Chapter 36 - 2#
His cool words carried a hint of rising doubt, as if this was something difficult to notice.
Jingzhe nodded tremblingly: “…But what does that have to do with what you are going to do?”
Rong Jiu’s tone was a little strange, and he said slowly: “Ha, didn’t you notice?”
The other hand pointed downwards.
Jingzhe looked down in confusion, only to realize that the shoes and socks he had taken off had all been thrown into the fire. The flames were roasting them with a sizzling sound, and the shapes of the shoes and socks were strangely twisted.
Then, many black insects poured out from the soles of the shoes.
They scurried frantically in the fire, but fire and this fragrance were their natural nemesis.
Jingzhe’s scalp went numb, and his whole body stiffened in place. He seemed to hear some rustling screams in his ears, shouting.
And the fact that so many terrible Gu worms were hidden in the soles of his shoes had scared Jingzhe crazy. He covered his ears with both hands and trembled, unable to even speak.
Rong Jiu lifted Jingzhe’s foot. The horrifying scene just now had shattered all his defenses and resistance, allowing the man to easily wash Jingzhe’s feet.
To be honest, Jingzhe’s feet were not good-looking.
These were a pair of hardworking feet.
Just like Jingzhe’s fingers, which had thick calluses, only in this way could they support this thin body running around everywhere.
Cold white fingers touched from the ankle to the sole of the foot, smoothing over every unevenness, lingering longer in a few places he found interesting, even prying open a few toes to check, and finally wiping them clean one by one, placing them on a clean spot on the clothes on the ground.
When Rong Jiu lifted the other foot, Jingzhe finally, finally regained a little calm from that maddening scene, and stammered: “Rong Jiu, I can do the rest myself, right?”
He was indeed very scared just now.
Jingzhe originally thought that when he came out, smearing those incense ashes on himself would prevent those black insects from crawling on him.
In fact, this was true. When they encountered him, they were running around, except later…
After being attracted by the buff.
But what made Jingzhe collapse was that he didn’t realize at all that so many Gu worms were hidden in the soles of his shoes.
The thought that he had just stepped on them and walked around made him not want not only his shoes and socks, but even these feet.
“It’s fine.” Rong Jiu’s voice was still cold and indifferent. “After washing, they will be gone.”
He didn’t agree to Jingzhe, but started talking about something else.
Strangely, he seemed to know what Jingzhe was afraid of and took the initiative to mention it.
Jingzhe endured it, but still couldn’t watch Rong Jiu wash his feet for him.
Although this wasn’t the first time.
But last time, there was clearly not such a strong sense of shame, nor this…
Strange atmosphere.
Was it because of the Gu worms just now? Or was it because of the scene of Rong Jiu kneeling on one knee in front of him?
Jingzhe always had a strong sense of dislocation.
Everything happening in front of him was so fast, even a little blurry. hugging his gradually warming body, he mumbled:
“Then, on other clothes, will there still be… any?”
“No, when you came out, you applied that incense, they will naturally avoid it.” Rong Jiu’s voice was meaningful. “Normally, they wouldn’t even hide in the soles of shoes. It seems they love you too much.”
This sentence, like a sudden thunderclap, made Jingzhe’s body shiver.
He forced a smile, “How could it be… Isn’t their master the Noble Consort?”
“You guessed it?”
“I’m not, a fool.”
“Someone who runs out in such heavy rain is not a fool, then what is he?”
Jingzhe couldn’t help but retort, pouting: “I didn’t come without a reason. Yunkui said there were black insects outside the miscellaneous procurement office. I felt strange, and remembered your incense can repel insects, so I gave them some, and applied some on myself, then came out.”
Rong Jiu looked up at him coldly: “You knew to wear waterproof clothes, but didn’t you think that excessive rain would wash away the scent.”
If it weren’t for the fact that Jingzhe used the method of smearing incense ash and appeared on the palace road so carelessly, he would have been eaten clean sooner or later.
Jingzhe: “…Then why didn’t anything happen to the miscellaneous procurement office?”
“The palace servants are not her target.” Rong Jiu said lightly. “She let the Gu worms come out in full force just to give the emperor a fatal blow.”
The Emperor. Huang Yijie.
Jingzhe’s heart seemed to have been hit heavily, and there was a heavy pressure in his heart. He vaguely had a terrible guess, but it never took shape.
Whether he really couldn’t guess, or he didn’t want to think about it carefully… It was hard for Jingzhe to distinguish what was going on with him.
