After resting for a day, they still didn’t dare to stop. The next night, everyone disguised themselves and went out, heading straight for Song Yi’s home.

They couldn’t act conveniently during the day and could only wait for night. Otherwise, killing Song Yi would be hard to explain—what Fusang person knew Wu Yunfeng, who knew what Song Yi had done?

Looking for evidence would be too slow; there simply wasn’t time.

Unfortunately, they ended up with nothing. Song Yi was gone—not missing after they killed Wu Yunfeng, but already disappeared the day before they captured Wu Yunfeng.

Song Yi’s wife was also searching everywhere for him. He had stayed out all night before as well; men in officialdom often went out drinking and spent the whole night in a brothel, which was common.

But Song Yi had been gone from home for three days and hadn’t gone to the place where he was supposed to be on duty. There was no way his wife wouldn’t worry.

Bai Ruozhu and the others hid in the shadows and quietly observed Song Yi’s wife’s reactions. After watching for a long time, they found that she really did seem to be an ordinary Fusang girl, and she had absolutely no idea what Song Yi was involved in.

Then Bai Ruozhu used some Mystical Fragrance to put the woman to sleep, and they entered Song Yi’s house to search.

There were no traces of raising Poisonous Insects, no hidden superstitious items, and no signs of using poison.

It wasn’t impossible that a man had taken everything with him before leaving, but if he raised Poisonous Insects, even if he moved them all away, it was impossible not to leave a single trace.

Yet Wei Guanyu was very certain that Song Yi had Poisonous Insects, which meant Song Yi hadn’t been keeping them at home.

Bai Ruozhu looked around. Song Yi’s house wasn’t big, but the location was decent. There were other homes around, the orientation was good, and on normal days it would surely get plenty of sunlight.

A place like this was not suitable for raising Poisonous Insects.

The group found nothing useful and could only fall back to the Posthouse for now.

...

In the Emperor’s bedchamber, the second prince spoke with a stern face: "Father, we can’t let them go on like this. Do you know they are colluding with the Astrologer Family? Last night the Astrologer used the pretext of entering the Palace to catch a Demon and brought a group of subordinates. Someone saw Bai Ruozhu and her group disguised and hidden among them. They sneaked into the Palace in the dead of night—can they really have good intentions?"

The Emperor was somewhat displeased. "Cilang, what’s wrong with you? Bai Ruozhu is your savior and has shielded you several times from being killed. How can you suspect them like this?"

The second prince’s expression stiffened a bit. "I’m grateful to them as well, but that’s one thing and this is another. She saved me alone—if I had to repay that with my life, I’d accept it. But just because they saved me doesn’t mean they get to control the Imperial Palace and harm my parents and kin."

"When have they ever harmed us?" The Emperor shook his head helplessly. "Are you still holding a grudge because she grabbed your mother consort by the neck?"

The second prince didn’t speak, but it was obvious he was indeed holding a grudge.

"It was your mother consort who was out of line and repeatedly angered her. With Bai Ruozhu’s temperament, if it had been someone else, she would probably have gone straight for the kill." The Emperor sighed. "Your mother consort is unreasonable—are you unreasonable too?"

"Father, you’ve been bewitched by them. Mother Consort was scared half-mad by her—how can you say that’s just being unreasonable?" the second prince shouted.

"Silence!" The Emperor roared, and suddenly felt a tightness in his chest, breaking into a violent cough.

The second prince’s face changed slightly; in the end, he couldn’t help feeling a bit of compassion.

The Emperor wearily waved his hand. "Go down and rest. I’m tired as well."

The second prince opened his mouth, but in the end only lowered his head and withdrew.

He didn’t hurry back to his own bedchamber, but took a detour to see his mother consort.

When Empress Yazi heard the maid announce that the second prince had arrived, she immediately tore her hair loose, making herself look instantly disheveled and miserable.

"Cilang, save me, I don’t want to die!" When she saw the second prince come in, she rushed up and grabbed his arm.

"Mother Consort, don’t be afraid, it’s all right now, everything is fine now." The second prince comforted her tenderly, then asked the maid beside them, "Is my mother consort like this during the day as well?"

The maid hurriedly answered, "A little better, but Her Highness is always frightened. Could it be she’s been possessed?"

"Nonsense. How could there be possession in the Imperial Palace?" The second prince scolded the maid once, then looked at his mother consort with concern.

Fortunately, Empress Yazi "calmed down" and seemed to return to normal again.

"Cilang, when did you arrive? Why has no one poured you tea?" Empress Yazi complained.

Then she walked to the table and personally poured the second prince a cup of tea. The second prince quickly took it and said, "Mother Consort, you should rest well and don’t let your thoughts run wild. If there’s anything you need, just have the Palace servants do it."

"All right." Empress Yazi answered with a smile.

The second prince didn’t think much of it and lifted the tea she handed him, taking a few sips.

"Does it taste good?" Empress Yazi asked with a smile.

"This is this year’s new tea, isn’t it? The taste is pretty good," the second prince said.

Just then, he saw his mother consort smile again, but for some reason he felt something strange. He couldn’t say what was wrong, only that it unsettled him.

He didn’t know why his heart suddenly felt flustered, so he rose to take his leave, saying he would return to his bedchamber to rest.

Empress Yazi didn’t rise to see him off either, just sat there not knowing what she was thinking.

The second prince’s steps were somewhat unsteady as he returned to his bedchamber. He felt his chest grow more and more constricted, and hurriedly had someone pour him a few cups of tea to drink, but as soon as the tea went down, the pain in his chest only grew sharper.

Suddenly he recalled the scene just now and knew why he had felt something off!

Just now, a hint of demonic red had flashed in his mother consort’s eyes. His mother consort’s pupils were clearly jet black, so why would there be red?

Before he could figure it out, he felt such pain that he couldn’t breathe, then slowly lost consciousness, as if something had seized control of him.

Normally, when the Poisonous Insect enters the stomach, the person with Zong Gu is controlled without realizing it. But the second prince’s situation was special—he had just suffered Severe Poison before and had been nourished with quite a bit of Bai Ruozhu’s medicine. The medicinal power remaining in his body temporarily suppressed the Poisonous Insect, so he still had awareness and knew that he had drunk the wrong cup of tea.

No, what he had gotten wrong wasn’t just a cup of tea—he had been wrong about far too much. He had trusted his own mother consort, never imagining that she had already been controlled by someone.

Clearly Bai Ruozhu had saved him several times, clearly she had never really hidden anything from him, yet he suspected them and even went to his father to complain about Bai Ruozhu.

The second prince regretted it now, but he collapsed just like that, too late for regret.

Meanwhile, in the Emperor’s bedchamber, his chest was also tight. He had no choice but to pick up a scripture and begin to chant, and slowly the depression in his heart was pressed down, and the blockage in his chest faded.

The Emperor didn’t think much of it, only believing that his mood had been disturbed by the second prince’s anger and that only Buddhist Scriptures could calm him down.

At this moment, Empress Yazi was sitting before a mirror, doing her hair and makeup. She had completely forgotten what she had given the second prince to drink. The maid at her side watched her, a mocking smile curling at the corner of her lips.

At the same time, Prince Wen De was holding a maid in his arms, engaged in the movements of the bed. The maid seemed to be very favored and said with a coquettish pout, "Am I not good enough? Yet Your Highness insists on going to that old woman?"