Chapter 938 Two Suspicious Palace Maids
Chu Liuchen was greatly shocked. He hurriedly stepped forward to hold Shao Wanru and ordered Xiao Xuanzi, “Go and get Qi Jue right now!”
“Yes, Master!” Xiao Xuanzi rushed away.
Chu Liuchen held Shao Wanru in his arms and strode back to the courtyard. All the servant girls and old maids he met on the way were horrified by his fl.u.s.tered expression. “Did something serious happen?”
In other people’s eyes, Chu Liuchen was always like a banished immortal existing in a painting, though he was in poor health. A banished immortal always acted leisurely. His pace would never be in a hurry. But Chu Liuchen now was walking with long strides, followed by a large group of people trotting to keep up with him, which showed that something serious happened.
The servant girls and old maids kept silent like cicadas in late autumn. No one dared to say anything, lowering their heads and looking at no one.
Qi Jue arrived soon. He frowned tightly after feeling Shao Wanru’s pulse.
“How is she?” Chu Liuchen asked impatiently.
“Her Highness is fine! But…” Qi Jue thought for a moment and said.
“Then why is she sick? What’s wrong?” Chu Liuchen’s eyes became cold and fierce.
“It’s not a big deal. It seems that Her Highness is too exhausted!” Qi Jue explained hesitantly because he had confusion.
“Who will pa.s.s out all of a sudden because of exhaustion? Besides, Zhuozhuo has always been in good health!” Chu Liuchen became more and more impatient, with his eyes darkening.
“The pulse shows that Her Highness is indeed very tired. But I also find something else. It seems that something bad against her health is in her body!” Qi Jue said slowly. But it was too tiny to be figured out. Qi Jue wouldn’t have found it from a normal pulse-feeling if Shao Wanru hadn’t fainted today.
“Did someone intend to harm her? Have you got any ideas?” Chu Liuchen asked.
“I have no idea whether Her Highness got it herself accidentally or got targeted by others! However, it was a low dosage. Don’t be worried, Your Highness! Her Highness will get better after taking a few doses of medicine. It’s not a big deal!” Qi Jue was confused at first, but he rested a.s.sured after considering the low dosage, believing that it was nothing serious. “It is not necessarily that someone wants to harm Princess Chen.”
“What would have happened if it were a high dosage?” Chu Liuchen asked with a darkened face and slyly narrowed his eyes.
“She will become a little weaker, but it won’t be anything serious. Such kind of drug will not do great harm to ordinary people, let alone Her Highness who has always been in better health than others!”
Qi Jue also thought that he himself was making a big deal out of a trifle. It was just a matter of serval doses of medicine!
“If it was nothing serious as you said, why did she suddenly lose her consciousness?” Chu Liuchen glanced at Qi Jue coldly and asked again.
Knowing that Prince Chen was a difficult person, Qi Jue could only explain helplessly, “Your Highness, the drug in her body is not the only factor that caused her sudden faint. A sudden large amount of exercise made her heartbeat too fast, which might accelerate the absorption of the drug. What’s more, she became too excited when she suddenly caught sight of you! Then, she pa.s.sed out.”
Qi Jue had Xiao Xuanzi about the detailed situation at that time. As soon as he heard Xiao Xuanzi, he knew that it was Princess Chen’s excessive exercise, the impact of the drug, and the over-excitement when she saw her husband that together made her suddenly faint.
“She became so excited when she saw me that she fainted?” Chu Liuchen asked with a slight smile as mild as a spring breeze. It should look elegant and clean in people’s eyes, but now Qi Jue felt it was evil and cold. Anyone would be frightened if they saw a face change from gloomy and foul into gentle and elegant in a second.
Though Qi Jue was a doctor, he couldn’t bear such a change of emotions.
“I can’t believe that some people even think Prince Chen is a gentle and elegant man!” Qi Jue thought they were so stupid. If Chu Liuchen was a gentle person, there would be no fierce humans in the world!
“Yes!” Qi Jue replied with a serious face. “Master is a ruthless person who will turn against his people. Never regard his gentle smile as friendly as a spring breeze, because it will change into a gust of cold wind at any minute! Showing a serious face like mine is the best choice!”
“Who wanted to hurt her? How did he drug her? Faint is probably not a serious problem, but the drug will kill her at certain times! Qi Jue, I don’t want to see Princess Chen be killed by such a danger one day!”
Chu Liuchen’s face became cold, with a strong aura of blood gus.h.i.+ng out of his body. Even the air imperceptibly cooled down. Xiao Xuanzi lowered his head and did not dare to move.
“Uh… I’m afraid it’s not that easy to find it out!” Qi Jue immediately said in a serious tone.
“I don’t care. Just go and investigate! I want to know who Princess Chen has met in the mansion and what’s different today!”
“Her Highness met some people from the Palace today, Your Highness!” Yujie suddenly remembered and said.
“People from the Palace?” Chu Liuchen asked coldly.
“Yes! They are the palace maids…” Yujie was too scared to finish her words. So she winked at Xiao Xuanzi. It was really hard for her to say that.
