CH 125

Villainous Fake Eunuch (2)

The person that Song Xu Yi least wanted to encounter at this moment was Gu Ruyu.

The original owner of the body was approaching marriageable age, and at the Emperor’s suggestion, the Empress Dowager had begun searching for a suitable partner. However, the original owner was proud and accustomed to the luxurious life in the palace, and was not willing to leave. She even harbored hopes of marrying a prince.

But the Emperor was growing more irrational, and if the original owner were to make a direct request, she could anger him. So she turned her attention to Gu Ruyu, who held significant sway with the Emperor.

Some time ago, the original owner had intentionally cultivated a friendship with Gu Ruyu, but Gu Ruyu was as slippery as an eel. The original owner considered Gu Ruyu to be a friend, but she didn’t realize that Gu Ruyu had never made any promises to her. The original owner frequently sent food and drink to Gu Ruyu, and even offered to lend her palace maid as a personal attendant, but Gu Ruyu always politely declined. Until one day, Gu Ruyu requested to examine the original owner’s late father’s military token for a few days.

The original owner was overjoyed and happily handed over the military token to Gu Ruyu. She was unaware of what Gu Ruyu had done in secret, but recently, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor had not mentioned finding a suitable husband for her.

In the original owner’s understanding, Gu Ruyu had done her a great favor. Prior to Song Xu Yi’s arrival in this world, she had planned to improve her relationship with Gu Ruyu in the hopes of garnering more future assistance from him. However, Song Xu Yi understood that Gu Ruyu’s side was like a pirate ship, and if she got too close, she risked falling into the traitor’s camp.

At this moment, Song Xu Yi wanted to avoid any further involvement with Gu Ruyu.

Yet, she suddenly realized that Gu Ruyu had already obtained the military token, and he was known for his cold demeanor. Even if he encountered the Emperor, he would remain calm and collected. Even if Song Xu Yi tried to distance herself from him, Gu Ruyu might not even notice.

With this in mind, Song Xu Yi pursed her lips and walked behind the Empress Dowager, attempting to stay further away from Gu Ruyu without raising suspicion.

Gu Ruyu lifted his eyelids and glanced at Song Xu Yi, but his expression remained inscrutable.

The Empress Dowager had urgently reported Song Xu Yi’s dream to the Emperor and came to a conclusion: “Emperor, isn’t Xu Yi our lucky star from He Gou? Since she dreamed of the Third Prince, it must be a sign from heaven. Maybe the Third Prince is still alive!”

The Emperor’s face showed some joy, but during this time, there were many false rumors that Zheng Lian was still alive. Compared to the Empress Dowager, the Emperor was more hesitant and looked at Song Xu Yi suspiciously: “Does Xu Yi know where the Third Prince is?”

“Your Majesty, I only saw a large area of trees, which seemed to be on a certain mountain,” Song Xu Yi answered respectfully. Seeing the Emperor furrow his brows, Song Xu Yi continued with her prepared lines: “But I’m confident that I’ll recognize the area when we get there. Your Majesty, I’m willing to lead a team out of the palace to search for my brother!”

In reality, the original owner had always understood that even though the Emperor had told her that she could treat the palace as her home, he was only saying it for show. She was more like a lucky charm placed in the palace. Therefore, despite her title as Princess, she never dared to consider herself the Emperor’s daughter in his presence.

At this moment, when she heard Song Xu Yi speak up, both the Emperor and the Empress Dowager turned to look at her.

Although the original owner thought she had concealed it well, almost everyone who survived in the palace was shrewd, and her little thoughts were almost exposed to the Empress Dowager and the Emperor. The Emperor and the Empress Dowager knew that the original owner did not want to leave the palace, but they did not expect that Song Xu Yi would be willing to leave the palace for Zheng Lian.

The Emperor looked at Song Xu Yi’s appearance and was also slightly moved.

“Xu Yi, as long as you find Old Third, We promise that you will always be the most noble Princess of the Country of He Gou!”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!” Song Xu Yi’s face burst into a huge smile, pretending to be extremely happy, but in her heart, she had made up her mind to move out of the palace after finding Zheng Lian.

Everything was going as Song Xu Yi expected, but at this critical moment, a soft and gloomy voice suddenly sounded behind the Emperor: “The mountain is high and the road is far, there may be accidents, and this servant is willing to accompany the Princess on the journey.”

To be fair, Gu Ruyu’s voice is extremely pleasant to listen to. However, his voice is flat and lacks the smoothness of silk. It sounds as if squeezed out of his throat, with a roughness that disrupts the natural beauty of his voice, making it sound incredibly strange and causing an instinctual sense of fear in others.

Gu Ruyu glanced at Song Xu Yi again.

Despite the lack of emotion in Gu Ruyu’s eyes, Song Xu Yi felt as though she were prey being targeted by a fierce beast and froze in place.

“Why do you say this, Ruyu?” Not only Song Xu Yi but also the Emperor, who clearly did not want Gu Ruyu to go to Jiangnan, frowned. “As you know, I cannot do without you now. If you go to Jiangnan with Xu Yi, who will make me the elixir of immortals?”

“In fact, even if there were no Princess involved, I would still have to ask for Your Majesty’s permission to go to Jiangnan,” Gu Ruyu’s lips curved slightly pale. “I have heard that the barbarian lands in the south have a type of gray honeycomb-shaped fruit that, when dried and ground into powder, has miraculous effects in relieving pain and extending life. If this is true, adding this fruit to the elixir of immortals will greatly enhance its efficacy!”

