He was the only one who knew about Prince Lu's "secret garden".
There is a dark room behind the bookshelf in the study. When the Prince of Lu's Mansion was originally designed, people from the Ministry of Works built a dark room to store confidential documents and the Prince of Lu's treasure book and gold seal.
But what did the King of Lu get here? Various custom novels and erotic songs, in addition, there are also some custom items such as horn men and small bells.
Nine years have passed, and he is still the same King Lu, with the same vulgar taste.
Seeing these secular things, Hu Shanwei suddenly forgot the fear of the "deadly poisonous corpse" in the ice cellar.
The secret passage in the basement is just under the floor of a box of custom items. Light a candle and go down the stairs. There is daylight inside, so there is no need for lighting at all.
It turns out that this basement has a wall inlaid with large transparent crystal stones, which is connected to the koi pond outside the study. The sunlight penetrates the water surface and the double refraction of the crystal stones. The whole basement seems to sway with the waves. It is like a dream without taking drugs.
In the middle of the basement is a large bronze tripod and underground there is a half-burned stove. The stove uses resistant charcoal (that is, coal blocks). The stove flue is made of thick cylindrical iron sheets, which is directly connected to the floor dragon in the study and integrated with the heating facilities of the palace. No wonder no one discovered it for nine years.
On a bookshelf were bottles and jars containing the raw material formula of Wu Shi San, in various colors. There were stones and plant-based medicinal materials, which Hu Shanwei could not name, as well as various grinding and cutting tools, and even an extremely sensitive small Western scale used for weighing.
Ru Siyao took out a stick of pale yellow ore from a tin can. The moment he hit it with a hammer, a strange smell came out. "Smell it, what's that smell?"
Hu Shanwei dared to move closer to take a sniff. "It smelled like garlic, like eating dumplings dipped in garlic and vinegar sauce, or talking to someone without rinsing your mouth."
Ru Siyao put the ore back to its original place. "This is the alum that Shen Qionglian found in the pharmacy. It is the main source of arsenic. It emits a garlic smell when struck with iron."
Hu Shanwei quickly took out his handkerchief and, regardless of the elegant and generous image of the female official, picked his nose... for fear of inhaling the alum powder.
"Don't worry, this amount won't hurt your body." Ru Siyao wrote a note and stuck it on the tin can as a label. "In fact, alum is an expensive medicinal material. With the right formula, it can turn dead tissue into new tissue and save people from illness. If used in the wrong way, it will harm people. This is a man-made disaster. Alum is innocent."
Even so, Hu Shanwei still shook the handkerchief he had used to wipe his nostrils onto the ground, fearing that there might be some residue left. He said awkwardly, "Just like when you hit something with an iron tool, it will give off a garlic smell. Wouldn't it give off such a disgusting smell when you hit something with wood? There is nothing wrong with the alum itself, it's just that it meets the wrong person who uses it."
Ru Siyao said seriously, "Tin and copper utensils will not produce such a bad smell when they are hit. Something similar to alum is cockroaches, especially the large flying cockroaches in Yunnan. They are disgusting and filthy, but if you cultivate their eggs in a clean place and feed them carefully, and then dry the adult cockroaches and grind them into powder, it will be very effective in treating gastric ulcers, oral ulcers and other internal organ damage."
Hu Shanwei felt something rising in his stomach: "Please stop talking. I was just making an analogy. I'm not overestimating my own abilities by talking to you about medicine..."
Ru Siyao weighed all the alum he could find in the basement on a western balance and recorded the weight.
Hu Shanwei asked: "Is this amount of alum enough to cause death?"
Ru Siyao said, "It depends on the quality of the alum. I will randomly pick out five pieces of alum of similar weight, grind them into powder, quench them, remove impurities, and refine arsenic/frost."
"From what I can see, this kind of stuff is likely to kill people, but it depends on the person..."
When Ru Siyao talked about medicine, she couldn't stop talking. Hu Shanwei found five of the same Wu Shi San that turned King Lu Huang from a Breaking Bad Master into a Breaking Poison Corpse in a blue and white porcelain garlic bottle on the bookshelf.
