Chapter 235 – The Foolish Prince Consort’s Farming Struggles – Meeting the Parents (Part One) (18)
Bai Tang followed the village chief to Lin Mu’s house. Lin Xiaohan was already on the brink.
Lin Mu was wailing, “Can you save him or not? Please, save my Xiaohan!”
Seeing Bai Tang only frowning, she tried to rush at him to demand why he wasn’t helping.
But Baili Luo was standing right beside Bai Tang, and Lin Mu couldn’t even get close enough to touch the hem of his clothes.
“I need croton seeds,” Bai Tang said. In front of so many people, it wasn’t appropriate for him to use his healing powers. If he cleared the room to treat Lin Xiaohan, it would arouse suspicion.
“But no one keeps croton seeds at home,” the village chief said awkwardly. “Everyone here does farm work. If it were food you needed, that’d be easier. But no one stores medicine.”
With no other option, Bai Tang made an excuse about having some medicinal herbs at home and needing to retrieve them. Away from the crowd, he took an appropriate amount of croton seeds from his small spatial pouch.
Thanks to Qiu’er’s intense curiosity, they had stocked up well on supplies.
After administering the croton seeds, Lin Xiaohan began vomiting and having diarrhea. Lin Mu, terrified, rushed forward to hit Bai Tang, yelling that he’d killed her son and needed to pay with his life.
Lin Xiaohan’s newlywed wife was also weeping on the side, but she was busy calculating in her heart. She was still young—if Lin Xiaohan died like this, Lin Mu would definitely extort a large sum from Bai Tang. When that happened, she planned to take Lin Xiaohan’s share of the inheritance and return to her parents’ home.
Soon, it wasn’t just Lin Xiaohan—other villagers began showing similar symptoms to varying degrees.
The village chief ran frantically between the affected households. “Gao family boy, is this medicine working or not?”
“It’ll work,” Bai Tang replied. “But everyone must stop drinking from the well at the edge of the village.”
“But if we don’t drink water, how do we boil medicine?” a villager asked.
Luckily, families living farther from the well had stored water at home to save time. They only fetched water from the village well when their supply ran out.
Bai Tang inspected the villagers’ water vats and identified which ones hadn’t been poisoned. He used those to boil croton seed water and gave each poisoned villager a bowl.
After drinking the croton water, the villagers clutched their stomachs and howled in pain. Those who hadn’t eaten yet saw their family members suffering and thought Bai Tang was a quack, recklessly toying with their loved ones’ lives.
Baili Luo guarded Bai Tang closely. Anyone who tried to approach was immediately struck in their pressure points and collapsed to the ground, paralyzed and waiting for the numbness to wear off.
Fortunately, Lin Xiaohan, the first to fall ill, had already improved. Although he still couldn’t get out of bed, at least his life was no longer in danger—though the smell in the room was far from pleasant.
One by one, the poisoned villagers gradually began to recover. Seeing that their family members were out of danger, the rest of the villagers finally believed that Bai Tang and his group truly knew how to treat illnesses.
The village chief held Uncle Gao’s hand tightly and said gratefully, “Benefactors, you are the saviors of our village!”
Baili Luo instructed Baili Bin to go into town and report the incident to the authorities. He intended to blow the matter wide open.
Poisoning an entire village was no small crime. With dozens of lives at risk, if even half the village had died, the official in charge of the area would’ve been stripped of his position.
Ji Zhong waited and waited, but instead of hearing news that Baili Luo and Baili Bin had died from the poison, he was met with government officers conducting door-to-door investigations. Before long, they arrived at his place.
These days, Lin Xiaoshuang had become Ji Zhong’s punching bag. Whenever one of his men failed a mission, he would take it out on her.
Lin Xiaoshuang was covered in bruises from repeated beatings. When the constables arrived to search the premises, she seized the opportunity and cried out for help, finally catching their attention—and successfully getting rescued.
Ji Zhong lied, claiming she was his concubine and mentally ill, which was why she had been locked up.
But Lin Xiaoshuang cried out, “No, I’m not! I’m from Xiang Village! He kidnapped me—he even tried to kill people!”
Her words were like a stone dropped into a still pond, causing ripples everywhere. The constables were looking for the person responsible for poisoning Xiang Village. Whether or not Ji Zhong was the culprit, they decided to take him in and let the magistrate sort it out.
If Ji Zhong were captured, the Fifth Prince behind him would likely be exposed too.
But Ji Zhong had no intention of going down without a fight. He broke free from the constables, leapt up onto a high wall using qinggong (light movement martial arts), and tried to flee.
The town constables only knew basic martial arts. Compared to Ji Zhong, they were no match—they could only watch helplessly as he escaped.
But unexpectedly, Ji Zhong didn’t get far before someone kicked him straight back.
Baili Bin, following Baili Luo’s instructions, had been waiting beneath a tree—and sure enough, Ji Zhong came running.
Baili Bin wasn’t as skilled as Baili Luo, but taking down someone like Ji Zhong was still within his abilities.
Ji Zhong let his guard down for a moment, and Baili Bin kicked him, grabbed his arm, struck his pressure points, and brought him back to the compound.
Lin Xiaoshuang had suffered terribly—her body was covered in injuries, without a single intact patch of skin.
When Lin Xiaoshuang saw that Ji Zhong had been captured, she rushed forward with disheveled hair and bit him hard, furiously venting all her rage.
Baili Bin had never seen such a wild woman before and was so startled he backed away a few steps. It took him a while to recognize her as the woman who had previously given him directions—Lin Xiaoshuang.
Judging by her appearance, she’d clearly had an exceptionally miserable time.
Baili Bin felt a wave of sympathy for her. Later, when he casually mentioned it to Baili Luo, Bai Tang overheard and, in turn, began to feel a bit of compassion for Lin Xiaoshuang too.
