The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 82 Who Came to Release the Poison?
Tu Chengyu was genuinely startled when he first saw it.

From Tu Chengyu's perspective, Prince Yixiao's body seemed to have no strength at all, slumped limply against his personal eunuch.

If Tu Chengyu hadn't seen that Prince Yixiao's hand could still move a couple of times and his eyes could still blink, he would have thought he was dead.

But looking at him now, it's no different from if he's dead; it takes two people to help him sit down in a chair.

It seems the poison in the food was quite potent, causing Prince Yixiao to become like this in such a short time.

Seeing this, Tu Chengyu started to worry about the third child again.

The third prince, just like Prince Yixiao, took a bite and then spat it out.

The only difference is that Prince Yixiao took longer to eat than the third prince.

Tu Chengyu quickly turned around to look at the third brother and found that the third brother was also sitting slumped in the chair, looking half-dead.

Could it be that the poison has taken effect?

Tu Chengyu quickly wanted to go over and see, but was stopped by the second brother, who said:
"Chief Steward Dai just checked on him and said your third brother is fine, he's just shaken up."

It's good that you're alright. It's already bad enough that Prince Yixiao is lying there; if another one had collapsed, none of us would be able to survive.

Tu Chengyu asked curiously, "Does Steward Dai also know how to treat illnesses?"

The second son said, "When Steward Dai came, he brought with him the imperial physicians."

Tu Chengyu was surprised to hear this. The emperor had even brought a royal physician, and the physician had already examined the third prince. He had only been observing Prince Yixiao for a while and had missed this opportunity.

Tu Chengyu asked, "Where is the imperial physician?"

The second son looked in the direction of Prince Yixiao and said, "I've gone to see my brother Prince Yixiao for medical treatment."

Tu Chengyu turned around again to look at Prince Yixiao and saw a middle-aged man looking into Prince Yixiao's eyes.

The appearance of the imperial physician was unexpected, but it also put everyone at ease.

Now everyone's eyes are on the imperial physician, wanting to see what's wrong with Prince Yixiao.

The imperial physician examined her eyes and took her pulse; his expression gradually became serious.

Seeing the imperial physician's condition, everyone's hearts, which had just been at ease, couldn't help but rise again.

After examining the pulse, the imperial physician asked Eunuch Du, who was standing next to Prince Yixiao, "Has Your Highness taken any other medication today?"

Eunuch Du replied, "I took a few nourishing pills."

The imperial physician said, "Since you are still taking medicine, why are you drinking alcohol? The prince's medicine is forbids alcohol, didn't you know that?"

Eunuch Du said, "This is not the prince's fault. Physician Tang said that the prince's illness has been cured and now he only needs to take nourishing pills."

"There's no need to be superstitious about anything else, and since today is a joyous occasion, Your Highness has had a few drinks."

After listening to Eunuch Du's words, the imperial physician asked, "Is that really what Imperial Physician Tang instructed?"

Eunuch Du said, "Absolutely true."

Upon hearing this, the imperial physician remained silent for a moment before saying, "The prince's illness has always been treated by Imperial Physician Tang. He certainly knows more about it than I do. Since Imperial Physician Tang says so, perhaps he has his own judgment."

Knowing that Physician Tang had already given Prince Yixiao a medical order, the imperial physician immediately backed down and distanced himself from the situation.

When the imperial physician said this, Eunuch Du became anxious. He didn't care whose judgment was accurate; all he knew was that his prince was still unconscious.

So he asked, "Will the wine you drank today affect Your Highness's health? What kind of poison did Your Highness ingest?"

The imperial physician said, "The prince has not been poisoned."

Everyone was stunned by these words. They could see clearly that Prince Yixiao was like this because he had eaten the food earlier. If he wasn't poisoned, was he drunk?
Eunuch Du asked, "If Your Highness has not been poisoned, why is he unconscious now?"

The imperial physician said, "The prince was only frightened, and the alcohol and medicine didn't mix, which is why he fell into a coma."

Eunuch Du asked, "How can we wake the Prince?"

The imperial physician said, "This is simple. Have someone bring over a cup of hot tea so that the prince can drink a few sips and rest here for a while."

Upon hearing this, Du Tai immediately had a cup of hot tea brought over and personally fed it to Prince Yixiao.

After drinking half a cup of tea, Prince Yoshikō indeed woke up after a short while, though he still looked somewhat listless.

Since a cup of hot tea could wake Prince Yoshihide, then his coma was not caused by poisoning.

Moreover, the other two people who ate the food have not shown any signs of poisoning so far.

What is going on here?

Is the toxicity too weak, or was there no poison in the food at all?

Dai Quan stepped forward and said, "Imperial Physician Lou, please check if these dishes have been poisoned."

Physician Lou walked over, took a silver needle, and tested all the food on the table. Then he smelled it, looked at it, and said:
"In my opinion, there is no poison in these dishes, but to be on the safe side, we can find a few live animals to eat them and then see."

The task of finding living creatures was naturally handled by the servants in the mansion.

The poisoning accusation may be baseless, but the fact that the servants of the Prince's mansion openly claimed that the food was poisoned is no small matter. If the truth isn't uncovered on the spot, there could be trouble later.

