The person wore a white dress and a white mask, obscuring their face.
Upon entering, they first turned over Nangong Xuanning, who had been knocked unconscious by a sleeping drug, then moved past Nangong Xuanning to stand before Gu Qianying.
Producing a prepared dagger, they firmly thrust it towards Gu Qianying's chest.
"Die, you slut!"
Suddenly.
A jade-like hand firmly grasped the attacker's wrist. With a slight sidestep, Gu Qianying evaded the dagger.
"You want to kill me? Heh!"
As Gu Qianying turned, her palm exerted force.
With a clang.
The dagger fell to the ground, making a sound.
Gu Qianying kicked out, sending the person flying a considerable distance.
The attacker was startled, not expecting Gu Qianying to wake up at this moment.
Ignoring the dagger that had fallen to the ground, they scrambled up and immediately took out a packet of poison powder from their purse, flinging it towards Gu Qianying's face.
A pungent odor assailed the senses.
Gu Qianying's brows furrowed slightly, a cold smirk on her lips: "Quite well-prepared, aren't we? Heh! I truly underestimated you!"
A silver needle shot out, piercing the Zhongwan acupoint.
"Ah."
Pain surged through various parts of the body, finally concentrating in the abdomen.
The attacker collapsed to the ground, clutching their stomach and crying out in agony.
Gu Qianying retrieved the remaining silver needle, then took a small packet of white powder from her personal medicine pouch and sprinkled it.
The pungent smell dissipated.
In moments, Gu Qianying had neutralized the toxic odor from the poison powder thrown at her face.
While the attacker cried out in pain, Gu Qianying leaned over, grabbed the mask from the person's face, and yanked it off.
A clear face was revealed.
Gu Qianying's pupils contracted: "It really is you!"
With a pure face, always feigning innocence and harmlessness, this person could only be Lan Qingqing, Miss Lan.
"Gu Qianying, what did you do to me? Ah, it hurts so much, ah, it hurts, it really hurts."
Lan Qingqing clutched her stomach, glaring fiercely at Gu Qianying, sweat beading on her forehead from the intense abdominal pain.
"What did I do? Heh, naturally, I performed a few small actions that will make you writhe in pain. But, rest assured, my method will only cause you severe abdominal pain, never your death. So, just endure the pain for a while."
Gu Qianying picked up a teacup, returned to the bedside, and sat down to rest, her tone unhurried.
"Miss Lan has tried to kill me multiple times. Is it perhaps for the Ninth Prince, Nangong Mo?"
"Gu Qianying, you are utterly unworthy of the Ninth Prince."
Lan Qingqing shrieked hysterically at Gu Qianying.
Gu Qianying's tone was flat, her smile chilling: "So it is for him. How truly amusing. The current Princess is willing to compete with me in medicine for the Ninth Prince's sake.
And you, Miss Lan, adept at disguise, are willing to risk exposure for the Ninth Prince, desperate to kill me. Alas, Nangong Mo, the Ninth Prince of the Ninth Prince's Estate, is indeed a coveted prize."
As she spoke, Gu Qianying took a small sip of tea, then slowly and deliberately continued: "Such an outstanding man, then I must cherish him even more. Rest assured, when I marry into the Ninth Prince's Estate, I will have my husband Nangong Mo quietly deal with you, so you won't have to attempt assassination on me again and again."
"Pah! Gu Qianying, the Ninth Prince marrying you is merely a whim. When his novelty wears off, he will abandon you to fend for yourself."
Lan Qingqing's entire face was contorted with pain.
Even so, the hatred in her eyes had not diminished in the slightest.
"Whether what you say will happen, I do not know. But what I know clearly now is that the person the Ninth Prince will marry is me, not you, who has lived in the Ninth Prince's Estate for so long yet has always been treated as an outsider."
Hearing these words, Lan Qingqing was almost driven mad: "Gu Qianying, I will kill you, kill you!"
"You want to kill me? You failed the first time, and you failed the second time. Do you think I will give you another chance to kill me?"
The moment the teacup was set down, Gu Qianying suddenly appeared before Lan Qingqing, grabbed her by the neck, and said: "You have tried to kill me multiple times. This time, I shall repay you!"
Bang!
The door to the side room was pushed open from the outside.
Several young medicinal apprentices and an invigilator elder entered.
"Miss Gu, I beg you, don't kill me. I truly know nothing."
The scene abruptly changed.
Lan Qingqing presented a pitiable appearance, as if nearly choked to death by Gu Qianying, yet desperately pleading for mercy.
"Stop!"
The invigilator elder frowned and looked towards Gu Qianying.
