Chapter 50 Get out of here!

What night is this?

Deep within the draped curtains, a long sigh escaped. Yan Dibai half-covered his head, then suddenly gazed at the flickering candlelight above, his low, hoarse voice like a damp, gloomy trail, winding and lingering on the ground.

The room was filled with a strong incense smoke. Yan Dibai closed his reddened eyes and took a deep breath. The rich fragrance then seeped into his limbs and bones. The boy's body convulsed violently a few times, his pale hands gripping the crack in the floor tightly. He gasped for breath, his lips parted wide, and his half-closed eyes widened unconsciously, his pupils unfocused. On the back of his hands, neck, and temples—purple veins radiated out like those of a climbing tiger.

With another breath, his straight back and abdomen collapsed limply. A sudden flush rose on his pale skin. Yan Dibai raised his head, panting heavily, struggling to endure the agonizing pain.

Time slipped away, and the boy went through countless cycles of "death and rebirth." Sometimes he entered a paradise, sometimes he fell into a hellish abyss.

From beginning to end, no one answered his question.

Fortunately... he wasn't as unpredictable as before, and he didn't get angry.

When the candles in the hall burned out, the dimly lit doors and windows could barely be seen through the bed curtains. Not a single ray of light shone through the white silk.

Yan Dibai squinted his eyes with difficulty, and after a moment of blankness, his turbid mind cleared up a little.

…It's getting dark.

He tilted his head inch by inch, his jet-black hair, unlike its usual glossy sheen, layered beneath him. With each movement, his scalp twitched. A thick strand of hair instantly settled on the golden nanmu wood footrest.

Dust drifted across the ground with each movement. Yan Dibai was bewildered—what was he trying to do?

His gaze glazed over for a moment. Suddenly, his thin, withered arm seemed to burst with strength from nowhere, and he grabbed the scattered gold and jade beads beside him and frantically threw them outwards.

"Where are they? Where are they? I'm asking you, where are they?!"

The pearls shattered, making a crisp, tinkling sound. His roar was shrill and sinister, like a trapped beast on the verge of death.

Still no response.

The boy scoffed, his chest heaving, his aversion to "stillness" fueling all his strength.

Yan Dibai wanted to "escape".

His back arched, and he writhed aimlessly. His bony hands, after much struggle, finally grasped a ribbon. Yan Di's white-haired, red face twitched, making a strange, almost comical expression. He had just mustered the strength to grip the ribbon for leverage. His veins bulged, and his weak legs trembled as they firmly planted themselves on the ground. Before he could take a single step, "Sizzle!"

The ribbon is torn.

With a dull thud, Yan Dibai fell heavily to the ground, collapsing and unable to move for a long time.

Pain swept through every crevice of the bone, mingling with the agony of being gnawed by insects.

Yan Dibai could no longer muster the strength to struggle.

His eyelids drooped slightly, his thoughts gradually being overwhelmed by the rekindled fragrance.

The servant never appeared from beginning to end.

The Xianning Palace in May still retained the warmth of winter. The serving maid, inwardly grumbling about the oppressive heat, slowly carried the golden basin inside. Upon entering, she gasped slightly at the sight of the young emperor's terrifying posture on the floor.

How unlucky. The maid frowned, forcing a smile:

"Your Majesty, the ground is cold. Shall I help you up?"

Yan Dibai's face was hidden beneath thick black hair, as still as a corpse. The maid had seen him like this many times and found it strange. She patiently called her colleagues, who carried him back to the bed and helped him wash and dress. Before long, Consort Jin arrived late. She took the towel from the maid and wiped Yan Dibai's face again, then gently took his hand.

"Your Majesty, I have made some fruit soup. Would you like to try some?"

Yan Dibai was in a coma and could not answer.

Consort Jin, perhaps realizing how amusing it was, patted her hand again.

The boy's body was so muscular that it was almost frightening to touch, and naturally, it wasn't very comfortable. However, Consort Jin didn't feel uncomfortable at all; instead, she quietly combed Yan Dibai's long hair.

