From the Start, I Tested the Poison and Identified the Poisoning Method

Half Xia is a poison-tasting eunuch at the very bottom of the Great Jin imperial harem. All he wants is to survive until tomorrow.

On his first day on the job, a bowl of soup is brought before him. He smells it: aconite, nux vomica, arsenic, yellow jasmine, pokeweed, thunder god vine, and oleander. Seven poisons, layered four deep: vicious, yet artfully prepared.

He points it out in front of everyone, and the corridor falls silent. The consort doesn't die, and neither does he.

But in this palace, poison-tasting eunuchs aren't supposed to smell the soup. The previous poison-tasting eunuch died just three days ago. This position was left open for him.

A bowl of soup is a trap. A single stick of incense can cost a life. With just his nose and a scalpel, Half Xia starts by smelling the medicine inspection records at the Imperial Pharmacy. He follows the scent into the Inner Treasury, then the Incense Bureau, and finally into the old case of the late emperor's sudden death twenty years ago...

Soul-Returning Incense can summon souls, but it can also kill an emperor. The people behind the Incense Bureau plot have not disappeared in twenty years.

Others test for poison with a silver needle. He tests for it by reading people's hearts.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.