“You want to ask why Huang Yijie wanted to kill the emperor, and why so much special incense was mixed in when Fengxian Hall was rebuilt?”
Although this was not what Jingzhe wanted to know most urgently, he nodded vigorously.
These were obvious questions.
“In the past, the emperor made a batch of agarwood, which contained a scent that could drive away Gu worms. The incense I gave you also has a similar effect. The ‘accidental’ reconstruction of Fengxian Hall was just a precaution.”
Since Jingzhe wanted to listen, Rong Jiu’s explanation was detailed enough.
However, although Fengxian Hall was chosen.
But whether it was Ning Hongru who was in charge, or Emperor Jingyuan who decided on the site at the beginning, neither of them thought of really letting it burn.
After all, that was Fengxian Hall.
“Huang Yijie was specially brought into the palace by the Empress Dowager as a backup. She wanted the emperor to die early so as not to hinder her son’s path.” Rong Jiu put Jingzhe’s wet feet on his knees and wiped them slowly. “Huang Yijie, for the sake of her family, also agreed to this deal, so today, Huang Yijie broke into Qianming Palace.”
After all, Emperor Jingyuan moved against the Huang family.
This not only shook the foundation of the Empress Dowager, but also touched Huang Yijie’s lifeline.
Jingzhe’s eyes widened, not expecting the Noble Consort to be so bold.
“Can her Gu worms control people?”
“Mm.” Rong Jiu said calmly. “Her life Gu is very powerful.”
Jingzhe: “Then everyone in Qianming Palace…”
“Maybe dead, maybe still alive.” Rong Jiu said unhurriedly. “However, the emperor should not be dead.”
Jingzhe: “…Can your tone when mentioning the emperor be more casual?”
That’s Emperor Jingyuan, that’s the emperor!
He looked at Rong Jiu, having an illusion that he would die because of this mouth sooner or later.
Just as Jingzhe thought this, his body was suddenly lifted by a pair of strong arms, startling him.
The wet parts of his inner clothes had been dried by the fire, and his whole body was warm. being picked up and walked around at this moment gave him a sense of panic of being suspended in mid-air.
Jingzhe just shook his feet when he heard a crackling sound. Many things were swept to the ground, and then he was placed on…
The altar table.
Jingzhe’s eyes widened looking at this familiar yet strange table, and looked back in horror. Sure enough, he saw the memorial tablets including Empress Dowager Cisheng looking back at him faintly. What Rong Jiu swept down were actually the offerings on this altar table.
Jingzhe was about to faint, really sitting on pins and needles.
“Don’t you have anything else to ask?”
Very considerate, very gentle, as if he could feel that he still had unfinished questions.
Rong Jiu’s tone was faint, close at hand.
Like a ghost in the ghost realm, the silky coolness was really scary.
But no matter how scared he was, Jingzhe was not as scared as the table he was sitting on. He looked at Rong Jiu miserably.
“Must I sit on this table?”
Rong Jiu said as a matter of course: “Only this place is the cleanest.”
Jingzhe was a little broken: “But this is Empress Dowager Cisheng’s altar table!”
Emperor Jingyuan’s mother!
For Empress Dowager Cisheng, the emperor blocked Empress Dowager Huang from moving into Cining Palace. Even if the mother and son had conflicts again, they should still care a little.
Rong Jiu was so disrespectful to Empress Dowager Cisheng, this was a capital crime!
Jingzhe thought he was really crazy just now to think that Rong Jiu might be…
Ha, how could it be possible?
He wiped the corner of his eyes, feeling that if it were any later, he and Rong Jiu would really be a pair of beheaded wild mandarin ducks.
Thinking of Rong Jiu burning Fengxian Hall, and then thinking of the memorial tablets staring behind him, Jingzhe felt that at this moment, nothing could surprise him anymore.
But when Rong Jiu grabbed his feet and didn’t allow Jingzhe to come down, he was really a little broken.
“Even if few people come here, the Directorate of Palace Maintenance has special personnel responsible for these halls every day, it’s not dirty at all.”
Jingzhe explained frantically.
He didn’t know why Rong Jiu was suddenly so paranoid, he just wanted to explain to him that this floor, simply, could not, be dirty!
Except for the footprints they made when they came in just now.
It wasn’t the floor that was dirty, it was their wet and wretched appearance just now.
But Rong Jiu’s gaze…
Was a bit strange.
