In Asledan, Black Blossom was only given to young women with high potential who are chosen to be elite warriors. These women were groomed from the age of five and sometimes even younger. They had to have good health and an excellent physique. Even then, these women were given an extra month of training and nourishment to sustain their bodies through the transitioning of the consumption of Black Blossom.
From the beginning, Liu Tián Qǔ's health was poor, and her physique was horrible. Her body had improved slightly with the strengthing potions she had begun taking and the exercise regime she had begun. It had also helped that she changed her diet and started to consume lots of meat. However, the strengthening potion was not a magical potion that would reverse the damage to her body that was done over the course of thirteen years. So, although her body did improve a lot, it still was not in the best of conditions.
For the past two weeks, Liu Tián Qǔ became so busy running here and there she neglected her body a lot. She had stopped taking the strengthening potion, she missed many meals and also fell off the wagon when it came to exercising. She had even lost some of the weight she fought so hard to gain.
Unbeknownst to Liu Tián Qǔ, she was not just tired after a night of storing away all of Big Madam Chen's treasures. She had also fallen sick from overworking her body, that was the reason why she didn't feel so well. That was also why the clarity of her mind wasn't so good. Had she been in her right frame of mind, never would she have announced her intentions to settle the Queen in front of the housekeeper.
Another thing that Liu Tián Qǔ didn't realize was that after taken the strengthen potion, exercising, and eating well, her undeveloped body had begun to resume its development although her menstruation didn't come yet. The sign heralding its arrival was there, she just didn't pay attention to the signs.
Had Liu Tián Qǔ been in Asledan and her intention to consume the Black Blossom potion became known, not one person in Asledan would have allowed her to consume it, nor supported her desire to take it. It would have been considered as standing aside and allowing her to commit suicide for no reason.
When Liu Tián Qǔ had consumed the first part of the dual potion, the potion immediately began attacking the estrogen and hormones that her awakening ovaries had begun to produce. Had her ovaries fully awakened, the potion would have destroyed her ovaries completely.
Since her ovaries had not fully awakened, the chemical reaction of the potion had only caused the ovaries to once more return inactive after destroying the estrogen and hormones. That was the burning she felt in her stomach after taking the potion.
For this cause, in Asledan, Black Blossom was only given to Young Ladies, who had yet to begin their menstruation. It was said that the pain of the Black Blossom, forcing the ovaries to return inactive, was akin to severing a limb with a blunt knife. Not many girls of such a tender age could bear such pain.
Luckily for Liu Tián Qǔ, she had passed out soon after taking the Black Blossom.
Liu Tián Qǔ had passed out from pain, and complete exhaustion before the pain of the Black Blossom potion forcing the ovaries into inactivity could kick in.
When poor Doctor Ru and the Butler had arrived in the bedchambers of the master courtyard, their hearts almost dropped when they saw three Shadow Warrior stripping the bed of its bedding. The bedding was wet with blood, and there was no Liu Tián Qǔ insight.
That Shadow Warriors ignored them when they tried to talk to them. So they began looking around and calling Liu Tián Qǔ's name. They heard the voice of the housekeeper from the bathing chambers. The men rushed to the bathing chambers to see the housekeeper and Wang Fèn Yǒng quickly dressing a cleaned but still wet unconscious Liu Tián Qǔ.
"What happened," the butler and doctor had simultaneously asked.
"I'm not quite sure what happened," the housekeeper said as she and Wang Fèn Yǒng finished dressing Liu Tián Qǔ in cleaned bedclothes. "Young Master Liu said he wasn't feeling well and asked me to go look for something for him to vomit in. On the way back, I came across the Heir of Wang Royal Manor, who had come to check on Young Master."
"When the Heir of Wang Royal Manor and I entered Young Master bedchambers, we found him lying in bed in his own blood. There was blood on his mouth, so I think he threw up blood."
Everyone warily watched Wang Fèn Yǒng as he lifted Liu Tián Qǔ in his arms and carried her back to her bedchambers with the housekeeper, butler, and doctor trailing behind him.
Wang Fèn Yǒng eyes were red. He didn't speak to anyone one nor did he look at anyone else other than Liu Tián Qǔ. His entire being seemed to be focused on Liu Tián Qǔ. Although he concentrated entirely on Liu Tián Qǔ, everyone felt as if they were watching a ticking bomb that would explode at any moment.
