Chapter 387 The Emperor's Majesty (First Update)

At this point, even if Consort Jing suddenly became a martial arts master, the emperor would not be surprised at all.

The death of a person's heart can happen in an instant.

Or perhaps his heart had been slowly withering away for a long time, but he refused to believe it, waiting for so-called evidence, waiting for them to go back to the way things were.

As it turns out, it was all just a pipe dream.

With the Dragon Shadow Guards around, even the most skilled fighters can't get through.

Behind her came the shouts and roars of Consort Jing, which sounded somewhat desperate, along with her low sobs and loud cries.

The emperor never looked back.

It seemed that the heavens were not cooperating with his mood at this moment, and instead of a sudden storm, the night was eerily quiet.

He returned to Huaqing Palace.

It was late at night, and all the palace servants except for the eunuch on night duty had returned to their quarters to rest.

Eunuch Wei walked ahead of the emperor, carrying a lantern.

Perhaps sensing the emperor's bad mood, he hadn't dared to speak the entire way. However, since it concerned whether the emperor could rest in peace, he mustered his courage and asked, "Should this servant prepare water?"

The emperor said blankly, "I'm going to my study to read some memorials."

He couldn't sleep.

"Yes." Eunuch Wei did not try to persuade the emperor further. After escorting the emperor to his study, he withdrew and instructed a young eunuch to go to the imperial kitchen to have some congee and snacks prepared.

The emperor has been spending a lot of time in his study lately.

Looking at that face, which looked as if it had been struck by lightning seventeen or eighteen times and was completely disfigured, Eunuch Wei didn't even dare to step forward to serve tea.

Eunuch Wei sighed as he stood guard at the door, thinking to himself, "What kind of mess is this? In just one day, how did they manage to expose Consort Jing so thoroughly?"

Something feels off, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Your Majesty is truly pitiful.

Your Majesty is truly suffering.

His Majesty……

What kind of emperor is this? You're just a eunuch, why are you pitying the emperor? Are you bored out of your mind?

Holding his whisk, Eunuch Wei stood quietly guard outside the door.

The emperor was deeply shocked by a series of truths. Whether it was the true nature of Consort Jing, the late emperor's edict, or the grievances of the Empress Dowager, all of these things left him unable to calm down for a long time.

What saddened him most was the disillusionment with the relationship between Consort Jing and his son, but for some reason, this matter did not seem as painful as he had imagined.

He felt more anger at being fooled and humiliation at being schemed against.

Compared to the disillusionment he felt with his mother, it was the imperial edict from the late emperor that he found even harder to let go of.

He didn't understand what state of mind the late emperor was in when he left an imperial edict ordering Empress Xiande and Consort Jing to be buried alive with him. He had read the contents of the edict carefully.

Although both were buried alive with the emperor, only Empress Xiande was buried in the same coffin as the late emperor, sharing the same tomb in the imperial mausoleum, which can be considered as sharing the same bed in life and the same grave in death.

Consort Jing was buried in the Imperial Consorts' Mausoleum.

As Consort Jing, she was probably filled with resentment, resentful that even in death she would die outside of the two of them, like a third person who could never get in.

He could guess to some extent what Jing's mother was jealous of and resentful.

He couldn't fathom the late emperor's thoughts.

Could it be that the late emperor had already noticed something amiss with Consort Jing and guessed that she would sow discord between him and the Empress Dowager? In order to maintain the stability of the court, he simply decided to go all the way and take both women to their graves?

Or perhaps, the late emperor truly wished for a virtuous empress to go to the underworld with him, offering a bowl of Meng Po soup on the Naihe Bridge so that they could be husband and wife again in the next life?

The emperor pinched his aching brow.

He suddenly realized that he knew nothing about the late emperor.

This imperial edict could not be kept under any circumstances, so to avoid any unforeseen complications, he threw it directly into the brazier and burned it.

As the firelight flickered, the face of Empress Dowager Zhuang inexplicably flashed through his mind.

It's not her weathered face now, but the beauty that once graced the imperial harem in her youth.

The eldest daughter of the Zhuang family, her smile could topple cities and kingdoms; even the three thousand beauties in the imperial harem could not match her beauty.

He still remembers the first time he stood properly in front of her, looked at her, and his face immediately turned red.

Upon returning home, he told Consort Jing, "Your Majesty is so beautiful!"

Was it that time... that planted the seed of jealousy in Consort Jing's heart?

The emperor closed his eyes in self-reproach.

