Li Zian sat on the edge of the bed, looking at Shen Tianshu, whose brows were still furrowed in his sleep, not to mention how distressed he felt.
Because she had an injury on her neck, when Mingyu changed her clothes, she left the collar buttons unbuttoned.
It has been a day since the incident, and the pinch marks on Shen Tianshu's neck gradually appeared, looking horribly bruised and purple.
There was also a long wound left by the dagger on her cheek. Fortunately, the wound was not deep, it was just a scratch on the skin, and the medicine had been applied at this time.
But as soon as Li Zian saw these scars, he wanted to cut Mr. Dong into pieces with a thousand cuts to relieve his hatred.
It's a pity that Mr. Dong has now been buried in the sea of fire, and he has no one to vent his anger on.
Li Zian waited until Shen Tianshu fell asleep more deeply, then stretched out his hand to gently rub the center of her eyebrows, trying to smooth away her sorrow.
"You, you really don't make people worry."
Thinking of the panic he felt when he received the news last night, Li Zian still has lingering fears.
After receiving the news, he immediately turned around and rode hard towards Tian'en Temple.
From a distance, I could see the black smoke rising into the sky on the back mountain of Tian'en Temple, with flames rising from time to time.
Even though he knew that Shen Tianshu had been rescued, he was still anxious and kept whipping the horse under his crotch.
After beating the horse and galloping all the way back to Tian'en Temple, he suddenly reined in the reins, turned over and dismounted, and the horse immediately fell to the ground without any strength.
Li Zian ran all the way from the mountain gate to the place where the fire was burning at the back of the mountain. Looking at the flames rising into the sky, his legs were so weak that he almost fell to his knees.
Fortunately, Xie Yun appeared in time and led him to the side of the meditation room...
Thinking of this, Li Zian couldn't help but close his eyes.
He could not describe how he felt when he entered the Zen room and saw Shen Tianshu lying on the bed in a miserable state, seemingly dead.
He stumbled to the bedside, and his first reaction was to reach out to test her breath.
After repeatedly confirming that Shen Tianshu was still breathing, Li Zian breathed a sigh of relief and found that tears were streaming down his face and his hands were shaking uncontrollably.
Fortunately, no outsiders saw it, otherwise the prince would have lost his dignity in front of his servants.
But not long after Li Zian breathed a sigh of relief, his heart started to get excited again - Shen Tianshu started to feel hot.
Her fever was not an ordinary fever, but a high fever. In the middle of the night, she cried and shouted and couldn't wake up.
Li Zian stayed in front of the bed all night.
He changed the wet handkerchief and administered medicine. Apart from wiping himself to avoid suspicion, he never left Shen Tianshu's bedside.
It was not until that night, after Shen Tianshu's high fever finally subsided, that Li Zian, reminded by Xie Yan, remembered that he should send someone back to the city to inform Shen Zhonglei of the matter.
So when Shen Zhonglei and his people quietly arrived at Tian'en Temple, it was already the early morning of the third day after the incident.
As soon as the sky turned white, Xie Yan was already waiting outside the side door and welcomed him in.
"You go this way." Xie Yan led Shen Zhonglei to the back mountain, "The prince has ordered people to seal the news tightly. Now the people outside only know that a fire suddenly broke out in Tian'en Temple and it burned until dawn before gradually extinguishing. They don't know The matter is related to Shen Mansion.
"Your Majesty, I have told you how to deal with subsequent matters, all based on your instructions.
Xie Yan took Shen Zhonglei inside and happened to pass by the place where the fire had been.
Looking at the several Buddhist temples that had been burned to the ground with only broken walls and ruins left, Shen Zhonglei felt his scalp numb and his heart became more and more panicked.
Finally, we came to an independent and secluded small courtyard in the back mountain. This is the place reserved by Tianen Temple for the residence of Prince Rui.
Concubine Fengrong and Li Zian would occasionally come over to pay homage to the Buddha and stay for a while.
There is no one disturbing here. Once the gate is closed, it becomes more like a courtyard that exists independently of Tian'en Temple.
After following Xie Yan into the main hall, Shen Zhonglei finally couldn't help but ask: "Master Xie, what's going on with my family now?"
The person who sent the message from Prince Rui's Mansion spoke vaguely. He only said that the Buddhist temple where the Shen family lived caught fire and someone was injured. Now the Crown Prince has led people to control the fire and the situation, and asked him not to disturb other people and rush to Tian'en Temple as soon as possible.
.
