“Qianxiao isn’t like everyone else!” Flat. Still flat! Yelü Qianxiao drilled into Mo Bei’s embrace with all his might. He didn’t know why, but his chest felt a little stifled. If he were a woman…
“Your Highness, sit properly! This way I’ll get hot!”
Upon hearing her say hot, Yelü Qianxiao immediately raised his uninjured right arm, imitating Mo Bei’s earlier manner to fan wind, muttering incessantly: “Momo not hot, not hot!”
Looking at the man’s clumsy appearance, Mo Bei smiled like a blooming flower and pressed him between her legs, beginning to hum a little tune: “How to possess a rainbow. How to embrace the summer wind. The stars in the sky laugh at the people on earth, always unable to understand, unable to feel it’s enough. If I fall in love with your smile. How to collect it, how to possess it…”
Her voice was very clear, neither sharp nor low, settling perfectly by the ear.
Yelü Qianxiao lay obediently on his side, sniffing the faint fragrance, slowly curving his thin lips, closing his blue eyes…
Mo Bei sang for a long time. Seeing that he seemed to have fallen asleep, she quietly got up and blew out the candle.
The sky outside was faintly turning white. Mo Bei exited Zhi Nuan Palace and paced to the servants’ quarters, thinking of having Rong Huachi take a shift to care for Qianxiao, so she could also catch up on sleep.
Who would have thought that the empty room wouldn’t have a single person’s shadow.
“Weird, where could he go in the middle of the night?” Her phoenix eyes narrowed. Mo Bei smiled playfully. Could it be that this guy, like her, operated at night?
Forget it, forget it. Whatever he wanted to do.
It would be best if he could get some silver taels; then she could conveniently “borrow” some.
The things stolen from Ao Feng Palace were hard to sell. With the entire palace investigated so strictly, and the Crown Prince personally handling the case, wanting to exchange them for silver was truly not easy.
Thinking of the Crown Prince, Mo Bei’s heart gradually sank, feeling empty and somewhat uncomfortable.
She threw herself onto the straw bed, pulled out a piece of colorful paper, and began folding paper cranes again.
“Qiang, qiang, qiang!”
The mournful sound of the night watch in the distance shattered the night before dawn.
To the east, at the Crown Prince’s residence, layers of candle flames flickered.
“Your Highness, we Shadow Guards have the rules of Shadow Guards. We only listen to the Imperial Command.” Within the ink-like darkness hid a person; one couldn’t make out their face.
Siche’s hand, which was holding tea, paused. With a warm, gentle smile, he said: “In that case, Eunuch, you are unwilling to help this Crown Prince?”
“This slave doesn’t dare. It’s merely that with an imperial command on my person, I am truly helpless.” The person in the darkness replied, weighing his words, neither servile nor overbearing: “If Your Highness can obtain a secret edict from the King, this minor one will definitely brave boiling water and fire, and will not hesitate at all.”
He is using Father Emperor to suppress this Crown Prince! Yelü Siche gripped the Biluochun in his hand tightly, his face looking refined and gentle: “Eunuch, you speak too seriously. Since you are unwilling to speak, this Crown Prince won’t make things difficult.”
“However, I have heard that Father Emperor doesn’t seem to trust you very much.”
Having thrown out bait, that person didn’t take it. He only smiled faintly and said: “Then this slave must work even harder. Your Highness, the hour is late. If this minor one doesn’t return to Zhi Nuan Palace, it will definitely arouse others’ suspicion. I shall take my leave first.” As the words fell, before the seated person could open his mouth, he flicked his green sleeves and took flight.
Crack!
The crystal cup shattered upon the sound. Yelü Siche clenched both fists tightly, fresh blood flowing across his entire palm.
“Your Highness!” Yang Hu, who had been waiting, rushed over, anxiously wanting to help his master stop the bleeding, shouting to summon the imperial physician.
