Chapter 52 - 1#
The documents of the Zhidian Department, organized by Jingzhe, had always been in perfect order. I don’t know which little thief broke in last night, turning the storeroom into a mess. Documents were thrown all over the floor. It rained last night, the windows were wide open, and some lying by the window were completely soaked.
When Jiang Jinming found out in the morning, he was so angry that he cursed for the entire morning.
The Chief was in a bad mood. All morning, the people of the Zhidian Department walked around him, afraid that a careless mistake would make them the target of the Chief’s anger.
Others could avoid him, but Jingzhe could not.
He was urgently pulled by Jiang Jinming to clean up the mess. Looking at the huge workload, Jingzhe dragged Huiping along too.
The two organized until the afternoon, barely sorting out the general situation.
Huiping put a few soaked books aside, “The others are fine. Although it’s a bit messy, they can still be tidied up. But these few are completely soaked. The contents are all stuck together, and nothing can be seen.”
Jingzhe flipped through them. The ink had blurred a large area with the water, and they were all ruined.
He pondered for a moment, looked at the covers a few times, then flipped through them one by one, and smiled: “It’s fine. I’ve read these few books. I should remember the content.”
Huiping was surprised: “This doesn’t look like interesting leisure reading.”
Jingzhe: “Being idle is just being idle, so I found something to read.”
The two were busy until the afternoon before they finally cleaned everything up.
Jingzhe counted the final number and couldn’t help frowning.
Jiang Jinming came in: “How is it?”
Jingzhe bowed: “Inside the storeroom, most of the documents are not lost. There are a few soaked ones, I will rewrite them from memory later. However, a roster is missing.”
“What roster?”
“The roster of everyone in the Zhidian Directorate.”
Not just the Department, but the Directorate.
Jiang Jinming raised his eyebrows: “Why steal that thing?”
The roster is placed there, anyone who comes can see it. Every Chief knows exactly how many people are under his command. There is absolutely no need to steal this.
If this thief was just doing petty theft, why mess up the entire storeroom like this?
Jingzhe: “The roster has always been placed on the outside, too obvious. If they didn’t make a mess, the moment the Chief came in, he would know that this thing was stolen.”
Jiang Jinming found it inconceivable: “Even if it’s delayed by a few days, it can be sorted out eventually. What is the use of stealing this thing?” Moreover, a name list is not some big secret.
He glanced at Jingzhe.
“You two are quite nimble.”
At this moment, he didn’t look as irritable as in the morning, seeming to have returned to his usual temper.
Jiang Jinming: “Alright, I’ll make the decision. You two rest well tomorrow. We’ll talk about the rest the day after tomorrow.”
Organizing the storeroom was not easy. Sorting everything out in one day indeed exceeded Jiang Jinming’s expectations.
“Yes.”
Jingzhe and Huiping bowed together and then came out.
The two stayed in the storeroom all day, looking sloppy, so they hurried back to wash up.
Jingzhe was pushed in first by Huiping. After washing up quickly and coming out, he saw Huiping outside the house talking to someone.
That tall figure made Jingzhe smile as soon as he saw it.
Yunkui was carrying a small bundle and was saying: “…It’s not something important, take it back…”
It was the wild honey he bought.
Jingzhe wrung out his semi-dry hair and walked to Yunkui’s side: “Have you seen the Chief?”
Yunkui touched the back of his neck and said brightly: “I saw him, and then got scolded severely.”
Huiping burst out laughing, shook his head, temporarily handed the small bottle in his hand to Jingzhe, and then hurried in to bathe. He was covered in dust and couldn’t stand it anymore.
Yunkui lowered his head, watching Jingzhe play with the small bottle of wild honey in his hand, chuckled, looked left and right, and leaned close to speak to Jingzhe.
“I saw her.”
Jingzhe raised his eyebrows, scrutinizing Yunkui’s expression.
The sweetness on his face was perhaps stickier than the wild honey Jingzhe was holding. He couldn’t help but say: “The reason the Chief scolded you, it wouldn’t be because of this, right?”
Even he could see Yunkui’s flirtatious air, how could Jiang Jinming not see it?
Yunkui touched the arm that had just been beaten and nodded pitifully.
