Chapter 25 - 4#

“Hey, tell me, is this really your brother? Why does it look more like you’re keeping a young lover?” he clicked his tongue. “This is really domineering.”

Jingzhe was tidying up his things and said without looking up, “Watch your mouth.”

Then he paused and looked up.

“How is this domineering?”

Zheng Hong remembered that Jingzhe hadn’t had any hobbies of his own for over ten years and clearly hadn’t had his romantic awakening. He immediately rolled up his sleeves, looking like he was about to give a good lecture.

“Jingzhe, let me tell you, if you don’t have those kinds of feelings for your brother, you absolutely must not get too close to him.”

Jingzhe finally cleared a corner on the bed to sit. “Why are you rambling on and on, not a single normal word coming out of your mouth?”

Zheng Hong sighed, “You don’t understand.”

His finger pointed at the clothes on the bed, counting them one by one. “Undergarments, socks, belt… look, who would give these kinds of things? It’s neither proper nor respectable.” He had actually wanted to say something last time he came, but this time it was even more excessive, so he couldn’t help but speak up. “Last time was one thing, but this time, he’s even arranged what you eat and what you use. Don’t you find it… creepy?”

Jingzhe tried hard to associate this evaluation with Rong Jiu, but he couldn’t imagine it no matter how he looked at it.

Of course, he agreed with the “creepy” part.

But not because of this matter, but because of the incredibly ruthless methods he used when killing someone last time.

In the end, knowing and seeing it with your own eyes were two different things.

Seeing that Jingzhe was hopelessly dense, Zheng Hong threw up his hands in resignation. “Fine, you’re so slow, you deserve to be watched without even reacting. He’s taking care of you inside and out, even controlling what you eat and wear. If you still don’t get it, you’re really stupid.”

Jingzhe pouted. It was one thing to be called that by Rong Jiu, but hearing it from Zheng Hong was really annoying.

He kicked Zheng Hong’s butt. “Stop talking about this nonsense and tell me about Huli. Is that kid okay?”

Huiping had almost gotten into trouble for this brother. If Huli was an ungrateful person, he definitely couldn’t sit by and do nothing.

Zheng Hong said lazily, “He’s fine. The kid is silly, but he’s a good person. At least he has a much better conscience than some people in this palace.”

Only then did Jingzhe feel relieved.

Zheng Hong might love money, but he was a good judge of character.

Otherwise, how could he have earned so much money?

Whenever Zheng Hong saw Jingzhe’s soft-heartedness, he couldn’t help but poke at him, “Didn’t you not want to make any friends before? Why is it different now that you’re in the Zhidianjian?”

Jingzhe buried his head in tidying up and said calmly, “I had friends before. Mingyu is my friend, and aren’t you?”

Zheng Hong was choked.

“You just said, my somewhat domineering friend… he’s also a friend. In fact, it was after meeting him that I changed a little.”

At this point, Jingzhe looked up, a smile in his eyes.

“I think living in the moment and not suppressing myself so much is actually a good thing.”

These were the changes Rong Jiu had brought to him.

Zheng Hong held his arms and watched Jingzhe for a long time, then shook his head and walked out, muttering things like “fools have fool’s luck.” His retreating figure looked rather melancholy.

Like a dejected old father whose cub had just been snatched away.

And with a bit of gritted teeth.

…

In Shou Kang Palace, the fragrance of tea lingered.

The Empress Dowager was sipping her tea, half-heartedly listening to the female official’s report, “…Zhidianjian… people from Qianming Palace… investigated… contact has been severed…”

The Empress Dowager was already calm about another failure and didn’t take it to heart.

“Are you sure the cleanup was thorough?”

“Yes, nothing was found.”

Only then did the Empress Dowager nod.

The matter of the Zhidianjian was somewhat unlucky. Wude’s death was just that, but the death of one Wude had actually caused Ning Hongru to screen Qianming Palace again, pulling out the secret agents they had worked so hard to plant.

Huang Yijie sat in a lower seat, listening to the conversation between the master and servant with a proper smile on her face. It wasn’t until the Empress Dowager’s gaze fell on her and she said pointedly:

“Noble Consort, don’t you think His Majesty has been a bit strange lately?”

Huang Yijie bowed slightly and said softly, “Your Highness, this servant believes that His Majesty may have found something he cares about.”

“Oh? How so? How did you figure that out?” the Empress Dowager asked with interest.

For so many years, apart from the matter of Empress Dowager Cisheng, she had not found any weakness in Emperor Jingyuan. If she could grasp one or two, it would be much more interesting than the current tug-of-war.

Huang Yijie: “This servant once tried to use the Soul-Entangling Charm on His Majesty, but there was no reaction. Only someone whose heart belongs to another can be completely unresponsive to it.”

It was an opportunity she had found with great difficulty.

Before the Empress Dowager had stopped the order.

Because of this failure, and because the Empress Dowager had stopped the order, Huang Yijie simply hadn’t reported it.

