The sickly son died young? After the marriage exchange, I will bring prosperity to his entire clan f

Du Mingxian asked in confusion, "Is everything alright at the Ministry of War today? Why is Father back so early?"

"I heard from the people in the front yard that the master is in some kind of trouble. Today, the emperor left him alone in the imperial study and scolded him. In the end, the emperor told the master to come back and reflect on his actions. He will not be going to court for the next few days."

"Is it that serious?" Du Mingxian said, her eyes involuntarily glancing at Chuntao.

Chuntao simply shrugged and said, "Miss, let's go cook for Master."

At this moment, Du Mingxian dared not let Chuntao take action. If she succeeded in getting the prize, and Chuntao poisoned Lord Wen, there would be no way to save him.

"You haven't had a good rest these past two days. Go back to your room and rest. I'll take care of it."

Chun Tao was eager to see the picture and also wanted to find out about Lord Wen's whereabouts, so she agreed to go back to her room.

Du Mingxian went to the small kitchen and made some simple food, then personally took it to the front yard.

The butler was standing guard outside Master Wen's study. When he saw Du Mingxian coming over, he quickly came forward and said in a deliberately low voice, "Miss, please go and see. Master has locked himself inside and won't open the door no matter who knocks."

"it is good."

Du Mingxian stepped forward and gently knocked on the door. "It's me, Father."

There was no response from inside, so Du Mingxian continued, "Father, I made some food and brought it over. If you don't open the door, then I'll just have someone come and kick the door open."

"Go back, I'm fine," came Lord Wen's hoarse voice from inside.

Du Mingxian looked determined not to give up. "If you let me go in and put the food box down, I'll go back."

A moment later, Master Wen opened the door, and Du Mingxian hurriedly handed him the food box, saying, "Father, it's past lunchtime, please have something."

"I'm not hungry, take it back." Lord Wen said sternly, then gave Du Mingxian a look.

With just one glance, Du Mingxian understood what he meant: Lord Wen wanted to say that he was alright and that she shouldn't worry.

She forcefully shoved the food box into Lord Wen's hands, saying, "Father, no matter how important the matter is, we must eat first. Only when we are well-fed can we have the strength to deal with it. If you don't want to be disturbed, then I will go back first. I will come back to have lunch with you this afternoon."

"No need to come over," Lord Wen said, before carrying the food box into the house.

Du Mingxian walked back to her own courtyard, thinking about Lord Wen's matter. It must have been Lord Wen's doing, to make the Emperor reprimand him and deliberately make others think that he had made a mistake.

When they returned to the courtyard, Chun Tao was carrying pastries. "Miss is back. These are pastries I just made myself."

"Didn't you go back to your room to rest? Why are you thinking about making pastries?" Good heavens, what kind of poison did you use this time?

Chun Tao smiled and said, "I've been away these past few days, which has made Miss worry, so I wanted to make some food myself to help Miss calm down."

Du Mingxian noticed that Chun Tao had even changed how she addressed herself. Before, she was forbidden to say "servant," but now she insisted on saying "I." This was clearly an attempt to kill her.

"I just finished lunch not long ago, so I'm not very hungry."

Chun Tao immediately looked at Du Mingxian with a pitiful expression, "Miss, this is something I made myself. If you don't eat it, it would be a waste of all my good intentions."

Du Mingxian wanted to punch her to death.

"Alright then, it was made by Chun Tao herself. I'd be a bit inhuman if I didn't eat it. Let's go inside and eat." Du Mingxian said, pulling Chun Tao inside. Ke'er wanted to go in, but Du Mingxian turned back to them and said, "Close the door and stay outside. I need to have a good talk with Chun Tao."

Du Mingxian entered the room, and the two sat down at the table. Chuntao was a little impatient, "Miss, let's eat."

"You should eat some too."

"I already ate some pastries when they came out, so I don't feel like eating any more right now."

Du Mingxian nodded slightly, her anger still burning inside her. She reached for a pastry and pretended to put it in her mouth, but Chun Tao was so excited that she couldn't stop her.

Upon seeing this, Du Mingxian sighed. She couldn't bear it any longer after enduring so much resentment for so long.

Suddenly she stood up and shoved the pastry directly at Chun Tao's mouth, saying, "You take a bite first, then I'll eat."

Chun Tao's face turned pale. "Miss, how can I eat this? This is what I made for you. Please eat it."

"Why not? Eat it."

Chun Tao's face darkened. "Miss, have you discovered something?"

“Of course, I discovered… this pastry.” Du Mingxian reached out to grab Chun Tao, but Chun Tao reacted quickly, jumping up to face Du Mingxian and even taking a step back.

Du Mingxian's expression didn't change at all; she had already guessed that Chuntao would definitely be skilled. "You actually know martial arts."

"Of course, we're out on a mission, how can we not be skilled?" Chun Tao also dropped her pretense. "Miss, you'd better eat quickly, lest I try to force-feed you later."

The two have gone this far, and it can be said that they have completely broken off relations.

"Chuntao, we've known each other for so long, and you... you really don't care about any feelings at all."

Chun Tao sneered, "I used to really think of you as my best friend. Even when the master ordered me to poison you, I couldn't bring myself to do it. But who knew you were lying to me all along."

"What did I lie to you about?"

“Your husband, Ling Silang, is now Qi Ji. When you used to say your husband, I always thought it was someone else. I never expected it to be him.”

Du Mingxian remained silent. She hadn't intended to hide this matter, but she was certainly wary of Chuntao.

"Alright, now that we've come this far, you have to eat these pastries. If you don't, you'll be the one who suffers later."

"What do you mean?" Du Mingxian became wary.

Chun Tao glanced at the incense burner beside her. "Do you really think I'm unprepared?" She smiled confidently. "Don't you think about it? We've been together for so long. If I hadn't prepared at all, that would be foolish."

Du Mingxian felt unwell; "The incense is poisonous."

“Yes, the incense is poisonous.” Chun Tao pointed to the pastries on the table. “These pastries are also poisonous. If you had eaten them just now, the poison would have taken effect, but it would have made you die a dignified death without any pain.”

"But who told you to be so clever and not want a good life, but to die in more pain?"

Du Mingxian felt extremely unwell. Chun Tao was indeed a formidable expert in poisons. Her mind raced. "So...you poisoned me because you discovered something?"

"What can we find out? We'll just discover that you were poisoning your master behind his back and even conspired with the Crown Prince. You've got some pretty good tricks up your sleeve."

The second prince.

It turned out to be the Second Prince.

That's a really good disguise.

"I do not know what you're talking about."

Chuntao frowned.

In that instant when she frowned, Du Mingxian realized that Chun Tao didn't know any of this. Her words were just a bluff to see if she could actually say anything.

"You dare say that the poisoning of the Second Prince has nothing to do with you?"