Chapter 1161: Explanation

All of a sudden, Lord Xia came up with all sorts of conspiracy theories. Did the Westerners poison this thing or was it someone else?

Was this targeting him alone or all the officials of Great Qi?

Most importantly, why did King Rong only send the three children to inform him of such an important matter? At the very least, he should have sent a more dependable servant, right?

What if these three children delayed getting here because they were too playful? Would he be poisoned to death then?

Lord Xia was shocked. All kinds of thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, causing him to feel a little dizzy.

The three children could not tell what Lord Xia was thinking, only noticing that he suddenly stood still. Little Leopard and Baozhu were anxious to make a contribution, so they tugged at Little Fu who in turn went to tug at Lord Xia. “Grandfather, Grandfather, hand me this poisonous tobacco.”

In a daze, Lord Xia took out the thing and handed it to them. He asked, “Is this thing really poisonous? Who told you?”

“Fourth Aunt said it.” Little Fu hugged the box and said without thinking, “Fourth Uncle sent us here to collect this from you to prevent you from being poisoned.”

Mu Yangling’s original words were, “Smoking is harmful to one’s health.”

Qi Haoran’s original words were, “Since I still don’t know what those foreigners did to the cigar, it’s better to take it back and investigate it one by one. Besides, tobacco is indeed not a good thing. Not many people in the imperial court smoke.”

By saying tobacco was harmful to health, didn’t it imply that it was poisonous?

Little Fu carried the box and rushed out with his cousins, eager to go to the next house.

The three children really managed to get a lot of cigars. Moreover, as soon as they left the house, the master’s family would immediately send for a doctor.

On this day, the doctors in the capital were in great demand. Two families even almost fought on the way over inviting a doctor.

By the time Qi Haoran realized that something was wrong and brought the three children back, there were already rumors of “Westerners secretly poisoning people” circulating in the capital.

Speechless, Qi Haoran had no choice but to refute the rumors. Since the matter had yet to be concluded, wouldn’t this be tearing up the alliance between the two countries?

Fortunately, Little Bear, Little An, and Tiger Head, Little Lion, were more reliable and didn’t spread the theory that the cigar was poisonous. They only said that they had doubts about the cigar and wanted to borrow it to study it. Naturally, they didn’t intend to return what they borrowed.

Since the young masters from King Rong’s residence and Prince An’s residence had personally come forward and it wasn’t anything important, everyone was very willing to oblige. Therefore, although they spent more effort than the three children, they successfully obtained it.

The key was that unlike the three kids, they did not cause panic.

However, when they heard the secret news from the servants, their vision darkened. “The cigar is poisonous? Are you sure?”

“Lord Xia’s grandson said it himself.”

The middle-aged uncles, who had always been calm and composed, all turned pale. They gritted their teeth and said, “King Rong misled me! Hurry up and send for a doctor. Hurry!”

Just like Lord Xia, they had all smelled the cigar before. Some had smelled it previously, and some had smelled it with interest after Little Bear and the others came. No matter when it was, they had smelled it anyway, so there was a possibility that they were poisoned.

Hence, just as Qi Haoran heaved a sigh of relief and felt that Little Bear and the others were reliable, the doctors became even more popular.

Qi Haoran was helpless. There were too many officials. Even if they lived in a centralized area, there were too many doctors to meet the demand. He really didn’t have the strength to run anymore, so he decided it was better to just summon everyone to the palace to talk. This way, he wouldn’t have to go door to door and explain repeatedly.

When Qi Xiuyuan found out about this blunder, he pointed at his brother, speechless. “If you wanted this, you could’ve just sent your servants to ask for it. Why send the children? To think you even sent Little Fu, Little Leopard and Baozhu, who are too young to speak eloquently.”

Qi Haoran also felt very wronged. “When I was speaking to Little Bear and the others, these three were standing at the side. They rolled on the ground, insisting I let them go as well. I thought that since Lord Xia is Little Fu’s maternal grandfather, it would be fine if the three of them only went to the Xia family. Being family, it’s easier for them to get things done. Also, the kids could spend some time playing there. Who knew that these three brats spoke their minds freely to outsiders just to snatch credit?”

“Are you saying you did nothing wrong?” Qi Xiuyuan slammed the table and roared.

Qi Haoran lowered his head and did not speak, but his expression was very stubborn.

Qi Xiuyuan picked up the cigar on the table and looked at it again and again. He really couldn’t see anything wrong with it. “What’s wrong with this thing? Do you need to go through so much trouble to bring it back and study it?”

“I don’t know.”

Qi Xiuyuan glared at him.

Qi Haoran sincerely said things that could anger Qi Xiuyuan to death. “I really don’t know. It’s precisely because I don’t know that I want to bring it back for research.”

“Then how did you become suspicious of this thing?”

Qi Haoran thought for a moment and suggested softly, “Intuition?”

Seeing Qi Xiuyuan look at him quietly, Qi Haoran scratched his head and tried his best to think of an excuse. Qi Xiuyuan said calmly, “Keep making things up. You can keep making things up until I’m satisfied.”

Never been good at lying, Qi Haoran was a little dejected. “It’s Ah Ling. When she saw this thing, her expression was very solemn. She refused to say what the reason was when I asked her. Therefore, I thought that I would collect the cigars and let Imperial Physician Wang study it. Perhaps he could tell what’s wrong with it.”

Qi Xiuyuan frowned. Why would the straightforward Ah Ling be reluctant to speak about this matter?

The ministers who had received the gifts by the English envoy quickly entered the palace with ashen faces. When they saw Qi Haoran beside the Emperor, they gritted their teeth.

Qi Xiuyuan’s expression turned cold as he thought unreasonably, ‘If they hadn’t accepted the gifts, would Haoran have gone through so much trouble?’

Seeing the Emperor’s expression, the quick-witted ministers quickly came back to their senses and restrained the anger on his face before bowing respectfully.

After Qi Xiuyuan allowed them to rise, he began to absolve the Qi children. Basically, the children heard that tobacco was harmful to one’s health, so they consciously thought that the cigars were poisonous. This was actually a misunderstanding.

Before they came, the ministers were still uneasy because they did not know if the poison in their bodies was serious. They worried if the imperial physicians would be able to neutralize the poison. At this moment, when they heard the Emperor’s explanation, they were still in a dazed state.

So it was poisonous only because tobacco was harmful to health?

The ministers’ expressions were blank. Qi Haoran had no choice but to cough lightly and explain. Although they had business dealings with the Westerners, those who were not of the same race would definitely have different thoughts. Thus, there was a need to maintain a sense of wariness when dealing with foreigners. Furthermore, the appearance of cigars was strange. He received news that there was a trap, but the imperial physicians still could not figure out what was wrong with the box of cigars he had handed them.

In order to do better research, he could only set his sights on the cigars distributed to everyone. In order not to alert the enemy, he sent the children for this task.

Of course, Qi Haoran wouldn’t admit that his reason for sending the children here was because he didn’t want to give the impression that he was forcibly taking those things from the ministers.

If he visited the ministers himself, it would be beneath his status. If he sent a servant, the other party might perceive it as a slight and deem him to be arrogant and despotic. As the children’s statuses were neither high nor low, it was just right.

After hearing Qi Haoran’s explanation, the ministers’ expressions improved a little.

“Since the Westerners have ulterior motives, why does Great Qi still want to do business with them? I propose to impose the maritime ban again and turn such cunning people away from our country.”

This time, even Qi Xiuyuan couldn’t help but get angry. He said bluntly, “Who gives up eating just because they could potentially choke on food?”

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