Chapter 30 - 2#

The more Zong Yuanxin spoke, the more alarmed he became, but Ning Hongru’s expression calmed down: “If it’s just killing people, that’s not difficult to handle.”

Zong Yuanxin simply couldn’t believe that one day, Ning Hongru would also be a fool who couldn’t understand human words.

He flew into a rage: “If he wanted to kill people, why would he go far? Isn’t the entire Qianming Palace not enough for him to kill?” Why did he have to go outside to do it?

Ning Hongru immediately reacted, his face changing drastically.

He didn’t bother to speak, rushing out hastily. Although he restrained himself after a few steps, turning into a steady pace, he still walked very quickly.

Zong Yuanxin saw that he finally realized what he was saying, and then sighed and followed him.

…Hope it’s not too late.

This Emperor’s temperament was extremely tyrannical. Even his affection carried this twisted desire for destruction.

If he were truly allowed to act without restraint, that would be a real tragedy. Who could bear the violent and insane “love” of an emperor?

Was that truly love?

…

No. No. No.

The most painful thing about the emperor’s disappearance was that they couldn’t even find him.

The emperor did have hidden guards, but Ning Hongru would not easily let them act unless absolutely necessary.

The people Ning Hongru sent had already gone to the Zhidian Si, the Miscellaneous Purchasing Office, and the Imperial Kitchen. These were a few places Jingzhe might frequent, but Jingzhe was nowhere to be found.

Of course, when Jingzhe wasn’t found in the Zhidian Si, Ning Hongru already realized something was wrong.

Just as he was about to send someone to the North Quarters, Ning Hongru was suddenly grabbed by Shi Lijun. She leaned into Ning Hongru’s ear and whispered something. Ning Hongru looked at her in surprise, then changed direction.

…They went to Jiefang Palace.

—West Wing.

This was Emperor Jingyuan’s residence in the palace during his time as a prince.

He only lived in one small room there.

The vast Jiefang Palace had hundreds of rooms.

At that time, the emperor allowed all the princes and princesses to be raised by their own birth mothers, and only at the age of twelve or thirteen would they possibly leave the palace to establish their own residences. The entire process involved very little relocation.

But Emperor Jingyuan was different. From the very beginning, he was in the West Wing.

After Empress Dowager Cisheng passed away, he was raised by the later Empress, who is now the Empress Dowager, but he did not move to the harem with her. He still lived in the West Wing with the late Emperor’s tacit approval.

From beginning to end, only Emperor Jingyuan was so isolated.

It was then that Ning Hongru was transferred to serve Emperor Jingyuan, along with Shi Lijun.

Fortunately, they were already near the Imperial Kitchen. The area of Jiefang Palace was also nearby, so it wasn’t far to get there.

But when Ning Hongru, leading the way, stepped over the threshold and heard a strange sound, he suddenly turned sharply, blocking the group of people behind him.

Zong Yuanxin was right behind Ning Hongru. When he was abruptly stopped, he was a bit irritable: “Chief Steward Ning, what are you doing suddenly?”

Ning Hongru said calmly and composedly: “I think we don’t need to worry about what His Majesty will do. We just need to wait patiently.”

“Patience, you wait for a ghost, if…” Zong Yuanxin’s angry words were cut short when he suddenly heard a faint sob. The sound, in the dead of night, made his neck shrink and his whole body feel a little cold.

But then, he reacted, his eyes wide as he looked behind Ning Hongru, and then at the others.

Everyone else uniformly lowered their heads, as if they heard nothing outside.

Zong Yuanxin laughed in anger, pointing at Ning Hongru.

Ning Hongru smiled apologetically, first trying to calm Zong Yuanxin’s inexplicable irritation. The rest of the people stood outside the hall, not daring to say a word.

Who would dare to break in and interrupt the emperor’s good deeds?

Of course, Zong Yuanxin could.

He muttered to himself, mostly about how the emperor’s current condition was not suitable for too much cough cough and cough cough. If Ning Hongru hadn’t painstakingly persuaded him, he would have really broken in.

Heaven help him, Ning Hongru didn’t want to actually see Zong Yuanxin torn to shreds, so he used every persuasive argument to make the Imperial Physician give up on the idea.

…

Jingzhe slept for a while in a daze, then was forced to wake up. When the scorching body behind him hugged him, he cried uncontrollably.

