Zi Yin clenched her fists, raising them high, and glared back at the people behind her.
Instantly, the murmuring behind her subsided considerably.
Facing the surrounding clamor of discussions, Gu Qian Ying remained as steady as a mountain, unaffected by any of it.
She meticulously poured the Seven Insect Powder into a white jade dish, then took out her last remaining silver needle.
Instead of testing the poison with the silver needle, she surprisingly pricked her own wrist with one end of it.
"Ah, look, what is she doing?"
"Blood! She's bleeding, she... she... this is..."
Amidst the gasps of the crowd, crimson blood drops fell into the white jade dish.
Immediately, Gu Qian Ying mixed her blood with the Seven Insect Powder.
A pungent, blood-tinged odor assailed their nostrils.
At this moment, Gu Qian Ying asked Zi Yin, who was standing beside her, to help pour the remaining poisonous powder from the small white bottle of Seven Insect Powder into another jade dish.
This time, Gu Qian Ying did not add her blood to the other jade dish. Instead, she inserted the end of the silver needle that was not stained with blood into the poisonous powder in the jade dish and stirred it back and forth continuously.
Another half an incense stick's time passed.
Suddenly.
Shouts erupted.
"Wow, look, she... she finished it, Miss Gu, she finished it... she actually finished it."
Everyone was astonished.
Meanwhile, in another private room.
Nangong Mo sat in his wheelchair, playing chess with Nangong Li.
Beside him, Bai Qi reported truthfully, "Reporting to my lord, all other contestants have completed their current assessment tasks, only Miss Gu is still busy."
"Mm!"
Nangong Mo maintained his usual indifferent expression.
Nangong Li, who was playing with a folding fan, couldn't help but ask, "Ninth Imperial Uncle, is it a bit too much to let that Meng Qing Hua deliberately give the most difficult question only to Miss Gu?"
*Crack!*
Nangong Mo placed his chess piece down, raised his eyes, and coldly looked at Nangong Li, "So you are standing up for your Ninth Imperial Aunt?"
A pair of eyes "with a blade's edge" clearly made Nangong Li drop his folding fan to the ground.
"No, no, no, she deserves it! Haha, nephew is just angry on your behalf, Ninth Imperial Uncle. What is this? Clearly knowing that Ninth Imperial Uncle is good to her, yet she doesn't appreciate it and deserves punishment, severe punishment."
"You are happy that I am making things difficult for her, aren't you?"
Nangong Mo's eyes remained cold.
*Crack!*
Nangong Li's expression froze. He looked at Nangong Mo with a wry smile, "Ninth Imperial Uncle, nephew was wrong. Nephew deserves to be beaten."
At this moment.
A hidden guard, who had been observing from the shadows, rushed in.
"My lord, she won, she won, Miss Gu won."
"Really? That's great!" Nangong Li was overjoyed.
Bai Qi also wore an expression of happiness for their future Princess Consort.
But only Nangong Mo's expression remained indifferent. Upon hearing the hidden guard's words, he did not show any joy for Gu Qian Ying. However, the chess piece he was holding, which should have been on the chessboard, fell to the ground.
"Mm, I know. Go, bestow the Qing Shao I brought upon them, and say it's to celebrate my Princess Consort becoming the 'top scholar' within the Poison Doctor Saint Pavilion."
"Yes! Your subordinate obeys."
The hidden guard turned and left.
Nangong Mo then looked at Bai Qi, "Bai Qi, go to Meng Qing Hua yourself. Tell him that I am retracting the ten-year contract, making it void. Also, tell him that for deliberately making things difficult for my Princess Consort to vent my anger, I am magnanimous and will not hold it against him. However, if he makes things difficult for my Princess Consort in the future, don't blame me for being impolite."
"Ah? My lord, didn't you deliberately..."
"Mm?"
Nangong Mo suddenly looked at Bai Qi.
Bai Qi immediately changed his tune, "Oh, oh, oh, yes, Pavilion Master Meng is truly wicked for deliberately making things difficult for our Princess Consort. My lord, you wait, your subordinate will go and beat him up right now."
Bai Qi ran off.
After Bai Qi left.
Nangong Li, quite ungratefully, covered his stomach and burst into laughter, "Interesting, very interesting, truly interesting. Ninth Imperial Uncle, are you afraid that Gu Qian Ying will resent you if she finds out that this assessment was deliberately made difficult by you? But aren't you afraid that she won't be able to distinguish those poisonous herbs?"
