CH 92

Emperor Mingde had not been in the imperial court for half a year, the daily worship to pay respect from the imperial physician courtyard no longer recorded the living order history, a special person designated by the crown prince should be responsible, although on the surface the great internal and external claims that the emperor health is still safe, but such an arrangement showed a certain possibility… its afraid that there will be an imperial funeral soon. 

The treacherous situation of the dynasty fell into calmness before the great change.

In the blink of an eye, Li Yuanmin had been in this ritual for four days.

The four days were not long, but in the end they were anxious and worrisome, especially this ritual emphasized sincerity, except for the half-hour rest at noon, the rest of the hours, they needed to kneel on the futon to chant. The whole time, the place was full of royal princes and nobles who were dressed extravagantly, how can they withstand this, but praying for the blessings of the heavenly family is a big matter, but who doesn’t have opportunistic thoughts in front of the Emperor, so they all kneel honestly, and suffered unspeakable misery. Fortunately, the crown prince was occupied with his political affairs, after three days of presiding in the ritual, he returned to the East Palace on the fourth day. Then everyone turned a blind eye to each other, no longer kneeling honestly, and instead they just looked for a way to relieve their hands and rest outside, or simply change from kneeling to sitting, which was much better than the previous three days.

It was common for Li Yuanmin to kneel and be punished when he was a child, but now his body is not as good as usual, he can’t kneel for a long time, so he followed a cheap trick, and looked for excuses to relax.

In order to show the benevolence of the heaven family, today’s fasting meal was sent by Empress Sima and Princess Fengming.

But hearing the movement outside, everyone frowned and held their breath. They solemnly knelt down, surrounded by a group of palace people, Empress Sima, dressed in queen costume, slowly walked in from the outer hall with Princess Fengming, followed by more than twenty imperial attendants carrying lunch boxes.

Everyone kowtowed, calling out to greet the Empress. Empress Sima was graceful, after saying something to everyone, she personally took Princess Fengming to distribute fasting meals one by one.

The Sima family has a lot of beauty, Empress Sima was forty years of age, but because she’s properly maintained, she still looked like she was just a bit more than thirty years old. The only daughter Princess Fengming named Li Si was not to be outdone. She had just turned seventeen, it was the time when a woman is fresh in her life. Among the royal noble women, her appearance is already considered as distinct, coupled with her noble status, she had been fully favored since she was a child, and had long been accustomed to the stunning and respectful gaze focused on by others.

However, this time, she found that it was slightly different from the past, not many people in front of her were paying attention to her, the girl was very arrogant, so she was a little dissatisfied, when she was distributing to the end of the line, she saw a slender figure kneeling on the futon in the shadows, the other party slightly lowered his head, unable to see his face, only revealing a softly lined jaw in the light.

Her heart moved for no reason, and she involuntarily walked in his direction.

The person in front of her finally raised his eyes, took the fasting rice in her hand, and said in a low voice: “Thank you princess for your trouble.” 

Li Si was stunned there.

At this moment, a lot of eyes came to this side, it was Li Si’s familiar gaze, but it was obviously not given to her, she looked at the person in front of her, there was a feeling of humiliation for no reason in her heart, which made her frown.

Empress Sima saw her standing still, her brows frowned slightly, she followed. Soon, she also saw that face, a trace of imperceptible coldness suddenly flashed on her graceful face, but soon disappeared without a trace, she only smiled softly: “It turned out to be King Guang’an.” 

Li Yuanmin hurriedly put down the meal box and bowed to her, “Son greets Empress Mother.”

This King Guang’an three words startled Li Si that her eyes widened, this person… It was actually the West Palace’s master, the son of that who*e and cheap woman who fawned over others?

Empress Sima nodded slightly, as if she had forgotten to let him up, she glanced back at the shocked girl, her tone was still gentle. She only raised her voice slightly: “Let’s go, it’s time to go back to the palace.” 

Li Si bit her lip before taking her gaze back.

Li Yuanmin knelt on the ground, and waited for the queen’s ceremonial guard to get out of the Temple of Heaven before he calmly stood up.

***

When the solemn bell rang, the ritual of the day was finally over.

Li Yuanmin quietly exited the main hall, he picked a short way to go to the outer hall as usual. While he was walking, a black shadow suddenly came out from the flowers bush next to him and pounced on him. Although Li Yuanmin was calm, he was also caught off guard by the people who came, when he saw a palace maid in front of him wearing a raccoon bureau miscellaneous uniform, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing.

“ Third Royal Highness, save me! “The voice was already filled with crying.

Li Yuanmin swallowed his saliva, looked around silently, and then asked, “Who are you?”

The woman choked and slowly raised her head, Li Yuanmin’s brows couldn’t help but frown: “Qiu Chan? ”

Qiu Chan whimpered, full of gratitude: “Eight years have passed, Your Highness has grown to become such a godly appearance, almost make Qiu Chan fail to recognize you. It makes sense why it is difficult for Your Highness to not remember this slave.” 

It’s really her!

Li Yuanmin looked at Qiu Chan up and down, the rather beautiful melon face no longer had the original appearance, her cheeks collapsed, and she looked a little decayed. Eight years ago when he left the capital, she took Empress Sima’s high branch and became the entertainer of Emperor Mingde. Since then she had parted ways with him, unexpectedly she ended up like this.

