CHAPTER 664: [658] QING CHUAN CHENG WANGFEI 27 (1 MORE UPDATE)

Xiyuan had come from the modern era, so naturally, she knew how terrifying and perilous it was for young girls to bear children. Because of this, she had specifically spoken to Yun Mi about the matter.

Yun Mi had also agreed to discuss it with her after her coming-of-age ceremony.

Despite being newlyweds—nearly a year into their marriage—they still felt like newlyweds due to frequent separations and her habit of preparing various new snacks for him, which greatly endeared her to him through his stomach. Now, whenever they dined as a couple, it was definitely her cooking, unless there were guests at the Prince Manor, and only then would the main kitchen take over. Her indispensability had become much stronger than she had ever imagined.

Moreover, this year’s Undead event had caused significant losses to the Royal Family, and nobody had plans to add new members to the household until the selection event in the Yong Zheng 13th year, when new individuals would enter the household.

Thus, for Xiyuan, these next few years were a period of both freedom and exclusivity, a key period she was determined to cherish. As for the future, that remained to be seen.

Running her family’s shops and farm under the title of Princess Consort of Prince Cheng after the new year was a lot easier than starting from scratch.

Especially since she had reorganized the family’s accounts, neither the Shopkeeper nor the accounting room dared to underestimate her.

She managed Prince Cheng’s Manor with outstanding efficiency; the vegetables she planted before the new year had yielded well. She had pickled spicy cabbage and dried radishes during the winter, made pumpkin cakes and pumpkin buns, and even enjoyed quail eggs and her brewed rice wine and vinegar. Such a virtuous and inventive Princess Consort seemed to provide Yun Mi with an unprecedented sense of novelty, so his affection for her grew day by day.

Of course, aside from these, she was skilled both in the hall and the kitchen. With various gatherings and banquets in the Imperial Palace before the new year, Xiyuan, who had once held the titles of Princess and Empress, understood court etiquette and the Four Arts well enough to impress, especially her excellent calligraphy, which Yun Mi greatly praised.

She had comprehensively secured her footing in Prince Cheng’s Mansion relying on these skills.

However, just when she rolled up her sleeves, planning to revamp their shops at the manor thoroughly, the incident they had feared eventually erupted.

One night in March, a second wave of the biting incident broke out in the palace, causing Yong Zheng to pass out from anger and vomit blood.

Yun Mi rushed to the palace overnight to handle the situation. Xiyuan, feeling uneasy, paced back and forth in the mansion until dawn when she heard from Little Yuanzi that the Prince would return to the mansion for a meal shortly.

Xiyuan quickly prepared some piping hot mutton Spicy Soup, fried dough sticks, and meat buns—a lavish spread, necessary due to the lingering cold despite it being March in Beijing.

Yun Mi arrived wearing his Zhengbai Banner armor, covered in blood. The conditions of the guards who entered the mansion with him were also poor; it was evident that there had been severe fighting.

Now living together in one courtyard, even though Yun Mi didn’t want her to see the blood on him, Xiyuan, who had rushed out to greet him, caught him off guard.

"How serious is it? Are you alright? No injuries?" she asked with concern.

Seeing his wife’s worried expression, he reached out to stop her, "I’m fine, don’t worry. Let me clean up and then I’ll explain everything to you in detail."

"The hot water is ready," Yun Mi nodded, entering, and Xiyuan hurriedly asked the following guard to also go rest; the main kitchen had already prepared food for their party, stemming from the camaraderie that had developed from growing up together. Thus, ever since Xiyuan entered the main compound, she had treated them with extra respect.

Although Yun Mi was early to be titled as Prince, in reality, he had no significant military achievements—relying mostly on the favor from Kangxi and Yong Zheng, but more so because he was outstanding himself, excelling in both literary and martial skills and particularly dependable, which was why Yong Zheng trusted him with such a critical matter to hone him at a young age.

Of course, this didn’t exclude the possibility that he was just being protective of his son, especially since the task was quite dangerous.

When Yun Mi came out after freshening up and saw the table full of food, he couldn’t help but delight.

"I do love eating, but I don’t want you to tire yourself. You made so much, did you have to get up very early?"

"Not too early, but I just couldn’t sleep and wanted to do something for you. Hurry up and eat, and we can talk after."

Possibly because he had exerted a great deal of strength last night, Yun Mi was indeed hungry, devouring the soup and stuffed buns.

With just the two of them, formalities were less strict: "If it’s too spicy, I also made tofu pudding, you can add some into the Spicy Soup to balance it out."

Yun Mi shook his head, "No need, the flavor is just right. Eating and sweating makes me feel my strength returning bit by bit. You have no idea how frightening last night was, unimaginable. If these creatures bit people day and night, our city would have already fallen into a desolate state."

"Hasn’t that thing been gone for months? How suddenly?"

Yun Mi shook his head, "We can’t trace the source; those bitten all died, those not bitten died of fright, who could see clearly who bit them? In one night, the Imperial Palace might have nearly a thousand casualties. Those Taoist priests caused trouble when alive, and dead, they were no use at all. Now elder brother has ordered the Imperial Physicians to study an antidote, but, how could this be easily resolved?"

That was indeed the case, if it could be resolved it would have been resolved long ago—why wait until now?

Xiyuan pursed her lips, hesitating as she looked towards Yun Mi: "Have you ever thought why I was unaffected?"

Yun Mi, who had been bowing his head to sip his soup, instinctively lifted his head at her words, met with a puzzled expression from Xiyuan.

"Actually, I’ve been thinking, that day I was also exposed to the same poison as the guard, even if it was just mild, I was still poisoned, right? You see the palace maids and eunuchs, just one bite and they’re gone, no matter what, I was poisoned too, why was I fine? Do you think, I might have developed some resistance to the poison? Because I survived, that’s why I’m fine? Like those who’ve had chickenpox won’t get it again, I was poisoned, yet I’m fine, could my blood possibly save people?"

This bold speculation startled Yun Mi, and he quickly stopped her, "You can’t talk nonsense; you can say this here, but you mustn’t speak recklessly outside. Even if your blood really is useful, you’re just one person, how could you save thousands? Would there be enough of your blood?"

At this, Xiyuan paused, but quickly considered a point she had overlooked—there was no advanced technology like in future generations where antibodies could be extracted from genomes to create vaccines or antidotes; lacking such capabilities, wouldn’t they have to directly use her blood as medicine?

How much blood did she have for them to use like this? The thought of possibly turning into a dried corpse made her shudder involuntarily.