After Zhou Ping left, Ruan Qiu inside the door heard the voice of Bai Jinyao outside.

She recalled Bai Jinyao’s identity as the chief guard with a sword and suspected that the other party had come to interrogate her about tonight’s assassination attempt. Just as she was about to get up to greet, the footsteps at the door suddenly retreated.

Ruan Qiu didn’t rashly go out to eavesdrop on the conversation because she wasn’t sure how many armed guards Bai Jinyao might have trailing behind her. It would be easy to be discovered if she went out like that. So Ruan Qiu continued to sit silently on the edge of the bed, took out the “Restless Heart Pill” she had hidden in her clothes earlier, along with the “Instant Death Poison” Zhou Ping had given her, and began to think.

She turned the porcelain bottle in her hand, thinking that Ping’er was probably not on the Empress Dowager’s side, but rather on the Fourth Prince’s side.

For the same reason, because the Fourth Prince was still alive, the Empress Dowager definitely wouldn’t kill the Emperor at this time.

Ping’er was too hasty and ended up revealing a flaw.

If she had been a bit slower in providing the poison for killing, Ruan Qiu might not have suspected her.

On the other side of Ruan Qiu’s journey to the imperial hospital, Xue Wu was surrounded by people, protecting him as he returned to the main hall and sat down again.

Although he wasn’t injured under Ruan Qiu’s protection, he was after all the Emperor, and no one dared to neglect him. Prime Minister Yuan immediately called a few Imperial Physicians to come and check on Xue Wu’s condition.

Using fatigue as an excuse, the Empress Dowager returned to her sleeping quarters first. Naturally, no one dared to stop her. Thus, everyone present turned their attention to Qi Yingying, who had overseen that night’s banquet.

At this moment, she was the prime suspect, and even if the assassin wasn’t arranged by her, she couldn’t possibly emerge from such a big mess unscathed. The armed guards immediately wanted to pull Qi Yingying down for questioning or throw her into the dungeon. When Qi Yingying heard them report to the Emperor, she panicked and hastily said, “I’m innocent! I really don’t know anything!”

But she couldn’t find any evidence to prove her innocence, and she was getting desperate.

[Qi Yingying is so cute, haha, she’s starting to pout.]

[She’s really like a little girl, I feel like she’s about to cry out of frustration, haha.]

[Qi Yingying: I really am on your side, Emperor! And I’m the only one on your side!]

Just then, several imperial physicians arrived. Qi Yingying’s matter was temporarily set aside as she stood there pouting at the armed guards, while also paying attention to the diagnosis results of the Imperial Physicians.

The first two senior physicians said there was nothing wrong, that the Emperor was in good health. But the third one, who was much younger and couldn’t conceal his arrogance, seemed like a hothead. He bowed to Xue Wu and said, “Your Majesty, you have been poisoned for a long time!”

When he said this, the faces of the two senior physicians turned extremely ugly.

Of course, they knew the Emperor had been poisoned. It wasn’t a secret within the Imperial Hospital; the Empress Dowager boldly asked them for the poison.

This idiot actually dared to say it like this. Wasn’t he afraid the Empress Dowager would silence him for good?!

The other physicians were about to cover up again when Qi Yingying suddenly remembered that she had worked for the Empress Dowager before. Surely she would have some poisons on hand? Maybe even an antidote?

Qi Yingying’s eyes lit up, and she immediately raised her hand and said, “Your Majesty, I have something to say!”

“I’ve been lurking by the Empress Dowager’s side for years, but I am absolutely loyal to Your Majesty!” Qi Yingying held up four fingers. “Heaven can bear witness! I… may have, possibly, received some poison from the Empress Dowager, but of course, I didn’t poison Your Majesty. Your Majesty can have someone search, and let the physicians prepare an antidote based on the poison!”

The physicians: …Why is there another hothead?!

[Self-exposure? Qi Yingying is really gutsy; she’s not afraid of the Empress Dowager silencing her.]

[She definitely needs to deal with the immediate crisis first. Qi Yingying’s approach is fine, just a bit unexpected.]

[I bet the director never expected Qi Yingying’s reaction.]

The chief backstage indeed didn’t anticipate Qi Yingying suddenly becoming so clever. He took a sip of strong tea, watched as the people in the hall, under Xue Wu’s instructions, headed to Qi Yingying’s room to search, and muttered to himself, “No rush, no rush. This was a clue that Qi Yingying didn’t find before, now it’s just being filled in, it’s fine…”

…Fine, my foot!

Things were all messed up.

The director could only watch helplessly as the dedicated extras dug out two bottles from the room and then brought them back to the main hall. He couldn’t interfere with the plot forcibly without disrupting the narrative logic, so he sighed deeply, speechless, and looked up at the sky.

Qi Yingying exclaimed happily, “See, I guessed there was poison there!”

Finally, with the knowledge she had got before, she successfully found a clue and saved her own life.

[Hahaha, Lady Qi, don’t you feel a bit inappropriate being so happy now? You look like you really want Xue Wu to “die,” haha.]

[I’m about to die laughing. The extras around are trying their best to ignore Qi Yingying’s expression; otherwise, they’ll find it hard to stay in character, haha.]

[Every time I’m about to get into the scene, someone makes me snap out of it. Thank you, Qi Yingying.]

The physicians in the hall, unable to conceal the truth any longer, pleaded fearfully, “Your Majesty, have mercy! We didn’t intend to conceal anything!”

But they also didn’t dare to offend the Empress Dowager, so they frantically came up with an excuse, “Your Majesty, you never allowed us to check your pulse before, and you even killed a colleague who said you were unwell. We were afraid for our lives, which is why we didn’t dare to speak the truth. Please, Your Majesty, have mercy!”

Xue Wu remained silent. The Prime Minister beside him furrowed his brows, visibly angry, and asked a maid nearby, “Who is responsible for His Majesty’s daily affairs?”