Chapter 6. He felt he had spoken too harshly; her well-being and…

Hua Lang closed the door to the main room, forbidding Zhan Yunmei from following her in, and then angrily shouted at her, "Get out!"

That's how he gets angry; there's no other way.

In Zhan Yunmei's eyes, he was still adorable in this state. It was just like that. People who are too weak can turn their anger into coquetry.

"But my soft pillow is inside. Are you planning to make me sleep without it?" Zhan Yunmei leaned against the door and knocked gently.

The door opened, and she stumbled. Hua Lang took a half step back behind the door, about to throw her a soft pillow. She took the opportunity to slip through the crack in the door and closed it again.

With a gentle smile, Zhan Yunmei ignored Hua Lang's exasperation and walked towards the inner bathroom. "I won't kiss you outside next time, don't be angry with me."

She took a quick shower and even had someone change the hot water in, leaving it for Hua Lang. Hua Lang and she stared at each other, and Hua Lang eventually went to the bathroom, her face flushed with anger.

After he went to the bathhouse, the whole room became quiet. Zhan Yunmei first took out the large pieces of charcoal from the stove, leaving only a few small pieces. She put all the large pieces into a basket and had Yao Shuniang take them away.

After walking around the house, Zhan Yunmei found that apart from Hua Lang's necessary clothes and belongings, there was nothing else in the house, and it was impossible to tell that Hua Lang lived there.

Even the bedding was neatly folded, as if no one had ever lived there and it was just an empty room.

Hua Lang felt insecure and had no intention of encroaching on the property, so he had a very small presence in the main house.

This is quite different from the Hua Lang that Zhan Yunmei imagined. He should be the kind of person who is domineering, or even ruthless.

However, even though it was different from what she had imagined, Zhan Yunmei was not too disappointed. Hualang is doing very well now.

She went to the window table, fiddled with the incense burner on it, touched it with her fingertip, and smelled it. It was Hua Lang's scent, a rich fragrance, almost pungent, and somewhat like borneol.

The biggest problem with the previous dynasty's corruption was the heavy taxes that harmed the people's livelihood. All the money collected went into the emperor's private treasury. Hua Lang, the chief eunuch, probably also benefited a lot. Now that he has fallen from power, he can't stand other fragrances, so he has to make do with some that smell similar.

Zhan Yunmei rubbed her fingers together, and fine powder drifted onto the table.

After Hua Lang finished bathing, it was already very late. Zhan Yunmei waited for him to come out, and under his careful observation, she pressed him onto the couch.

He was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized what was happening, raised his hand to cover his body, and said fiercely, "What are you going to do?"

Seeing his posture, Zhan Yunmei couldn't help but laugh out loud. As she got onto the bed, she said, "Hmm, what do you think?"

Hua Lang narrowed his eyes menacingly. Zhan Yunmei's shadow loomed over him, and the candle outside was blown out. He was startled and snapped his eyes shut, but nothing happened except a slight dent in his side.

"Sleep well," Zhan Yunmei lay down and slept on the outside.

Nothing happened, and nothing was true. Hua Lang blushed with embarrassment at his own wishful thinking, and snorted as he tried to push her away.

He still couldn't make a move, and finally lay down in silence, his back to Zhan Yunmei.

Hua Lang was not asleep.

It was too cold in the room. He and Zhan Yunmei were far apart, and there was a large gap in the middle of the blanket. It was big enough to fit another person in, so it was drafty and they were shivering from the cold.

Hua Lang quietly got off the bed, intending to add charcoal to the stove, but to his surprise, all the charcoal had burned out. He didn't want to call Yao Shuniang.

Let's see who freezes to death first!

The next morning, Zhan Yunmei woke up. Hua Lang was really stubborn; he would rather get cold and feverish than come over to sleep next to her.

"Prepare some herbal medicine for Hualang," Zhan Yunmei instructed Yao Shuniang. "I see he's been doing nothing all day. If he's willing, let him be in charge of dinner on Laba Festival. That day is for the rehearsal. After the rehearsal, I'll be going back to the mansion for dinner. You go with him and have someone protect him so he can go out for a walk."

Yao Shuniang didn't understand why she was being so considerate to Hua Lang, so she didn't ask any questions. She just wrote everything down and then told Hua Lang.

