CH 27

Yun Qingci didn’t care about him.

It was rare for Li Ying to drink wine, so he had to figure out this matter now. Otherwise, with Li Ying’s cautiousness, he didn’t know how long it would take before he had another chance.

He never denied Li Ying’s abilities, and even though he was reborn, he was hardly an opponent for the reborn Li Ying.

This matter was very important to him; it was about his family and his hatred, he had no way of just letting it go.

“I do, I remember.” Li Ying’s forehead was covered in cold sweat, as he slowly said, “Ah Ci, it hurts, my head hurts.”

He would have a headache after drinking wine, and the more he drank, the more painful it would be.

Yun Qingci only felt that the last layer of the window paper was about to be pierced. He grabbed Li Ying even tighter, his breathing hitched: “Li Ying, are you from eight years later?”

Li Ying closed his eyes heavily.

His expression was painful and stressed, as if he was thinking hard for a long time, before he said in a dumb voice: “No, Ah Ci, no.”

Yun Qingci’s hands suddenly loosened.

Liu Ziru only saw him approach Li Ying and ask something, then suddenly and inexplicably this sentence came, and he let out his breath, as if discovering some secret.

But before he had time to think more, he stepped forward a few steps and said, “Lord Empress, you may not know this, but His Majesty has often had headaches recently. He already went to the Imperial Hospital for acupuncture a few times. I think His Majesty’s headache is definitely not a fake.”

Yun Qingci nodded.

Of course he knew that Li Ying was not faking.

Moreover, he just asked Li Ying very plainly whether he had seen him after his jump from the tower. He didn’t think that Li Ying in his previous life would suddenly have a headache because of the mention of his corpse. Since he dared to kill him, wouldn’t he dare to face him?

Besides, Li Ying, who was drunk, would never lie.

Since he said he was not from eight years later, it must be so.

Why would he have a headache at this moment?

Yun Qingci frowned, looking at Li Ying’s painfully sweat-drenched appearance, but in the end he stood up and said, “Summon the Imperial Doctor to come and see.”

Seeing him walk towards the screen, Liu Ziru felt his heart twitch and said, “Lord Empress.”

Yun Qingci turned to look at him.

He was really a person who dared to love and hate. When he loved, he was crazy, and when he let go, he was calm and gentle. Liu Ziru sighed and said, “Please, Lord Empress allow His Majesty to stay here tonight.”

“Okay.” Seeing Li Ying in this state, letting him sleep here was the only way. Yun Qingci said, “Help him in first.”

Yinxi and Jin Huan stepped forward and helped Li Ying, who was in pain, to the bed.

Liu Ziru looked at Yun Qingci who sat aside and said, “What are you doing in a daze? Take off his clothes, do you want him to sleep like this?”

Liu Ziru: “…”

Didn’t you do this kind of thing yourself before?

Treated as a father, a mother, a cow and a horse, Liu Ziru accepted his fate and went to undress Li Ying but was grabbed by his arm and thrown away heavily.

Li Ying said in agony: “Don’t touch me.”

Liu Ziru said helplessly: “Your Majesty, it’s your servant, Liu Ziru, if you don’t undress, you might catch a cold.”

“No.” Li Ying turned away and kept hugging his head, his voice between his arms sounding a little dull: “No.”

Yun Qingci took a sip of the hot fruit tea and raised his eyes. Liu Ziru looked at him with embarrassment, saying, ”Lord Empress, you see…”

“You two go up and hold him down.” He ordered Jin Huan and Yinxi.

Jin Huan, the older of these two children, was only seventeen, and Yinxi wasn’t even fifteen. When they heard what Yun Qingci said, they were quite nervous. Yun Qingci glanced across: “Move.”

The two of them could only go forward and press Li Ying down. Li Ying’s headache was so severe that when he noticed someone approaching, he waved his sleeves abruptly. The two little eunuchs landed on the ground together, Yinxi grimacing in pain.

Liu Ziru secretly thought it was a close call for him. He looked at the man curled up in pain on the bed, and couldn’t help but say, “Your Majesty, what do you want?”