The Emperor’s face did soften somewhat upon hearing these words, but he did not relent.

Song Xu Yi was anxious and was about to find a reason to stop Gu Ruyu from following, but then she heard Gu Ruyu continue to speak: “I understand Your Majesty’s worries. I have already prepared a three-month supply of Xiaoyao Pills, so Your Majesty does not need to worry about having no medicine to take during these three months.”

“Ruyu is indeed considerate!” The Emperor’s brow immediately relaxed upon hearing this and he burst into laughter, patting Gu Ruyu on the shoulder. “I will wait for your good news in three months!” he said, then turned to Song Xu Yi, placing her hand in Gu Ruyu’s hand with a smile. “Ruyu, I am entrusting the Princess to you. You must not let her be harmed in any way!”

“I will not fail Your Majesty’s trust.”

Gu Ruyu held onto Song Xu Yi’s hand.

Gu Ruyu’s hands were cold to the touch, and Song Xu Yi felt as if she was being coiled by some kind of cold-blooded creature. Goosebumps rose on her arms, but now that things had been settled, Song Xu Yi could only restrain the urge to pull her hand away and forced a smile at Gu Ruyu. “I’ll have to trouble Eunuch Gu to take good care of me from now on…”

The decision to leave the palace to search for Zheng Lian was thus made. As the Emperor wanted Gu Ruyu to return as soon as possible, the time to leave was set for three days later.

The thought of spending three months traveling with Gu Ruyu made Song Xu Yi’s scalp go numb. While Song Xu Yi was worried, the system seemed quite happy about it.

“Song Xu Yi, are you really that scared of Gu Ruyu?” the system’s voice tentatively sounded. “Don’t you think he’s quite handsome?”

“What’s the point of being handsome?” Song Xu Yi felt a headache coming on at the thought of Gu Ruyu. “He’s a big villain who causes chaos and kills without batting an eye!”

“The system elongated its tone and its voice became noticeably high-pitched: ‘That’s right – such a villain is cruel and infuriating, everyone wants to get rid of them!'” After cursing the villain, the system seemed to think of something and then giggled again.

Song Xu Yi didn’t want to pay attention to the strange system and felt that this trip with Gu Ruyu would not be peaceful. Before starting, she practiced self-defense techniques she had learned in another world, but the original owner’s body was pampered, and had the poorest physical constitution among the bodies she had inhabited. Even though Song Xu Yi practiced hard, the results were not good.

Soon, three days had passed.

On the third day, in order not to alert the palace, Song Xu Yi and Gu Ruyu left the palace from a corner gate disguised as a wealthy brother and sister, accompanied by servants disguised as attendants, and began to rush to Jiangnan.

Jiangnan was far away, and even if they hurried, it would take over a month to get there, not to mention the return journey, which made the timing extremely tight.

At first, things were fine. Song Xu Yi and Gu Ruyu were in separate carriages, despite pretending to be siblings. Due to the boundaries between men and women, Gu Ruyu rarely came near Song Xu Yi. Even during meals, the two sat at separate tables: Song Xu Yi with her maidservants at one table, and Gu Ruyu with his subordinates at another.

Although she didn’t want to pay attention, Gu Ruyu’s presence was still very strong. Song Xu Yi couldn’t help but notice him: he always seemed cold and indifferent, with calm eyes like still water, as if nothing could stir his emotions.

Song Xu Yi didn’t know why Gu Ruyu had followed her to Jiangnan, but she had a feeling that he might cause trouble along the way. And this feeling soon proved to be true: the speed of their convoy was relatively fast when leaving the capital, but it became slower and slower after they left. Eventually, the strong and sturdy convoy could only travel a little over ten miles a day!

As time passed, Song Xu Yi became increasingly anxious. In the end, she sought out Gu Ruyu. When she arrived, Gu Ruyu’s slender arms were grinding herbs. He looked like snow on a high mountain, with a simple elegance that made even the humble carriage seem refined. Yet he remained cold and indifferent. When he heard Song Xu Yi’s reason for seeking him out, he didn’t even look up and said in a flat tone, “As a servant tasked with finding medicine for His Majesty, identifying medicine is a slow process. Rushing the journey will surely affect the evaluation of the medicine’s effectiveness. I hope the Princess can forgive me.”

Song Xu Yi choked. She knew that Gu Ruyu didn’t want Zheng Lian to return to the palace, but she never expected Gu Ruyu to come up with such an idea. However, everyone in the world knows that the Emperor is addicted to taking elixirs, and Song Xu Yi has no way to control him when Gu Ruyu removes the Emperor from the equation.

If things continued at this pace for another three months, Song Xu Yi would not only have trouble reaching Jiangnan, but also finding Zheng Lian once she got there.

Her heart was filled with anxiety, and after much consideration, she decided to part ways with Gu Ruyu and search for Zheng Lian on her own.

One stormy night, with the wind howling and the rain pouring down, Song Xu Yi quietly gathered her gold and silver, donned a simple linen gown, and slipped out of the post station’s back door, heading towards a well-informed horse shop.

Unbeknownst to her, Gu Ruyu was watching her from the rooftop with an indifferent gaze. He signaled to his men, who quickly mounted swift horses and donned raincoats to chase after Song Xu Yi in the direction she had left.