Chapter Thirty-One: Ice and Fire and Intoxication

  As soon as I entered the inner house, I saw a screen with poems and lyrics written on it... The font was bold and unrestrained, with a sense of wildness, like a lone cloud and a wild crane, or like the sound of pines and cedars, truly a beautiful piece of calligraphy.

  "People laugh at me for being too crazy, I laugh at people who can't see through?" He muttered the poem on the screen, it's really a good sentence, thinking that he has read many poetry books, but hasn't seen such a carefree and elegant poem...

  Yun Ning gazed at the willow pattern on the screen for a long time without moving, then walked forward and gently touched the characters on the screen. Her fingertips lightly swept over each stroke, and she said softly, "This was written by the prince himself." She withdrew her fingers, and although they were all men, there was still some reserve, so she slightly bowed and retreated.

  Liu Qingyou was still staring at the screen, except for two sentences of poetry, all the screens were painted with wine bottles by her! Immediately denied that this sentence came from Zi Ruoye's hand, it must be plagiarized from somewhere, but couldn't help learning from Yun Cong, lightly brushing over each word and each sentence.

  He immediately thought of her being in the inner house of Zǐ Ruò Yè, but found that there was not even a hint of wine smell in the room of the wine-loving woman. He had thought that she would be holding a bottle of wine even when sleeping! Inside the room, apart from the screen, there was only a reclining chair, on which lay an open book...

  That rotten person will also have favorite books... He had liked books since childhood, curiously walked up, picked up the book and started flipping through it. Just after reading the first page, he hastily put down the book and his face turned red with embarrassment.

  This, this scoundrel! He's actually reading such a book! The level of shamelessness between men and women in the book is unbearable! And he has the audacity to openly place it on his chair! Pouting her lips, thinking that he was still in that scoundrel's house, she hastily put on the clothes given by Yun Qing. After dressing up, however, she didn't dare to go out rashly, and at this moment, his face must be extremely embarrassed!

  Zi Ruoye saw Yun Ning go in and come out after a while, and asked dazedly, "Doesn't that kid Liu Qingyou need help?"

  "Liú Gōngzǐ doesn't need Yún Níng's help." Even if they were both men, it couldn't be like that... Yún Níng sighed helplessly and walked over to sit down.

  Just as Zi Ruoye was about to say something, she saw Liu Qingyu's face flush with anger and her eyes staring at her in a way that made her speechless. She thought it was probably because this was the first time he had entered a woman's room and wasn't used to it. "I'll have the steward send a carriage to take you back. Yungong, did you eat? If not, let's dine together."

  Liu Qingyou's eyes flickered slightly, and he found that Zi Ruoye addressed him as "Your Majesty", but referred to Yun Cong as "I". It was clear that the person treated Yun Cong differently.

  "No, let's have Liu Gongzi join us too." Yun Cong replied, thinking that Liu Qingyuan had come early in the morning and probably hadn't eaten yet. However, Zi Ruoye choked back her voice upon hearing this.

  Yun Ning wanted to stay, Liu Qingyou originally wanted to go together. He thought about getting to know this young master Yun Ning better, looking like he was only 14 or 15 years old, and he was three years older than him. Suddenly seeing Zi Ruoye with a bitter face, the fire in his heart surged again, and he said disdainfully, "Hmph! I don't want to have dinner with Dengluzi at the same table! Let the steward send me back, that's all." After finishing speaking, he turned around and left without looking back. The steward had already prepared a carriage at the door waiting for him.

  Zi Ruoye was used to Liu Qingyou's direct refusal, and it would be abnormal if he agreed. However, he still followed quietly behind him, accompanying Liu Qingyou to the door. Along the way, Liu Qingyou knew that Zi Ruoye was right behind him, but his heart felt suffocated, so he went on his own way. If they had said a few more words, this day would not have been peaceful for him either.

  "Don't come out so recklessly next time." Zi Ruoye said lightly as Liu Qingyou got on the carriage, that piece of clothing he just changed into should be Yun Cong's favorite, although she liked Yun Cong in pink clothes, but the only time she bought Yunjin fabric for Yun Cong, today it was made into a garment...

  Liu Qingyou suddenly stopped in her tracks, then fiercely lifted the curtain and got into the carriage, leaving only a glimpse of her back to Ziyue Ye. After watching the carriage disappear from view, Ziyue Ye slowly walked back to the main house, where she saw Yun Congzhen arranging bowls and chopsticks.

  "Why not let Prince Liu stay?" Yun Cong asked slowly after Zi Ruoye sat down, after all, he was going to be the future king... She swallowed the bitterness in her heart and smiled at Zi Ruoye, but there was a faint pain between her eyebrows.

  Zi Ruoye stretched out her finger and lightly tapped on Yun Cong's brow, laughing and saying, "Why do you want to keep him here? Didn't you see his expression? I was thinking of having lunch alone with the beautiful one, you!"

