Ten days have already passed since the night of the banquet but still, the Yin siblings haven't heard anything from their teachers yet.
The door of the Lotus Hall slides open. The princess general made her way across the hall towards the round table where Emperor Yin Renshu is bored to death.
"I just received the reply from Wan MoliHua Palace." Princess Yin Xiulan said the moment she sits on the chair intended for her. Her left hand holds a folded paper.
Three days ago, Yin Wenyan, Yin Xiulan, and Yin Renshu sent a pigeon carrying a message intended to the Wan MoliHua Palace sect leader, Zhao Yangguang. Ever since they left the imperial palace, the three of them aren't sure of their whereabouts.
Yin Renshu asks, "Have you read it? Was it from shizun himself?"
"This response is from Elder Ling Chyou. She said shizun and Wang-shifu haven't returned since they came for us." She handed the letter to his brother. Yin Renshu unfolds the paper and reads the letter.
Yin Xiulan continued, "They're asking for their whereabouts. Should we tell them that they went to Fenghuang Sect?"
The emperor speaks, "Is it fine? We don't know if they had urgent matters to attend and haven't visit Fenghuang Sect yet... or if they already left that sect."
"Just where are they? Now I'm getting worried." The princess can't help but get anxious.
"They're together. Of course, they're fine." He said.
Princess Yin Xiulan, "The grand empress dowager isn't involved in this matter, right?"
"..." Emperor Yin Renshu thinks deeply about it. For the past few days, they've been cautious about their actions. There's no way she'll suspect them doing something against her order, right?
After thinking for some time, he speaks, "She doesn't know that we're still investigating the town square incident."
Princess Yin Xiulan buried her face in her arms. "Ugh... Are we still not doing anything? Are we still waiting for shizun and Wang-shifu? There's a lot of matters that are currently pending."
"I also think that things should not be delayed any further." The emperor surprisingly agrees with his sister. At times like this, before deciding on what to do, the three of them should discuss it thoroughly. "Where's Wenyan?"
The princess answers, "That... I don't know."
"..."
For the past ten days, they are still somehow uncomfortable with each other. Though their relation is getting better each time they got to talk, Yin Renshu and Yin Xiulan are still being careful towards Yin Wenyan. Yin Wenyan on the other hand is still in the middle of arguing with himself.
So where is the eighth generation's first prince?
Meanwhile at the Emperor's Hall...
"Are you sure you're alright?" Prince Yin Wenyan's face shows his worries.
With a hoarse voice, Eunuch Xu answers, "Yes, your majesty. Please don't mind me."
Xu Zhengming is currently assisting him to get dress. As usual, the emperor will be wearing black and gold yellow robes.
Prince Yin Wenyan, "I noticed you're like that for a few days now. Are you taking your medicine?"
"Yes, your majesty."
These past few days, Xu Zhengming has waked up with a dry throat. Most of those days, he feels so thirsty that even two cups of water isn't enough to quench his thirst.
"Your majesty, the royal physician is here." Court Lady Han announced from the outside.
Just from hearing the words 'royal physician' Xu Zhengming can't help but feel chills on his spine. He just can't forget the time when he barely escaped from the imperial infirmary and almost got castrated.
"Let him in!" Yin Wenyan yells back as he put his headdress at the top of his head.
The door slides open and the royal physician comes in.
"You called me, your majesty?"
"Yes." Yin Wenyan turns around to face him. "About his medication... the medicine you give doesn't seem to be effective for him. Can you give him other medicine?"
"Your majesty, allow me to check him first." The physician said.
Yin Wenyan, "Please do."
The royal physician and Eunuch Xu sit on the edge of his majesty's bed. The physician then checked the patient's pulse on his wrist. After that, he also made Xu Zhengming open his mouth to check his throat. After doing so, the physician still wears a poker face.
He then asks the little eunuch, "Aside from sore throat, what else makes you uncomfortable?"
Xu Zhengming feels his body. He answers, "My joints are somehow aching too. Though it's just bearable I'm still worried. And my veins seem swollen as well... I'm not quite sure. What do you think, royal physician?"
The royal physician rolls Xu Zhengming's sleeves and examines his slightly bulging bluish blood vessels. The veins can be easily seen through his fair complexion.
Xu Zhengming is quite worried about this. He truly cares for his 'beautiful' slender body. He thought it would be a shame if this body gets ruined by bulging veins.
"Anything else?" The physician asks. This time his face is ashen.
Xu Zhengming responds, "It's not something big but, some mornings, I feel very thirsty. Well, not just in the mornings. There's some time of the day that I feel extremely thirsty too. My throat is just too dry. Also, sometimes I don't have an appetite."
For some reason, the royal physician's face slowly turns into a complicated expression. It seems he already has a clue about Xu Zhengming's condition.
Xu Zhengming added, "Ah, and my canine teeth hurt too. I don't know if I am just imagining things but I feel like they're getting longer."
