1.2: Under the cherry blossom rain

Just then, a knock that was not so loud nor low was heard from the door and Xiao Mo's voice drifted in right after. "Wang ye, the food has been prepared. May this servant serve them for you?"

Bai Yu waved his hand calmly and the system interface faded away then he replied. "You may enter."

Xiao Mo opened the door and walked in with a food box in his hand after getting his permission then set it on the table and took out the warm dishes to serve them for Bai Yu. Plain chicken porridge, some vegetables side dishes and a plate of bite sized pastries. The meal was very simple and plain as expected for a sick person.

Xiao Mo quickly handed a pair of chopsticks made of wood to him with both hands. Taking the chopsticks, Bai Yu didn't say anything and let him retreat.

After Xiao Mo was gone, Bai Yu looked at the set of plain meal in front of him then used the chopsticks to pick up a mouthful of cooked vegetables and brought it to his mouth. The taste wasn't that good but it was edible.

He ate a bit more of the vegetables then took the bowl of porridge to drink but just when the spoon got near his mouth, his nose twitched a bit and he stopped his actions. He calmly stared at the plain porridge that looked very normal with no fluctuations in his eyes.

So that's how it is...

In just a few seconds, his mind had already conjured up various scenarios and got a bit of a clue behind his poor health. His suspicion was right. He was indeed poisoned.

And it wasn't some simple poison either. It was a slow acting poison that was colourless, tasteless; if it weren't for his high proficiency and knowledge in medicine and his good sensitivity, he would have probably missed the smell unique to the poison that smelt a bit like snow lotus but could have passed as a refreshing smell of the herbs used in the porridge instead.

It was called 'Snow frost poison' that was made from a type of flower specie that looked and smelled very similar to a snow lotus that was found in the coldest place. It would absorb the cold essence of the ice and form a type of poison which wasn't very lethal if taken a small dose of but would be very dangerous if it was accumulated little by little.

If a person is given Snow frost poison, they won't show any symptoms until the fourth dose, their internal organs will slowly start to deteriorate and their body will turn icy cold. Their body will be very sensitive to the weather and they will suffer even more in winter. In all four seasons, the body will be cold as ice and will have difficulty in movements. If not treated quickly before it's too late, the person will die due to organ failure and will only be diagnosed as death from severe cold and not from poison.

It was common for ancient people to die from even the simplest sickness like common cold.

Till death, the poisoned person will suffer from the torture of having his organs frozen by frost. It was really a very cruel method to kill someone.

Who could have such great hatred towards him to go this far as to use the Snow frost poison just to deal with a mere unfavoured and forgotten prince? The poison wasn't something that ordinary people could get a hand on. It must be someone with a high status and wealth.

Bai Yu already had a list of suspects in his mind but he put it aside for now. Right now, he had to deal with the poison inside his body first. Otherwise, at this rate, he will probably die in just half a year time at minimum. From his diagnosis, he must have started to ingest the poison around 2 years ago. Due to the difficulty in birth, his body was already weak but not to the point of being on the verge of death if not for the poison.

Long Ji Wei also came of age 2 years ago and started living in his own wang fu*. Which means...a spy!

{A/N: Wang Fu means a prince's manor.}

A light flashed in his cold eyes as he came into this conclusion.

It wasn't surprising. As a weak and powerless prince, he only had his mother's loyal servants as his most trusted people and it wasn't very hard to plant one or two spies in his wang fu. In the eyes of those people, he was just an ant that could be crushed under their shoes in any time. Even spending this much effort to poison him to fake his death by illness could be taken as being regarded a bit highly by the enemy.

'But that depends on whether I will let them do as they wish...'

Bai Yu hooked his lips slightly and said, "Little Star, exchange for an antidote and a body nourishing pill of the highest quality," he paused then added, "and also a pill that can fake illness." He didn't want to beat the grass and scare the snake away. Since they want to see him suffer, he will fulfil their wish and give them a huge gift while they are feeling complacent about it.

Little Star could guess a bit about his plan after working together with him all this time so he didn't ask his purpose and only nodded. "Okay! One antidote, one body nourishing pill and a fake illness pill will cost 24,500 credit points."

Bai Yu nodded without any care. "En."

He had already earned more than 300k credit points from his previous worlds so a mere 24k points was just a drop in the ocean for him. Although he chose to learn medicine and was very proficient in it, he will have to waste a lot of time in gathering necessary medicinal herbs and there were also a few rare herbs that might not be available or were very expensive.

He couldn't afford them in his current situation and his movements were also being monitored by his enemies so he couldn't do something that might raise their suspicion on him.

And he was also not lacking in credit points so it was no big deal for him to spend it on these pills. Anyway, he can still earn them back after completing his task.

Three small and round pills appeared on top of his palm. Without any hesitation he first ate the antidote then proceeded with swallowing the body nourishing pill.

The pills immediately melted in his mouth and a fiery sensation slid down from his throat to his stomach then spread throughout his body. The warmth quickly fought against the cold poison and completely dispersed it within half an hour. The body nourishing pill also worked quickly and strengthened his body condition until he was brimming with energy.

The pills from the system mall had never disappointed him. It was really worth every cent.

His previously sickly pale face devoid of any warmth was finally restored to a healthy hue with a tint of rosiness on his cheeks. His body that would feel prickling pain every time he moved was also no longer suffering from that torment.