It was hard for Jingzhe to describe what kind of feeling it was. Under the calm surface, it was like surging lava… hot, scalding, crazy… Strong desires collided together, turning into a sticky, strange gaze.
Before those pitch-black eyes, he shivered.
“…Rong Jiu,” Jingzhe stopped those feeble explanations, “What’s wrong with you…?”
His last word was almost inaudible, his eyes widening as he watched Rong Jiu kneel down in front of him.
“…What are you doing?”
He murmured, simply unable to accept what was happening before his eyes.
Jingzhe could accept their intimate contact because they were lovers… but he didn’t have that special fetish, he wasn’t the kind of person who would feel happy seeing someone bowing and scraping in front of him. On the contrary, he only felt his hair stand on end.
Jingzhe’s foot stepped on Rong Jiu’s shoulder, but not to insult him.
No, it won’t work.
Jingzhe remembered the damn buff on him belatedly. Because he was too terrified after being attacked by those black insects, how could he forget that the range of this buff was not just those damn Gu worms…
It included all life.
Gu worms were like this, and so were people.
Jingzhe used force with his toes, trying to kick Rong Jiu away.
Twenty-four shichen, two days. Thinking of this short, yet long time, Jingzhe wanted to cry but had no tears.
His movements were fast, and he did push the man’s body away a bit, but before Jingzhe could jump down, Rong Jiu grabbed that foot and turned his head.
The wet moisture made a tremor shoot through his nerves. For a moment, Jingzhe’s body stiffened.
Rong Jiu was kissing his foot.
“Rong Jiu!”
Jingzhe’s voice was tense to the breaking point, and he sharply stopped Rong Jiu’s action.
Rong Jiu’s grip on the ankle was so strong, but the kissing gesture was incredibly gentle, as if it were some fragile thing worthy of pity.
“…You, get up.”
Jingzhe suppressed the panic in his heart and tentatively spoke to Rong Jiu in a commanding tone.
The man’s gaze moved inch by inch.
In the long gaze that made Jingzhe’s scalp numb, Rong Jiu really stood up.
With his tall figure, even though Jingzhe was sitting on the high altar table, Rong Jiu could still easily cover him.
Like a monster that would swallow every bit of him clean.
Jingzhe swallowed and didn’t say “I want to get down”, but said, “I’m getting down.”
Order, use, a commanding tone.
He frantically emphasized this crucial point to himself in his heart.
Rong Jiu… did let him down.
He let him step on his knee to get down.
Stepping on the man’s body, Jingzhe didn’t have the mind to appreciate it like before. There was only roaring in his heart. How could someone only listen to half of the instructions?
He tried several times, but finally tiredly let Rong Jiu carry him back to the fire.
Anyway, he couldn’t accept sitting directly on someone else’s altar table like that.
“After death, everything vanishes like smoke and clouds, ceasing to exist.” Rong Jiu said lightly. “You don’t need to mind at all.”
Jingzhe racked his brains to explain: “It’s not a question of minding or not. Even if… there are no gods or ghosts in this world, as long as there is some remembrance and thought in the heart, one can always live on… Having a little awe is not a bad thing.” Just like the Empress Dowager and the Huang family, they definitely didn’t have any awe.
Oh, this one in front of him too.
Scary crazy.
After remembering the effect of the buff, although Jingzhe tried his best to stay away from Rong Jiu, this attempt was not very successful. The effect of this buff on Rong Jiu was also weird.
Generally speaking, the so-called King…
Just like those Gu worms, facing him, it was admiration and respect. Although he… didn’t want to listen to the sounds of those Gu worms at all, but vaguely, as long as Jingzhe was willing, those buzzing rustling sounds seemed to linger in his ears.
They admired Jingzhe and were ready to prostrate at Jingzhe’s feet at any time.
And Rong Jiu…
The way he knelt in front of Jingzhe would only make people horrified.
The man carried a bloodthirsty and violent nature that made people tremble with fear. The reason shown on the outside was sometimes just a disguise.
In the long contact, Jingzhe gradually realized this.
He was powerless to change it.
He also knew that he couldn’t change Rong Jiu at all.
Past experiences had shaped Rong Jiu into who he was, and he could never change the past, change those things that had already happened.
But he knew even more that Rong Jiu’s nature was aloof and cold. How could such a thing as prostrating and kneeling in front of others happen to him?
Jingzhe didn’t want to see this scene.
Even if that person was himself, it was the same.
This was the reason why he tried so hard to get off the altar table.