Chương 22: Play Dead

Lei Xing looked down at the cup in annoyance, she reached for it and touched it, and then covertly scanned the faces of the other consorts and concubines.

{...Which of them would do this? Wait, they shouldn't even have the capacity to do this YET, it's only been 1 day!! To be able to get someone to poison me so quickly, especially to be daring enough to do it in the Empress dowager's palace...especially, in a tea blend she made he-...Shit!...}

Lei Xing covertly looked up at the Empress dowager, who was expectantly looking at them with a small smile, seemingly waiting for them to drink.

{...Why would she want to poison me?! What did I do? T_T)...I don't know, maybe she took offense to you rejecting her son, IN PUBLIC!!... He said he's great friends with my brother, right? He should have forgiven me, right?! Right, he should have...so why?! T_T)...}

Lei Xing saw the others had picked up their cups and slowly picked hers up to avoid looking suspicious.

{...Okay, so maybe she's poisoning all of us? but why would she do that?!!... Maybe it's not actually toxic, maybe birth control? That involves some type of poison, right?..but she just said to have kids, plus why would she DO that?!... Okay, I don't know, maybe she just hates my face! -_-)...Either way, I'm not drinking it to find out!!... But I can't NOT drink it! T_T)... What to do? Spill it? There's more in the pot...hmm...}

Lei Xing looked at the others, who were already sipping theirs, and they seemed fine. She held hers out in front of her and pretended to be taking in the scent of the tea.

{...Orange, to mask the scent? Nice blend to kill...how good is my acting? I'd say 8, some would say 4, average 6...whatever, let's just go with this...}

Lei Xing used her other hand to touch the side of her head and then closed her eyes and frowned, and then her hand holding the cup quickly went down on the table, spilling the contents.

The noise of the cup alerted the others in the room and they looked towards her. Lei Xing breathed in heavily and swayed a bit from side to side, opened her eyes a little, and was shaking her head a bit as if trying to clear up something.

Xiao Ruo propped up beside Lei Xing and asked her, "Your highness, are you okay?"

Lei Xing weakly glanced at Xiao Ruo, swayed a bit more and fell onto Xiao Ruo's body with her eyes closed and body limp. Xiao Ruo managed to stretch out her arms and catch Lei Xing and steady herself.

{...I'm sorry, I am afraid of pain...lots of accidents could happen with the floor...}

Xiao Ruo shook Lei Xing, "Your highness, your highness, what's wrong?!"

The Empress dowager frowned and got up, "What happened?"

"I don't know, she was just sitting here... was about to drink....when she..." Xiao Ruo stammered out, confused.

"Hurry, summon the imperial doctor." The Empress dowager ordered, "Move her to a side room."

Lei Xing listened to all this and maintained her limp state as she was picked up and moved, she could tell from the number of footsteps she could hear behind her that there was a cluster of people following, so she guessed that everyone from the hall was following along.

{...Are all of you that bored?...because it's definitely not that you're concerned -_-)...}

Shortly after, Lei Xing was placed on a bed and the others filed into the room. Lei Xing could feel their stares and tried her best to remain completely motionless.

{...This is so awkward...}

After a little while, the doors opened, and an Imperial doctor entered the room and bowed to the empress dowager and then to the noble consorts and concubines.

"Hurry up and check her, what is wrong with her?" The empress dowager spoke.

The Imperial doctor came over to the bed, knelt down, and then Lei Xing's wrist was put on a pillow and covered with a cloth, and then he felt for her pulse.

{...Okay, here we go...breathe...stop...breathe...stop...breathe...stop...}

The Imperial doctor wrinkled his eyebrows, "This..."

"What is it?" The empress dowager asked.

He removed his hand and then bowed to the empress dowager, "The noble consort's pulse is very irregular. She seems healthy, but the rate of her heartbeat is...I haven't come across this sort of situation...It's..."

"Was she maybe poisoned?" A concubine whispered, and everyone in the room froze. Lei Xing inwardly shook her head.

{...Who's this idiot who apparently sucks at whispering -_-)'...}

"What are you trying to say?" Song mama faced the concubine who "whispered".

"I...I didn't mean anything..." The concubine stuttered.

"Was she poisoned?" The Empress dowager coldly looked down at the Imperial doctor.

The Imperial doctor glanced at the Empress dowager and then bowed and said, "She wasn't poisoned."

"So what is wrong with her then?" The Empress dowager asked.

"This...this lowly one is incompetent and cannot..."

"If you're incompetent, then what is the point of you being alive then?"

"This...the noble consort's body is healthy...except the irregularity with her pulse...she...she" The Imperial doctor started cold sweating.

{...*Sigh* The life of an Imperial doctor is quite hard...probably one of the worst jobs in here...these entitled freaking royals must think they're God or something -_-)'...}

Lei Xing sighed in her head and weakly fluttered her eyes open and moved her hands.

"She's awake!" Xiao Ruo shouted beside her, then she went to Lei Xing to help her sit up.

The Imperial doctor rushed to her side and took her pulse again, and looked astonished, "It's normal now."

Lei Xing looked at him, his forehead was covered in sweat and he was obviously panicked and relieved. Lei Xing smiled at him a little, remembering to maintain her weak demeanor.

