Chapter 58: The Sickly Prime Minister, Poisoned to Death by Her Beloved

Shi Qingyi: “……”

She worried about her own death every single day.

But since Xiao Jinse had no immediate intention of killing her for the time being, she felt much more at ease.

Xiao Jinse was gravely ill, so weak that even getting out of bed or walking was a struggle. She had withered to a mere bag of bones, as if she could close her eyes at any moment and never open them again.

Yet she was still alive, so she refused to let go of Shi Qingyi.

At night, she refused to sleep. After drinking her medicine from Shi Qingyi’s hand, she gazed at her in the dim lamplight, her eyes filled with gentle focus.

Shi Qingyi felt uncomfortable under her stare and shot her a sideways glance. “What are you looking at This Palace for?”

Xiao Jinse held Shi Qingyi’s hand and traced the lines on her palm. Her voice was hoarse from coughing as she shook her head without speaking.

Shi Qingyi felt extremely uneasy and forcibly extinguished the oil lamp.

“No looking.”

She had been spoiled rotten, always acting so capriciously. Xiao Jinse let out a small chuckle but obediently closed her eyes and refrained from looking, afraid of angering her. After all, she had done something like sneaking off in the middle of the night with a horse before.

The room fell silent. The grass hut was in the suburbs, and a fine spring rain pattered on the thatched roof in the early night. Shi Qingyi adamantly refused to sleep in the same bed as Xiao Jinse and had a small couch brought in. But the room was tiny, so the two beds had no choice but to be placed side by side.

Once the breathing beside her grew steady and prolonged, Xiao Jinse slowly opened her eyes in the darkness. She propped herself up on one arm and greedily leaned toward the warmth of the person beside her, extending her cool fingers to trace her eyebrows and eyes.

Her brows were long, her eyes cold, her lips thin. She had always heard people say that those with thin affections had such features, but she had refused to believe it until she met Shi Qingyi.

Only then did she realize some sayings weren’t baseless.

Even in the darkness, she could perfectly envision Shi Qingyi’s eyes—coldly regarding her as if she were the most vile thing in the world.

Her fingers twitched, tugging at her heart. She recalled the question Shi Qingyi had just asked, and a strange, bitter smile tugged at her lips as she tapped the forehead of the sleeping woman.

“Of course it’s because… one less glance is one glance lost…”

Her voice blended with the endless patter of rain, like a long, drawn-out sigh.

Then she nestled into the crook of Shi Qingyi’s arm. The medicine from that evening had a sedative effect, and soon she drifted off to sleep.

In the darkness, Shi Qingyi slowly opened her eyes and glanced with complex emotions at the obedient figure pressed against her side. Her gaze deepened inexplicably.

What did “one less glance is one glance lost” mean?

“She probably knows her time is short?” the System tried to explain.

Shi Qingyi immediately regretted asking it. She had thought it was an encyclopedia, but it knew nothing.

The Little Emperor had just turned fifteen this year and hadn’t assumed power yet. Nearly all court affairs rested on Xiao Jinse’s shoulders. She had barely caught her breath when illness struck, yet she dragged herself up to handle state matters—truly diligent and devoted to the people, exhausting her body and mind.

Shi Qingyi had once watched her and thought that even without her own poison, she wouldn’t last much longer at this rate.

Shi Qingyi failed to escape and was thus brought back to the Prime Minister’s Mansion with Xiao Jinse. It rained that day too. They rode in the same carriage but sat at opposite ends, not drawing the slightest bit closer.

Normally, Xiao Jinse would have leaned over by now, but this time she didn’t. She sat obediently in her spot, as if trying to make even her breathing so light it ceased to exist.

Once back, Shi Qingyi was confined to Autumn Water Isle. The mansion had later been expanded considerably, and Autumn Water Isle sat in the middle of a lake, isolated from the world. Even food was delivered by boat.

When Xiao Jinse saw her onto the boat, she coaxed, “Rest there for a while. Once I’ve handled things outside, I’ll bring you back.”

As someone without any rights, a caged pet, Shi Qingyi naturally had no choice to refuse.

But at the last moment before boarding, she steadied herself in the cabin and turned back solemnly. “I wasn’t trying to leave.”

Xiao Jinse gazed at her with a warm, gentle smile, as if she didn’t care in the slightest. She coughed twice and dodged the topic. “Go on in. Mind the rain outside.”

Her tone made it clear she didn’t believe a word. The Eldest Princess’s elegant brows furrowed deeply, and she seemed to sneer. She stubbornly refused to enter, standing at the bow in her crimson skirt, her face covered in a thin layer of frost as she gradually faded into the heart of the lake island.

Xiao Jinse watched that receding crimson figure for a long time without speaking, until Xinyi quietly spoke from behind her. “Miss, we’ve found out…”

Shi Qingyi could guess what came next even without being told. Xiao Jinse was moving to clean out the nails in the mansion.

The Little Emperor wasn’t entirely useless—if he were, he wouldn’t be the male lead. Young as he was, he had already secretly cultivated his own faction beyond Xiao Jinse’s eyes. But he was occasionally so foolish it beggared belief.

With wings not yet fully grown, relying on his aunt to sell her body to save his life, he still dared plot an assassination. Plotting was one thing, but failing was the key failure.

Life on Autumn Water Isle was peaceful and serene, cut off from all outside contact. Even Xiao Jinse seemed to have changed and stopped visiting. One afternoon, as Shi Qingyi flipped through a storybook, she suddenly asked about Xiao Jinse’s recent condition.

