Poisoning

Did the Xin Royal Family have the surname Shen?

Shen Tang swallowed the urge to spit blood and forced the corners of her mouth up. "I know you probably won't believe me, but you really are overthinking this."

Qi Shan said, "I'm overthinking it?"

Shen Tang nodded hard. "That's right. You're overthinking it."

The "Shen" in her name had not a single copper's worth of connection to the Xin Royal Family!

It really, truly, honestly was just a coincidence!

Besides—

"Doesn't Yuan Liang think this is absurd? If I really were who you suspect, how could I have ended up in my current state..."

If Shen Tang hadn't been the person involved, she might have believed him. Logically, Qi Shan's guess was quite plausible, but it rested on one huge assumption: this body had to be a young man. Shen Tang was certain she hadn't grown any unfamiliar "lumps" on her body.

She! Was! A! Bona! Fide! Girl!

"Never mind anything else. The officials escorting prisoners into exile wouldn't have let me off so easily, and the Gong Clan members traveling with me wouldn't have treated me like I didn't exist..." So this body couldn't be the Gong Cheng he was talking about, much less an illegitimate child the Sovereign of Xin had left with the Gong Clan.

Even if it were true, could Shen Tang admit it?

A disgraced Princess or Prince—what chance would they have of surviving?

Qi Shan fell silent in thought.

Though he appeared calm on the surface, Shen Tang couldn't get a glimpse of what he was really thinking. Had she convinced him, or was he stubbornly clinging to his own wild theory?

"I understand."

Shen Tang: "..."

Brother, what do you understand now?

At that moment, she felt like drilling a hole right through Qi Shan's skull.

"Go, fill every waterskin with tea. We're in a hurry."

"And mine too..."

"There's one here as well..."

The soldiers' shouts rang out from outside the teahouse.

The delivery route was remote, and the weather was too hot, so their waterskins had long since run dry. They laughed as they hurled them at the owner's face. The owner endured and endured, then, his face swollen and reddened where they had slapped him, forced an ugly smile. He bowed to pick up the waterskins and tucked them against his chest, cringing as he said, "Yes, yes, I'll get right on it—"

Even so, his worried sidelong glances kept drifting toward his wife.

When one soldier saw him dawdling, he kicked him in the backside and barked, "What's taking you so long? Get moving!"

The owner stumbled, nearly pitching headfirst to the ground. His wife, held back by a soldier, trembled with rage but didn't dare struggle.

The couple's helpless, furious expressions, unable to protest or fight back, pleased the soldiers. Their brazen laughter, accompanied by the owner's wife's fearful sobbing, rang in the ears of every customer. Everyone seethed, but no one dared speak up. Even Shen Tang silently repeated, "Bide your time, and the seas and skies will open wide."

She got to the third repetition and stopped.

"Damn it, to hell with seas and skies opening wide!"

Qi Shan, who had clearly heard Shen Tang swear, said nothing.

He hadn't expected Young Master Shen to look so refined and noble, yet be so rough around the edges. Only street thugs and uncouth brutes used language like that. Seeing Shen Tang rise, he asked, "Is Young Master Shen going to stand up for them?"

Shen Tang said, "I'm not stupid."

There was a right way to help someone. A direct confrontation wasn't practical, but that didn't mean she couldn't use underhanded tactics. Shen Tang rolled up her sleeves, arranged her face into a guileless, harmless expression, and went to help the owner.

The owner was so flattered that he hurriedly refused.

"Young Master, you mustn't..."

Shen Tang said, "Why not? There are nearly a hundred waterskins. How long will it take you to fill them all? It looks like you and your wife are the only ones running this teahouse. I'm worried you won't be able to keep up and will be bullied again. If we get this done quickly, we can send them on their way sooner. It's just a small gesture on my part..."

The owner's eyes grew hot as he listened.

Choking back tears, he said, "Th-thank you..."

Only the two of them knew what it was like to be bullied as a couple—to feel so isolated, helpless, and desperate. They also knew the customers had no obligation to help. Everyone knew how arrogant soldiers from Geng Country were. They burned, looted, killed for fun, and did every manner of evil. Everyone feared for their lives.