“This Crown Prince hasn’t weakened to the point where a minor injury needs to be made known throughout the entire palace!” Yelü Siche gritted his teeth and asked: “How is the investigation of Zhi Nuan Palace going?” What use was there in being this Crown Prince! Even a small shadow guard didn’t put him in their eyes. Detestable!
“Replying to the Crown Prince, that Fool Prince was injured and stays cooped up in his room all day. Even the little eunuch by his side is very well-behaved; the various eunuchs all truly like him. There truly isn’t any fault to be found!”
Yelü Siche frowned: “Personal little eunuch?”
“Yes, reportedly from Xuanyuan, very small in stature, quite fair-skinned, somewhat effeminate.”
Personal little eunuch? His index finger stroked his chin. Yelü Siche gave a cold laugh: “Go investigate this little eunuch’s background and origins, his surname and given name. If his name isn’t on the register, return quickly to report to this Crown Prince.” The people by that Fool Prince’s side—when had they ever not been directly assigned by Father Emperor? How could a Xuanyuan person appear out of thin air? Although it was possible he was sent by Concubine Yu, it was best to check. Perhaps they could uncover some trickery.
But how could he know that Yelü Qianxiao had already beaten him by one step and tampered with the register.
The next day, the weather was no different from usual. After morning court, the Dunhuang Emperor deliberately kept the civil examination top scholar behind and proceeded to the imperial garden to play chess.
It so happened that Mo Bei, who was catching crucian carp, saw this. She temporarily decided to change from stealing fish to eavesdropping. Hiding her body in the water with a trembling heart, she only exposed a reed stem to breathe.
She thought inwardly, fortunately this Emperor only brought a bookworm and a personal eunuch; otherwise, she definitely wouldn’t be able to escape this time.
The terrain here was fairly concealed. With a large Chinese scholar tree blocking them, they probably wouldn’t discover her.
With this understanding, Mo Bei cautiously approached, leaning her back against the tree trunk. Right above her head was the pavilion.
“Minister Ning, this time you went to Liaocheng for quite a long time.” The Dunhuang Emperor held a white piece and placed it on the board.
Ning Caichen seemed preoccupied. He only made a sound of agreement and carelessly placed a black piece.
“What is it?” A cold light flashed through blue eyes. The Dunhuang Emperor asked casually with a smile: “Minister Ning has something on your mind?”
“Your Majesty!” Ning Caichen cast aside the piece in his hand, both knees hitting the ground, both hands clasped: “I beg Your Majesty to open the granaries and provide disaster relief, save the common people of Liaocheng!”
The Dunhuang Emperor sighed, blew on his strong tea, looking extremely troubled.
The chief steward eunuch by the side spoke up at this time, his sharp and thin voice particularly grating to the ears.
“Lord Ning, aren’t you making things difficult for His Majesty?”
“Disasters aren’t that we haven’t rescued before. A small border city—why must it waste our Dunhuang’s financial resources like this?”
“The soldiers suppressing bandits over there all go hungry one meal and full the next.”
“Having obtained silver, it must be given to the army first, isn’t that so? Moreover, in a few days it will be the Empress’s birthday. Every part of the nation must be lively and bustling; otherwise, wouldn’t it let neighboring countries look down upon our Great Huang Dynasty?”
The more Ning Caichen heard, the colder his heart became. He sneered: “Eunuch Hua, you have quite the audacity. I am speaking with His Majesty—how dare a eunuch like you interrupt!”
“You, you…” Hua Gui was quite angered, even his body trembling.
The King of Dunhuang gave a light cough. His face already showed displeasure: “Enough. This quarreling, what kind of decorum is this! I am weary. Minister Ning, you may withdraw.”
“Your Majesty!” Ning Caichen moved, blocking the Dunhuang Emperor’s path: “Your Majesty, hear me out! The common people of Liaocheng only rob official silver when they see it and seize grain when they see it because for a hundred days they haven’t harvested a single grain of millet! If Your Majesty opens the granaries for disaster relief and lets them eat their fill, then there wouldn’t even be any talk of soldiers suppressing bandits!”