Chapter 10#

I raised Mu Ruilin for more than half a year, transforming him from a scrawny little chick into a fair-skinned boy who looked twelve or thirteen.

Watching this truly handsome boy grow taller day by day and his demeanor becoming more and more like a graceful young master, and now having to send him away, I actually felt a bit reluctant.

Unfortunately, first, his paternal family came to claim him, so I had no reason to keep him. Second, in the past six months, Chu Ruiyuan sometimes chose my house as the location for our banging, and his reaction to Mu Ruilin became increasingly displeased each time.

And Mu Ruilin’s attitude towards Chu Ruiyuan was only superficially respectful. Privately, behind closed doors, he often mocked and nitpicked him.

If my brother and my friend with benefits don’t get along, I can only choose the friend with benefits.

No choice, because my friend with benefits is the CEO of this dynasty.

Chu Ruiyuan told me when Mu Ruilin’s uncle planned to set off. About ten days later, their group arrived at the Tea Classic Pavilion.

I had always been afraid that Mu Ruilin would be happy for nothing, so I only told him about his paternal family wanting to take him back at this time.

I thought he would be happy to have relatives, but who knew that after I finished explaining, his eyes turned red, looking quite wronged.

“You don’t want me anymore,” Mu Ruilin said, biting his lip. “You clearly said you would buy me for life.”

That was an excuse to buy him home as a servant. The next day, I burned the deed of sale in front of him. How could there be a matter of “for life” or not?

Seeing that he was being stubborn, I quickly explained: “Your family didn’t know about you before, which is why you suffered. Now that they hear your father’s bloodline still exists, they are eager for you to return. Although I am reluctant to let you go, I cannot take away someone else’s blood relative.”

The child’s eyes were still red, but he didn’t blame me anymore. He just whispered through gritted teeth: “It must be that he can’t tolerate me.”

I felt a bit awkward hearing that, but I couldn’t find an excuse to explain for Chu Ruiyuan, so I just pretended not to hear.

That night, I hosted a banquet to welcome Mu Ruilin’s uncle and his entourage. The next morning, I saw them off.

Mu Ruilin’s grandparents were eager to see their grandson, and his uncle was anxious to take his nephew away, which I could understand. I could only part with this child, whom I had raised as my brother for more than half a year, under Mu Ruilin’s reluctant gaze.

I hope it’s true, as he said, that he will come back to see me when he grows up.

Even if you raise a cat or a dog, half a year is enough to develop feelings, let alone a person, and a truly handsome person at that.

For a while after Mu Ruilin left, I always felt an emptiness in my heart, and even banging with Chu Ruiyuan wasn’t particularly exciting.

This made my CEO friend with benefits even more convinced that sending him away was the right thing to do, only regretting not getting rid of him sooner.

I don’t even know where he got that conclusion.

Just as I never understood how Chu Ruiyuan and Mu Ruilin, despite their vast difference in status, could dislike each other so much.

Some people say that after twenty, time passes faster and faster.

I think it’s true.

I feel like it hasn’t been long since Mu Ruilin returned to the southern border, but actually, two and a half years have already passed quickly.

In between, he and I exchanged a few letters, but the southern border is far and arduous after all, and he went to a new world. It has been more than a year since his last letter. Although I asked Chu Ruiyuan’s spies to deliver letters twice more, there was no reply, and he gradually faded from my mind.

Recently, ah, no, perhaps I should say Chu Ruiyuan recently, ah, no, that’s not right either… I should say Chu Ruiyuan’s Empress, her most annoying problem recently should be that some ministers in court are petitioning for her dethronement on grounds such as “unworthy Empress,” “monopolizing favor and being jealous,” and “no offspring after three years.”

Chu Ruiyuan privately showed me this memorial as a joke.

I also found it a bit ridiculous.

Leaving aside that the Empress, apart from “grinding mirrors” with Consort Shu, is practically a model of a virtuous ancient wife in terms of temperament and character, and leaving aside whether Chu Ruiyuan staying in her chambers for two nights a month according to ancestral customs counts as monopolizing favor, just the “no offspring” part…

Chu Ruiyuan, apart from the night of their wedding, has slept with her fully clothed ever since.

If she could really conceive, then she would truly deserve to be dethroned and have her entire clan exterminated.

Of course, the private matters of the CEO couple of this dynasty cannot be told to the court officials.

However, the petition from the court officials to dethrone the Empress was already a bit strange.

The imperial family is not like commoners who must establish the eldest legitimate son as Crown Prince. If the Empress has no offspring, they should ask the Emperor to take more concubines. But to directly target the Empress… it probably means there have been some changes in the political situation of the court.

Seeing that Chu Ruiyuan didn’t take this matter to heart at all, I knew that the affairs of the court were completely under his control.

However, there was one thing he didn’t control well.

The affairs of the harem.

So, Chu Ruiyuan was drugged and raped by his Empress, who was accused of being “unworthy,” “monopolizing favor and being jealous,” and “having no offspring after three years.”

I don’t know how this happened.

I also don’t know what channels the Empress used or what medicine she administered.

I only know that when Chu Ruiyuan sent someone to summon me to the palace, the palaces where the Empress and Consort Shu lived were surrounded by imperial guards, and nearly half of the eunuchs and palace maids inside were reportedly dragged out and beaten to death.

