AUBTN -Chapter 298 The Antidote Only Has One

The Empress Dowager’s voice was filled with uncontrollable excitement.

“Zhou Wenhai—my dear elder brother. I always thought he was utterly loyal to me, but it turns out he’s secretly committed crimes worthy of exterminating nine clans!”

She slammed the dossier onto the table with a loud bang, a vicious smile curling at her lips.

“Now that I have this, I’d like to see what else he can use to fight me.”

Su Hewan took a deep breath and stepped forward, her voice calm and unwavering.

“Your Majesty, since you’re satisfied with this ‘gift,’ shouldn’t you also fulfill your promise?”

Hearing this, the Empress Dowager’s fervor slowly faded—replaced by a condescending mockery.

She looked down at the two stunning women in the hall as if they were nothing more than ants.

“You two truly are deeply devoted to those two eunuch lackeys.”

“But I wonder… whether that devotion can withstand the test ahead.”

The Empress Dowager tilted her head slightly, giving a glance to the old maidservant beside her.

Nanny Zhang immediately understood and turned to walk into the inner chamber.

Not long after, she returned with a finely crafted purple sandalwood brocade box, held carefully in both hands.

Su Hewan and Yu Qing’s gazes instantly locked onto it.

That box contained the lives of Shen Jue and Lu Yan.

Nanny Zhang respectfully opened the box and presented it before the Empress Dowager.

Slowly, the Empress Dowager reached in and picked up a porcelain bottle.

“The antidote… is in my hands,” she said lazily.

But the next second, her words sent Su Hewan and Yu Qing plunging into an abyss.

“But there is only one antidote.”

It was like a bolt of lightning striking their heads.

Su Hewan swayed violently, her vision turning black.

If not for her remaining willpower, she would have collapsed on the spot.

“What did you say?” she whispered.

Yu Qing could no longer restrain herself. She stepped forward abruptly, her eyes bloodshot as she glared at the Empress Dowager.

“You poisoned both of them—why is there only one antidote?!”

Faced with her accusation, the Empress Dowager did not get angry. Instead, she let out a soft, delighted laugh.

“How presumptuous! How dare a mere servant raise her voice in the Hall of Compassionate Peace!”

Nanny Zhang snapped sharply.

The Empress Dowager raised a hand, signaling her to stop.

She enjoyed it—the despair, the struggle, the agony.

It made her feel the supreme power of controlling life and death in this cold, lonely palace.

“The Eastern Depot and the Jinyiwei were originally the two blades I used to balance the court,” she said slowly, playing with the porcelain bottle, her eyes venomous.

“Now that the court is about to be settled and the Zhou family is on the brink of collapse, I only need one sharp blade.”

She leaned forward slightly, her gaze sweeping across Su Hewan and Yu Qing’s pale faces.

“One mountain cannot hold two tigers. Shen Jue and Lu Yan… only one may live.”

“As for who you choose to save…”

She casually tossed the pill back into the box.

“You two are like sisters, aren’t you? Then make the decision yourselves.”

A kill without blood.

The most vicious kind of cruelty in the world.

The Empress Dowager wanted not only to take away the ones they loved—but also to make them carry guilt and torment for the rest of their lives.

No matter who they chose, the one who survived would forever stand on the other side of an unbridgeable rift.

Tears instantly burst from Yu Qing’s eyes.

She stared at the brocade box, her mind filled with the image of Lu Yan’s cold, stern face that still carried unspoken restraint.

【Lu Yan… my Lu Yan is still waiting for me to go back…】

【But if I save Lu Yan, Shen Jue will die. What will happen to Wanwan?!】

Yu Qing turned her head in despair, looking at Su Hewan beside her. Her voice was broken beyond repair.

“Wanwan… what should we do…”

Su Hewan bit down hard on her lower lip until the strong taste of blood filled her mouth, only then did she manage to force back a shred of rationality.

She forced herself to stay calm—madly, desperately calm.

The more one fell into despair, the less one could follow the enemy’s logic.

The Empress Dowager had posed an unsolvable single-choice question. Then she would tear this paper apart.

“Since there is an existing pill, it means this poison is not without a cure.”

Su Hewan forced her gaze away from the pill and locked eyes directly with the Empress Dowager’s malicious stare.

Her voice was eerily calm.

“Your Majesty, since you wish to kill with a borrowed knife, what benefit would it bring you if that knife became dull or broke?”

The Empress Dowager’s smile stiffened slightly. She looked at her coldly.

“What do you mean?”

“Shen Jue and Lu Yan—one is the East Bureau’s chief eunuch, the other is the Jinyiwei commander.”

Su Hewan’s mind spun at full speed, each word striking like iron.

“Lord Zhou is deeply rooted in power and is your own younger brother. A centipede dies but never truly falls apart.”

“Do you really think that with just these confessions, you can easily uproot him completely?”

She pressed forward step by step, her momentum faintly overpowering the high and mighty Empress Dowager at that moment.

“You need Shen Jue’s ruthlessness to interrogate hidden agents, and you need Lu Yan to suppress rebellions!”

“If one of them dies, the court will fall into chaos. Have you forgotten that the Prince of Zhennan in the south is still waiting for an opportunity?”

“So this antidote can absolutely not be only one!”

Su Hewan’s gaze turned sharp, as if she could pierce through all of the Empress Dowager’s schemes.

“Your Majesty, hand over the antidote formula!”

Yu Qing stopped crying and stared in shock at Su Hewan, who now seemed like she was possessed by a war god.

【Wanwan is amazing!! Exactly, the formula works too!】

The Empress Dowager looked at the woman before her, her aura fully unleashed. A trace of extremely dangerous light flashed in her eyes.

She finally understood why Shen Jue—such a sinister, ruthless, distrustful mad dog—had been completely enchanted by this woman.

Su Hewan was too intelligent, too clear-headed, and far too difficult to control.

Keeping her would eventually become a serious threat!

“Heh…”

The Empress Dowager suddenly let out a cold laugh, breaking the suffocating tension in the hall.

She leaned back into her chair slowly, studying Su Hewan with a gaze that made one’s skin crawl.

“Su Hewan, you truly are a clever one. So clever that even I find it somewhat regrettable.”

Her fingers lightly tapped the table.

“You guessed right. This poison does indeed have a formula for the antidote.”

A flicker of joy rose in Su Hewan’s heart, but her expression remained calm.

“Since that is so, I ask Your Majesty to grant us the formula.”

“This intelligence is only worth the one pill in the box.”

The Empress Dowager’s smile widened, carrying a cruel satisfaction that drove people to the edge of despair.

“You want the formula?”

She paused slightly, her tone leisurely.

“That is a different price.”

Su Hewan’s heart sank violently, a deeply ominous feeling surging up!

But she had no retreat. Shen Jue and Lu Yan were still hanging by a thread!

“What do you want?”