chapter 90

On hearing her words, Nangong Ning did not put the princess down. On the contrary, she held her still tighter, and took another step back. Nangong Ning went to a stone, took the princess in her arms, and sat down with her back against the rockery.

An Suying looked at An Qing anxiously and uneasily.

All the things had been going well, but now Nangong Ning’s reaction was beyond their expectation.

Nangong Ning would have panicked now and been forced to surrender, for if the emperor thought that she was the murderer who tried to killed the princess, she would be killed.

But now Nangong Ning was calm, and there was no panic on her face. She was just holding the princess and sat there. And for the princess was in her hands, they did not dared to do anything.

Nangong Ning looked down at the poisonous bracelet on her wrist, then shifted her position and held the princess closer in her arms. That way, at least, she would be sure that no one else would snatch the princess from her arms.

Soon the Doctor came.

Nangong Ning discovered that she knew the Doctor whom she had seen that day at the Nangong Mansion. The Doctor, whose surname seems to be Song, was the chief Doctor at the royal hospital.

“Doctor Song.” Nangong Ning preempted her by saying hello to the Doctor.

Doctor Song’s eyes brightened when he saw Nangong Ning, and he rushed to her in a few steps with excitement.

An Suying looked surprised and stared at An Qing.

An Qing was also depressed. She sent a servant for a Doctor, but had no intention of asking Dr. Song to come. Dr. Song was the chief Doctor of the royal hospital, and he was a man of great skill and integrity. She had sent for another Doctor.

But why did Dr. Song come?

“Miss Nangong, why are you here? This is……Princess Qingle? What’s the matter with her?” Dr Song had no idea what had happened and he was only here because someone had gone to the hospital for the Doctor on duty, and he happened to be there, so he came. Nangong Ning said hesitantly, “Princess Qingle……”

Just then An Suying suddenly went up to the Doctor and shouted, “Doctor Song, princess is not good. She was just flying her kite, but when Nangong Ning came to her, the princess suddenly fainted! I don’t know what Nangong Ning has done! ”

Nangong Ning’s eyes went cold and she thought, well! That is what they are for!

The princess suddenly fainted, and just in time, An Suying and An Qing came here. Nangong Ning understood that they had arranged it all beforehand.

But Nanong Ning still hadn’t figured out some of the details.

For a moment Dr. Song could not understand what was going on, and he looked at Nangong Ning. The last time he had seen Nangong Ning’s medical skills, he had admired her very much, and now he finally saw his admirer again but in such a chaotic situation.

Nevertheless Dr. Song thought that Nangong Ning certainly was not a bad person, for after all, Doctors were all kind!

“Doctor Song, please tell us why the princess fainted.” Nangong Ning said to Dr. Song with a little relief, reading his thoughts.

Hearing her words, Dr. Song knelt down near the princess and felt her pulse.

Both An Suying and An Qing who stood a few paces away from Nangong Ning were watching Doctor Song’s movements with some uneasiness. They found that Doctor Song and Nangong Ning knew each other, and were not on bad terms!

An Suying gave An Qing a look, while An Qing understood what An Suying meant, so then she turned and walked quickly away.

Nangong Ning saw their behavior, but there was nothing she could do to stop them.

After Dr. Song had felt the princess’s pulse for a moment, his face became grave. An Suying saw his expression change, asking, “How’s it going, Doctor? Is the princess all right?”

Dr. Song paid no attention to her, but waved his hand to let her be quiet.

An Suying’s face changed and a fire of anger flashed into her eyes.

Nangong Ning looked to the Doctor, who withdrew his hand and said, “Miss Nangong, there is something wrong with Princess Qingle. She is very weak now, but her pulse shows nothing, and I cannot find the cause of her fainting.”

“Oh, ” Nangong Ning replied.

Dr. Song’s eyes lit up and he asked, “Miss, did you discover the reason why the princess fainted?”

Nangong Ning nodded her head, glanced at An Suying, who was shocked, and said nothing.

Dr. Song wanted to keep asking, but he was no fool. He knew that the situation was not good. Although he could not do anything for Nangong Ning, he could at least do it without making things worse.

Then came the sound of heavy footsteps.

Nangong Ning’s expression was changed and she realized that she was in trouble. Just as what she had thought, Lady Anli’s voice came from the distance.

“My daughter!”

Lady Anli was followed by many others. This was quite normal. When An Qing went to the Baihua Garden to ask for help, Nangong Ning was sure that An Qing’s words must appeal to the attention of Queen Xun and others, who were sure to follow Lady Anli.

Lady Anli hurried this way, and when she saw her daughter was in Nangong Ning’s arms, she rushed to grab her. But suddenly Nangong Ning said, coldly, “Lady, you had better stand where you are.”

Lady Anli was stunned. She actually stopped running. For her daughter was in Nangong Ning’s arms, and if Nangong Ning wanted to do something to the princess, she could not stop her.

“What have you done to my daughter?”

Nangong Ning looked up at Lady Anli coldly and said nothing.

Lady Anli stared at Nangong Ning, with her face full of anger.

