She quickly bit her finger and wiped some on his lips.
The blood entered the youth's mouth, and his blood-red eyes slowly faded.
As expected…
"Miss…" Xue Yan, hearing that something was amiss in the room, kicked open the door and saw Hua Yunjin strangling the Empress.
She rushed forward and knocked Hua Yunjin unconscious with a chop to his neck.
Xue Zining felt the air returning, which she had not felt in a long time. "Miss, are you alright?" Xue Yan stepped forward to help Xue Zining up.
She shook her head, "I'm fine."
"The Prime Minister, he…"
Xue Zining looked at the sleeping Hua Yunjin, as if the person from moments ago was not him.
"He must have been possessed," she said slowly.
Xue Yan was startled and said, "But the Prime Minister doesn't practice martial arts."
"Who says one cannot be possessed without practicing martial arts?" Xue Zining said, while letting the blood from her lip drip into Hua Yunjin's mouth.
A miracle occurred. Hua Yunjin, who had been pale and bloodless, now slowly regained a normal complexion.
Xue Yan covered her mouth. "This… this…"
"The blood of a true dragon can purify all filth in the world," Xue Zining recalled reading this sentence in a book about extraordinary people when she was young.
She never expected it to be useful today.
However, this situation couldn't continue.
She had to find a way to eradicate the problem.
"I need to see the Hua family elder," Xue Zining said. The Hua family elder must know what was wrong with Hua Yunjin.
In the study, Hua Rong was not surprised that this young lady could come out safely.
Even though none of the maids who had attended to Hua Yunjin's daily needs in the past few days had survived, he knew that the young lady before him was not simple.
"Elder," the young lady said softly.
Hua Rong nodded. "May I ask what Miss Feng is looking for from this old man?"
The young lady walked to the chair and sat down. She looked up, her eyes clear and cold, and said slowly, "It seems you are not surprised that I could come out alive."
Hua Rong smiled and stroked his beard. "Why does Miss Feng say that?"
The young lady replied indifferently, "I have already married Hua Yunjin, but you still call me Miss Feng, which proves that in your heart, you don't consider me one of your Hua family. Perhaps…"
Hua Rong asked, "Perhaps what?"
A trace of mockery flashed in the young lady's eyes. "Perhaps you thought I wouldn't come out alive, so I wouldn't be a member of your Hua family."
Hua Rong laughed heartily, then collected his smile. "Miss Feng, what is the purpose of a 'chongxi' (a wedding performed to ward off evil or bring good fortune)? A 'chongxi' requires the person for whom it is performed to wake up."
"He did wake up."
"Now he's asleep again," Hua Rong said.
The young lady's gaze turned completely cold. She looked at Hua Rong with eyes as cold as ice. "Elder, at this point, will you not tell me something?"
Hua Rong's gaze turned cold. "Miss Feng, this old man does not know what you are talking about."
The young lady stood up and walked towards Hua Rong. Her exceptionally beautiful face held clear, alluring eyes, and her entire being exuded a powerful pressure as she approached him.
Hua Rong was startled and frowned. "Who exactly are you?"
The young lady looked down at him from a superior position, as if he were an ant. "Hua Rong, who do you think I should be?"
Hua Rong trembled all over. He raised his eyes and met her gaze, which was as clear as water yet as cold as frost. The familiar feeling in his mind grew stronger, and a final spark of enlightenment pierced his thoughts.
"You… you are…"
The young lady placed a finger on her lips and smiled. "It's something to be understood, not to be spoken."
Hua Rong quickly stood up from his seat and knelt on the ground. "This humble subject had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai. I beg Your Majesty's forgiveness."
"Elder Hua himself admits to having eyes but failing to recognize Mount Tai, so how can I blame you?"
Hua Rong twitched his lips. Was the Empress indirectly calling him blind?
"Your Majesty, why have you personally come to Binzhou?" Binzhou was not a short distance from the capital.
"I have come for Hua Yunjin," the young lady's voice rang out, coolly.
Hua Rong was startled. "It is the Hua family's honor to receive such concern from Your Majesty."
"I am only here for Hua Yunjin. Your Hua family need not flatter yourselves," the young lady said without reservation.
Hua Rong, who had been so proud in the main hall just now, was now as pathetic as he could be.
"Your Majesty speaks the truth," Hua Rong complied.
"Now, shouldn't you tell me about Yunjin's illness?" the young lady sat down, her gaze fixed on Hua Rong.
It felt like a massive block of ice pressing down on him. Hua Rong said, "Hua Yunjin is merely suffering from a minor illness. He will recover after a period of recuperation."
"Hua Rong, I have no patience to play games with you. If you don't speak, I will have to take Hua Yunjin back to the capital for imperial physicians to diagnose him."
Hua Rong was taken aback and sighed. "Your Majesty…"
"Speak…" the young lady's tone was as cold as frost.
Hua Rong said slowly, "This is a curse of the Hua family."
The young lady was surprised. "The Hua family curse?" She had indeed heard rumors from the Hua family.
Hua Rong nodded. "Yes, for a hundred years, the Hua family must produce a prodigy who will lead the family to the center of power, reaching a position second only to the monarch."
"Hua Yunjin is that prodigy."
"Yes," Hua Rong confirmed.
"Is there a way to break it?"
Hua Rong shook his head. "Your Majesty knows that Jing Ge helped Hua Yunjin detoxify, but that was merely a temporary measure. A complete cure requires another method."
"Do you know the method?" Even if it were at the ends of the earth, she would find it.
Hua Rong shook his head. "There is none."
"How can it be…" The young lady stood up, her face filled with astonishment.
Hua Rong said, "Your Majesty, this humble subject is also searching."
"What about the 'chongxi'?"
Hua Rong sighed. "Your Majesty, you have also noticed that when he acts up, he is like a bloodthirsty demon. Before you, there were two maids attending to Hua Yunjin. Apart from being choked to death by Yunjin, their blood was also drained."
Xue Zining remembered Hua Yunjin drinking her blood and then calming down.
"The blood only provides relief, it cannot cure."
Hua Rong nodded. "Your Majesty speaks the truth. However, without a definitive method, we can only provide relief for now."
"From now on, no more maids need to enter. I am sufficient."
Hua Rong was taken aback. He instinctively raised his head to look at the young lady before him. Her eyes were clear as water, emitting a cool radiance, ethereal, as if capable of purifying all impurities.
For some reason, he felt an unprecedented sense of peace.
Perhaps, the curse that had plagued the Hua family for a hundred years could be broken by the Empress.
"This humble subject obeys the decree!" Hua Rong lowered his head and said solemnly.
Exiting the study, Xue Zining's expression became complex. Hua Yunjin's illness was not as simple as she had imagined.
"Will you be my sister-in-law from now on?" a little girl with two flower-bud buns ran up to her, her voice soft and childlike.
"Yes, do you like it?" Xue Zining squatted down and asked.
"I like it," the little girl said with a smile, clapping her hands.
She smiled too.
"Yunzhu," a woman's voice called out.
Xue Zining looked up and saw the person approaching, her gaze turning cold. This was because the person was Zhou Shiyin, whom she had met that very morning.
"Miss Zhou, I trust you are well!"