A Drug Slave Died in a Lovers' Suicide? The Prince Saw Through the Poisoned Wine Plot at a Glance

On the other side.

The secret passage twisted and turned three times, and the sound of rain outside was blocked by the stone walls, leaving only water droplets dripping from the cracks.

One drop.

Another drop.

The aroma of aged wine grew stronger the further you went in, mixed with the musty smell of damp wood, seeping into your nasal cavity and making your throat taste bitter.

When they reached the last wooden door, Madam Chun stopped.

She raised her hand and knocked twice on the door.

Take a three-breath break.

Tap it again.

Someone inside the door pulled off the latch.

A middle-aged woman in gray revealed half of her face. Upon seeing Liu Ruyan, her lips moved slightly.

Madam Chun stopped her.

"Don't shout."

The woman in gray swallowed her words, lowered her head, and stepped back.

Two oil lamps were lit in the wine cellar.

The sour taste of alcohol, the smell of herbs, and the bitter taste of vomit all piled together, making one's tongue feel astringent.

An old carpet was laid against the wall.

Su Tan lay there.

Her face was pale, her hair was disheveled, and there were light brown wine stains on her lips.

There was a half-bowl of murky water next to it.

There were dregs of emetic medicine at the bottom of the bowl.

Just as Liu Ruyan was about to take a step forward, Gu Moran grabbed her wrist.

She stopped.

Her fingertips clenched tightly inside the cloak.

Su Tan's eyelids twitched.

When she saw Liu Ruyan, her expression relaxed slightly, but she then turned her face away.

" Ruyan, you shouldn't have come."

Liu Ruyan stared at her.

The dim light from the oil lamp in the wine cellar illuminated her face, making it appear deathly pale.

"If I don't come, won't you commit suicide with an old drug slave?"

Su Tan's lips twitched, but she didn't respond.

Liu Ruyan took half a step forward, Gu Moran did not let go.

She could only stand there, her voice very low.

" Su Tan, you've stayed at the Flower-Between Pavilion for so many years."

So many people wanted to buy your freedom, but you refused to help them all.

" Tao Wujiu a medicine slave with one half his body buried in the ground, why do you want to die with him?"

Su Tan's eyelashes trembled.

Gu Moran saw it.

Before asking any questions, she first glanced at Su Tan's hands, cuffs, hairpins, and the rim of the bowl.

The Eye of Detection is activated.

[ Su Tan: A girl from the Flower-Between Pavilion.]

[Status: Weakness following poisoning; residual poison not cleared after induced vomiting.]

[Current emotions: fear, calculation, survival.]

[Source of fear: Second Prince's Residence, Imperial City Bureau, and the Grand Master's orders.]

[Risk markers: signs of murder, staged suicide pact, layered poisoned liquor, concealment of key information.]

Gu Moran's gaze lingered on the words "poisoned wine layered".

The chill from the wine cellar crept up my neck.

Using a double suicide pact as a cover for murder?

What unspeakable secret is hidden here?

Su Tan turned her face back.

Her lips were chapped, and her voice was hoarse when she spoke.

"What brings Your Prince Yi here?"

Are you here to investigate me?

Tao Wujiu is dead.

"I also drank the poisoned wine."

Gu Moran looked at her.

You have a refined taste when it comes to drinking.

Su Tan's breath hitched.

Liu Ruyan turned her head to look at him.

Gu Moran released Liu Ruyan's wrist and walked three steps away from Su Tan.

Before squatting down, he glanced at the medicine bowl on the ground.

" Su Tan, only half an hour left."

Gu Moran raised his hand and pointed to the door.

"Once the Imperial City Bureau Guard arrives at the old warehouse and finds Tao Wujiu dead in the Flower-Between Pavilion, they will quickly find you as well."

"No one will ask you how much you suffered or why you committed suicide for love when the time comes."

They will only torture you.

Su Tan's face turned even paler.

Liu Ruyan pressed her hand against the edge of the table, her fingertips turning red from the pressure.

Gu Moran didn't give her a chance to catch her breath.

"If you want to live, tell the truth now."

"If you want to die, I'll have Madam Chun send you back to Tao Wujiu's side."

"Cases of lovers committing suicide together are easy to write about."

Su Tan looked at Liu Ruyan.

There was pleading in his eyes, but also avoidance.

Liu Ruyan walked up to her and squatted down.

She didn't touch Su Tan, but only looked at the trace of wine on her lips.

Tell me, why?

Su Tan closed her eyes.

Liu Ruyan's voice was even lower.

If you really like him, I'll accept it.

"But you're afraid of older men touching you, everyone in the building knows that."

"Now tell me, you drank poison with him?"

Su Tan's eyes welled up with tears.

" Ruyan..."

Liu Ruyan interrupted her.

Don't call me.

Her throat tightened, but she spoke steadily.

"To be honest."

Madam Chun placed the evidence items one by one on the table.

Broken wine jug.

Glass cup.

A broken stalk of grass.

Gu Moran walked to the table.

Pick up the glass and look at it against the light.

There is a very faint brown mark on the bottom of the cup.

Not on the rim of the cup.

It sank to the very bottom.

He picked up the straw again.

The broken end of the grass stalk was wet, with the wetness only extending to the middle.

It has a wine-like flavor, but no bitter almond flavor.

Gu Moran put the grass stalks back on the table.

"Speak."

How do you drink alcohol?

Su Tan swallowed hard.

"To drink together and die for love."

Gu Moran nodded.

Why did they commit suicide for love?

Su Tan bit her lip.

" Madam Chun, Ruyan. When I first went public a few years ago, quite a few people wanted to redeem me."

"But now, I'm over twenty, considered an old maid, and the guests who come only treat me like a plaything."

Tao Wujiu said he had saved enough money to redeem me from servitude.

"I never imagined he was still alive, and had been hiding for so many years, just to save up money to ransom me."

"I'm willing to follow such a thoughtful person."

"But he said the people from the Second Prince's Residence wouldn't let him go."

"We have no choice but to flee for our lives."

"But my body has already been worn out from working in that building."

"I don't have the strength to escape with him."

He then proposed that they drink the poisoned wine together, so that they could be a loving couple in the afterlife.

Madam Chun lowered her head, her eyelids twitching.

He's full of lies.

Liu Ruyan remained silent.

The oil lamp burned softly.

Gu Moran picked up the straw.

"Then what."

Su Tan's voice was even softer.

"I'm lucky; the people in the building saved me."

He couldn't hold on.

Gu Moran coughed.

"Did you two commit suicide together, and the poison you drank wasn't from the same formula? Or are you just more resistant to poison?"

Su Tan opened her mouth.

Gu Moran picked up the glass.

"You drank poisoned wine?"

Su Tan said, "Yes."

"You used straw?"

"That's how the girls in the building drink, so they don't rub off their lipstick."

Gu Moran picked up the straw, then looked at the glass, and the image of the rainbow cocktail in the bar in her previous life, with a straw inserted in it, flashed through her mind.

I already know the answer in my heart.

He laid the straw stalks horizontally under the lamp.

" Su Tan."

"You've used those straw stalks brilliantly."