Chapter 20#
Kill that emperor （20）#
Shen Jue’s body stiffened instantly when Feng Qingbao pounced on him.
After all, Feng Qingbao was not Murong Xiu. When Murong Xiu hugged him, Shen Jue could do nothing and had to endure it, but it was different with Feng Qingbao.
Coming back to his senses, Shen Jue immediately pushed him away, all warmth in his tone gone. “What are you doing?”
Seeing Shen Jue’s attitude turn cold, Feng Qingbao shrank his neck. “I… I was too moved. Don’t be annoyed with me.”
He knew a bit that Shen Jue didn’t like getting too close to people.
Shen Jue looked at Feng Qingbao’s slightly swollen eyelids and could only sigh. “Alright, stop crying. I still have to go to duty up front. You should hide from Liang Rong for now.”
He thought for a moment, then took out some silver and handed it to Feng Qingbao. This was the monthly salary just issued.
Shen Jue had no use for the money. He thought that if Feng Qingbao had money on him, his days would be better.
Feng Qingbao looked at the silver and quickly tried to return it to Shen Jue. “Why are you giving me money again? Wasn’t the monthly salary just issued? Don’t you keep it for yourself? What if… what if later we grow old and leave the palace, we’ll need this money to accompany… accompany us.”
He stammered on the words “accompany us” because a eunuch’s old age was different from ordinary people. Ordinary people have children around them in their later years, but when a eunuch grows old and leaves the palace, he is alone and lonely. Those original family members either died long ago or are as old as him, so they can’t be relied on.
So some old eunuchs used this silver to find someone to spend their days with.
A eunuch is a man without roots, let alone an old eunuch who has endured until the age of leaving the palace. Ordinary women wouldn’t look at them, so such old eunuchs either found an old widow who was so poor she could hardly survive, or they found an aging prostitute expelled from the brothel. But even for these two kinds of women, the old eunuch had to save a lot of silver before they would consider him.
Therefore, when Feng Qingbao said this, not only did he stammer, but his face also reddened.
After all, if others heard this, they would say he had eaten the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard, daring to covet women.
Shen Jue refused to take it back. “Keep it. I have no use for this money.”
Feng Qingbao still wanted to return it, so Shen Jue had to say bluntly, “I don’t need this money to accompany me.”
Feng Qingbao’s eyes instantly widened. He looked at Shen Jue in shock and uncertainty, asking in a low voice, “Why?”
The word “why” even came out with a soft tone. Shen Jue was amused by Feng Qingbao’s reaction. It was said that eunuchs easily become effeminate, and he thought Feng Qingbao really had that tendency, so he laughed. “Why else? I’m different from you. I have no interest in women. If I really can leave the palace, the severance silver given by the palace is enough for me to live on.”
But he would not live until that time.
Upon hearing this, Feng Qingbao’s face reddened again. “I have no interest in women either.” He twisted his face away. “With this broken body of mine, what woman would fancy me?”
His delicate demeanor made Shen Jue frown. Just as Shen Jue was wondering whether to leave first, Feng Qingbao suddenly turned his face back, blinked his eyes at Shen Jue, and said in a soft voice, like a girl’s, “How about we two become partners and live together then? After all, by that time, I won’t have any family left.”
“No.” Shen Jue rolled his eyes, turned around, and left directly.
He had no interest in women, but that didn’t mean he had interest in men, especially effeminate ones.
As he walked, Shen Jue thought about Feng Qingbao’s actions and even faintly worried about himself. Could it be that he was now—
Effeminate without knowing it?
Shen Jue’s face immediately became colorful—alternating between white and red, and even faintly turning green.
When he arrived before Murong Xiu, Murong Xiu was painting.
When Murong Xiu saw him, he stopped painting and beckoned. “Come here.”
Shen Jue walked over and saw that Murong Xiu was painting a landscape—a lonely boat proudly floating in the current between two mountains, and there was no person painted on the boat.
“Do you think I should paint one person or two people on this little boat?” Murong Xiu asked.
Shen Jue didn’t think much. “Naturally one person, to match the mood of the painting.”
“Is that so?” Murong Xiu tilted his head to look at him. “You have a point, but don’t you think one person is too lonely and bitter?”
Shen Jue looked at Murong Xiu, not quite understanding the meaning of his words. Just as he was thinking about how to respond, Murong Xiu suddenly turned his head back. “I’ll still paint one person. If two people aren’t of one mind, this little boat might capsize.”
After saying these strange words, Murong Xiu added the final touch to the painting.
After finishing the painting, he asked Shen Jue whether he wanted to add an inscription on it. Shen Jue dared not, quickly declining, but Murong Xiu was unusually insistent, grabbing Shen Jue and pulling him in front of himself. “Aren’t you afraid your handwriting will be ugly? I’ll hold your hand and write, so it won’t be ugly.”
