Chapter 71

 

Yuan Ci Xian was climbing down from the bed, her feet were still hanging in the air, when she heard this, she looked down at his hand on her wrist, and touched her ear. Did she hear correctly?

Seeing her like this, Lu Shi Qing let go of her hands, and buried himself into the quilt weakly, faintly said in disappointment: “It’s okay, you can go back.” He then closed his eyes sleepily.

Yuan Ci Xian choked on the spot. Wow, he actually used the loosen the rein to grasp better tactic on her.

She was not going to fall for it, but as soon as her feet touched the ground, she recalled his hoarse and half dead voice when he spoke just now, and couldn’t help but look back at him. With this one glace, she saw his brows were furrowed, his face was flushed, and there was a circle of black and blue shadows under his eyes, he really didn’t look very good.

She scrunched her face, held her breath, and turned back to take the cloth on his forehead, thinking about changing it for him again. Unexpectedly, Lu Shi Qing, as if miraculously, blocked her hand accurately with his eyes closed, and said tiredly and coldly: “What a servant can do, why need you to do.”

Then he also better find a servant to sleep with him.

Annoyed by his attitude, Yuan Ci Xian turned around and left in a fit of anger. After closing the door with a “bang”, she heard a series of broken coughs from the inside.

When there was a war in Diannan, she followed the army doctors for a while, and knew a little bit about skill of listening to sounds and distinguishing diseases, so she couldn’t help frowning. This coughing was definitely not something that could be fake casually for sympathy. It seemed like his cold was hurting his lungs.

She paused, her feet went back and forth between moving forward and going back, and finally opened the door again and walked back. Perhaps part of it was her soft-heartedness, and part of it was a guilty conscience because of Xu Shan’s matter. She stood in front of his bed for a while, then bent over to take off her boots.

The moment she climbed onto his bed, she suddenly realized that this loosen the rein to grasp better was actually an open plot. Those caught in the trick might know that this was a trap, they just didn’t know what to do with the trapper.

Perhaps at the beginning, when she used this trick on Lu Shi Qing, he also knew clearly in his heart.

She shrank her hands and feet cautiously and informed him: “I’m coming up.”

Lu Shi Qing endured his laugh to the point that his wound was throbbing, pretended to be calm and continued to close his eyes and said: “Hmm.”

Yuan Ci Xian felt resentful in her heart, and saw that he still refused to open his eyes. She sat on the bed and didn’t know what position was good, bent her knees then straightened them, then bent her knees again and was about to move her butt, when she suddenly heard Lu Shi Qing ask: “Are you sitting or sleeping?”

Before she could answer, he “generously” pulled and helped her to lie down on her side.

In an instant two pairs of eyes collided, Yuan Ci Xian’s heart skipped a beat, she subconsciously looked into his eyes, saw her slightly flustered expression in the reflection, and hurriedly looked at the ceiling above her head.

Lu Shi Qing seemed to bend his lips, and then stretched out his hand to push her outward, making her lie flat.

Yuan Ci Xian, who was pushed back and forth by him like a puppet, felt unhappy, so she forgot her nervousness, tilted her head and said in annoyance: “What are you doing?”

Of course Lu Shi Qing was afraid that she would stick too close to him face, and saw the camouflaged makeup on his face, but his mouth only said: “You look at me, how can I sleep.”

He wanted her to sleep with him, but she couldn’t look at him.

She silently cursed him inside, turned her back angrily, moved two feet away, leaned on her arm and ignored him.

Because of this, Lu Shi Qing stared at her back.

She was wearing a slightly wide dress today, and when she stood it didn’t reveal her figure, but when she lie down her skirt was pressed tightly, and he was able to glimpse the springtime scene that hadn’t been revealed before. Her waist was slender and her buttocks were full, the sinuous curve was as like a sketch that could be complete in one stroke, amazingly smooth. Further up was a slender neck that was exposed because the black hair was tied into a bun, transparent as jade and white as snow, making people want to bite it so much.

But Lu Shi Qing was afraid that this action would hurt the wound too much and reveal his secret, so he endured and did nothing, just silently covered his heart, while his eyes continued to sneak around.

