The Spirit Spring

As soon as Hua Meng said this, not only Father Hua but even Lu Shi, who doted on her most, immediately stared at her wide-eyed in disbelief.

Hua Meng showed no sign of panic under their gazes. "Don't look at me like that. I want to enter the palace for the selection not only because it will be difficult to arrange another marriage after the broken engagement, but also because I don't trust the Zhang family."

As soon as Hua Meng finished speaking, Father Hua looked at her and shook his head. "Mengmeng, your Uncle Zhang has already promised me that he..."

"Uncle Zhang, my foot! Your parents had only one son, so where did our Mengmeng get an uncle?" Mother Hua, Lu Shi, was displeased as soon as she heard Father Hua's tone. She glared and continued, "Back then, you were the one who kept saying how wonderful Zhang Jinghong was. That was the only reason I agreed to betroth my Mengmeng to his family. And now... Hmph!"

Once Lu Shi lost her temper, Father Hua did not dare speak again.

He might now be a Subordinate Fifth Rank assistant director, but before his wife, he was still the same poor boy who had fainted outside the Lu family's door thirty years ago because he could not afford to eat.

After making sure Father Hua would say no more, Lu Shi instantly reined in her emotions and looked at Hua Meng. "Mengmeng, tell Mother, why exactly have you made up your mind to enter the palace for the selection?"

"Just as I said." Hua Meng knew her mother was the one in charge at home, so she told her the truth as soon as she asked. "We made the Zhang family lose face this time. They won't do anything for a while, but once some time has passed and everyone has forgotten about the broken engagement, they'll certainly settle the score."

"Most importantly, the emperor still has no children. As long as I enter the palace and can bear him a son, our Hua family will never have to fear the Zhang family again."

At Hua Meng's words, her second brother, Hua Peng, immediately blurted out, "You know His Majesty still has no children. Everyone says it's..." He pointed a finger upward before continuing, "Everyone says he can't father children, which is why not one of the twenty-odd consorts in the imperial harem has borne a child."

Though only Hua Peng had spoken, the expressions of the other Hua family members showed that they shared the same worry.

In the hundred years since Great Yue was founded, every emperor had struggled to produce heirs. But this was the first time one had reached nearly thirty without a single prince or princess.

Hua Meng, however, knew that the emperor had no children because he had been poisoned, and she had a Spirit Spring given to her by an immortal woman.

Speaking of the immortal woman and the Spirit Spring, that brought up how Hua Meng had come back.

The story began on the day her engagement was broken.

In her previous life, after her engagement was broken, perhaps because she had hanged herself in her bright red wedding dress, her soul had drifted around the capital after her death, unable to leave.

That day, she had been floating above the capital as usual when a beam of seven-colored rainbow light suddenly descended. She had wanted to dodge it, but found herself unable to move.

Then she heard an immortal woman say, "Oh? There's actually a wronged soul here."

At the time, she had been frightened, thinking the immortal woman would scatter her soul, but the immortal woman spoke again. "Hm? There's actually a karmic connection between us."

"Very well. Since we have a karmic connection, I'll send you back."

"I'll also give you a Spirit Spring to preserve your life. Remember, you must not kill the innocent indiscriminately."

After the immortal woman finished speaking, her soul was immediately enveloped in a beam of seven-colored rainbow light. One moment, a Seven-Colored Flower had just appeared in her mind; the next, she went flying.

When she opened her eyes again, she was lying in her own bedchamber.

It was the early morning of the day when she was sixteen, before her engagement had been broken.

As soon as Hua Meng confirmed that she had come back, she summoned the Spirit Spring using the method the immortal woman had left in her mind.

The Spirit Spring was produced by the Seven-Colored Flower's stamen, one drop a day. The seven drops were different colors, and their effects also differed slightly.

Besides the Spirit Spring that could cure a hundred poisons, there were others that nourished the body and enhanced the figure and brightened the skin.

To store it, she had to draw the Spirit Spring produced by the stamen into the Seven-Colored Flower's petals.

The seven petals could each store a Spirit Spring with one of seven different effects.

She had begun testing the Spirit Spring's effects that night. Over the past few days, not only had her own body grown healthier and her skin become fairer and smoother, but even her family, who had shared a pot of tea with just one drop of the body-nourishing Spirit Spring added, had looked healthier and healthier.

That was why she was certain she could bear the emperor a child.

This was what gave her the courage to enter the palace.