As soon as he spoke.
The medicinal apprentices following him immediately rushed towards Gu Qianying.
Two people grabbed Gu Qianying's shoulders, while another rescued Lan Qingqing from Gu Qianying's grasp.
Subsequently, the young medicinal apprentice who helped Lan Qingqing up kindly helped her recover from the poison.
A moment later.
Lan Qingqing knelt before the invigilator elder, tears streaming down her face as she pointed at Gu Qianying: "Please, Elder, do justice for Qing'er. Miss Gu Qianying, she... she wanted to kill Qing'er!"
"Why did she want to kill you?"
"She... she drugged the other ladies, and I discovered it, so she wanted to kill Qing'er to silence me."
Lan Qingqing cried profusely, shifting the blame. Not only did she accuse Gu Qianying of wanting to kill her, but she also accused Gu Qianying of intending to harm all the participants in the room, her motive being to win first place.
Furthermore, Lan Qingqing deliberately framed Gu Qianying, claiming her earlier discomfort was not genuine unconsciousness but a deliberate act of feigning, intended to facilitate her assassination plan.
The invigilator elder listened, his expression displeased: "Gu Qianying, is what Lan Qingqing says true?"
Gu Qianying looked at the invigilator elder: "No, it is not true. The one who wanted to poison others was not me, but her." Gu Qianying pointed at Lan Qingqing: "Last night, she disguised herself as a ghost and tried to kill me. When she failed, tonight she took advantage of my unconsciousness to try again. Before that, she drugged everyone else, causing them to faint."
"No, no, it's not like that. It's her. She's responsible for everything." Lan Qingqing pointed at Gu Qianying and cried to the invigilator elder: "Elder, please believe Qing'er. Qing'er is innocent."
She looked tearfully at Gu Qianying: "Miss Gu, if you want to win first place, you can work harder and surpass us in medicine and poison. But why must you be so despicable? Even if you harm the other ladies, what's the point of winning the three rounds of assessment?
You are so cruel, how can you be a good physician?"
Lan Qingqing's words were grand and righteous, with the word "physician" appearing in every sentence.
At this moment, the other young ladies who had been drugged began to wake up one by one.
Upon waking and hearing Lan Qingqing's one-sided account, they all began to accuse Gu Qianying of various wrongdoings.
Among them, Nangong Xuanning became angry upon hearing this: "What nonsense are you talking about? Gu Qianying was dragged back here by me from outside. I have the most say in whether she was truly unconscious." Princess Nangong Xuanning pointed at Gu Qianying and said to everyone: "She is not lying."
Then, Nangong Xuanning pointed at Lan Qingqing: "As for whether you are lying, I don't know. However, I can definitively say that I personally witnessed the 'ghost' Gu Qianying mentioned earlier."
"Therefore, everyone, do not be deceived by those who are good at disguise."
Nangong Xuanning's words were loaded with double meaning.
Everyone's gaze turned towards Lan Qingqing.
Her implication was all too clear.
Lan Qingqing guiltily turned her face away. After much thought, she quickly said: "Your Highness Princess, Qing'er knows that you have always disliked Qing'er, simply because Qing'er is the only woman who has lived in the Ninth Prince's Estate for a long time. You admire the Ninth Prince, which is why you target Qing'er everywhere. But today, you are slandering Qing'er like this and testifying for Miss Gu's family, isn't it all to make Qing'er leave the Ninth Prince's Estate? Fine, Qing'er agrees to leave the Ninth Prince's Estate, but please, Your Highness Princess, do not slander Qing'er like this, can you?"
Nangong Xuanning listened to Lan Qingqing's words and was so amused she laughed: "Haha, ridiculous! I am the Princess of the current dynasty. If I truly wanted to drive you out of the Ninth Prince's Estate, I would simply send people to the Ninth Prince's Estate to cause a scene. Why would I go to such trouble to frame you today? Do you really think you are that important?"
"Perhaps Your Highness Princess does not wish to appear as a villain in front of the Ninth Prince, and since the Ninth Prince is not here, Your Highness has an opportunity to take revenge on Qing'er."
"What did you say? You, you, you... Oh dear, this is infuriating me."
Lan Qingqing insisted that Nangong Xuanning was speaking for Gu Qianying and deliberately lying, all to put her to death.
Nangong Xuanning was so angry she couldn't speak.
Just then, Gu Qianying, standing beside her, suddenly pushed away the two medicinal apprentices who were holding her and moved in front of Nangong Xuanning. She pulled a hairpin from Nangong Xuanning's hair, held the hairpin, and thrust it fiercely towards Lan Qingqing's chest...