The maidservant couldn't bear to watch any longer: "His Majesty took half a bowl of 'immortal powder' yesterday, and he probably won't wake up tonight. It's chaotic outside, and although the princess is watching over him, we can't be careless. You should rest early instead of coming to serve him."

Consort Jin shook her head: "What are you saying? Right now, only I can stay by His Majesty's side. He is the supreme ruler, so naturally I must take good care of him. The chaos outside is a matter for outsiders. I have heard many rumors and gossips when I was in Taiyuan. There is no need to be afraid."

The maid knew her mistress was virtuous and demure, and she was somewhat helpless, knowing she couldn't persuade her. However, since wealth and status depended on the person before her, she couldn't speak recklessly. But as human beings, they were bound to harbor resentment.

“But His Majesty is... impotent. Didn’t we agree to come here to make a living? If we’re really tied together, who knows if the new prince will treat us well as promised after he gains power.”

The maidservant, knowing the young emperor was asleep, spoke bluntly, hitting a nerve. Consort Jin frowned involuntarily.

During these days of getting along, from His Majesty embracing her day and night indulging in unrestrained pleasure to becoming hopelessly addicted to the "divine drug," Consort Jin had witnessed it all. Several times she felt afraid, but she persevered and accompanied him in his foolishness time and time again.

All of this has prerequisites.

At first, she only wanted to live a comfortable life. The young emperor was handsome and skilled in music and poetry. Serving him was a good job, and with someone guaranteeing it, she felt at ease. Like every concubine, the young girl quickly fell in love.

She was incredibly lucky. Just as that person had said, His Majesty seemed to have fallen for her at first sight, spoiling her to the extreme, wishing he could pluck the stars from the sky for her.

Such a young man was someone the aunt had never seen in the past fifteen years.

She often felt fortunate, yet occasionally uneasy—she had seen the beauties in the palace. Each one was no less beautiful than her, and each one possessed talent that rivaled their illustrious family backgrounds.

In what way can she completely compare to them?

The women's eyes were filled with disdain for her. The aunt was always uneasy.

She was timid and didn't say anything when the young emperor sensed something was wrong; she just wanted to get closer to him.

Hurry up and serve him in bed, quickly bear him a child. He is so good, he will surely treat her child just as well.

The thoughts and feelings of young girls are mostly the same.

On the day the young emperor, his heart pounding with excitement, wanted to take the initiative to please her, the emperor turned cold for the first time.

She thought she had done something wrong, or perhaps he didn't like women who took the initiative... But the young emperor soon smiled again.

The laughter was chilling, malicious, and caught off guard.

The boy said in a tone that could be described as jubilant: "...Huh? I can't get it up."

Her face paled, and she suddenly realized that His Majesty had never actually laid a hand on her. His kindness seemed to be shown only in front of others.

In private, he was a high and mighty king, while she knelt on the ground, merely one of his many concubines.

The aunt cried silently.

What I thought was a broad and promising road turned out to be nothing but a pile of foam.

She too will be abandoned. Like the many ladies before her, like that courtier she had only met once.

The emperor's tastes are fickle. It's best to listen to that person, find the imperial seal, and then make a clean getaway.

Still unwilling to accept it, Consort Jin sighed and quietly gazed at the boy's troubled sleeping face.

He was thin then, but not as emaciated as he is now.

Consort Jin felt a little sorry for her, but only a little.

His Majesty enjoys smoking tobacco infused with "divine powder," and becomes irritable and easily angered if he doesn't take it for a day. When she first began serving him, tobacco alone couldn't satisfy his needs; he required pure "divine powder" directly. Now, he can't fall asleep without taking three doses of "divine powder" a day.

However, this medicine is strange.

At this moment, the boy showed no signs of waking up. If it weren't for the slow rise and fall of his chest, he would be indistinguishable from a dead man at first glance.

Consort Jin spoke with the maid for a while, her face full of worry: "His Majesty didn't speak yesterday, and today he hasn't said a word at all. Isn't everyone saying that the Immortal Powder is a magic medicine? I feel that something is wrong with it. How can someone lose weight after taking a magic medicine?"

