Crossing the Palace Fighting Fox Harem

Chapter 256 Inseparable

After just five words, the three people in the room stood still like statues.

Ji Anni's eyes fell on the paper bag. After a long time, she slowly raised her head, looked at Hua Rong in disbelief and asked, "Are you kidding?"

Even if it really is poison, it wouldn't be placed so blatantly in front of me, right?

It would be fine if it was rat poison, but Huarong just said concisely and clearly that this medicine is used to poison oneself.

"Haha...haha..." Shui Furong's mouth corners twitched upwards a few times, and she let out a few intermittent dry laughs in response to Ji Anni's just words.

"Your Majesty, this medicine was given to me by Concubine An. She said that as long as the time of administering the medicine is calculated so that you fall down during the apology ceremony, it can be regarded as a punishment from the Fox Demon Queen, and no one will investigate the cause of death." Hua Rong's expression did not sound like she was joking.

"Then you agreed?" Ji Anni asked.

"I agreed because I couldn't disobey her. But I knew she was taking things too easy."

Following a willful master, the servant has no choice but to keep his head on the hook all the time.

"Then why did you tell me?" Ji Anni thought it was incredible. Since Hua Rong had been ordered by Concubine An, why did she betray Concubine An and put the poison in front of her?

Hua Rong smiled bitterly and said, "My Lady, I didn't want to tell you at first, but I couldn't help but tell you when you forced me just now. In fact, I am regretting it now... If I had known earlier, I would have endured it and said nothing..."

"So what do you want to do next?" After hearing what was said just now, Ji Anni's mind had become dull and she could only ask others what to do.

"Her Majesty, are you finally willing to trust me?" Hua Rong laughed self-deprecatingly, because Ji Anni had always been very wary of her.

"You told me such a big thing, how can I not believe it?" Ji Anni rubbed her temples. She was so scared to hear such shocking news that she had a little neuralgia.

Hua Rong said, "As long as Your Majesty does not attend the apology ceremony, Concubine An will not have an excuse to poison you. Even if Your Majesty really wants to attend the apology ceremony, can you pretend to be poisoned? This way, I can give Concubine An an explanation."

"How can I pretend to be poisoned? Even if I pretend to have a stomachache and roll around on the ground, but when I go to the Imperial Hospital and the doctor says I don't have any disease, won't Concubine An find it strange?" Ji Anni is not very good at acting and always feels that she will be exposed.

Hua Rong said: "Of course I don't find it strange, because Concubine An would only dare to prescribe poison that the imperial physician cannot find."

There is some truth in what you said.

Shui Furong suggested, "Then let's pretend to be poisoned. It's easier to pretend to have a stomachache and roll on the ground a few times than to offend the Queen Mother."

"Does she really want me to die?" Ji Anni asked. Even now, she still didn't want to believe the cruelty of the truth.

"Alas, women's hearts are the most vicious..." Shui Furong added with a sad sigh.

Hua Rong continued, "Your Majesty, if Concubine An fails in her first plan, she will come up with another one. If she wants to harm you, she will definitely use me. And I will report her every move to you, and then we will be able to counter her moves, and we won't be afraid of her taking action. When the time is right, we will expose her evil deeds. As long as we get rid of the evil people, there will be peace in the palace."

This is probably what is called a "double agent". Concubine An wanted to use Hua Rong as a spy to deal with Ji Anni, but Hua Rong always sided with Ji Anni and became a spy beside Concubine An.

"Can't we hand this packet of poison over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs now and let them deal with it impartially?" Ji Anni didn't know when the "right time" mentioned by Hua Rong would come.

"Your Highness, even though we have evidence, the Imperial Household Department is controlled by the An family. They are best at confusing right and wrong. If you act rashly, you will end up with an egg hitting a rock and bring about your own destruction." Hua Rong put away the paper bag on the table. She didn't want to poison Ji Anni, nor did she want to lose the trust of Concubine An. She was exhausted and struggling to play her dual role.

Hua Rong had just put away the paper bag when she heard a guard's report from outside the door, saying that Princess Tianning was just outside the Taoyuan Gate.

#

Princess Tianning? This is a rare visitor.

Ji Annie asked Hua Rong to remove all the dishes on the table and tidy up the room a little before receiving the guests.

Although Ji Anni was confined to Wenhua Courtyard and could not go out, this small peach garden had distinguished guests visiting every day. Yesterday it was the emperor, and today it was the princess, so she didn't seem so lonely.

Ji Anni had just tidied up the room and wanted to ask the guard to bring Princess Tianning in, but Princess Tianning, who couldn't wait, had already arrived at the door. Seeing Ji Anni diligently wiping the table, she burst into laughter: "Haha, Concubine Zhao Cong, why are you still the same?"

It means being in a hurry and not ladylike at all.

"The princess is still the same, smiling every day. Did something good happen to her?" Ji Anni and Tian Ning hadn't seen each other for a long time, and they greeted each other like old friends.

Tian Ning strode into the room with his hands behind his back and his head held high. He inspected the room with the same strict eyes as a dormitory manager inspecting the hygiene of the dormitory and said, "Tsk, this place is not bad. It's clean and bright, and it doesn't look like a confinement room at all."

As soon as Tian Ning walked in, Ji Anni found that there was someone following her.

That person looked exactly like Huarong. By the way, Ji Annie almost forgot that Huarong had a twin sister named Yuemao, who was Princess Tianning's personal maid, but she hadn't been seen for some time.

