RWNEFE -Chapter 326 Gathering Fifty Charges Against Shen Lanxi!

“I have a prescription here for an antidote. Give it to Lord Shen first—it may suppress the poison,” Physician Li said, quickly writing a formula on paper.

Chunxue hurried off to decoct the medicine.

“I must return to the palace to report to His Majesty. Leave one physician here; once the medicine is ready, administer it to Lord Shen immediately.”

Che Mingyuan personally escorted the physicians out.

Soon afterward, members of the Shen family arrived. Seeing the person lying on the bed, Shen Yuanjing wailed in grief.

All night long, the sound of crying never ceased in the Zhenbei Marquis’s residence.

After hearing the physicians’ report, Emperor Renxiao developed a splitting headache and did not sleep the entire night.

“How did she end up poisoned?”

Wang Bao said, “Your Majesty, could Shen Lanxi have been implicated in the Wei Army case and been targeted for revenge?”

A glint flashed in the emperor’s eyes, which immediately turned cold and sinister.

“Investigate. You must find the one who poisoned her!”

The news of Shen Lanxi’s poisoning spread as if it had grown wings. In less than a night, the entire capital—from civil and military officials to common peddlers—was discussing it.

“She was perfectly fine. How did she suddenly get poisoned?”

“Who knows? Wasn’t she confined to her residence and guarded by the Imperial Guards? How could something like this still happen?”

“First she was stripped of office, then framed, then the broken engagement and now poisoning… It’s obvious someone is targeting the Shen family…”

Overnight, the news caused a sensation throughout the city. A small group even began whispering that Shen Lanxi’s great merits had overshadowed the ruler—that as a woman who had achieved military glory, she had become intolerable to the current emperor.

When this rumor reached Emperor Renxiao, he was so furious that he smashed an entire set of brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones in the imperial study.

“Investigate who is spreading such talk. Once you find them, pry open their mouths and dig out the person behind these rumors!”

In a single night, Emperor Renxiao seemed to age ten years.

Even the thousand-year-old ginseng Shen Lanxi had once presented to him could not restore him.

He was nearly driven mad with anger.

“Have the physicians who went to treat Shen Lanxi returned yet?” the emperor roared.

Wang Bao hastily wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

“Your Majesty, I was just about to report. The physicians have just returned. They’ve identified the poison—it is a toxin that came from the Western Regions, called…” Wang Bao hesitated, but under the emperor’s fierce gaze, he blurted it out, “Green Silkworm.”

Emperor Renxiao was shaken.

“How could it be Green Silkworm? Wasn’t that poison already extinct?”

Wang Bao could not answer and quickly shifted the matter to the physicians.

“I will summon the physician at once!”

While Emperor Renxiao was meeting with the physician, Zhou Ruyuan arrived at the Zhenbei Marquis’s residence with imperial doctors and medicinal supplies.

“How is Lanxi?”

His overly familiar way of addressing her startled everyone for a moment, followed by an awkward silence.

Old Madam Shen had been keeping vigil at the residence. Since Zhou Ruyuan had come on the emperor’s behalf, she stepped forward to receive him.

“After taking the medicine, Lanxi has improved somewhat. The dark discoloration on her lips and nails has faded a little, but she is still unconscious. The physicians say the antidote must be found as soon as possible.” Old Madam Shen pressed a handkerchief to the corner of her eye as she spoke.

“The Shen family has only just been vindicated, and our good days were only beginning. My poor granddaughter… I almost wish it were me who had been poisoned…” She broke down in tears before finishing her words.

Zhou Ruyuan signaled to the physician to go in and examine Shen Lanxi while he helped the sobbing Old Madam Shen to a seat.

“Old Madam, please do not grieve too deeply. Otherwise, when Lanxi wakes, she will surely blame herself,” he said gently.

Old Madam Shen wiped her tears; this time she truly wept, soaking her handkerchief.

“I only hope Lanxi’s fate is blessed and that she recovers soon.”

Zhou Ruyuan looked at the Shen family members praying continuously for Shen Lanxi—especially the younger men, each holding prayer beads and reciting Buddhist scriptures with devotion surpassing even monks in a temple.

“You must also take care of your health.”

Shen Yuanjing declared solemnly, as if making a vow, “As long as Elder Sister does not awaken, we will not stop.”

Zhou Ruyuan took a deep breath. He almost reminded Shen Yuanjing that the emperor had already appointed him in court to go to the northwest—was the safety of the northwest really less important than Shen Lanxi alone?

“Lanxi will surely pull through,” Zhou Ruyuan said, sincerely hoping so himself.

This visit was not only to check on her condition; the emperor had also assigned him to investigate the poisoning.

After exchanging a few words with the Shen family, Zhou Ruyuan began the investigation.

Before long, all the household servants, maids, matrons, and guards of the Shen residence were gathered in the front courtyard.

Zhou Ruyuan questioned them one by one.

Meanwhile, six imperial physicians successively examined Shen Lanxi and deliberated over prescriptions.

They already knew she had been poisoned with Green Silkworm, but they did not dare tell the people around her. Whenever asked, they merely said they did not yet know the nature of the poison.

Now that it had been confirmed, one physician immediately returned to the palace to report.

“Your Majesty, it has been confirmed. She is indeed poisoned—with Green Silkworm,” the physician reported.

Emperor Renxiao’s expression was inscrutable; even those who served him daily could not guess what he was thinking.

“How long can she live?”

The physician estimated, “If she is well cared for, she may live for a little over a month.” That was assuming she continued taking medicine to suppress the poison. Without it, she would not survive even seven days.

The physician dared not say more. The former empress had once died from this poison. At that time, the emperor had gone mad searching for an antidote, even slaughtering the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect and burying everyone in the Kunning Palace as funeral sacrifices.

In the end, no antidote had been found, and the poison had become a taboo within the palace.

Emperor Renxiao silently calculated Shen Lanxi’s remaining days. The physician did not dare interrupt or leave. Only after what felt like an eternity, when the physician’s legs were nearly too weak to stand, did the emperor finally wave him away.

There were others who could guard the northwest.

But only she was a woman.

At the morning court, Wu Tian’en, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, presented a memorial listing more than fifty charges, openly denouncing Shen Lanxi.

“Shen Lanxi killed innocent people to claim merit…”

“She neglected womanly virtue and defied her elders…”

“She slaughtered indiscriminately, causing misery to fill the northwest…”

“She imposed heavy exactions and acted arbitrarily…”

One accusation after another—enough, in theory, to exterminate the Shen family fifty times over.

Emperor Renxiao looked coldly at Wu Tian’en and the officials who joined in condemning Shen Lanxi.

These were people who were usually silent in court—why had they all suddenly emerged now?

Like vultures, wolves, and hyenas drawn by the scent of blood.

“We beseech Your Majesty to severely punish Shen Lanxi!” six or seven officials petitioned together.

Expressionless, Emperor Renxiao said, “Let the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Personnel jointly verify each of these charges. If any are proven true, I will show no leniency.”