"Oh?"
Yun Xi paused in the act of turning the page and turned to look at Hun Yuan, who was all excited.
"Judging from your look... there's also bad news?"
"Er..."
Hun Yuan was taken aback. He touched his cheek and mumbled,
"Is it that obvious?"
Hun Yuan toned down the excitement on his face a bit. He moved a wooden stool over and sat down beside Yun Xi. Then he said seriously,
"I'm not joking. There really is bad news.
"According to the records on that mural, the venomous insect in your body is about to be fully formed. It can neither be removed nor suppressed. With the temporary suppression of the remaining pills left by Master, you... only have about three months to live."
"Clang—"
A sharp sound suddenly rang out, causing everyone to turn around in unison.
Yi Yuan was standing there dumbfounded at the door. The porcelain bottle in his hand, which contained the medicine for removing Yun Xi's scars, had fallen to the ground and shattered into pieces.
"A Yuan..."
The blankness, helplessness, and fear in Yi Yuan's eyes were clearly visible. Yun Xi quickly got up and walked over to hold his hand.
"It's okay. I'm still here, safe and sound."
Hun Yuan smacked his forehead in annoyance for not expecting Yi Yuan to overhear. He quickly said,
"Don't be in a hurry. I haven't told you the good news yet."
"Although there's no way to remove or further suppress the venomous insect in Junior Sister, there's another way—rising from the ashes."
The suffocating pain in Yi Yuan's chest gradually subsided. His cold, frosty gaze shot at Hun Yuan like an ice pick.
Hun Yuan felt a chill run down his spine under Yi Yuan's stare. He quickly explained,
"This can't be blamed on me for talking in such a roundabout way. I let Junior Sister choose. Who would've thought that you'd come just in time and happen to overhear..."
"Cut the crap,"
The veins on Yi Yuan's forehead were throbbing. He coldly interrupted Hun Yuan. He tightened his grip on Yun Xi's fair hand. Feeling the warmth from his palm, he felt a bit more at ease. Then he said,
"How exactly do we rise from the ashes?"
Hun Yuan stopped his endless chatter. He looked at the two of them with a complicated look in his eyes. After a moment's hesitation, he said,
"Extract the venomous insect."
"Turn Junior Sister from the container for cultivating the venomous insect into its master. It's just that..." Extract it with an object and then replant it.
Yi Yuan felt a bit relieved. Seeing Hun Yuan hesitating, the heart that had just relaxed a bit inexplicably felt something was wrong. Even his question was unconsciously tinged with a bit of caution.
"Just what? Say it all at once. Don't be so hesitant."
Hun Yuan took a few steps back, putting some distance between himself and Yi Yuan. After standing at a distance that he thought was relatively safe, he gritted his teeth and said quickly,
"According to that mural, there are actually two venomous insects in Junior Sister's body, one yin and one yang. The female is yin and the male is yang. The one in Junior Sister's body is the yin one."
"To extract the venomous insect from Junior Sister's body, she needs to have sexual intercourse with a man who has the yang venomous insect in his body. When passion surges, the two venomous insects will seek out the heart veins and emerge from between the fingers. They will blend and combine, and then separate. The yin venomous insect will enter the man's body, and the yang one will enter the woman's body. Once the venomous insects recognize their masters, both will survive."
"If the process is interrupted halfway, the yin and yang venomous insects will quickly devour flesh and blood, and both will die!"
"Bang!"
A loud noise was heard. It was Yi Yuan, in a fit of rage, slapping the solid, gilded mahogany round table, shattering it into pieces on the ground.
The wood chips were flying everywhere. Hun Yuan secretly thought that luckily he had been prepared and stood far enough away. Otherwise, it might have been him that got shattered.
He was really smart.
Yun Xi's eyes widened in shock. Her lips parted slightly as she stared blankly at the pile of broken wood. She couldn't react for a long time.
This... This was a piece of good news? What a joke!
The loud noise immediately attracted Liu Jingyue from outside.
Afraid that something might happen to Yun Xi, Liu Jingyue put down what she was doing and rushed over in a hurry. As soon as she entered, she saw the poor wooden table lying in pieces on the ground.