Halfway through the turn, Yuan Ci Xian slapped the bed board fiercely, turning back almost fiercely.

Like a thief who had been caught, Lu Shi Qing quickly closed his eyes tightly.

The sentence “you sleep with your eyes open” was at the tip of Yuan Ci Xian’s mouth, but she secretly changed it to “Just look again and I’ll stab you blind”, and then turned her back angrily again.

With her keen intuition, Lu Shi Qing didn’t open his eyes again, but his mind was filled with the amazing scene he had just seen, and knowing that she was close at hand, he couldn’t fall asleep at all. He didn’t know how long the time had passed, it seemed that the weather suddenly became cold after the sun set, and a gust of wind blew from the window, and he noticed that the person two feet away shivered from the cold.

He immediately opened his eyes, only then realized that in order to avoid revealing his secrets, he covered himself tightly with the quilt, but he was so preoccupied with erotic thoughts that he forgot that there was nothing covering her body.

Avoiding pulling the wound, he moved out with difficulty, then lifted a corner of the quilt and covered her body.

Of course, Yuan Ci Xian didn’t fall asleep either. Feeling the quilt he share and the sudden rush of heat, her heart couldn’t help beating nervously, and she simply closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

This was exactly what Lu Shi Qing wanted. Win an inch and want a foot, he got closer to her, rolled her whole body into his quilt, hugged her into his arms, and made her back snuggle close to his heart.

Yuan Ci Xian’s breath tightened, and was about to get out and move out, when she heard him whisper: “Don’t move.”

This “don’t move” seemed to have a divine power, and actually made her stop.

He continued: “We’re asleep anyway, so do whatever feel comfortable.”

Yuan Ci Xian was about to say that she was uncomfortable, but his arms wrapped around her waist tightly, and she felt that he seemed to bend his head and pressed his forehead against the back of her neck.

His fever had not yet subsided, and the feeling of skin-to-skin contact became more and more calming and warm, making her suddenly unable to say a word of displeasure against her will.

Feeling that her stiff body was gradually relax, Lu Shi Qing closed his eyes contentedly at this distance where she only needed to jab her elbow back and he would whimper for his life from the rupture of the wound.

After all, Yuan Ci Xian didn’t close her eyes for two days, and as soon as her mind relaxed, the feeling of exhaustion hit like a tide. After a while, she felt her head became heavy and finally fell asleep in his arms. Between waking up and dreaming, she heard a soft but serious voice behind her, as if Lu Shi Qing was saying: “Thank you.”

She opened her eyes suddenly, not knowing what he was thanking, and was about to ask, but only hearing his long and even breathing, as if the words as light as a feather gauze just now were just her imagination.

Yuan Ci Xian woke up at the second watch of the night (9-11pm), because the curfew had passed and she couldn’t leave, but she didn’t have a reason to spend the night with Lu Shi Qing like this, so she went back to the Dongkuan courtyard where she had lived before.

When she took a bath, she felt that the back of her neck was slippery, like it had been coated with a layer of powder. She wondered when Jian Zhi and Shi Cui’s hands became so clumsy, but she didn’t think much about it. Because she was still very sleepy, she quickly fell asleep on the bed again, and returned to Yuan Mansion early the next morning.

Lu Shi Qing slept all night and his fever subsided, with his spirit up he went to the Zichen Hall to serve Emperor Huining. Since he was only facing the emperor, he could easily cover up his injury. The next day, it was time to go to the court. As expected, Ping Prince really had the intention to investigate the officials in the court, and kept arguing with the emperor about a political matter, so as to attract all the courtiers to express their opinions.

Lu Shi Qing was also asked for his opinions several times. Because he didn’t hurt his right palm, he didn’t show his flaws when he came out and cupped his hands, but the bad thing was that the court meeting was extended for a full hour. He already stood straight for the whole morning, and he couldn’t stand it anymore. The makeup used for camouflage could hardly cover his pale face.

Most of the courtiers were impatient, but the matter of taxation in Huainan proposed by Ping Prince this time was a matter of great concern to the emperor. The old emperor was so interested that no one dared to interrupt, even when it approached noon, he was still talking non-stop at the front.

