Chapter 106 The Sickly and Tyrannical Crown Prince 4

“Even if she sees the Emperor, it won’t make a difference,” Xie Rong said calmly. “The Emperor will only think she’s immature.”

“Even you know who to ask for help from, but she doesn’t,” Xie Rong glanced at the head maid. “The Yeting Palace is fine too, don’t bother me with these things anymore.”

The head maid responded, unable to resist adding, "But when His Highness ascends the throne, there will likely be no shortage of such troubles."

She really understood their young prince, and knew that Xie Rong loved to hear even a few extra words from him.

As expected, Xie Rong's mood improved as soon as he heard the words "successor to the rightful heir," and he curled his lips into a cold snort: "Too talkative."

The head maid curtsied, glanced at Eunuch Gao kneeling on the ground with his cheek swollen from the blow she had made, and looked rather helpless.

"It's cold at night, Your Highness should rest early," said the head maid.

Xie Rong got up, let Gao Gonggong go, and returned to his bedchamber.

The floor heater in the hall kept burning, and the hot water bottles under his feet were replaced one after another, but Xie Rong's feet were still ice cold.

Why is it that he's just a sickly cripple, while that damned Lu Yuanju is stronger than an ox!

The more Xie Rong thought about it, the more agitated he became.

He sat up, smashed the jade ruyi beside his pillow, and said in a gloomy voice, "Tell Ah Chou to get in here."

...

In his dream, Lu Yuanju returned to the grasslands of northern China, where his eagle circled in the sky, responding to him with its cry.

Before he could even have a good race with his eagle on horseback, Lu Yuanju was woken up by a bucket of cold water.

"Ah Chou, His Highness summons you to his bedchamber." The little eunuch dropped the water basin, pinched his nose in disdain, and scanned the dimly lit, low room.

Nine prisoners of war from the northern frontier were sent to the Eastern Palace. They were all strong and robust. During the day, they took on all the dirty and tiring work in the Eastern Palace, and at night they all squeezed into this communal bed.

Although there was no unpleasant smell, as a eunuch, he was the least able to smell the masculine heat emanating from these men.

How hateful! How despicable!

If he hadn't been castrated, he might be the one warming His Highness's body in the bedchamber now, instead of these prisoners of war from the northern frontier!

Water droplets dripped down Lu Yuanju's forehead hair onto the bridge of his nose, and then down the tip of his nose onto his lips.

He smelled the fragrance emanating from the sickly prince again.

Lu Yuanju frowned and asked, "What kind of water is this?"

The little eunuch said sourly, "His Highness's feet were cold just now, and after washing them with hot water, he specifically instructed me to use his foot-washing water to wake you up."

Lu Yuanju raised his hand with a ferocious expression and vigorously wiped his mouth back and forth, as if he wanted to rub it raw.

"Alright, stop dawdling. It's your good fortune, you lowly servant, to be rewarded with this basin of foot-washing water by His Highness! Stop pretending! Hurry up and go!" the little eunuch said sternly.

Lu Yuanju got up, walked to the door and slammed it shut. Then, expressionless, he turned around and grabbed the eunuch, the lackey of the crown prince, by the collar as if he were a chick.

"What...what are you doing! Let me go! I need to go to His Highness to seek justice!" the eunuch shrieked.

There were no lights in the low house. The man holding him up almost touched the roof beam. His arm muscles were bulging, and his dark eyes were as vicious as a wolf eyeing its prey. He could easily crush him into mincemeat with one hand.

The young eunuch suddenly realized that perhaps their prince was raising a tiger to cause trouble by keeping such prisoners of war from the northern frontier by his side.

The moment that thought crossed his mind, the man threw him away, slammed him against the wall, and then he fell to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood. He was in excruciating pain and could only lie on the ground.

“Brother Lu, we’re living under someone else’s roof. Won’t this anger that little prince?” a prisoner of war from the northern frontier asked hesitantly.

"No," Lu Yuanju replied, the water from the foot bath had evaporated due to his body heat, leaving only the alluring fragrance that lingered.

That young prince was a homosexual. He used the excuse of warming his feet to call him over and even put perfume powder in the foot bath water, as if he couldn't tell.

Lu Yuanju sneered, kicked open the door and left, the shackles on his feet clanging all the way until he stepped into the bedroom.

Something came hurtling towards him, but Lu Yuanju reacted quickly and turned his head to dodge it.

Looking down, I saw it was a pillow.

She deliberately gave him a pillow, and also hinted at it.

"Ah Chou, how is my foot bath water?" Xie Rong leaned against the couch, his lips pale, his eyes watery, his black hair loose. He was a pitiful sight, frail and sickly, the kind of person who could touch a man's heart, yet his eyes shone with a deadly poison.

Lu Yuanju strode over, lifted Xie Rong's blankets, and crawled inside, grabbing a cool, delicate foot.

"You lowly slave, who gave you permission to grab my foot!" Xie Rong was both shocked and furious. His eyes, reddened with anger, actually regained some of their vibrant color.

Everyone in the palace listened to and respected him, so His Highness the Crown Prince didn't take a slave seriously at all, arrogantly believing that everyone would fear his imperial authority.

Who would have thought that this lowly servant would be so audacious!

He opened his mouth to call for help, but Lu Yuanju grabbed his slender, white ankle and pulled him in front of him, covering his mouth with his rough hand.

Lu Yuanju suppressed the disgust of touching a man's feet and casually rubbed Xie Rong's ankle through the thin, tender skin with the thick calluses on his fingertips.

Xie Rong had been pampered in the Eastern Palace since childhood. Even when he left the Eastern Palace, he would ride in a sedan chair. The skin on his feet was extremely delicate. The calluses on his feet from the man made them hurt and itch. He didn't care about the dignity of the Crown Prince and opened his mouth to bite Lu Yuanju's palm.

Lu Yuanju felt as if he had been licked by a kitten whose sharp teeth hadn't fully grown in. "Your Highness wouldn't want word to get out that a slave was touching your feet, would you?"

Xie Rong was extremely concerned about his reputation as the Crown Prince, let alone being misunderstood as a homosexual. Hearing Lu Yuanju's words, he was already furious and had come up with countless vicious schemes.

When Lu Yuanju withdrew his hand, he was trembling with rage: "I will kill you! I will definitely kill you!"

"Oh, Your Highness, how do you intend to kill me?" Lu Yuanju, still holding his foot with his other hand, raised an eyebrow and looked at him.

As expected of a prince raised with countless amounts of public funds, even his feet are as smooth as a piece of jade. He's probably even more desirable to homosexuals than the male prostitutes in brothels.

Lu Yuanju vented his malice in his heart.

"I will cut off your hands, cut off your feet, and put you in my wine jar as a hostage," Xie Rong's fingers clenched on the man's clothes, pale and fragile, as if they could be torn off with a single pull, only the resentment in his eyes was about to overflow, "I will also dig open your chest and raise a few dogs to eat your flesh and blood!"

The man's warmth was so comforting that even the feet held by the lowly slave felt warm, and Xie Rong unconsciously moved closer to the man's chest to keep warm.

It seems that the so-called "pure yang substance" mentioned by the Imperial Preceptor is actually effective.

Once he recovers and is no longer afraid of the cold, he will definitely chop off this lowly slave's hand!