If he hadn't known the person who sent the message in the past, who was Li Zian's personal servant Qing Lin, Shen Zhonglei would have thought that he had encountered a liar.
He rushed over as quickly as possible with fear, and finally couldn't hold back and asked.
Xie Yan sighed and said: "Master Shen, I'd better wait for the prince to tell you about this matter."
These words made Shen Zhonglei even more confused and confused. He really didn't understand why this matter was related to Li Zian.
"You sit down for a moment, I'll invite the prince to come over." Xie Yan said, turned around, knocked on the door, and entered the east room.
Shen Zhonglei couldn't sit still at this time, pacing back and forth anxiously, waiting for Li Zian to come out.
After a long while, Li Zian finally came out of the house with Xie Yan.
Seeing Li Zian's haggard face and red bloodshot eyes, Shen Zhonglei's heart felt like it was in his throat.
"Master Shen, you don't have to be polite, please sit down." Li Zian didn't have the energy to worry about etiquette, so he sat down first and said, "I guess Master Shen already knows about the fire in the meditation room, right?"
"Yes, thank you Prince Master for sending someone to deliver the message. I just don't know where the official's family members are now? What's the situation? Why did a good person suddenly catch fire and get out of control like this?"
"I hope the prince will tell you." Shen Zhonglei cheered up, knowing that the important point was finally coming.
Li Zian suddenly asked another question: "Master Shen, does he know that your brother has been secretly taking opium?"
Shen Zhonglei's heart tightened when he heard this, thinking that not many people in the family knew. Did the news reach Li Zian's ears so quickly?
Could it be that the eldest brother accidentally caused a fire when he was smoking opium?
Before Shen Zhonglei could figure it out, his body was already kneeling in front of Li Zian very consciously.
"Sir, my brother is feeling unwell and in unbearable pain, so he occasionally secretly smokes opium, just to relieve pain...
"The lower official knew that aphrodisiac was a banned drug, and after learning about it, he tried to persuade him many times, but after all, he was a close relative, and he couldn't bear to see his brother suffering from pain and suffering, tossing and turning, so...
"It's all my fault. From now on, I will definitely..."
Li Zian waved his hand at him, interrupted him, and asked an even more irrelevant question.
"Then Master Shen, does he know why our government lists afurong as a banned drug and strictly controls it?"
Shen Zhonglei became more and more puzzled by his questions, and secretly wondered, could it be that it was just a pretense to call him over, and that it was actually Mrs. Shen who was reported for trading afurong with others in the temple?
Li Zian had no intention of waiting for his answer. He just said these words to let Shen Zhonglei relax a little.
I had come all the way and was still out of breath. I suddenly heard bad news. If the shock was too great, it would be bad if something happened again.
The Shen family really can't afford any more trouble now.
So Li Zian quickly asked and answered his own questions and said: "In addition to what most people know, there is actually another piece of information that the court has not disclosed to the outside world.
"Some people who have smoked opium will have hallucinations and then do many ridiculous things.
"Back in the Western Regions, soldiers were made to smoke opium before going out to fight, saying they were invincible warriors.
"But in fact, many people have hallucinations after taking drugs and commit many tragedies of fighting and killing each other.
“There are even some veterans who have returned from their military service, but continue to take opium because of their addiction, and then kill their wives and children, or even kill their parents...
"After these people wake up, the big mistake has been made. It is generally difficult for the parties involved to accept the facts. They are either directly stimulated and go crazy, or they simply understand themselves after they wake up to apologize...
"So in the local area, aphrodisiac was initially called a gift from God, but later it was increasingly called the seed of the devil by local people."
When Shen Zhonglei heard this, his heart was already clenching tightly.
He said with a trembling voice: "So, it is the official's brother who did something to kill his parents and his mother?"
Li Zian slowly shook his head.
But before Shen Zhonglei could relax, he heard him say: "It's Mrs. Shen."
"What?" Shen Zhonglei was shocked, "Sister-in-law...when did she start using aphrodisiac?"
"I'm afraid there's no way to know this." Li Zian sighed.
Seeing that Shen Zhonglei was almost mentally prepared, he revealed everything he had investigated after arriving.
"After Mrs. Shen took aphrodisiac the night before, she had a hallucination for some reason. She thought that Tianshu, who was called by Mrs. Shen to talk behind closed doors, was her biological mother. It seemed that she was confusing what was happening in front of her with what happened in the past.
together.
"Mrs. Shen first poisoned the tea and knocked everyone out, then poured a lot of lamp oil around the Zen room.
