HomeAfter I Bloom Hundred Flowers DieChapter 693: In This World, There Are No "What Ifs"

Chapter 693: In This World, There Are No “What Ifs”

The information still didn’t cause any ripples in Xiao Huayong’s eyes. He closed the parchment scroll and turned to ask, “Will the poison in my body affect my offspring?”

If so, he couldn’t give Shen Xihe a child of their own. Such a child might not survive to adulthood, which would harm Shen Xihe and force her to experience the pain of separation through death.

“No,” Xie Yunhuai gave Xiao Huayong an answer that slightly eased his heart, but then added, “Your Highness, while this poison won’t be passed down to offspring, those afflicted by it find it extremely difficult to sire children.”

Those previously unwavering eyes suddenly constricted, his fingertips tightly gripping the parchment scroll until his knuckles turned white.

Noticing Xiao Huayong’s resemblance to an enraged tiger barely restraining its destructive power, Xie Yunhuai had to add, “It’s merely difficult, not impossible. I will discuss with Ale how to help Your Highness improve your condition.”

Xie Yunhuai understood that Shen Xihe needed an imperial grandson no matter what – only then would her future path be less difficult.

“If conception is difficult, would there be any harm to the child’s health?” Xiao Huayong asked, his demeanor returning to calmness.

Even without the poison, Xiao Huayong didn’t want Shen Xihe to suffer for a weak child.

Xie Yunhuai lowered his head: “No one knows.”

In Ale’s tribe, many people had been poisoned like this. Most couldn’t bear children, though some eventually did, but those children never cried out – their mothers died in childbirth.

Later, when everyone became familiar with this poison, they executed those who created it, and no one in the tribe was poisoned again. Only the boldest and most knowledge-hungry physicians would dare to take this poison and then try to cure themselves, but these physicians never married.

Therefore, no one knew if children born to poisoned people would be healthy. All they knew was that when the wives of poisoned men became pregnant, according to their diagnoses, the fetuses showed no obvious problems while in the womb.

But they couldn’t rule out that this was simply because the mother’s body prevented them from detecting any issues.

Xiao Huayong’s heart grew heavier, his eyes becoming pale and unfocused. The early spring peach blossoms on the branches were gorgeous, appearing even more beautiful in the warm sunlight, creating a stark contrast with Xiao Huayong’s gloomy figure beneath the peach tree.

It was as if the brilliant sunlight couldn’t penetrate his body.

After an unknown time, Xiao Huayong finally moved his throat, his voice dark and hoarse: “How do we cure the poison?”

He was asking about the two untested antidote methods.

“One of them is considered the most promising method by Ale’s tribal physicians, though it’s somewhat cruel and hasn’t been tested on humans yet,” Xie Yunhuai revealed without hiding anything.

He had originally set sail to find a cure for Xiao Huayong’s poison. Even though it wasn’t confirmed that Xiao Huayong had this exact poison, the pulse patterns were similar and the symptoms matched. Xie Yunhuai took the approach of being overly cautious rather than negligent, studying everything thoroughly.

For this poison, Xie Yunhuai stayed in the tribe for so long that he went from being unable to communicate to speaking with the local accent, gaining their acceptance and admiration. After solving many problems for the tribe, he earned their respect, and they shared everything with him without reservation.

“All things in nature have their mutual generation and restraint. Your Highness’s poison comes from a living creature. In Ale’s tribe, there exists a poisonous creature that can counteract it – a long worm similar to a leech that sucks blood.” As Xie Yunhuai spoke, he pulled out a scroll from his robes and unrolled it before Xiao Huayong.

It was a small scroll containing paintings of brightly colored snakes, each only as thick as a thumb and as long as an arm.

“These snakes would suck out the poisoned blood from Your Highness’s body.”

“Suck out the poisoned blood?” Xiao Huayong’s dark eyebrows furrowed.

“Not all at once, of course.” Xie Yunhuai explained in detail, “First, we remove the poisoned blood, then use blood-nourishing medicines to restore it. Since the poison resides in the blood, the newly generated blood should be either poison-free or contain only weak traces. This way, the poison in Your Highness’s body will gradually weaken. Through repeated cycles, we continue until no poisoned blood remains in Your Highness’s body – it’s an extremely long treatment process.”

Drain the blood, generate new blood, drain again, regenerate again…

Xiao Huayong could imagine that if this method succeeded, his body would be covered in snake bite marks.

“Would bloodletting not work?” Xiao Huayong would prefer his body to be covered in knife scars rather than snake bites.

“Bloodletting has been tried,” Xie Yunhuai shook his head. “Using these snakes is necessary because the venom in their fangs counteracts Your Highness’s poison. Ale’s ancestors tried capturing snakes and extracting their venom, but this venom is unique – it’s colorless while in the fangs but becomes cloudy and useless within moments of extraction.”

Therefore, the only option was to have the snakes bite Xiao Huayong, allowing their venom to mix directly with his blood before drawing out the poisoned blood – this was the best treatment method.

“Are you certain they truly counteract each other?” Xiao Huayong didn’t want to end up with two poisons instead of one or trade one poison for another.

Xie Yunhuai rolled up his sleeve, revealing rows of dense snake bite marks: “Your Highness can trust me, I’ve verified this personally.”

“You…” Xiao Huayong was stunned, rarely did anything or anyone strike his heart so deeply, moving him to such shock.

But Xie Yunhuai’s arm had at least a dozen rows of snake fang marks, leaving Xiao Huayong at a loss for words.

“Is it all… because of her request?” Xiao Huayong asked with difficulty.

Xie Yunhuai smiled like the moon emerging from clouds, bright and clear: “Fulfilling another’s request is only part of it. Secondly, in this life, my thirst for medical knowledge is as deep as an unfillable sea. As a physician seeking knowledge, even if it weren’t for Your Highness, I would risk my life to find answers when faced with such poisons.”

He continued with a short laugh: “I am but a common man, still attached to this world and with unfinished business. Therefore, before taking any action, I ensure it won’t cost me my life. Your Highness need not worry excessively.”

Xiao Huayong looked at Xie Yunhuai with a complex expression for a long while, during which Xie Yunhuai remained composed.

Finally, he withdrew his gaze and turned away without a word. Stopping at the fence, he asked without turning around, “If Youyou weren’t a Shen family daughter, if she didn’t carry the burden of the Shen clan, would you… still consider her a kindred spirit?”

The smile gradually faded from Xie Yunhuai’s face. Flower fragrance drifted on the wind, warmth scattered in bits across the ground.

Both men stood still as if the scene had frozen. After a long while, Xie Yunhuai smiled with acceptance: “Your Highness, in this world there are no ‘what ifs,’ and I am not one to trouble myself with pointless thoughts. I’ve never considered such hypotheticals as Your Highness suggests. My eyes look only forward.”

He neither looked back nor gazed into emptiness.

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