Lu Shi Qing’s back was straight, he silently stood behind with his lips were pursed, but he could hardly hear everyone’s words in his ears, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. Fortunately, Ping Prince focused on the right palms of the courtiers and did not pay much attention to him.

Zheng Zhuo glanced at him silently, knowing that there was probably something wrong with his wound, so he quickly gave Cai He a meaningful look.

This Cai He was the one that Lu Shi Qing recommended using a small force to win a great force, and replaced Jiang Min’s position and promoted as Chief Minister of Dali Temple.

After receiving Zheng Zhuo’s hint, he understood. When Emperor Huining asked him for his opinion, he pretended to hesitate and said: “Return to Your Majesty, this minister have yet made up his mind.”

Emperor Huining saw that he couldn’t be count on, and seemed a little annoyed: “Minister Cai should properly make political judgment at your position, if you can’t make up your mind about this tax avoidance case, who will take it?”

Cai He seemed to have no choice but to come out, cupped his hands in front of the emperor, and showed a thick bandage wrapped around his right palm, which looked greatly injured.

Lu Shi Qing was biting the tip of his tongue because his eyes went dark, relying on the pain and the salty, fishy-sweet taste to support himself, when he raised his eyes to see this scene, he couldn’t help but sighed slightly in his heart.

In order to protect him, Zheng Zhuo sacrificed Cai He.

Seeing that he had captured Cai He, Ping Prince finally stopped being persistent and the court dispersed. Lu Shi Qing turned around while maintaining a straight posture, and just as he took a step, he obviously felt a tug at the wound, as if it finally couldn’t hold back and split.

He frowned, and was about to leave hastily, but Zhang Zhi Xian, his mortal enemy, came up to him at this time, and greeted him: “I see that Assistant Minister Lu’s complexion is not good. It’s been cold in the morning and evening lately. Remember to add more clothes, so that our Great Zhou doesn’t lose its pillar.”

The old man obviously didn’t know what was going on, and he just found fault as usual.

Lu Shi Qing smiled at him. Seeing that Ping Prince was about to pass here, he was already cursing in his heart, but his face could only calmly say: “Troubling Supervisor Zhang to be concern. Your body is getting older, you should take care of your health in case your esteemed son, who has yet passed the exam, will lose the person who expound wisdom and dispel doubt for him.”

Zhang Zhi Xian’s son was incompetent, this sentence could be said to hit the old man’s sore spot, and he was so angry that he kicked his foot and walked away.

Lu Shi Qing breathed a sigh of relief, and heard Zheng Zhuo talking to Ping Prince behind, obviously delaying Ping Prince for him, so he hurriedly gritted his teeth and walked out of the hall. Unexpectedly when he went out of the hall gate, he looked down and saw that blood had already oozing from the front of his chest.

If he went out of the palace right now, he might be encountering another obstacle. Once his obviously abnormal wound was exposed, Cai He’s sacrifice was in vain.

He took a deep breath, pinched the palm of his hand with his nails to keep awake, turned around towards the Hanliang Palace of the Thirteenth Prince, and when he entered the palace pavilion, he was at the end of his strength and could no longer hold on, and fell at threshold.

Shaohe, who was teaching Zheng Hong to read in the hall, was startled when she heard the sound, looked up and saw this scene, and hurriedly got up and rushed forward.

Zheng Hong who was drowsy from studying, was surprised when he saw this: “Assistant Minister Lu, what’s wrong with you?”

Lu Shi Qing had already stood up by holding the door frame before Shaohe came, gave him a salute, and said with a smile: “Your Highness, this official is fine, just accidentally stepped on the threshold.”

Zheng Hong was young, but he was not easy to be fooled, pointing to a large pool of stain on his front: “Then what is that?”

He was wearing a dark crimson official robe, when the blood seeped out, it was making the color of the cloth darker. From a distance it looked like it had been spilled with water.

Shaohe had already rushed to him, and she understood at a glance. Her face turned pale, but she tried her best to remain calm, turned around and said: “Hong’er, Assistant Minister Lu’s official robe is stained with water. You study here at ease. Sister go find him some new clothes.”

Previous     TOC     Next