Yuemao is different from Huarong. She looks much weaker and doesn’t talk much.

Huarong happened to be in the room as well. As soon as the two sisters' eyes met, a strange electric current suddenly ran through the room.

Others also received this current, so Princess Tianning raised her hand considerately and said, "By the way, you two haven't seen each other for a long time, right? Today is a good day, you two sisters can go out for a walk and talk about anything. This princess also has a lot of questions to ask Concubine Zhao Cong, and I will probably have to ask them until the evening before I go back. There is a lot of time, so you two can talk slowly."

Princess Tianning meant that before she returned home, she could have a good time reminiscing about the past with her beautiful face.

After Huarongyuemiao thanked Tianning for his kindness, they both walked out. It seemed that they really had a lot to say to each other.

After they left, Ji Anni asked, "How come the princess has time to come to Zhao Ji today?"

Actually, when Ji Anni heard Tian Ning say "I won't go back until the evening", she felt a headache. Even if the trial was held in court, it wouldn't take that long, right?

Princess Tianning said, "I heard that Wenhuayuan was drafting an apology for the apology ceremony today. I was curious, so I came to Wenhuayuan to see what was going on. Suddenly I remembered that you, Concubine Zhao Cong, were imprisoned here, so I came to visit you."

"What is Wenhua Academy drafting?" Ji Anni and Shui Furong asked in surprise at the same time.

"Apology, don't you know it yet?" Princess Tianning was also surprised and blinked her big almond-like eyes.

Ji Anni shook her head. She really didn't know.

Just now I heard Hua Rong say that the Queen Mother has sent someone to invite Yun Zhen back to the palace, and now I heard Tian Ning say that Wenhua Academy has begun drafting an apology speech. It seems that the decision to hold an apology ceremony has already been made.

Probably soon, someone will come to inform Ji Annie and Shui Furong to prepare to go to the Demon-Suppressing Temple.

"Forget it, let's not talk about this. Concubine Zhao, tell me what you saw and heard at the Demon Suppression Temple that night?"

Tian Ning really came here to inquire about this matter.

Ji Anni cleverly threw the words to Shui Furong: "I was unconscious that day and don't know anything. Princess, if you have anything to ask, just ask Shui Congfei directly. He remembers it clearly."

Anyway, when Hua Rong asked me about the Demon-Suppressing Temple just now, Shui Furong volunteered to protect me. So now let him show his good performance and protect Princess Tianning as well.

One advantage of doing this is that you don't have to worry about the two people's statements being inconsistent. Shui Furong was left to describe the situation that night, and Ji Anni just used the sentence "unconscious" to cover it up. As long as Shui Furong's words were not self-contradictory, there would be no need to worry about being exposed.

Princess Tianning was like a puppy catching a Frisbee. Seeing her master throw the Frisbee forward, she ran after it without thinking twice. When she heard that Shui Furong knew the details, she immediately focused her attention on her and asked excitedly, "Shui Congfei, what happened that night? Did you see the fox demon queen? What did she look like?"

Princess Tianning grew up listening to ghost stories in the palace, but she has never encountered a monster in her life. Now she has finally met an acquaintance who has encountered supernatural events, so of course she has to ask around to satisfy her curiosity.

Shui Furong said, "I didn't see the Demon Fox Lady, but I did see a big fox. The fox was snow-white and had many tails."

"Really? Really? Is it a nine-tailed white fox?" Princess Tianning became even more excited.

Shui Furong said, "I didn't count them clearly whether there were nine tails or not, but there were a lot of them, just like a peacock spreading its tail."

"Then where is it now?" Princess Tianning seemed to be about to set out to catch the monster.

"I don't know about that. The fox demon bit Concubine Zhao Cong and then ran away." Shui Furong ended her story.

But Princess Tianning hadn't heard enough, and kept asking him a lot of questions about fox demons. For example, how big was the fox demon, what color were its eyes, and what was its cry like. She was a complete fan of fox demons.

After Shui Furong finished answering, Princess Tianning said with longing, "I also want to meet this fox demon..."

"Hey, princess..." Ji Anni, who knew Princess Tianning's temper well, couldn't help but interrupt her and asked, "You don't want to participate in the apology ceremony, do you?"

Tian Ning said: "Of course this princess wants to participate, but my mother doesn't agree."

“I don’t think I’ll agree…”

The Demon-Suppressing Temple is a place where demons are imprisoned. How could the Queen Mother bear to let her precious daughter Princess Tianning go to such a dangerous place?

But Princess Tianning was not someone who would yield obediently. She proudly announced, "So I have decided to stay with you, Concubine Zhao, and become one. As long as you go to the Demon Temple, I will go with you."

"United into one?" When Ji Anni saw Princess Tianning's evil smile, she knew that she had no good intentions.

Unfortunately, it was too late, Princess Tianning suddenly grabbed Ji Anni's hand.

Their five fingers were intertwined and clasped together tightly.

This is not the scariest thing. The scariest thing is that Ji Anni felt a very strange touch in the palm of her hand.

It was like a raw quail egg was squeezed and popped in the palm of their hand, with the egg white and yolk all flowing out and sticking to their hands.

Wherever the mucus flowed, it was like 502 glue, sticking Ji Annie and Princess Tianning's hands tightly together.

Only then did Ji Anni finally understand the true meaning of "become one" in Princess Tianning's words.