After a long while, Lei Xing said, "Okay, I see...you should go rest." Ah Jin bowed and left the room. Lei Xing frowned as she tried to process the information.

...So is this some sort of riddle or what -_-?)...or is he really just lamenting about his poop condition, I wouldn't put it past him...but let's give him the benefit of a doubt and believe that he is aware no one cares about his pooping...and I don't believe he is that crazy...so in that case, he has to be talking about the ring...so, poop...forget the poop! Focus on other aspects -_-)'...pooping process... 24-hour pooping process...okay, let's go with that...so...poop...

Lei Xing stared at the ring on her finger.

...So does it poop?... Wait, can inanimate objects even poop? Or is it alive? If it's alive that would be creepy...plants can be considered inanimate and are alive, and I'm pretty sure they somehow poop after eating, photosynthesis and crap... so let's look at it as a plant then...so did it eat sunlight? then it would have been pooping every day, right? That makes no sense -_-)'...could be accumulated poop, constipation?...-_-)...Fine, fine, it's not that...

...Ah, he did say it absorbed "all" the poison in the world...so it eats poison? but it didn't touch anything poisono-...ah the tea! It spilled, right? some of it must have gotten on the ring, I guess...but just that tiny bit and it needs to "poop"?...also is everything then poisonous to it for a whole 24 hours, isn't that too much?...what if I dropped it in a vat of poison, would it take a month to "poop process" it?...or maybe the amount doesn't matter...either way, can't it multitask -_-?)'...haah, am I being too greedy?...

...Also, does it absorb in anything poisonous and then sort of "evaporate" the non-toxic stuff...I'm not sure how that would work with solid stuff, but liquids...say I dropped it in a vat of poisoned tea, would it absorb in all the tea or would it just absorb the toxic bits, like a sort of um, what's the word, ahh...detoxifier!...yeah, that could be useful...how? I don't know you never know...I kind of want test it...yeah, but then it would be out of commission for 24 hours again, I could work around it...so how to get poison...I'm pretty sure anything can be poisonous to ingest, I can make my own...

Lei Xing got up and walked to her dresser and started opening the cosmetics on the table.

...These are probably not good to ingest, right?... Yeah, but I don't think they can kill you, a stomachache at most?... Let's try it...

She walked back to the pot of tea on the side and started pouring the powder, lip paint, blush and anything she found into the teapot and then shook it. Then looked at the ring and it showed no reaction.

...Not enough?...

Lei Xing looked around the room.

...There isn't much else to use here...

Lei Xing walked back to her dresser and rummaged through the drawers, and picked at a bunch of hairpins.

...Jade won't work right?...Ah, what about pearls? No, I'm pretty sure it'd just go down easily to poop...This ruby should work, so if I could break it to sharp pieces, it would be detrimental, shred the intestines and such...Yes!...

Lei Xing took the ruby hairpin and put it on the table, and went to look for a heavy object, and came back with an inkstone, and stood there hammering quietly at the ruby, she managed to dislodge the jewel from the hair stick, but was making slow progress on smashing the ruby. So she decided to just give it one big swing. Just as she raised her hand high ready to swing. The doors opened and Xiao Ruo stood at the doors staring at her wide-eyed. Lei Xing froze when she saw her and then started lifting her hand up and down, "I'm exercising." and then dropped the inkstone on the table.

Xiao Ruo looked at her and then glanced down at the table and saw the hair stick and detached ruby on the table, didn't say anything and walked to the side table. She was holding a tray with a fresh teapot and knelt down by the low table and wanted to switch the teapots.

Lei Xing turned and saw Xiao Ruo picking up her poisonous teapot, "Stop!" Xiao Ruo turned to look at Lei Xing with a puzzled expression. Lei Xing then walked up to her, "I'm not done with this tea yet."

"Your highness, you shouldn't be drinking cold tea. It's better to drink a fresh pot."

Lei Xing grabbed her poisonous teapot and dropped it on the table, "You can just drop that one too, I will decide which is best. You can leave."

Xiao Ruo looked at Lei Xing perplexed, then bowed and left the room. After the doors closed behind her, Xiao Ruo heard a loud smash and quickly turned to ask from outside the doors, "Your highness, are you okay?"

Lei Xing shouted, "Yes, I'm fine. I just dropped something." She used the inkstone to further grind the smashed pieces putting all strength in her arms. By the time she was done she had worked up a bit of a sweat, but was pleased with the result. She poured the pieces into the teapot with a smile.

...This is excellent...

She swished the teapot and then dropped it and looked at the ring and then frowned.

...What is wrong with this thing now?...It worked on the shards in the bottle in the store the other time...so why is not working or is this really not a toxic mix...maybe I need more?...I'm pretty sure if I drink this I'm going to die...Don't tell me it's not working because I made it myself...so if I tried to poison myself, will it just let me? or could it be that it is aware that I am not in any danger since I won't be stupid enough to drink my own brew, so it's not reacting?...no way, that's possible, it's not conscious...we're talking about a magic poison absorbing, pooping poison detection ring here -_-)'...still...actually, maybe these components aren't toxic per se, how would it even absorb the toxicity from crushed jewels, by absorbing their hardness and turning it mush? I don't think so...I think I may have overestimated its capabilities...haah...maybe I should go ask the empress dowager for some tea instead...haha so funny -_-)...Whatever, forget it...

Lei Xin picked up the pot and emptied its contents into a plant in the corner.

