Chapter 21 - The Long Night

Li Rui was back in the plum courtyard with the woman who had her face covered in black cloth. The invisible Xi Ying who followed them had his head lowered. The aura around him was very heavy. After hearing Li Rui's murmuring and his son's condition, his heart was depressed. He had left Xi Manor under An San's care. It was him who didn't send him any news about Xi Ling's bad health.

However, The most important question was how did Xi Ling get suddenly ill that too to this point. This evening, those screams were of his child, Xi Ling. Just how much pain was he going through? There were many reasons in his mind.

The first thing that came to his mind that An San was poisoning Xi Ling. He might have not believed this before. Even when he came to know that it was not Li Rui who drugged him, he had never doubted An San. He had thought that it was only his fault. Miss Li could be any daughter from the Li Clan. He should have asked to investigate things more thoroughly. He should have believed his heart more than those fake evidence. He should have talked to her instead of sending her far away from himself.

But today, seeing An San's audacious behavior with Li Rui and Xi Ling's pale face his firm belief in him was broken to the pieces.

He wished he had believed Li Rui this firmly. His heart was filled with tremendous guilt. Xi Ling was with him all the time. He was sure that Xi Ling was never harmed till he left to solve the city border's problem a few months ago. But, he never cared about Li Rui. He never tried to find out how she was living in the isolated plum courtyard. He just asked the steward to assign her some servants. He never cared whether they were loyal or they were poisonous snakes like An San.

How did they behave with her in his absence? But he was not present at all.

Then what kind of life did his wangfei live in his manor?

He doesn't know because he never tried to find out. Because every time he thought about her, he felt irritated remembering the things she never did in the first place. He felt used. So he never bothered.

Did she cry when she was not allowed to meet Xi Ling by An San?

Looking at the woman standing in front of him, he could not imagine her crying ever. She was standing in front of a table. The table had a lot of books placed on it. She was calmly turning the pages of the book in her hands. The woman who was helplessly murmuring a few minutes ago seemed far away from her.

His trance was broken when Rui placed the book on the table. Only then he saw the name of those books. All of them were about different herbs and poisons. Surprised he took one more look at Li Rui. He had thought she knew some medicinal knowledge when she sniffed that medicinal paste in Xi Ling's room and checked his pulse. But looking at how familiar she seemed with these books, it seemed she had read them all many times.

" Yi Ju, hold that lamp and come to the backyard's gardens."

Li Rui said and picked a basket.

The woman shadow guard instantly appeared in the room and held the lamp as Li Rui said and followed her to the garden. They came to the area where he had seen Li Rui in the morning checking some plants. He saw her sniffing some plants and checking their roots and leaves in the light of the lamp. After collecting a bunch of those plants in her basket she stood up.

In her room, she took out some things that he had seen with those physicians in the imperial place. Then she made a paste from those plants. Soon a herbal, medicinal smell filled the room.

"Yi Ju "

The shadow guard appeared in the room again by Li Rui's side. She gave that paste to Yi Ju.

"That physician, who is residing in Xi Manor to treat Xiao Ling, you need to go there. Change the medicine he is giving to Xiao Ling with this one."

historical

Hearing her command, Xi Ying looked at the medicinal paste. It has the same color as the paste in Xi Ling's room. Even though he does not have any medicinal knowledge he knew that each herb has its own smell. The physician would not be able to tell any difference if he looked at the medicinal bowl but if he...

He saw Li Rui turned around and picked some other plants as well and handed them to her.

"Take these Plants with you. These plants can make anyone deep asleep for a night if smelt the whole day. Its odour is not particularly strong so no one will find out if you use them. It will cause him to have a runny nose and mild cold."

The last sentence made Xi Ying's lips curve upwards. Having runny nose and mild cold. The physician will not be able to smell the medicine at all.

Li Rui sat on her chair and looked at Yi Ju calmly.

"You do understand what you have to do right?"

Her voice held the authority he had not seen in the Empress ever. Yi Ju straightened her back unconsciously if it could be straightened anymore.

"Yes My Lady, This servant understands. This servant will not disappoint you."

Although Yi Ju had some questions in her heart she didn't ask them. Her master had asked her to serve Lady Li loyally. She just had to do everything Lady Li asked her to do without any hesitation unless it threatened Lady Li's life.

She obediently waited for Li Rui's dismissal while Li Rui sat on her chair staring at nothing in the distance. She suddenly said.

" Find out from where was he getting those poisonous herbs."

The last sentence confirmed everything to Yi Ju as well as to Xi Ying. Xi Ying's face became somber. Xi Ying's face became somber. Li Rui thinks that there was someone else behind all this. He also has this thought. An San was working according to someone's command. Someone who was trying to break him away from Li Rui completely. It was not enough to create misunderstandings between them. That someone wanted to kill Xi Ling also.

The last thread between him and Li Rui. It could only be someone who didn't like his wangfei. But who was it that hated her to the point to kill a three-year-old child?

Li Rui dismissed Yi Ju with a wave of her hand. Yi Ju disappeared but she continued to stare blankly. The image of thin, frail, and unconscious Xi Ling flashed in front of her eyes.

The war was about to begin. She didn't know how much she would lose in the coming days. She didn't know if she had any strength or power to hold herself together. But she has no choice. She could only continue to protect her loved ones while hiding in these bushes.

The night was long and her eyes didn't have any sleepiness in them. She sat there like a statue with the one who wished to take away all her pain.