  She didn't expect her to make such a move, the warmth of her fingertips passing through her brow and into her heart. Yun Cong nodded slightly and picked up the jade hairpin to help Zi Ruoye serve the dishes, but was stopped by Zi Ruoye, who found that she was putting whatever he put in his bowl into hers as well. Hurriedly saying, "Yun Cong can't finish so much."

  "How much one can eat is how much." Zi Ruoye looked at Yun Cong's slender figure, and although she had also asked the housekeeper to cook many nourishing dishes for him to supplement his body, yet he didn't seem to gain any weight. His overly slender figure always made her worried.

  Looking at her persistent expression, he couldn't argue with her, so he picked up his chopsticks and started eating one mouthful at a time, trying to eat more. The pity and heartache that flashed in her eyes... even though she hid it well, but he noticed it... did this mean that there was indeed a place for Yun Cong in her heart?

  A warm but thoughtful lunch quietly passed, just as I was about to rest, I heard the housekeeper say that Ziyue Ye had been summoned to the palace and she left immediately without even changing into court attire.

  What's the point of looking for Zǐ Ruò Yè? Isn't it because of today's matter? With a mind full of twists and turns, she still held onto a wine bottle, sitting comfortably in the swaying sedan chair along the way.

  I don't know why the king was called away... Yun Cong sat in front of the window inside the house, the peach blossoms outside had not yet bloomed, only heard people say that today the plum blossoms in the plum forest fell to the ground, cut down by Liu Qingyou. Ever since he saw Zi Ruoye fall in the plum forest last time, he didn't like the plum forest anymore, only knowing that the figure of that person falling to the ground that day made his whole body ache...

  In a daze, a grey-white pigeon flew into the house, its pink sleeves fluttering as it landed lightly on her body. With a flick of her sleeve, the bamboo screen closed behind it. Yun Qing sat at the edge of the table, carefully removing the small paper tied to the pigeon's leg. As she unfolded it, her face turned pale and the paper slipped from her fingers, falling to the ground along with a crystal tear.

  Shattered all over the place...

  It's actually Ice Fire Poison... one of the three greatest poisons in the world, Ice Fire Poison... He thought that at most, the prince would have been poisoned severely, but he didn't expect it to be Ice Fire Poison.

  Those who are poisoned by heavy ice and fire, initially do not show any symptoms. In the first year, they will have mild physical coldness. In the second year, their heart will slowly decline. In the third year, they will experience the suffering of both ice and fire, and their mouth and tongue will start to turn purple-black. The deeper the poisoning, the more obvious the purple-black color becomes.

  The fifth year... medicine and stone have no miraculous effect...

  I recall that time when the prince was bathing and he accidentally walked in, her stiff movements, still unnatural tone of voice, according to her personality, if she had turned her back on him, she would have certainly teased him a few times before letting him out, but that time she was extremely forceful in driving him away, her hand seemed to be suspended in front of her chest... Could it be?!

  She was stunned and changed color, that time she saw her poisoned and fell to the ground, he left a heart eye, let his subordinates secretly investigate the poison she had taken, the ice and fire poison... If she had taken this poison, then it would be certain... Quickly wiping away the tears on her face, Yun Cong turned around and walked towards Zi Ruo Ye's main house. The people in the mansion didn't suspect Yun Cong entering the house, they just asked if everything was okay and continued with their own business.

  Yun Ning entered the house and directly went into the inner room to start searching. If he had been poisoned by the Ice Fire... his body would definitely be colder than usual, but every time, Wang Ye would use his internal energy to massage his feet, which meant that Wang Ye must have found a way. After searching for a long time, he finally discovered a white jade porcelain bottle under the bed.

  He poured out the pills inside and sniffed them... but his face turned even paler...

  Why! Why does the king want to eat this! Is it to counter poison with poison? But obviously, Icefire and Intoxication are... He pursed his lips, put the medicine pill in his sleeve, carefully placed the white jade porcelain bottle, and walked out. He was determined to figure out the effect of mixing Icefire and Intoxication...

  The three greatest poisons in the world... The prince has two of them on his body... Yun Ning tidied herself up and then sat in the horse carriage, heading to Yi Shang Tang.

  Ziyan looked at the marriage certificate on the table, suddenly feeling a headache. She glanced at Liu Qingyue beside her and said in a weak voice, "Qingyue, if I were to arrange a marriage for myself, would Yifan cut me off?" Perhaps it was selfish of her, but even though she knew that Ziyu's body might already be at its limit, she still liked the idea of leaving behind her bloodline... It could even be said that this was necessary!

  Digression

  Fish are playing games again and now they're even more cultured... 5 points. They all want to become cyclical.

  Thank you for the beautiful flowers from Dream Tube! ~