CH 13

Fu Zhiyu kept squeezing the needle in his hand, and his mood was somewhat complicated.

The Lord God who promised to never screw him didn’t say everything. Fu Zhiyu had seen the silver needle turn black, but what was the strange sight of it turning red?

It was a long way from the embroidery room to Liuli Palace, and as Fu Zhiyu walked through the imperial garden, he saw from afar three men who looked like guards, walking past in front of him.

His eyes narrowed and he could tell at a glance that something was strange.

The guards in the palace were also divided into grades. From the lowest palace guard to the highest imperial guard, the clothes they wore were very different, as well as the swords they carried and their tokens. The three people walking in front of him were the highest-level imperial guards. They were dressed in black; in the sun, you could see golden patterns on their cuffs, collars and plackets. The swords they used were excellent cold iron blades. This kind of sword could only be made by the best craftsman at most three times a year.

The imperial guards had an official rank, and a serious fourth-rank officer was more useful than some second- and third-rank officials in the court. These people were all from prominent families and were young. Their future was limitless.

Nowadays, there were no more than ten imperial guards in the palace. It was more valuable for them to be brilliant than to be numerous. Fu Zhiyu knew each and every one of them. These three… he didn’t seem to have seen them before.

Especially the one at the front, why did he look so… familiar?

Unfortunately, by the time Fu Zhiyu recognised who that person was, he had no time to turn and go another way.

It was Xie Ke.

It was no wonder Fu Zhiyu didn’t recognise him at once. The imperial garden path was winding and the figure in the distance was covered by some branches. And it was the first time he saw Xie Ke wearing a guard’s outfit, so it was normal not to recognise him for a while.

Fu Zhiyu couldn’t help muttering in his heart: when did he become an imperial guard? There was no such thing in his previous life.

While he was puzzled, the three men, led by Xie Ke, walked over and saluted him, saying, “Greetings to Wang Zhao.”

After receiving Xie Ke’s salute, Fu Zhiyu took a step back calmly. He wrapped his cloak more tightly and just wanted to leave quickly to see what was wrong with the blood in his body.

Who knew that Xie Ke would refuse to let him go. After saluting, he asked Fu Zhiyu: “Does Wang Zhao… remember me?”

Fu Zhiyu glanced at him, thought for a while, then shook his head and said, “I don’t know. I haven’t seen you in front of Father Emperor before. Are you the new imperial guard?”

He saw that Xie Ke was obviously stunned after hearing these words and there was some disbelief in his eyes.

Fu Zhiyu originally wanted to take advantage of his daze and leave quickly, but he didn’t even take a few steps before Xie Ke came up and stopped him.

“How dare you!” The eunuch next to Fu Zhiyu shouted, “You are a guard who doesn’t know the rules of the palace! Who gives you the courage to stop Wang Zhao?”

The eunuch wanted to step forward and push Xie Ke but was immediately stopped by Fu Zhiyu. For one thing, the eunuch couldn’t push Xie Ke away in any case, and for another, this was the protagonist, after all.  Xie Ke had always held a grudge, so it was better not to offend him.

Xie Ke lowered his head and looked at Fu Zhiyu closely, not caring about the yelling eunuch at all. His expression was indescribably complicated. His lips moved and he whispered: “I… this servant is the one who saved Wang Zhao in the ice lake that day.”

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“Xie Ke, Young Master Xie?” Fu Zhiyu took another step back, with an appropriate polite smile on his face, “It’s you. I’m sorry, I was sick and I don’t remember many things clearly. Mother Consort told me that it was Xie Ke from General Xie’s family who rescued me at that time, but I really haven’t been in good health recently. I didn’t go in person to thank Young Master Xie for his life-saving grace. I didn’t expect to meet Young Master Xie here.”

“Doesn’t Wang Zhao remember?” Xie Ke seemed to be unable to cope with his expression, his eyes looking blank for a moment, “This servant waited at Longquan Temple for a long time, this servant…”

“This wang knows,” Fu Zhiyu said, the smile on his face unchanged. “But now there are still urgent matters that really cannot be delayed. If Young Master Xie has any needs, just ask someone to send a message to Liuli Palace. I will try my best to satisfy them.”

“I… I don’t want that,” Xie Ke seemed to want to hold Fu Zhiyu’s hand, but halfway through the action, he felt something was wrong and quickly retracted his hand, as if trying to suppress the emotions in his heart, “Wang Zhao promised that he would visit.”