Hua Lang listened without much interest, "I don't want to move."

Yao Shuniang placed the medicine on the table, bent down and retreated outside the flower hall. She thought that she should understand the general. Sometimes she couldn't just act as a messenger. If she only acted as a messenger, Hua Lang would ignore her, and the general would be furious.

He then said, “The general is coming back for dinner that night, and the manor won’t be able to prepare anything. Please do me the trouble, sir. The general has given instructions, but you didn’t listen, and she’s coming back to cause you trouble.”

At the first sign of threat, Hua Lang turned around, staring at Yao Shuniang with a mixture of disbelief and suspicion. Yao Shuniang, with a faint smile, slowly retreated.

Enraged, Hua Lang slammed his hand down, knocking over the medicine bowl. Soon, someone came to clean up the mess and handed him fresh medicine, silently demonstrating that his resistance was futile.

If he were to die of illness like this, that would be the best outcome, yet it is also hateful, for Hua Lang does not truly wish to die.

He looked up at the sky expressionlessly, but eventually drank the medicine. After recovering, he followed Yao Shuniang out of the mansion to buy things for Laba Festival.

Zhan Yunmei entrusted the task to Hua Lang with confidence. She believed he was capable, able to establish himself in the court and navigate the palace. The affairs of the household were no challenge for him. In fact, using him to manage the household's festival affairs was a waste of his talents.

“Every year, the General’s Mansion cooks Laba porridge and sets off firecrackers to ward off the epidemic. That’s about it,” Yao Shuniang said as she followed Hua Lang, who was selecting rice and ingredients for the porridge.

Having something to do, and needing to do it, made him feel that he had some sense of purpose, and the gloom on his face lessened a little.

Rice and other grains can be bought freely or carefully selected. Judging from Yao Shuniang's attitude... Hua Lang felt that Zhan Yunmei might care a lot about Laba Festival.

He was unfamiliar with the shops outside the palace, so he asked Yao Shuniang to lead the way to a shop with good quality rice and grains.

Afterwards, he personally went to select firecrackers.

Around noon, Hua Lang felt it was time to leave and head back to his residence. As he stepped out of the shop and onto the carriage, he saw Geng Qi wandering aimlessly in the street.

Hua Lang didn't bother to give him a second glance, looked away, and lowered the carriage curtain.

According to Yao Shuniang's description, Hua Lang had the kitchen staff prepare the meal in advance so that Zhan Yunmei could have dinner as soon as she returned in the evening.

After 5 PM, when it was time for dinner, Zhan Yunmei had not returned, so Hua Lang sat in the main hall to wait.

As darkness fell, the street drum was struck three times, followed by a blizzard.

It's the second day now, and she still hasn't come back.

He sat there waiting for her all night, but she didn't send any messages or give any extra instructions. He suspected that she was deliberately playing a trick on him to vent her anger because he hadn't taken the initiative to climb into her arms that night.

Hua Lang's expression grew increasingly cold. He knew he had no right to complain about Zhan Yunmei, but he still couldn't help being angry. He wasn't angry at her, but at himself. He was angry that for a few moments, he had genuinely believed that Zhan Yunmei was a reliable person, and he was angry that he had actually put his heart into doing things for her.

The food had gone cold, and Hua Lang had no appetite, so she had it taken away and went back to her room.

In the midst of the gloom, urgent voices could be heard outside the mansion.

"Shuniang, Shuniang! Come quickly and help me! The general is in trouble!"

Hua Lang moved her eyelids and lifted a section of the curtain.

A group of people carrying lanterns surrounded Zhan Yunmei in the crowd, with Princess Rongning supporting her and letting Yao Shuniang take her place.

"In the evening, the generals suggested a get-together, but the general couldn't refuse. He left early and encountered a blizzard on his way back, causing his carriage to overturn!"

The training ground was in the suburbs, and it was already quite late after rehearsals. If we wanted to gather, we could only do so within the Beijing military camp. On the way back, there was a blizzard, and the carriages were indeed at risk of overturning.

After hearing this, Yao Shuniang first calmed Princess Rongning down and the crowd down, letting them leave first, indicating that she would take good care of the general with her there.

After everyone left, the general's mansion returned to tranquility.

