The talisman stood at the courtyard gate, making sure the old steward and those people had walked far away before returning, and along with Fu Lu, continued to stand by the guest hall door, allowing Lu Qing and the others inside to talk conveniently.
"That fragrance, I’ve slled it in the palace before, not exactly the sa, but very similar." Zhu Yu leaned close to Lu Qing’s ear and spoke softly, "It was the ti we went to the palace to et the emperor, you went to the morning assembly, while I waited outside, I slled it on one of the palace eunuchs.
The eunuch said he wasn’t qualified to use incense, so the fragrance on him must have co from serving a noble in their palace.
Later, I also slled that fragrance in the South Study Room."
Lu Qing listened to her words, his expression remained calm the entire ti, seemingly not particularly surprised.
Or maybe because Lu Zhang and Lu Yan were sitting on the other side, he remained particularly restrained.
"There is no scent on the silk, nor on the dye." Lu Qing pondered, "It seems the dress’s fragrance was likely applied during the weaving process or when the dress was being tailored.
It’s just unknown how long it can last.
Are you sure that it’s not exactly the sa as what you previously slled?"
"Absolutely sure." Zhu Yu nodded, "My sense of sll is quite accurate."
Lu Qing nodded, said nothing further, and motioned for Zhu Yu to sit down, then asked the others about the events of the previous evening.
Everyone’s reaction was almost the sa. Initially, they didn’t feel particularly tired, but once back in their rooms, they fell asleep very quickly and suddenly, like a faint.
When they woke, it was universally after dawn, with severe headaches, but no other discomfort.
The consistency of everyone’s reaction was enough to suggest sothing strange had occurred in the small building the night before.
The talisman received orders to search upstairs and downstairs. After a long search, they returned to inform Lu Qing that they had checked everything, including incense burners and chimneys, but found not a trace.
They even checked under the bed fra, ruling out any secret passageways or chanisms.
"We’ve had no other effects besides sleeping heavily last night and having headaches this morning. There’s no sign of anyone sneaking into our rooms, and no personal items are missing, so... what could the person who drugged us be up to?" Lu Yan asked, puzzled, thinking it all very perplexing, "Surely they wouldn’t have just wanted to knock us out so we couldn’t sleep well?"
"Don’t say that, your suggestion might have so rit." Lu Qing smiled slightly, "If soone couldn’t sleep, yet the long night was so boring, they might want to go for a walk.
This small courtyard is just so big. What if they walked out of the courtyard and went outside?"
"You an soone feared that if we wandered out at night, we might catch them off guard?" Lu Yan slapped the table, "Good heavens! So guilty, clearly there’s sothing wrong here!"
"There’s definitely sothing wrong. Now, what’s unclear is when exactly the sedative was administered to us and how it was done so that everyone indiscriminately fell victim," Lu Qing reminded the others.
"Could it be sothing in the dinner?"
Lu Zhang speculated, but was stopped abruptly by a dissatisfied glance from Yan Daoxin. He realized the previous day’s al was confird safe by Yan Daoxin before everyone ate. His speculation was implicitly a question of Yan Daoxin’s expertise in taste.
He quickly added, "Since Chief Historian Yu previously questioned if there might be a colorless, tasteless seductive fragrance, maybe there could also be so secret drug invisible in the food, blending with its natural flavor, making it undetectable?"
Yan Daoxin glanced at him displeased, clearly withholding a rolling eye to maintain his otherworldly facade: "So you think I confirm the absence of drugs by tasting with my tongue?
If the sedative’s taste was that evident, would anyone stupidly consu it despite sensing sothing off?
A sedative mixed into the food should inherently lack significant flavor. My confirmation didn’t rely on—
Forget it, why should I explain so much to you? Believe it or not, from now on, don’t eat, don’t drink, just endure."
Lu Zhang’s face flushed red at Yan Daoxin’s harsh words.
Lu Yan, however, felt especially satisfied, nearly giving Yan Daoxin a thumbs up right there.
Zhu Yu felt it wasn’t the ti for argunt, fearing further disagreents would lead to more awkwardness, so she stepped in to support Yan Daoxin: "I also think the problem isn’t in the food.
We didn’t eat together; so ate in the guest hall, others in their rooms. After dinner, it was so ti before the servants ca to collect the dishes.
By that ti, we were all still clear-headed.
If the food was drugged, we would have been sprawled out before the servants collected the dishes."
Yan Shu agreed: "I can confirm this.
When the servants collected the dishes, it wasn’t fully dark yet. I spent a long ti alone in my room after that, until it was dark and I lit a candle, feeling quite refreshed and not at all sleepy.
At so point later, I suddenly fell into a deep sleep without knowing why.
Roughly calculating, it wasn’t more than an hour after dinner."
Lu Zhang quickly nodded: "That’s indeed true, I hadn’t considered it thoroughly."
Yan Daoxin’s expression softened slightly, waving his hand to show he wouldn’t hold a grudge against Lu Zhang.
"No matter what, we need to stay alert tonight," Lu Qing reminded.
Yan Daoxin reached for the dicine gourd at his waist, shaking it: "I have plenty of mind-clearing pills here, tonight we all take them. Let’s see who and what thod they’ll use to make us fall asleep!"
Everyone agreed, and the topic was tabled.
The rest of the day passed peacefully, with Yan Daoxin spending ti in his room thinking about incense preparations, coming down only for als.
As the sun set, the servants from the Immortal Castle delivered dinner again.
This ti, for convenience, everyone gathered around the large table in the guest hall to dine together. After the servants took away the dishes, Yan Daoxin distributed the Awakening Pills to each person, watching as they swallowed them with warm water.
"No problems this ti; my Awakening Pills are very effective. Unless soone hits you over the head, don’t expect any confusion!" he confidently assured the others.
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