Without waiting for Li Yuanmin to ask, Qiu Chan had already knelt down a few steps: “Your Highness, please take this slave out of the palace for the sake of this slave servant who had once served you!”

She burst into tears: “This slave never wants to go back to that d*mn place again!” 

She had prepared a set of words before she came, but the person in front of her bypassed her and walked straight forward.

Qiu Chan panicked and hurriedly pounced in front of him: “Your Highness! Could it be that you see a dying person and do not want to extend out a helping hand?” 

The opportunity was fleeting, she didn’t allow him to think much, she only kowtowed heavily, “Your Highness! The life of this slave is tied to your decision, Your Highness! ”

She wrecked her brain, thinking of making the person in front of her feel a little pity.

However, when she raised her head, she was faced with a pair of cold eyes, which made her heart cold, for a long time, the owner of those eyes spoke lightly: “Your life was never in the hands of this king.”

Li Yuanmin looked at the messy face: “Qiu Chan, listen well, the master servant relationship between you me was broken as early as eight years ago. Now, you and I are just passers-by, saying I have many means to help you because of how strong our master servant relationship was, then presumably, you are already well aware of it.” 

He took a deep breath: “Don’t follow me again, otherwise, I won’t mind taking you to the steward.” 

Qiu Chan was so furious, she couldn’t even make a move. She had sneaked out today, if she let the steward find out, then wouldn’t that old thing peel her skin off? The person in front of her not only changed his appearance a lot, but even his personality is completely different from the master of the West Palace back then.

“ Your Highness—” Qiu Chan was desperate.

Looking at the back that had faded away, she clenched her fists heavily.

***

Perhaps because he had seen too many old acquaintances that he didn’t want to see, it made Li Yuanmin felt faintly uneasy. He thought, although Qiu Chan did not have much powerful mental strength, what a desperate person can do, ordinary people can not imagine, he was alert in his heart, therefore he was a little more guarded. He was afraid that the other party would return to bother He Yunyi again. After leaving the palace, he hurriedly sent someone to the He Mansion to send a message, and made an appointment at the teahouse that he used to frequent.

The sunset hung in the sky,covered the horizon with red light.

At a tea house on the second floor, the two sat opposite each other.

He Yunyi poured tea for Li Yuanmin and smiled: “I thought you found me for something important, turned out you just wanted to nag.” 

Li Yuanmin saw that the person in front of him was not thinking it was a big deal, and his heart was anxious: “Zhihe! ”

He Yunyi put down the teapot and smiled, “Don’t worry, I’m not that stupid and clumsy, have i only seen little of the storms that happened in this palace? Could it be that my second rank position was obtained in vain? Now His Majesty…”

He did not continue to speak, but only said softly: “During this time, I have been cautious, not to mention me, Your Highness must remember these words you said, and protect yourself well.”

Listening to him saying this, Li Yuanmin suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. He also understood that he was a little too fussy, and was about to say something more, when He Yunyi had already spoken: “And you, you’re more than twenty years old now, how can you still be afraid of bitter medicine, those who don’t know would think you’re a three years old child.”

The present gesture was to give him a pulse.

Li Yuanmin was stunned, he hurriedly put his hands under the table, his chest leaned against the edge of the table, and his face was fawning: “I’m really fine, very well, I just used to take medicine in the past that I’ve become traumatized of it now. Seeing the doctor giving me a pulse check also made me panic that I would get sick even if I really wasn’t sick at all. I’m not lying.” 

“ You…” Seeing his childish appearance, He Yunyi couldn’t help shaking his head and sighing. But the person in front of him had a good complexion recently, thinking that he had indeed adjusted his body over the years, his heart was a little calmer, so he no longer forced him.

Li Yuanmin followed with a smile, the corner of his eyes caught on something and his face was stunned at once.

He Yunyi followed his gaze and saw a man in a black suit was sitting not far away, he was tall and strong, his rather handsome face was expressionless. There was an invisible coercion on his body, faintly dispersing everyone around.

He Yunyi was a little frightened, but he only frowned. He always felt that the other party was a little familiar, but he thought about it a lot but can’t seem to know who he was, thinking what kind of divinity was this.

“ This person is so strange, how can he sit and drink tea alone? ”

Li Yuanmin’s heart pounded, but he moved away from the conversation: “Okay, don’t worry about that. In this eventful autumn, although the imperial hospital is not in the middle of the storm, you absolutely shouldn’t be alone, and no matter what be careful.”

He Yunyi saw him being wordy and smiled, but he also answered: “I got it.”

Li Yuanmin took a sip of tea worriedly, the corner of his eyes saw that the man was faintly about to come for trouble,  he could no longer pretend to be calm at the moment, and stood up: “It’s late, we should go.” 

Although He Yunyi was a little reluctant, he could only send him downstairs, when he passed by the man, the man glanced at He Yunyi. Although it was faint, for some reason, a chill arose on He Yunyi’s back for no reason.

Back at the inn, Li Yuanmin had not closed the door yet, when a rough palm opened the door, and the tall man entered. He approached Li Yuanmin, making him step back. He seemed to methodically unfasten the bracer and throw it aside, then the belt, the tunic, and the middle shirt.

“ Go lie on the bed. ”

He said to Li Yuanmin expressionlessly.