After the milk ball arrived, the father who had no heirs had a string of good luck.

"..." Although, I don't want to get married!

Situ Ze opened his mouth, wanting to state his position, but Consort Li interrupted him in time: "Ninth Prince, do you have someone you admire?"

Situ Ze was immediately swayed by her words and blurted out, "No, that's not it, I just..."

"Then that settles it?" Consort Zhang concluded, "Both of you are unmarried, and your statuses are suitable; you are a match made in heaven."

"No!" Situ Ze finally found a chance to refute: "But I don't want to marry a woman I've never met. I hope my queen is someone I love, even if she is of low status and comes from a farming or merchant family, I don't mind."

Everyone: "..."

Are you still asleep?

What is your identity?

How could the emperor possibly allow you to marry a merchant's daughter or a peasant's daughter?

Even if the emperor agrees, won't the empress use it as an excuse to cause trouble? Won't the civil and military officials object?

The stories of the ugly duckling turning into a swan and Cinderella becoming a princess are all fake.

The clown duck can turn into a swan because it was originally a swan egg.

Cinderella was able to become a princess because her father had a title.

In ancient times, social class and social status were of utmost importance, so Situ Ze's idea was completely impractical.

Even if he falls in love with a merchant's daughter or a farmer's daughter in the future, the most that woman can become is a concubine.

Tang Rui couldn't bear to shatter Situ Ze's beautiful fantasy, and offered a sincere suggestion: "Ninth Imperial Uncle, why don't you meet Sister Zhu first? Maybe she's your type?"

Upon hearing this, Situ Ze blushed and said, "She is a young lady from a respectable family; how can I, a man, possibly meet her?"

Consort Zhu quickly replied, "That's easy. Tomorrow, Her Majesty the Empress will be hosting a Hundred Flowers Banquet, and many unmarried women will be entering the palace. Ninth Prince can just go and join in the fun."

"This..." Situ Ze hesitated for a moment, but finally agreed, "Alright! But I can't guarantee that I will definitely marry her!"

That's how the matter was settled.

But Zhu Miaoling was unaware of this, still immersed in her sadness and anxiety.

...

At night, Tang Rui couldn't sleep, so she sat in the pavilion playing with Chi Chi. She also took out the Biyao Xun that Gu Nanyu had given her and played it, hoping to develop some tacit understanding with Chi Chi.

The little red snake looks docile, but if you think it has a good temper, you're sorely mistaken.

Its good temper was reserved for its owner, Tang Rui.

This is not!

Seeing this, Mingyue, who was hiding in the shadows, immediately stepped out, took out a paper package from her bosom, opened it, and placed it in front of Chichi.

Inside was a big, oily chicken leg.

Chichi glanced at it briefly before immediately looking away.

Although they couldn't speak, their two red eyes were full of disdain.

Tang Rui was speechless: "Mingyue, Chichi only eats snakes, insects, rats, and ants, preferably poisonous ones. He won't eat this."

"I have one!" Mingyue pulled out another paper package and opened it, inside which was a large, dead purple spider.

Tang Rui saw the spider, then belatedly turned to look at the ceramic jar in the corner of her wall.

Sure enough, one of the pottery jars was broken.

"Mingyue!" Tang Rui exclaimed angrily, "You actually stole the Gu I hadn't even finished refining?!"

Chichi seemed to sense Tang Rui's emotions. Without saying a word, it leaped towards Mingyue, opened its snake mouth, and revealed sharp fangs.

Fortunately, Mingyue was fast enough to dodge in time, and looked at Chichi with surprise.

Chichi wanted to attack again, but Tang Rui caught her: "Don't bite!"

Chichi stopped attacking, but still stared coldly at Mingyue, her two beady eyes filled with ferocity.

Mingyue was quite an oddball; not only was she unafraid, she became even more interested: "Princess, could you refine a Gu for me too?"

"Princess, please."

Please!

"The princess is the best!"

They have absolutely no integrity!

Tang Rui, unable to resist his persistent questioning, had no choice but to tell the truth: "It's not that I don't want to help, it's just that my Gu-refining skills are not mature enough, and I can't guarantee success every time."

"Just give it a try, what if it works! I really want one!" Little guys like Chichi are so cute.

Rong Momo and Huan Die, who were hiding far away: "..."

What's so cute about it?

According to Tang Rui, this thing is very poisonous. Once bitten, a venom called fire poison will enter the body along with the egg fluid.

This person will suffer from extensive burns all over their body within the next seven days, constantly feeling as if they are on a grill, with burns spreading from the inside out.

Not only that, the entire body will become a nest of countless offspring of Gu.

After seven days, all the venomous insects in the body matured and burst out, causing the person to die from excruciating pain.

However, many people cannot last until the seventh day, as their bodies are already cooked through.

In all their years, they had never heard of such a vicious poison.

Arsenic and poison are nothing compared to this!

Mingyue, however, didn't see it that way and continued to plead, "Please, Princess, please, just try!"

Tang Rui stared at him speechlessly for a while before finally agreeing, "Okay, let's give it a try."

Without hesitation, Tang Rui jumped off the stone bench, ran to the rows of pottery jars, and chose one that had been in preparation for quite some time: "You know the steps, right? I'll drug it in a bit, and you'll drip your blood into it."

Mingyue nodded vigorously, her eyes sparkling!

Tang Rui had done this many times and was already very familiar with it. She would open the lid, quickly sprinkle the powder, and then close the lid again.

After waiting for a while, the lid was opened again, and Mingyue's blood was dripped in.

After doing all this, she handed the earthenware jar to Mingyue: "Feed it good food often, whatever is the most poisonous, and drip a drop of blood into it every seven days. I can't guarantee what kind of Gu it will eventually become."

Thankfully, Tang Rao wasn't here. If she were, she would definitely have given her daughter a lecture if she heard her daughter speak so unprofessionally.

The art of Gu poison is passed down through generations of the Southern Barbarian royal family, and everyone with royal blood is a born Gu master.

But why did it mutate when it came to Tang Rui?

Whether it succeeds or fails depends on fate; could it be any more unreliable?

Mingyue, however, believed it wholeheartedly. She took the jar like a precious treasure, chuckling to herself, and couldn't put it down!

Tang Rui rolled her eyes at him and went inside to sleep!

Unbeknownst to her, as soon as she entered the house, Mingyue hurriedly ran back to her own residence with the jar in her arms, even waking up the sleeping Qingfeng.

Qingfeng, still half-asleep, looked at him blankly, then glanced at the dark sky outside the window: "Mingyue, what are you doing?"

Mingyue twitched the corners of her mouth, her smile sinister and stiff: "I can't pee right now, how about you give me some?"

A huge question mark appeared above Qingfeng's head: "Pee? What do you need my pee for?"

And also, in the middle of the night, they woke me up and told me I needed to pee?

Are you sure you're not crazy?

Mingyue retorted confidently, "You said nothing is more poisonous than a child's urine, so I want your urine to soak my precious treasure!"

Qingfeng: "??"

Qingfeng: "!!"

Big...baby?

A man's treasure, isn't it just that one thing?

It took Qingfeng five or six seconds to react before she grabbed a pillow and threw it at him: "Get out, you pervert!"

Mingyue, completely bewildered after being hit, was speechless.

...