“Don’t touch me.” Li Ying groaned in pain, his voice low and hoarse: “Lord Empress will be angry.”

Yun Qingci was eating a piece of apple from the teacup. He raised his eyes to look at the man on the bed. For a few moments, he wondered if Li Ying was not drunk at all.

But if he wasn’t drunk, would it be necessary for him to act out this scene, since he’d already confessed to Li Ying and Li Ying had tacitly allowed him to have fun with the actor at will?

But if he was drunk.

Didn’t it mean that Li Ying knew that Yun Qingci didn’t like others to touch him and cared about his joy and anger?

Li Ying cared about him?

Then why did he drive him out of the palace, why did he cheat him out of the Qing Division, why did he let Yinxi and Jin Huan be killed, why did he put the Yun faimily in jail, and why did he let him reach the point of choosing a place to commit suicide?

Since when did he lie to people even when he was drunk?

Yun Qingci put down the teacup, got up and walked over. He waved his hand lightly, and Liu Ziru immediately understood and took Jin Huan and Yinxi to leave together.

Yun Qingci sat on the edge of the bed and called, “Li Ying.”

Li Ying turned his back on him and gasped in a low voice, as if enduring great pain.

Yun Qingci climbed onto the bed, yanked him hard but Li Ying didn’t move, so he kicked him: “Li Ying!”

The familiar voice penetrated the darkness and dissipated the pain. Li Ying finally raised his head and looked at him in confusion and eagerness.

“Ah Ci…”

“It’s me,” Yun Qingci said, “Lie down, you reek of wine, so you need to take off your clothes.”

Li Ying’s forehead throbbed with pain a few more times. He panted, covered in a cold sweat, but he still laid down obediently. He looked tired and as he gazed at Yun Qingci, there seemed to be some fondness in his eyes.

The latter sat down on him and said while undressing him: “I’m asking you, have you really thought about abolishing the Lord Empress?”

“Yes.”

This should be the truth.

Yun Qingci was not angry, he expected it. “Get up,” he said coldly.

Li Ying sat up obediently, still looking at Yun Qingci.

“What are you looking at me for?”

Li Ying lowered his head and was kicked by him: “Say it.”

“…Ah Ci, looks good.”

“If I look so good, why were you thinking about abolishing the Lord Empress?”

“……”

“Speak.” Yun Qingci kicked him again. Li Ying’s eyelashes trembled as he said, “Ah Ci, too fierce.”

“What are you talking about?”

Li Ying’s outer robe was stripped off, revealing the single-colored inner clothes. He pinched the cuffs with his fingers, enduring a headache, frowned and said, “Ah Ci is too fierce.”

Yun Qingci laughed at him angrily: “I am fierce, and because I am fierce, you are going to abolish me? Have you asked yourself why I’m fierce?”

Cold sweat rolling down his forehead, Li Ying muttered: “I’m sorry.”

Even without his robe, Li Ying’s body still stank of wine, so Yun Qingci was about to ask someone to wipe him.

He turned over and got out of bed. Yun Qingci knew that Li Ying could only answer simple questions when he was drunk. He didn’t have the brains to sort out more complicated matters, so he rarely drank wine.

A low voice came from behind: “I just didn’t want to torture each other with Ah Ci anymore.”

Torture each other.

Yun Qingci stopped moving and turned away. He suddenly recalled that Li Ying had actually mentioned peaceful separation to him, before the first concubine entered the palace. 

During that time, Li Ying became taciturn, staring at him occasionally in a daze. Several times he wanted to say something but stopped talking.

Yun Qingci was worried that he was holding something in his heart, so he took him out for a break and attacked him from every angle. He told Li Ying: “No matter what it is, you can tell me, and I will share the burden with you.”

Finally, after a drink, Li Ying mentioned to him a woman called Zhang Mian, the daughter of his uncle.

Yun Qingci remembered this person. The Empress Dowager intended to present Zhang Mian to Li Ying soon after their wedding, but Li Ying refused without hesitation, and a cold war broke out between mother and son.

