Chapter 41 Why So Good

The next morning, Chu Ran came out of the warm quilt with a messy head of hair. As soon as half of his body was out, Chu Ran immediately felt the coolness in the air. Chu Ran looked down and found that he was actually bare-chested. Chu Ran scratched his head, and he didn't remember when he took off all his clothes last night.

The charcoal fire had gone out, and the room was freezing cold. Chu Ran covered his nose, sneezed loudly, and quickly looked for his clothes on the bed.

Finally, he found his clothes that were squeezed out of shape on the other side of the bed. Chu Ran didn't care about it and quickly put on the innermost layer.

Stimulated by the cold, Chu Ran quickly put on his clothes. He completely opened the quilt, got out of bed, bent down and started to put on his shoes.

The door creaked and Li Fu walked in carrying a basin of water.

Chu Ran stood up, stomped his feet a few times, and then walked towards Li Fu.

"Why did you get up so early today?"

Chu Ran looked at the hot water in the copper basin that was still emitting white steam, and asked with a smile, "Is this for me?"

Li Fu said "hmm".

"Thank you." Chu Ran put his hands into the hot water, washed his hands first, then splashed some water on his face and scrubbed it.

After washing his hands and face, Li Fu handed him a dry towel at the right time.

Chu Ran wiped his face and hands while looking at Li Fu.

Strange, why did he suddenly become so well behaved today? Not only did he get up early to fetch water for him, but he also stood here to pass things to him?

Although Li Fu was usually very nice to him, this was the first time he had been treated like this.

Huh.

Chu Ran noticed that Li Fu's face was abnormally flushed.

He quickly put his hand on Li Fu's forehead, "Are you sick?"

Li Fu's eyes dodged.

"Not a fever." Chu Ran muttered to himself, and touched his forehead again. Comparing it with Li Fu's temperature, it seemed that Li Fu's temperature was normal.

"It's cold outside." Chu Ran said, "You'd better not go out today. Be careful not to catch a cold."

Li Fu lowered his head, his dark eyelashes drooped, and he responded in a dull voice.

Chu Ran reached out and rubbed Li Fu's head.

Every time Li Fu behaved well, Chu Ran liked to pinch him like this.

"I'm leaving."

Chu Ran put the eunuch's hat on his head, tied the straps, opened the door, and walked out in the wind and snow.

Because the yard was covered with snow and the weather was cold, no one wanted to stay outside for long, so after finishing their work, the palace servants gathered in the house to chat and have fun.

Chu Ran found a warm place, hid in a corner, put his hands in his sleeves, closed his eyes, shrunk his neck, and felt drowsy.

The palace servants nearby were discussing what happened at the New Year's Eve palace banquet last night.

"How badly can Concubine Xi dance that she could make the Emperor so angry?"

"That's right, it's just a simple dance. If it wasn't so ugly, it wouldn't have troubled His Majesty."

"You are wrong. I was there last night and I saw it clearly. Concubine Xi danced very well. Not only me, but everyone around was stunned. It was like... like a fairy flying in the sky on the mural!"

"Oh, you are just talking nonsense. If she danced so well as you said, why did the emperor get so angry that he left the room?"

"I said I saw it with my own eyes, but I never lie. I just heard it from others..."

His voice suddenly became very low. Although Chu Ran closed his eyes, his ears pricked up instantly.

"We heard that the problem lies with the Hu Xuan dance."

"What do you mean?"

"I also heard from others that the Hu Xuan Dance was the dance that the late emperor's favorite concubine Rou was best at. It is said that no one in the world can dance the Hu Xuan Dance better than Concubine Rou. When our emperor first saw Concubine Rou dancing the Hu Xuan Dance, he was also amazed for a long time. I think Concubine Xi also learned to dance the Hu Xuan Dance for this reason. I just don't know why the emperor was so furious on the spot."

After a while, a maid asked in a low voice: "Is what you said true?"

"We also heard about it from others. We don't know the details."

"oh……"

Chu Ran was assigned a mission and went out for a trip. On the way, he happened to pass by the palace where the palace banquet was held last night.

Outside the palace, Concubine Xi was kneeling on the high corridor. Judging from her back, it seemed that she had been kneeling there for a long time.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I know I was wrong!"

"I will never dare to do that again! Please calm down, Your Majesty, and see me!"

Even though he was so far away, Chu Ran could still hear Concubine Xi crying and begging to see the Emperor.

"I beg you, Father, to see my mother! I really know I was wrong. I beg you, Father, to see me and your son!"

Li Gaoyou also knelt beside Concubine Xi, crying and kowtowing towards the closed vermilion palace door in front of him. The biting cold wind completely tore apart the boy's hoarse and unpleasant voice.

But no matter how the two begged, the heavy palace door remained tightly closed, with no sign of opening.

After a long time, a eunuch finally came out, sighed, and advised: "Empress Xi, His Royal Highness the Third Prince, please stop kneeling here. The Emperor is angry and will not see you."

"Eunuch! Eunuch, I beg you! Please plead with the Emperor on my behalf. I only ask that the Emperor can see me once!"

She knelt forward a few steps and grabbed the hem of her father-in-law's robe, "Father-in-law, can you help me? I will definitely remember your kindness and repay you in the future."

The eunuch sighed and shook his head: "It's not that we don't want to help, it's just that we don't have any other options."

"How could that be?" Concubine Xi let go of the eunuch's clothes and lowered her head in confusion.

She still hasn't figured out why the emperor was so angry just because she danced.

What did she do wrong?

Chu Ran watched for a while, until his toes stuck in the snow began to freeze little by little, then he hurried away.

Li Dingning got a string of firecrackers from somewhere, took them apart one by one, and asked Chu Ran to help him set them off.

Chu Ran put the firecracker on the ground, squatted down, and lit the front fuse. While the fuse was sparking, Chu Ran quickly ran to the side and covered his ears.

After a while, there was a bang in the yard and the firecrackers exploded.

Li Dingning happily pushed Chu Ran and asked him to continue ordering.

Chu Ran was just about to order when his nose suddenly felt itchy, as if a feather had gotten into his nasal cavity. Chu Ran opened his mouth and his throat opened and closed. After a while, Chu Ran couldn't help but sneeze.

"Go quickly." Li Dingning pushed Chu Ran again.

Chu Ran raised the back of his hand and rubbed his nose, but didn't take it seriously. It was not until the afternoon that Chu Ran felt his head was dizzy and his head was heavy. Only then did he realize that he might have caught a cold.

It must be because I drank a lot of alcohol last night and slept without clothes, so I caught a cold at night.

Alas, he was still worried that Li Fu had caught a cold, but it turned out that Li Fu was fine, and he was the one who couldn't take it anymore.

Getting sick on the first day of the Lunar New Year is a good start.

Chu Ran complained in his heart. Because he was not feeling well, he asked for leave and went back to rest.

No one knew where Li Fu had gone, but he was not in the room. After Chu Ran entered the room, he closed the door tightly, lay down on the bed, covered himself with the quilt, and fell into a deep sleep.

Chu Ran was so drowsy and didn't know how long he had slept. He was awakened by voices outside the door.

In fact, to be precise, he was not woken up by the noise, because the people outside were talking in a very low voice, and even though they were standing at the door, Chu Ran could only barely hear them clearly.

"Eunuch Zhao asked me to come and tell you that the Emperor has issued an edict to demote Concubine Xi to Concubine Xi. From now on, you don't have to worry about the affairs of Zixia Palace anymore."

"Okay, got it."

Li Fu pushed the door open and walked in.