Jingzhe coughed: “Restrain yourself a little.”
Being so flirtatious, are you afraid someone won’t know?
…
After autumn, there was often wind, making one’s body feel cold.
When Jingzhe got up in the morning, he had already put on a few more layers, but didn’t expect it to still be too little. He rubbed his wrist and put the rewritten book aside.
This was the last one.
These past few days, Jingzhe hadn’t done anything else, just focusing on rewriting this. After rushing for several days, he finally made up for the ruined ones.
Jiang Jinming had already informed the Director of Ceremonial regarding the missing roster. The new roster was being made and would be issued later.
“Jingzhe, Jingzhe…”
Someone was calling him from outside. Jingzhe took a few steps around the shelf and walked out hurriedly.
He saw many people running around hurriedly outside, holding buckets and other things in their hands.
“Fire—”
In the noise, there were also a few panicked screams.
“Where are the buckets, hurry up—”
“Quick, quick, bring more people.”
“Every palace…”
The chaotic shouts were almost drowned in the heatwave.
The one calling Jingzhe outside the door was Shi’en.
Jingzhe stepped out, “Where is the fire?”
“Yongning Palace.”
Jingzhe paused slightly and looked at Shi’en. It was actually Yongning Palace?
Before he could think much, he saw Shi’en abruptly push Jingzhe back into the room.
Caught off guard, he almost fell.
Seeing him stand firm, Shi’en simply tripped him. This time, he really fell hard.
Jingzhe: ???
Shi’en shouted: “Jingzhe fell!”
Then, he dragged Jingzhe into the room, told him to “rest” well, and then went to fight the fire.
Jingzhe: “…”
Because of Shi’en’s loud voice, many people in the Zhidian Department knew that Jingzhe was “injured from a fall”. When passing by his door, people often poked their heads in to look.
Jingzhe: “…”
Shi’en must have discovered something, right? Was it because he had asked about Kangman many times before?
Otherwise, why go to such lengths?
He didn’t even want him to go to Yongning Palace.
Autumn is dry, a single spark can easily cause a disaster.
This fire fighting lasted until evening before it was barely stopped.
This incident even alarmed the Empress Dowager, who had been claiming illness and staying in.
She came forward to relocate Consort Kang to another palace room, ordered people to quickly find out the cause of the fire, and praised the palace servants who fought the fire.
A series of actions, seasoned and practiced.
It immediately suppressed the momentum of the gossip.
Consort Kang was frightened and remained unconscious for several days. Thanks to the imperial physicians of the Imperial Hospital bringing the dying back to life, she finally woke up after several efforts.
I don’t know if “spirit speech” really exists in this world.
One moment Shi’en didn’t want Jingzhe to go to Yongning Palace, saying he fell and hurt his leg. The next moment when he went out, he really twisted his leg—in order to pull Shi’en who was falling on flat ground, he ended up injuring himself.
When he got up the next day, the instep wasn’t as scary as yesterday, but it was difficult to walk.
Jiang Jinming came over personally. After seeing his swollen foot, he mocked him severely, and then readily let him rest for ten to fifteen days.
He thus became the idlest person in the entire Zhidian Department.
Because he was idle, more people came to chat with him than before, allowing him to hear a lot of gossip.
Being idle was just being idle, so Jingzhe was slowly making clothes again.
It was for Rong Jiu.
In the past few months, Jingzhe had given Rong Jiu quite a few things here and there.
In terms of value, they certainly couldn’t compare to Rong Jiu’s, but at least it was a token of his heart.
Jingzhe couldn’t tell if Rong Jiu liked them or not, but every time the man took the things away, his mood seemed to be good.
Jingzhe put the cut fabric pieces aside, preparing to use them later, when he saw someone come in from outside…
Someone unexpected.
It was Xinsheng.
Jingzhe snipped the thread in his hand with a “click”, “What a rare guest.”
Xinsheng didn’t like him to begin with, so why would he come actively?
Xinsheng walked to the table and sat down, watching Jingzhe’s cutting movements: “You, are just doing these girlish things here?” This tone sounded like it carried a bit of awkward disgust.
Indeed, he didn’t know how to speak.
No wonder the Chief didn’t like to use him later.
