Chapter 18: Confrontation
Chapter 18
His steel-like fingers gripped her neck, nearly choking off her breath. Yuwen Hao was like an enraged beast, his eyes filled with thick anger, and he ground out between clenched teeth, "You dare poison my Imperial Grandfather?"
Princess Yuanqing Ling\'s head was forced back, her face rapidly turning red as her eyes filled with red veins. With difficulty she said, "Why doesn\'t the Prince look down?"
The prick of the needle punctured his thigh, a special needle with a small tube filled with liquid.
"You can choke me to death, but before I die, you will certainly meet your end too. So why not listen to what I have to say?" Princess Yuanqing Ling said with difficulty, stubborn fortitude in her eyes.
His hand slowly loosened, but the rage in his eyes grew more intense. His handsome face was slightly distorted by the violent anger he was struggling to contain.
"Speak, what poison did you use?" He had never known Yuanqing Ling would use poison. It seemed he had truly underestimated her before.
Princess Yuanqing Ling removed the needle and smiled mockingly. "Poisoning the Retired Emperor in the palace, do you think I have a death wish?"
"Speak!" he said impatiently.
Princess Yuanqing Ling took a deep breath. "It wasn\'t poison, it was medicine. The Retired Emperor\'s condition is not so poor. I was trying to save him."
Yuwen Hao gave a cold laugh, murderous intent flashing in his eyes. "This king was unaware he had married a miracle doctor."
He stood up and twisted her arm. "Come, follow this king to confess your crime before my father."
He dragged Yuanqing Ling and she fell to the ground, unable to break free of his iron grip. After being dragged a few steps, in her panic she said, "Fine, I\'ll confess, and then I\'ll say it was Chu Mingcui who ordered me to do it."
Yuwen Hao slapped her, the blow landing squarely on her cheek and snapping her head to the side.
He crouched down, gripping her chin between two fingers, nearly crushing the bone. Rage like a raging storm filled his eyes as he ground out between clenched teeth, "Are you courting death?"
Blood seeped from the corner of Yuanqing Ling\'s mouth, but she felt no pain, knowing it was the effect of the Purple Gold Soup. But this humiliation, she could bear no more.
With difficulty she bared her teeth in a ghastly smile and injected the needle\'s contents into Yuwen Hao\'s thigh.
It was too late by the time Yuwen Hao noticed. His body began to grow tired and he slowly loosened his grip on her.
Yuanqing Ling slapped him back just as he had done to her, grinding her teeth as she spat out, "All my life I have respected you a foot even when you only respected me an inch. You have shamed and beaten me repeatedly, already crossing my bottom line. Taking shelter in your manor does not mean I will let you bully me. If you have the ability, report to the Emperor and divorce me. But instead you care about your reputation with one hand while bullying a woman with the other. What kind of hero is that?"
Yuwen Hao collapsed on the ground, his sinister eyes still fixed on her, clearly wishing he could flay her alive and devour her, but that viciousness did not last long. Slowly he closed his eyes.
The first time, she could not completely anesthetize him. This time, she succeeded.
Yuanqing Ling went limp, breathing heavily. Tears welled up in her eyes and she tilted her head back, forcing them back.
Now was not the time to cry. There was still a way out.
She opened her medicine box. Once it hit the ground, it would automatically expand and float at about matchbox height. Truly bizarre.
As she gasped for breath, she checked the contents.
Before, the medicine box had mostly been for external injuries, but now it seemed to be full of heart medications, even including two bottles of sublingual tablets.
This was truly strange. She did not have sublingual tablets in her lab. In fact, several of the medicines that had appeared - propranolol, salvia tablets and more - she did not have at all.
Yet now they were neatly arranged at the bottom of the medicine box.
Even more absurdly, there was a stethoscope.
Sitting on the ground, she uttered a phrase she never would have said before: "This is fucking weird."