A few soldiers came over to check on things during the work. Their eyes swept over Shen Tang, hunched in the corner and keeping her head down as she worked, several times. Since she was young, quick on her feet, and small from behind, they mistook her for a teahouse errand boy. After watching her for a while and seeing nothing amiss, they left.

The two of them worked together for a quarter of an hour. Only when sweat beaded on their foreheads did they finish filling all the waterskins and complete the task.

Qi Shan asked curiously, "What did you do?"

Shen Tang took a sip of tea. Even her brows seemed to spell out the words "in a good mood." "You'll find out soon, Yuan Liang."

Qi Shan raised an eyebrow and guessed, "Poison?"

"Good guess."

"Where did you get poison?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Qi Shan suddenly thought of something.

He asked again, "Word Spirit?"

Shen Tang smiled. "That's right."

Qi Shan drew a deep breath. "Which line?"

Or rather, which Word Spirit had she "wasted" and "turned upside down" this time?

Shen Tang kept him in suspense, then slowly recited, "The green bamboo snake's mouth, the wasp's stinger in its tail."

Qi Shan frowned. "That line?"

Like the previous line, "The Zhou fields are lush, and bitter herbs taste like malt," it had never been used—or rather, people had judged it to have no value for Word Spirit research. Taken literally, the poison ought to be snake venom and wasp venom.

"Mm. I was afraid it wouldn't be enough to kill them, so I added another medicine. Why don't you guess what it was, Yuan Liang?"

Qi Shan had a photographic memory.

The medicine Shen Tang had mentioned must also have been among the Word Spirit scrolls he had copied down. The only thing that could be called a medicine was...

He answered without hesitation. "Strychnos?"

"Correct."

Too bad there was no prize.

Strychnos might not ring a bell, but the notorious "Qian Ji Medicine" surely would.

Qi Shan: "..."

The look he gave Shen Tang grew more complicated by the moment—

This Young Master Shen's Way of the Feudal Lord wasn't just connected to "farming" and able to enrich the soil. Could it also conjure medicinal herbs out of thin air?

Seeing his strange expression, Shen Tang assumed he disapproved.

"Does Yuan Liang look down on this sort of thing?"

A noble man was upright and forthright; he might not approve of poisoning.

Qi Shan shook his head. "No. The means used to murder these people aren't important. The result is what matters."

During his travels, he had passed through many defeated commanderies. In those places, women who had been forced to become pregnant or had contracted serious illnesses were all too common. Every household was in mourning, and severed limbs and corpses littered the ground. Judging by the soldiers' behavior just now, their hands couldn't be clean.

If they died, they deserved it.

It was just that—

"You added that much. Do you really think no one will taste it?" The moment the tea tasted wrong, they'd spit it out.

Shen Tang smiled. "They would if it were plain water. But they filled their waterskins with tea. If the taste was strange, they'd just assume it was because of the heat."

Qi Shan: "..."

While the two of them chatted, the hundred-odd soldiers had already assembled and left. After taking so much from the teahouse, they had tossed the owner only three copper coins—and even those they threw at his face. The owner still had to swallow his anger, wear a smile, and thank them for their generosity.

After the soldiers disappeared from view, Shen Tang stood and stretched. "Yuan Liang, let's go see the good show."

Shen Tang led out her Motorcycle and swung onto the mule.

Qi Shan continued on foot.

The two trailed after them at an unhurried pace. Shen Tang suddenly said, "Yuan Liang, poisoning and assassinating soldiers from Geng Country is a serious crime."

"If you know it's a crime, why do it?"

Shen Tang couldn't have cared less. "When you've got fleas all over you, what's one more bite? I'm a fugitive who's already half a step from death. Every extra day I live is a windfall. What's one more crime on top of that? But you, Yuan Liang—if you're still following me, aren't you afraid of getting dragged into trouble?"

Qi Shan lifted his eyelids slightly and said coolly, "I've said before that I'm no good man."

As for names, well, you named yourself after what you lacked.

If this were a prosperous age—

Looking at Young Master Shen, happily riding her white mule, Qi Shan sighed inwardly. Her Way of the Feudal Lord would probably be the one most beneficial to all under heaven.

What a pity she had been born at the wrong time.