With a crack.
The chair legs snapped.
Nangong Xuanning fell to the ground.
A tear appeared on her robe and skirt hem, caught by the chair's corner.
Her hair was disheveled, her dress wrinkled.
Pain shot through her.
"Ouch, it hurts, it hurts," Nangong Xuanning cried, sitting on the ground.
Her fall was rather comical.
The people nearby snickered.
"Your Highness, are you alright? Come, come, get up quickly."
Lan Qingqing quickly extended her hand, carefully helping Nangong Xuanning up.
As she helped Nangong Xuanning up, she then turned to Gu Qianying and said, "Sister, how could you treat Her Highness like this? Even though Her Highness dislikes you, you shouldn't have played such a trick on her."
Nangong Xuanning had initially thought the chair she was sitting on was simply unstable, which was why she had such bad luck.
However, upon hearing Lan Qingqing's words, she became furious: "Good, Gu Qianying, you... you dare to plot against this princess! I'll tear you apart today!"
Disregarding her princess image, Nangong Xuanning lunged at Gu Qianying with flailing arms.
Gu Qianying dodged, and Nangong Xuanning missed.
She crashed into a pillar opposite, a large bump forming on her forehead.
She stamped her foot in pain, watching Gu Qianying remain unharmed while she was a mess.
Leaning against the pillar, Nangong Xuanning could no longer hold back her sobs: "Wuwu, I don't want to be here anymore, I want to go back! Guards, go inform my father to take me back, I want to return to the palace!" She pointed at Gu Qianying: "When I return to the palace, I will have my father kill you, kill you!"
Tears streamed down her face as if they were free.
Nangong Xuanning felt wronged and deeply hurt, her cries loud.
Unaffected by Nangong Xuanning's outburst, Gu Qianying walked up to Lan Qingqing and looked at her coldly, remaining silent.
"Slap."
A crisp sound of a slap echoed.
The onlookers were stunned.
Beside them, Nangong Xuanning, who had been sobbing, abruptly stopped.
Lan Qingqing covered half her face, staring at Gu Qianying with disbelief: "Sister, why did you hit me?"
Her tear-streaked, pitiable expression drew the attention of everyone present.
Some who disliked Gu Qianying began to verbally attack her.
"How can you be like this?"
"Yes, you're so overbearing. That girl didn't bully you, why did you hit her?"
"Look at how swollen her face is after you hit her, you're too cruel."
"Someone as heartless as you participating in a medical examination, I don't know if you're here to learn to heal people or to kill them? Heh."
"Yes, yes, how can someone so heartless be a doctor?"
As the crowd spoke, their words grew more exaggerated as they saw Lan Qingqing's innocent and wronged expression.
They said whatever harsh words came to mind.
Gu Qianying's reputation as arrogant and cruel, bullying innocent and kind people, spread like wildfire.
At this moment, Gu Qianying paid no mind to how others perceived her.
"Zijin, I'm annoyed!"
Gu Qianying spoke coldly, her back to Zijin.
"Ah,"
"Ah..."
"Heavy objects" were thrown out one by one, landing with thuds and accompanied by cries.
After Zijin threw five or six gossiping women out the door, the murmuring instantly ceased.
"Since Miss Lan has already determined that I am a bad person who intentionally bullies others, then I will embrace this role. The reason for hitting you is simply that I, this bad person, cannot stand you being so talkative in front of me.
So, Miss Lan, did you hear clearly the reason I hit you? If not, I can repeat it again, how about it?"
As she spoke, Gu Qianying raised her hand again.
Lan Qingqing immediately dodged, tears still clinging to her cheeks: "Sister, aren't you afraid of being kicked out for bullying your sister like this?"
The Medical Sage Hall was a place for healing, and it would not stand by and watch such a pure and kind person be bullied for no reason.
Thinking this, Lan Qingqing's tears flowed even more.
Her words conveyed a sense of fear towards Gu Qianying.
She perfectly feigned a bullied and pitiful demeanor.
"Afraid? Heh!"
Gu Qianying sneered, looking at her as if she were an idiot: "Miss Lan, have you forgotten that we are here to participate in the entrance examination for the Medical Hall, not for people to distinguish between the pure and the wicked.