Fu Zhiyu was taken aback. In fact, what he said was just an excuse. Smart people would naturally understand that it was a matter of a word from a nobleman. Whether you come or not didn’t matter. As long as you have already given a reward, it could be counted as gratitude.

What kind of crazy game was Xie Ke playing, insisting on bringing this up? It was as if he was deliberately striving for something?

Fu Zhiyu couldn’t understand Xie Ke’s expression; he just felt that there was some sadness and disappointment in his eyes, and something else that he couldn’t figure out. He didn’t want to figure it out either.

In his previous life, Xie Ke obviously regretted saving him in the ice lake. He didn’t save Miss Xue who should have been there and he couldn’t wait to forget it all, so as not to be entangled with Fu Zhiyu because of this kindness, disrupting so many plots.

What was Xie Ke doing pestering him here now?

Fu Zhiyu really didn’t understand him. The protagonist’s heart was the needle on the bottom of the sea (difficult to understand).

Fu Zhiyu thought for a while and said, “After the ceremony of Imperial Noble Consort Mother is completed, this wang will visit.”

“This servant will be looking forward to it.” Xie Ke lowered his head, carefully made his expression blank, saluted him again, and added word by word, “But now that this servant is the imperial guard, there will be many opportunities to meet Wang Zhao in the future.”

After saying these words, he gave Fu Zhiyu a deep glance, turned around and left. Fu Zhiyu felt Xie Ke’s arm brush against his shoulder. Xie Ke was nineteen this year, three years older than him, but a whole head taller than him.

Although Xie Ke was now just a fourth-rank imperial guard, Fu Zhiyu didn’t dare to underestimate him. At that moment, he only felt his hair standing up on end.

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He wanted to work hard to escape from the net in this life. The farther he stayed from the struggle for the throne and Xie Ke, the better. Whether it was the emperor or his old opponent Fu Lingxiao, none of them made him uneasy; but now he felt his heart fluctuating a little.

It was as if he had a premonition that he was going to be pulled back into this net again.

Fu Zhiyu steadied his mind and accelerated his steps a little bit. He secretly told himself not to worry but to find out what happened first.

After Fu Zhiyu left, the three imperial guards also walked forward, chattering on the way.

“Boss, this is the Ninth Prince you rescued?” The second guard couldn’t help but tug at Xie Ke’s placket and asked, “Wow, I would also try my best to jump down and save him, he’s really good-looking. I think the youngest daughter of Prime Minister Xue is not as beautiful as this one.”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” the third guard interjected, reminding, “He’s not the Ninth Prince anymore, but Wang Zhao. Now that you are in the palace, keep your mouth shut, don’t talk nonsense like before.”

“What’s wrong with the few of us talking about it? Besides, don’t you think he looks good? Isn’t he beautiful?”

“En, yes, very beautiful.”

“I’m right, Boss, tell me…”

Halfway through his speech, he fell silent. Xie Ke turned around and looked at him with a gloomy expression in his eyes, and the warning in them was beyond words.

“Don’t look at him,” Xie Ke said, “Mind your own business.”

There was one more thing he held back from saying: he is mine.

Xie Ke recalled the face buried in the white fur cloak and couldn’t help but stick out his tongue and lick his dry, chapped lips.

No one knew how much he wanted to hold Fu Zhiyu in his arms at that moment, blocking his mouth and preventing him from saying those irritating words.

Just forget the bad memories of the previous life, how can you forget this one?

Xie Ke clenched the sword hilt in his hand. It was undeniable that because of this incident, his heart was throbbing badly now.

Many times in his previous life Zhiyu said that he fell in love with him at first sight. And the reason for this so-called love at first sight came from the life-saving grace on the ice lake.

If Zhiyu really forgot about it, would he still fall in love with him?

Xie Ke had a moment of uncertainty.

In his previous life, no matter what he did, he had never seen such an expression on Zhiyu’s face, alienated and polite, as if Xie Ke was no different from anyone else, from the flowers and plants in the imperial garden.

He didn’t know if this was his punishment. But he finally saw Zhiyu again, and no matter what, he would not give up.

We will fall in love again, he thought, this time, it will be a true love between the two lovers, and no one could stop it.

The author has something to say: 

Mini-theatre:

Gong: The baby protects me in front of the eunuch, it means he has me in his heart! [full of confidence]

Xiao Yu: This man is ruthless. I have to keep an eye on the people around me, otherwise Xie Ke retaliates against them. [serious face]