Five thumb-sized red beads placed on the pure white silk handkerchief have a strange beauty.
Hu Shanwei asked: "How long does it take to extract arsenic from it?"
Ruth cut the pill in half with a knife, crushed it, smelled it, and even licked a little bit of the powder with her tongue to "taste it", then rinsed her mouth, took a detoxification pill, and then said:
"It's very troublesome. The technology of refining arsenic from alum is very sophisticated. I can just find a big pharmacy and borrow various stoves and utensils. But this pill contains at least a dozen kinds of medicinal materials and five kinds of stone powder. It may not be possible for a master of medicine to remove them one by one."
Hu Shanwei had a headache: "How can we be sure that King Luhuang died from the arsenic in the pills? And not some other poisoning?"
Ru Siyao said, "The quickest way is to find a pig of similar weight to King Luhuang, mix the pills into its feed and feed it to see if the pig will die. The internal organs of a pig are similar to those of a human."
Pig: Although I will die sooner or later, I choose to die under the butcher's knife. At least it's a quick death.
Hu Shanwei said, "If you eat the last five, there will be no evidence."
Ru Siyao wrapped the pills in waterproof oil paper and said, "In that case, I will work harder and stay up all night to extract the arsenic."
Hu Shanwei said, "Didn't you just say that even experts in medicine and stone medicine might not be able to do it?"
Ru Siyao said calmly: "I am an expert among experts."
Hu Shanwei saw hope again. It turned out that it was right to ask Ru Siyao for help. She could not complete the task alone. She had been a female official in the harem for twelve years and had met all kinds of talented women. They developed trust and tacit understanding with each other. These were her invisible wealth.
Ru Siyao was a meticulous person. She scraped off even the remaining medicine residue in the copper tripod and the coal ash at the bottom of the pot outside the tripod bit by bit and collected them in a paper bag in an orderly manner. Hu Shanwei could only help her by the side.
“Hiss!”
Ru Siyao scraped the bottom of the pot, making a harsh sound. Hu Shanwei felt that the devilish sound was like scraping her heart, and she couldn't stand it. She saw a pile of books on the bookshelf. Judging from the covers, they were all books by sages.
However, according to King Luhuang's usual character, the books inside must be folk novels or folk pictures, so the two of them did not open these sage books in the basement.
But now the sound of scraping the bottom of the pot was too noisy, and Hu Shanwei urgently needed to divert his attention. Anyway, he had already turned over even the coal slag in the basement, and the only things left to check were these books.
Hu Shanwei was mentally prepared. When he opened the cover of the sage's book, he saw neat and elegant handwriting. It turned out to be the "Notes on Alchemy" disguised as a sage's book. Every time King Luhuang started to make medicine, he recorded the name, weight, ratio, etc of various medicinal materials in detail.
In addition, the results after taking the medicine were also recorded: some felt euphoric, some had vomiting and diarrhea, some felt as if they had not taken anything, some were just a few black charcoal pieces that were impossible to swallow, and there were even details of some people who "had sex with three women in one night" after taking the medicine and still held their flags high.
Judging from the recorded dates, King Luhuang refined the pills once a month on average, and made about ten pills each time. Every time, he would adjust the pill ratio and the temperature based on past experience. In the past few years, he often abandoned pills, but in recent years, there have been very few mistakes. His alchemy skills have become more and more proficient, and he would take out the pills every now and then to "become immortal."
The records are neat and meticulous, even more serious than when Ru Siyao wrote the Corpse Code. It can be seen that King Luhuang was not without strengths, but they were all in crooked ways. If he had used this seriousness in the right way, such as devoting himself to medical research and writing medical books like the fifth prince, Prince Zhou Zhu Su, perhaps King Luhuang would not have died so absurdly and would have achieved different results.
Hu Shanwei felt sorry for King Luhuang and handed the unexpected find, "Notes on Alchemy", to Ru Siyao.
Ru Siyao flipped through it and his eyes lit up immediately, "This is good, the formula is clearly recorded - quickly find out the most recent pill formula he wrote."
Hu Shanwei found the recipe of the deadly pill according to the date.