Eunuch Du was clearly aware of this as well. He had been so frightened by Prince Yixiao's unconsciousness that he had lost his composure, but now that he saw the prince recover, he had calmed down.

Then, he called the servant who had just run up to say the food was poisoned to everyone and asked:

Why are you shouting that the food is poisoned?

The young servant bowed his head and replied, "It was Steward Zhao from the kitchen who sent me to call him."

Eunuch Du asked, "Where is Steward Zhao? Why hasn't he come?"

The servant replied, "Steward Zhao is slow and hasn't arrived yet." Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu thought to himself, "This place has been in turmoil for half a day, and Steward Zhao still hasn't arrived. How slow can he be?"

As Tu Chengyu was pondering this, he heard the servant who had just spoken point over there and say:

"Manager Zhao has arrived."

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed and saw a fat man running towards them at a pace that was barely faster than walking.

At his speed, it would probably take him about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea to get here.

Eunuch Du couldn't stand it any longer, so he pointed to several strong servants and ordered them to carry Chief Steward Zhao over.

This Chief Steward Zhao was eventually carried to the high platform. After he caught his breath, Eunuch Du asked:

"Why did you send someone to say that the food was poisoned?"

The fat steward Zhao said, "You instructed me yesterday that today's guests are all distinguished guests, and that I must pay close attention to the safety of the food."

"So today I sent someone to keep a close eye on the food. Just now, I discovered that a servant was secretly putting something into the food while delivering it."

“Then the servants sent men to arrest him, and then they found poison in the dishes he was serving.”

Eunuch Du asked, "Where are the people we caught?"

Steward Zhao said, "They're already being held at the garden gate."

Eunuch Du said, "Bring the person in."

As soon as Eunuch Du finished speaking, a servant ran out from under the pavilion and soon returned with two men, escorting another person.

When they brought the person to the pavilion, Tu Chengyu glanced at him. He found the person quite familiar, and upon looking again, he couldn't sit still any longer.

Isn't this the same servant who served me the food just now?

It seems that the poison was intended for me.

Tu Chengyu recognized the person, but did not make a sound.

Eunuch Du began interrogating the man, asking...
Why did you put poison in the food?

The servant being interrogated appeared trembling with fear, yet he continued to defend himself:

"I didn't put in poison, I put in laxatives."

Hearing this, the fat steward Zhao became anxious and said:
“You clearly put in poison. How could a laxative be detected by a silver needle?”

However, the person being interrogated insisted that he had given laxatives.

Eunuch Du knew this wasn't the time to argue about this, so he asked:
Why did you put laxatives in the food?

Upon hearing that it wasn't poison, the person being interrogated finally said, "Master Yuan told me to do this?"

Eunuch Du asked, "Why did he ask you to do this?"

The man replied, "Master Yuan didn't say. He only said that he would give me twenty taels of silver as long as I did this."

"Steward, I didn't want to help him, but my father is sick and he will die without money. I have no choice."

Ignoring his sobs, Eunuch Du asked, "The Master Yuan you mentioned, is it the cook surnamed Yuan in the mansion?"

The person nodded in confirmation.

After listening, Du Tai immediately told the guards in the mansion, "Go to the kitchen quickly and have someone bring this man surnamed Yuan here."

As the interrogation progressed, the situation gradually became clear.

However, a very important problem arose at this time: this incident occurred in the Prince Yixiao's residence, and the people who did it were servants of the residence.

This inevitably raises suspicions about whether Prince Yixiao was involved.

This issue is actually more important than the poisoning itself. After all, the poisoning didn't cause any real harm, but failing to clarify this issue could cost a lot of people their lives.

Prince Yixiao clearly understood this principle as well. He struggled to his feet and asked:

"When was this man surnamed Yuan recruited into the household?"

"Chief Steward Du is the head steward of the Prince's residence and knows these people quite well," he replied.

"Your Highness, this person was originally from the Yong Prince's residence. When Your Highness moved here, you had no one else to rely on."

"This servant took it upon herself to keep them, but I never expected such a thing to happen today. This is all my fault, please punish me, Your Highness."

Prince Yixiao scolded, "If punishing you could undo the damage, I would gladly deal with you right now."

"The most important thing now is to find out why this man surnamed Yuan did this."

“Since he was one of the people who stayed behind, try to find out if anyone knows this Mr. Yuan.”

After Prince Yixiao's reminder, Eunuch Du suddenly remembered someone and said:
“Your Highness, Old Chang from the manor outside the city is acquainted with the man surnamed Yuan, so he might know something about him.”

Prince Yixiao asked, "Where is this old Chang now?"

Eunuch Du said, "Old Chang came to the Prince's mansion to deliver vegetables yesterday and hasn't left yet. I'll send someone to fetch him right away."

Then he sent someone to find Lao Chang again.

Just then, the guards who had gone to arrest the man surnamed Yuan returned.

This time, however, they brought back a corpse.

They placed the body below the platform, and the head guard said:
"Your Highness, the man surnamed Yuan committed suicide by poisoning himself in his room."

(End of this chapter)