I didn’t go to those two palaces, but even from a distance, I could hear crying and smell blood.

The eunuch who came to summon me to the palace was the usual one. When he conveyed Chu Ruiyuan’s oral edict, I saw him trembling a bit and thought he was sick or tired, never imagining such a thing would happen.

When we were on our way, the eunuch told me in a trembling voice what had happened in the palace. My heart skipped a beat, and I wished I could immediately flee back to my Tea Classic Pavilion and claim illness.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

I could only be sent into the imperial palace, and to him.

To be fair, he, an Emperor, a man, was drugged by a woman in his own harem, forcibly pleasured and had his dragon essence extracted to conceive a child… Besides feeling that my friend with benefits had been NTR’d, I actually wanted to laugh.

However, thinking that this victim was not only my friend with benefits but also the CEO of this dynasty, I suppressed that hint of a smile and put on an expression of shared indignation.

“Mingzhi…” Chu Ruiyuan saw me, called out my name, and said nothing else, directly dragging me onto the bed.

He probably hadn’t completely recovered from the effects of the medicine. This time, he was not only particularly persistent but also exceptionally rough. When he finally stopped as dawn approached, I already had some minor lacerations in my back.

From our first night when I bled until now, this was the first time he had made me bleed again. When his emotions stabilized, he personally applied medicine for me and held me in his arms, whispering “I’m sorry” repeatedly.

Seeing him, an Emperor, stumble in such a matter, even killing those involved or even those who knew, he probably still had a shadow in his heart, which was pitiful.

I looked up and kissed him, saying: “It’s good that Your Majesty is not so sad anymore. Mingzhi’s injury will heal in a few days. I wonder if Your Majesty is willing to tell me what exactly happened?”

Chu Ruiyuan held me in silence for a long time, finally gritting his teeth and saying: “Although I only have those two women in my harem, the dirty secrets hidden within them would probably defile Mingzhi’s ears if spoken… I already knew about their illicit behavior in the harem before, but I pretended not to know, thinking they were just lonely in the deep palace. Who knew that human greed is insatiable? That bitch probably heard that some court officials were petitioning for her dethronement, so she thought of using these crooked ways to conceive a child and secure her position as Empress… Hmph, I’m afraid the Duke of An’s mansion was also heavily involved in this!”

I heard that what he said was indeed not far from what I had guessed, but there was one thing I still didn’t understand: “I think the Empress is also a smart person, how could she be so foolish? She should know that this matter would surely anger you. If she made a slight mistake, she might be dethroned even if she wasn’t originally going to be. Is she so confident that she can conceive a dragon child in one go? Moreover… even if she becomes pregnant because of this, the dragon child she gives birth to will not be favored by you, and cannot become the Crown Prince.”

Chu Ruiyuan was silent for even longer, and finally said: “One of the medicines she gave me is called ‘Duzhu’ (Solitary Plant), a forbidden palace medicine passed down from the previous dynasty. If a woman immediately has intercourse with a man who has taken this medicine, she will definitely conceive a child. But the person who took the medicine… will probably find it very difficult to have other offspring from then on… This bitch is trying to force me to make her son the Crown Prince!”

Seeing that he even used the word “I” at the end, I knew he was extremely angry.

It’s normal for a supreme ruler to be given such a potent medicine and have his position as Crown Prince calculated. It’s understandable for him to be very angry.

But I suddenly remembered the imperial gossip my well-informed childhood friend used to tell me, and my heart skipped a beat.

The late Emperor also found it difficult to have offspring after marrying Chu Ruiyuan’s mother as the new Empress and having him. In the more than ten years before his death, he only allowed two people to become pregnant. The late Empress Dowager even died in childbirth. As a result, despite the late Emperor having three thousand concubines, Chu Ruiyuan only had one imperial brother.

In the early years, the late Emperor’s harem was fiercely competitive, but it was mostly miscarriages of concubines, or children born stillborn or unable to survive. Such a situation where they couldn’t even conceive only began after his mother entered the palace.

I used to think that his mother was simply very capable, but now it seems that she was not only capable but also ruthless enough.

And considering that the late Empress Dowager remained favored until her death, it’s likely that the late Emperor was kept in the dark until his dying day.

I suddenly felt like I was watching an absurd comedy where justice was served and retribution was swift.

However, the beneficiaries and victims of this comedy were my friend with benefits, whom I had known for fourteen years and had been sleeping with for almost seven years without getting tired yet. I truly felt sorry for him.

But this matter involves imperial secrets, and even Chu Ruiyuan’s claim to the throne, so I cannot expose it.

Even if he figured it out himself one day, I would have to keep it to myself and pretend I never thought about it.

I could only sigh, lean into his arms, and ask: “Then do you have a plan?”

Chu Ruiyuan nodded and said yes, but he didn’t say what his plan was.

I knew this would involve political turmoil, so I wisely didn’t ask.

Actually, the fact that Chu Ruiyuan could tell me about “Duzhu” already involved the establishment and dethronement of his future heir, which meant he regarded me as a top confidant.

To gain such trust from an Emperor, it would be false to say I wasn’t moved.

We have been together for so many years, and while we can’t be called soulmates, we are certainly close friends and confidants.

If one day we break off this relationship in bed, I’m afraid my heart will not only feel the freedom and ease of the past two years, but also the bitterness of losing a close friend.