The best ring

The Xie family was very powerful. After deciding to make preparations in advance, Xie Yun wrote a letter to his family members and his family's die-hard followers in the army in the name of the Xie family's head, asking them to secretly gather the army and respond to possible emergencies at any time.

The Xie family had a great influence in the army. After Xie Yun sent this letter, the army was instantly undercurrent. Many people did not know what happened, but they clearly felt that the atmosphere in the army had changed, and a wave of repressive and murderous atmosphere spread in the army.

There was an undercurrent in Tianji Country, and the atmosphere was also tense in Yanfeng Country.

Yanfeng Country, Imperial Kitchen.

At this time, the imperial kitchen was not filled with the aroma of food, but the aroma of medicine. Puffs of white smoke rose up, like a fairyland on earth.

"Be careful, the fire cannot be too big, and simmer for an hour on a low fire." A royal doctor was instructing the palace maid who was boiling medicine.

"Yes, yes." The palace maid responded carefully, staring at the small stove, not daring to be distracted.

"This is the medicine for your majesty. If there is any mistake, watch out for your head!" The imperial physician reminded the maid as usual.

"I know." The maid nodded.

This is not the first time that the imperial physician has said such a thing. In fact, he often says such things these days, and he says them several times a day, never getting tired of it.

This cannot be blamed on the imperial physician for being too long-winded. It is really that the emperor's life is too important, and he can't be too cautious.

Since the old emperor announced that he was seriously ill, the smell of medicine in the imperial kitchen has never stopped. However, at the beginning, the medicine here was just a disguise. The medicine was real, but the medicine was not for the old emperor to take. It was just a cover for the old emperor to act.

But now it is different, because of what happened in the imperial capital in the past few days, and the old emperor himself was in poor health. Under such a double blow, the old emperor is really seriously ill. This is the most clear to the imperial physicians who are responsible for treating the old emperor.

The doctors all knew how serious the old emperor's illness was. Judging from the current situation, the old emperor's life would not exceed three months at most. The old emperor himself also knew this. Now, whether it was the old emperor himself or the doctors, they were no longer pursuing to cure the old emperor's illness, but to buy as much time as possible for the old emperor. He still had a lot of things to do.

Originally, the old emperor announced that the candidate for the crown prince would be determined in half a month. That was just a stopgap measure. This half month was his inspection period for the princes. If the princes performed well, he could choose the crown prince, but if no prince satisfied him, then after half a month, he would find a reason to keep the crown prince position vacant.

But after his condition worsened and he knew he would not live long, the old emperor changed his mind:

Half a month later, he would definitely choose a candidate for the crown prince. Even if he had to pick a general from among the dwarfs, he would still choose one, because he did not want the princes to fight for the throne after his death, which would cause the Yanfeng Kingdom to fall into civil strife. The old emperor knew very well that the other three superpowers were still watching. If their Yanfeng Kingdom fell into civil strife, then the other three superpowers would definitely not sit idly by. At that time, their Yanfeng Kingdom would even be in danger of being destroyed!

So, before he died, he must choose a candidate for the crown prince, and he must use the remaining time to clear obstacles for the chosen crown prince, to ensure that after his death, the crown prince can smoothly inherit the throne without causing the Yanfeng Kingdom to fall into civil strife.

All of this takes time, so the old emperor needs to confirm the crown prince candidate as soon as possible, and he also needs to let the imperial doctors buy him as much time as possible.

The imperial doctors naturally dared not neglect this matter. On the one hand, they had to keep it secret so as not to cause unrest. On the other hand, they also tried their best to treat the old emperor. Naturally, they dared not slack off in the matter of boiling medicine.

After the imperial doctor gave instructions to the palace maid, he left. It would take more than an hour to boil the medicine. He could not stay here all the time. The emperor's bedroom was where he should stay. He and several other imperial doctors now basically live in the old emperor's bedroom every day, so that when the old emperor has a problem, they can rescue him in the first time.

Moreover, this palace maid has boiled medicine for the old emperor for the first time. All the procedures are very familiar, and the imperial doctor is also very relieved.

The palace maid who boiled medicine glanced at the back of the imperial doctor who left, and her eyes were quite complicated.

Although the imperial doctor left, there were still many people in the imperial kitchen, including the imperial chef who cooked, the busy eunuchs and palace maids, and more importantly, the guards guarding the door!

The palace maid's eyes wandered around the two guards, and then immediately retracted her gaze.

She subconsciously touched her arms, where there was a packet of medicine. She had just prepared the medicine according to the doctor's request. As a maid who had been responsible for making medicine all year round, her understanding of medicine was much better than that of ordinary people. She could even make medicine by herself.

And she took advantage of the doctor's inattention to pick up several kinds of herbs. There was nothing wrong with them separately, but when they were combined, they were poison!

The maid continued to make the medicine with a normal look. She was waiting for an opportunity.

Finally, the opportunity she was waiting for came!

In the imperial kitchen, food had been prepared and was ready to be served to the old emperor. According to the rules, before leaving the imperial kitchen, the food needed to be tasted under the watchful eyes of the guards to prevent someone from poisoning the old emperor.

Today was no exception.

The imperial chef who was responsible for cooking the food tasted the food he cooked one by one under the scrutiny of the two guards, and at this time, the attention of the two guards was attracted by the imperial chef.

The opportunity that the maid had been waiting for was now!

She first glanced at the two guards with the corner of her eyes, and then quickly took out the herbs from her arms and put them into the soup pot for boiling medicine. Then, she threw the paper wrapped in the herbs into the fire. Under the burning flames, the paper soon turned into ashes.

The maid boiled the medicine again with a normal expression, as if nothing had happened.

At this time, the imperial kitchen had passed the inspection. The eunuchs and palace maids, carrying food, went to the old emperor's bedroom under the escort of another group of guards. They could not see the old emperor, but only put the food in the bedroom. In fact, there were not many people who could see the old emperor at this time.

An hour later, the palace maid also boiled the medicine. She poured the medicine into a bowl, held the bowl, and walked out.

"Wait!"

At the door, she was stopped by the two guards!