"Let me take a look." The physician said.
Xu Zhengming opens his mouth again and shows his canine teeth to the royal physician. The more the physician stares at the pair of canine teeth, the more his eyebrows are likely to meet.
"Royal physician, is it something serious?" Yin Wenyan asked impatiently.
"Your majesty, Eunuch Xu is..." The royal physician looks at him with pity. "Eunuch Xu, you only have more or less three months to live."
"Huh?"
Then a long silence appeared between them.
What the royal physician just said won't sink into Xu Zhengming's mind.  Did he hear it right? Is there someone who's going to die in three months? Who is it? Him? But he's still young! He hasn't even got into a serious romantic relationship.
The emperor's gentle and worried face earlier changes to a raging expression. For the first time, Yin Wenyan lost it. "What are you saying?! Aren't you getting it wrong?"
The royal physician bows his head and dares not to look at the emperor in the eyes. "I'm so sorry, your majesty. Eunuch Xu is really dying."
Yin Wenyan shakes his head. Refusing to accept the physician's words. "As you see, Eunuch Xu is still full of life! How could you say that? Just what is his illness?"
The royal physician walks closer to the prince and whispered to him.
Whatever he says to his majesty, it's quite lengthy. The longer he speaks to his ears, the uglier Yin Wenyan's face becomes. His anger turns into disbelief and distress.
"Nonsense!" Yin Wenyan tried to calm himself by walking back and forth but it seems to be no use.
"He's showing all the symptoms, your majesty. As this is new to us, no one in the entire imperial palace knows how to cure this illness." The royal physician kneels in front of him and kowtowed. "Please forgive me, your majesty."
He bit his lower lip. Yin Wenyan didn't say anything. His eyebrows almost meet and his phoenix eyes got narrower. He's too disturbed to speak.
"What is it? Why am I dying?" Xu Zhengming asks with a blank expression on his face. He still couldn't fully collect himself from the shock.
Isn't he breathing fine? He's also full of energy every day. How come he's dying? And as soon as three months at top of that!
Yin Wenyan massages his temples. In a low voice, he said to the royal physician, "You may now leave."
"Yes, your majesty." The physician stands and turns his back to leave. He only took two steps but was stopped by Xu Zhengming.
"I'm asking, why am I dying?!"
"Eunuch Xu, calm down." The emperor walks towards him. He holds both of his shoulders and consoled him. "Don't worry, I'll do everything I could to save you."
However, Xu Zhengming's anxiousness gets worse. He pulls his hair using both hands. "Your majesty, how can I calm down? I'm dying!"
"You won't. I won't let that happen." Yin Wenyan's voice is soothing yet his face shows his worries.
Then liquid forms in Eunuch Xu's eyelid. Almost whispering, he begs the emperor, "Help me. Please help me. I don't want to die."
Yin Wenyan immediately nods. "Yes, I will. Rest assured."
After hours of comforting his eunuch, Yin Wenyan finally goes out in the emperor's hall. He usually has his eunuch by his side whenever he goes out but now is different. What tails him now is a bunch of maids.
Yin Wenyan advised Xu Zhengming to stay in his hall and rest. No matter how much he wants to stay by his side and make him feel he's not alone, he still has to leave him temporarily to find a solution.  He thought he must make his move right now before it's too late.
"Wenyan, what's bothering you this time?" That's the first thing that Yin Xiulan asked the moment he shows himself in the Lotus Hall.
She noticed that her brother seems to have a longer face than these past few days.
"It's Eunuch Xu." He massages the bridge of his nose right after he took his seat.
Yin Renshu clicks his tongue. "Aiyah, that eunuch. Sometimes he's too annoying. Wenyan, just be a little patient. I'll talk to him later. He needs to work on his attitude."
"No, no. That's not it." Yin Wenyan waves his hand. "He got this illness..."
Emperor Yin Renshu, "Oh, I noticed he has had a sore throat these past few days. What's with him? Cold?"
Worried, Princess Yin Xiulan suggests, "Maybe we can find someone to substitute him first? Our health is one of our priorities. We can't afford it if you get an illness from him."
"It's worse than cold. And I don't think it's contagious... for now." Yin Wenyan's face is dark that his siblings hesitate to speak. They just waited for him to continue. The prince added, "He's showing signs that he got infected by the epidemic."
Yin Xiulan's face filled with surprise, "You mean... he's turning into a bloodthirsty monster?!"
"But how?" Yin Renshu thinks about it but he can't think of any way how this person got it. They even rarely go out of the palace walls.
Outside the palace walls... the last time they went out was...
"Renshu..." The emperor got distracted with his thoughts when his brother called him. "You took him with you when you snuck out of the palace to investigate. You mentioned that you encountered that dead eunuch. Say, did he got bitten?"