Ru Siyao looked at the amount of alum and frowned, "No, judging from the amount, unless the arsenic content of the alum can reach 30%, five pills are far from enough to be lethal."
Hu Shanwei quickly brought over the iron box containing the alum and asked, "Take a look at these. Have you reached 30%?"
Ru Siyao shook her head. "Impossible. The main components of alum are iron, sulfur, copper, etc. Arsenic can reach 10% purity, which means it is very pure. Besides, there are several detoxifying drugs in the recipe. And..."
Ru Siyao hurriedly flipped through the recipes for each trial, circling the amount of alum with a red pen, "King Luhuang knew the terrible toxicity of alum through swallowing it himself, so the amount of alum in his recipes was reduced after a few years, and more and more medicinal materials for health preservation and aphrodisiac were added. Look at the recipe he recorded for having sex with three women in one night. He taught himself and came up with a formula similar to the red pills in brothels."
Ru Si flipped through the medicine. She had a good memory and stopped. "Six months later, he used the same recipe to make another pot."
I didn't know that King Luhuang was also a genius in alchemy! He was good at criticism and self-criticism, using himself as a guinea pig for experiments, not harming others or small animals, and gradually improving the formula according to his own needs.
Hu Shanwei didn't know how to evaluate this deadly poisonous corpse, and said: "Since King Lu has figured out the pharmacology and is wary of alum, why did he still fall for it? Could it be that someone deliberately poisoned him?"
Ru Siyao did not make a final conclusion and said, "Most of those who drowned were people who could swim, and most of those who lost their pants were once rich people. It's hard to say about this kind of thing. I need to test the toxicity of the pill first."
After examining the corpse and searching the underground alchemy room, it was already dark when the two came out of the basement. Haitang was waiting outside, roasting taro in the brazier out of boredom.
When the two smelled the aroma of food, their stomachs started beating like drums. In order to save time, they skipped lunch. Haitang peeled the roasted taro for them, leaving only a crack, and ate it with a small silver spoon.
Hu Shanwei blew on the soft and sticky taro paste and asked, "Did the prince send anyone to check the alchemy room?"
"I have been on guard. There are spies around the study, but no one has come here." Haitang said, "The people from the Ministry of Rites have reburied the body of King Luhuang. He is wearing a dragon robe bestowed by the emperor. Because his death was so ugly, his eyeballs were about to ooze out. Huang Zicheng, the Minister of Rites, suggested that he wear a golden mask on his head, and the prince agreed..."
While the two of them were eating roasted taro, Haitang told them about the progress of the funeral at Prince Lu's mansion today:
The Ministry of Works was ordered by the Crown Prince to go to the suburbs to look at Feng Shui and select a cemetery site. They did not like the Yanzhou area and planned to go to the neighboring Zoucheng to take a look tomorrow.
The poisonous corpse wearing a golden mask was carried to the newly established mourning hall. The 56th Duke of the Confucius Mansion in Qufu, Kong Nayan, had already arrived to pay his respects to King Luhuang, and was received by the prince himself.
Officials from all over Shandong and cultural celebrities also handed in their names, and Huang Zicheng drew up a list of names to express condolences. Those whose names were called came in, burned incense and expressed condolences, and were arranged to take their seats. Today's scene was busy but not chaotic, and everyone praised the prince's virtue for holding up the scene.
Princess Lu almost ignored the funeral outside, and relied on the prince completely. She and the wet nurse stayed by the side of Guo'er, who was one month old. However, Princess Lu was very strict in managing the backyard of the palace. Every place had maids patrolling day and night. The alchemy room was in the inner study, which was also in the backyard. No matter how noisy it was outside, the backyard was like an iron bucket and water could not be poured in.
"No wonder Ru Siyao and I were quiet in the alchemy room for the whole afternoon without being disturbed." Hu Shanwei said, "It turned out to be the work of Princess Lu."
Haitang also praised: "The Imperial Concubine picked a good daughter-in-law, but it's a pity that Prince Lu is not lucky enough to have her."
