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The news that His Majesty the Emperor had brought the future noble consort back to the palace spread throughout the entire imperial city the very next day.
But no one knew who this consort was.
After the noble consort returned to the palace, the ruler didn’t assign them a courtyard, but rather let them live with the ruler himself in the Yangxin Hall. Yangxin Hall’s servants excelled at discreteness in speech and kept tight-lipped about the identity of the noble consort, never divulging even a little bit.
As for the noble consort’s transportation, it was so tightly connected that it was a direct ride on the imperial palanquin, arriving and departing in a matter of seconds. The people simply didn’t have the opportunity to see the consort’s appearance.
Several days passed, they found out nothing except that this consort was a man.
And this news was enough to shock the imperial court.
All the court officials had naively thought that His Majesty had finally come to understand and decided to take a concubine for the imperial family to flourish.
Who would have imagined that the noble consort was actually a man!
Even though there was a precedent for taking men as concubines in Changlu, but which of these late emperors didn’t already have prior concubines and children before they took a male concubine.
Looking at the various ways His Majesty doted on the noble consort, it was clear that the roots of love had already been deeply planted. If this went on, they feared that the harem would no longer be able to accommodate other women.
The court officials couldn’t sit still, and numerous memorials of expostulation were delivered to Jin Wang’s table, almost piling up into a hill.
Jin Wang slammed the memorial down at the ministers in front of him, and laughed in anger, “Is it your turn to tell Gu what to do in Gu’s marriage?”
Inside the imperial study, the crowd knelt down one after another and kowtowed. “Your Majesty, calm your anger.”
Jin Wang sneered. These people simply didn’t really care if his consort was a man or a woman, they only cared about whether or not he could have a son.
It wasn’t that there were no fertile men in this world, but those were all the one in a million Kunjun, which were even rarer in number than the Qianjun.
Everyone’s first impressions were firmly entrenched. No one thought that this consort would so coincidentally happen to be a Kunjun.
Thinking this, Jin Wang’s heart suddenly softened.
Not all Kunjun could conceive, and he didn’t care about this, thus he hadn’t had the imperial physician examine Ye Shu’s situation yet.
Now that he thought of it, it was indeed necessary to summon the imperial physician to check.
It was no problem even if it eventually turned out that there was no way for Ye Shu to get pregnant. Jin Wang never worried about the issue of children. Even if there really were no descendants, it was not difficult to adopt a child from the imperial relatives.
The group of garrulous old ministers were still kneeling, not knowing what to say.
Jin Wang listened impatiently and coldly dropped the words, “Since all the ministers are willing to kneel, then they may continue to kneel here.”
Then he left the imperial study with his attendants.
It had been four or five days since he had been with his little consort.
A backlog of state affairs had accumulated from when they were still in the summer palace. Thus, Jin Wang recently had too many things to deal with and spent continuous nights in the imperial study. Even meetings with Ye Shu were all but moments of haste as there was not much time to talk.
The two were used to sticking together around the clock in the summer palace, and this sudden separation inevitably brought about a feeling of something…missing.
Of course, this thought was limited to Jin Wang.
On Ye Shu’s side, not needing to be in the tyrant’s face everyday, he was happy to be at leisure, living the days of freedom: eating, playing and joyfully wandering.
In the imperial garden, a tiny boat floated upon Qing Yuan lake.
Ye Shu leaned on the boatside, drowsy from the sun, and yawned wearily.
Chang Yuan on the other side of the boat gently swung the oars. “Young master seems to be tired. Shall this subordinate send you back to the bedchamber?”
“I’m not tired,” Ye Shu rubbed his eyes and sighed. “It’s just that this palace is too boring. Playing around all day long with just these few things is no fun.”
Chang Yuan looked down and said nothing.
Ye Shu swept his eyes at the palace maids waiting on the lake shore, and said in a low voice, “We’ve already turned the whole palace. Have you found any weak spots in the guards?”
Chang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said truthfully, “No.”
“The palace is heavily guarded, and there are even guards lurking in the dark. It would be a Herculean task to escape therefrom.”
Ye Shu clicked his tongue, instantly losing the mood to roam in the lake. “Row back.”
Chang Yuan paddled back to the shore. It was when Ye Shu got up and stepped ashore that the dizziness suddenly came without warning, and his figure swayed slightly prompting Chang Yuan to hurriedly support him.
A hint of the faint fragrance of green plums was caught by the keen sense of smell of the wushu practitioner.
Chang Yuan’s breathing was in disarray.
