27 Info Hunt

After a long while, Lei Xing said, "Okay, I see...you should go rest." Ah Jin bowed and left the room. Lei Xing frowned as she tried to process the information.

{...So is this some sort of riddle or what -_-?)...or is he really just lamenting about his poop condition, I wouldn't put it past him...I don't believe he is that crazy...so in that case, he has to be talking about the ring...so, poop...pooping process... 24-hour pooping process...okay, let's go with that...so...poop...}

 Lei Xing stared at the ring on her finger.

{...So does it poop?... Wait, can inanimate objects even poop? Or is it alive? If it's alive that would be creepy...plants can be considered inanimate and are alive, and I'm pretty sure they somehow poop after eating, photosynthesis and crap... so what does it eat?...

...Ah, he did say it absorbed "all" the poison in the world...so it eats poison? but it didn't touch anything poisono-...ah the tea! It spilled, right? some of it must have gotten on the ring...but just that tiny bit and it needs to "poop"?...also is everything then poisonous to it for a whole 24 hours, isn't that too much?...

...What if I dropped it in a vat of poison, would it take a month to "poop process" it?...or maybe the amount doesn't matter...either way, can't it multitask -_-?)'...*sigh*, I am being too greedy...}

Lei Xing got up and walked to her dresser and started opening the cosmetics on the table. She could test this a bit. 

{...These are probably not good to ingest, right?... Yeah, but I don't think they can kill you, a stomachache at most?... Let's try it...}

 She walked back to the pot of tea on the side and started pouring the powder, lip paint, blush and anything she found into the teapot and then shook it. Then looked at the ring, but it showed no reaction.

{...Not enough?...}

 Lei Xing looked around the room.

{...There isn't much else to use here...}

 Lei Xing walked back to her dresser and rummaged through the drawers, and picked at a bunch of hairpins.

{...Jade won't work right?...Ah, what about pearls? No, I'm pretty sure it'd just go down easily to poop...This ruby should work, so if I could break it into sharp pieces, it would be detrimental, shred the intestines and such...Yes!...}

 Lei Xing took the ruby hairpin and put it on the table, and went to look for a heavy object, and came back with an inkstone, and stood there hammering quietly at the ruby, she managed to dislodge the jewel from the hair stick, but was making slow progress on smashing the ruby.

So she decided to just give it one big swing.

Just as she raised her hand high ready to swing. The doors opened and Xiao Ruo stood at the doors staring at her wide-eyed. Lei Xing froze when she saw her and then started lifting her hand up and down, "I'm exercising." and then dropped the inkstone on the table.

 Xiao Ruo looked at her and then glanced down at the table and saw the hair stick and detached ruby on the table, didn't say anything, and walked to the side table. She was holding a tray with a fresh teapot, she went to side and went to switch the teapots.

Lei Xing turned and saw Xiao Ruo picking up her poisonous teapot, "Stop!" Xiao Ruo turned to look at Lei Xing with a puzzled expression. Lei Xing then walked up to her, "I'm not done with this tea yet."

"Your highness, you shouldn't be drinking cold tea. It's better to drink a fresh pot."

 Lei Xing grabbed her poisonous teapot and dropped it on the table, "You can just drop that one too, I will decide which is best. You can leave."

Xiao Ruo looked at Lei Xing perplexed, then bowed and left the room. After the doors closed behind her, Xiao Ruo heard a loud smash and quickly turned to ask from outside the doors, "Your highness, are you okay?"

Lei Xing shouted, "Yes, I'm fine. I just dropped something." She used the inkstone to grind the smashed pieces, putting in all strength in her arms.

By the time she was done she had worked up a bit of a sweat, but was pleased with the result. She poured the pieces into the teapot with a smile.

{...Hahaha this is excellent...}

She swished the teapot and then dropped it and looked at the ring and then frowned.

{...What is wrong with this thing now?...It worked on the shards in the bottle in the store the other time...so why is not working or is this really not a toxic mix...maybe I need more?...I'm pretty sure if I drink this I'm going to die...

...I think I may have overestimated its capabilities...*sigh*...maybe I should go ask the empress dowager for some tea instead...Whatever, forget it...}

 Lei Xing picked up the pot and emptied its contents into a plant in the corner.

{...The bottom line is don't let it touch poison, it'll be troublesome...this old man should have given me a manual or something...}

***

 The days following that incident were quiet and peaceful for Lei Xing. No one tried to poison her again, the Empress dowager's tea time was fine, which made her feel that they really gave up too easily.

Her days comprised of going to the Empress dowager's palace for their study sessions, the woman actually had them take turns reciting parts of the book, and whoever failed was punished with copying multiple volumes of the book.

Of course, Lei Xing planned for this kind of jobless behavior and so put in the effort to read the book and so passed her test.

 Lei Xing also learned about the background information on the others in the palace, Xiao Ruo and Ah Jin were quite knowledgeable and great at gathering intel.