Yun Qingci found out about it from the Empress Dowager. He was very happy at that time. After that, Li Ying persisted for more than a year with Yun Qingci being the only one in the harem.

But that time, after drinking, he didn’t dare to take Yun Qingci’s hand. He kept his head lowered and talked slowly. He said he couldn’t resist anymore. The previous emperor died suddenly. He’d lasted less than an hour from the onset of illness to his last breath. Li Ying rushed into Jiangshan Palace like crazy. When he knelt in front of the emperor’s bed, the man only had time to curve the corner of his mouth, and the light in his eyes completely disappeared.

Li Ying, who was the crown prince at that time, was caught off guard as he had to take on the country. The ministers, the citizens, the country, the people’s livelihood, all the open shots and hidden arrows, all the deceit and intrigues, came crashing down on him.

Now, he had to make a choice.

Select a concubine to enter the palace to keep the powers in check in the court.

He told Yun Qingci that he couldn’t keep the promise he’d made to him when he was young, and he could only choose between the throne and loyalty to him.

For Yun Qingci, this was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue.

But Li Ying’s next words shocked him even more.

“Ah Ci, let’s separate.” Li Ying finally looked at him, “You go find someone who is better than me.”

It’s not that Yun Qingci couldn’t understand it, but he couldn’t accept it emotionally. That night, he curled in his bed with his eyes red, while Li Ying stood in front of the bed and watched him fall asleep.

Yun Qingci thought about it for three days, and he thought it through. He was already at the point of no return, so he decided to give up a part of his obsession with Li Ying. He promised to let Li Ying welcome the concubine into the palace. The only thing that he didn’t allow Li Ying do was to touch her.

Li Ying didn’t look happy: “Qingci…”

Yun Qingci grabbed his arm forcefully: “Don’t think I’ll let you go.”

He couldn’t live without Li Ying, he knew he couldn’t live without him, so, no matter what, he wouldn’t let Li Ying go.

Perhaps it was because he was too clingy and Li Ying pitied him or perhaps it was because Li Ying was selfish and unwilling to be separated from him for some reason.

There were concubines entering the palace, one, two, three.

Some things are understandable, but it doesn’t mean they are acceptable. Yun Qingci was not a generous person after all. He thought he could always trust Li Ying, but he overestimated himself.

Whenever he went to the Empress Dowager’s place, she would tell him which concubine went to give Li Ying food, which concubine made clothes for Li Ying, and asked Yun Qingci which concubine he thought was more beautiful, and how the little future prince that would be born would be like.

Yun Qingci became distrustful. No matter what others gave Li Ying, he had to find out about it.

Li Ying told him not to go to Taici Palace again, and he more than once ordered the Empress Dowager not to interfere in the affairs between him and Yun Qingci.

But in Yun Qingci’s eyes, Li Ying who did this became even more suspicious.

He thought that Li Ying just wanted to blindfold him, cover his ears and make him a puppet who would not hear, would not see and would not speak.

As a result, they began to quarrel. Li Ying began to reject him, ignore him and did not want to see him, and Yun Qingci, getting one blow after another, became more and more extreme.

He lowered his head and glanced at his wrist.

The wound had been scabbed, but the gauze was still wrapped around it, because Yun Qingci didn’t want to see the scar.

Perhaps, at that time, Li Ying was really thinking this way.

He was always more rational, deeper, more calculating, and more mature than Yun Qingci.

He turned around and asked Li Ying, “If that’s the case, why did you still come looking for me?”

“I… regret it.”

Yun Qingci smiled sarcastically. That little memory failed to arouse his sympathy for Li Ying. He only felt that Li Ying was greedy and hateful and wanted to have both at the same time.

“Li Ying, let me ask you, have you ever thought about pampering anyone else?”

“No.”

“Have you ever thought about getting rid of the Prime Minister’s Mansion?”

“No.”

“Have you ever thought about killing me?”

“…” Li Ying stared at him, a little drunk, but also a little serious: “Never.”

Yun Qingci pursed his lips.

He believed it.

Perhaps, at this time, Li Ying really didn’t think about dealing with the Yun family, maybe he really liked him.