Ye Shu was oblivious to all this. He pulled Chang Yuan’s arm, frowning slightly. “So dizzy……”
Chang Yuan only then came back to his senses.
“…Is the young master alright?” He looked at Ye Shu’s complexion and said with concern, “young master has been a little mentally unwell these days. Shall this subordinate ask for the imperial physician to see you?”
“Hush!” Ye Shu swept a glance at the palace maids not far away and lowered his voice, “Don’t talk nonsense. What if it reaches His Majesty later?”
Chang Yuan was somewhat puzzled. “…Can’t this……be known to His Majesty?”
“Of course not—”
“What can’t be known to Gu?” The man’s clear, low voice reflexively made Ye Shu shiver.
Jin Wang came with his attendants from a distance.  His gaze fell on Ye Shu’s waist and immediately darkened.
Chang Yuan’s hand was still resting there.
Jin Wang was now annoyed. He had wanted to find his little consort to ease his frame of mind, but when he saw such a scene, the suppressed fire in his heart rose all at once.
Jin Wang’s voice instantly went cold, “What are you all doing?”
The surrounding servants fell to their knees in fear, and only then did Ye Shu notice that Jin Wang’s complexion was not good and he quickly pushed the other man away from him.
“Y-Your Majesty……”
Jin Wang walked up to him, his eyes swept over him, his voice steady and unperturbed, “Didn’t Gu ask someone to teach you the established rules of the palace? How come you don’t know how to salute when you see Gu? Is it that the more you learn, the more you regress?”
Ye Shu, “I……”
Usually when he met Jin Wang, he never performed a kowtow nor made his salutations. This dog emperor was simply picking a fault. Did he take the wrong medicine today?
Jin Wang didn’t wait for him to explain and glanced at the group of palace maids. “Who taught him.”
Within the crowd, a palace maid quivered as she answered, “A-Answering Y-Your Majesty, this maid servant…”
Jin Wang said in his insipid tone, “Drag her down and give her a caning of thirty strokes.”
The servants quickly came forward to take the palace maid away, while she cried out for mercy, “Your Majesty, please forgive me!”
“Jin Wang!” Ye Shu stepped forward to block the servants’ way, annoyed, “Just come to me if you’re unhappy. What’s the point of gratuitously implicating a woman?”
Called by his name, Jin Wang’s eyes didn’t hold any annoyance but rather wore a bit of a light smile, his handsome eyebrows almost bewitching. “You say that Gu’s handling is unjustly implicating?”
“Gu charged her with teaching you the established rules of the palace. It’s her negligence that you didn’t learn.”
“Gu not having her flogged to death is already an extrajudicial grace. And you speak of injustice? How?”
The palace maid was so afraid that she couldn’t even let out a sob. Ye Shu couldn’t bear to see women shedding tears at all, and made a decision, “I will receive the caning on her behalf! You hit me!”
Jin Wang’s eyes slightly twitched.
Ye Shu was so angry, incoherently rambling, “Hit me ah, together with the previous twenty strokes. Having this life of mine was a great fortune. If I can’t live, I will never complain and implicate others!”
“You……” Jin Wang’s lips twitched, before he faintly said, “Let her go.”
The servants released the palace maid.
Jin Wang pulled Ye Shu into his embrace. “Come with Gu.”
Jin Wang led Ye Shu towards the imperial palanquin parked not far away.
Recalling the hero that he was trying to be a moment ago, Ye Shu, in hindsight, felt the dread, so deep that his garment began to sweat.
Jin Wang took his hand and held it in his palm. “Your hand is so cold. Are you feeling unwell?”
Ye Shu almost bit his tongue as he said, “N-No!”
Jin Wang, “Then how come you didn’t allow Chang Yuan to call the imperial physician, and you even don’t want Gu to know?”
“You heard it all?” The two looked at each other for a long time, and Ye Shu’s voice weakened, “I’m really not sick. I don’t want to see the imperial physician.”
Jin Wang poked him. “You’re just afraid of taking medicine.”
Ye Shu lowered his head and didn’t answer.
The imperial palanquin soon stopped and Ye Shu looked out, asking, “Aren’t we going to the Department of Prudence?”
This was clearly the emperor’s courtyard.
Jin Wang led Ye Shu into the hall and dismissed the attendants.
Ye Shu asked in a whisper, “You’re not going to punish me?”
He was so obedient and cute that Jin Wang couldn’t help but pinch his cheek and laughed, “You don’t have to be in the Department of Prudence to be punished.”
“Go lie down on the bed, Gu will personally inspect you.”
—
A few moments later, Ye Shu, wearing only thin clothes, was lying on the bed, hugging the quilt and curling into a ball, with his back trembling slightly.
