Chapter 43 Escape Su Panyue silently said goodbye in her heart. ...
Hearing his inner thoughts, Su Panyue assumed he had discovered her intention to run away, and asked nervously:
"Your Majesty, what is it?"
Xie Lanzhou sat there, looked up at her, and after a long silence, suddenly reached out and gently stroked her face.
Su Panyue shrank back slightly, but restrained herself from dodging. The moment his hand touched her, she heard his inner thoughts:
She actually tried to avoid me?! She dared to avoid me?!
Su Panyue glanced down at him nervously, but couldn't detect any sign of anger. However, his expression did indeed carry a hint of resentment.
After a moment's thought, Xie Lanzhou withdrew his hand. He explained calmly, "There was a hair."
Su Panyue weakly said "Thank you, Your Majesty," then struggled to pull her wrist out of his palm and hurriedly entered the purification room in the back hall.
She simply couldn't understand why someone's innermost thoughts could be so oppressive, making her heart pound wildly.
She splashed a handful of cool water on her face. The water droplets rolled down her skin and rippled in the pool, but her heart gradually calmed down.
Although she didn't know why Xie Lanzhou hadn't dealt with her yet, based on her understanding of Xie Lanzhou, he was definitely not a soft-hearted person when it came to spies.
Therefore, she had to escape as soon as possible. If he really came to settle scores later, she didn't know how terrible her fate would be.
She lingered in the clean room for a long time, finally planning how to escape.
Only then did he get up and return to the inner room, praying as he went that Xie Lanzhou had already left for something.
But when they went inside, there was nothing there.
The man in black robes still leaned lazily against the chaise longue, his hands folded in front of his chest, his eyes closed as if he were dozing.
Su Panyue stole a glance at him and couldn't help but marvel at how uniquely handsome he was. Just lying there was a feast for the eyes, and he was incomparably noble.
Thinking that she might not be able to appreciate such a handsome man in the future, Su Panyue glanced at him a few more times, and suddenly felt a little sad.
Hearing her footsteps, the man slowly opened his eyes and reached out his hand to her.
Su Panyue immediately noticed the white jade thumb ring on his hand, which she had taken from the storeroom and given to him. He wore it every day, only taking it off when he was close to her.
While Su Panyue was still in a daze, Xie Lanzhou had already gotten up and walked towards her, skillfully reaching out to put his arm around her waist.
It smells so good.
She heard Xie Lanzhou's inner thoughts again: was he saying she smelled good? But she hadn't used any incense...
The man picked her up and carried her to the bedside. Su Panyue quickly said, "Your Majesty, my period has started."
This was the reason she had just prepared, but Xie Lanzhou unexpectedly asked her a question in return:
"So what?"
Su Panyue placed her hands on his chest, taking the opportunity to rub him a couple more times, and then explained, "Women cannot have sex when they are menstruating."
Xie Lanzhou frowned as he looked at her, thinking to himself: [Does she think I'm a fool?]
Looking at his expression, Su Panyue was speechless. If she hadn't heard his thoughts, she would have thought he was angry. It seemed that she had misunderstood him a lot before.
But now is not the time for repentance. Seeing that he was unmoved, Su Panyue walked to the bedside in a few steps.
In desperation, he brought up a folk tale he had heard before, "Your Majesty, I have heard that a woman's menstrual blood is unclean, and it is an ominous sign for a man to come into contact with it. So you should go back to the Hall of Mental Cultivation tonight to rest."
Before she could finish speaking, her inner thoughts were already heard: [Who taught her these outdated ideas? If I find out, I'll kill them all.]
Su Panyue swallowed hard, pretending not to hear, and continued, "I am only thinking of Your Majesty's best interests. Please understand my good intentions."
[Finally, he's referring to himself.]
Upon hearing his thoughts, Su Panyue realized that she had forgotten to refer to herself as a concubine, and secretly regretted that she was still careless even when she was about to die.
Xie Lanzhou put her on the bed and finally relented, agreeing, "Okay."
Su Panyue subtly moved a little further in, forcing a smile as she tried to see him off.
But the man remained seated on the edge of the bed, looking down at her.
Su Panyue recognized that look in his eyes; he always looked like that when he kissed her.
She blinked, trying to eavesdrop on his thoughts, but all she heard was silence; her attempt had failed again.
The man remained waiting and watching her. Su Panyue forced herself to say, "It's getting late, Your Majesty should go back and rest early."
Xie Lanzhou remained silent, staring intently at her as if waiting for something.
Finally, Su Panyue decided to take a gamble and tilted her head back to kiss him.
So sweet.
Accompanying his heartfelt words was a man's gentle response.
Su Panyue's eyes inexplicably stung, and she could only try to close them, afraid that if she opened them, tears would fall.
However, Xie Lanzhou seemed to have sensed her emotions. When they finished, he patted her on the back and said, "Get some rest."
Watching the man's tall figure leave, and remembering to extinguish most of the candle flame for her, Su Panyue could no longer hold back. Tears that she had been holding back for so long burst forth, wetting her pillow and leaving two small, dark circles.
He already knew she was a spy, so why was he still treating her so gently? Su Panyue's mind was in a daze, unable to understand.
After crying her fill, she wiped her face hard, rolled over, and got out of bed.
She pulled out a palace maid's dress from the wardrobe and put it on. It was a dress she had worn before, and because it was so new, she had never been willing to throw it away. She never expected it would come in handy again.
She then took out the small bundle she had packed that afternoon and tied it around her waist. Her waist was slender, so even with the addition of a thin, soft band around it, it wasn't noticeable.