"What's going on?"
Liu Jingyue, who was still in the dark, asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"Why does the Prince look so pale?"
How could this matter be easily explained?
Yun Xi's face flushed slightly. She still had to pretend to be calm. She forcefully pulled her hand out of Yi Yuan's tight grip and said,
"It's nothing, Mother. A Yuan and Senior Brother were just in the mood to have a little sparring match. They just didn't hold back for a moment."
"You go and get back to your business. The Lantern Festival is just two days away. There must be a lot of things to do. Don't delay."
"Really?"
Liu Jingyue always felt that Yi Yuan's expression was very strange. But Yun Xi had already come over and pushed her out of the door coquettishly.
She really did have a lot of things to do. Liu Jingyue gave the others a suspicious look. In the end, she was coaxed out.
Yun Xi let out a slight sigh of relief. Before she could say anything, Yi Yuan, with red eyes, said resolutely,
"That mural doesn't count. We'll find another way."
Hun Yuan: …
Hun Yuan took a few more steps back. He leaned his arm on the window and shook his head, saying,
"There's no other way."
"If you don't go through with this, you'll die."
"Thud!"
The broken pieces of the round table on the ground suddenly hit the wall beside the window, making another loud noise.
Hun Yuan, who had just managed to dodge, glanced at the piece of wood embedded in the wall with a lingering fear. He said helplessly,
"It's no use getting angry."
"The Saint Master, during the time when he captured Junior Sister, must have used some means to make the venomous insect in her body quickly fuse with her bones and blood, causing Master's pills for sealing the venomous insect to lose their effectiveness and be unable to suppress it. Otherwise, it wouldn't have come to this."
A sharp pain suddenly stabbed into Yi Yuan's heart. His lips were almost pursed into a straight line.
Yes, it was his own carelessness that he hadn't protected his little Xi well, which had led to today's situation.
If he had been a bit more flexible and smarter back then and hadn't been poisoned by that damned toxin, his little Xi and the venomous insect would surely have been mostly suppressed...
There was a storm raging in his pitch - black eyes. The joints of Yi Yuan's clenched fist turned deathly white. But his words were still stubbornly unyielding.
"I said... that mural doesn't count. I'll find another way."
Yi Yuan's deep self - blame on his face couldn't be hidden at all. Yun Xi held Yi Yuan's tightly clenched hand with heartache and said gently,
"Don't feel guilty, A Yuan. It was my own lack of planning back then. It has nothing to do with you."
"As for the records on that mural, the world is so vast. Is it so easy to find a person with the yang venomous insect? Even if we want to go through with this, we may not be able to. Let's deal with the immediate matter first."
Yun Xi turned to give Hun Yuan a look and said,
"Yi Zhen has returned to the palace. We're bound to meet her on the day of the Lantern Festival."
"She's very cautious in her actions and rarely leaves any evidence. We don't know if she'll make a move at the banquet. We have to make all the arrangements in advance to be on the safe side."
"Yi Zhen..."
Yi Yuan's eyebrows twitched slightly. He unconsciously murmured her name. He retracted his hand that was being held by Yun Xi. When he opened it, there were nail marks all over it.
[I must never let little Xi get close to Yi Zhen!]
Yi Yuan reluctantly put aside the matter of the mural for the time being. He glanced at the messy room and told Mian Xiao and Lin An to clean it up and replace it with new furniture. Then he walked into the inner room on the side. The few of them started to discuss several countermeasures in case Yi Zhen made a move or not at the banquet.
The snow was melting, and the temperature was gradually rising.
For this Lantern Festival banquet, Emperor Zhao Huan only invited the royal family and relatives. He didn't invite any other court officials. Although the banquet was held in the evening, starting from the exact time of 3 p.m. in the afternoon, the invited royal relatives would start to enter the palace one after another. They would chat and socialize, waiting for the dinner.
Yun Xi was following Yi Yuan. She was smiling and dealing with the ladies and noble girls who were curious about how she had been poisoned and then cured.
Just then, Yi Zhen, still looking a bit ill, appeared in Yun Xi's field of vision.