Revenge of the First Daughter - Chapter 219

Chapter 219 Here’s The Poison
Yun Xiao heard this voice coming from her side. Her gaze narrowed slightly. At the corner of her eyes, she saw Zhou Jingxu standing up from behind her and strode forward. Under the astonished gazes of everyone, she said loudly, “Father, that dish is poisonous!”

Everyone’s expressions changed drastically when they heard this.

Cooking competition? The food was actually poisonous?

Moreover, the person Zhou Jingxu was accusing was the Imperial Chef personally appointed by the Jin Emperor!

The Jin Emperor’s hand that was holding the food did not tremble at all. His expression was gloomy, as if a few dark clouds had suddenly floated over in February. A cold wind was pressing down on him!

The Jin Emperor had an embarrassed expression as he placed the dish on the table and ordered Eunuch Wei to try the dish with silver needles!

Zhou Jingxu walked forward step by step. As he walked past Imperial Chef Lu, the corners of his mouth curled into a faint mockery. “There’s no need to try. If the poison could be tested with silver needles, it wouldn’t appear here.”

The Jin Emperor felt that what he said was very reasonable. He nodded and said, “Imperial Physician Xuan!”

When Imperial Chef Lu heard these three words, the faint trace of luck in his heart also disappeared.

He hurriedly knelt down and said, “Your Majesty, please spare me. Even if I have the guts, I wouldn’t dare to poison the dishes. Besides, I just tried the dishes and am still alive, am I not?”

The Jin Emperor’s expression was slightly loose. Indeed, if the dishes were poisonous, Chef Lu Yu would have already eaten the dishes. Now, he would not appear here without changing his expression.

Before the Jin Emperor could say anything, Zhou Jingxu coldly snorted. He looked at Chef Lu Yu and his eyes were filled with undisguised disgust. “If you had taken the antidote beforehand, nothing would have happened now!”

All in all, Zhou Jingxu insisted that he had drugged the Jin Emperor’s food.

Imperial Chef Lu knelt on the ice-cold ground, his face full of grievances, hatred, and killing intent. “I have no grievances or enmity with His Highness the Ninth Prince. Why does His Highness the Ninth Prince slander me like this?”

“Impudent! Is the Ninth Prince spouting nonsense? The Imperial Physician will naturally know when he arrives. How can you slander the Ninth Prince here?” The Empress had an awe-inspiring expression on her face.

Zhou Jingxu recovered his playful appearance in a short moment. “Mother, don’t be angry. Since he said I wronged him, I will make him convinced!”

After he finished speaking, he cupped his hands and respectfully said to the Jin Emperor, “Reporting to father, I have never wronged a good person. However, I did see Imperial Chef Lu put medicine on the dish just now. I am willing to swear in public that if there is no poison on the dish, I will apologize to Imperial Chef Lu in public!”

His tiny figure stood in the hall, his expression natural, his voice calm, and his voice resounding!

Imperial Chef Lu’s face was ashen, but when he thought that the poison had already been put elsewhere, his heart relaxed. “Since that’s the case, I’m willing to let the imperial physician examine me!”

The Jin Emperor turned his head to look at Imperial Chef Lu and then at Zhou Jingxu. Seeing that Zhou Jingxu did not show the slightest sign of yielding, he nodded.

The hall was very quiet. Everyone’s expressions were cold. They didn’t dare to say a word. The two people in the middle of the hall stood and knelt, forming a sharp contrast.

Soon, footsteps came from outside the hall. Eunuch Wei had already brought the imperial physician into the hall.

After the two greeted each other, the Jin Emperor signaled for the imperial physician to check if the dishes were poisonous.

The imperial physician quickly walked towards Imperial Chef Lu and brought the dish in Imperial Chef Lu’s hand. After examination, it was confirmed that the dish was poisonous. “Reporting to Emperor, there is a poison on this meal. If I’m not mistaken, the poison was ground from the body of the poisonous spider. If I eat it, I will bleed from all seven orifices in less than a cup of tea.”

The expressions of the people in the hall varied. If His Highness the Ninth Prince hadn’t noticed something wrong in time, he would have reminded the Jin Emperor that it wasn’t just the Jin Emperor lying there now. All of them would have died!

Imperial Chef Lu knelt on the ground innocently, tears streaming down his face. “Your Majesty, I am wrongly accused. If I want to poison Your Majesty, I can poison Your Majesty at any time after serving His Majesty for such a long time. I would not choose to poison you at this time.”

What he said was indeed reasonable. The Jin Emperor frowned, but his heart was filled with awe. If Jing Xu hadn’t said that there was something wrong with the dish, he would probably be dead now. He slapped the table and angrily scolded, “Since you said that you were wronged, then tell me everything honestly.”

Imperial Chef Lu trembled slightly and cried until his nose was full of tears. “I just thought for a moment. From choosing the dishes to preparing the food, there was no chance for outsiders to interfere. But just as I entered the hall, I collided with Cao Bingrong. Now, I think he must have poisoned me!”

When Yun Xiao heard this, the corner of her mouth curled into a cold smile. He really would be sick and rushed to the doctor. However, this dog bite would hurt. Her gaze looked at Cao Bingrong not far away. Every time she looked at him, Yun Xiao felt a familiar feeling. But if she really said who this man was, she could be sure that she did not know him!

Cao Bingrong didn’t know why the crime of poisoning fell on him. “Your Majesty, I was wronged. I did bump into Chef Lu earlier, but Chef Lu didn’t manage to stand on his feet and rushed towards me.” His expression changed drastically as he hurriedly knelt down, “Your Majesty, I was wronged. I did bump into Chef Lu earlier.”

