Chapter 38 - 1#

Ning Hongru prided himself on being a cautious and modest person. After the emperor left Qianming Palace, he began to prepare the layout of the bedroom.

First, he lit the soothing incense to make Jingzhe sleep more soundly, so as not to be disturbed by the palace servants coming and going. Then, those overly revealing decorations had to be removed.

If even a little trace was left, it would make people alert.

After arranging the most important details properly, he made up a set of perfect reasons.

With Ning Hongru’s eloquence, it was no problem to fool Jingzhe.

It was a pity that Emperor Jingyuan didn’t give him room to perform.

This round trip was really fast.

When Emperor Jingyuan left, he could still be considered elegant, but when he came back, he was already a fiendish executioner.

That bloody scene flowed from the steps to the front of the hall, and the pervasive smell of blood enveloped the entire Qianming Palace, like the deterrence brought by Emperor Jingyuan, which did not dissipate for a long time.

The smell of blood was too strong. Emperor Jingyuan soaked in the bath for a long time before barely dissipating those fishy smells. He grabbed the ends of his hair and sniffed for a moment, then asked Ning Hongru to bring orchid incense.

Usually, Emperor Jingyuan didn’t like having too much scent on his body.

The faint orchid fragrance suppressed the somewhat biting smell of blood, turning it into another lingering scent.

Ning Hongru: “That person hasn’t woken up yet.”

Emperor Jingyuan nodded and extended his arm, signaling Ning Hongru to re-bandage it.

Ning Hongru held the bloody arm and said softly: “Your Majesty, should I ask Zong Yuanxin to come?”

He could certainly do it, but Zong Yuanxin was good at this and would definitely do better than Ning Hongru.

“No need.” Emperor Jingyuan said indifferently, “Too noisy.”

Ning Hongru lowered his head and cleaned the wound for His Majesty.

To some extent, Zong Yuanxin and Mao Zishi were the same kind of people. They had skills, but their personalities were unique.

Sometimes, they were indeed annoying.

Emperor Jingyuan closed his eyes and let the palace servants behind him wipe his hair.

It was raining wetly outside. After bathing, the hair could not dry quickly, so the palace servants carefully dried it bit by bit.

Then, according to His Majesty’s intention, they applied orchid incense on the comb and combed it out bit by bit. The smell also became stronger.

Emperor Jingyuan frowned in displeasure, but said nothing in the end.

“Your Majesty, it’s better not to get the wound wet repeatedly.” Ning Hongru endured and endured, but still whispered, “It’s easy to rot.”

“Just cut it off.”

Emperor Jingyuan stood up, his half-dried long hair falling behind him. He stepped on the carpet with bare feet and walked a few steps to the bronze mirror.

Just looking at the clothes he chose, Ning Hongru knew that His Majesty was going to see that person again.

Ning Hongru lowered his head: “The arrangement in the hall has been slightly adjusted. Your Majesty, should we make some arrangements for the Directorate of Palace Maintenance?”

Emperor Jingyuan looked over and saw the chief eunuch bowing: “The Gu worms scattered, and one direction they fled to was the southwest corner. Many palace servants were attacked, and some were harmed by Gu worms.” And among the disaster-stricken palace servants, the Directorate of Palace Maintenance was unique.

They only lost some houses and objects, but no one was hurt.

This would undoubtedly attract criticism.

Ning Hongru received the news and found upon careful investigation that the reason why the Directorate of Palace Maintenance was spared from the disaster was because they had incense that could repel Gu worms.

As for the source of this incense…

Naturally, it was related to “Rong Jiu”.

Emperor Jingyuan slowly put on his clothes. Without needing others’ help, he hung a mottled safety knot on his body and said indifferently: “Then kill a few more, treat them as newly discovered corpses.”

Ning Hongru was silent. This was really a simple and crude way. As long as a few people died in the Directorate of Palace Maintenance, it would be clean and neat, stopping people’s mouths.

It’s just…

He said respectfully: “Before leaving the Directorate of Palace Maintenance, Eunuch Jingzhe instructed the eunuchs in the same room to bring everyone into the room and distributed incense to those who were alone.”

As a result, almost everyone was in Jingzhe and Huiping’s room, and the rest were safe and sound. There were no more loners at all.

Emperor Jingyuan’s fingers paused on his cuffs, and he gave a light chuckle. It sounded like a laugh, but it carried endless chill.

Jingzhe was too sentimental.

“Then do as you see fit.” Emperor Jingyuan finished coldly and walked out.

Ning Hongru didn’t straighten up until His Majesty left.

Do as he sees fit…

Hehe, Ning Hongru smiled.

He indeed had the most ideas for such things.

But…

Did His Majesty do it on purpose?