{...I'm so sorry, old man...you must have been so scared...}

Lei Xing looked at the Empress dowager and then bowed her head and explained, "Your majesty, I am so sorry to have worried you...I...I...it seems I developed a strange illness recently...I was gravely ill a little while ago after a drowning incident...and so had taken all sorts of medication during that period...since then, when I smell certain herbs...I feel dizzy and faint sometimes, so I normally avoid them when I feel these symptoms...I am so sorry to have caused you to worry...Since the tea was something your majesty personally prepared for us, I tried my best to restrain the symptoms as being able to drink your tea is an immense grace...but it seems I had overestimated myself."

Lei Xing finished and then glanced up at the Empress dowager with weak tearful eyes.

The Empress dowager coldly looked at Lei Xing, "What herbs cause these symptoms?"

{...Whatever's poisonous in your brew -_-)...}

Lei Xing shook her head, "I don't know...I took so many different medicinal herbs during that period...I have no idea..."

The Empress dowager looked at Lei Xing for a while and then said, "Next time, you don't need to force yourself. You should rest." The Empress dowager said and turned to leave.

Lei Xing bowed, "Thank you, your majesty."

{...Trust me, I will definitely never force myself...}

The other consorts and concubines followed the Empress dowager out of the room. Lei Xing quietly sighed in relief, at the same time, she heard another sigh of relief. She looked down at the Imperial doctor who was still on his knees with his head bowed, and almost laughed but restrained herself.

The Imperial doctor turned to her, "Your highness, I can prescribe some medication to help strengthen your heart."

"No need...I'll be fine with some rest. You can go."

The Imperial doctor looked at her momentarily, then he bowed and left. After he left, Lei Xing slouched on the bed and closed her eyes.

{...That was close...I must admit, I am pretty good...even I was convinced...it's not a lie though, so they can go look into it as much as they want...I was gravely ill and did take all sorts of bitter medication for 3 meals then...and I am allergic to any and everything poisonous!...at least with this, I have a great excuse in the future...}

Xiao Ruo looked at Lei Xing, "Your highness, are you okay?"

Lei Xing sighed, "Let's go back."

{...I'm not keen on staying in this woman's palace...}

Lei Xing got up with Xiao Ruo's help, not that she needed the help, but she needed to maintain the weak act to not get found out. After leaving the empress dowager's palace, she saw that her servants had prepared a palanquin for her.

{...It seems this woman doesn't want me here either...we're on the same page, that's good...}

Lei Xing got on the palanquin and went back to her palace. After she got back, she went straight to her room, sent the maids away, and jumped on the bed to sleep.

{...Acting is so draining...}

Later on in the afternoon, when Lei Xing woke up, she discovered that Ah Jin had come to the palace with all her stuff from home, most importantly, her money chests. All the stuff was carted into her bedroom, just as Lei Xing was debating where to put all this stuff, most importantly her money.

A maid came into the room, bowed and said, "Your highness, Noble consort Li is here to see you."

Lei Xing looked at her, "Who?"

"Noble consort Li."

Lei Xing looked at Xiao Ruo by her side and whispered, "Who is that?"

Xiao Ruo looked at Lei Xing's confused face and then realized that she must not have been paying attention during the introductions the day before.

{...I Can't blame her, she must have been over the moon...}

Xiao Ruo quietly said, "She was Lady Yu."

Lei Xing nodded, "Oh."

{...What does she want?...}

"Your highness, should I send her away?" The maid asked.

"No, no, I'll see her." Lei Xing said and went out of the room to her reception hall where she saw Lady Yu- that's wrong, Noble consort Li standing with a maid beside her holding a box.

When Noble consort Li saw Lei Xing, she bowed and said, "Thank you for seeing me."

Lei Xing looked at her skeptically, and said, "It's nothing, thank you for coming...sit down." She said as she took the seat on the side herself, ignoring the main seat at the front. Noble consort Li remained standing with her head lowered. Lei Xing inwardly sighed.

{...Well, this is awkward...}

After a while, Lei Xing said, "Hello...hey!"

Noble consort Li jumped and then looked at Lei Xing a bit stunned, Lei Xing was confused and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Ah, I'm sorry...I know you aren't feeling well, so I made some light snacks for you to eat...if it's okay..." As she said this, she moved to the maid beside her and brought out a plate of snacks from the box and brought it over to Lei Xing and put it on the table beside her, while sneaking glances at Lei Xing. After dropping the plate, she went back to her standing position with her head lowered.

Lei Xing watched her and was so confused.

{...What is wrong with her?... Am I scary? O_O)...}

"Why don't you sit down?" Lei Xing said again.

Noble consort Li nodded but did not move, she glanced up at Lei Xing and then went red. Lei Xing was even more baffled with this reaction.

{...Or does she have a crush on me or something 0_0 ?)...}

Noble consort Li took a deep breath and then asked, "Do you remember me?"

{...Lady, I'm not even sure what your name is...}

Noble consort Li saw Lei Xing's lack of a reaction and then nervously laughed a little, "Haha...Of course, you don't remember me...after all, it was such a small event to you...maybe even bothersome to you...of course, you wouldn't remember..." As she spoke, her voice got quieter.

Lei Xing watched her nervous guest twirling her fingers.

{...What is this now? Did we have a thing before?...}