But so what?

Just because Li Ying hadn’t started dealing with him yet did not mean that Li Ying would not in the future.

He personally heard Li Ying’s decree to put the Yun family in jail, and he also experienced being thrown into the Cold Palace and had to commit suicide because he couldn’t live.

“One last question.” Yun Qingci stared at him sternly: “Did you behead my father and brothers?”

Li Ying pressed his temples and shook his head slowly.

There was a movement outside, and Liu Ziru came in, saying to Yun Qingci, “The imperial doctor is here.”

Yun Qingci could only get out of the way temporarily.

He believed that Li Ying would not lie when he was drunk. If he was the Li Ying from eight years later, many of today’s answers would not be like this. He knew that Li Ying had attacked the Prime Minister’s Mansion, and Li Ying would also know it eight years later.

The imperial doctor applied some needles on him, asked him to drink the hangover soup and then left a prescription for medicine in the imperial pharmacy.

After all this was arranged, Li Ying fell asleep.

The room smelled of wine. Yun Qingci was lying next to him and suddenly kicked him heavily. The man’s brows slightly twitched, and he moved aside silently.

Yun Qingci closed his eyes; his thoughts were disordered, and he was in a daze for a while. Then he suddenly remembered something. He turned around and climbed onto Li Ying, grabbed him and shook him vigorously: “Li Ying! You wake up!”

He realized that his words had been too vague. He’d asked Li Ying if he came from eight years later, because he had an obsession with eight years later, but what if Li Ying came from eighteen years later, or twenty-eight years later?

Wouldn’t it be a perfect way to avoid his question?

Did you kill my father and brothers? What if everyone in the Prime Minister’s Mansion hadn’t been beheaded yet before he was reborn?

Although these two questions were somewhat contradictory, Yun Qingci needed to confirm them again.

“Li Ying!”

The sleeping Li Ying’s expression became very uncomfortable. He opened his eyes strenuously, and Yun Qingci couldn’t wait to ask, “Have you ever named Concubine Ning an imperial concubine?”

His eyes lit up, and he trembled with excitement because he was about to tear off Li Ying’s mask and see his true face. This question couldn’t go wrong.

“…no.” Li Ying closed his eyes heavily.

Yun Qingci: “…”

He was very confused.

Really? Then how can all this be explained?

He laid down sullenly.

Next to him, Li Ying, who was gradually getting sober because of drinking the hangover soup, was breathing heavily and sadly.

On the next day, Yun Qingci slept until the sun was three poles high. After he finished washing, he sat at the table and suddenly stiffened.

On a white porcelain dish, there was a puff pastry that looked distinctly familiar.

It looked almost the same as the one he had eaten in his previous life.

Yun Qingci pointed to the puff pastry and asked, “Who sent it?”

“The imperial dining room,” Yinxi replied. “I heard His Majesty personally arranged it early in the morning.”

Yun Qingci felt that he had been fooled.

Dog Emperor, are you humiliating me? He interrogated him for a long time last night, and he didn’t share even a bit of useful information and now he is delivering it to his door by himself?

In Jiangshan Palace, Liu Ziru looked at the Son of Heaven dressed in official robes and wearing the crown.

The emperor was lining up the tokens of all the concubines, carefully examining each of them.

He remembered the sentence that the Lord Empress asked yesterday, not knowing how to express all kinds of questions in his heart.

Li Ying’s fingers were washed very clean. Except for the flour on the cuffs, it was difficult to imagine that he had just been in the imperial kitchen and even made a puff pastry with his own hands.

“If you have anything to say, just say it.”

Li Ying spoke and threw a concubine’s token into the brazier.

Liu Ziru’s expression was hesitant, and he didn’t directly ask whether he really came from eight years later. He considered: “Your Majesty, since you intended to conceal it, why did you have to personally send it to him?”

“Because,” Li Ying paused and said softly, “he loves to eat it.”

Although not explicitly stated, this short sentence contained a considerable amount of information.

Liu Ziru felt incredulous and creeped out at the same time.