Reborn as an Ugly Wife in the Countryside

Chapter 1721: Chapter 1723: The Child Is Not Dead

Xue Zhiyi’s attitude made Chu Lian furious. He stepped forward and grabbed Xue Zhiyi’s collar again. He no longer wanted to waste words with him. He said angrily, "Talk. Tell me everything you know about Consort Ling. If there’s even half a sentence of lies, I’ll take your life."

In Xue Zhiyi’s eyes, Chu Lian was nothing more than a snot‑nosed kid. When he was Chu Lian’s age, he was still wearing split‑crotch pants. Chu Lian’s every move was in his sight, and he hadn’t actually intended to kill him.

The corner of his mouth tugged into a smile. "Let the girl who came with me go first, and I’ll tell you."

Those words displeased Chu Lian. "You’re bargaining with me?"

"Heh, I’m a man about to die. I can’t drag the innocent down with me."

Chu Lian flung Xue Zhiyi’s collar away. "Rest easy, I won’t drag the innocent down either."

Xue Zhiyi knew Chu Lian was telling the truth, so he no longer mentioned An’an and instead said, "About Consort Ling, I’m very sorry. The Empress Dowager summoned me to make the medicine; I couldn’t disobey an order. But the medicine I concocted did no real harm to Consort Ling’s own body."

"Ha ha ha, ’no real harm,’ is it? Yet you laid your hands on her child!" Chu Lian’s eyes were blood‑red as he questioned him. His hand seized Xue Zhiyi’s collar again—he was so enraged he couldn’t control himself.

Xue Zhiyi felt that if this went on any longer, the handsome man before him might "accidentally" finish him off. It was better to quickly speak the key point, so he said, "The child didn’t die."

"What did you say?" As expected, that sentence made Chu Lian’s mind buzz. He asked back in disbelief.

The child didn’t die?

How was that possible?

The message sent by carrier pigeon clearly said that any child poisoned with the Hundred‑Day Return‑to‑Heaven poison would surely die on the hundredth day after birth. How could he still be alive? He said furiously, "Don’t think you can fool me just to save your skin."

"Why do you think the government office was looking for a six‑toed child? You really don’t know in your heart?"

Those words made Chu Lian pause for a moment, then he heard Xue Zhiyi continue, "It was because they were confirming whether the child was alive or dead. But why did they stop searching later? Because once the hundred days passed, even if they couldn’t find him, he was bound to die."

Hearing this, Chu Lian’s pupils contracted a few times. He understood perfectly well what Xue Zhiyi meant. That was exactly why they had concluded the child was dead.

"Can you let go of me now?"

Chu Lian finally removed his hand from Xue Zhiyi’s collar, his mind still circling around that sentence—the child didn’t die. Then his eyes widened as he asked, "Is the child with you?"

If the child was fine, the only one who could have detoxified him would be Xue Zhiyi, so he asked that question.

Xue Zhiyi shook his head. "No. He was saved by a young couple. That couple suffered a great deal in order to get the antidote for the child before they found me. They don’t know the child’s identity and are now raising him as their own son. I think, for that child, this is the best and safest arrangement. So it would be best if you people from the Prime Minister Residence pretend you don’t know anything, lest you bring a death sentence upon the child and drag that kind‑hearted couple down with him."

The amount of information was a bit much, but Chu Lian made a judgment in an instant. "Why should I believe you?"

"I have a witness. The Imperial Bodyguard who carried the child out back then is with me. If you don’t believe me, I can send a carrier pigeon and have them come."