XH 190

The fact that the Second Prince has strong supporters was proven when Liu Chu Chu and the shopkeeper of the pawnshop were released quickly. They only get to detain for a few hours and suffered no hardships.

Once a deed of jewelry was passed as proof of their innocence, all the blame was placed on the green-eyed man as the jewelry belonged to him before he pawned it. It also swiftly cleared up all the accusations of the pawnshop involved with Gu Dan country.

The green-eyed was sacrificed, not that the Second Prince could save him anyway when a doctor had tested his blood and confirmed it has multiple deadly poisons in it.

Back in the Second Prince's residence, Liu Chu Chu had removed her 'Yao Bao' disguise and back to dressing in her usual red attire with her hair still wet from a bath.

Long Shan entwined his fingers with her hair, playing with it. "Love, I've taken back the earring from him. There was nothing left to discover our involvement."

That news indeed was a piece of good news to Liu Chu Chu as the earring was actually a small spatial dimensional space with secret information stored in it. The information she wanted to hand over to the leader of Gu Dan country was in it. But she was still in a bad mood from what happened in the street earlier.

Especially that woman dressed in black and gold, with that bright red lips that was disturbingly similar to her own. It was strange that a noble lady would be bold and disregard etiquette by wearing that thick red lipstick.

On the other hand, Liu Chu Chu does not care about custom and etiquette and put on that bold red lipstick to make herself more attractive, which pleased Long Shan.

The more she thinks about it, the more irritated she became. That style, that tone, that posture, were they not imitating her, Liu Chu Chu?

Long Shan wrapped his arms around Liu Chu Chu's slim waist. "Don't worry, my dear. Because of the poison in his blood, no one dared to interrogate him physically. They don't even dare to mess with his mind, fearing he will commit suicide and released some poison that might have missed during the search."

Noting that incident in her book of memory to be dealt with later, Liu Chu Chu shifted to focus on her fiance. "Nothing is absolute. That man needs to die to cover up our involvement. He will understand it's for the greater good of our goal."

"I have someone suggest getting Doctor Bai to help in interrogating the spy."

Liu Chu Chu eyed Long Shan, waiting for him to explain himself. Long Shan smiled brightly at the expecting gaze, happy that his love viewed him favorably.

"If a great doctor like him is unable to stop a prisoner from dying before him, his skills will naturally be questioned."

Liu Chu Chu smiled widely, her eyes showed her undisguised agreement of the plan. She might be an adult, able to tolerate most attempts in harming her, but it was undeniable that Doctor Bai had managed to irritate her quite a bit when he declared her to be suspicious. Her reputation suffered a huge blow from it.

No matter how talented he was in medicine, he would never be able to cure all illnesses in this world! Her spring water was the strongest cure to all ailments and poisons in this world!

Joyfully kissing her fiance, she did not notice a flash of doubt in his eyes, which was quickly swallowed by the reverence he had for the beautiful woman in his arms.

❀❀❀

A larger sized carriage came into a stop beside an average looking carriage that was parked at the side of the road that was not usually used.

The young couple swiftly switched to the larger carriage and each of the carriage drivers used different routes to leave.

Inside the large carriage, a man that could be mistaken as a deity with that demeanor of his. He was brewing a fresh batch of tea on the small table placed in the middle of the carriage. His movement was unhurried as he goes through the long, memorized process. Most of his attention was on his tea brewing, and he only spared the newly joined occupants a glance.

He poured the tea into three small cups before calmly passing a clean napkin to the Third Prince. Doctor Bai's expression remained the same even after seeing the evidence of his student eating his daughter's tofu.

Self-conscious enough to realize what his teacher wanted him to wipe off, Long Zhu took the napkin and slowly erased the lipstick on his lips, staining the white napkin with red.

Xiao Hua wondered what the Third Prince would do with the napkin. Will he clean it before returning it to Doctor Bai or toss the soiled napkin into the dustbin? Or will he keep it?

He did neither, choosing to lean over her so that he can rub the clean part of the napkin over Xiao Hua's lips.

Her blush was not noticeable thanks to the red rouge adding some color on her cheek. She did not dare to move or breathe normally when the Third Prince thoroughly cleaned the red rouge from her lips.

It was when Long Zhu rubbed a part of her lips that she flinched from pain. His hand halted, just as the previously indifferent father suddenly aimed a very disapproving stare towards Long Zhu.

