On her wedding night, she went into exile with her pharmacy arsenal

Chapter 2279 The Murderous Intent on the Silver Note

Yan Ruyu smiled in a half-smile.

"The banknotes were poisoned, didn't you notice?"

Qin Zhao's expression suddenly changed, and his pupils contracted sharply.

"poison?"

“Not bad.” Yan Ruyu’s eyes were clear and sharp. “This poison carries a very faint fragrance that is not easily noticed under normal circumstances. However, the fragrance will become more and more obvious when you look closely under candlelight.”

"You're surrounded by these banknotes every day, haven't you ever smelled them?"

Qin Zhao's heart pounded wildly, like a drumbeat, and the color drained from his face instantly.

His most private habit was to sit alone under the lamp late at night, counting money and looking at banknotes.

The warm candlelight illuminated the brand-new banknotes, and his fingertips caressed the delicate paper. The feeling of controlling wealth was the ultimate enjoyment for him.

Very few people know about this habit, and given Miaoqin's flamboyant personality, it's impossible that she would know.

He recalled carefully that every time he looked through the silver notes he had received from Miaoqin under the lamp, he could always smell a faint fragrance, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, sometimes fainter, sometimes present and sometimes absent.

He assumed at the time that the silver notes had been tainted by the incense on Miaoqin's body and never thought much of it. He even felt that the fragrance, combined with the candlelight and the silver notes, added to the pleasant atmosphere.

It was poison!

No, not possible!

Yan Ruyu must be bluffing him!

Qin Zhao gritted his teeth, forcibly suppressing the panic in his heart, and shook his head, saying, "I don't understand what the Princess Consort is saying."

"Don't understand?" Yan Ruyu's gaze suddenly turned cold and sharp, her tone playful and sarcastic. "Then press the Tanzhong acupoint yourself, feel it for yourself, and then tell me if you understand."

As soon as she finished speaking, an older shopkeeper couldn't help but advise, "Shopkeeper Qin, now that things have come to this, why not give it a try?"

In case of poisoning, it's better to detect and treat it early than to be kept in the dark forever.

The other shopkeepers echoed this sentiment.

Qin Zhao hesitated for a moment, looked at the probing gazes of the crowd, took a deep breath, slowly raised his right hand, and gently touched the Tanzhong acupoint on his chest with his fingertips—he deliberately used a light touch and did not dare to use a strong force.

Even so, as soon as my fingertip touched the Tanzhong acupoint, a piercing pain suddenly came, as if I had been stabbed by an invisible sharp blade!

Qin Zhao couldn't help but groan in pain, his body tensing instinctively, and his fingertips quickly retracting.

But the pain did not subside; instead, it spread rapidly like a tide, spreading from the chest cavity to the entire abdomen. The cramping pain was dense and intense, as if countless tiny knives were churning inside the body.

"Ah!" Qin Zhao could no longer hold back. He clutched his abdomen tightly with both hands and cried out in pain. His face turned ashen, and large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

A moment later, he suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of dark red blood.

"Manager Qin!"

"They've really been poisoned!"

Upon seeing this, everyone exclaimed in surprise, and their gazes toward Qin Zhao completely changed—shock, realization, and a hint of indescribable complexity.

Yin Ding stood to the side with his arms crossed and sneered, his tone dismissive: "I told you long ago that you were poisoned, but you just wouldn't believe me. You had to go through this pain before you would admit it. You won't shed a tear until you see the coffin."

Qin Zhao bent over, his face turning from pale to flushed, the veins on his forehead throbbing. He struggled to raise his head, his gaze fixed on Yan Ruyu, his eyes filled with pain and disbelief.

Yan Ruyu raised an eyebrow, her tone calm and indifferent: "The poison you received was not administered by this princess."

This is a chronic poison; the poison is planted the moment you first come into contact with those banknotes, and the incubation period can be as long as three months.

"I just had you press the Tanzhong acupoint, which only accelerated the poison's progression. Even without pressing it, you wouldn't live more than three months."

The poison was still spreading, and Qin Zhao's pain became more and more intense. His legs went weak, and he couldn't help but kneel on one knee. His hand supporting him on the ground trembled slightly, and his breathing was rapid and heavy, with each breath accompanied by a tearing pain.

"Please...please, Your Highness, save me." He raised his head, his voice hoarse, all his former arrogance gone, leaving only a desperate desire to live.

Yan Ruyu smiled faintly, but her eyes were devoid of warmth: "Saving you is easy, tell the truth."

Qin Zhao took a deep breath. The sharp pain in his chest made his vision blur. He knew he had no choice.

After a moment, he nodded with difficulty.

Yan Ruyu raised her hand to signal, and Yin Ding immediately took out a brown pill from her bosom, stepped forward, pinched open Qin Zhao's chin, and stuffed the pill into his mouth.

The pill melted instantly in his mouth, and a cool sensation slid down his throat. Before long, Qin Zhao's excruciating pain lessened considerably, and his breathing gradually became steady.

He was breathing heavily, and after a while, he finally looked up and said, "That's right, I promised Miaoqin that I would cooperate with her."

"what!"

"it is as expected!"

"Qin Zhao, you hypocrite! You pretended to be so righteous before, but it was all a lie!"

The crowd erupted in uproar.

"I used to think you were a real man, but I never imagined you would secretly collude with Miaoqin to harm us all!"

"You donated food and medicine during the epidemic, all to win people's hearts so you could control the Chamber of Commerce later! You're such a good actor!"

"We were so blind to have trusted such a heartless bastard like you!"

Faced with the accusations of the crowd, Qin Zhao not only did not feel guilty, but instead suddenly raised his head, his eyes filled with intense hatred.

Li sneered: "I'm pretending? Were all the things I did for the Chamber of Commerce fake?"

His gaze swept over the shopkeepers present, his eyes sharp as knives: "Back then, when the southern trade routes were robbed, who risked their life to go alone to the mountain stronghold to negotiate and bring everyone's goods back intact? It was me, Qin Zhao!"

"Last year, grain prices soared, and the Chamber of Commerce ran into cash flow problems. Who took out their own private assets to fill the gap and ensure that everyone's shops could operate normally? It was me, Qin Zhao!"

His gaze fell on a shopkeeper surnamed Zhao, and his tone was strongly questioning: "And you!"

"Manager Zhao, last year you were kidnapped by bandits. Who spent a fortune and bribed everyone to rescue you from their den and bring you back to Youcheng alive? It was me, Qin Zhao!"

Manager Zhao was stunned by his gaze and subconsciously lowered his head, unable to utter a word.

Qin Zhao's emotions grew increasingly agitated, his chest heaving violently: "I have served the Chamber of Commerce with all my heart and soul, and what have you done for me? You are all ungrateful!"

When it came time to elect the president of the Chamber of Commerce, even though I had the greatest achievements and the strongest abilities, you still chose Manager Yu!

"Is it because he comes from a merchant family, while I got into this business by marrying a merchant's daughter?"

Manager Yu was taken aback upon hearing this, his face full of astonishment: "It's because of this?"

"Isn't that enough?" Qin Zhao retorted, a desolate self-mockery curling at the corner of his mouth. "I, Qin Zhao, have been well-versed in poetry and literature since childhood, and my knowledge is no less than any of yours."

Because of his family's poverty, he was unable to continue his studies and pursue officialdom, forcing him to abandon his career in government, marry a merchant's daughter, and enter the business world, which was looked down upon by the world.