She was probably the only female lead across all these worlds who hadn’t even had the chance to turn evil before getting beaten down so terribly.
Qiu’er, upon hearing this, curled her lip in disdain. Tang Tang just didn’t know that Lin Xiaoshuang had caused a food poisoning incident at Drunken Immortal Tower and had also betrayed the male lead. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be feeling this way.
Xiao A, on the other hand, did feel sorry for the female lead. “I think Lin Xiaoshuang had her reasons for betraying the male lead. If she hadn’t, Ji Zhong would’ve killed her.”
Qiu’er had a bias against any creature labeled “female lead.” As Xiao A tried to defend Lin Xiaoshuang, Qiu’er covered her ears and chanted, “Not listening, not listening, turtle reciting scriptures.” There was nothing Xiao A could do to deal with her.
While investigating Ji Zhong, Baili Luo subtly fanned the flames, revealing that Ji Zhong had received orders from the Fifth Prince to assassinate the Ninth Prince, Baili Bin, who had fled the palace.
This instantly escalated the poisoning case to an attempted regicide—fratricide, no less. These kinds of royal scandals were the hardest to get involved in, but once the truth was out, it was impossible to keep the public in the dark. Everyone already knew.
With Baili Bin’s identity exposed, suspicions also fell on Baili Luo, who was with him. The two were full brothers—same father and mother—and bore some resemblance to each other in appearance.
Fortunately, Baili Luo didn’t try to hide anything and revealed his identity as well.
Once the people of Xiang Village learned that the man who saved them was the Seventh Prince, their gratitude only deepened. The village chief, too, felt immense pride—imagine, both the Seventh and Ninth Princes had stayed in their humble village! What an honor!
The Lin family, however, were filled with regret. If only they had forced Lin Xiaoshuang to marry that fool Gao Luo back then, wouldn’t they now be in-laws to the Seventh Prince? Even if she couldn’t become the main consort, being a secondary consort would still bring honor to the family. But now, it was too late. Not only had they failed to secure a royal connection, they had also lost a daughter. But that’s another story.
Back then, Baili Luo had left the palace to investigate a corruption case, only to be persecuted and disappear. His sudden reappearance now caused a huge stir in the palace. Whether sincerely or not, everyone in the court expressed their relief that the Seventh Prince had returned safely. The Emperor himself even sent Prince Qing to personally escort him back, just in case anything happened along the way.
Because the attempted murder involved royal reputation, the local authorities issued an order forbidding the common people from discussing the matter. Violators would face execution.
As expected, the rumors died down considerably. But the Fifth Prince’s involvement still reached the ears of those in higher positions. Now, it was only a matter of time before Baili Luo and his brother would confront the truth face-to-face back at the palace.
When Prince Qing arrived in the small town and saw Baili Luo—missing for three years—he was overwhelmed with emotion.
The most likely candidate for the next emperor had returned. The winds in the imperial court were about to shift again.
Staying true to his neutral stance, Prince Qing greeted Baili Luo with warmth and politeness.
“Prince Qing, have some tea.”
A young man brought over tea and snacks with a sweet smile. A tiny dimple adorned his cheek, making him look especially charming. His skin, pale and soft from being cared for by Baili Luo, made Prince Qing instantly warm up to him.
Taking a sip of tea, Prince Qing smiled and said, “Where did you find this one, Luo’er? He looks good and even brews tea well.”
Just as Bai Tang was about to turn and leave, Baili Luo grabbed him and, ignoring Prince Qing’s surprise, pulled him into his embrace.
Bai Tang wasn’t ready to meet the family so soon. Prince Qing was Baili Luo’s elder—how could he allow himself to appear impolite in front of a senior?
He wriggled around, trying to escape Baili Luo’s grasp.
“Ah Luo, this isn’t appropriate,” Bai Tang whispered quietly.
“We’ll have to meet eventually. Come on, this is the Fifth Royal Uncle,” Baili Luo said, introducing him.
Prince Qing, surprised, asked, “And this is…?”
Baili Luo smiled. “My imperial consort.”
“Greetings, Fifth Royal Uncle~” Bai Tang said in a soft, syrupy voice. His cheeks flushed red, and he lowered his head shyly after speaking.
Prince Qing had weathered many political storms in his life, but he hadn’t expected to stumble upon such shocking news on this trip.
He quickly adjusted his expression and responded with a kind, warm smile. “Good, good, very good. For you to find someone so bright and delicate—it seems you’ve made quite the gain, Luo’er.”
“Indeed I have. I’ve learned things I was never supposed to know… and I’ve met the one I was meant to love in this life.” As Baili Luo spoke the first part, a flicker of cold ruthlessness passed over his face. But by the second half, it had been replaced by deep tenderness.
He gently brushed away a stray lock of hair from Bai Tang’s ear. Bai Tang turned his body slightly, avoiding Prince Qing’s gaze.
Doing something like this in front of an elder—how embarrassing!
Baili Luo was in an excellent mood. If not for the inappropriate setting, he likely would have teased Bai Tang even more.
Prince Qing watched the scene unfold and could only shake his head inwardly with a touch of regret.
Pure and simple. That was how he viewed Bai Tang. But being favored by Baili Luo… was that a blessing or a curse?
Nothing was ever simple in the royal family. Baili Luo was a legitimate son and the most likely to ascend the throne. Bai Tang had no background to speak of—how far could he really go, relying solely on love?
Sensing Prince Qing’s gaze, Baili Luo looked up and met his eyes.
“Fifth Royal Uncle, in this lifetime, I will marry only Bai Tang.”
Author’s Note:
They met the uncle in this chapter—next chapter, it’s time to meet the Empress Mother, hehe~