Hu Shanwei said, "Go tell Princess Lu that Ru Siyao and I are going to disguise ourselves and leave the house to go to the pharmacy to test the pills overnight. We can't let anyone find out what we're doing or where we're going. Ask her to make some arrangements. Also, we have to hold them back outside. We may be late tomorrow, and we can't let anyone know we've been out."
Princess Lu loaded the two men into an empty milk truck and sent them out of the palace without asking them what they had found out. It seemed that she had no interest in Prince Lu's death and was only focused on raising Guo'er.
The two came to the Shen family's pharmacy, and Shen Qionglian also made some discoveries. She took out the portrait of Prince Lu and asked the clerks in each pharmacy if they had seen this person.
The princes were not allowed to leave their fiefdoms without being summoned, otherwise they would be guilty of treason and disobeying the imperial order. In other words, if the Prince of Lu wanted to gather all the minerals and herbs for alchemy, he had to buy them from the local pharmacy in Yanzhou and could not step out of Yanzhou City.
So when Shen Qionglian showed the portrait, a waiter immediately recognized it:
"Isn't this the little painter who bought alum powder from the pharmacy to poison rats? He said that the rats at home like the smell of paste, and they always gnaw on the drawing paper, making the studio a mess and causing heavy losses. He regularly mixes alum powder into the paste to poison a batch of them, and then they will be quiet for a while. They come a few times a year, but he is handsome, well-mannered, and speaks politely, so I remember him."
"When he bought alum from our store, he called himself a poor scholar, and his words were similar."
"I know him, too. He calls himself a quack doctor who makes a living by buying some medicinal herbs from our store that can't kill people or cure diseases, but he has never bought alum from our store..."
Judging from the description of the clerk, King Luhuang was very cautious about this matter. He purchased the medicinal materials in the elixir recipe from different pharmacies and under different identities, and put almost all his wisdom into refining the elixir.
Moreover, King Luhuang absolutely did all the alchemy himself. He did not trust anyone and did not rely on others. So no matter how the virtuous wife Princess Lu guarded herself, she never expected that there was a deadly poison master in her basement.
Alum is a special commodity for the pharmacy. The amount of alum purchased and sold must be registered and submitted to the government for review regularly. Once the number is found to be abnormal, the government will investigate. In order to transfer the risk, the pharmacy requires the buyer to sign and seal the deal. Otherwise, it would rather not sell it than risk a lawsuit.
In order to confirm that it was King Luhuang himself, Shen Qionglian took out the records of the purchase of alum. She had an amazing memory and could remember handwriting and fingerprints at a glance. She used a magnifying glass to make a comparison and listed all the alum records of King Luhuang in the past nine years, including the purchase date and weight.
When Hu Shanwei and Ru Siyao came to the pharmacy to find her, she had just finished writing.
Ru Siyao looked at Shen Qionglian's statistical records and shook his head repeatedly, "If all this alum is taken at once, it will be enough to poison King Luhuang to death nine more times."
Shen Qionglian asked: "Is it really King Luhuang's own fault?"
Ru Siyao still shook her head. "The key is the amount. Let alone taking alum powder, even if you take the same amount of lime, cinnabar, malachite, or even gold, you will die three or four times."
Hu Shanwei showed Shen Qionglian the "Alchemy Notes" of the King of Lu. "From the records of his elixir recipes, King Lu Huang has long been wary of alum and has been reducing the dosage. He even slowly added some detoxifying herbs to neutralize the toxicity of alum. In the past year, he has been swallowing five egg whites and drinking milk every time after taking the elixir. He learned it by himself to reduce the burning sensation in the stomach and intestines, which is also helpful for detoxifying. He may die of accumulated poison at the age of about 40, but he was so cautious and died in his early twenties. Ru Siyao also found it strange."
Ru Siyao took out a bright red pill and said, "I want to test whether this is the medicine that killed King Luhuang."
The author has something to say: King Lu Huang: From Breaking Bad to Deadly Venom, only God knows what I have been through.
Good night, my dears. The real murderer will probably be revealed tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. There is only one real murderer! Leave a message in this chapter, and the first one to guess correctly will receive a 100-point bonus!