...the bottom line is don't let it touch poison, it'll be troublesome...this old man should have given me a manual or something...maybe I should ask for one? I'm sure he'd be too busy sleeping to write one...that, or I would get another poop manifesto, and this time it may really be about poop -_-)'...

***

The days following that incident were quiet and peaceful for Lei Xing. No one tried to poison her again, the dowager's tea time was fine, which made her feel that they really gave up too easily. Her days comprised of going to the empress dowager's palace for their study sessions, the woman actually had them take turns reciting parts of the book and whoever failed was punished with copying multiple volumes of the book. Of course, Lei Xing planned for this kind of jobless behavior and so put in the effort in reading the book and so passed her test.

Lei Xing also learned about the background information on the others in the palace, Xiao Ruo and Ah Jin were quite knowledgeable and great at gathering intel. Lei Xing particularly found the other noble consorts backgrounds enlightening, there was Lady Jin, who is called Zhao Lan and is actually the daughter of the Prime minister, this explains her haughty and daring behavior, apparently, the late empress, the emperor's adoptive mother was part of the Zhao family, so she can be considered a relative of his. It also explains her blatant dislike for Lei Xing, who as the defense minister's daughter was the only one who could match up to her in terms of background. There's also the fact that their fathers are apparently considered rivals in court. While the Zhao family helped the emperor build a power base in court while he was absent all these years, the Lei family has supported him in his battles and the main family's son is his close confidante. These two families can be said to have paved the way for the emperor to ascend the throne. Now, with the late empress gone, they have put forward Zhao Lan to rebuild the direct bridge to the emperor they lost, and obviously Lei Xing's in her way.

Then there's copy cat Lian, who is called Chen You, the daughter of the Minister of Finance. It turns out her father is actually Lei Xing's father's distant relative, who had grown up at the Lei manor after his parents' passing with her father and they were close as children. Lei Xing's father went off to accompany the late emperor in battles when he was a prince, while Chen Bo had stayed on in the capital and became an official. Later, when the late emperor took the throne, he set about eliminating all threats to him and killed off his brothers and their followers, there was a rumor that Chen Bo had been a supporter of one of the princes, but he was spared because Lei Xing's father pleading his case and that he was able to get to his current position because of that relationship. Lei Xing sighed on hearing this, Chen You must have always been pushed by her father to ingratiate herself with the Lei family and somehow she must have ended up casting Lei Xing as her life's aspiration. Lei Xing thought that if that was all it was, then that was good, but she felt that there was a certainly a hidden animosity there., which is becoming evident by her snobby attitude that came with her newfound status.

Then there was the last one, Li Ru, which is the least extraordinary of them all, apparently, her father was demoted years ago and is currently a magistrate in a city far from the capital. The reason she could get the chance to enter the palace was because her father had bought his way into having her become the goddaughter of the minister of works. That she could become a noble consort was a shock and there's also a rumor that she is said to have been born under a lucky star, which was why a concubine's daughter was chosen over the daughter from the main family.

Lei Xing had spent her time either going to the empress dowager's palace or moping around in her palace, still a bit aggrieved at her current condition. The Emperor did not come over again, and she was grateful for that and had no interest in changing it the current state of affairs on that matter.

The empress dowager was now done with her virtuous lessons and seemed to not want to bother with them, for now. After a few days of doing absolutely nothing, Lei Xing felt that she needed a change of pace and so decided to take a trip to the Imperial library.

...When there's lack of TV and internet, books are the next best thing, right?...haah, I wanna go back T_T)...

Lei Xing made her way to the library, it was quite huge with various scrolls and books stacked on tens of shelves. There were also various scholars around seeming to be studying, copying books, repairing them, making compilations and other activities. When Lei Xing entered they all looked at her wide-eyed and then bowed. One of them approached her bowed and said, "Your highness, is there something you need?"

...I have to need something?...

Lei Xing smiled politely, "Ah, I'm just going to look around."

The scholar looked up at her with a complicated expression, Lei Xing did not pay him any attention and just walked into the shelves, picking and glancing through the books with Ah Jin at her side. She had left Xiao Ruo behind in her palace and the rest of her entourage was outside. While she was going around scrolling through books, she had stumbled on a copy of the Art of War, she was quite shocked that they had this here.

...They have this here too, I guess I did go back in time then...

She had always wanted to read this, started it, then got lazy and never got far, she even bought it twice and ended up giving them away, before she could finish them, one to her older brother and the other to her father.

...I guess now's a good a time as any...

She was absentmindedly flipping through it, when someone spoke beside her, "The Art of War, interesting choice."

Lei Xing immediately turned to find Prince Yi standing beside her with a smile and froze.

...Why is he here?!...

Prince Yi saw her shocked face, picked up a book from the shelf and explained, "I work here."

Lei Xing was even more surprised and blurted out, "Here?"

Prince Yi glanced at her, then back at the book in his hand, "Yes, I am in charge of the Imperial library."

Lei Xing raised her eyebrows and said, "Oh, I see."

The two stood there in silence for a bit, Lei Xing saw that he wasn't planning on moving and so decided to move, when he asked, "Why the Art of War?"

Lei Xing glanced back at him, "It's a good book."

He snorted and asked, "Are you preparing to go to the battlefield?"

"Isn't life a battlefield of sorts."

He calmly said, "That's true, life in the palace is a battlefield."

Lei Xing cast him a glance and was about to turn to leave again, when he said, "I have a question."

Lei Xing frowned.

...Haah, question...sure you do...must you announce you have a question, why not just ask the question instead?...must be a family thing -_-)'...let's hear it...