Chapter 103 Missing

Seeing Li Fu's letter saying he missed him, Chu Ran was happy but at the same time, he couldn't help feeling sad.

It has been more than three months since Li Fu left the capital and returned to Yunzhou. Chu Ran would write to Li Fu basically every month. Due to the underdeveloped transportation in ancient times, it would often take more than half a month for the letter to reach Li Fu. It would also take a similar amount of time for Chu Ran to receive Li Fu's reply. Often, before Chu Ran received Li Fu's reply, he had already written the next letter and sent it to Li Fu.

He always hoped to receive a reply from Li Fu as soon as possible, but what he hoped more was to meet Li Fu as soon as possible.

In his letters, he always reported good news but not sorrow, as if he was very happy in the palace every day. But it was only because he was afraid that Li Fu would worry. Most of the time, Chu Ran was not happy at all in the palace.

In addition to the monotonous life, you have to kneel down and greet people at every turn, and think about a sentence three, four or five times before you dare to say it out loud, for fear of offending the nobles.

Chu Ran felt as if he had gradually developed two faces, one was his original appearance, and the other was the Chu Ran who had become obedient, numb and indifferent, like a robot with a pre-set program, strictly following the program to determine what to do and what not to do.

But there seems to be a fire always burning in my heart. Although the flame may become very small sometimes, it has never been extinguished.

When it was late at night and he was lying alone in bed, Chu Ran would wonder if he would eventually become the person he hated the most. But after a while, when Chu Ran received a reply from Li Fu, he seemed to be full of confidence in himself. He thought, he would not become an emotionless machine.

A few days ago, Li Dingning was released from house arrest, but it was obvious that Li Dingning did not learn any lesson from this incident, because when Chu Ran looked at Li Dingning, he felt that he was the same as before, with almost no change.

However, ever since Li Dingning was released from house arrest, he has taken to running outside the palace. Naturally, as Chu Ran is his personal eunuch, he must go wherever Li Dingning goes.

The frequent trips out of the palace allowed Chu Ran, who was almost suffocating, to finally catch his breath.

In addition, Chu Ran has also been paying attention to the war on the border. Every time there is new news in Yunzhou, Chu Ran is the first to know.

Eight months later, Chu Ran suddenly received news that Li Fu was leading 800 elite soldiers and was preparing to cross the Hu'e Valley, intending to kill the Northern Di people by surprise.

However, this news should have been half a month ago.

I just don't know why the news arrived so late this time. Usually, urgent military intelligence would be transmitted back to the capital after a few days, but this time it was delayed for so long.

After so much time has passed, Li Fu must have safely passed through Hu'e Valley.

Just when the little palace maid was arranging flowers in front of the window, Chu Ran went over to help. As soon as he put his hand on it, he was accidentally pricked by the thorns on the flower branch, and blood soon oozed from his fingertips.

"Eunuch Chu, are you okay? Do you need my help?"

Chu Ran stared at the bright red blood bead on his fingertip with a dull look, and for a long time he seemed unable to come back to his senses. After a long time, he raised his head and looked at the little palace maid opposite him who was talking to him, "What did you just say?"

The maid asked, "Are you seriously injured? Do you need treatment?"

"It's okay." Chu Ran quickly wiped the blood off his fingertips, smiled at her, and said, "Let's continue."

The little palace maid nodded, but when she occasionally looked up at Chu Ran, she found that he seemed a little absent-minded.

When he returned to his residence at night, Chu Ran first cleaned up his room from inside to outside. It was not until it was completely dark that Chu Ran returned to the room, closed the door, and sat on the bed.

He subconsciously placed his hand on his heart.

Very strange.

My heart has been beating very fast these past few days, especially today, I was very restless all day.

It’s okay, Chu Ran thought.

Maybe I just haven’t had enough rest recently. A good sleep will be enough.

After washing up, Chu Ran went to bed early. The next morning, Chu Ran went to Qiluan Palace to find Li Dingning as usual.

Usually Li Dingning gets up later than Chu Ran, so after Chu Ran goes, normally he has to wait for a while before Li Dingning gets up. After getting up, Chu Ran will help him wash and dress. But today, Chu Ran went at the same time as usual, but Li Dingning woke up early, even dressed, and was talking to the palace maids.

Seeing Chu Ran coming, Li Dingning suddenly stopped talking.

"Your Highness, you got up so early today!" Chu Ran greeted Li Dingning with a smile.

"Ah... um..." Li Dingning responded with a somewhat unnatural expression.

"What's wrong, Your Highness?"

Chu Ran has known Li Dingning for so many years and knows him very well. When Li Dingning is hiding something from Chu Ran and dares not tell him, he will have this expression.

"No, nothing."

Chu Ran frowned immediately, "What trouble has your Highness gotten into?"

Chu Ran couldn't think of anything else except this. Li Dingning had occasionally gotten into trouble before, and although Chu Ran, as a servant, would not blame Li Dingning, Li Dingning would sometimes hide it from Chu Ran because he felt guilty.

"Look at what you said, what kind of trouble can I get into?"

Li Dingning frowned, but Chu Ran's gaze was too sharp. For a moment, Li Dingning thought he had seen Li Fu, but soon he couldn't hold it anymore. He said irritably, "Oh, I told you."

"Don't you have a good relationship with Li Fu..."

Chu Ran's heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason. "Yeah, what's wrong?"

"I just got the news that Li Fu was ambushed by the enemy in a certain valley half a month ago and then disappeared. We haven't found him until now. I heard that he might have met with an accident..."