Chapter 32: Imprisoned in the Cold Palace

  Qing Xia woke up to find it was already the second night, and her maid Xiangyun was guarding beside her. As soon as she saw Qing Xia wake up, she immediately burst into tears and ran out to call for help. It was still Sun Juren, the imperial physician, who came to examine her. The old man in his seventies looked a bit tired at this time, but his smile seemed very kind.

  "For the sake of Qing Xia, Dr. Zhang nodded and said: 'It's okay, the toxicity has dissipated, and the remaining poison is not enough to be feared. I'll prescribe a few doses of detoxifying medicine, Your Majesty will recover soon if you take it on time.'"

  Qing Xia still felt a burning sensation on her lips and tried to ask: "Chu Li..."

  "The prince is fine, this poison is made from a poisonous flower in the southern border, containing seven kinds of poisonous insects, also known as Flower Seven. The toxicity is not the strongest among the hundred poisons in the southern border, but it acts the fastest. As long as the toxin enters the brain, even gods cannot save him. Fortunately, the prince was stabbed in the wrist, which is relatively far from the brain, and the princess sucked out the poison for him, buying time until I arrived to treat him. However, the princess had poison on her lips, and it entered her brain strongly. It's just strange that she seems to have a resistance to this toxin, and it didn't take effect immediately. Instead, she woke up before the prince, which is truly an extraordinary event."

  Qing Xia was deep in thought, and at the time, Chu Li's poisoning was also a temporary measure. Logically speaking, since his mouth didn't have any ulcers, it was impossible for him to be poisoned. However, the toxins from the southern border had always been treacherous, just looking at how the dagger could transmit poison even to the green bricks on the ground, let alone his own flesh and blood.

  At first, when I was in the modern era, my body had been injected with many toxins and had already produced antibodies. But why did Zhang Qingxia's body also have antibodies? Did she have some secret that wasn't known? Or did my soul cross over and bring its strong physique along with it?

  "Princess," Xiangyun suddenly rushed in, flustered and excited, with a joyful expression, saying to Qing Xia: "The prince is awake and wants to see you."

  The dark thoughts in Qing Xia's heart were confirmed, what was supposed to happen still happened.

  After Zhang Taichang took his pulse, he retreated. The huge bedroom was left with only Qing Xia and Chu Li. This time, Chu Li's poisoning was kept secret from outsiders, so it didn't cause any chaos. Qing Xia looked at Chu Li lying on the bed with his eyes tightly closed, knowing in her heart that he had already woken up. She couldn't help but sigh and said in a low voice: "If you want to ask something, just ask."

  Chu Li's eyes slowly opened, then slowly turned around, staring tightly at Qing Xia's eyes, with a surge of dark waves that even Qing Xia couldn't understand in the turbulent fluctuations.

  "Y... ou..." Chu Li's voice was low and hoarse, his lips slightly pale, the lines on his face like a marble sculpture. He hesitated for a moment before finally asking in a deep voice: "Is there anything you want to say to me?"

  What was he saying? Qing Xia smiled wryly, pulling up the corners of his mouth, saying that he was a soul returned to a borrowed corpse, that he wasn't really Zhuang Qing Xia at all, but rather a 21st-century special forces operative, or maybe even the one who had let Qi An escape from the palace to send a message? Everything was just an excuse for evasion. His suspicions about himself, were they limited to today only? From start to finish, from head to toe, all the kindness and tenderness were just test after test. Since the day she first woke up, he had already suspected himself.

  "You've already spoken, so anything I say now is useless." Qing Xia smiled faintly and gazed deeply at Chu Li, her tone not without mockery: "You trust my father, you trust the loyalty of the Zhuang family towards you, but you don't trust Zhuang Qing Xia. The entire Lanting Hall is filled with your spies, this palace itself is a prison. All those former palace maids were skilled martial artists, Xiang Ju comes in every two hours each night to carefully spy on me, there's even an empty space under the bedhead where someone uses copper pipes to eavesdrop all day long. You've taken precautions to such an extent, what else is there for me to say?"

