After the emperor gave the title of Marquis of Honor to Yang Ning, all people in the mansion were cheerful. Gu Qinghan was prepared and told the accountant to reward everybody with some money.

After returning to the main hall, Yang Ning saw that the two boxes rewarded by the emperor were still on the table, so he asked Gu Qinghan with a smile, “Aunt, what do you think is inside? The old eunuch said that they are treasures, and they must be priceless. If we are short of money, we can sell them and get a lot of money.”

Gu Qinghan rolled her eyes at Yang Ning and responded crossly, “These were rewarded by His Majesty. Do you want to sell them? You can’t sell the gifts from His Majesty even if we run out of food, not to mention that our family won’t be so poor. Some people keep an eye on you and wait for you to make a mistake so they can find the evidence against you. If you sell the gifts from His Majesty, won’t you give others a chance to find fault with you?”

Yang Ning laughed. “I am just kidding.” Then he added, “His Majesty is so thoughtless. Why did he give us treasures? And we can’t even sell them. If he is really kind, it’s better to reward us with tens of thousands of tales of gold.”

Gu Qinghan raised her hand and patted the back of Yang Ning’s hand, rebuking, “Ning, you are a marquis now. Speak with caution in the future. Don’t say something irreverent or show disrespect to His Majesty. Walls have ears. If others hear that, you will be in trouble.”

Yang Ning saw that one box was big and the other was small, with ingenious mechanism, and the switches were conspicuous. He opened the big box. As soon as it was opened, there was dim light inside. Gu Qinghan glanced at it, to see a jade object with the shape of a sword in the wooden box.

Yang Ning took it out cautiously and saw that the material was top-quality white jade, but it was made like a treasured sword.

“What does it mean?” Yang Ning was doubtful. “A jade sword? It is rare.”

Gu Qinghan’s beautiful eyes rolled slightly, and she smiled. “His Majesty must mean that the Marquis of Honor has achieved glorious victories, and this jade sword is given to remind that our family is still a treasured sword of the Chu State, or he hopes that you can become a treasured sword to protect the state.”

“Aunt, you are right.” Yang Ning nodded slightly. He had thought that it was a rare treasure, yet it turned out to be merely a jade object.

The quality of this jade was not bad, while if it was fake, it couldn’t be sold at a high price.

He put the jade sword back in the box and then opened the small one. He had thought that since the emperor gave a reward, he couldn’t be too stingy. The jade sword was not quite valuable, and it must stand for something, so the real treasure must be in the small box. Unexpectedly, after he opened it, he found that it was empty. He was stunned, and Gu Qinghan was also doubtful.

“What the hell?” Yang Ning was furious. “How can somebody give an empty box as a gift?”

“Ning, there is…a piece of paper in it.” Gu Qinghan put her hand in it and picked up a piece of paper. She had thought that there were some words written in it, but she checked both sides carefully and found that it was blank unexpectedly. She furrowed her beautiful brows and got more doubtful.

Yang Ning had expected the stuff in the small box, yet there was no treasure, not even a jade object, so he was unhappy and couldn’t help but say, “Aunt, it appears that the new emperor is really stingy.”

“Don’t talk nonsense.” Gu Qinghan checked it carefully and couldn’t find anything in the white paper. Then she asked in doubt, “Since His Majesty gave it to you as a reward, he must do it for a reason, but…it is just a piece of blank paper with no word. What does it mean?”

“Aunt, don’t say that His Majesty wants me to be as pure and spotless as this white paper.” Yang Ning sat down. “I thought that we could get a lot of money today. Now, it’s great. We gave much money to those eunuchs. Even if we sell this jade sword, we can’t get so much money. It is a bad deal.”

Gu Qinghan sat next to him and looked at the blank paper, as if lost in thought.

“Right.” Yang Ning suddenly stopped frowning and thought of something. Then he shouted at the people outside, “Brother Duan, Duan Canghai. Hurry up and come in.”

Duan Canghai was outside. Hearing that, he came in happily and laughed. “My Lord, Do you want to reward me? No need. The third lady has rewarded me with some money, but…”

He was all smiles, while Yang Ning rolled his eyes at him, pointing to the blank paper in Gu Qinghan’s hand, asking, “This is a treasure rewarded by His Majesty. Check. What’s valuable in it?”

Gu Qinghan gave it to Duan Canghai, and he received it with both hands. Then he checked it carefully and asked with a frown, “My Lord, is this a reward from His Majesty?” He looked doubtful.

Yang Ning stated, “You can’t find anything unusual, either, right? I told you to come in because you are experienced and knowledgeable.”

“You flatter me,” Duan Canghai said modestly and smiled. “My Lord, thanks for thinking highly of me. Do you have something to ask?”

“It’s great that you know it.” Yang Ning leaned against the chair and said lazily, “I have heard that in some paper, nothing can be seen at a glance, and it must be soaked in water or roasted on a fire before the words are revealed. Do you think it is that kind of paper?”

“Duan Canghai shook his head. “No. My Lord, somebody uses the methods indeed as you mentioned, but that kind of paper has a feature. It is old, and something can be added to it. This piece of white paper is brand new, and I can see that nothing is added to it at a glance. If you don’t believe me, we can have a try.”