Bai Yu nodded once in appreciation then popped in the last pill on his hand to his mouth. His face regained that sickly pallor and no matter how anyone saw him or checked his pulse, he will be diagnosed as 'very ill' and 'having one foot in his grave'.

"Master, do you need me to help you in anything else?" Little Star cutely tilted his head and asked.

Bai Yu thought for a bit then nodded. "Mm. Help me keep an eye on the people in the wang fu. From the lowest labor servants to even my personal hidden guards. If you find anyone suspicious, let me know."

"Mm! (⊙v⊙)" Little Star nodded vigorously.

"And also,"Bai Yu added. "monitor the matter in the court. Especially pay attention to my imperial brothers and make a report of anyone who are close to them. You can also exchange for some bugs and plant them in the important places like study, etc to not miss out any clue. If I can, I want to finish the task way before the given time so that I can deal with the cumbersome tasks here and go to search for..."

He didn't finish his sentence but Little Star understood his meaning so he quickly nodded again. "Don't worry, master. I will do as you say!"

"Good."

Only Bai Yu could see Little Star so he always entrusted spying tasks to him. Like, why not? He had such a cheat-like system with him so he will of course not do everything by himself.

.....

...

A week has passed by peacefully for Bai Yu. In these past few days, he got a better understanding of the matter in the court as well as where the wind was blowing more fiercely through the hard work of the spy, Little Star.

There are three political factions contending both covertly and overtly for the throne. Two of which were the Duan Wang faction and Ning Wang faction, who were both equal in terms of power and had their own advantages. And the last faction was the neutral faction made up of old officials who were loyal to the throne or those who only wanted to wait and see and not get pushed into the muddy waters as of yet.

The fifth prince, Ning Wang was the son of consort Shu who was currently the most favoured concubine in the emperor's harem. He had both the backing of a powerful clan such as the Li family, a scholarly family with hundreds of years of history where many prominent court officials were hailed from, and the Emperor's favour.

The current patriarch of the Li family was given the title of Grand Tutor* by the Emperor personally. Although the Li family had been showing a sign of decline from how they haven't been able to produce any more genius officials like their predecessors, a starving camel is still bigger than the horse.*

{Grand Tutor: The teacher of the Emperor.}

{*It is an idiom meaning even though the Li family is declining, their prestige and status is still higher than others.}

But in every advantage, there is a disadvantage. Since small, Ning Wang was pampered by his consort mother and the Emperor also loved him more after the death of the Empress. Although no one was conferred as the Empress again, everyone knew that in the harem, Consort Shu had the highest status and power.

Due to this, Long Ji Jing had a proud and arrogant nature. He always looked down at others and held contempt for his other imperial brothers. He was well known as a tyrant by everyone.

Meanwhile, Duan Wang was the eldest prince among all the other imperial princes and was ranked third. He was very steady and calm by nature. He had deep schemes and had the necessary knowledge and skills to become an Emperor but his status was lowly and had an inferior complex which led to him having a twisted nature hidden deep inside.

He wasn't a compassionate person either so he wasn't really a good choice for the prosperity of the country and its common folks. Most of the court officials could see this too but they had no other choice but to either support him or stay neutral as there was no other suitable candidates among the remaining princes.

While other Emperor's had more than three thousand women and hundreds of children under his knees*, the Emperor QingLong was actually more restrained in comparison and could also be seen as pitiful as more than half of his children were either short lived or died in their mother's womb. There were only two high ranking consorts and a few lower ranking concubines and noble ladies* in the harem.

{*Meaning how there are many women in the harem. It's just a saying but true in some cases.}

{*Concubine is the title given to the women who are one rank lower than the consorts and noble lady is another rank lower than concubine. The title are given according to the amount of favour given to them by the Emperor.}

Consort Gui was childless and had a shallow relation with her adoptive son, Xiang Wang, the seventh prince given birth by Empress Xiande. Her maternal family, although had a good status in court, they were still lacking in terms of connections and reputation compared to the Li family. It was only due to Long Ji Wei being the late Empress's only son and him being the adoptive son of consort Gui that she could still maintain her status as a 'consort'.

And the last of the four princes, the Ninth prince, Ming Wang was the son of concubine Jing. His status was average, his qualities average and his looks were only above average. He was a free person with no ambition and had just came of age and started to live in his own wang fu. He had a lively and humble nature with a kind personality. Among all the princes, he was the closest to Xiang Wang and also the most carefree.

Due to his soft-hearted nature and humble status, he wasn't considered to be a suitable candidate for the throne.

While there was no need to even talk about the sickly Seventh prince, Xiang Wang.

With how things were going now, everyone could only wait and see who will emerge as the true winner and who will become the loser. But what they did know was that no matter who, the future of the Eastern Long was full of uncertainties. With most of them being worried about its downfall instead.

But the downfall or prosperity of the kingdom had nothing to do with Bai Yu. His only mission here was to ascend to the throne to complete his task and travel the world in search for that person after handing the matters to someone trustworthy and capable then he will decide on whether to leave or stay.

As for whether the two princes fought against each other to death? Who cares? He might as well accelerate the matter from behind the scene so they could exhaust both of their strength in the process. As the saying goes, 'Mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.'*

He is the oriole while his two elder brothers are the mantis and cicada. Strike them down when both had lowered their guards with small effort and the best result. This, was the way he worked.

{*The Chinese Idiom The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, which the story behind the idiom comes from Shuo Yuan, refers to those who are attracted by immediate interests without thinking about the possible dangerous results.}