"Why did you hurt Consort Jing? Why didn't you save Father Emperor? What are you really up to!"

"You're a vicious woman; you'll turn your backs on even your closest relatives in your quest for power!"

"The Liu family plotted against you, but Consort Jing took a sword for you; she almost lost her life!"

"The late emperor wanted you to be buried alive with him, and it was Consort Jing who risked her life to steal the imperial edict. Consort Jing treated you with all her heart, but in the end, you couldn't even bear to give her a single snow lotus from Tianshan!"

He forgot that the Tian Shan snow lotus had already been used to treat him.

It's not that the Empress Dowager wouldn't give it to me, it's that she couldn't give it to me.

But she didn't explain anything. She just gave him a deep look, turned around, and walked away.

What kind of grievances and sadness did she feel when she left?

He didn't know... he knew absolutely nothing...

The night was dark and the wind was high.

Bishui Hutong also fell into tranquility.

Suddenly, the light in Gu Jiao's east room turned on.

That's right, Gu Jiao had been pretending to be asleep, and she waited until everyone was asleep before secretly getting out of her bed.

It's still quite hot during the day, but cool at night.

Gu Jiao, wearing only a thin nightgown, tiptoed out and sneaked to the dog kennel in the backyard. Taking advantage of Xiao Ba's inattention, she swiftly grabbed it from the kennel!

Xiao Ba was completely dumbfounded!

Gu Jiao carried Xiao Ba back, thinking she had hidden herself well, but little did she know that she was caught red-handed by Xiao Liulang as soon as she entered the main room.

Gu Jiao blinked: "It's so late, you're still not asleep?"

Xiao Liulang was also wearing his nightgown.

She asked again, "Are you getting up in the middle of the night?"

Xiao Liulang: "..."

Thank you, my kidneys are fine.

Xiao Liulang glanced at Xiao Ba, who was being held in her arms and seemed completely bewildered, and asked, "Why are you holding a dog in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"

"Just...play for a bit?" Gu Jiao said.

Xiao Liulang: Hehe.

Xiao Liulang stared intently at Gu Jiao. He had a knack for making people unable to keep secrets even without getting angry or digging into the details.

Gu Jiao knew that he wouldn't obediently go back to sleep unless she explained things clearly.

That's strange. Was he pretending to be asleep the whole time? Was he just waiting to catch her in the middle of the night?

"Fine, I guess." Gu Jiao finally decided to confess.

Since he was her husband, she couldn't bear to knock him unconscious with a stick.

"I want to test the drug," Gu Jiao said.

Xiao Liulang didn't seem too surprised.

"You guessed it?" Gu Jiao asked him, blinking her eyes.

Xiao Liulang said calmly, "I saw you secretly switching the medicine from His Majesty's."

I really don't know who she learned this trick of switching things out from. She was too fast. If he hadn't been paying close attention, she wouldn't have noticed at all.

Gu Jiao pouted: "No wonder they blocked me in the middle of the night."

"Are you going to use Xiao Ba as a test subject?" Xiao Liulang asked, looking at the puppy in her arms.

Gu Jiao shook her head: "No, I want to try it myself. I want to know what the effects of black medicine and white medicine are, and why they can confuse people's minds."

Xiao Liulang's lips twitched.

"So you brought Xiao Ba here?" he asked.

“Yes.” Gu Jiao nodded. “I don’t know which one is the black pill and which one is the white pill. It doesn’t matter if the target is Xiao Ba.”

It's fine if she gets close to Xiao Ba, but if she really gets disgusted with him, Xiao Ba is Gu Yan's dog, and she won't do anything to Xiao Ba for Gu Yan's sake.

Xiao Liulang imagined the scene of her hugging Xiao Ba and kissing him on the left and right, and he immediately felt terrible!

"No way!" he refused outright.

Gu Jiao thought for a moment: "Then... Xiao Jiu?"

The gyrfalcon is also good.

"I'll test the medicine," Xiao Liulang said, looking at her.

"No, no, you're not a doctor." Gu Jiao firmly disagreed with him testing the drug on himself. She had received drug training in the organization, but he had no experience in this area, and he might not be able to withstand it both physically and mentally.

Both of them were stubborn. They treated each other with respect in ordinary times, but when they really got into a fight, neither of them would give in. For example, Gu Jiao forced him to do rehabilitation exercises, and Xiao Liulang forced her to practice calligraphy.

Finally, Xiao Liulang conceded first: "Fine, you can try the medicine. But I have one condition."

