Foster Son, Don’t Be So Crazy (58)

Song Jia was once again locked inside the tower by Xiang Feng.

She gritted her teeth and pulled at the metal bar that was loped around the door, her face turning red with effort.

She panted, and when it didn't budge, she kicked the door in frustration. Su Liang who was watching her with a smile said comfortingly, "No matter how many times you try, I don't think that door will open. It's better if you eat these delicious pastries with me."

She pointed at the plate of pastries that Qiao Huan had discovered Xiang Feng left for them.

Song Jia glared at her.

The two girls had already woken up, and last night Song Jia had slept with them on the same bed. Xiang Feng could only lie down on the sofa in the sitting room, his face black. He didn't mind sleeping on the sofa, but he minded Song Jia not sleeping beside him!

Qiao Huan agreed with Su Liang, "I think we should just wait for Lord Xiang Feng to come back."

Song Jia aimed a kick at the door again. She wished that the door was Xiang Feng's face.

"If we wait for him to come back, the coronation would already be over!"

She wasn't worried as there was still Nian Shou to oversee the coup d'état, but how could she stay here when the cumulation of her eight years of planning was finally going to happen? It was like typing a long essay, only for someone else to carelessly delete it. Song Jia was not reconciled!

Filled with burning spirit, she tried to pull the metal bar again. She pulled it until her palms turned red and she winced in pain.

Su Liang clicked her tongue in disapproval, "Aren't you afraid that if he sees your hands like that, that sadistic maniac would create a fuss?"

Su Liang had only met Xiang Feng once, but that short interaction had given her a deep and lasting impression of how much he loved Song Jia.

Hearing Su Liang's words, Song Jia stopped and looked down at her inflamed hands. Ah...he would probably indeed overreact and punish her.

Qiao Huan stood up and a shallow crease formed between her brows, "Lady Jia, I saw a healing ointment on the bedroom, we should treat it before it gets worse."

With Xiang Feng's angry face looming inside her mind, Song Jia nodded and obediently followed Qiao Huan back to the bedroom.

Song Jia sat on the bed as Qiao Huan searched for the ointment. Then she sat next to her and opened a small porcelain jar. Qiao Huan rubbed the green paste all over Song Jia's palms, her touch light and gentle.

Song Jia said, "Your eyes are really good, I've never noticed this ointment jar before."

Qiao Huan softly smiled, "Lady Jia is being humble, your eyes are blue like the summer sky, incomparable to my plain brown ones."

Song Jia frowned. Why did she feel like her words contained a trace of bitterness?

But when Qiao Huan looked up to meet her gaze, her eyes were clear and innocent.

"Shou'er once told me, Lady Jia gets thirsty in the middle of the night?"

Song Jia was confused by the sudden change of subject but still nodded.

"Does Lady Jia know that when Shou'er and I sleep together, he would wake up and get me a glass of water? When I asked him why he did that, he would get confused, and then take a look at my face."

Qiao Huan's gaze was clear like a still lake, reflecting her figure. But Song Jia suddenly had a thought, clear shallow lakes would still show the sand on the bottom, whereas deep lakes would only show your reflection, nothing more.

"Lady Jia, do you know how hard it is to be the recipient of a loving expression that constantly switches into disappointment?"

Qiao Huan smiled, yet this smile suddenly held a deeper meaning to Song Jia. She tried to frantically remember, did she drink a glass of water last night?

Her eyes flicked to the bedside table, and there it was, the empty glass that she drank last night. She thought that Xiang Feng had brought it in for her.

Qiao Huan caught her looking at the empty glass. "Oh, that's right, you drank it all last night, didn't you? I didn't think Lord Xiang Feng would leave us alone, so I used a silent poison. My luck is truly too good, I even had a chance to use this."

She held up the green ointment in her hand. "This one would be harmless by itself, but along with the poison you drank last night..."

Song Jia suddenly couldn't move a single muscle. With a gentle push of Qiao Huan's hand, she collapsed on the bed. Her golden hair spread out below her, her blue eyes wide and confused.

Then Song Jia heard a loud 'thump' inside the sitting room and her expression became horrified.

"Don't worry, Lady Jia," Qiao Huan reassured her. "I only put a light poison on the pastries. Compared to her, I think you should worry about yourself more."

Song Jia felt an intense searing pain travel across her body. She wanted to scream, but her lips wouldn't move.

Qiao Huan sighed helplessly, "Lady Jia, you look so beautiful even suffering like this. But the pain would turn even worse later. The first potion I fed you would make you die painfully, but the second potion would create a synergy with the first potion and increase the pain until you wished you were dead."

"But see, Lady Jia," Qiao Huan took out a knife and showed it to her, "Huanhuan's still not satisfied with this. Look, isn't this knife pretty?"

If Song Jia was panicking before, she was now truly terrified. Because she recognized the knife on Qiao Huan's hand.

It was a silver ornamental knife, decorated with engraved flowers and vine patterns. The tip of the blade was made of cold iron.

It was the knife that if it pricked her, it would make her sleep for a hundred years. But if it stabbed her...

She remembered that Nian Shou had taken Su Liang and Qiao Huan with him when he went back to their old house to pick up their former belongings.

Song Jia did not worry about poison from Princess Bai Xue because she was still a half-fairy, and her body should have some resistance to it. But iron was the bane to the Fair Folk, and this dagger was especially made to kill them.

Song Jia endured the pain in her body and gathered all of her strength. She tried to move her arms, but felt that her limbs were unusually heavy and her head was becoming muddled. Qiao Huan was still talking, speaking of the time the crown princess had given her the task of being her spy.

Song Jia no longer listened to her. She could feel her body battling the poison, and it was giving her severe pain. Finally, she managed to slightly move her wrist.

"Lady Jia underestimated Her Royal Highness, that's why Huanhuan was able to fool Lady Jia. Lady Jia, don't you think you should reflect on yourself a bit more? Being arrogant like this would...ah!"

Qiao Huan's eyes opened wide like dinner plates, as she didn't think that even after drinking two poisonous potions, this woman would still be able to move!

Song Jia had tried to stab her with a dagger she pulled from her storage space, but her strength was too poor, and her momentum only pushed the two of them off the bed. Qiao Huan was only momentarily surprised. When she realized what had happened, she raised her foot and directly kicked Song Jia in the abdomen.

Song Jia's grip on the knife loosened, her body slamming into the wall behind her. There was the sound of something snapping, and Song Jia suspected that one or two of her ribs might be broken. Song Jia bit her lip and tried to get one hand underneath her body, to raise herself on a trembling arm, but another vicious kick to her arm sent her back to the floor.

"Lady Jia, you're really strong aren't you?" Qiao Huan panted, before kicking her again. "A strong and beautiful woman, how enviable."

Song Jia wrapped her arms around her chest and weakly groaned. Tears leaked out of her eyes from the pain. She told herself to get up, to ignore the pain, but every time she moved, there another kick that would hit her. Song Jia stopped moving.