Jin Wang sat on the bedside, holding a fine bamboo whip; one end gently sliding across Ye Shu’s back. “Cold?”
Ye Shu trembled even more. “N-Not cold…”
The emperor’s dragon bed was covered with several layers of flannelette blankets, soft and cozy, with burning earth dragons inside the room, a perfect temperature; neither hot nor cold.
Ye Shu was naturally not cold, he was afraid.
The young man’s figure on the bed was frail and thin, looking incredibly tiny as he curled up, his slender wrists poked out from the cuffs, gripping the quilt so hard that his knuckles turned pale.
Jin Wang’s eyes stared at the white lotus wrist for a moment before moving away. “Do you know what you did wrong?”
“………” Truth to tell, Ye Shu himself also wanted to know. So what exactly did he do wrong?
Ye Shu thought for a moment and with trepidation, said, “This subject should not…should not see Your Majesty without kowtowing, talk back and call Your Majesty by name.”
Jin Wang just looked at him quietly and made no answer.
Ye Shu also looked at him for a moment and continued in a whisper, “…And should not speak ill of Your Majesty behind his back, calling him a dog and saying that Your Majesty is not as good as the A-Wang I used to raise before.”
Jin Wang still didn’t say anything. Ye Shu was anxious and said, “Really, I didn’t do anything else in these past few days!”
“……”
Ye Shu flopped back onto the pillow in discouragement. “Just hit me.”
The hall was so quiet that a drop of pin could be heard. Ye Shu felt the man sitting next to him stand up. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the young emperor holding the bamboo whip, gently tap-tapping it in his palm, his thoughts obscure.
The light sound of the bamboo whip hitting the palm was like a hit on Ye Shu’s heart.
Time passed second by second
Ye Shu withdrew his gaze.
Then, Jin Wang suddenly said, “You owed twenty strokes before, plus this thirty today; a total of fifty strokes.”
“Gu will not be lenient.”
The bamboo whip sharply cut through the void and a sharp sound struck through the air. Ye Shu shuddered and suddenly rolled aside with the quilt. “I was wrong you can do whatever you want to me don’t hit me!!!”
He didn’t hesitate to shout without pause, and opened his eyes, only to find that the bamboo whip in Jin Wang’s hand a moment ago had already been hung to the side, in no intention to hit him.
Jin Wang gazed at him and suddenly laughed, “You look much cuter this way.”
Ye Shu warily locked eyes with him.
Jin Wang tossed the bamboo whip aside and sat down again on the bedside, speaking in a sigh, “Ye Shu, is it that you won’t even face Gu with your true side except when Gu scares you like this?”
Ye Shu was stunned.
Jin Wang leaned over and raised his head, his eyes slightly dark. “You said you would do anything as long as you don’t get hit?”
“……Tell Gu the truth, would you be willing to?”
Ye Shu turned his head to the side, his voice weak, “This subject doesn’t understand what Your Majesty is talking about.”
Jin Wang let go of him and chuckled in mockery, “Sometimes, Gu would rather you curse a few more times than to see you act like this before Gu.”
“The real you would never use our past as a bargaining chip to try and gain leverage.”
“The real you would never allow yourself to accommodate and make concessions for the sake of your greater interests and be soft and show weakness when Gu does something that breaks your bottom line.”
“Ye Shu, Gu has known you for many years and has long understood what kind of person you are.”
“You shouldn’t be like this.”
The hall was silent for some time. Ye Shu slowly sat up from the bed and asked in a low voice, “What is Your Majesty’s…intention with all these statements?”
Jin Wang stood by the window and stared fixedly at him, saying slowly, word by word, “Gu just wants to know what has happened to you, what changed in those three years, and why you have become the way you are now.”
Even at this point in time, his tone still held condescension.
That was not the approach between friends or lovers, it was a gesture of absolute command, which forced the people before him to obey.
Ye Shu’s eyes narrowed down, seemingly pondering.
Jin Wang was in no hurry to urge him either. The two stalled for a moment, then Ye Shu suddenly said, “I understand.”
“Does Your Majesty mean that there are still spells in this world that can change one’s form and appearance and even manipulate their souls?”
“Do you think that I have been manipulated these three years, or that I was just……a different person?”
Jin Wang’s fingertips hidden in his sleeves trembled slightly.
“There are no such things. Jin Wang, stop dreaming,” Ye Shu raised his head and looked at Jin Wang. “The person ten years ago was me, and the person three years ago was also me. I have not changed nor can I change in the future.”