Hearing this, the Empress Dowager’s eyebrows relaxed. “Wonderful.” She clapped her hands and laughed, her mind running through all the concubines in the entire harem.

Which concubine was it that had moved the heart of this cold and cruel monster?

…

“Achoo—”

Jingzhe suddenly shivered. The first snow had fallen yesterday, and when he woke up, the temperature had dropped sharply. He shivered as he put on his cotton-padded clothes.

He didn’t dare to joke with his own body. After discovering that he couldn’t stop sneezing, he went back after finishing his work, drank several cups of hot water, and took a pill.

One thing better about the Zhidianjian than the North Wing was that the young eunuchs working below could still get a little charcoal.

They could light a little in their rooms before going to sleep at night.

When Jingzhe went back to the North Wing to see Mingyu, he boasted about this, finally tempting the lazy Mingyu.

For no other reason than that Mingyu was very afraid of the cold.

Jingzhe had finally made a trip back, and Mingyu clung to him, recounting all the recent events, big and small. When he heard it was Rong Jiu who had acted, he looked left and right, and after making sure no one else was around, he twisted Jingzhe’s ear fiercely.

Jingzhe said aggrievedly, “What did you hit me for?”

Mingyu gritted his teeth; it was this little rascal he was twisting.

“What did I say? You’ve been bewitched by his face!”

Jingzhe muttered, “But the hand warmer you’re holding was also a gift from him.”

Mingyu was very afraid of the cold and was overjoyed when he got the hand warmer. It didn’t require much charcoal, and he only needed to sneak some when Chen Mingde sent someone to boil water.

Mingyu showed no attitude of being bought off, on the contrary, he twisted Jingzhe’s ear even harder, vowing to pull it off.

“So you’re siding with an outsider now, are you?”

Jingzhe used all his strength to escape from the North Wing with a red, swollen, and burning ear.

He was still shaken. Don’t look at how small Mingyu was; when he flared up, it felt like he could tear him apart.

How could he be blamed!

People always get to know each other little by little. That… occasionally misjudging someone, that’s also very normal!

Rustle, rustle.

Jingzhe stepped on the snow, his boots sinking halfway. As he walked, he had to shake off the snow.

The snow in the North Wing was rarely cleared. Although it was also the responsibility of the Zhidianjian, the North Wing seemed to be unanimously ignored, and no one ever came.

He was alone when he came, and he was alone when he left.

Back and forth, two intermittent lines of footprints snaked along until Jingzhe suddenly stopped at the intersection.

Rong Jiu stood there, holding an umbrella.

In the fluttering white snow, the paper umbrella separated the pure white snow.

Rong Jiu stood indifferently under the umbrella, his cold face almost the same as the ice and snow, his face frozen like a sculpture, his dark eyes fixed on Jingzhe coming from the North Wing.

That gaze was somewhat terrifying.

As cold as the underworld.

Sometimes, Jingzhe would feel that Rong Jiu was like a stone statue without heart or desire.

When he was expressionless.

When he was cruelly killing people.

Jingzhe always had hazy memories, blurry images where he seemed to have once traced that beautifully sharp face, those high brow bones, those long and dense eyelashes… the coldness in his hands, as if touching a dead person.

He was a little scared.

Jingzhe slowly walked up to Rong Jiu and looked up at him.

He was shorter than Rong Jiu, and every time he wanted to look at him, he had to raise his head. If he wanted to hug his neck, he had to stand on tiptoe.

“Afraid of me?”

The voice was chilly, colder than the winter wind and snow. The anger that pierced through flesh and blood was like a giant beast lurking in the darkness, making one shudder.

“I am.”

Jingzhe said softly.

He couldn’t help but be afraid. Seeing the man’s cruelty and bloodlust with his own eyes had unexpectedly shown him a darker and more terrifying side to Rong Jiu’s cold exterior.

Before Rong Jiu could make a move, he stood on tiptoe again, trying hard to wrap his arms around Rong Jiu’s neck and rest his head on his shoulder.

So cold.

How long had Rong Jiu been standing here?

The umbrella was covered in snow.

He had been waiting for a long time.

Jingzhe tried hard to suppress his fear, like a fool who, after being hurt and frightened, would still foolishly stick back, wanting to warm the other person.

“I miss you too.”

His movements were a bit stiff, but his strength was great.

He hugged him very tightly.

With Rong Jiu’s strength, it would take some time to break free.

Rong Jiu dropped the umbrella and hugged Jingzhe in the snow.

…How pitiful.

How could Jingzhe do something as dangerous as willingly walking into the beast’s mouth?

The more he did this, the less it would arouse the monster’s pity, and would only invite more cruel treatment. Rong Jiu hid the darkness in his eyes, suppressing the bloodthirsty and manic desires within his cold white skin.

So foolish, and so obedient.

Author’s note:

Jingzhe: You know, even my friends are not allowed to call me stupid.

Rong Jiu: So?

Jingzhe: Say it again and you’ll have to pay.

Rong Jiu: (Puts down a silver note) I’ll top up with a hundred taels first.