“It won’t be too serious. At most it’ll just cause stomach pain. If someone drinks more of it, the parasites can either be forced out or drowned. But it depends on how toxic the brood is. Judging by the spread of these larvae, the toxicity shouldn’t be too strong.”
Murong Qiufeng pressed his lips tightly together. Shangguan Ye nodded, and Youxiang quickly went off to make preparations.
Before long, she used the excuse of the cold weather to prepare ginger soup mixed with lime for everyone in the residence. Sure enough, after drinking it, quite a few people in the Prime Minister’s estate started showing symptoms.
But Murong Qiufeng and the others were fortunate. Likely because their food had all been managed by Youxiang recently. Even the Prime Minister and his wife had been eating the medicinal meals she prepared, so they were spared. And fortunately, since the brood of parasites had been divided up too thinly, many died off immediately, leaving no one the wiser.
When people suddenly started feeling stomach pains, Youxiang quickly explained it away, saying that while distributing medicine she had accidentally mixed some herbs into the ginger soup.
Everyone knew she had recently taken up the role of physician, as a disciple of a divine doctor, so her interest in experimenting with medicines didn’t raise suspicion.
Shangguan Ye immediately sent word to the palace overnight.
By the next day, many in the palace also fell ill with stomach pains. An investigation revealed that the water wells might have been poisoned. Luckily, the toxin was weak. The initial guess was that it was the work of Consort An’s remaining followers.
They even caught a young maid, who confessed. She said Consort An had once shown her kindness, and she was unhappy with how the Emperor had treated the An family. She only wanted to give everyone a scare, so she hadn’t poisoned the well—only put in some laxatives.
The case fizzled out afterward, though the maid was executed.
Still, those who knew the truth wore grave expressions.
So many people had already been harmed by the parasites. If such things were used on the battlefield, wouldn’t defeat come without a fight? And a terrible one at that.
“The conditions for raising a brood-mother are very harsh. They’re hard to keep alive. And the brood isn’t endless—each mother’s venom has a limit. But now we need to confirm whether this was the work of Xuelai. If the Xuelai ruler himself gave the order, then producing two or three mothers would be no problem. One mother can release as many as ten thousand larvae.” Youxiang explained.
“Ten thousand!” The Emperor’s eyes widened, his face turning pale.
Youxiang nodded and continued, “Based on the situation with these recent larvae, I suspect they all came from a single brood-mother. That very one which Yuntian killed. Without the mother’s control, the larvae weren’t toxic enough, so they went dormant—and that’s why the lime water killed them so easily.” She had been researching this intently for days and had found some clues.
The Emperor’s expression eased a little. That meant the remaining undetected larvae wouldn’t be effective either.
“But if the Xuelai royal family truly ordered this, and they used the Gu King… well, that’s another story. A Gu King can raise at least a hundred brood-mothers every ten years. They might not produce the legendary poison-immune Devourer Gu, but the other brood-mothers are still formidable in their uses.”
“I recall records saying that Xuelai had an ancestral decree: all Gu and poisons were to be used only to save lives. Unless against an enemy, they must never harm the innocent.”
“Exactly why we need to ask Xuelai. If this was theft, it’s easier—Xuelai’s king could use the Gu King to recall the mothers and eliminate them, and we’d even find the culprit. But if this was ordered by the king himself… that’s far trickier.” Youxiang shrugged.
The discussion ended with a courier riding day and night to deliver a secret message to Xuelai. Youxiang also wrote to her master, asking him to sound out the Xuelai king. She remembered her master once saved the former Xuelai monarch’s life, so they had ties of friendship.
The situation only grew more tangled. The parasites were just one part—the assassins who had killed the guards were another key piece.
Inside the carriage, Murong Qiufeng gazed out at the bustling streets, frowning deeply. Any of these ordinary people could have been infected by the parasites. It was terrifying to think—if not for their timely discovery, and if Brother Yun hadn’t slain the brood-mother by chance, the consequences would have been unthinkable. And the more he thought about it, the more suspicious Yun’s sudden appearance seemed.
“Stop brooding. Look at your brows—they’re all knotted up like an old man’s.” Shangguan Ye hooked a finger under his chin, turning his face away from the window, and rubbed his furrowed brow.
Murong Qiufeng pulled his hand down with a sigh. “I just can’t shake this unease.”
“Uneasy about what? The Gu poison? Yun Feiyang? Or… about consummating our marriage?” Shangguan Ye raised an eyebrow.
Murong Qiufeng turned away speechlessly.
Shangguan Ye chuckled, grabbed his hand, and pulled open his own robe, pressing Qiufeng’s palm to his chest.
Qiufeng jerked his hand back instinctively at the sudden warmth of bare skin, then glared at him. “We’re in a carriage. What are you trying to pull now?”
Shangguan Ye grinned as he held his robe open. “What are you thinking? I’m just letting you check. The wound’s healed. In a couple of days, I can have the stitches out. You ready for that?”
Murong Qiufeng stared in surprise at the scar on his chest, about half a finger long, with fine stitches still visible. He reached out and touched it. “So fast…”
Even Youxiang often muttered that Shangguan Ye wasn’t human—such a deep wound, yet in less than ten days it was ready to be unstitched.
Shangguan Ye laughed, kissed his hand, and teased, “What, are you disappointed I healed too quickly?”
“Don’t talk nonsense.” Qiufeng frowned, though the speed of recovery still left him astonished. His own neck wound had taken more than half a month to heal, and he hadn’t even been able to move much. Yet this man was jumping around like nothing had happened.
“If you’re so curious, why not think about our wedding night instead?” Shangguan Ye leaned close, brushing his lips against Qiufeng’s mouth, his voice low and suggestive.
Qiufeng’s cheeks flamed instantly, his heart racing. All his earlier worries vanished into thin air. Stammering, he said, “N-no… not yet… you’re still not fully healed. We’ll wait until then.”
“Haha. Alright, we’ll wait.” Shangguan Ye laughed happily at his flustered look.
But Qiufeng wasn’t nearly as lighthearted. His thoughts were a mess, until a sudden burst of feminine chatter drifted into the carriage. He turned his head and realized they were passing a brothel.
His eyes lit up as an idea formed. Desperate times called for desperate measures—he couldn’t be blamed for thinking this way.
Though male courtesans weren’t common in Yan, they weren’t unheard of either. Some of the more famous brothels even kept a few. For instance, the establishments under Mufeng Pavilion had both women and men on offer.