  Chu Li's eyes flashed with a hint of sharpness, his lips pursed into a straight line as he gazed coldly at Qing Xia and said in a low voice, "But I want to hear you say it."

  "Do you want to hear something?" Qing Xia sneered, "Do you want to hear the last cry of this bird in a cage?"

  "You're also a bird in a cage?" Chu Li's expression was icy cold, he sat up and said calmly: "This year, you've indeed disguised yourself very well. Your daily yes-yes-no-no attitude has actually made me underestimate you."

  "So you let it go for a year without asking, to see if Zhuang Qingxia's heart is still towards Qi An? And then indulged in Dan Fei making a big scene at Lan Ting Temple, and after that, allowed Princess Jia Yun to come and make trouble repeatedly, wanting to see what this weak woman would do when pushed to the limit?"

  "Right, and you have indeed disappointed my hopes!" Chu Li's eyes turned cold, suddenly pouncing on him, pinching Qing Xia's neck with one hand, his voice icy as he said: "You really are a spy sent by Qi An, when Zhuang Tai Fu told me about it at the time, I didn't believe it. What kind of spell did he cast on you that makes you willing to risk your life for him like this?"

  What a father! Qing Xia only felt that her eyes suddenly turned black, is this really the father of Zhuang Qing Xia? A father who can even sacrifice his own daughter? Fortunately, she had been thinking about not implicating this old man who was devoted to the world, but he had already drawn a clear line with this daughter.

  Qing Xia suddenly realized that saying anything was meaningless, and Zhuang Qing Xia might indeed be a spy sent by Qi An. They had grown up together in the Qi Imperial Palace since childhood, and it was only natural for Zhuang Qing Xia, a young lady from a noble family, to have fallen in love with the handsome and elegant Crown Prince. The agreement between them must have been made after Chu Li's group returned to Chu State, because if Qi An had suspected anything earlier, he would not have let Chu Li escape from Qi State unscathed. Afterward, Qi An sent someone to make a deal with Qing Xia, or promised her something in exchange for intelligence on Southern Chu.

  In this way, Zhuang Qingxia, as the princess of a country, was the internal response to Da Qi's political situation, and had an immeasurable impact. Qingxia sneered in her heart, thinking that if the mistress of the White Palace were actually a Soviet spy, what unpredictable chemical reactions would occur. Otherwise, as the crown prince of Qi'an, it would be impossible for him to risk his life to rescue her without considering the bigger picture. At the time when she went to rescue Qi'an, Qingxia felt that he was not the kind of impulsive person who would disregard the bigger picture, and just by following her out without asking questions, it was enough to prove it. It seems that Zhuang Qingxia must have had an important mission, which made Qi'an risk his life to save her.

  Unfortunately, Zhuang Qingxia was a woman blinded by love, but she didn't have the ability. Not only did she fail to seduce Chu Li, but she also alerted him and Zhuang Taifu. It wasn't until Dan Fei intervened, Zhuang Qingxia mysteriously died, and I arrived, showing abnormal behavior, that all these things confirmed Chu Li's suspicions. As a result, there was the probing and surveillance behind Chu Li, even bringing out the great prince of Qi from behind, almost causing a great disaster for the state of Qi.

  Qing Xia was speechless, feeling that everything was absurd and unreasonable. Qing Xia, oh Qing Xia, if you were alive now, how would you be? Perhaps it's really time to find a rope and hang yourself? Her father suspected her, her husband plotted against her, and even the so-called lover might have been using her. Qing Xia slowly raised her head, smiling faintly: "What makes you certain I'm a spy sent by Qi Guo? Is it just because of my skills in the fire scene, or is it because I exposed Xiang Wei's true face?"

  "Isn't Zhi An the one you let go?"

  "What do you think?" Qing Xia suddenly smiled slyly, and leaned in close to Chu Li's ear, whispering: "You think I can just quietly sneak into your dungeon, and then quietly rescue the prisoner? Don't forget, that night, you were sleeping right next to me."

