ITOTIABSAM | The Tyrant in the Deep Palace | 66
The next day, Gu Cong woke up early as usual.
The young emperor lay obediently in bed, without drawing the curtains. His hands were folded on his abdomen, his jet-black eyelashes tightly closed, leaving it unclear whether he had truly slept last night or endured another sleepless night.
Seeing that the young emperor showed no intention of attending court as usual, Gu Cong quickly threw on his clothes and grabbed his boots, moving stealthily as if he were a thief, and quietly left the inner chamber:
The young emperor was fastidious about cleanliness, so Gu Cong had to tidy himself up before the other woke up.
With a silent swoosh, as the doors to the chamber closed, the seemingly asleep young emperor opened his eyes. First, he glanced in the direction Gu Cong had left, then he stared fixedly at the ceiling.
1101 was accustomed to this.
With the onset of his headache and the absence of calming medication, the host could hardly sleep for long periods of time. He would only pretend to sleep in front of Gu Cong, closing his eyes until Gu Cong left, then he wouldn't even bother to pretend.
"Let's disable the pain sensation for a while, since we still have some points left," 1101 silently apologized to the host in the simulation, then suggested in a low voice, "We can always charge it to the account."
Blinking, Xie Ye shook his head. "Let's wait a bit longer."
He would only speak up when he truly couldn't bear it anymore.
"Or we could do what we did last night, call Pei Yi to read to you? Make him kneel, and we'll enjoy the free service," 1101 deliberately injected a cheerful and energetic tone, then glanced at the scene in the Quiet Snow Pavilion. Suddenly, it exclaimed, "Is she dead?"
"Chuntao died?!"
Chuntao was dead.
Her body was floating in a nearby well, pale and swollen. When the janitor eunuch approached, following a faint strange smell, a loud scream tore through the dim sky, only to be quickly muffled by his hand.
With no more imperial concubines in the harem now, Pei Yi, the only remaining attendant, had a non-confrontational personality. Whenever someone died, apart from the emperor, there was no need for him to do anything else.
Chun Tao was often seen by Pei Yi, the attendant, her close companion. It was said that last night, for some unknown reason, she angered the emperor, appearing to please Pei Yi on the surface but then ordered his guards to throw her into the well. Such actions indeed resembled those of someone capable of such deeds.
In the eyes of those who witness this, Chuntao's death was seen as a guilty conscience leading to suicide, giving an explanation to the poisoning incident.
"I never expected Chuntao... that she would do such a thing, seemingly fine, why would she conspire against the emperor?" Taking over the task of styling the master's hair, a palace maid named Xia He expressed, "Fortunately, she still had some conscience and didn't further implicate the master for the sake of survival. Otherwise, when the truth comes out, Master, you would inevitably be blamed and punished."
At that time, when Chuntao's body was discovered, several hours had already passed. Although death was not uncommon in the palace, the act of self-harm, which could implicate family members, still caused a stir.
Looking at himself quietly in the bronze mirror, Pei Yi furrowed his brows, skillfully portraying a look of sadness. "I heard her whole family perished in a flood."
This happened just after the former emperor's death, before the tyrant ascended the throne.
There was continuous heavy rain in the southern regions for more than ten days, causing floods everywhere. There were rumors among the common folk that the new emperor, about to inherit the throne, was unworthy, thus attracting such divine punishment.
Having successfully stayed by the tyrant's side, Pei Yi obtained the profiles of all the palace servants from his master. He had planned to promote Chuntao to be his head maid, partly due to her background being easy to manipulate.
However, he didn't expect to use it so soon.
"That flood... sigh." Xia He couldn't help but sigh, but quickly stopped herself, realizing her mistake. The next moment, there were two light knocks on the door.
"Attendant? Eunuch Li is here," a young eunuch bowed, "He said it's an urgent matter and brought quite a few people with him."
Enduring the pain of kneeling in front of Mingguang Hall for two days, it seemed that Eunuch Li had finally found a way to please the tyrant and regain favor.
With a quick thought, Pei signaled Xia He to compose herself, then stood up, wearing a deliberately worn-out look from staying up all night without sleep, and stepped out of the door.
In the courtyard, Eunuch Li, followed by two rows of young eunuchs, was already standing in the center. The servants from Jingxue Pavilion were kneeling all over the ground. As the emperor disliked strong scents, the master never burned incense and only used fruits to scent his clothes. As they stepped out, Xia He caught a strange smell in the air.
The smell was faint but unpleasant, mixed with a scent reminiscent of unboiled water.
Pei Ye, who was leading the way, stopped in his tracks.
"Is Attendant Pei here?" Li Dezhong, after a slight bow, stepped aside to the left, revealing the stretcher covered with a white cloth behind him.
"The Emperor said that Chuntao was the maid Attendant Pei valued the most. Self-inflicted death is a serious crime, so he's afraid of making a mistake. He specially ordered me to bring people here to let you take a careful look," Li Dezhong explained.
As he finished speaking, the thick white cloth was lifted, revealing the body underneath. With the covering removed, the foul smell became even more prominent.
The skin exposed to the air had lost all color, as if all the blood had concentrated into the purplish lips. The fingers hanging down on both sides were blurred with flesh, revealing the white bones, indicating futile struggles and scratches against the well wall, which ultimately proved to be in vain.
Despite the swelling throughout her body and the bloated abdomen, which seemed to have taken in excess water, Xia He still recognized that face.
Chuntao's face.
