Chapter 191: Chapter 90: His Knife_3
Lu Tong’s expression changed dramatically.
Fangzi and Qiong Ying also abruptly raised their heads.
The next moment, the knocking on the door grew more rapid, and Meng Xiyang’s voice sounded from outside, "Why has the Princess Consort been silent all this time? Could something have happened?"
Pei Yunshu opened her sweat-drenched eyes from the midst of her pain and gritted her teeth, "This is bad. Meng Xiyang might have become suspicious."
Outside, Meng Xiyang stood behind the crone, her face so dark it could drip with water.
Pei Yunshu had dismissed the medical officer who had come to diagnose her, leaving only the female doctor in the room, which always made her feel uneasy. Thus, she had sent a servant to the herbal shop where the female doctor’s maid had collected the medicines, to ask the shopkeeper what they truly bought.
Upon hearing that the inquirer was from the Prince’s Mansion, the shopkeeper himself got frightened and, without waiting to be questioned, he carefully recounted the prescription the maid had filled.
"Dong quai, zhike, Chuanxiong, motherwort, huang qi..." the shopkeeper’s face turned pale with shock, "These are ingredients for a fetal well-being drink, it’s a labor-inducing drug!"
Labor-inducing drug!
Meng Xiyang’s nails, painted with dancao, were almost embedded into her palm.
No one would use a labor-inducing drug without a reason, especially since Pei Yunshu still had more than a month until her due date. But now they have secretly taken labor-inducing drugs, there was only one possibility.
The female doctor named Lu Tong had discovered the truth about Pei Yunshu’s poisoning.
Meng Xiyang tensed up, her gaze towards the room door unable to hide the coldness.
The words of her cousin echoed in her ears—
"A person poisoned will carry the fetus safely until the full term, then a stillborn will be delivered, but the mother will come out unharmed."
’Children’s Sorrow’ was meant to work silently within the womb of the expecting woman, so that by the end of the tenth month, the infant would no longer have a spark of life. However, for a child born before term, it was unclear if they could survive; her cousin was uncertain. After all, this banned substance had ostensibly been lost to time, and those who had used it in recent years had never been discovered.
If it were just this affair alone, she could let it go, but what was more significant was that, since Lu Tong had uncovered the truth about ’Children’s Sorrow,’ should the matter come out, the crime of poisoning the offspring of the Wangfu would inevitably fall upon her, with unimaginable consequences.
Meng Xiyang bit her lip, a flicker of fear crossing her mind.
Today, Prince Wen was in Minglin Garden, and with the imperial banquet ending at nightfall, even if news was sent to him, he would take some time to return. She must push all the blame onto the female doctor before Prince Wen returned.
Prince Wen had always been compliant toward her, so as long as she removed all evidence, Prince Wen would invariably side with her over Pei Yunshu without any reason.
It would suffice to remove all human evidence. That female doctor deserved it, after all; who told her to uncover secrets she shouldn’t have and to wholeheartedly help Pei Yunshu? She couldn’t understand the situation and was asking for death!
With an expressionless face, Meng Xiyang raised her head and waved to the old servant and family guards behind her.
"The Princess Consort is being held hostage by a villain, break down the door for me!"
Upon receiving the order, the family guards and the old servant surged forward, and with a "bang," the carved yellow rosewood door was smashed open from outside, and a troop of crones rushed in.
Inside, Lu Tong furrowed her brow.
Indeed, there was unrest within the Prince’s Mansion. If earlier there were only suspicions, Meng Xiyang’s melodramatic actions now virtually confirmed to Lu Tong that Pei Yunshu’s ’Children’s Sorrow’ was inextricably linked to the Consort of the Prince’s Mansion.
Fangzi and Qiong Ying stood in front of Pei Yunshu, who was now breaking blood and in unbearable agony, barely lifting her head with difficulty to angrily say, "Meng Xiyang, what are you trying to do!"
Meng Xiyang stood at the doorway; with the door being smashed open and a sliver of light casting behind her, the woman was submerged further into darkness, making her delicate features seem all the more shadowy.
Yet her voice was soft, carrying a particularly jarring concern.
"Princess Consort, just now the shopkeeper from the herbal shop nearby sent someone to say that Lu Tong’s maid had been there to fetch ingredients for a labor-inducing ’fetal well-being drink.’ The shopkeeper was worried there had been a mistake, so he specifically sent someone to inform us. Upon hearing this, your younger sister immediately rushed over."
She looked towards Lu Tong, and coldly said, "You’ve got quite the nerve to dare to harm the Commandery Prince’s offspring!"
"I have not sought to harm your mansion’s offspring," Lu Tong had no intention of bearing Meng Xiyang’s wrath alone, "The labor-inducing drug was the Princess Consort’s own idea."
Pei Yunshu, covered in sweat and clutching her belly, glared at Meng Xiyang with the help of Fangzi’s support, "It was my idea. Meng Xiyang, the fetus in my womb is unstable, showing signs of poisoning. That’s why I asked Doctor Lu to induce labor, to save the child. Get out—"