Ye Shu sat on the bed on his knees, his soft and timid appearance from a moment ago had already vanished.
“In fact, you’re just believing your own lies,” he faintly said. “You refuse to believe that I betrayed you; the more you inquire and probe, the more suspicions you perceive, and the more ways you convince yourself.”
“You tell yourself over and over again, ‘Something must have changed in the middle of this, and it wasn’t him who betrayed me.’”
“Therefore, you’re sick of me bringing up the past. You think I’m just using it to exonerate someone who you don’t know if they existed.”
“The truth is, I really  do want to be exonerated. It was for myself anyway.”
Ye Shu softly laughed and asked rhetorically, “I conspired to rebel. Nothing can extenuate such a crime. After the matter was exposed, I have think of a way to exonerate myself, don’t I?”
Jin Wang’s eyes were bloodshot. “You’re not afraid that Gu will kill you……”
“Could it be that if I don’t speak like this, you won’t kill me?” Ye Shu said. “For this entire month, my life has been hanging in your hands at all times, and the slightest carelessness will cause you to seize my handle and tease me in every possible way.”
“What do you take me for, a plaything?”
“Jin Wang, you told me not to act or pretend in front of you, but if I didn’t, would I have been able to live up to this day?”
“Then what about you, have you ever told half a truth in front of me?”
His words made Jin Wang’s complexion turn pale. He closed his eyes and coldly said, “Get out.”
Ye Shu didn’t move.
Jin Wang, “Don’t let Gu say it twice, get out!”
Ye Shu got off of the bed, put on the cloak, took his time to salute, and went out.
He didn’t go too far, but only stood in the open space outside the hall.
The door of the hall slowly closed behind Ye Shu, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Today’s drama was too dangerous.
Jin Wang had already sensed that he was different from the original owner. Instead of letting Jin Wang continue to speculate, hold suspicions, and look for evidence, he should be the one to cut off these thoughts.
All of Jin Wang’s actions these days were the result of his unwillingness to believe that the original owner betrayed him.
Ye Shu didn’t only tear up all the previous pretenses but also tore up the last bit of hope in Jin Wang’s heart.
The funny thing was that even if he told him all the actual facts, Jin Wang still couldn’t kill him. Simply punishing him to stand outside, this was truly nothing but negligible.
If it were a month ago, Ye Shu might feel some guilt. Crushing a person’s hope was the cruelest thing of all.
But who let that dog emperor torment him so. Serves him right.
A cold wind blew past the hall, and Ye Shu wrapped his cloak tightly as he came to this thought.
—
In the blink of an eye, the sky gradually turned dark, yet there were still no lamps lit in the hall.
Jin Wang sat alone inside, his handsome countenance hidden in the darkness, his sunken eyes tinged with gloom.
A knock came from the door and Gao Jin’s voice rang out, “Your Majesty, would you like the servants to come in and light the lamps?”
Jin Wang didn’t answer.
The voice outside the door paused and then continued, “Young master has been standing outside for two hours. The night is windy. If he continues to stand like this, his body might not be able to bear it.”
Jin Wang bellowed, “Get lost.”
He can’t bear it but he still won’t come in and admit his mistakes, then he can continue to stand there ba. Let him stand there until he dies, Gu won’t care about him.
Obviously he conspired to assassinate Gu, so Gu tried to get him to talk about what happened. It was already his ancestors’ virtue for Gu not to kill him.
Anyway, Gu will never admit to being wrong first.
After a few moments of silence outside the door, a cacophony of sounds suddenly rang out.
Then, Gao Jin’s voice also rang out, “Your Majesty, young master has fainted!”
Jin Wang immediately got up, opened the door and saw several servants supporting Ye Shu.
The plain-clothed young man’s complexion was pale, his head tilted to the side, already unconscious.
Gao Jin knelt down. “Your Majesty, even if you are angry with the young master, you cannot take it out on him until it becomes fatal. What should be done now—”
Before he could finish, he saw His Majesty stride forward and snatch the young man from the hands of the servants and take him in his embrace.
Jin Wang carried Ye Shu back to the bedchamber before he swept his eyes to Gao Jin, who was still kneeling in a daze, and said calmly, “What are you still dallying there for? Summon the imperial physician.”
“Yes!”
A/N:
This chapter is two-in-one, consider it my extra work~
I participated in an activity. A bottle of nutrients to vote, I want y’all nutrient bottles=w=
One more thing, this book is very short, about a hundred thousand word count, so the editor and I discussed that we will enter V in advance. It is estimated that it will be at the end of the week, I will notify everyone when the time is set.