Yang Ning just had an inspiration and thought of that, yet he believed Duan Canghai’s words. Since Duan Canghai said that, there must be nothing wrong with this blank paper.

“Forget it. Just put it away first. His Majesty told us to do puzzles, but we can’t make it. He will tell us the answer someday.” Although Yang Ning was titled, he was not excited anymore as the stuff given by the emperor was so unpresentable.

However, it was certainly something significant for the marquis’ family, and they must celebrate it.

It was unusual time in the capital city now, and they couldn’t hang up lanterns and festoons or have a feast, but Gu Qinghan still told the servants to make preparations and celebrate it in the mansion.

At the table with rice wine and many dishes, Yang Ning just drank a little randomly in the beginning, yet he was easy-going and didn’t put on airs, so the servants came to toast and congratulate him one after another. Although Yang Ning controlled himself and tried not to drink too much, he was drunk after they drank a lot till midnight. He was dizzy and then returned to his bedroom to have a rest under Duan Canghai’s support.

Duan Canghai had drunk a lot, too, so he told a servant to serve Yang Ning outside the bedroom and then went back to sleep.

Yang Ning didn’t know how long he had been asleep. When he was sleeping, he thought that there was something wrong, so he suddenly opened his eyes and sat up. He felt stabbing pain on his thigh, and then he felt something sticky moving on his thigh. He was astonished. It was dark outside, and there was no light in the room, so he couldn’t see clearly what it was. He reached out his hand and grabbed it, feeling that it was wet. Then something quickly twined around his arm. He realized instantly that he grabbed a snake.

Yang Ning had cold sweat all over his body and grasped that snake with both hands. Then he felt stabbing pain on the back of his hand. It bit him again unexpectedly.

“Damn it. I am going to die this time.” Yang Ning got sober. After he was bitten, in the darkness, he had seen clearly where the snake head was. Since he had been bitten for twice, he didn’t have scruple anymore and reached out his hand quickly to grab the snake head, pinching its fatal part accurately.

This snake was not thick, and Yang Ning had much strength. He pinched its fatal part hard and felt that the snake twined around his arm more tightly. Then he suddenly cried in a low voice and pulled it with full strength. He pulled the snake away and then threw it out abruptly.

When he cried, the people outside heard it. Somebody asked outside the door, “My Lord, what’s the matter?”

“There is a snake!” Yang Ning felt dizzy, as if the sky and earth were spinning round. After he pulled it hard, all his strength seemed to have been extracted in an instant. He knew that it was not because he was drunk, but the snake poison must attack him. If he remained silent, perhaps nobody knew that even if he died in the room, so he shouted with difficulty, “Be quick… Ask for help…”

That person knew that something bad happened, so he kicked the door open with strength regardless of anything. Seeing that Yang Ning had rolled down the bed and was struggling on the floor, he rushed over and supported him, asking anxiously, “My Lord, what’s wrong with you?”

“Send for…Miss Tang…” Yang Ning just felt that it was dark before his eyes and he couldn’t see anything. He felt suffocated and could hardly breathe. “I…I was poisoned…”

That person knew that it couldn’t be delayed, so he turned to rush out and shouted loudly, “Help. Bad news. Help…”

In no time, several people rushed into the courtyard. Although all people in the mansion had dinner together to celebrate tonight, they still didn’t neglect the safety. Hearing the sounds, all the guards not far away came here in a hurry.

“Hurry up and ask Miss Tang to come here. His Lordship was poisoned…”

“What? Hurry up. Call Miss Tang.”

“Report to the third lady. By the way, go to tell Brother Duan now. The rest search everywhere. There are assassins in the mansion.”

There was an uproar. In an instant, there were sounds all over the mansion.

Yang Ning lay on the floor and felt that every part of his body seemed to be numb, and only his head was clear.

He was shocked.

He knew that the poison of an ordinary poisonous snake wouldn’t attack so severely in such a short time, no matter how powerful it was, and this poison spread so fast, which was unimaginably queer.

Moreover, the servants cleaned everywhere in the mansion every day, and the house where he lived was tidy, so it was impossible that a poisonous snake would come into the room.

A snake showed up on his bed at midnight and it was extremely poisonous. It must be not an accident.

Did somebody want to take his life?

Yang Ning didn’t care about many things at ordinary times, yet when something significant happened, especially in a desperate situation, he could keep calm.

He thought that somebody wanted to use this poisonous snake to take his life, but who would do that? The marquis’ mansion was heavily guarded all the time, and especially these days, it was strictly defended. Who could lurk in the mansion to kill him? If nobody could come in sneakily, did somebody in the mansion want to harm him?

If Qi Yu and his mother or Steward Qiu were still in the mansion, Yang Ning would think that they were murderers, but all of them had been expelled from the mansion, so they couldn’t have done it, and they were not so capable.

Listening to the footsteps in the room and the anxious shouts next to him, he could only hear the sounds around clearly yet couldn’t see anything. His body was like a wood, and he couldn’t feel anything.