about half an hour. However, Li Chu had not returned yet, so the two of them turned to go to the imperial palace.
When they arrived at the palace, they were still covered in blood, so they were allowed in after being checked and reported. They went straight to the East Palace. At this time, the grand court meeting was about to end. The prince was fine, but Li Chu couldn't wait to know what was going on with Dugu Jingyao.
Li Chu originally wanted to leave the palace, but a eunuch came to invite the prince and said in a panic: "Your Highness, something bad has happened to Princess Yi'an!"
Li Chu's face showed worry, but he tried to stay calm because he couldn't let anyone catch his weakness, otherwise Jingyao would be in greater danger.
The prince also frowned and asked, "What's going on? Let's talk as we walk."
The eunuch readily followed the steps of the Crown Prince and Li Chu, saying as they walked, "Just now, Commander Zhang and the guards accompanying Princess Yi'an came to report that although Princess Yi'an's injuries were not serious, the arrow that wounded her was poisoned."
The Crown Prince and Li Chu were caught off guard. They hadn't anticipated such a shady plot! The two quickened their pace, and the young eunuch followed behind them, jogging all the way to the East Palace.
When they arrived at Zhaoyang Palace, the Crown Princess was worried and restless. Li Neng was not there because he was studying in the study. Instead, Li Ruo was lying on the Crown Princess's legs and crying.
The two saw that the Crown Prince and Li Chu seemed to have found their backbone. At this time, Commander Zhang and Xun Feng were still kneeling on the ground. They first greeted the Crown Prince and Li Chu. After the two were seated, the Crown Prince spoke in a deep voice: "What's going on?"
Commander Zhang respectfully replied, "Your Highness, we underestimated their strength. They were all highly skilled in martial arts, and two of them were secretly shooting arrows, disrupting our rhythm. Only after the two archers died did we repel them and capture two of them alive. Later, while cleaning up the scene, we discovered the princess was injured, but she claimed it was only a minor wound. She fainted just as she was about to get bandaged in the carriage."
After Commander Zhang finished speaking, Xun Feng immediately said, "Your Highness, I learned some medical skills in the army, so I took the princess's pulse. The pulse is very strange, as if she has been poisoned."
The prince asked in confusion, "What do you mean by 'like being poisoned'?"
Xun Feng continued, "Your Highness, my medical skills are limited. I can only diagnose that the princess's pulse is abnormal, but I cannot confirm the source of the poison."
Li Chu spoke up at this time, "Father, according to the plan, in order to make Jingyao's injury appear more realistic, Jingyao gave me a letter, asking me to go and get the Divine Doctor Gongsun. If the Divine Doctor can't go, then I'll ask his apprentice Murong Linzhi to go."
The prince said, "In that case, let's follow the plan and quickly go get the doctor! Jingyao's injury cannot be delayed any longer!"
Li Chu bowed again to his superior and said, "Father, I want to go and ask the doctor myself, and take a look at Jingyao."
The prince was delighted to see that his son and the daughter of the King of Yunnan were on good terms, so he hummed and said, "Well, go ahead. Otherwise, you won't be able to sit still here. Besides, your presence will make Jingyao's serious injury look more realistic."
After getting the Crown Prince's permission, Li Chu's expression finally brightened. He thanked him and took Xun Feng and Commander Zhang out of the palace to the clinic where Divine Doctor Gongsun was.