There was an eerie frightening unnatural calm about Wang Fèn Yǒng. The killing intent that always emanated from him was absent. So was the ice-cold aura that was Wang Fèn Yǒng's signature aura. There was a spine chilling calm nothingness about him that reminded everyone of the calm before the storm. Even Liu Tián Qǔ's new shadow warrior were cautious in their manner and actions around Wang Fèn Yǒng as they changed Liu Tián Qǔ's blood-soaked bedding.
Wang Fèn Yǒng arrived in Liu Tián Qǔ's bedchamber to see that the three Shadow Warrior had finished changing the bedding on the bed and retreated.
Wang Fèn Yǒng gently placed the unconscious Liu Tián Qǔ on the bed and then quietly sat in a chair by her bed, moving out of the way to make way for the doctor.
The doctor immediately hurried forward and began checking Liu Tián Qǔ to see what was wrong with her. However, the doctor became extremely confused after reading her pulse. The doctor ended up taking her pulse three times before he gave up. Her pulse reading was too erratic. He couldn't determine what was wrong with her. The doctor did his best to focus on Liu Tián Qǔ. He was extremely nervous under the eyes of the watchful time bomb that sat at Liu Tián Qǔ's bedside.
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The Doctor continued to check other parts of Liu Tián Qǔ's body in an attempt to try to diagnose Liu Tián Qǔ. When he touched her forehead to see if she had a fever, his hand jerked back in shock. Her skin was incredibly hot.
The Doctor then checked her eyes, ears, and mouth. He checked her heart and her stomach. Other than the scorching temperature of her body and her irregular pulse. He couldn't find anything else wrong with Liu Tián Qǔ. He ordered the housekeeper to help him bring down her body temperature.
Housekeeper Gao went to fetch cold water and cloths. Zhou Yu had finally arrived, and the housekeeper and Zhou Yu begin working together to bring down Liu Tián Qǔ's body temperature. The Housekeeper felt kind of guilty because she didn't tell the doctor the truth. Liu Tián Qǔ didn't vomit blood. The blood indeed was expelled from her body. However, it came from her nether region.
That was the work of the potion expelling the estrogen and hormones that her awakening ovaries had begun to produce.
Housekeeper Gao silently apologized to Liu Tián Qǔ as she fetched cold water and cloths for allowing Wang Fèn Yǒng to handle her body while she was unconscious. However, Housekeeper Gao felt she had no other option.
When the housekeeper and Wang Fèn Yǒng arrived in Liu Tián Qǔ to find her unconscious lying in her blood, Wang Fèn Yǒng immediately began issuing orders. Wang Fèn Yǒng issued orders to the housekeeper and the Shadow Warriors that had crowded into Liu Tián Qǔ's bedchambers as he quickly scooped Liu Tián Qǔ from the blood-soaked bed.
Wang Fèn Yǒng was already aware of what was taking place in Liu Residence. So he knew that they had less than five minutes to get Liu Tián Qǔ changed out of her blood-soaked clothes and cleaned before the doctor arrived. He wasted not one second.
To silence the protesting housekeeper, Wang Fèn Yǒng had informed her that Liu Tián Qǔ was his betrothal. Wang Fèn Yǒng and Liu Tián Qǔ weren't married yet, so he should not have been allowed to help. However, there was nothing the housekeeper could do to stop Wang Fèn Yǒng. Truthfully she was too scared even to try. Wang Fèn Yǒng was too scary at that moment. He looked as if even the wrong word would send him on a killing spree.
Wang Fèn Yǒng had quickly carried Liu Tián Qǔ into the bathing chambers and helped the Housekeeper strip her down to her short underpants. Wang Fèn Yǒng then turned his back as the housekeeper quickly stripped the short underpants from Liu Tián Qǔ body and cleaned the blood from her body.
Housekeeper Gao then quickly dried as much of Liu Tián Qǔ body as she could before putting clean short underpants on her. Only then did Wang Fèn Yǒng turn around and speedily begin helping the housekeeper to redress Liu Tián Qǔ in clean bedclothes.
It was none too soon, Doctor Ru and the Butler arrived to see the sight of the housekeeper and Wang Fèn Yǒng dressing an unconscious Liu Tián Qǔ in the bathing chambers.