After consuming the "immortal's elixir," the young emperor visibly lost weight. Now, even his cheeks were sunken, giving him a sickly beauty that seemed eerie.

"Don't high-ranking officials also use this stuff? I see they're full of energy, and His Majesty is no less excited than them. He's probably just tired and needs to rest. Miss, we can't smell this 'divine powder' for long, let's go outside for some fresh air first."

"…Um."

The iron locks clattered shut. Without human voices, the vast palace fell silent and deathly still.

The boy on the bed twitched his eyelashes slightly.

After an unknown amount of time, a faint rustling sound arose in the room. Unlike the open and aboveboard actions of Consort Jin and her servant, the rustling was clearly being suppressed, as furtive as a wood-gnawing mouse.

However, because it was so quiet, even this small sound was exceptionally clear to the ear.

As if confirming there was no danger, the voice began to grow louder. So loud that Yan Dibai frowned slightly, and suddenly, he rolled halfway off the bed, rolled up the curtains, and lay down to the side.

A cross appeared between the boy's brows. His eyelids almost lifted, but closed even tighter the instant he heard the sharp crack.

"—It's so heavy."

The girl's panting echoed in the spacious hall. After roughly assessing her surroundings, Qingqing gripped the solid bed board above her head, slowly lowered the bed board inch by inch by stepping on the footrest.

The mechanism, not particularly sophisticated, hadn't been used in a long time, and the black iron hinges were covered in a thick layer of heavy rust.

Qingqing wiped the dirt off her nose.

When I first heard Wo Xue mention this secret passage, I thought he had lost his mind. I never imagined that climbing all the way from an abandoned ancient well on the second floor of the entire Xianning Palace would actually lead to Yan Dibai's bed.

Looking at the familiar bed, she thought the secret passage was quite ingeniously dug.

She had passed by that ancient well many times when she was still a mid-level worker, but it didn't smell fishy or foul; it was completely unremarkable. So unremarkable that no one was curious about it.

Therefore, no one would associate it with so-called secret passages.

Despite her suspicions, she knew that who dug it and how many people knew weren't the most important things right now. Qingqing shook off the remaining dust from her clothes, looked at the dark palace, and tentatively asked in a low voice:

"His Majesty?"

There was no sound.

She tiptoed around for a while, but the lights in Xianning Palace had long since burned out, and the moonlight couldn't penetrate into the inner hall; it was now completely dark.

No one responded to her.

"..." Thinking of the many rumors circulating recently, a sense of anxiety washed over him. Was Yan Dibai not here?

If Yan Xifang wanted to make arrangements... it wouldn't be impossible.

She was horrified by this idea and immediately turned back to try and open the secret passage again. But when she stepped on the pedal, her legs went weak.

Qingqing froze.

"Ugh..." A faint groan drifted up, and she abruptly pulled her foot back, crouching down and groping around. Hands, lips? Chest... something wrapped around her, "Your Majesty!"

Qingqing excitedly grabbed the boy's clothes. In the darkness, a pair of eyes suddenly opened and met the girl's anxious gaze. A flash of light passed by.

Yan Di puffed out his throat.

Qingqing didn't have time to ask about the current situation. She hurriedly pulled him up, "Your Majesty, I am Yang Liuqing. The situation outside is not good. I'll take you out to hide for a while, Your Majesty—"

The boy stared intently at the girl who was pulling back the bed curtains for him. As she leaned over to pull him toward the bed, he suddenly reached out and pushed her away expressionlessly.

The force was weak and stagnant. But Qingqing still fell, supporting herself on the ground in disbelief and stunned: "Your Majesty?"

Yan Dibai closed her eyes tightly, her thin lips drooping downwards:

"roll."

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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2023-11-15 22:21:19 and 2023-11-17 23:59:09!

Thank you to the little angels who watered with nutrient solution: Qiongqiong (8 bottles); Huanmuji (5 bottles);

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!