  Chu Li slightly closed his eyes, Qing Xia looked like he was at ease, but in reality, he was secretly counting the number of guards outside. Everything had been laid out on the table, and she no longer hoped that Chu Li would spare Qing Xia's life. There were eight guards outside the door, twenty eunuchs and eight palace maids, and behind them, there were over a hundred of the Crown Prince's personal guards. Forcing her way through was impossible, it seemed that the only option was to subdue Chu Li with lightning speed and then quietly escape from the imperial palace, which would be the best plan.

  Zheng Xiang's expression changed, and Chu Li suddenly said in a low voice: "Are you thinking now about how to knock me out and then escape from the palace?"

  Qing Xia was shocked, his body reacted before his brain did. His intention had already been exposed, and there were only two ways to recover from this situation. One was to give up, the other was to strike immediately, not giving the opponent a chance to turn the tables.

  However, just as Qing Xia had raised her hand, she was suddenly overturned onto the bed by Chu Li. Chu Li's heavy body pressed tightly against Qing Xia's, his voice low and hoarse with immense anger and humiliation. He said fiercely: "Do you think you're something special, that you can point fingers and draw pictures in front of me? Do you think I'll let you be arrogant every time, always getting what you want? Do you think my ten years as a puppet king were really for nothing, letting people manipulate and humiliate me?"

  Qing Xia was enraged, and with a great effort, he tried to move his body, but to his horror, he found that he had no strength at all. A bird's head flashed into Qing Xia's mind in an instant, and he immediately raised his eyebrows and said in a cold voice: "Did you poison me?"

  "Indeed clever!" Chu Li coldly snorted, suddenly tearing open Qing Xia's clothes, revealing her smooth and tender shoulders. He stretched out his tongue to seductively lick them, then coldly laughed: "Qi An must have had you already, right? Someone like you, a withered flower, how could I possibly be interested? You even pretended to be ill every day, afraid of my royal favor?"

  "With a 'clang', Qing Xia's body was lifted into the air by Chu Li, and thrown to the ground. The guards outside rushed in, their swords drawn, cold air pressing down on them. Someone stepped forward and grabbed Qing Xia's collar, binding him tightly with a few swift movements."

  Chu Li coldly smiled as he looked at Qing Xia, his eyebrows icy and his voice chilly. "All of this is your own doing, don't blame others. Guards, take Lan Fei to the Cold Palace, rename her 'Dang', and announce it to the world, as a warning to others!"

  The crowd responded in unison, and Qi Xun knelt down, his eyes fixed on Chu Li. Qing Xia collapsed to the ground, her body numb, her cold gaze fixed on this icy man, her eyebrows and eyes etched with indifference. Yesterday, she had pitied him for being abandoned by his mother, but today he had become her captive. Was life always so unpredictable, only then could it be extraordinary?

  "Pull it down!"

  Chu Li gave an order, and Qing Xia was immediately pulled up by the guards. She had already been poisoned, and the remaining poison had not been cleared. At this moment, she was also secretly attacked by Chu Li, her body swayed, and she fell to the ground instantly. Several personal guards were expressionless, ready to drag her out.

  "Let me go!" A cold voice suddenly rang out, Qing Xia's eyebrows were stern, she abruptly lifted her head, supported herself against the wall and stood up, saying in a low voice: "Whoever dares to touch me again, I'll bite my tongue off."

  Fierce eyes scanned this group of wolf-like soldiers, standing up straight with a cold smile, and walked out of the Lan Ting Hall first.

  "Chu Li!" Qing Xia, who was standing at the door, suddenly turned around and smiled coldly at Chu Li. In a low voice, she said: "Since General Zhuang can accuse me, he has already severed our father-daughter relationship. Why bother to test and investigate an enemy spy with such painstaking effort? Wouldn't it be cleaner and more efficient to just use a white rope and a cup of poisoned wine?"

  As soon as she finished speaking, Qing Xia didn't look back at Chu Li again and turned around to walk out.

  Outside, it was pitch black, and in the dense night color, the ghosts and monsters in people's hearts were moving quietly.

  Why must it be so painstakingly lonely? In the empty and spacious great hall, Chu Li smiled bitterly and said, "I just wanted to know, I was just wrong."