Yao Shuniang helped Zhan Yunmei into the main house and handed her a medicine box. Zhan Yunmei waved her hand, and Yao Shuniang withdrew.

Zhan Yunmei leaned against the door for a while before calling out, "Hua Lang, come and help me up."

His voice was weary and his tone was casual. Hua Lang couldn't detect the weakness caused by his injury. After a struggle with himself, he reluctantly came over and offered his forearm.

Serving a noble person is like this: having the noble person put their arm around yours usually requires bowing and hunching your neck to convey a sense of submission.

His straight back...

Most people were dismissive.

Zhan Yunmei smiled, unconcerned, and leaned over to sit on the edge of the couch. She beckoned to Hua Lang, who clutched her clothes and backed away.

She sensed a distance in the room; was he angry again? But she didn't know why, so she asked, "What's wrong?"

Hua Lang smelled a strong odor of alcohol and cursed Zhan Yunmei inwardly for being so crude and smelling so bad. He wanted to back away, but reason forced him to stand still.

With his eyelids drooping, he asked, "General, what happened? Where are you injured?"

"Am I that easily hurt in your eyes?" Zhan Yunmei asked casually, reaching out to pull Hua Lang onto her lap.

Hua Lang was shocked and quickly moved away from the place that could burn his skin. He subconsciously raised his hand to strike, but stopped mid-air and forced it back down.

"What does the general mean?"

“The little bit of snow outside the capital shouldn’t have collapsed the carriage. Someone must have tampered with it. How dare they! Tomorrow is the day of the inspection, and they’re trying to harm me today,” Zhan Yunmei pulled Hua Lang back again. This time, she didn’t force him to sit anywhere. Seeing his angry expression, she wanted to lean in and kiss him.

I did what I thought of.

Zhan Yunmei used her hand to force Hua Lang to open his mouth, swallowed her kiss, and gazed at his rapidly blinking eyes caused by panic. She couldn't help but laugh.

She had little contact with him before, only a few glances at him in the imperial court, which made her like him very much. She brought him into her mansion and saw his many facets, which made her like him even more.

When Hua Lang's face turned bright red, Zhan Yunmei, fearing he might suffocate, released his lips. He immediately grabbed her collar and glared at her.

Hearing Hua Lang's heavy breathing, Zhan Yunmei's smile widened, and she continued what she hadn't finished saying earlier: "That person didn't want me to die, he just wanted me to get hurt, so we had no choice but to play along and investigate slowly after the proofreading was over."

"What does this have to do with me?" Hua Lang said angrily, turning his face away to look at the ground. He realized he had gone too far. Whether she was healthy or not was still a big deal to him.

Just as he was getting annoyed, Hua Lang tasted the alcohol in his mouth. It was Zhan Yunmei who had given it to him. He didn't like it, so he had nothing to say but, "It stinks."

Zhan Yunmei breathed into her palm, sniffed the smell, and found it wasn't too unpleasant. She decided to make do and went to rinse her mouth.

After rinsing her mouth, she kissed Hua Lang again, as she pleased. He struggled, but he was too weak. He knew that resisting was futile, so he gave up and let her kiss him.

The panting inside grew heavier. Zhan Yunmei loosened Hua Lang's belt. His eyes were glazed and misty, and he didn't notice her movements.

The rough calluses rubbed against his waist, and Hua Lang suddenly regained consciousness, tightly gripping Zhan Yunmei's neck.

Zhan Yunmei released her mouth, her nose lightly brushing against Hua Lang's, and her palm also left. "Shuniang told me you hadn't eaten dinner. Were you waiting for me?"

"Otherwise what?" Hua Lang pushed her hard onto the couch, frantically tying his own sash.

Zhan Yunmei smiled slowly, "Just kidding. Go and have your meal. I broke my promise this time, I'll make it up to you."

"Who cares!" Hua Lang grabbed a soft pillow and threw it at Zhan Yunmei, her anger so intense she wanted to burn the house down.

Zhan Yunmei leaned back on the soft pillow, watching Hua Lang's departing figure, and suddenly said, "I'll definitely come back after the proofreading tomorrow. Don't have dinner, wash yourself clean, and then wait for me, okay?"

A note from the author:

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