Chapter 26 - 3#

They only ate two meals a day.

One meal was eaten after returning from work in the morning, and the other was eaten an hour and a half after noon, when it was not yet dark.

At seventeen or eighteen, or in their twenties, they were all boys who could eat, especially those who did hard labor. They naturally had a big appetite when they came back.

One by one, they buried their heads in their food, with no time to look up.

Shi’en was very dissatisfied with this reaction. He patted Jingzhe’s shoulder and complained, “Jingzhe, why don’t you even look up?”

Jingzhe desperately patted his chest and said weakly, “I’m choking.”

He was trying hard to swallow, and Shi’en came over and patted him. He almost choked to death.

Shi’en was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly brought hot water. Jingzhe swallowed several large mouthfuls before he came back to life, “So, what happened?”

He looked around. Very good, everyone was shoveling food. It didn’t look like anything had happened at all.

So, the matter probably had nothing to do with them.

The facts were just as Jingzhe had guessed. The matter had nothing to do with them.

It had to do with the palace maids.

In the harem, the status of palace maids was slightly higher than that of eunuchs. Of course, it wasn’t much higher, but their origins were better than those of eunuchs. They had to be from good families to enter the palace.

After entering the palace, no matter what their rank was, they could leave the palace after the age of twenty-five, unless they were valued by a noble and were not willing to let them go.

Of course, besides being palace maids, they could also fly up the branch and become phoenixes, becoming palace concubines; there was also another way, which was to become female officials and managing matrons.

The latter was the direction many people worked towards.

But no matter which one, these palace maids had to be virgins.

Shi’en: “I heard that something happened in Yongning Palace. A eunuch and a palace maid were caught having an affair. Consort Kang fainted from anger, and the Empress Dowager was furious. Now… they are conducting a thorough investigation.”

At this point, Shi’en’s voice lowered.

After all, this matter was not pleasant to hear.

Everyone knew what this thorough investigation meant. If something was found, not to mention the punishment, it was unknown whether they could even keep their lives.

At least the wild couple from before had already died under the rod.

After eating, they all dispersed.

Jingzhe found that Yunkui was following him. Thinking of what Shi’en had just said, he slowed down a little to wait for him.

Yunkui looked left and right and said in a low voice, “Actually, I knew about this yesterday.”

This was not surprising.

After all, Yunkui’s master was Jiang Jinming.

After Jiang Jinming knew about this, he would definitely use this matter to guide Yunkui, and also to make him vigilant and not go down the wrong path again.

There was a bit of relief in Yunkui’s voice.

“I used to resent this rule, thinking it was… but I didn’t expect it to be a good thing.”

Rain soaks the team =

Jingzhe glanced at him, “Have you spoken to Director Jiang?”

Yunkui was surprised and immediately understood what Jingzhe was saying, “You, how did you know?”

“Since yesterday, the Director has been looking a little unhappy.”

Yunkui wanted to go to the Procurement Office.

In this palace, unless you climbed to a high position, only the people in the Procurement Office could leave the palace during procurement.

The Procurement Office was a place with benefits, and many people were desperate to get in. Even if Yunkui wanted to go, it wouldn’t be that easy.

Yunkui lowered his voice, a little ashamed, “Master has already spoken to them for me.”

As long as there were no accidents, he could still go.

Jingzhe nodded, “The Director is very good to you.”

Even though many people in the harem were looking for masters and godfathers, there were very few like Jiang Jinming who treated Yunkui with all his heart and raised him as his own son.

Yunkui: “I know. I will be the one to see my master off in the future.”

When a person passed away, someone had to carry the coffin and someone had to smash the basin. A person without roots was naturally not qualified, but Jiang Jinming was also a eunuch and didn’t care about this. He had no children and raised Yunkui as his own son. After a hundred years, Yunkui could see him off, which would be a fulfillment of this fate.

Hearing Yunkui’s words, Jingzhe was a little envious.

He was not envious that Yunkui had a helpful master, but envious of their father-son-like relationship, which was very pure without any mixture of interests.

But at this point, Yunkui couldn’t help but ask, “The assessment is in half a month. How are you preparing?”

Jingzhe was very straightforward, “Whatever will be, will be.”

He wasn’t nervous, but Yunkui was.

“Don’t be like this, you’re already twenty!”

Jingzhe pinched his earlobe, “I’ve already memorized the palace rules that I should have memorized. As for the other assessments, I’ll only know on the day. If you ask me now if I’m prepared, what can I say?”

This assessment was simple and difficult at the same time.

The most basic was naturally the palace rules, which were things that the palace people had to be familiar with and recite when they first entered the palace.

The exception was the direction of the questions each year. For ordinary eunuchs like them, it was not that difficult to become a junior eunuch.

The most important thing was to have a spot.

The North Wing didn’t even have a spot to participate in the assessment.

Originally, it was very difficult for Jingzhe to get this spot.

After all, he was new.

Although his relationship with people in the Zhidianjian was not bad, it was only that. Jingzhe couldn’t possibly take a friend’s position.

