POISON HER MEAL (2)

She was in her practice ring while Wei Lan was observing her from the herb garden, "Miss Henan Zhong was accurate in her long range target practice, she thought.

A soldier came rushing and told her that Queen and Prince were here to meet her.

She instructed him to lead then in the inner guest room, she hurriedly went in to change and in no time she was in front of them, she greeted them warmly.

It had become habit of Queen to select finest dress for any occasion for Henan in previous years and now had selected most beautiful robs for her and came to give her, in fact, she was missing her wanted to meet and wanted to know whether she was well in her mansion if not she would bring her back in the Palace but she felt that Henan was happy to be here and her worries subsided for the time.

As for Prince Queen had given him the pendant and related how she got it and that she wanted him to give that pendant to Henan as a memory of her father.

Initially, he did not want to face her but then he gave up and came with her mother.

"Wan Hu, it's good that you are here, I wanted to seek your guidance in my target practice," Henan bowed and spoke to the prince, Prince nodded his head.

They walked toward practice ring and she talked about the difficulty of the reflexive crossbow to change sudden angles.

Wan Hu heard her and said, "My master once related that if you don't know how to dance, you cannot wield a sword perfectly, it means it required flexibility in the arms and body of wielder, as much as you practice flexible angle in your practice you would reach your target even most particular angles," she listened him carefully and moved toward her reflexive bow and shaft and it started raining.

Prince urged her to practice another time and they came back in the mansion inner court with raindrops on their faces.

An attendant rushed to help them dry.

Queen with her pure sincere smile gave her the dress, she bought for her and Henan asked, "Was there any occasion in next days?" Queen nodded and beautiful red covered envelope gave to her.

It was the invitation to the ceremony where Prince was going to choose his future bride.

Henan after some hesitation kept the invitation.

Her caretaker informed her that dinner was ready, Henan led them to the dining room where many dishes were served on the table.

They sat on the seats and covers of dishes were removed, the appetizing aroma shook their bellies and that it was time to devour the delicious food, kitchen staff served the food while host and guests waited patiently.

Jie Lan and Wei Lan were standing both right and left of Henan, normally Wei Lan never gawked at the food but today her eyes fell on the bowl which was served to Henan.

It was meat dish and its color was slightly off compared to its standard cooked color, her sharp eyes noticed a small layer of something on the surface of the liquid, she hurriedly lepta to hold Henan hand from eating it.

Henan was about to place the food filled spoon in her mouth when Wei Lan shouted to stop her. Henan was clear about the loyalty of staff and never conducted a test sample before eating her daily food.

Her sudden interruption shocked Prince and Queen too, they stopped to see what had happened; Henan was looking Wei Lan to explain her actions though little annoyed.

Wei Lan stepped forward and pointed her hand toward the bowl which was in front of Henan, "I doubt Miss Henan should not eat this dish," she was confident in her conjecture.

"What made you doubt this dish?" Henan was not sure. Wei Lan spent few months in Royal Kitchen of Palace and she had seen every standard cooked dish and she was sure that this bowl was problematic in the appearance, "I doubt this bowl of food is poisoned," she shared her concern. Everyone got shocked by her conjecture.

"How can you be sure about it?" she curiously asked Wei Lan.

"I know about herbs a little and this cooked food is off from its standard color and also there is something vague on its surface, my humble suggestion is to test this food before consumption," she bowed to Henan.

Prince was not too surprised with this suggestion, his meals were tested when was served.

A soldier was sent to feed this food to a dog and that dog died within thirty seconds of the first mouthful, fuming.

This food was really poisoned and Prince was outraged to hear this, he summoned kitchen staff of mansion along with maids. They were shivering with fear.