Xiao Xuanzi raised his head slightly and saw Yujie’s hint for help. He was puzzled at first, but then he understood. He immediately moved close to Chu Liuchen and whispered, “Master, do you remember that Empress Dowager and the Empress sent some palace maids here before you married?”
They were sent here to give s.e.xual education. But now they lived in the most remote corner of the mansion.
“Have they not been sent back yet?” Chu Liuchen looked at Xiao Xuanzi with a gloomy face and questioned.
“After all, they were sent by Empress Dowager and the Empress, and I didn’t dare to make a decision. I was about to ask for your opinion. Moreover, that two people are not ordinary palace maids…” Xiao Xuanzi stammered to explain.
“What’s their difference from others? Since they are still here, don’t send them back now. Qi Jue, investigate them later and see if they carry the drug or something!” Chu Liuchen ordered coldly.
“Yes, Master! I’ll go right now!” Qi Jue felt exhausted staying here. Prince Chen was such a temperamental person! It was really difficult to get along with him. Qi Jue felt much better when he did a doctor’s job.
After that, he turned around and left quickly with his medicine chest. Xiao Xuanzi chased after him and asked someone to lead the way for Qi Jue.
“Doctor Qi has no idea where the people are, but he even rushed away without hesitation!” Sure enough, Xiao Xuanzi couldn’t understand a doctor’s mind.
“Master, one of the two palace maids is Nanny Wei’s niece, who used to work for Empress Dowager, and the other is a relative of the Empress!” Xiao Xuanzi reported to Chu Liuchen. At first, Xiao Xuanzi never thought the two palace maids would become trouble one day, though they were the Empress and Empress Dowager’s people. After all, no one could force his master to accept anything he didn’t like. Xiao Xuanzi had planned to send the two back later.
Xiao Xuanzi once thought at that time, “They don’t dare to defy Master at that time, do they?”
Out of expectation, the two palace maids now were suspected to be guilty of harming Princess Chen, about whom his master cared the most.
“Go and get yourself flogged ten times later!” Chu Liuchen said coldly.
“Yes, Master!” Xiao Xuanzi answered with a bitter face. If he had known this earlier, he should have reported it to Prince Chen earlier so that nothing would have happened to Princess Chen.
Suddenly, Chu Liuchen heard some sounds from the bed, and his face changed from cold to gentle in a second. He walked to the bed and sat down as Yujie and Qu Le lifted the gauze curtain and hung it on the hook.
Shao Wanru’s long eyelashes slightly fluttered like a b.u.t.terfly’s wings before she opened her eyes. When she saw Chu Liuchen’s gentle smile, she couldn’t help reaching out to touch his face. Then she sat up with the help of her hands holding against the bed and asked, “Your Highness, what’s wrong with me?”
Her movements were extremely natural.
Chu Liuchen hastened to help her, with one hand hugging her in his arm and the other putting a heavy cus.h.i.+on behind her. Then he gently helped her sit leaning against the cus.h.i.+on.
His movement was so careful that it looked like he was holding the most precious treasure in the world.
“Are you feeling unwell?” Chu Liuchen asked softly.
“Is anything wrong with me?” Shao Wanru reached out to hold Chu Liuchen’s hand. She remembered the scene of her pa.s.sing out just now and felt it unbelievable. “I am always in good health. How could I suddenly lose consciousness without reason?”
Shao Wanru had excellent medical knowledge, so she noticed something unusual.
Chu Liuchen knew that he couldn’t hide it from her, so he narrowed his beautiful eyes slightly and asked, “Was there anything unusual when you met the two palace maids?”
“No! They were anxious to meet me today, and they said they wanted to go back to the Palace!” Shao Wanru thought for a moment and said.
Shao Wanru had been informed of the information about the two palace maids before. But she didn’t pay much attention to them as she was occupied with other plans at that time. Today, they asked to see her, and she didn’t refuse to meet them because she also wanted to know what they were going to do. Shao Wanru reached out to feel her pulse carefully, and then a trace of anger flashed in her eyes!
She knew her own body most. It was obvious that something was wrong with her!
The different things she did today were that she saw that two palace maids and caught the b.u.t.terflies. Generally speaking, it was not an excessive amount of exercise for her.
Shao Wanru was quite strong when she lived in Jiangzhou. At that time, Madam Di and Qing Huaiyong didn’t care about her, and Old Madam Qin was too old to do so, so she could sometimes evade their eyes and sneak out of the mansion. She was such a wild girl that she could easily climb over a wall.
Therefore, she was always in good health. She couldn’t pa.s.s out after taking such an amount of exercise like other Misses.
“Your Highness, I suspect the two palace maids!” Shao Wanru took her hand off her pulse and said with certainty.
Chu Liuchen gently held her in his arms, patted her on the back, and comforted her in a soft voice. “I know. We will figure out the truth!”
Shao Wanru didn’t see that Chu Liuchen’s eyes were full of rage and malevolence now. He raised the corners of his mouth and showed an evil smile. “Since they have been sent here, they have to bleed for their crimes, no matter whom they are…”