The Fourth Lady novel Chapter 24

"That's right, if I've guessed correctly, she must be raising a ghost ringed scorpion in her own body like a parasite." Chonglou looked to Murong Jingxuan and respectfully answered, "Although this miss is quite daring, if she had failed she would have died."

"Then why did she pass out? Saying it like that isn't logical." Murong Jingxuan looked to him with a frown.

That look made Chonglou swallow his saliva. Why did he feel that his master was interested in that lady? Could it be that red rain* will fall?

(*TN: Red rain symbolizes something good will come; in this context he most likely thinking along the lines of romance since traditional weddings are in red, thus he's alluding to that)

"Master, you don't need to worry. This young lady is quite impressive." Chonglou bluntly said as he looked to Murong Jingxuan, "Who is this young lady? I keep feeling she looks familiar."

"She's Su Yun's daughter, and also the girl that unintentionally saved me many years ago. But her personality is really different from before. Although Fengluo looked into her, could it be that the people of the Su manor were so impatient that they wanted to kill her? Murong Jingxuan furrowed his brows as he muttered to himself.

"Fengshuang, go and investigate any news regarding Su Qingyan." As if he'd thought of something, Murong Jingxuan smiled, "If there's really no other way, then go find the 'Pavilion of Thousand Beasts' and buy all the information relating to the Su manor in the recent years. Most importantly, find out just who in the world would want to kill Su Qingyan."

Although Fengshuang's figure didn't appear, his voice respectfully sounded in the air, "I will take care of it right away."

"Chonglou, can you figure out exactly what poison she's been suffering from since birth?" When Murong Jingxuan turned his head towards him, he had a serious look.

Chonglou nodded at Murong Jingxuan, "Nevertheless, I would still need Miss Su to cooperate with me. Else, even I wouldn't be able to tell what kind of poison it may be."

"Shizi sure is interested in the poison within me."

When he heard this voice, he looked over to see Su Qingyan standing at the doorway. Her face was still gravely pale, as if the arrogant young girl who was bickering with him earlier was completely different person.

"Could it be that you know what you've been poisoned with?" Murong Jingxuan said this as he walked over to her side, supporting her unstable body. "Just who was the one that poisoned you, making you become like this?"

Su Qingyan felt the warmth coming from his hands. Generally speaking, how could someone as cold blooded as snakes have such warm hands? She attentively looked at the 20* year old young man before her and helplessly shrugged her shoulders, "Truthfully speaking, even I'm not clear as to who it is that wants to harm me."

(*TN: The original term is 'ruoguan' which literary means the approach of adulthood, which in ancient china refers to when a young man, reaches 20 according to traditional Chinese system; this system starts at age 1 when a child is born. So technically going by modern system he would be 19)

"Then do you know what you've been poisoned with?" Seeing her forcing herself to be strong, Murong Jingxuan impatiently asked.

"Do you know the usefulness of the banded krait and king cobra?" Su Qingyan raised her eyebrows at him, "To tell you the truth, I can only use them to temporarily suppress the poison in me, this is the same reason I'm using the ghost ringed scorpion."

It's just as Chonglou said, the 'Seven Toxin Five Flower' poison has 35 different combinations, and she just didn't know which combination that she was poisoned with. She couldn't just rashly try to treat the poison herself.

"Chonglou, can you find out which combination of the 'Seven Toxin Five Flower' poison that Miss Su was poisoned with?" Murong Jingxuan looked to Chonglou still with a stern expression.

Listening to his words, Su Qingyan and Chonglou simultaneously replied, "Impossible..."

Su Qingyan looked to Murong Jingxuan and withdrew from his embrace, "Shizi, you don't understand, not only doctor Chonglou can't figure out which combination of the 'Seven Toxin Five Flower' poison I'm afflicted with, but even the ghost ringed scorpion in my body doesn't know. Although I know how to concoct the 'Seven Toxin Five Flower', I don't know the exact sequence in which the ingredients are put in. Unless we find the culprit from that time, I can only temporarily treat the symptoms by countering the poison in my body with another poison.

"So that's why you let the ghost ringed scorpion reside in your body?" Murong Jingxuan stared at her as a tinge of pain flashed through his heart. If he had known earlier, then he wouldn't have tried to stop her.

"Though, this ghost ringed scorpion originally is one of the ingredients of the 'Seven Toxin Five Flower' poison, so I can only rely on it to suppress the poison in my body. As for the other ingredients, they're rare to begin with anyway." Su Qingyan let out a heavy sigh before suddenly vomiting a pool of black blood.

"What's wrong? Why did it become like this?" Murong Jingxuan immediately held on to her body that was on the verge of collapse. He looked to Chonglou and anxiously spoke, "Chonglou, just what in the world is happening? How could she have such a big reaction?"

Su Qingyan pulled on Murong Jingxuan's sleeve and shook her head, "Shizi, this has nothing to do with doctor Chonglou. Earlier, the ghost ringed scorpion also left toxins in my body. This black blood is just my body expelling the poison, there's no need for your Highness to worry."