CH 98

December 6, 2022Merchie

The sedan chair continued forward under the moonlight, and stopped in front of the gate of the Prime Minister’s Manor.

The curtain was lifted, and Pei Zheng stepped out first. His complexion looked abnormally pale.

Shen Shijiu’s little head slowly emerged from behind the curtain. He saw Pei Zheng standing beside the sedan, as though he were waiting for him. Shen Shijiu didn’t dare to dawdle, so he hurriedly hopped out of the sedan.

He landed badly, wobbled on his feet, and careened straight into Pei Zheng.

Pei Zheng merely placed a hand on his waist, and held Shen Shijiu to stabilize him.

The blush at the base of Shen Shijiu’s ears had reappeared, and his voice was as soft as the buzz of a mosquito, “Thank you, my Lord.”

Pei Zheng suddenly coughed twice, which terrified Shen Shijiu.

“My Lord, come with me, hurry.”

Shen Shijiu pulled Pei Zheng by his sleeve, and stepped into the manor. They passed through many courtyards before finally arriving at Pei Zheng’s quarters.

Shen Shijiu found the robes he had left behind the screen. He rummaged through the sleeves for a long while, and finally found that bottle of miracle pills. He quickly tipped the bottle into his hand, and placed a pill at Pei Zheng’s lips.

Pei Zheng looked at him, but his mouth was motionless.

Shen Shijiu said nervously, “My Lord, open your mouth. You’ve taken this pill before, you’ll feel better after you swallow it.”

“When did I take it?”

“That time you fainted in the little pavilion, I fed you…” Shen Shijiu’s voice trailed off.

Was he really going to tell His Lordship how he had fed him the pill?

He absolutely couldn’t, that would be too embarrassing.

“Just believe me, okay? I swear that I will never harm you!” Shen Shijiu raised his fingers in a salute, his expression filled with the utmost sincerity.

Pei Zheng was finally willing to open his mouth, and swallowed the pill in Shen Shijiu’s hand. The tip of his tongue seemed to accidentally brush Shen Shijiu’s fingers.

It was as if his fingertips had been burned; Shen Shijiu hurriedly retracted them.

After swallowing the pill, Pei Zheng really did feel the qi in his body slowly begin to flow in every direction.

Shen Shijiu didn’t want to disturb Pei Zheng’s rest, so he left and returned to his own wing.

The moment he entered his room, Shen Shijiu laid stiffly on the bed. He felt a bit dizzy; that feather-light kiss in the sedan was still reverberating in his brain.

That wasn’t really a kiss, right? Their lips had barely touched. But it was enough to throw Shen Shijiu’s mind into chaos, and whatever he had wanted to ask Pei Zheng had been completely wiped from his memory.

He felt his cheeks begin to burn again. Shen Shijiu groaned, and lifted his hands to cover his face. Only then did he realize that he was still wearing that splendid white robe and flame-red cloak, and he had left his own clothing in Pei Zheng’s quarters.

Shen Shijiu slapped himself on the head, stood up, and changed his clothes. He didn’t know what to do with the white robe and cloak, so he neatly folded them up, before placing them at the bottom of his traveling case, squished alongside Pei Zheng’s black robe.

He returned to his bed, wrapped himself in the blanket, and fell asleep. He slept until the next afternoon.

After Shen Shijiu opened his eyes, he screamed inwardly, Oh no, I didn’t deliver the Second Princess’s medicine this morning. The Second Princess won’t scold me, right?

He hurriedly stood up and prepared the medicinal soup that was to be drunk after lunch. Shen Shijiu was on his way to deliver it to the waterside pavilion.

Unexpectedly, he hadn’t walked far before he bumped into the housekeeper, Li Yu.

Li Yu had the servant beside him take the bowl of medicine out of Shen Shijiu’s hands.

“The princess’s morning medicine was prepared based on the prescription, and has already been delivered. You don’t need to worry about it. Also, you don’t have to deliver the Second Princess’s medicine anymore, the servants will do that.”

Shen Shijiu said, “But the Second Princess told me before that she would only drink it if I was the one who delivered it.”

“It’s fine. You don’t have to worry about that.” Li Yu said, “You just need to take good care of His Lordship from now on.”

Shen Shijiu immediately asked, “What’s wrong with His Lordship? Is he feeling uncomfortable again? Did he spit blood again?”

Li Yu smiled, “Don’t worry, His Lordship is already doing a lot better. He left the manor this morning to take care of a few matters, so he’ll probably be gone for a few days.”

Upon hearing these words, Shen Shijiu’s little face visibly fell. He didn’t even get the chance to see how His Lordship’s condition was before he left, all because he had slept in.

Li Yu patted his shoulder, “His Lordship said that, during these next few days, you just need to obediently wait for him to return.”

Shen Shijiu nodded.

Li Yu smiled again. He walked toward the waterside pavilion, and that servant followed, bowl in hand.

For the next two days, Shen Shijiu didn’t go to the waterside pavilion. The bowls of medicinal soup were all delivered by servants.

He heard that the moment the Second Princess saw that the person delivering medicine wasn’t Shen Shijiu, she spilled the soup in a rage.

Now, Qi Bingzhi didn’t bother trying to hide her loathing and hostility toward Shen Shijiu anymore. But everyone in the manor had long since been aware of it.

But Shen Shijiu was happy and free, and spent his days idling about, without anything to do. So he started to play with the little black cat again.

Today, Shen Shijiu was sitting on a stone bench in the garden, and held the little cat up to his face. He rubbed the tip of his nose against its soft belly, which made the cat meow incessantly.