Although it was shameful for a man to see the body of an unmarried young girl, Housekeeper Gao tried to comfort herself by thinking that Liu Tián Qǔ was betrothed to Wang Fèn Yǒng. Moreover, Liu Tián Qǔ was in disguise as a boy and had the chest of a young boy anyway. Her chest was absolutely flat with no development whatsoever, so there was nothing for Wang Fèn Yǒng to see.
Even knowing all of that, Housekeeper Gao still felt guilty, but at the same time, she also felt that she didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
It was either accept the help of Wang Fèn Yǒng or allow Liu Tián Qǔ gender to be exposed. The housekeeper knew that Liu Tián Qǔ didn't want her gender to be revealed yet. So what other choice was there?
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Queen Yan Zhì Huì of the Tolling Lands
Queen Yan Zhì Huì was a short-sighted narrow-minded woman who was a snake. However, this poor little snake was under the misconception that she was a dragon.
In Liu Tián Qu predecessors' memories of her past life, Liu Tián Qu found memories of the scandal of the Queen that shook the Tolling Lands.
In Liu Tián Qu predecessor's past life, for months on end, the gossiping General Lu had bought home news and gossip concerning the matter of the Scandal of the Queen.
According to the gossiping General Lu, although Her Majesty Yan Zhì Huì was the Queen of the Tolling Lands, it was Noble Consort Peng who really ran the inner court. She was the brains and strategist behind the Queen or to be correct. She was the one who controlled the Queen.
Noble Consort Peng was the adopted sister of the late Prime Minister Peng. Under the instructions of Prime Minister Peng, Noble Consort Peng had long begun to drive the Queen mad slowly. For several years, Noble Consort Peng had fed the Queen a subtle herb that, when processed a certain way. It was known to alter the state of the mind.
At the time the scandal had happened, the Emperor had reigned over the Tolling Lands for approximately eight years, yet he had no heir. It was not because he was impotent, and it definitely was not due to the lack of trying. The Emperor had many concubines. It was because every time someone in the Emperor's harem became pregnant. The Queen and Noble Consort Peng would cause the fetus to be aborted before for it could be born.
The Queen was determined that no one other than she would carry the dragon seed. However, that would have never happened for two reasons. One reason was that the Emperor's shadow never graced her doorstep. After their wedding night, the Emperor never bothered to pay a night visit to the Queen again. So how could she carry the dragon seed?
The second reason was that unknown to the foolish muddle head Queen, Noble Consort Peng, had long ago made her infertile. The Queen would never carry the dragon seed.
There was one reason, and one reason only, that the late Prime Minister Peng had heavily campaigned for Queen Yan Zhì Huì to become the Queen.
It wasn't because the Yan Family was under his control. It was when he saw that the Queen Yan Zhì Huì was a muddle-headed short-sighted, spiteful, vindictive little snake that thought she was meant to be a dragon.
Only then did the late Prime Ministers Peng begin getting the idea to campaign to make her Queen. What decided it for him was when he saw that the little snake, who thought she was meant to be a dragon, was easy to manipulate and control.
Prime Minister Peng intended to use the Queen to destabilize the country from in the inner courts, while he attacked the imperial court.
However, being that both prime minister Peng and his adopted sister Noble Consort Peng were both eliminated, their plan would never come to fruition, and things had changed.
Liu Tián Qu had seen in her predecessor's memories that within a few months, the Queen would be sent to the cold palace. A month after she would be deposed, a very short time later, following her dethroning, she would be granted poison.
From what Liu Tián Qu was able to grasp from the gossip that General Lu had brought back in the memories of Liu Tián Qu predecessor, Noble Consort Peng couldn't be blamed for the final act that caused the Queen to be deposed and served poison.
In fact, Noble Consort Peng had tried to discourage her. The reason why Noble Consort Peng tried to dissuade the Queen was that the Prime Minister still had need of the Queen and was not ready to discard her just yet.
However, after the death of the Queen, the gossip of Noble Consort Peng being in the Shadows was quickly silenced. Among the Nobles, it became 'speculation' that was only discussed behind closed doors. The gossip only resurfaced after the events following Jiang Tài Píng going mad.
The Emperor had long become suspicious of the constant miscarriages of the woman of his harem, so he set the perfect trap. The muddle-headed Queen fell right into the trap. The muddle-headed Queen had got caught red-handed attempting to abort the baby of Imperial Noble Concubine Tang.
When Liu Tián Qu realized the Queen was already going to dig her own grave and she needed not to act against the Queen. She decided to play possum and wait until the Queen outsmarted herself.