In Another World, Everyone Want to Kill Me!-Chapter 242: The Seventh Day

After Gongsun Xing left, the Emperor gazed at the bottle on the table and fell into deep thought.

After so many years, it had once again appeared in his life.

Every time it showed up within these palace walls, it brought not blessings but calamity and now, it had returned.

This time, who had it set its sights on?

The attendant standing nearby watched the Emperor’s ever-shifting expression and did not even dare to breathe loudly.

The entire Imperial Study sank into an awkward, suffocating silence.

After a long while, the Emperor let out a deep breath and said to the attendant beside him, "Issue an imperial decree to the Imperial Medical Bureau: all formulas and finished medicines of Qianji, Chansi, and Taoyao are to be destroyed without exception. If any of these three drugs are found again within the palace, anyone with knowledge of them shall be sentenced to death; anyone in possession shall be sentenced to death; anyone who compounds them shall be executed by dismemberment, and their nine clans implicated."

Hearing this, the attendant was so frightened that he dropped to his knees at once.

The severity of this order was comparable to the crime of treason. "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please reconsider."

The Emperor cast him a cold glance. "Liu jin, you have been by my side for more than a decade, have you not? Since when do I require your permission to carry out my decisions?"

Those words drained the color from Liu Jin’s face. He quickly kowtowed again and again. "This servant would not dare, this servant deserves death, Your Majesty, spare my life."

The Emperor waved his hand. "For the sake of your years of service, I will overlook it this time. Go and deliver the decree at once."

Liu Jin did not dare say another word and quickly withdrew.

Before long, this extremely harsh decree spread throughout the entire palace.

The various palaces almost immediately began thorough searches of their quarters.

Countless stores of Qianji, Chansi, and Taoyao were handed back to the Imperial Medical Bureau, and Pan Lutong had to set aside a separate warehouse just to store them.

No sooner had the stir caused by this law begun to settle than a new decree came from the Imperial Study that the case of Princess Xie’s murder would be publicly tried in three days.

The news was like pouring a ladle of water into boiling oil.

The entire Beirong Palace instantly erupted, with all manner of rumors and speculation flying everywhere, leaving the inhabitants of each palace uneasy and on edge.

More eyes than ever turned toward Yue Mingxuan, everyone waiting eagerly to see what his situation would be in three days’ time.

As for the man at the center of the storm, he continued in the prison as if nothing were amiss, eating when it was time to eat and sleeping when it was time to sleep.

Whether Heaven had heard his prayers or for some other reason, ever since Shang Qinghua left that day, the rats in the prison seemed to have vanished completely; none had been seen these past few days.

The jailer nearby watched Yue Mingxuan eat and sleep without a care in the world and could not help but feel a bit of admiration.

Look at that, this was what it meant to be someone above others.

Not only did he know several princes and royal sons, he even had shadow guards specially catching rats for him.

The jailer himself had run into them several times; their grip was more precise than any cat’s.

At that moment, a guard walked into the cell and quietly said a few words to the jailer.

At first, the jailer shook his head vigorously, but in the end he had no choice but to nod.

With his back turned to them, Yue Mingxuan did not notice what was happening behind him.

As usual, after finishing his meal, he stacked the dishes near the entrance of the cell door and then curled up in the pile of straw. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The prison was perpetually dim, and his days and nights had long since become reversed; he had no idea how many days had passed.

He could even smell the sour odor clinging to his own body.

If only he could take a bath, he thought silently as he lay curled in the straw.

Then he shook his head with a self-mocking smile.

Gongsun Xing had not come these past few days, so there must still be no progress.

And the patience of the one pulling the strings behind the scenes was probably nearing its limit.

With his life hanging by a thread, what right did he have to think about something like bathing?

The jailer opened the cell door as he did every day and collected the bowls and chopsticks.

But this time he pushed in an extra bowl of braised pork and said, "Today marks the seventh day since Princess Xie passed. His Majesty has ordered an extra meal for all prisoners."

When Yue Mingxuan heard this, he froze for a moment.

So today was the seventh day...

Although Princess Xie had often targeted and bullied him when she was alive, death settled all debts.

Thinking of how she had been killed like that, he still felt a trace of sorrow in his heart.

At the corner of the corridor, two figures dressed in black watched as Yue Mingxuan not only failed to touch the bowl of braised pork but instead sat there in a daze.

They exchanged glances involuntarily.

They had heard that Yue Mingxuan knew medicine, so they had used the strongest available knockout drug.

Now that he still hadn’t moved, could it be that he knew the meat had been drugged?

In truth, if this had been a few days earlier, Yue Mingxuan would certainly have pounced on the braised pork without hesitation and enjoyed a hearty meal first.

But ever since he had gotten that bag of beef jerky, his daily craving for meat had basically been satisfied, so the drugged braised pork was no longer very tempting.