Ch. 088.3: Searching for Medicine in the North (3)

Translator: Moon Whisperer, TWIP | Editor : TWIP

Beiling Yi Cheng didn't answer. He too knew that the poisoning couldn't have been done by someone from Feng Ming. It's just that he wanted to find a target at which to vent the anger in his heart.

Seeing Beiling Cheng Yi stay silent, Du Xiao Li said, “7th Prince, now's not yet the time to talk about this. The princess' poison needs to be neutralized as soon as possible. Otherwise, the chances of her survival will be bleak."

Once she said that, Beiling Yi Cheng temporarily stopped trying to figure out the perpetrator of the poisoning. Instead, he looked at Du Xiao Li and asked, "What must be done?"

"Daughter, is it easy to neutralize this poison?" Du Yun Han queried.

Du Xiao Li shook her head. This made the hearts of everyone in the room jump, especially Beiling Yi Cheng. He became extremely nervous.

"This poison's difficult to neutralize? Miss Du, what solution do you have?"

"All the other necessary herbs are easy to get, but there is one kind of herb that is much harder to obtain. This sort of herb is very rare in Feng Ming and only exists in some of the frigid areas of the northern region. The important thing to note here is that I've never seen it freshly picked," Du Xiao Li said. "However, this sort of herb is fairly common in Northern Qi, so I would like to request for 7th Prince to assign someone to escort me in finding the herb as soon as possible in order to neutralize the princess' poison."

"You're going to go personally?" Du Yun Han asked while looking at Du Xiao Li.

"Mm, the pill needs to be made during the second hour of the herb getting picked. Otherwise, it will be ineffective. So I plan to bring along the other herbs and wait till we find the final necessary herb. Once we've found it, I will make the antidote on the spot."

"Which herb is it?" Han Ming Yi asked.

"Luo Di Hua [1]."

"Luo Di Hua? This is indeed quite common in Northern Qi," Beiling Yi Cheng said. "Since this is the case, I will go with you."

"7th Prince, you just need to assign someone to go with me. It will take at least three days for the return journey. The competition events that are being held tomorrow and the day after..."

"Who cares about the competition now? I need to guarantee my younger sister's safety. I won't be at ease leaving this to someone else, so I will go with you personally," Beiling Yi Cheng affirmed.

Du Xiao Li still wanted to dissuade him, but thinking of how the competition had a rule that allowed for someone else to take a participant's place, she dropped the subject. Moreover, when she saw how much Beiling Yi Cheng cared for Beiling Yu, Du Xiao Li reckoned that he likely wouldn't be able to concentrate on the competition anyway if she didn't let him go with her.

"Then fine, I'll have someone prepare the rest of the herbs. Once the preparations are done, we'll set off. I'll give the princess medicine to contain the poison and stop it as much as possible from flaring up during these couple of days. Otherwise, I'm afraid she won't be able to hold out until we return. 7th Prince, you should go talk with the princess for a while. She might think too much if she doesn't see you for a few days."

"Okay, I'll go right now," Beiling Yi Cheng finished speaking and left right away.

Du Xiao Li wrote up a prescription and gave it to Han Ming Yi. It contained the prescription for some very precious herbs that only an imperial physical would have stock of. They could save a bit of time by having Han Ming Yi grab them for her. After all, the matter of Beiling Yi Cheng leaving Phoenix City had to be reported to Han Ming Ze as they needed his consent.

Han Ming Yi took the prescription and left for the palace. He very quickly returned, bringing with him the prescribed herbs as well as Han Ming Ze's imperial edict which instructed that she must detoxify Beiling Yu.

Now that they had the imperial edict, everything was good to go!

Du Xiao Li had Xia Yuan prepare a list of simple tools for making the antidote so that they could then be ready to leave once Han Ming Yi returned. It was because she was worried this matter would cause panic as they had yet to actually disclose this matter to anyone else. As far as everyone knew, Beiling Yu had been suffering from stomach pain, but she had already been cured by Du Xiao Li.

"Father, the matters of the women's courtyard aren't right for you to handle. So I've already requested for Princess Chang Le to stay here temporarily for a few days. Find her if there are any issues," Du Xiao Li said.

"I know. Since you're not taking those two servant girls, take good care of yourself during the journey. Be careful on the road!" Du Yun Han urged.

"Mm." Du Xiao Li took the bundle that Xia Yuan handed to her. Inside it, there were two sets of clothes to change into when she needed to wash her clothes, a pile of folded banknotes, as well as two bags of ground medicinal ingredients. She climbed onto her horse and glanced at Du Yun Han and Han Ming Yi before leaving for the northern gates with Beiling Yi Cheng, who had already been waiting on his horse for a long while.

Han Ming Yi and the others waited for Du Xiao Li to leave before returning. Lingering at the back gate, Han Ming Yi once again went back to being cold and grim. Then his head could be seen appearing by a roof in the distance and disappearing soon after.

At Prince Ren's Mansion 12), Han Ming Hong was currently painting a portrait in the study. Astonishingly, the subject of the portrait was Du Xiao Li, who had already left the city.

"Master." A dark figure appeared in the study.

"What is it?" Upon being disturbed, the elegant Han Ming Hong showed an unhappy expression.

"Master, Miss Du has left the city," the dark figure said.

"She left the city?" Han Min Hong said. The brush in his hand stopped moving, and he was silent for a moment. Then he asked, "Why did she leave?"

"At the time, Prince Ding was present, so I didn't dare get too close and thus wasn't able to hear their conversation. However, Miss Du and Northern Qi's prince left the city together," the dark figure answered.

"Northern Qi's Prince? How can he be walking around as he pleases in the territory of my Feng Ming? Moreover, during the competition period? It seems likely that something must have happened to these people from Northern Qi." Han Ming Hong put down his brush and attentively took in the full details of the subject in the portrait. Immediately after, he smiled and said, “For Xiao Li to take action, it must be that someone has fallen ill or gotten poisoned. And for Beiling Yi Cheng to leave this urgently with her, it can only be because of one person-Beiling Yu. You can return for now. Continue keeping a watch on Sui Yuan."

"Will do," the dark figure responded and then disappeared.

Han Ming Hong switched to a writing brush and wrote a poem from the previous competition topic. After that, he lifted up the portrait and gazed at the vivid and lifelike figure in the painting. He said, "Xiao Li, I truly like you. I want to be with you and be inseparable like birds nesting and flying together. In the autumn breeze by the lakeside, I'll play the qin 13] while you dance. What do you think of this sort of life? You left by yourself, so this is a good opportunity. We can be together very soon..."

References 

1. - Direct translation: Flower that has fallen onto the ground; Fallen Flower 

2. – Previously: the Ren Wang Manor 

3. – A Chinese stringed instrument https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guqi

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