Therefore, please put away your act, Miss Lan. No one here will pity you, cherish you, nor will anyone come to help you teach me a lesson.
Of course, if you insist on having such a foolish dream, it's not impossible, just don't let me see it, because I'm afraid I'll... vomit if I see you acting so fake!"
"You...!"
Lan Qingqing had intended to use this incident not only to ruin Gu Qianying's reputation but also to have the elder overseeing the examination at the Poisonous Medical Sage Hall hear about her being bullied by Gu Qianying and expel such an overbearing person.
However, Lan Qingqing did not expect this.
When the medicine boys who came and went reported Lan Qingqing being bullied by Gu Qianying to the overseeing elder, the elder did not even show himself. He merely sent a large bowl of mung bean soup and some medicinal wine for bruises and sprains through his disciples.
"Ladies, my master said that the mung bean soup to cool the body and clear heat is ready. If it still cannot quell the anger within your bodies, then feel free to go outside as you please, as long as no one dies."
The crowd: "..."
The medicine boy left after placing the items down.
Those who had been thrown out by Zijin and returned crying were so frightened that they immediately returned to their beds, wrapped themselves in blankets, and lay quietly, no longer making a sound.
At this moment, Lan Qingqing, who had been slapped by Gu Qianying and received no support from the overseeing elder, harbored even deeper hatred for Gu Qianying.
Her fingernails dug fiercely into her flesh. When no one was looking, she glared at Gu Qianying resentfully, wishing she could cut her into a thousand pieces.
Damn bitch, you wait, I will repay this humiliation a hundredfold, a thousandfold!
Night fell, the moonlight hazy.
Gu Qianying lay on her bed. Although her eyes were closed, she was not truly asleep.
The memories of her past life flashed through her mind.
In her previous life, she was not very clear about the various internal entry examinations of the Poisonous Medical Sage Hall.
She had been taken as a disciple by her master, the Divine Son of Poison Medicine, as an exception.
Naturally, she had not gone through the layers of examination hurdles within the Poisonous Medical Sage Hall.
She remembered that in her past life, her senior brother Xu Zichen was the only disciple to be admitted.
She figured that besides her senior brother Xu Zichen, there was no one else she needed to pay particular attention to.
She had also asked Zijin to investigate the people on the list. Although most of them came from medical families, they were not skilled in the art of poison medicine.
After much thought, she realized that winning this entrance disciple examination would not be difficult.
In her previous life, she had encountered her master, the Divine Son of Poison Medicine, after being severely injured and falling off a cliff.
In this life, she would never allow herself to be in such a dangerous situation again, and naturally, she would not meet her master as she had in her past life.
Therefore, this life was her only chance to become a disciple of the Divine Son of Poison Medicine.
As long as she could take over the Poisonous Medical Sage Hall on behalf of her master, she would have a strong backing.
In this world, even the entire realm was headed by the reigning emperor, obeying only him.
However, in the martial world, only the disciples and all the physicians within the Poisonous Medical Sage Hall obeyed the sole command of the sect leader, the Divine Son of Poison Medicine.
And what she currently desired was precisely this power.
Recalling her thoughts, Gu Qianying calmed herself.
She heard the sound of soft crying.
Gu Qianying frowned and looked over, then sat up.
She casually picked up the pillow behind her and threw it to the side.
"Stop crying, are you letting anyone else sleep?"
The pillow hit Nangong Xuanning's shoulder. Nangong Xuanning threw it back: "Gu Qianying, what are you doing! I'm crying my own tears, what's it to you!"
Nangong Xuanning's eyes were red, the bump on her forehead had not yet subsided, and the right side of her cheek had a small scrape from cleaning the pantry. The wound was now red, and after some time, it had become somewhat swollen.
Her hands, which had never touched manual labor, now had blisters from the abrasion.
"It wouldn't be my business, but you're disturbing me."
Gu Qianying got out of bed and walked towards her.
Nangong Xuanning flinched back in fear: "What are you coming over here for? I'm telling you, don't think about bullying me again, otherwise... I will really have my father kill you."
Her wrist was suddenly grabbed by Gu Qianying.
Nangong Xuanning was startled, Gu Qianying's figure blocking her view.