“Xiao Miaowu, tell me, why isn’t His Lordship back yet?”

Shen Shijiu pressed his ear against the little cat’s belly. He seemed to be listening for its response.

“Oh, you’re saying that His Lordship is busy. Then, do you miss His Lordship?”

Shen Shijiu listened again.

“Oh, you said you miss him, right? I do too.”

Shen Shijiu clasped the little cat’s paw and rubbed it for a long while. He was reminded of something, and piped up again, “Xiao Miaowu, say, just where did my shifu go? Why hasn’t she come looking for me yet? I miss my shifu too…”

Counting the days, almost a month had passed since Shen Huan’s disappearance. Since the beginning, Shen Shijiu had been looking forward to the day when Shen Huan would come and pick him up. But now, he was torn; he missed his shifu, yet he was reluctant to leave this place.

Shen Shijiu sat in the courtyard with the little cat for a long while, before he realized that it was already time for dinner. He placed the cat onto the ground, and waited for a servant to deliver his meal.

He waited and waited, but instead of receiving his meal, he was greeted by a group of servants from the waterside pavilion.

They all wore stern expressions. Without waiting for an explanation, they grabbed Shen Shijiu and began to drag him toward the waterside pavilion.

Shen Shijiu struggled a few times but couldn’t break free. Those servants forcefully yanked him along, gripping his wrists so tightly that they turned red.

They ran straight into Li Yu. Li Yu blocked their path, pointed at Shen Shijiu and asked, “What do you all think you’re doing?”

The servant at the head of the group said, “Housekeeper Li, Her Royal Highness wants to see him, we’re just following orders.”

“Orders?” Li Yu’s tone was severe, “Who is the one in charge of the Prime Minister’s Manor? I just know that His Lordship’s orders were that no one was allowed to touch him.”

That servant still refused to let go of Shen Shijiu, and even wanted to walk around Li Yu. But it looked like Li Yu wasn’t planning on letting them take Shen Shijiu away.

“Housekeeper Li, please don’t make things difficult for us. We don’t know why Her Royal Highness summoned him either, it could be that she’s suffered another attack from her chronic headaches. We can’t afford to delay any longer.”

Who would have guessed that Li Yu had seen his fair share of trickery and deceit, so he wouldn’t fall for this lie.

“I’ll have send someone to the palace right now to find Imperial Physician Jiang. Since the princess’s illness has persisted for so long, we have no choice but to have Imperial Physician Jiang take a look. As for Shen Shijiu, you must let go of him right now.”

Upon hearing those words, those servants hesitated. Li Yu said sharply, “Hurry up and let him go! Will you really be able to bear His Lordship’s wrath?”

The servants immediately let go of Shen Shijiu.

The moment Shen Shijiu was freed, he hurriedly hid behind Li Yu, rubbing his wrists.

“What’s taking so long? The princess is about to faint from her headache!”

It was Qi Bingzhi’s personal maid, Xiao Mei. The red handprints on her face still hadn’t completely disappeared, but she still looked haughty and bitter as usual.

Those servants seemed to be terrified of Xiao Mei. When they saw her, they immediately walked over and grabbed Shen Shijiu again.

“We were on our way, but we’re being held up by Housekeeper Li…”

Xiao Mei shot the servants a look, and they quickly left, dragging Shen Shijiu along with them.

Li Yu was about to chase after them, but he was stopped by Xiao Mei.

“Housekeeper Li, although you do have some status in the Prime Minister’s Manor, you shouldn’t forget that once you leave the Prime Minister’s Manor, you are nothing. Don’t think that just because you have Lord Pei’s support, you can look down on my mistress.”

Li Yu had no intention of mincing words with Xiao Mei, “Oh, I’m just a little housekeeper in the Prime Minister’s Manor, but you? You’re just the Second Princess’s little maid, so we’re on equal footing.”

When Li Yu walked past Xiao Mei, he purposely bumped her shoulder, “Also, let me remind you, since you are both living in the Prime Minister’s Manor, don’t try and scheme your way through everything like you do in the palace.”

With those words, Li Yu turned and left. He couldn’t confront Qi Bingzhi directly, so he had to hurry and find a way to report the situation to Lord Pei.”

***

In a small town far away from the Imperial City, there was a prison that was full of criminals.

The long corridors in the prison were pitch-black, lit only by the dim glow of a few candles.

After the prison door was opened, two shadows walked in.

“My Lord, that’s him.”

The sounds of their footsteps stopped in front of a cell. The door opened, and the shadows walked inside.

The prisoner locked inside was covered in wounds, and was tightly tied against a wooden rack.

A prison guard walked in, and respectfully lit a candle, but the faces of the two visitors were still shrouded in darkness.

The prison guard knew that these people weren’t just ordinary citizens, and explained cautiously, “Th-this person seems to be a tattoo artist. He’s locked up here because he was tattooing some old lord’s concubine and killed her in the process…”

He killed someone?

If someone as skilled as him could kill someone while he was tattooing them, it could only have happened with someone else’s interference.

“Let him down.” The voice that spoke was so cold that it made one’s heart tremble.

The prison guard hurried over and untied the prisoner from the rack, before he walked out, having sensed the delicate atmosphere.

After the cell door closed again, Cheng Feng walked over and pulled the prisoner off the ground.

The tattoo artist slowly opened his eyes. When he finally recognized the person standing in front of him, his eyes widened slightly, “L-Lord Pei.”

Notes

*GASP* WE’RE SO CLOSE

Thanks for reading~