Shen Jue was pressed against the desk by Murong Xiu, his hand held by the other, feeling uncomfortable all over.
He tilted his head and whispered, “Your Majesty, this servant really doesn’t know what to write. Please spare me.”
Murong Xiu smiled slightly. “That won’t do. I definitely will not spare you.” He paused. “Unless you write the inscription.”
Shen Jue had no choice but to go along with Murong Xiu. In the end, he really didn’t know what to write, so he wrote Murong Xiu’s name, still with Murong Xiu holding his hand.
As he wrote, he pondered the meaning behind Murong Xiu’s actions.
Earlier, Murong Xiu hadn’t been like this. He had just gone out for a while, and when he came back, Murong Xiu seemed to have changed his attitude.
Such an intimate act actually happened between an emperor and a eunuch.
Shen Jue’s gaze suddenly changed. Could it be that Murong Xiu had witnessed the scene of him comforting Feng Qingbao?
Although Feng Qingbao was crying in a corner, it wasn’t impossible for others to see him. Otherwise, Shen Jue wouldn’t have happened to come across him.
If Murong Xiu saw him comforting Feng Qingbao, and even saw Feng Qingbao throw himself into his arms, then Murong Xiu’s attitude would make sense.
Murong Xiu was jealous.
Since that time when Murong Xiu didn’t pull his hand away, Shen Jue had noticed that Murong Xiu was different towards him, and Murong Xiu’s behavior in the bath that night further confirmed—
Murong Xiu had already developed feelings.
Shen Jue suddenly felt a bit stupid. He had been on guard against the Regent King, wanting to completely destroy the Regent’s power, and recently had been planning how to dismantle the Regent’s military authority, but he had overlooked other things.
Sometimes the growth of feelings doesn’t happen without a rival; on the contrary, it needs a rival, but that rival must be Murong Xiu’s rival.
If Murong Xiu was jealous of Feng Qingbao, then Murong Xiu’s feelings for Shen Jue would be intensified.
Love without competition is tasteless.
Once Shen Jue understood this, he had a plan.
Although it was unfair to Feng Qingbao, he still had to use him.
Feng Qingbao didn’t know Shen Jue wanted to use him. Seeing that Shen Jue had been seeking him out frequently in private recently, he was as happy as a fool, constantly saying “Shen Jue this, Shen Jue that.”
Shen Jue usually had to serve Murong Xiu, and the few hours when Murong Xiu was at morning court were his completely free time. He would go find Feng Qingbao. After he did this frequently, Liang Rong saw them and one day said with a sarcastic smile, “Yo, you two little eunuchs stick together every day, don’t you get tired of each other?”
Feng Qingbao was afraid of Liang Rong. He fearfully hid behind Shen Jue, and Shen Jue cooperatively blocked him, looking coldly at Liang Rong. “We don’t get tired. After all, this servant sees Lord Liang’s face every day and hasn’t gotten tired of it, let alone Qingbao. He is good-looking, so how could this servant get tired of him?”
When Feng Qingbao heard Shen Jue suddenly call him “Qingbao,” he was stunned, and his ears immediately turned red.
In all his life, no one had ever called him so intimately. Even his master who trained him had called him by his full name.
Hearing this, Liang Rong felt even more that the two in front of him were a shameless pair of dog men. He sneered, “Tsk tsk tsk, I warn you two: the palace does not allow pairing for meals. Eunuch and eunuch is also not allowed.”
He finished speaking and flicked his sleeves and left. He felt that Shen Jue and Feng Qingbao were immoral and stained his eyes.
Especially that Shen Jue—seducing the emperor was not enough, he even had to seduce Feng Qingbao. Feng Qingbao did have a decent face, but did Shen Jue have to seduce every good-looking man in the palace?
Tsk tsk tsk, truly utterly shameless!
As Liang Rong walked and cursed, he suddenly touched his own face and muttered worriedly, “What if that shameless little thing takes a fancy to me…”
…
Liang Rong left, and Feng Qingbao immediately came out from behind Shen Jue. He widened his eyes and looked at Shen Jue, tentatively asking, “Lord Liang said we… we are that?”
Shen Jue had finished acting in front of Liang Rong, so he returned to his normal state. He glanced at Feng Qingbao. “What?”
Feng Qingbao quickly shook his head and said with a red face, “Nothing, nothing.”
That night, Feng Qingbao had a dream. In the dream, he was wearing nothing, and Shen Jue was also naked.
And the Shen Jue who was being dreamt about was at that moment lying on the dragon bed.