Ning Hongru looked thoughtfully in the direction where Emperor Jingyuan disappeared.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, His Majesty seemed unwilling to let others get close to Jingzhe, even Ning Hongru and Shi Lijun were the same.

…Did His Majesty really cherish him so much?

This was no longer just to the extent of a toy, enough for Ning Hongru to have some ominous guesses.

Ning Hongru started to have a stomachache. He decided to find Shi Lijun to worry together.

It has always been better to share joy than to enjoy it alone.

He was really considerate.

…

“What?”

Jingzhe didn’t know whether he should be glad that Rong Jiu said this after he finished drinking water.

Otherwise, he would definitely have sprayed a mouthful of water.

Could this be considered Rong Jiu’s consideration?

Jingzhe wanted to cry but had no tears, “Why can’t I go back?”

When he first woke up, apart from the shock Rong Jiu brought him, Jingzhe had also carefully examined this place. It didn’t look very gorgeous, finally not those terrifying territories.

He hadn’t been asleep for long. According to Rong Jiu, it was still afternoon.

But Jingzhe was still a little uncomfortable, perhaps because of the overly intimate contact in the small hall, or maybe because the touch of the quilt on him was too silky, and more because…

He was now in the same room with Rong Jiu, and his nerves were always very tense.

Jingzhe couldn’t be blamed for worrying too much. It was really that Rong Jiu didn’t look… more rational. There was a faint trace of restrained madness between his eyebrows.

He always had the illusion that Rong Jiu had just come back from killing someone.

There was a strange boiling excitement in the man, as if it was burning in his flesh and blood, so much so that his aura was sharp, making him dare not look directly.

But such a Rong Jiu was combing Jingzhe’s hair.

Rong Jiu carried a faint dampness on his body, as if he had bathed before coming, and his hair also had a quiet orchid fragrance, which smelled very good.

He sat by the bed, using a comb to comb Jingzhe’s hair stroke by stroke.

Jingzhe’s hair was frizzy, and he was impatient to take care of it himself. With this large handful of hair falling into Rong Jiu’s palm, Jingzhe was afraid that his head would be pulled off at any time.

“The palace is very chaotic right now. Huang Yijie tried to attack the emperor and was caught by the Imperial Guard. Then the emperor led people to surround Shoukang Palace and slaughtered the guards of Shoukang Palace. Now everyone is in a state of panic and is checking for traces of Gu worms. If you go out, you will become a target of public criticism.”

In the small hall, Jingzhe’s attraction to Gu worms was really obvious.

Rong Jiu couldn’t have missed it.

But he didn’t ask anything.

This made Jingzhe feel somewhat at ease, but also had some hidden worries. Was Rong Jiu sometimes too trusting of him?

Wasn’t he afraid that he was actually a worm witch too, and in cahoots with Huang Yijie?

“No.” Rong Jiu seemed to be a roundworm in Jingzhe’s stomach, “You are not a woman.”

Only then did Jingzhe remember that worm witches passed down their skills to women, not men.

He wasn’t qualified yet.

…But how on earth did Rong Jiu see through his thoughts!

Jingzhe was a little embarrassed and annoyed.

Rong Jiu’s voice was very pleasant, and his explanation was very reasonable. Jingzhe should be grateful that such a reticent person squeezed out so many words, but…

He felt his back was about to burn under Rong Jiu’s scorching gaze. Jingzhe said somewhat painfully: “But if I stay here, will I… affect you? There are many things to do before the emperor, why did you come back at this time?”

…Will his hair be ignited by the scorching gaze because of this?

Jingzhe’s mind had already begun to worry wildly.

Rong Jiu paused and replied calmly: “This is where I rest in the palace. No need to go to the front of the hall, I’m injured.”

This was the answer to the two questions, before and after.

Jingzhe turned his head suddenly, but his head was protected by a big hand, “Hair.”

Rong Jiu said coldly.

Oh oh, his hair was still in Rong Jiu’s hand.

Jingzhe was forced to maintain that posture, but still wanted to turn his head to look at Rong Jiu: “Where are you injured?”

“Wrist.”

“How did you get hurt?”

Rong Jiu fell suspiciously silent. Jingzhe thought Rong Jiu’s injury was very serious and hurriedly said: “Where exactly are you hurt? If it’s too serious, you still need to find an imperial physician…”

“Bitten.”

Jingzhe blinked, bi-bitten?

Bitten by what?

Was it those Gu worms?

But he vaguely remembered that in the end, those Gu worms didn’t break into the small hall either. What was he bitten by…

A sticky and frantic scene flashed through Jingzhe’s memory. It seemed that he was dragged somewhere, and then… something terrible was pressing against his back, scaring him into crying…

At that time… what did Rong Jiu do…

The smell of blood seemed to permeate his throat, recalling that terrible aura again, as if recalling those shaking and strange scenes.