Then the Queen came along, and looked at what was happening, with an astonished look on her face, saying, “Ning, what has been going on?”

Nangong Ning considered that the purpose of the queen today was to help her and Jun Qianye restore their reputation. Although she did not know why the queen did this, she thought the queen probably had nothing to do with the princess’s fainting, so she answered, “Your Majesty, the princess is poisoned.”

“What did you say?” The Queen was started again.

Lady Anli pointed her finger at Nangong Ning and shouted, “You’ve poisoned my daughter! How dare you!”

“Why are you so sure?” the Queen asked, looking in surprise at Lady Anli’s angry face.

Lady Anli asked angrily, “Queen, what do you mean by saying that?”

“My Queen simply means to ask why you say that I poisoned the princess. I said the princess was poisoned, but I didn’t say I was the one who has done that.” Nngong Ning answered Lady Anli’s questions on behalf of the Queen in a cold voice.

Lady Anli turned her head and glared at Nangong Ning again, shouting, “My daughter is in your arms now. Who could do it if you hadn’t poisoned her? Besides, I have witnesses!”

And as she spoke An Qing fell on her knees, sobbing, and said, “Your Majesty, I have seen that Miss Nangong rush upon Princess Qingle and seize her, and then she fell.”

And AN Suying also said, “Yeah, I saw that too. Nangong Ning must do something to the princess that made her faint!”

Nangong Ning had expected that they would testify against her, so she was not surprised, and so her face did not change.

The queen looked at Nangong Ning. She had just stopped Xun Xia following her in the garden, and so Queen Xun was still annoyed at her insubordination. Now that Nangong Ning was in such a trouble, so the queen thought that it was a chance for her to tame Nangong Ning. The queen said for Nangong Ning, “The testimony of your own niece, and of the maid, whom you think highly of, is not very convincing to me.”

“You mean my niece and my maid set Nangong Ning up on purpose?” Lady Anli asked the queen angrily.

The queen said calmly, “I have no intention of this, but this is not a trivial matter, the murder of the princess is not a small crime, we cannot give a conclusion casually.”

Lady Anli wanted to say something more, but the queen added, “What matters most now is the safety of the princess. As Princess Qingle’s mother, you will not neglect that, will you?”

Lady Anli’s face changed. She looked at her daughter and found that she was very pale, and her eyes were closed and even her lashes did not move.

Lady Anli turned to Doctor Song at once and said eagerly, “Doctor, please detoxify mu daughter.”

“I’m sorry, Lady. I didn’t even realize that the princess was in a coma because of the poison. And now, even if I knew that the princess was poisoned, I couldn’t get rid of the poison.”

“What?” Lady Anli’s face turned pale.

An Qing got up, went over to Lady Anli and said, “Lady, Dr. Song is not the only Doctor in this royal hospital. Dr. Song can’t detoxify the princess doesn’t mean that anyone else can’t either.”

Lady Anli was stunned and suddenly realized she was too panic to forget to follow her own plan.

Queen Xun said, “Doctor Song is the chief Doctor. If Doctor Song can’t cure the poison, how can any other Doctor do anything?”

Lady Anli, annoyed that the queen had been sabotailing her plans again, said coldly, “Every Doctor is good at different things, and Dr. Song is not omnipotent. As far as I know, Dr. Li in the royal hospital is very good at detoxifying.”

“Dr. Li?” The queen frowned slightly and said, “Dr. Li is too young, if I remember correctly. Besides, he works for our royal family for just a short time, and his skill should be the last in the hospital.”

“Being young does not mean that being bad at medicine. Good Doctors grow up from the beginning, and there are talented people who show their talents from the beginning. It is too arbitrary for you to judge a Doctor’s skill by his age, my queen.” Lady Anli said, frowning, no longer deferential.

The queen’s face fell. As the emperor’s wife and the half master of the palace, she could not bear to be contradicted by a concubine.

Nangong Ning suddenly said, “The safety of the princess is the most important thing. Your Majesty, since Lady Anli says Dr. Li can detoxify the princess, I think we should ask him to come at once.”

The queen looked at Nangong Ning with a little uneasiness and thought, could Nangong Ning not really understand that Dr. Li must be arranged by Lady Anli?

Lady Anli, however, neglecting to think why Nangong Ning would speak for herself, and offered to let Dr. Li to detoxify, immediately sent An Qing to fetch Dr. Li, who, on her orders, ran away.

Seeing this, the queen could only look at Nangong Ning, implying that she must be careful, and stopped talking.

Soon An Qing came back with a young Doctor, who was Dr. Li.

Dr. Li came and was about to salute the queen when Lady Anli said urgently, “Needn’t do salute, just go and see my daughter!”

The queen’s face fell, for before she could speak, Lady Anli spoke out to stop him. She must have done it on purpose!

In fact, just as the queen thought, Lady Anli did it on purpose. Dr. Li was an “actor” she had deliberately arranged for her to act in the scene. So when he got Lady Anli’s order, he really ignored the queen and walked quickly towards the princess.