Only then did the Jin Emperor look at Cao Bingrong, his expression stiff for a moment, and then he said, “Tell me about the situation at that time.”

Cao Bingrong had no choice but to honestly explain everything that he and Imperial Chef Lu had encountered in order to get off the hook. In short, he had nothing to do with what happened today!

Before he could finish his sentence, Imperial Chef Lu immediately said, “Your Majesty, don’t listen to him. If Your Majesty wants to know who poisoned him, he just needs to search his body. Whoever has found the poison is the one who poisoned him.”

The Jin Emperor sized up the two of them before his gaze fell on Cao Bingrong. He said loudly, “Someone, search me!”

Even if Wei Gongli stepped forward and took the food from Cao Bingrong’s hand, he quickly searched it and then searched Imperial Chef Lu. “Reporting to His Majesty, no poison was found on the two of them.”

Imperial Chef Lu was shocked. How was that possible? He had obviously put the poison in Cao Bingrong’s sleeve, how could there be no poison?

No! If Cao Bingrong didn’t have any poison on him, he would have been convicted of this crime. He hurriedly said respectfully, “Your Majesty, there’s still Cao Bingrong’s food box that hasn’t been searched!” There was a hint of hope in his heart. Perhaps Cao Bingrong noticed the poison in his clothes, so he wanted to put the poison in the food box. After all, after the poisoning incident, these people might not continue to try the food.

Cao Bingrong frowned and looked at Imperial Chef Lu with hatred. Even if he wanted to get off the hook, he shouldn’t be blamed on him! “Since Chef Lu Yu is worried, please inspect the meals that Eunuch Cao has made for me,” he snorted coldly.

As he said this, his eyes were fixed on the Jin Emperor, and he didn’t want to miss out on the slightest bit of expression on the Jin Emperor’s face.

Eunuch Cao opened the meal. There were only two items on the jade plate. They were two small people carved from fruit. That small person was exquisite and lifelike. With a single glance, one could see how much effort the owner of this small person had put into carving.

The two villains stood opposite each other, while a jade pendant was placed in front of them, no! It wasn’t a jade pendant, it was half a jade pendant!

Cao Bingrong did not look at his own jade butterfly. His entire gaze fell on the Jin Emperor. When he saw the Jin Emperor’s reaction, a trace of darkness flashed in his eyes.

Everyone looked at the things in the jade butterfly in confusion. It was clearly a competition of cooking skills, so why did Cao Bingrong put in half a jade pendant?

However, Yun Xiao noticed that when the Jin Emperor saw this half jade pendant, he couldn’t help but take half a step forward. Only then did he stabilize his body. His gaze had been shuttling back and forth on the jade pendant, and his expression had a trace of embarrassment.

Yun Xiao’s eyebrows narrowed. Just by looking at the Jin Emperor’s reaction, Yun Xiao already knew that that half of the jade pendant must have something to do with the Jin Emperor.

However, how could Cao Bingrong be related to the Jin Emperor?

If it was the debts that the Jin Emperor owed him, Cao Bingrong and the Jin Emperor did not have any similarities at all.

When Imperial Chef Lu saw what was inside the jade butterfly, his face was ashen. He could not figure out how the poison flew into Cao Bingrong’s sleeve.

‘”How could this be?” He murmured to himself.

Cao Bingrong stared at the Jin Emperor. The Jin Emperor was also staring at Cao Bingrong. His hands under his wide sleeves couldn’t help but tighten. His eyes were filled with a trace of moisture. However, in the blink of an eye, they passed away. He snorted coldly, “How could this be? Chef Lu, I trusted you in vain. You actually repaid me like this. What else can you say now?”

Imperial Chef Lu still looked at Cao Bingrong in disbelief. His mind was in chaos. Suddenly, he stood up from the ground and rushed to Cao Bingrong’s side. He raised Cao Bingrong’s hand and checked Cao Bingrong’s sleeves. However, after flipping through his sleeves, he still didn’t see the poison bottle.

At this moment, a chuckling voice sounded not far away. “Is Imperial Chef Lu looking for this?”

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice. They saw a woman wearing a long moon-white dress standing up from the seat and slowly walking over. She was holding a small bottle in her hand. The bottle was extremely exquisite, but when she saw it in Imperial Chef Lu’s eyes, her heart trembled.

Why was the bottle in Yun Xiao’s hands?

The corner of Yun Xiao’s mouth curled into a faint smile. She slowly walked over, her gaze as bright as a torch. She bowed to the imperial physician and presented the bottle with both of her hands. “May I trouble the imperial physician to inspect the medicine in this bottle and see if the medicine matches the medicine on Imperial Chef Lu’s diet?”

The imperial physician first looked at the Jin Emperor and with his permission, he poured out some of the medicine from the small porcelain bottle. After sniffing it, his expression changed greatly and he respectfully said, “Reporting to His Majesty, this medicine matches the poison in Imperial Chef Lu’s diet perfectly.”

The Jin Emperor’s expression became gloomier and gloomier as he shouted angrily, “Yun Xiao, tell me honestly why this poison is in your hands!”

Within the hall, everyone’s gazes landed on Yun Xiao.

Yun Xiao did not feel scared either. A faint smile still hung on the corner of her mouth, and her expression lifted slightly. “Reporting to His Majesty, please allow the maiden to ask Imperial Chef Lu a few questions.”

“Accurate!”