"Finally, she lit a fire and came to the Zen room where Mrs. Shen and Tian Shu were. When she found that Tian Shu had not completely fallen asleep, she wanted to strangle Tian Shu to death with her bare hands.
"Fortunately, at the last moment, Tianshu fought hard and pushed her away, but she also fainted in the sea of fire due to exhaustion.
"Fortunately, Bao'er is young and is the only one in the family who doesn't drink tea.
“The monks in the temple heard his hoarse cries and came over to check, only to find that there was a fire in the meditation room. They hurried over to save people and put out the fire...
"Fortunately, Mrs. Shen, the two girls and Bao'er were all rescued.
"It is a pity that Mr. Shen and Mrs. Shen were both killed in the flames."
Shen Zhonglei was dumbfounded and dumbfounded, as if his soul had left his body.
"I think Mr. Shen will have a hard time accepting this. Please take a moment here." Li Zian stood up and said, "Tian Shu is in the east room now. He has been burning for a day and a night and has just retreated.
"Old Mrs. Shen is in the west room and has asked the doctor to come and take a look at her.
"Miss Shen San and Bao'er are both fine. They both live in the east wing and should not have gotten up at this time."
After saying this, Li Zian turned around and returned to the east room, leaving the main room to Shen Zhonglei himself.
Shen Zhonglei sat there blankly, not even bothering to get up and send Li Zian off respectfully.
Even after Li Zian left, he put his finger into his mouth in a daze and took a hard bite himself.
The excruciating pain and the deep tooth marks on his fingers made Shen Zhonglei finally believe that he was not dreaming.
But everything Li Zian said just now was like an absurd and weird nightmare.
Shen Zhonglei didn't know how long he sat here, until the sky outside gradually became brighter, and the first ray of sunlight in the morning shined through the door on his face, making him unable to open his eyes, and he finally stood up.
Looking at the doors on the east and west sides, he chose the east room without hesitation.
But when he walked to the door of the east room, he suddenly remembered that the prince came out from here just now and went in again after speaking?
If Tianshu recovers from his injuries here, then the prince...
That’s not right!
Shen Zhonglei's brain, which had been so frightened just now, suddenly started to move.
It seems that the person the prince called just now was not Miss Shen, but... Tianshu?
Shen Zhonglei suddenly felt that he had discovered something terrible again.
So he didn't dare to push the door open directly, but raised his hand and knocked on the door.
"Please come in!" Li Zian's voice came from inside the house.
Shen Zhonglei opened the door nervously and went in, just in time to see Li Zian standing up from the bed.
Just listen to him whisper: "Master Shen, please be gentle, Tianshu is finally asleep now."
Shen Zhonglei: "..."
That seems to be my biological daughter, right?
But there is no way to say this.
Shen Zhonglei walked lightly to the bedside. The moment he saw Shen Tianshu's appearance, he clenched his fists in anger.
She was completely sunk in the quilt, with a bandana for ice compress on her forehead.
Only a pale face with wounds and a neck covered with intertwined finger marks were revealed.
Even though Li Zian stayed by her side to feed her water, Shen Tianshu still burned until his lips became chapped.
Not to mention how miserable it looked.
"How could it be so injured..." Shen Zhonglei's voice was trembling.
After listening to Li Zian's words before, he had already guessed what Dong's heart was about.
She must have taken opium and thought she had returned to the time when Liu Yaxuan was still alive.
Seeing Mrs. Shen calling Shen Tianshu over to talk, she thought it was her mother-in-law who was trying to persuade her younger siblings to spend more time with her husband.
The excitement and hallucination brought by aphrodisiac finally broke away from her years of depression and tolerance.
That's why she felt that instead of living in frustration like this, it would be better for everyone to die together.
Before that, Shen Zhonglei had always regarded Dong as a victim like himself.
But seeing Shen Tianshu's miserable appearance now, Shen Zhonglei no longer had the slightest sympathy for Dong, and even wanted to cut him alive.
Shen Zhonglei asked anxiously: "Can we invite the doctor? What does the doctor say?"
Li Zian said: "Don't worry, Mr. Shen. We have already asked the doctor from the palace to come over and show Tian Shu a prescription."
After hearing this, Shen Zhonglei stiffened and suddenly didn't know how to react.
The prince has made it clear that he is not going to hide it, but is he going to make his attitude public?
But when did these two people get involved?
Shen Zhonglei felt that too much new information had been crammed into his brain in a short period of time.
The original ones are still stuck together and cannot move, but there are actually new ones that want to be added.
Let alone thinking, he was just sitting there and his head was about to burst.