Li Wei eventually withdrew the mental restraint she had imposed on Fu Man.
As the mountain-like pressure vanished, Fu Man collapsed to the ground, his whole body limp as though he had just been fished out of water.
But he did not dare slack off in the slightest. He hurriedly propped himself up, crawled on his knees toward the Emperor's Bed, and pressed his forehead heavily against his interlocked hands.
Bean-sized beads of sweat rolled down from his temples and sideburns, quickly spreading into a small patch of dampness on the golden-brick floor beneath him.
Gu Jinzhi's gaze fell on Fu Man. His voice remained weak, yet carried a chill that brooked no argument. "Tell me, why did you poison the medicine?"
Fu Man's body trembled violently. Stammering, he replied, "It... it was the Empress Dowager... Madam's orders..."
Desperate to stay alive, he hurriedly added in pallid explanation, "Although the medicine contained poison, it was a slow-acting poison. It wasn't immediately fatal..."
"Fuck!"
Li Wei's almond-shaped eyes went wide. She completely ignored the second half of his sentence.
"That old hag had just sent a white-browed, white-haired eunuch to force poison wine down my throat, and then turned around and poisoned you? Good grief, what a piece of work! She was planning to send both of us off together!"
Gu Jinzhi's gaze shifted from Fu Man to Li Wei. "So... you blew up Phoenix Ceremony Palace..."
Li Wei scratched her head sheepishly. The golden phoenix hairpin in her coiffure was tilted askew by her meddling, making her look rather comical. "Aw, I'd only just reached Sixth Order, and I hadn't gotten the strength under control yet... Don't worry about the little details."
Then she glanced at Gu Jinzhi's sickly appearance, curiosity rising. "Looking like this, how did you withstand him