Yin Renshu slowly shakes his head while trying to recall if he really got bitten that day. But no matter how hard he thinks about it, there are no signs that the dead eunuch injured him. There's no blood. Knowing their eunuch, he would most probably scream in pain but he didn't. Also, if he really got bitten, Eunuch Xu would tell him. The emperor answered. "No. I don't think so."
"Are you sure it's that illness? Have you talked with the royal physician already?" Yin Xiulan asks.
"Yes, the royal physician! Didn't we task him to secretly observe one of the captives? He must be certain more than anyone else." Yin Renshu seconded.
After the grand empress dowager learned about the captives and their death, she immediately ordered to bury them all at once without public notice. Good thing, the three handed one to the royal physician to study before she discovers the captured monsters.
Yin Wenyan nods. "In fact, he's the one who said it to me. He said Eunuch Xu's case is different. His mutation process is exceptionally slower. He also said that he'll die in more or less three months."
"Is Eunuch Xu really..." Yin Renshu is out of words.
Though he finds him annoying sometimes, he still feels sympathy for Mingming. He is one of his trusted servants after all. For almost a couple of weeks, they've been together. It would be a shame if he dies at such a young age.
The princess general opens her fan and slides her finger on its edge. "Then should we just end his life earlier? That way, he won't suffer further, and it would be easier for us to deal."
"NO!" The prince and the emperor yelled at the same time. Their identical voices seem to have united that it seems to come from one throat. They subconsciously turn their heads to look at each other.
"Okok, killing him early isn't an option." Yin Xiulan closes her fan and puts it down. "That's strange. How---" Princess Yin Xiulan stops halfway. Her phoenix eyes widen. "Could it be, someone else in the palace got infected? Or was it the captives we brought back here got escaped and spread the epidemic here?"
"His pace is too slow which is strange. Maybe there are other possible causes behind this." Yin Renshu said. "In any case, I think we better check everyone in the palace. Find out who got the same symptoms as Eunuch Xu has."
"Right. Let's do that." Yin Wenyan said in low spirits.
And so, the general check-up for every person in the imperial palace got implemented right away.
"Why are we suddenly having individual check-ups?" A maid asks the fellow maid.
The first ones to be checked up are the servants in the palace. They all lined up outside the royal infirmary, waiting for their turn.
"I don't know either but I think it's a good thing. Turns out the royalties know to look down upon us. They now care for our well-being." Her fellow maid answered.
Then another maid joined their conversation, "I don't think that's the case."
"What do you mean?" The two ask.
The maid continues, "A lot of us thinks that they implemented this general check-up to detect an illness-spreader. Think of it, the grand empress dowager just recovered from a life-threatening illness. And now, the empress is not in a good shape. She can't even get out of her hall. And one more thing, about the emperor's eunuch..."
And another maid joined their discussion. She's been listening and can't help but want to take part in the conversation. "Xu Zhengming? That beautiful man who seduced his majesty?"
"Exactly!" The knowledgeable maid exclaimed. "I heard he's sick. Rumors had it that he got the illness that was intended to his majesty."
"Oh."
She continues, "Haven't you heard? The imperial royal family is rumored to be cursed and now they're suspecting us."
"I've heard of it! I didn't know this rumor is widespread."
Meanwhile, at the Grand Empress Dowager's Hall...
"What do you think are you doing?" She asked the triplets to come to her all at once just to ask this question.
The grand empress dowager seems not happy with this general check-up that the three of them implemented. The empress dowager consoled her and massages the old woman's shoulders but still, the grand empress dowager's attitude doesn't seem to lighten a bit.
"Stop this nonsense at once. Palace duties cannot be delayed."
Prince Yin Wenyan clasps his hand and kowtows in front of the two old empresses. "Grand Empress Dowager, please reconsider. We believe that this is for the best for every one of us inside the imperial palace."
Princess Yin Xiulan also clasps her hand and kowtows, "Grand Empress Dowager, we are only worried that the epidemic has spread inside the imperial palace."
Emperor Yin Renshu also did the same. "Yes, Grand Empress Dowager, we care for the imperial royal family's well-being, as well as the people serving in the palace."
The grand empress dowager dejectedly sighs, "Raise your heads."
The three indeed raised their heads and fixed their positions.
She added, "How many times do I have to tell you? You should consult me first before deciding. Each of you must not do anything in rush! Politics and Authority aren't something you can treat as a plaything."
"We sincerely apologize, Grand Empress Dowager." Yin Wenyan kowtows again, followed by his siblings.
"Enough. Don't wait for the time that I'll be forced to withdraw all your political powers. You may now go."
The three rise on their feet and bowed for the last time before walking out of the grand empress dowager's hall. Yin Wenyan, of course, took a different exit to hide from others.
When she heard the footsteps getting further and further away from the doorway, the empress dowager speaks, "Don't be stressed over it, Grand Empress Dowager. I don't think our plans will be spoiled by this."