Help! The cunning and treacherous minister and I were reborn together!

"What? The Imperial Uncle went too!"

Li Rui jumped up from his seat, his Adam's apple bobbing a few times. "Where's the poison? Was it released?"

The subordinate nodded slowly. "Release him."

Li Rui slapped his forehead and took two steps to the left and right. "Bringing the Imperial Uncle into this case makes it much bigger. Why did you only report something this important now?"

"The Ninth Prince wasn't among the guests who visited Wei Yan Lou before. For some reason, he suddenly decided to go there. It's all my fault for being negligent and putting His Highness in a difficult position. Now that the poison has been administered, what should we do?"

Li Rui said, "Later, take advantage of the chaos to kill the servant who poisoned you, then hide far away and don't let the authorities find you. If you get caught, you know what to do!"

The man clasped his hands in a fist salute, saying, "It was all done by my subordinate alone, and has nothing to do with the Wu Prince's Mansion!"

"Good, you can go now!"

The man stepped back, and Li Rui clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking.

"Yuan Zhi, you're lucky, but even the best luck can't save your worthless life! With members of the royal family accompanying you to your death, your life has been worthwhile!"

*

Yuan Zhi, holding a cup, joined the Chu siblings and Miss Liang in toasting the Ninth Prince.

This Ninth Prince is no ordinary person. Although he and His Majesty were not born of the same mother, he was raised in the Empress Dowager's palace and grew up with His Majesty from childhood, like brothers.

The Ninth Prince's name was Li Ji. He was frail from childhood. The late emperor put a lot of effort into choosing a title for him and finally chose the character "Kang" in the hope that he would be safe, healthy and happy, and free from illness and disaster.

Unfortunately, Prince Kang did not understand the late emperor's good intentions. He was fond of beautiful women and loved drinking, and he indulged in reckless behavior despite his frail health. He lived on, sometimes well, sometimes bad, and survived in this sickly state.

It is said that when the eldest son of the Marquis of Changping was still alive, he was just like him.

The two treated the brothel as their home, spending the first eight months of the year admiring beauties and the last four months recuperating at home—a truly dissolute pair!

After his friend passed away, he locked himself in his mansion for three years. After he came out, he turned over a new leaf, got married and had children, and never set foot in a brothel again.

Even the emperor was astonished. Who would have thought that the unrestrained Prince Kang would change his nature because of the death of a man? If the emperor hadn't been familiar with the two, he would have thought they were having an affair!

Yuan Zhi recalled the amusing events of her past life, and her smile deepened.

Li Ji raised his glass to her, "What is it that Madam Xiao is thinking about that makes her so happy?"

Yuan Zhi's mind raced, and he hurriedly said, "When I first rented this land, the broker told me that I could make a fortune every day, but in the end, I not only didn't make any money, but I lost more than a hundred taels every day."

I'm so angry I can't sleep at night. I can only fall asleep after I've cursed him every day. Thank goodness the Prince came today. With your help, Wei Yan Lou will surely be rolling in money!

Li Ji took a sip of wine, raised his eyebrows, and said, "That shouldn't be the case! With such good wine, how could business be bad?"

"It was just brewed, and we're only officially selling it today. We've been using wine from Qing Shi Town for a while now, but people have drunk so much of it that it's no longer anything special, and we're not keeping any customers."

"Then I'm really lucky! Since this is your first time selling, you must have a lot in stock. Give me twenty jars!"

Yuan Zhi calculated, "The Xiao residence has limited space, and we don't have much wine. After deducting what we'll use today, we should have about fifteen jars left. I'll have the servants count them tonight and then deliver them to your residence."

Chu Fengchen said anxiously, "Your Highness, my father tasted the wine the other day and asked me to take five jars back with me. Could you spare me one jar, just one jar!"

Li Ji stroked his beard and said heartily, "Your uncle was my close friend when he was alive. Just for that, I'll give you two jars!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After drinking two cups, Li Ji suddenly felt unbearable abdominal pain, clutching his stomach with both hands, his face as white as paper.

"It hurts so much! I...I didn't eat anything strange today, how could this be..."

"Your Majesty!"

Yuan Zhi rushed to his side and called out loudly. Luo Mei and Chen Qing rushed in upon hearing the commotion. Her voice trembled as she said, "Quickly, go and fetch a doctor!"

"Yes!"

Fearing that it would delay treatment, Luo Mei and Chen Qing didn't dare to ask any more questions and rushed out the door in an instant.

"Sister-in-law, I..."

Before Chu Lan could finish speaking, she collapsed onto the table, followed by Chu Fengchen and Liang Que, who also fell down.

Yuan Zhi was horrified; someone had poisoned him!

The cramping pain spread from her abdomen, making even breathing painful. She forced herself to run to the door and call for help. The maids who were guarding the next room rushed over, calling out to their mistress in a panic.

Her head was throbbing from the noise. She frowned and snapped, "Shut up! You two go report to the authorities, and you two... go and relay the message: have the staff wait in the main hall, and have the thugs guard the front and back doors. Not a single fly is allowed to escape! Be alert, if the Prince... if the Prince dies in Weiyan Tower, we will all... be buried with him!"

After Yuan Zhi finished speaking, he spat out a mouthful of white foam, his head lolled to the side, and he fainted from the pain.

To save their lives, the maids bit their hands and ran downstairs to deliver their master's orders, watching their companions who had gone to report to the authorities disappear into the distance.

The once warm and peaceful Weiyan Tower was instantly thrown into chaos.

The "information broker" stepped in to calm everyone down. Manager Li brought up the Xiao family and the Marquis of Changping's mansion, saying that the master's actions were to find out the real culprit, and asked everyone to remain calm.

The King of Wu's men originally intended to sneak in and silence them, but they found the gates of Weiyan Tower tightly closed, with two thugs guarding the entrance.

It's not what we planned!

He went around to the base of the wall, intending to climb over into the backyard, but suddenly realized that the wall was much higher than before. Even standing on the boxes, he couldn't reach the top of the wall, let alone the fact that there was nothing around him.

When was the wall built? How come he didn't notice?

Or should we just attack directly?

He shook his head. If he couldn't win and was captured, and even let the servant escape, the King of Wu would definitely kill his whole family to vent his anger!

We still need to outsmart them!

Half an incense stick later, Luo Mei and Chen Qing dragged the doctor and ran wildly through Weiyang Street. Wu Wang's men, their faces covered, jumped out and blocked their way.

"If you want to live, do as I say!" He pointed the knife at the doctor. "You, take off your clothes and give me your medicine box!"

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

The doctor, like a frightened bird, trembled as he took off his medicine box and handed it over, only to be stopped by Luo Mei.

"He's very likely the murderer, Chen Qing, go report him to the authorities!"

Chen Qing said, "Sister, it's too late. You take the doctor to save the prince first. I know some martial arts; he can't hurt me!"

"You're unarmed, how can you possibly win?"

"Stop arguing and go!"

After Chen Qing finished speaking, he suddenly rushed towards Wu Wang's men and kicked the man down with a sweeping leg, but because he was not strong enough, he failed to grab the knife.

The subordinate's eyes turned sinister. "You don't want to live anymore? I'll grant your wish!"

Luo Mei pulled the doctor along and kept running, not daring to look back.

As she approached Wei Yan Lou, she saw the two servants Yuan Zhi had sent out to shovel snow. She felt as if she had met a savior and handed them over to them.

"The prince has been poisoned! This is the doctor; quickly take him there!"

The two were stunned for a moment, but quickly came to their senses and dragged the doctor away.

Luo Mei, without even taking a breath, turned back to rescue Chen Qing.