That Imperial Concubine is both wicked and cunning! Your Majesty, wake up!

The King of Chu pulled off the assassin's black veil, and the assassin was already dead.

These are suicide squad members.

They then tore open the assassin's black clothes, revealing his arm, where a dark, indistinct tattoo was clearly visible.

Xiao Yan and the King of Chu exchanged a glance. A year later, they made their move again.

Looking at Xiao Yan's bleeding arm, Song Shuangning exclaimed softly, "Your Majesty, are you injured?"

"Your Majesty, are you injured?" The King of Chu stepped forward anxiously.

Xiao Yan felt a metallic taste in his throat, clutched his chest, coughed, and spat out a mouthful of black blood.

Everyone's expression changed drastically as they realized that the arrow was coated with a deadly poison.

Song Shuangning's pupils contracted sharply, a mixture of surprise and fear flashing across her face.

The arrow was poisoned!

The Emperor has been poisoned!

If… Song Shuangning quickly shook her head, “No, it won’t happen.”

The Emperor will surely be alright.

Regardless of whether the Emperor would be alright, she was determined to take this gamble. Song Shuangning gritted her teeth, bent down, and tried to suck out the poisonous blood from Xiao Yan's wound.

Xiao Yan reacted swiftly, grabbing her chin and demanding, his eyes flashing with a fierce light: "What are you doing?"

Song Shuangning looked up at him, her eyes misting over, her voice choked with sobs: "If I help you suck out the poisonous blood, perhaps I can remove all the poison."

Is she an idiot?

Xiao Yan's emotions were extremely complicated. On one hand, he thought she was foolish enough to risk her life, but on the other hand, he was deeply touched by her sincerity in willingly sucking out the deadly poison for him.

Most of the affections among the concubines in the harem were seven parts false and three parts testing, but she alone was so open and honest.

She bit her lip tightly, her eyes filled with worry for him.

Xiao Yan couldn't help but gently stroke her cheek and said in a deep voice, "Silly girl, you can be poisoned too."

"I am not afraid!"

"I forbid it." Xiao Yan would never let her take that risk.

The King of Chu sighed in shock. Even in the most unpredictable harem, there were concubines willing to give their lives for their king.

He advised, "Consort Song, if you are poisoned because of this, your brother will only be more worried."

With trembling hands, Song Shuangning took out a clean handkerchief and pressed it against the wound on Xiao Yan's arm, her movements urgent yet methodical.

When they returned to their tent, the Empress and Consort Shao arrived.

The Empress gripped Song Shuangning's wrist and asked anxiously, "How is His Majesty?"

Song Shuangning choked up and said, "The Emperor's arm was grazed by an arrow, and the arrow was poisoned."

"What..." The Empress seemed to be shocked and staggered back a few steps, but fortunately Consort Shao was there to support her.

Consort Shao advised, "Your Majesty, Heaven protects a wise ruler, and His Majesty is blessed with great fortune; he will surely turn misfortune into good fortune."

The Empress nodded. "His Majesty is the Son of Heaven, and is naturally protected by Heaven. He will surely be safe and sound."

After saying that, she strode towards the tent, but Li Fuquan quickly stopped her, "Your Majesty, His Majesty has instructed that you and the other ladies should stay in the tent and not go anywhere."

The Empress, both anxious and heartbroken, exclaimed, "I am the Empress!"

Li Fuquan remained tight-lipped: "Your Majesty, please don't make things difficult for this servant."

Qingdai stepped forward to support the Empress, "Your Majesty, let's go back first."

The Empress looked at Consort Shao and Consort Xu and said, "In that case, let's go back and pray for the Emperor's well-being."

Immediately afterwards, she turned her gaze to Song Shuangning and said solemnly, "Consort Song, you stay here. If there is any news, send someone to inform me."

Song Shuangning curtsied and said, "Your concubine obeys the decree."

Chief Steward Li glanced at the slender figure standing outside the tent and stepped forward softly to advise, "My lady, it's windy here. Why don't you go back to your tent and rest?"

Song Shuangning shook her head, her face still wet with tears: "I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay here with the Emperor."

Li Fuquan sighed and patiently advised, "If you harm your health, the Emperor will be heartbroken when he wakes up and sees you like this."

"Steward Li, please let me stay here, otherwise I won't be able to rest easy."

Seeing that he couldn't persuade her, Li Fuquan ordered the palace servants to bring her a chair, a thick cloak, and a hand warmer.

Song Shuangning sat outside the tent, watching as palace servants brought out basins of dark red blood. The imperial physicians frowned, their faces grim and frightening. Tears welled up in Song Shuangning's eyes.

She was genuinely terrified. If something happened to the Emperor, she would surely be buried with him. She was still so young and didn't want to die.

Seeing this, Li Fuquan assumed she was scared and went over to comfort her several times.

Three hours passed, and Song Shuangning's hands and feet were frozen stiff.

Xiao Yan finally woke up in the tent. Although the poison wasn't incurable, it was extremely dangerous; the slightest delay would have been fatal. The King of Chu promptly retrieved the antidote pills bestowed by the late emperor, thus curing the poison.

The first thing Xiao Yan asked upon waking was, "Did you find out?"

The King of Chu said, "Your Majesty guessed correctly. After the news was released, only... Your Majesty secretly mobilized the private troops in your residence."

The late emperor's dying words still echo in my ears—

"No matter how things develop in the future, you must spare the life of the Imperial Uncle."

"Let's hold back for now and deal with it after we return to Beijing."

Li Fuquan paced back and forth outside the tent. Xiao Yan then called him in. Seeing Li Fuquan's hesitant expression, Xiao Yan asked, "What is it?"

Li Fuquan replied respectfully, "Your Majesty, Consort Song is still waiting outside the tent. I have repeatedly urged her to go back and rest, but she insists on staying with you."

"Nonsense!" Xiao Yan coughed a few times in anger, causing a sharp pain in his arm.

[Choose one from the following three titles: Yuan, Jin, Ying]