Only this time, he cried less than before.

Rong Jiu unsatisfactorily consumed those tears.

Jingzhe’s voice was hoarse, with a hint of a sob: “…You, what’s wrong with you, why are you always not…”

How could someone be as hard as iron, unable to soften?

Is this really still a human?

Jingzhe felt that he had tried very hard, was very brave, and wanted to help, but he couldn’t pull until his hands ached, and still saw no results.

Whose mushrooms are so hard to pull?

In a daze, he seemed to hear some movement outside. Jingzhe subconsciously shrank into Rong Jiu’s arms.

The air outside was very cold, but only Rong Jiu’s chest was burning hot. Jingzhe clung to this little warmth, like a prey throwing itself into a hunter’s arms, trembling but still leaning against him.

Rip—

Just as Jingzhe was feeling distressed and melancholic, he heard an ominous tearing sound from the fabric below. A hand reached down and abruptly pressed against the unruly large hand.

That hand was pressed by Jingzhe onto his lower abdomen, so hot that Jingzhe couldn’t help but flinch. “What are you doing?”

“Courtesy demands reciprocity.”

Rong Jiu almost bit Jingzhe’s ear as he spoke, as if that piece of flesh was about to be bitten off by him, with gurgling sounds of water.

Jingzhe no longer knew if he was submerged in the sea. His chaotic thoughts made his words a little soft.

“…No need, I…” His tongue pressed against his teeth, “am an eunuch, I originally have no…”

“How would you know if you don’t try?”

Rong Jiu’s words carried a strange excitement. Far from being disgusted, he was impatient.

Jingzhe almost fainted. What was this, what kind of strange fetish? As a human, one must have some bottom line, right… Rong Jiu really… wasn’t human…

He subconsciously tightened his grip on the mushroom, and it grew stronger and stronger, until Rong Jiu sighed softly.

“You’re about to snap it off.”

Jingzhe suddenly flung his hand away, embarrassed to the point of fainting.

All the events that happened tonight were too impactful for him, making his head throb with pain even now.

After a while, he noticed Rong Jiu’s large hand stroking his back up and down. The man’s palm was a bit rough, and it felt a little prickly, but being stroked so soothingly, it was as if all the soft thorns on his body were smoothed back down.

Jingzhe lay there in a daze for a while before whispering, “Are you… awake?”

He sounded a little dull, as if in disbelief.

So, Rong Jiu simply hummed in response.

Jingzhe’s grip on Rong Jiu’s arm tightened. The arm, already marked with many scratches, was now even more unsightly.

Jingzhe felt extremely wronged.

“You, you just now, like this…”

Jingzhe complained while feeling wronged.

Rong Jiu was like this just now, Rong Jiu was like that just now, deliberately scaring people, and also wanted, also wanted…

Jingzhe’s face turned pale as he thought of something.

“Why don’t you say it?”

“It’s useless to say it.”

“Why useless?”

“You’re sick.”

Jingzhe hung his head dejectedly. He could feel Rong Jiu’s occasional moments of unconsciousness, but that sheer brutality almost destroyed his trust.

How could someone be so, so…

Bad.

Jingzhe curled himself up, making himself appear even smaller.

Rong Jiu: “…Because I’m sick, so you forgive me?” His tone sounded a bit strange, as if the confused ending note was rising.

Jingzhe once again rolled off Rong Jiu, lay on the bed beside him, and said listlessly, “No, I didn’t.”

Then he added, “I’m going to sleep. You can’t disturb me.”

He was like a pitiful fish, unable to leave the water, yet almost pulled out of it by an overly enthusiastic angler, tossed and turned. Although he wasn’t dead, he was close to it.

Jingzhe really meant it when he said he was going to sleep; he was very tired.

After a day of work, and then suddenly encountering Rong Jiu, he was so emotionally exhausted that he cried a lot. Now, not only his body but also his spirit was extremely fragile.

He slept uncomfortably because of the cold.

After changing a few positions, Jingzhe, who had been sleeping a little further away in his wronged state, unconsciously moved towards the heat source, carefully snuggling up to Rong Jiu. Only then did he frown and fall into a deeper sleep.

He said he didn’t believe it, yet he was so close.