But Yunkui wanted to go to the Procurement Office.

He directly handled this matter through Jiang Jinming.

Jingzhe: “Yunkui, actually you don’t have to do this for everything.” He couldn’t help but sigh, “You don’t owe me anything.”

He emphasized, again and again.

When he helped Yunkui in the beginning, it was purely out of pity. But the help Yunkui had given him later was more than enough.

Yunkui: “Who wouldn’t be pitiful? But few can do it. Jingzhe, you don’t understand. You are equivalent to… saving her and my life.”

This world was still harsh on women, and the Empress Dowager’s investigation this time was undoubtedly shameful. And those women who had lost their virginity would always have a harder time than good family girls.

Although the court did not restrict women from remarrying, and even encouraged it, there would still be old-fashioned and harsh people who felt that they should not leave their husband’s family. Yunkui had rarely thought about these things before, until recently, he had managed to communicate with her through the Procurement Office… only then did he know that she had already had the will to die before leaving the palace.

If he hadn’t persisted at that time, what would have happened now?

Yunkui didn’t dare to think about it.

Hearing the cause and effect, Jingzhe was also very scared. He didn’t want to see someone lose their life for this, and couldn’t help but say softly, “Your actions with her back then, in the end, harmed her.”

Yunkui scratched his head, very annoyed.

They talked for a few more words, and Yunkui urged Jingzhe to prepare well before leaving.

Jingzhe pinched his slightly sore right arm and walked towards his room.

Generally speaking, after dinner, unless they were called by the director above, they didn’t have much to do and could have some free time.

Jingzhe used this free time to make a set of underwear.

This work was more delicate than gloves, and Jingzhe practiced again and again to make the stitches dense.

Only Huiping, who was in the same room with him, knew that he was doing this.

However, Huiping didn’t ask much, just thought that Jingzhe was making it for himself.

Jingzhe pressed his right shoulder and was about to enter the door when he found someone in the room.

Jingzhe was very surprised. He looked left and right, and slipped in like a thief, immediately closing the door and window.

Rong Jiu raised his eyebrows, “Are you a thief?”

Jingzhe: “…”

He was hiding a thief!

He was about to speak when he saw the clothes Rong Jiu was holding in his hand, and his face immediately turned red, “You, how did you find it?”

That was the first one he made.

It was also the most failed one.

Jingzhe looked at it from left to right and couldn’t find it pleasing to the eye, so he wore this one himself.

Although it was a bit big, it was still okay.

“You put it on the head of the bed yourself.”

Jingzhe recalled that he had washed it yesterday and hung it up. It should have been Huiping who came back in the afternoon and put it away for him.

“…Alright.”

Jingzhe felt that his reaction was too much and tried to regain his composure. The set he was making before was not finished yet, and every time he went out, he put it in a large box.

Rong Jiu definitely wouldn’t go through the box when he had nothing to do.

Safe.

Jingzhe: “Why do you always come over so quietly?”

Rong Jiu: “Why do I have a feeling that you don’t want me to be discovered by others?” The man said this unhurriedly, but it made Jingzhe’s skin tighten a little.

Although he quickly relaxed.

Jingzhe noticed this bitterly and secretly glanced at Rong Jiu. Sure enough, the man’s face turned colder again.

Jingzhe was aggrieved, but he couldn’t be blamed for this.

He felt that he was not that afraid of Rong Jiu, but his body’s instinct was like this, so what could he do?

Rong Jiu stretched out his hand towards Jingzhe, and Jingzhe automatically walked over and hugged Rong Jiu.

“Didn’t you come here with Commander Wei to do business before?”

He was afraid that if some people had seen Rong Jiu’s face at that time, it would cause some troublesome discussions.

Jingzhe actually didn’t ask about Wude and Wufu, nor did he ask how it was handled that day.

That matter passed so quietly, leaving only a small aftereffect on the two of them.

That is, Jingzhe would be a little afraid of Rong Jiu.

But that kind of fear was not the fear of terror, but a certain physical instinct…

When you actively approach a ferocious beast, even if you know that this man-eating monster will not harm you, your body will still react to this danger.

This was very subtle and almost imperceptible.

But Rong Jiu was an extremely sharp person. Every time he noticed it, Jingzhe knew that he was going to be unhappy again.

Jingzhe sighed and hung on Rong Jiu, thinking about what to do.

“After I killed Wude, Wei Haidong came over and dealt with Wufu by the way,” Rong Jiu said lightly. “No one saw me.”

Jingzhe tilted his head to look at him, their breaths very close.

“Jingzhe, why don’t you ask?” Rong Jiu asked as if he was curious, and also a little bewitching, “You seem to have never been curious about my affairs.”

Jingzhe’s skin tightened silently again.

Annoying, Jingzhe was also very annoyed by this reaction.

Was he so sensitive to danger?

Jingzhe: “Knowing too much may not be a good thing.”

He didn’t want to say it at first, but since Rong Jiu asked, he had to answer honestly.