Lei Xing particularly found the other noble consorts backgrounds enlightening. There was Lady Jin, whose real name is Zhao Lan and she's actually the daughter of the Prime minister, Lei Xing's father's direct rival.

Moreover, since the current Emperor's adoptive mother - the late Empress was part of the Zhao family, Zhao Lan can also be considered a relative of the Emperor's by extension. 

While the Zhao family helped the emperor build a power base in court while he was absent all these years, the Lei family supported him in his battles, what's more the Lei family's son was also the Emperor's close confidante. These two families can be said to have paved the way for the Emperor to ascend the throne. If one were to look at it based on status and history alone, the next Empress should rightly be coming from one of the two families. 

So, because of all this, Zhao Lan rightly perceived Lei Xing to be her direct rival. It seemed whether Lei Xing was interested or not, she will be dragged into trouble. 

 Then there was copycat Lian, who is called Chen You, the daughter of the Minister of Finance. It turns out her father is actually Lei Xing's father's distant relative who had grown up at the Lei manor after his parents' passing with Lei Xing's father, they were apparently close as children but grew distant as adults.

Lei Xing's father went off to accompany the late emperor in battles when he was a prince, while Chen Bo had stayed on in the capital and became a small official.

Later, when the late emperor took the throne, he set about eliminating all threats to him and killed off his brothers and their followers, there was a rumor that Chen Bo had been a supporter of one of the princes, but he was spared because Lei Xing's father pleading his case and also, that he was able to get to his current position because of that same relationship.

 Lei Xing sighed on hearing this, Chen You must have always been pushed by her father to ingratiate herself with the Lei family, and somehow she must have ended up casting Lei Xing as her life's aspiration.

Lei Xing thought that if that was all it was, then that was good, but she felt that there was certainly a hidden animosity there. This was made even more evident by the snobby attitude that came with her newfound status.

 Then there was the last one, Li Ru, which was the least extraordinary of them all. Apparently, her father was demoted years ago and is currently a magistrate in a city far from the capital. She was a concubine's daughter, who only got this chance because her sister took "ill" - there's another rumor that said she eloped with a servant.

Either way, her father thought it was better to have half a leg than none. After all, he had to spend a lot to get one of the capital's ministers to "adopt" his daughter as a goddaughter, he had to present someone. 

The Emperor did not come over to the Empress dowager's palace again while they were there. She was grateful for that and had no interest in changing the current state of affairs on that matter.

The Empress dowager was now done with her virtuous lessons and seemed to not want to bother with them, for now. After a few days of doing absolutely nothing, Lei Xing felt that she needed a change of pace so she decided to take a trip to the Imperial library.

{...When there's a lack of TV and internet, books are the next best thing, right?...Ugh, I wanna go back T_T)...}

 Lei Xing made her way to the library, it was quite huge, with various scrolls and books stacked on tens of shelves. There were also various scholars around, seeming to be studying, copying books, repairing them, making compilations, and other activities.

When Lei Xing entered, they looked at her wide-eyed and bowed. One of them approached her, bowed and said, "Your highness, is there something you need?"

{...I have to need something?...}

 Lei Xing smiled politely, "Ah, I'm just going to look around."

The scholar looked up at her with a complicated expression, Lei Xing did not pay him any attention and just walked into the shelves, picking and glancing through the books with Ah Jin at her side.

She had left Xiao Ruo behind in her palace, and the rest of her entourage was outside. While she was going around scrolling through books, she stumbled on a copy of the Art of War, and was quite shocked that they had this here.

{...I guess I did go back in time then?...}

 She had always wanted to read this, started it, then got lazy and never got far. She even bought it twice and gave them away before she could finish them.

{...I guess now's a good a time as any...}

 She was absentmindedly flipping through it when someone spoke beside her, "The Art of War, interesting choice."

Lei Xing immediately turned to find Prince Yi standing beside her with a smile and froze.

{...Why is he here?!...}

 Prince Yi saw her shocked face, picked up a book from the shelf, and explained, "I work here."

Lei Xing was even more surprised and blurted out, "Here?"

Prince Yi glanced at her, then back at the book in his hand, "Yes, I am in charge of the Imperial library."

Lei Xing raised her eyebrows and said, "Oh, I see."

 The two stood there in silence for a bit, Lei Xing saw that he wasn't planning on moving and so she decided to move, when he asked, "Why the Art of War?"

Lei Xing glanced back at him, "It's a good book."

He snorted and asked, "Are you preparing to go to the battlefield?"

"Isn't life a battlefield of sorts?"

He calmly said, "That's true, life in the palace is a battlefield."

 Lei Xing cast him a glance and was about to turn to leave again when he said, "I have a question."

Lei Xing inwardly sighed.

{...Question...sure you do...must you announce you have a question, why not just ask the question instead?...must be a family thing -_-)'...}