Rong Jiu stared at Jingzhe’s face. In the dim room, a small bean-sized lamp couldn’t illuminate much, but the man’s gaze was like a terrifying beast, flowing with distinct desire.

After an unknown amount of time, the rich scent in the room suddenly intensified a few points.

Rong Jiu got out of bed naked, casually grabbed a piece of clothing from the floor to put on, and then used other fabric to wipe the mucus from his hands.

The people guarding outside the hall seemed to hear the movement and quickly approached.

This West Wing had been uninhabited for too long. Even with daily cleaning, it still exuded a decaying scent, like the entire gradually rotting imperial city, incredibly cold.

Ning Hongru was very clever. He had all the charcoal basins prepared. Although he dared not open the door, he had already warmed up the West Wing through various means.

“Go prepare water.”

When the familiar hoarse voice came from inside the room, Ning Hongru was so grateful he almost knelt down.

“Move all the charcoal basins in.”

Then, the door opened.

In the dim room, a strange smell flowed out. Zong Yuanxin sniffed, revealing a strange expression.

As the eunuchs lowered their heads, diligently moving things like ants, Zong Yuanxin approached and, by the dim moonlight outside, glanced at the man.

“…You, you know you can’t, indulge in lust, right?”

Zong Yuanxin stammered, hinting at something.

The smell in this room was too obvious, so obvious that Zong Yuanxin couldn’t pretend he had lost his sense of smell. This, this…

So the emperor’s little dog, was this what it meant?

Who was this girl, so unlucky, to be called an animal was bad enough, but to be liked by a madman like the emperor?

Helian Rong said calmly, “No.”

“No what?” Zong Yuanxin was still thinking about that unlucky girl, his words a little distracted.

“No indulgence.”

Helian Rong replied coldly.

Zong Yuanxin’s face became even stranger. He looked Helian Rong up and down. This wasn’t right. He had originally thought that the emperor, losing control this one time, would really…

But now, it seemed the emperor was very clear-headed.

“You weren’t out of control?”

Zong Yuanxin frowned, asking somewhat bluntly.

“Who said I was out of control?”

Helian Rong was expressionless, his cold face only showing pure indifference.

If he wasn’t out of control, then what was all the fuss about last night?

…

When Jingzhe woke up, he was completely enveloped in soft bedding. He stared blankly at the bed canopy.

After a long time, he was seen sitting up.

Jingzhe looked down at himself. His clothes had been changed. He paused, then pulled down further, trying to look underneath.

It seemed to be the same torn trousers, barely hanging on, not changed.

“Didn’t change them for you.”

A cold voice suddenly came, and Jingzhe shivered, subconsciously burying himself back into the covers.

This was a very instinctive avoidance.

Jingzhe only realized what he was doing after making this move, almost fainting. He was muffled in the bedding, wanting to ask where he was, but didn’t want to speak.

As Jingzhe hesitated, an external force lifted him up, along with the quilt.

He yelped in fright, flailing his arms and legs, trying to get out of the quilt.

Rong Jiu sat down at the table with Jingzhe in his arms.

When Jingzhe finally managed to poke out a fluffy head, he saw the food laid out on the table.

“You haven’t eaten anything since the afternoon, have you?”

The man’s faint voice came from behind.

Jingzhe was fine until he was told. Once told, he felt incredibly hungry. He was already weak in his limbs, and this hunger made him even more feverish.

But, far more important than this meal was:

“Rong Jiu, you… yesterday…” Jingzhe subconsciously glanced at the sky outside, which was very dark, as if it hadn’t brightened at all. So he had to change the time, “You before, that state… what exactly was going on?”

Jingzhe had never seen Rong Jiu like that.

It was as if his whole body was boiling with strange excitement. No matter what he said or did, it only added fuel to the fire, and he couldn’t settle down at all.

Rong Jiu: “I was poisoned.”

He said it indifferently, as if it were some trivial matter.

“I finally found a doctor who could help me remove the poison, but the medicine was a bit strong. Last night…”

Rong Jiu didn’t finish his sentence, but Jingzhe had already automatically filled in the tragic events of yesterday.

Jingzhe shrank in the quilt with lingering fear. That might not have been just a little strong; it had practically turned Rong Jiu into a violent wild horse, charging around, terrifying!

Jingzhe puffed out his cheeks and lowered his head in frustration.