Jingzhe’s ears turned red suddenly, and he picked his hands awkwardly.

Haha, so he was bitten by him?

But at that time, did he bite so seriously? Jingzhe ground his teeth. Even if they were canine teeth, they weren’t that sharp, right?

Just as Jingzhe was hugging his knees and falling into self-doubt, Rong Jiu was slowly combing Jingzhe’s hair. He picked up the hair that was combed down and put it aside. After combing a thousand times, Jingzhe was already combed into drowsiness.

Rong Jiu picked up the comb, dipped it on the side, and started combing Jingzhe’s hair again.

Jingzhe said vaguely: “Isn’t it already combed?”

“Just smoothing it out.”

Jingzhe didn’t understand these things very well, rubbed his eyes, and let Rong Jiu do as he pleased.

If Rong Jiu could stay so calm for these two days, then at least… it would be better than losing control of himself before.

Jingzhe: “Rong Jiu, the Noble Consort attacked His Majesty… was it because of the Empress Dowager?”

“Huang Yijie’s family relied on the Huang family for survival. The Huang family being attacked was unfavorable to Huang Yijie. Without the Empress Dowager, she would have done this sooner or later.” Rong Jiu said indifferently, mentioning Huang Yijie without the slightest respect that this person was once a Noble Consort, “This shook her interests.”

Jingzhe lowered his eyebrows and said somewhat strangely: “Could it be that this time, something big will really happen to the Huang family?”

Rong Jiu’s attitude was cold: “Not to the point of complete failure. besides Huang Qingtian, there are other people in the Huang family who are officials. However, if Huang Qingtian falls, the Huang family will be useless.”

After all, at Huang Qingtian’s age, the next batch of disciples he promoted had not yet reached the position of mainstay. If he stepped down at this time, it would not be easy to return to the peak.

Key positions have always been fought over.

With one less person, there were so many people staring like vultures, only wishing Huang Qingtian would be more miserable, how could they save him?

Naturally, it wasn’t that there were no people close to the Huang family who tried to do something about this matter, but in the end, it had to be attributed to the fact that the evidence produced was too clear.

To move a mountain, you need to be able to pry up a corner.

And now, the pry bar to pry up the corner has been found.

Rong Jiu: “Jingzhe, the thing you asked me to find before has been found.”

Jingzhe was stunned for a while before realizing that Rong Jiu was talking about the thing he asked him to find in the pond before.

A strange color appeared on his face, and he said softly: “What is that?”

“I think you have an idea of what that thing is.”

Jingzhe slowly grabbed his hair, pulled it back into his hands, and ran his fingers through it, seemingly to calm his mood.

“I probably, have a guess.”

He looked up at Rong Jiu.

“Is it really related to the Huang family?”

“Yes, multiple handwritten letters from Huang Qingtian, all related to the events of that year.”

Jingzhe pursed his lips: “Then these, are they related to, this time, the Huang family’s affairs?”

“Related.” Rong Jiu said, “The emperor already had various evidences of the Huang family’s crimes in his hands. But what was found from the residence is also the most direct and relevant evidence.”

Jingzhe nodded somewhat blankly, then sat there silently, his eyes slightly empty, not knowing what he was thinking.

He didn’t ask how this evidence got into Emperor Jingyuan’s hands, nor did he ask why Rong Jiu didn’t ask him in advance…

Jingzhe was just dazing.

Rong Jiu slowly snatched the hair back from his hand and continued to apply oil to the ends of the hair. Only after every strand was extremely silky did he tie up the hair.

When Jingzhe came back to his senses, he was surrounded by a fragrant smell, which made him breathless.

He covered his mouth and said muffedly: “Rong Jiu, how much did you apply?”

Rong Jiu: “Not much.”

Jingzhe didn’t believe it and reached out to grab it himself, but what he got was actually a big braid, no, two.

He pulled his two braids, one on the left and one on the right, and fell silent.

“Who did you learn this technique from?”

Why were there still two strands, looking like a girl!

Jingzhe tugged, helplessly untied the hair, wanting to redo it, but found that the touch was completely different from before. That soft and silky feeling seemed not to be his own hair.

Jingzhe looked at the ends of his hair in surprise and smelled a sweet scent.

Rong Jiu handed a small jar to Jingzhe: “You can apply it more times after bathing in the future.”

Jingzhe said hesitantly: “This takes a lot of time.”

“It can turn black.”

Rong Jiu said faintly.

Jingzhe immediately stuffed the small jar into his bosom.

He decided to apply it to his hair seven or eight times after every bath and hair wash.

After Jingzhe put away the small jar carefully, Rong Jiu said lightly: “Why don’t you continue asking?”

Jingzhe lowered his head, picking the fallen hair on his body, so his tone seemed a bit casual.

“Ask what?”

“Whether you can leave the palace.”