"She can! She definitely can," Nangong Mo said with certainty.
He believed in Gu Qian Ying's poison skills just as he always believed that the little girl who often appeared in his mind would one day remember him.
"Yes, yes, yes, she can! Ninth Imperial Uncle, everything you say is right."
Nangong Li smiled heartily, but secretly warned himself that he must never offend his Ninth Imperial Uncle in the future, nor anger him, otherwise he wouldn't even know how he died!
Seeing Nangong Li's fearful expression, Nangong Mo ignored him.
In his opinion, he was angry because Gu Qian Ying didn't appreciate him, so he deliberately had Meng Qing Hua set difficult questions to make things difficult for Gu Qian Ying.
But only he knew that to establish a firm foothold within the Poison Doctor Saint Pavilion, one could only rely on their own solid and brilliant poison skills.
Not on the future, the unspeakable "fake identity of the Poison Doctor Divine Son."
Even if a symbolic Poison Doctor Divine Son's thumb ring was deliberately crafted, and even if her medical and poison skills could be called that of Hua Tuo reborn.
But fake is always fake. For this reason, he understood Gu Qian Ying's true purpose in participating in the Poison Doctor Saint Pavilion's disciple recruitment assessment under the guise of a bet with Nangong Xuan Ning.
And now, since Gu Qian Ying intended to use her identity as Miss Gu to gradually control the entire Poison Doctor Saint Pavilion, he would naturally lend her a hand.
"Since Miss Gu has won the three trials, should we, as Miss Gu's allies, hold a celebratory banquet for her?"
Nangong Mo turned his gaze to Nangong Li, "Mm, you handle the celebratory banquet. Hold it here, the more people, the livelier. However, the news that I, Ninth Imperial Uncle, am holding a celebratory banquet for Miss Gu must be spread."
Currently.
Miss Gu, Gu Qian Ying's excellent poison and medical skills had already spread. The next events should also be high-profile.
Nangong Li was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted, "Hahaha, Ninth Imperial Uncle, your stratagem of luring the tiger away from its lair is truly brilliant. Nephew admires you."
On the day of the celebratory banquet.
The Poison Doctor Saint Pavilion was bustling with activity.
The fine wine and delicacies bestowed by His Highness Prince Jiu, Nangong Mo, were consumed, and everyone was rewarded with two large yuanbao.
In addition, anyone seen within a hundred li radius of the Poison Doctor Saint Pavilion received a reward.
Cheers of gratitude echoed one after another on the streets.
And just as everyone let down their guard and celebrated Miss Gu, an assassination incident occurred within the Poison Doctor Saint Pavilion.
Five or six assassins wielding swords broke in.
However, in less than half an incense stick's time, they all became corpses and were ostentatiously carried out of the Poison Doctor Saint Pavilion.
The target of the assassination, His Highness Prince Jiu, Nangong Mo, was "unharmed."
However, he did find some useful items on the deceased assassins.
Meanwhile, Miss Gu, Gu Qian Ying of the Gu family, not only possessed outstanding poison and medical skills and became the top performer in the triennial disciple recruitment assessment of the Poison Doctor Saint Pavilion, but also won the bet with the current Princess Nangong Xuan Ning. As a result, influential figures from aristocratic families and those who wished to recruit such a skilled poison and medical practitioner as Gu Qian Ying were gathered outside the Poison Doctor Saint Pavilion on the same day, blocking the entrance.
They all wanted to catch a glimpse of Miss Gu's true appearance.
In addition, many women, some of whom became increasingly jealous of Gu Qian Ying.
A woman who could make the current Ninth Imperial Uncle personally come to celebrate her must be an extremely important person in his eyes. What kind of family background did such a woman have? The wives of officials who wished to curry favor with the Ninth Imperial Prince's mansion naturally had to come and see.
And after becoming the primary candidate for the Poison Doctor Divine Son's disciple, Gu Qian Ying was about to face the personal assessment of the elusive Poison Doctor Divine Son himself.
The final assessment was scheduled for two months later.
The Poison Doctor Divine Son would appear in two months.
At this moment.
Gu Qian Ying, who was the center of attention and stood outside the Poison Doctor Saint Pavilion, looked at someone sitting in an extremely luxurious sedan chair.
Her lips twitched slightly.
"Aren't you coming up? Do you expect me to come down and carry you?"