"In the following years, everything happened just as the Imperial Master had predicted. The elder members of the Qi royal family all lived past the age of thirty, and the newly born royal children rarely died in infancy. My father was very happy and paid even more attention to my mother and the Imperial Master. As a result, your mother and I grew up pampered and doted on."
Emperor Huichen seemed to be recalling the most beautiful period of time, and the corners of his pale mouth couldn't help but raise a curve.
"Your mother has been very kind and cheerful since she was young. As far as I can remember, she has always been smiling. And your mother... can do anything. She can climb trees to get bird eggs, dive into the water to catch fish. Even when there was a locust plague, your mother was able to come up with a solution for your father."
At this point, Emperor Huichen's eyes were filled with nostalgia. "Even now, I still remember the scene when your mother led the entire city to collect and roast locusts. When the evening breeze blew, the aroma of the roasted locusts could be smelled all over the city..."
That was definitely his best memory from his childhood.
At that time, the people should have been terrified and desperate, but because of his imperial sister, everything was different...
Emperor Huichen looked at Yang Zhao's face, which resembled his sister's so much, and his eyes reddened slightly. "Those beautiful days passed so quickly, so quickly that before we even had time to grow up, something unexpected happened."
"The prince who had lived past the age of thirty suddenly died one day for no apparent reason."
"At first, Father didn't care."
"But as more and more royal sons died, and even those who were supposed to be in good health began to have problems, Father realized that the curse had not been lifted, so he sought out the Imperial Master."
"The Imperial Master can only predict the will of Heaven once again."
"The result is... only one of the twins can survive, and they need to be sacrificed." When he said this, Emperor Huichen's eyes suddenly became gloomy, and his hands clenched into fists uncontrollably.
When Yang Zhao heard this, he seemed to have roughly guessed what would happen next.
"So my mother was abandoned just like that?"
As for the sacrifice, it must be something that is effective. And from the story just now, Yang Zhao also understood that her mother was the key to everything.
So, the State of Qi chose to sacrifice her mother?
Is this also why her mother called herself an orphan and never talked about her mother's family?
Thinking of this, Yang Zhao's face darkened slightly.
Emperor Huichen shook his head: "No, after careful calculation, the Imperial Master chose me as the sacrifice."
Yang Zhao was slightly stunned when he heard this.
She originally thought that the Imperial Master should be an ambitious person, but after hearing what Emperor Huichen said, she was surprised.
However, if he had really chosen Emperor Huichen at that time, he would not have survived...
"So, what happened then?"
Emperor Huichen gave a bitter laugh and continued his story: "At that time, we didn't know what the Imperial Master had predicted, and we had no idea that I would soon be sacrificed for the sake of the imperial family."
"But your mother is always awesome."
"On the day of the sacrifice, she somehow learned the truth and tricked me into exchanging clothes with her. She also had someone take me out of the palace under her identity, and she took my place on the altar..."
"She's dead."
"When I returned to the palace, it was too late. The fire on the altar had burned everything, and my sister was gone..." As if thinking of the scene at that time, Emperor Huichen's eyes were red.
"When my father learned it wasn't me who was being sacrificed, he was furious and anxious. He then sought out the Imperial Preceptor, intending to offer another sacrifice. However, my mother ended up crashing her head against the wall of the hall and dying. The Imperial Preceptor deduced that the time for sacrifice had passed and further sacrifices would be useless, so he called off the so-called sacrifice."
Emperor Huichen couldn't help but laugh at this, a laugh that was truly ironic. "And I became the greatest sinner in the entire imperial family. Only then did I realize that all those years of favor were fake. My father didn't love my sister or me at all. He didn't even love our mother. To break the curse, he cut my wrists daily to bleed me to feed himself and the weakened eldest prince."
"But the funny thing is, after the eldest prince drank my blood, he died even faster. In the end, even my father died within a few months."
Having said that, Emperor Huichen looked at Yang Zhao.
"Just when I was supposed to die, your mother appeared."
"So your mother had already arranged an escape plan after learning about the sacrifice. She had already fled Qi, but after hearing about my situation, she returned..."
There was a long silence.
Emperor Huichen also closed his eyes deeply, tears sliding down from the corners of his eyes. If it weren't for the rise and fall of his chest, Yang Zhao would have thought he was dead.
For a long while.
Then I heard him say, "She said that she once overheard the Imperial Master telling my mother that the so-called curse of Qi was caused by the fact that the founding emperor of Qi had betrayed a Miao woman, and that was why that Miao woman had planted the 'curse' on him."
"And the Queen Mother is not the granddaughter of the Imperial Master. She is a Miao."
"The Miao tribe leader saw the decline of the Qi royal family and feared that if things continued like this, Qi would perish, leading to war and suffering for the people. So, he sent members of his tribe out of the mountains to try to break the Chi Gu that had infected Qi's ancestors many years ago."
"That's why the Imperial Master made the prediction."
"Everything went smoothly. The Queen Mother gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The boy was a natural vessel, attracting the poison called 'Chi' into his body. In the end, the girl used her blood to become the antidote, completely removing the poison."
No one needs to die during this period.
The blood of the Miao people is different. If a boy has a poison entering his body, he will at most be a little weaker, but even if a girl is bled, she will not lose her life.
However, those "Chi" poisons have been passed down from generation to generation in the bodies of the Qi royal family for so long. It will take a lot of time to completely draw out the "Chi", but the "effects" during this period can also be clearly felt.
But an accident happened.
Even the Imperial Master and the Queen Mother did not know why this accident happened. In the end, they could only attribute it to the fact that the 'Chi' Gu absorbed into Emperor Huichen's body leaked out again, and there was something wrong with his container.
In order not to fail.
Hence the sacrifice of burning him as a vessel.
But it was ruined by Qi Yue.
In the end, his mother couldn't bear it anymore and the Imperial Master thought Qi Yue was dead and the antidote was gone, so burning the container was of little use and ended the "sacrifice".
However, the late emperor, unaware of the situation, believed that Emperor Huichen and Qi Yue were twins, and that Emperor Huichen's blood might be able to lift the curse. He secretly planned to use Emperor Huichen's blood to save himself and his beloved eldest son, hiding it from the imperial preceptor.
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