She felt terrified and nauseous, but the ingrained rules told her she couldn't. She struggled to control her trembling body. Xia He wanted to step forward to shield her master from the sight, but she found that Pei Ye was much calmer than she had imagined.
He was even examining the body more closely.
"It's her," Pei Ye said, feigning reluctance as he averted his gaze. "I never expected His Majesty to be merciful, yet she chose to end her life."
"Perhaps she felt guilty," Li Dezhong, unaware of Pei Ye's true identity as a covert guard, speculated as the plot unfolded halfway. He only knew that Pei Ye was a thorn inserted into the palace by Prince An.
Having decided to lie low for the time being and observe passively, he wouldn't make things easy for Pei Ye anymore. Patting his head, he pretended, "Look at our memory, almost forgot about the other important matter."
"Lianzi Qingxin, His Majesty specifically instructed me to bring a bowl of soup for you, Sir, to calm your mind and ease your worries. Since you're here, let's save the trouble and serve it now."
—Drink soup? Who drinks soup at a time like this?
Even the most obtuse person could now discern His Majesty's dissatisfaction with Pei Ye. Pei Ye took a deep breath, and Xia He, the most experienced among them, steadied herself and took the initiative, "It's hot outside. Eunuch Li, please come in."
"Thank you for your kind offer, Miss Xia He. We still have matters to attend to, so we won't disturb you," Li Dezhong gestured for the eunuch carrying the food box to come forward, and he smiled, "Attendant Pei, please."
Eating among the dead was something Pei Ye had experienced during his childhood, but he didn't believe that the tyrant would actually give him a bowl of ordinary soup to clear his mind and calm his nerves.
However, with so many pairs of eyes watching, Pei Ye reluctantly had to sip the soup from the white porcelain bowl, unable to detect anything suspicious in the liquid, not even a single lotus seed remained.
Nearby lay the lifeless body of Chuntao, he had killed many people, but always in life-and-death struggles, never through acting, deception, or using sweet words.
This made him, who had become numb to killing, feel nauseous again.
He had listened to the sound of Chuntao struggling in the water for a long time last night, trying to erase all traces as much as possible. He couldn't give her a quick death. The splashes of water under the moonlight seemed so insignificant in the deep palace...
Yet, they tormented him so much.
"I'm done drinking. Please, Eunuch Li, go ahead."
The scorching sun above was relentless, but it couldn't dispel the coldness on Chuntao's body. Suppressing the icy churn in his stomach, Pei Ye turned around without looking back.
With things having reached this point, everything was worth it for the sake of his master's grand ambitions.
After all, even if he didn't act, the other party would eventually perish under the tyrant's capricious wrath.
"Sigh..." His own host had never had the habit of checking surveillance, so 1101 dutifully relayed the information, feeling low-spirited as well. "You clearly spared her."
Xie Ye responded indifferently, "Dead people can keep secrets, can't they?"
It seemed that in this world, he had lost the ability to empathize with others. Upon learning of Chuntao's death, he felt no ripple in his heart, even though she had glared at him with such resentment just last night.
With her supposed loyalty, she might become a vengeful ghost after death, and he would be the one haunted.
"Don't be like this, I'm scared," one sentence broke the eerie atmosphere created by the host. 1101 shivered quietly and gently persuaded, "The books in the library don't have to be read there. Why not send someone to bring back Gu Cong?"
With Gu Cong around, there would still be some vitality left in the situation.
But Xie Ye shook his head.
The days in the palace were boring, and since Gu Cong had things he wanted to do, why should Xie Ye insist on keeping him by his side?
But after a few minutes, the seemingly indifferent young man suddenly threw out a sentence: "Surveillance."
1101: ??
What happened to not watching surveillance, respecting the privacy of non-main characters? When it came to certain individuals, principles seemed to go out the window.
No need to guess whose perspective the other party wanted to see, 1101 didn't even ask, and directly projected a scene that only the host and it could see.
The library was built by the water, both for aesthetics and to avoid accidents caused by dry weather. On ordinary days, those who came and went were princes, scholars, and literati. But today, on the second floor by the window with the best view, sat a eunuch dressed in palace attire—blue with gold embroidery.
This color scheme was known only to those inside the palace, and other than Li, the steward, who was widely known, there was only one person who had recently gained favor in the Mingguang Palace—Gu Cong.
When the attending eunuch led the way for him just now, he sneakily glanced and saw that Gu Cong was holding some obscure medical books.
In the early years when His Majesty was still the Sixth Prince, the Imperial Hospital sent people to flip through these rare books. Later, when His Majesty ascended the throne, they were flipped through again. It seemed that there had been little effect, and if it weren't for regular cleaning, they would likely be covered in dust.
Efforts spent on a futile endeavor, Gu, the eunuch, this action of his, was probably just for show to secure favor.
——Initially, that's what the attending eunuch thought.
But gradually, as he quietly observed the situation upstairs, he discovered that the other party seemed to be serious. Not only did he often pick up a pen and write or draw on paper, but he also didn't think about eating long after noon had passed.
Xie Ye noticed it too.
Judging by the number of papers piled on the table, it seemed that Gu Cong hadn't taken a step away.
Just as he was about to call Li Dezhong over to go to the library and deliver a meal for himself, unexpectedly, before he could even open his mouth, a thin, high-pitched voice came through the projection:
"Prince An is here——"
"Prince, may you be blessed with peace and prosperity."
Author's Note:
Xie Ye dislikes watching surveillance, but he can watch someone read for two hours.
Also: Our family.
0 Comments
Post a Comment