The servants who had come and gone in the past had either cursed him or beaten him; sometimes they had even sat on his back and ridden him like a horse.
When he was thirteen, there had been a very pretty palace maid who had once treated him well.
But just as he decided to treat her sincerely in return, he was poisoned with Lishang—a deadly toxin that would imprison him for life!
His blue eyes darkened. The hatred in them made Yelu Qianxiao grow suspicious, though he only watched without making a sound.
Mo Bei thought he did not know how to eat it, so she smiled and demonstrated. Her white teeth bit into the sparrow, and she smiled in satisfaction. “Crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Not bad—just a little bland.”
“Hot, hot!” Yelu Qianxiao fluttered both hands and pouted as he backed away. Only he himself knew the shock in his heart.
Seeing his childish manner, Mo Bei burst out laughing. With meticulous care, she tugged his arm over and blew on the roasted sparrow. “All right. Your Highness, just eat it the way I did just now. It shouldn’t be hot anymore.”
Looking into those clear eyes, Yelu Qianxiao felt as if his whole body had been pinned in place. As though possessed, he took a bite of the roasted sparrow offered to him—
In an instant, the sweet fragrance of meat filled his mouth. It was neither greasy nor gamey, and had a satisfying chew. Perhaps the wild fruit had done its work, making the meat taste anything but dull; instead, it stirred one’s appetite.
After confirming there was no deadly poison, and in order to match his own foolish act, he lowered his head and began eating ravenously, while secretly sizing up the little eunuch beside him.
Someone so clever had actually lowered himself to become a eunuch. There had to be something fishy about this!
Could this be yet another death trap set up to imprison him?
At that thought, Yelu Qianxiao’s peach-blossom eyes narrowed slightly, and a chill slowly gathered in their depths.
“Your Highness, eat more slowly.” Mo Bei raised her left arm, just about to wipe the grease from the corner of Yelu Qianxiao’s mouth, when she suddenly let out a muffled sound of pain. Cold sweat broke out all over her.
Yelu Qianxiao could not help but stop. His azure eyes fixed on the little eunuch before him, and much of the killing intent dispersed.
The places where he had been whipped must hurt terribly, right?
He understood that pain of flesh splitting open better than anyone.
If this eunuch truly had been sent by that person, would he go so far as to protect him like this?
Uncertain thoughts tangled in the depths of Yelu Qianxiao’s eyes. Slowly, he leaned closer, putting on an innocent expression as he breathed on Mo Bei’s arm. “No pain, no pain.”
“Your Highness, don’t worry. Eunuch Mo is made of iron and protected by divine arts—how would he know pain!” Hua Rong pursed his lips, feeling extremely aggrieved, and gnawed randomly on a wild vegetable. Why wasn’t he allowed to eat meat!
Mo Bei cast him a glance and sneered. “Eunuch Rong, are you full?”
“I’ve only just started eating, all right!” He hadn’t even tasted the scent of meat!
Mo Bei gave an “oh” and raised her willow-like brows. “I thought Eunuch Rong didn’t even want to eat wild vegetables anymore.”
A threat. This was simply a naked threat! Hua Rong clutched the vegetable root in his hand for dear life, afraid someone would snatch it away.
After spending a day and a night together, he increasingly felt that Eunuch Mo was truly formidable. With just a few words, he could kill without leaving a trace.
Alas! Hua Rong sighed, resigned to his fate. He hung his head, no longer daring to say another word, and hid in the corner to continue gnawing on raw greens.
Seeing his little-wife-like appearance, Mo Bei very satisfactorily withdrew her cold gaze and gave Yelu Qianxiao beside her a warm, gentle smile. “Your Highness, don’t worry. I’m not in pain.”
This sentence was purely a well-intentioned lie. Although she had done her best to block with her back, there were inevitably places the bulletproof vest could not protect. Last night’s Plum Blossom Needles, combined with today’s long rattan whip—there was no way her left arm did not hurt. But faced with this man’s pitiful gaze and that incomparably stunning handsome face, she could not admit it. She was afraid he would be like Pumpkin and cry until heaven and earth shook.
She remembered one time during a mission, when she had been shot in the left arm. As a result, that glutton had cried so hard that she did not even have time to rest, as if getting injured was something that should never have happened to her!
At this thought, a light flashed through her starry eyes.
It seemed she ought to search the palace thoroughly and look for traces of Pumpkin.
Moreover, it was time to collect the interest!
Mo Bei pressed down on her left arm, the corners of her thin lips lifting slightly.
“Cough, cough. Eunuch Mo, could you not smile like that?” Hua Rong choked on his own saliva. He kept feeling that smile was filled with killing intent!
Mo Bei lazily lifted her eyelids and merely swept him a cool glance. Everything was understood without a word.
Hua Rong was instantly defeated once again. He shrank back and then shrank even farther, until he had retreated into the corner.
“Eunuch Rong, His Highness and I are full. Take your time eating.” Mo Bei pulled over Yelu Qianxiao’s large hand. Her delicate nose wrinkled as she muttered, “You stink to death,” then, without allowing any objections, she began fetching water with a basin.
Seeing them leave, Hua Rong felt positively delighted. Full of anticipation, he sidled up to the firewood pile and looked at the empty spit. His expression went from sunny to overcast.
Where was the meat?
Where was the meat?
Where was the meat!!!
Mo Bei looked back at a certain someone driven mad by her tricks and happily curled her lips. This was the retribution for calling her short!
Yelu Qianxiao, standing to the side, took in that smile completely, his blue eyes filled with interest.
“Your Highness, bend down!” Mo Bei rolled up her long sleeves, exposing her snow-white jade arm beneath the twilight, along with the hideous whip marks upon it.
So he was the black-clad intruder who had thrown the entire palace into unrest!
How could he fail to recognize the hidden weapons he himself used? Around those whip marks, the small, deep bloody holes were clearly traces left by Plum Blossom Needles.
Yelu Qianxiao’s back stiffened, but his face betrayed nothing. Smiling foolishly, he bent at the waist, while the handsome face hidden beneath his long hair was terrifyingly dark.
Mo Bei, however, knew nothing of it. With one hand, she pressed down on the back of his head; with the other, she poured well water of just the right temperature over his hair and gently rubbed it. The little tune she hummed drifted lightly into Yelu Qianxiao’s ears.
They were words he had never heard before, hazy and indistinct, rising and falling, making one feel very comfortable. He slowly lifted his eyes and stared at the person before him who loved to smile, the confusion in his heart growing deeper and deeper.
Should this eunuch be killed—or kept?