After tidying up, she looked around the room, reluctantly saying goodbye, and then saw the gleaming white thumb ring on the bedside table.
Upon closer inspection, it was indeed Xie Lanzhou's. When did he take it off? Su Panyue recalled for a moment, it seemed to be when he held the back of her head and kissed her.
The thought that the two of them might never see each other again made her eyes sting with tears.
After carefully putting the ring away, Su Panyue sat on the edge of the bed in a daze for a long time.
When the bright moon was high in the sky, she knew she could not delay any longer. She finally got up, avoided the guards, and came to the back gate of Jingchun Palace.
She discovered the back door when she came to inspect the palace servants' repairs of Jingchun Palace. The servants in charge of the repairs were going to seal the door, but Su Panyue stopped them and had someone lock it with a padlock. She kept a spare key for herself and never expected it would come in handy one day.
She opened the door quietly. The back door led to a deserted palace path, which Su Panyue had walked along once when she had nothing to do. This path led directly to the Imperial Kitchen.
She was pleasantly surprised when she first discovered this, thinking that she could sneak into the kitchen to steal pastries when she was hungry in the middle of the night.
I never imagined that I would take this path again, but it would be to escape for my life.
Since it was an abandoned path, there were naturally no guards. Su Panyue walked smoothly to the back door of the Imperial Kitchen by the moonlight.
The back door of the kitchen was usually used for transporting goods, so upon entering, there was a shed where mule carts carrying rice, flour, oil, salt, fruits, and vegetables were parked.
Having worked in the kitchen for several months, Su Panyue was very familiar with the place and quickly found the mule carts loaded with fruits and vegetables. Each mule cart had several large baskets on the back.
After lifting the lids of several baskets, she finally nodded in satisfaction. This is it!
There was half a basket of bok choy left over from yesterday. All the vegetables used in the palace had to be the freshest. Vegetables like this that weren't used yesterday would be taken back to the farmers the next day and replaced with a fresher batch.
Su Panyue learned this from the head palace maid. Before Xie Lanzhou took office, these leftovers, even if they were only delivered the day before, would be thrown away. It was only after he took office that he changed this rule.
Su Panyue hadn't expected that with so many things to worry about every day, he would still pay attention to such a small matter. If word got out, no one would believe that the tyrant in the world's mouth would care about whether the leftover food in the kitchen would go to waste.
But now is not the time to think about these things; it's almost dawn, and she needs to hurry.
Su Panyue pushed the bok choy in the large bamboo basket to one side, then squatted down inside. It was a bit cramped, but luckily she was quite thin.
Finding a more comfortable position, I peeked out and pulled the bok choy on both sides back over my head to cover myself.
Everything was pitch black before her eyes. She lay on a cabbage, lost in thought, and missed Xie Lanzhou's warm hand.
But after tossing and turning all night, she was so tired that she fell asleep after a short while.
*
Inside the imperial study, the man she was thinking about was still awake.
He wore a dark-colored nightgown, his long legs bent, and he flipped through a thick book with one hand. The cover had four large characters: "Essentials of Gynecology".
Several thicker medical books, which he had already read, were scattered on the table.
Upon returning from Jingchun Palace, Xie Lanzhou summoned the imperial physician on duty that night and immediately asked, "Can a woman's menstrual period affect her mood?"
The physician who arrived was a young imperial physician who had recently joined the Imperial Medical Academy. Faced with Xie Lanzhou's question, he answered tremblingly, "Your Majesty, I should be able to. Medical books say that during a woman's menstrual period, her liver qi is not smooth, her mind is restless, and her qi and blood are not in harmony, making her more prone to fatigue."
Xie Lanzhou nodded thoughtfully and told him to step back.
He couldn't hear Su Panyue's thoughts anymore, but that didn't stop him from noticing her unusual behavior today. Now that he thought about it, it must be due to her menstrual blood.
He had never paid attention to women's health before, so he ordered people to find many medical books, which he has been reading ever since.
Eunuch Fu came to remind His Majesty, "Your Majesty still has a court session tomorrow, so you should rest early."
Xie Lanzhou put down his book and glanced at the gray sky outside; it seemed to be a rainy day.
"What time is it?" he asked.
Eunuch Fu replied, "Your Majesty, it is already early morning."
Xie Lanzhou walked to the window. A light drizzle had begun to fall outside. He calmly instructed, "Tell the kitchen to prepare some red date, bird's nest, and milk soup. Send it over to Consort Su when she wakes up."
Eunuch Fu responded and sent a young eunuch to the Imperial Kitchen.
When the eunuch arrived at the kitchen to report the matter, Su Panyue had already gone to the palace gate through the back door of the kitchen.
As the carriage jolted and bumped along, she slowly awoke, nudged the little cabbage that had rolled into front of her, and sighed silently.
The mule cart was stopped at the palace gate for a routine inspection.
Hearing the voices of the guards outside, Su Panyue shrank back even further, holding her breath and not daring to move.
Finally, they checked the basket where she was. They could feel the lid on her head being lifted open for a quick look before being quickly closed again.
The guard muttered, "Cabbage is so delicious, how come there's so much left..."
A moment later, the mule cart started moving again and drove away from the palace gate.
Su Panyue slowly exhaled and silently said goodbye in her heart.
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Author's Note: Zhou, your wife ran away! And she told you not to say a word! [Sigh]
Yesterday, one of my darlings guessed correctly: now you can hear someone's heart just by touching them! [doge emoji]
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