Jingzhe thought absentmindedly: “Girls can do it, why can’t men do it?”
Xinsheng looked at him coldly: “Doing these things will only make people full of worries like women, with no masculinity at all.”
Jingzhe looked at Xinsheng with a strange expression. Is this person sick?
He said: “I think, we originally, can’t be considered men anymore.” They are eunuchs!
Xinsheng looked angry: “You!”
Jingzhe said lightly: “If you only want to say this, then hurry up and get out, so as not to dirty my ears.”
Xinsheng’s words made Jingzhe very displeased.
Xinsheng swallowed the anger in his heart, remembered his purpose, and felt he was swallowing his pride: “You, are very good at handling palace affairs, right?”
Jingzhe’s movement of threading the needle paused slightly.
Jiang Jinming occasionally gave some palace affairs to Jingzhe to handle, but this was not done openly.
Unless one watched constantly, it was impossible to know.
Jingzhe: “What do you want to say?”
“Teach me.” Xinsheng said, “I’ve been by the Chief’s side for so long, yet he hasn’t taught me anything. But his attitude towards you is completely different. The Chief must have cultivated you a lot.”
Jingzhe was puzzled: “Why should I teach you?”
There are many shameless people, but Xinsheng is the most conspicuous one.
Xinsheng: “If you teach me, you and I can serve the Chief together, wouldn’t that be better?”
“Are you planning to roll out yourself,” Jingzhe hooked his lips, looking at Xinsheng coldly, “or should I make you roll?”
Xinsheng didn’t like Jingzhe and gave him no good looks, so why should Jingzhe be polite to him.
Jingzhe looked gentle, but at that moment, he was inexplicably cold.
The look he gave Xinsheng was like looking at a dead object.
This froze Xinsheng so much that he quickly stood up and retreated a few steps to the door.
He had a strange illusion that if he didn’t retreat, he would be injured by that sharp edge.
Xinsheng’s momentum was suppressed. He was stunned for a moment, and realized what he had done with hindsight. His face turned red, and he viciously left a sentence.
“Just you wait!”
He thought that coming to the door this time was already giving Jingzhe enough face. A hypocritical person like Jingzhe, seeing him ask so proactively, actually didn’t give him any face at all.
Who said he was generous?
Leaving these words, Xinsheng turned and walked out. You are unkind, don’t blame me for being unjust!
He was being ruthless in his heart, but was suddenly frozen by another pair of even colder black eyes.
That look swept over, making him tremble.
Who is this person? Not someone from the Zhidian Department, but why appear here?
Xinsheng didn’t have time to see his face clearly, but immediately lowered his head.
This was almost an instinctive reaction.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, but his body immediately stepped aside.
Until that person walked past him and stepped into the door.
“Close the door.”
Hearing him say this, Xinsheng’s body was faster than his consciousness, raising his hand to close the door.
He faced the closed door in silence.
…Crazy?
Why did he do whatever that person said?
…And why did he feel that the way Jingzhe looked at him just now was so similar to this person?
What is the relationship between the two of them?
Xinsheng became angry and even wanted to bang on the door to call that person out to scold, but he raised his hand and put it down again.
This was repeated several times, but in the end, he didn’t dare to open the door, lowered his head and ran away hurriedly.
Inside the room, Jingzhe was also silent.
Rong Jiu actually ordered Xinsheng to do things so naturally, and he really closed the door for him.
He shook his head and saw the medicine pack in Rong Jiu’s hand at a glance. This bulging thing shouldn’t match the coldness on the man, but it inexplicably had a gentle aura.
But no matter how gentle, looking at that medicine pack, Jingzhe had a headache. It was just a normal sprain, he had had it before.
It would be fine after resting for some time.
Rong Jiu put the things in Jingzhe’s arms and said coldly: “To nurse your health, you must eat it.”
Jingzhe looked down at the five or six medicine packs and finally showed a bitter look, trying to argue: “The doctor who prescribed the medicine hasn’t even seen me. How does he know what’s wrong with my body? How about…”
“These are all ordinary nourishing medicines, just take them as usual.” Rong Jiu looked indifferent, sat down by the bed, raised his hand and pinched Jingzhe’s injured foot.
Jingzhe screamed, “Pain, pain, it hurts so much.”