The attending maidservant paled in fright, then answered fearfully, “The Prime Minister has been unwell lately and is still ill…”

She dreaded that this woman, who had always been sharp-tongued and utterly loathed the Prime Minister, might remark that she hadn’t died yet. She agonized over whether to report it truthfully, but awaited only sarcasm from the Eldest Princess.

Shi Qingyi asked no more. Half an hour later, her exact words reached Xiao Jinse’s ears, and even the page of the storybook she had been reading was presented on the desk.

That page read: If love endures, what need is there for morning and night together?

What a clever woman Xiao Jinse was. With one glance, she understood. The Eldest Princess was bored alone and wanted to come out.

But her prideful nature meant she wouldn’t say it outright; she hinted circuitously.

The woman at the desk froze for a moment, then let out a bitter smile. In the end, her voice turned cold. “One last patch left. Speed it up.”

Xinyi’s forehead twitched with veins, her face turning bitter. They were already going as fast as they could, but with the Chancellor’s order, they had no choice but to press on.

That night, blood flowed like rivers. The Little Emperor’s painstakingly planted nails in the mansion were utterly eradicated. One highly skilled martial artist barely escaped with his life and, scrambling desperately, swam to Autumn Water Isle.

Everyone knew the Prime Minister yielded to every whim of the Eldest Princess. If he could gain her protection, he might survive.

The drenched retainer burst into Shi Qingyi’s courtyard, and Xiao Jinse arrived right on his heels.

Tears streaming, the retainer knelt and begged the Eldest Princess for his life. Amid the System’s string of exclamation marks, Shi Qingyi readily agreed—then promptly sold him out.

As the retainer was dragged away, Shi Qingyi leaned by the window sipping tea. The new spring tea was mellow and warm. Without looking at Xiao Jinse, she glanced at the winding blood trail on the ground and said coolly, “This place is dirty now.”

Xiao Jinse understood immediately and gave the answer straight from her heart. “Then let’s go back.”

Everything filthy had been cleared away. The Prime Minister’s Mansion was spotless now, with nothing left to dirty the eyes.

Pleased, the Eldest Princess boarded the boat with Xiao Jinse that very night. She sat at the bow while Xiao Jinse sat primly at the stern, not daring to draw near.

—Utterly different from before.

In the past, Xiao Jinse always insisted on sitting pressed against her. If she tried to flee, Xiao Jinse would drag her back with a fierce expression.

Now, she deliberately kept her distance. Shi Qingyi faked a cough, her peripheral vision catching Xiao Jinse at the other end. She knew she had heard it.

After a quarter-hour, Xinyi, tasked with the bitter errand, approached timidly and whispered, “I heard Your Highness cough just now. Chancellor Xiao asked this servant to bring you a garment…”

The garment was brand new and perfect for warding off the chill when draped over her shoulders.

Xinyi had already anticipated the outcome. Things her miss sent over were usually tossed aside, and this time was no exception. It was flung away on the spot, the Eldest Princess’s expression extremely displeased, sending her scurrying back to the Prime Minister’s side.

Shi Qingyi glared at the person just a few steps away, fuming.

—In the past, Xiao Jinse had always come personally.

Xiao Jinse didn’t dare look at her. She leaned against the gunwale with her eyes closed, her fingers inch by inch clutching her sleeve tight. In the misty air, her lips pressed white. She wanted to bitter smile, but couldn’t manage it.

As expected, anything she sent—even if not delivered by her own hand—was unwanted.

When they disembarked, Xiao Jinse’s face was ghastly pale, looking extremely unwell. She escorted Shi Qingyi back to her Paulownia Garden and turned to leave. Shi Qingyi’s words about the heavy rain outside and whether she should stay caught in her throat; by the time she wanted to speak, the person had already been helped away by Xinyi.

The Eldest Princess was in an extremely foul mood that day and smashed several cups from the Prime Minister’s private collection, claiming the sound was pleasing.

When the news reached Xiao Jinse’s ears, she was drinking her medicine. She blanked for a long while. As everyone awaited her response, she finally spoke.

“Send her the rest of the ones in my room too.”

As long as she was happy and didn’t leave, any tantrum was fine.

The crowd: “……”

The cups were sent, but the person still didn’t come, leaving the Eldest Princess too choked to even smash more.

Shi Qingyi sensed something off, and the System found it baffling too.

“Yeah, according to the plot, once her health improved a bit, shouldn’t she have forced a stayover by now?”

Then the defiant Eldest Princess would smash her head open in refusal, causing a huge fuss, only to be coerced by the Prime Minister using the Little Emperor, leading to reluctant compliance—and eventually, the poisoning through feigned intimacy.

The System was exasperated. Why had the Prime Minister gone soft this time?

Xiao Jinse didn’t know why, but she truly never forced Shi Qingyi again. She only visited occasionally on rainy days, staying just long enough for a cup of tea before leaving—ever the gentleman, not even daring to touch the Eldest Princess’s hand.

Shi Qingyi: “……”

The mansion’s people were overjoyed, wondering if the Prime Minister had finally seen reason, deeming the Eldest Princess unworthy and ready to seek new love elsewhere. The rumors spread, even alarming the System. After one such “upright gentleman” visit from Xiao Jinse, it asked worriedly, “It isn’t real, is it?”

“What if the Prime Minister suddenly remembered her past life and plans to abandon you for someone else?”

If it were true—no love, no hate, impossible to conquer—then Xiao Jinse might wipe out the male lead at any moment—

Shi Qingyi took a sip of tea and said calmly, “What’s the rush?”

“When if not now!” The System wanted to shake her frantically.

The Eldest Princess stretched lazily. “The Emperor’s Longevity Festival is coming up soon.”