Half an hour later, the two sat in the east room, where the oil lamp shone dimly.

Two identical pills were placed in front of Gu Jiao. Since she didn't know which one was the black pill and which one was the white pill, she could only rely on luck.

"Have you thought this through? If I take the poison, I'll hate you," Gu Jiao threatened.

"Mm." Xiao Liulang nodded and gently took her hand under the table.

Gu Jiao randomly picked one and put it in her mouth.

This medicine doesn't taste like much; instead, it has a licorice-like aroma.

Xiao Liulang stared at her intently, not missing a single change in her eyes.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't nervous at all. What if—he meant—she really did take the black pill, then he would take the white pill instead.

Gu Jiao's body was probably more resilient than the emperor's; it took a full quarter of an hour for the medicine to slowly take effect.

She didn't know what kind of medicine she had taken, but she was very sleepy. Before going to sleep, she looked at the handsome face so close to hers and suddenly grabbed his hand.

She held him tightly, as if she were about to lose him.

Xiao Liulang's throat bobbed with difficulty.

Then, Gu Jiao fell asleep on the table.

She had a long dream, filled with all the places she wanted to go and all the things she liked. The person she saw before falling asleep was also in her dream.

She entered the dream while fully conscious; this was a skill she had learned in her previous life within an organization.

She had been injected with countless hallucinogens and was required to remain conscious at all times.

Of course, she couldn't resist such strong drug effects from the beginning, but she always learned her lesson after each experience of physical and mental torment.

She understood what this drug was all about; it was indeed a drug containing datura, and its effects were similar to the hallucinogens she had been injected with in her previous life—some hallucinogens make people feel good, while others cause people to experience torment and fear.

The face seen when the drug takes effect will keep flashing in the dream. People who have not undergone special training will not remember their dream after waking up, but the feeling in the dream will remain in their subconscious.

If you see that face from your dream again, it will trigger feelings in your subconscious.

Gu Jiao is able to completely detach herself from this feeling, but most people cannot, which is why it has a medicinal effect.

Gu Jiao strongly suspected that these two medicines were not called Black Medicine and White Medicine; they should have more specific names, but it seemed that Madam Nan was not comfortable saying them.

When Gu Jiao woke up, she was leaning against Xiao Liulang's chest.

She wasn't sure if she leaned in herself or if Xiao Liulang carried her there, but it was quite comfortable.

"Awake?" Xiao Liulang asked in a hoarse voice.

His back was soaked with cold sweat. Despite his calm demeanor, only God knows the torment he had just endured.

“I took some poison.” Gu Jiao said coldly. “I had a nightmare. Every time I see you again, I’ll remember that nightmare. From now on, I’m afraid I’ll hate you.”

"Oh," Xiao Liulang said calmly, "then take your hand out of my clothes first."

The person froze, their hand that was touching their small pectoral muscles: "..."

Eek~

This drug is effective for ordinary people, but it has absolutely no effect on Gu Jiao, the top agent who can drink hallucinogens like water.

However, it seems that no further enhancement is needed.

With her husband's five killer moves—chest, waist, abdomen, legs, and looks—Gu Jiao felt that they were more powerful than any drug.

Xiao Liulang actually realized that the girl was taking Baiyao, but this medicine didn't seem to have any effect on her. Although it was strange, he was relieved to think that any medicine would work differently for each person.

Although he was quite looking forward to the effects of the white medicine, one shouldn't be too greedy; it was already incredibly lucky that she hadn't taken the wrong black medicine.

Come to think of it, she's always been quite lucky.

Xiao Liulang couldn't help but chuckle and curl the corners of his lips.

Gu Jiao had already sat up straight and was tugging at her little ears with her hands.

He suddenly leaned towards her, his tall figure and his aura instantly enveloping her.

Gu Jiao stared at him blankly, only to see his long, jade-like fingers gently pinch her chin and place a light kiss on the corner of her lips.

It was quick and light, yet it left an incredibly scorching impression.

Gu Jiao touched the corner of her lips that he had kissed: "Why did you kiss me?"

“A reward.” His gaze was deep as he sat back in his chair. “You didn’t choose the wrong medicine. Very good.”

"Oh." Gu Jiao's eyes darted around. "Is this all you're rewarding me with?"

Seeing her dissatisfied expression, Xiao Liulang chuckled softly: "What else do you want?"

Gu Jiao said matter-of-factly, "I'm watching you take a shower."

Xiao Liulang: "..."

Jiaojiao: I want to see my pentakill!

(End of this chapter)