As a godly doctor, if Doctor Bai could not spot her injury even when it was covered by the red lipstick, or what had caused it, he can throw away his title! He does not mind it if they shared a kiss innocently, but to kiss until Xiao Hua's lips suffered injury? It was clearly an adult kiss, improper for underaged girls!

"It is only proper to treat your fiance gently," Doctor Bai admonished.

All this while, Long Zhu was able to maintain his carefree and gentle smile when Doctor Bai pointed out his hanky panky action towards Xiao Hua. But his desire had injured Xiao Hua's lips and he could no longer maintain indifferently.

With red ears that was hard to notice in the dim carriage, Long Zhu took out a medicine box from his sleeve and personally applied a thick layer of it over Xiao Hua's lips.

Xiao Hua: '...'

She would be more comfortable if her mouth was cleaned with water first before applying the medicine over it! Who knows if the red rouge would counteract with the medicine and made things worse?

Her hands itched to wipe her lips, but she resisted, choosing to put some trust in the Third Prince's medical knowledge.

"Teacher, did you receive any plea in helping to interrogate Gu Dan people?" The Third Prince asked after he was satisfied with the amount of medicine he had put on Xiao Hua's lips.

The currently drinking tea Doctor Bai hummed in positive.

"Have you given them your answer?" The Third Prince's voice revealed his worry. He already expected this incident to blew up badly, so he does not wish for his teacher to get involved in this matter.

"I do not approve of torture or human experimentation. They understand my reasons and did not persist in getting my participation." Doctor Bai stopped drinking and smiled, with his lips moist from the tea.

Xiao Hua: The sight of a very good looking man with wet lips is indeed bad for her dirty mind. (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄)

The Third Prince's rigid chin relaxed. "I will have to suggest to the Minister of Justice in getting help from the talented doctor Miss Liu. It would be better to request Guilin citizens for aid instead when it comes to settling our own kingdom's matter."

The Third Prince does not care what the other party would do, but if Liu Chu Chu was able to provide 'help', there was no loss to them. It must be heart-wrenching to choose between sabotaging her own reputation in return of hiding her plans or to help to keep the spy alive but risk getting her plans exposed from the spy's mouth.

This is just the beginning. He will play with them slowly, just like how they played Long family for years!

"Is Gu Dan targeting South Guilin Village?" Doctor Bai asked. He was a doctor, unconcerned about politics or war between territories, but for him to ask, it means that place has some relation to him.

"They used a smaller and closer country as their front to attack the village. They did not use poison openly, but we manage to discover some colorless and tasteless poison in the water supply." The Third Prince smiled knowingly. "Teacher's thousand years ginseng is alive and safe. Before I left, I have assigned a few guards to look after it."

"I will be retrieving it before returning to Bai Land." The lines on Doctor Bai's forehead disappeared in relief.

The Third Prince was surprised but he just nodded. He never knows the exact reason why his teacher wanted to grow the ginseng in a weird method and using South Guilin Village's soil. The ginseng was huge, with roots that resembled a human figure. What weirded him out was Doctor Bai had planted the 'legs' into the soil, while the 'hands' were chained apart with his Qi. The aftermath image resembled a chained prisoner that Long Zhu had seen in the prisons often.

He was curious and asked about it. But after failing to get the answer, he lost his desire to ask again.

The Third Prince smiled when he felt a familiar gaze on him. Xiao Hua might not have voiced out her concern, but her scrutinizing gaze on his body showed her worry.

"I'm fine," the Third Prince reassure her softly. "I may not be as intelligent or gifted as Teacher but I know enough that Gu Dan's little trick could not harm me."

Xiao Hua nodded slowly, knowing his words hold the truth or else the sign of poisoning should have shown itself after a few weeks.

"Do you think that Liu Chu Chu wanted to betray the Guilin Kingdom?" Xiao Hua voiced her suspicious.

The Eighth Prince had only said that the heroine buys information from other countries, and sells other countries' information in return. But she never sells out her own country's information. There was no mention of Gu Dan country in the novel, so this must be a new outcome from their interference!

"No. It would be more reasonable that she wants to ally with Gu Dan," The Third Prince said grimly. That reason would match her ambitions and personality better.

Long Zhu sneered darkly. But someone should tell her not to play with fire or she will get burned in the end.