tallest building

As the lanterns were lit, it was time for dinner in the palace.

Gong Chang'an and Ying Bai were admiring paintings together; they were either other people's paintings or Ying Bai's paintings of horses.

"Young Master's painting skills are getting more and more refined, and what's especially rare is the spirit he captures," Gong Chang'an said, pointing to the horse in the painting. "It feels like the horse is about to jump off the painting."

"Don't try to amuse me, you little monkey. These two strokes of mine are just for my own amusement. If I were to show them to someone who knows art, they'd laugh their heads off," Ying Bai said modestly.

At this moment, the servant brought in the dinner: "Your Highness, this is a pheasant porridge specially stewed for you by the Imperial Kitchen, along with a few side dishes."

"Chang'an, why don't you have dinner here before you go back?" Ying Bai said to Gong Chang'an. "I can't finish it all by myself anyway."

"My mother told me a while ago that she's making shrimp wontons tonight, and I've been craving them for ages," Gong Chang'an said with a smile. "Why don't you come with me for wontons, Your Highness?"

Ying Bai liked to eat shrimp, and he couldn't help but be tempted after hearing what he said. Looking at the pheasant porridge on the table, he said to the serving eunuch, "Chunbao, you can share these! Chang'an and I will go eat wontons."

The eunuchs were naturally happy, as they often ate their masters' leftovers.

Ying Bai and Gong Chang'an went out, and by then it had already started to snow sporadically.

As they walked, Ying Bai suddenly asked Gong Chang'an, "Chang'an, who do you think is closer to you, the Prince of Zhao, or me?"

"The two princes are of noble status, how could I presume to talk about being close to them?" Gong Chang'an smiled. "However, when I was with the Prince of Zhao, we only rode horses and played games. When we had free time, we parted ways."

"You, my lord, can admire paintings and play chess, or even be in the same room, each doing your own thing, without feeling awkward even if you don't speak."

"You little rascal, you never say anything that offends anyone," Ying Bai said with a smile, patting his head. "Let's go, I think I can already smell the aroma of shrimp wontons."

Princess Duanmin asked the servants around her, "Is it snowing outside yet?"

The person below replied, "It's started snowing."

“Then we can go hunting tomorrow.” Duanmin said to Fenye King with great interest. “I’ve been on the grasslands for too long, and now that I’m back in the palace, I feel stifled. Let’s all go hunting tomorrow! Let’s invite more people to make it more lively. My aunt told me the other day that she hasn’t seen anyone hunt in a long time.”

"It's rare for the princess to be in such a good mood, so I'll go and ask His Majesty. If it's too late tomorrow, the day after tomorrow is fine too." Qisihe dotes on the princess now and can't bear to spoil her mood.

Since Qisihe was a guest here, the emperor would naturally not refuse his request.

Thinking that tomorrow would be a bit rushed, we decided to do it the day after tomorrow.

That night, several palace servants in Yingbai Palace all developed stomach problems.

At first, I didn't pay much attention to it, just thinking it was because of the change in weather.

Who would have thought that by daybreak, these people would be so exhausted that they could barely stand up. They struggled to get up, but they were all hunched over and unable to serve Ying Bai as usual.

"What's wrong with you all? Let's call the imperial physician to take a look." Seeing their condition, Ying Bai stopped them from serving him.

The group thanked them and withdrew, then asked someone to fetch a royal physician.

They dared not invite those with more seniority, so they invited Su Qingyun instead. Su Qingyun had already spoken with Wen Mingqian, instructing them to pay close attention to the movements of the Prince of Chu's heir.

Now that he has heard that several servants here have contracted diarrhea, and the symptoms are quite severe, he naturally has to be extra careful.

These people's symptoms may seem no different from those of a typical case of acute diarrhea at first glance, but they are ultimately abnormal.

Winter had already arrived, and two snowfalls had occurred; the weather was extremely cold. Unlike summer and autumn, when people are prone to diarrhea due to unclean food and mosquitoes.

The fact that these people fell ill almost simultaneously makes it even more unusual.

Normally, there's a sequence, so such a concentrated occurrence can only mean that someone has been poisoned.

Physician Su asked them what they had eaten.
Chunbao said, "We didn't eat anything unclean. It's just that the young master didn't touch his dinner last night and gave some to us. Then he started making a fuss in the middle of the night."

"Are there any leftovers from last night's food? Or any unwashed dishes or utensils you can give me," Su Qingyun said.

“I did,” another eunuch said. “I was called away to work halfway through my meal. I covered my bowl with a plate, thinking it would be a waste to throw away such good food. I was even thinking of adding hot water to it for another meal this morning!”

This young eunuch, named Chunming, had the mildest symptoms among these people.

Su Qingyun prescribed some medicine for them and told them to decoct and drink it quickly. Then she took the remaining half bowl of porridge and went to another room to examine them more closely.

Chen Feng, the chief eunuch of the Chu King's palace, came over and asked, "Imperial Physician Su, are those people alright?"

Su Qingyun said with a serious expression, "Steward Chen, I still think there's something wrong."

"What? It's just diarrhea, is there something else?" Chen Feng asked hurriedly.

“Chief Steward Chen, you are the chief steward of this palace. If something happens, you will surely bear a great responsibility,” Su Qingyun said cautiously. “Don’t you find this strange? After eating the food given by the young master yesterday, these people all fell ill. This season is usually the least likely to cause diarrhea, yet their symptoms came on so suddenly.”

"Doctor Su, do you mean that the food... is not right?" Chen Feng understood, but he still found it hard to believe.

“I just examined the remaining porridge carefully. Although I couldn’t detect any poison with a silver needle, the smell is off. Furthermore, I suggest we find a chicken or a dog to test it again,” Su Qingyun said.

Upon hearing this, Chen Feng quickly said, "I'll have someone bring a dog right away."

If the young master's food was indeed poisoned, that would be a terrible matter; as the steward here, he would lose his head along with him.

His men quickly found a dog, and Su Qingyun fed the dog a spoonful of the leftover porridge from the bowl.

Then he said, "Have someone keep a close eye on it and see how it reacts in an hour or two."

"Imperial Physician Su, although those people took the medicine, they still have severe diarrhea and are all exhausted." The head eunuch came in to find Su Qingyun.

"Make them some hot rice porridge, add a little salt to it, otherwise they'll faint if they drink it for too long," Su Qingyun said. "You'd better go find Physician Zhang Wenyang again; he's good at acupuncture, which should help alleviate the symptoms somewhat."

Su Qingyun was certainly skilled in acupuncture, but he felt that in this situation, he alone as a physician wasn't enough; it would be best to bring in another person. Two people's opinions would be more convincing than one's. (End of Chapter)