Chapter 10 Who exactly was in Song Jie's bedchamber...?
Is the male lead here?
Xie Yushu was surprised. Was she going to meet the male lead, Xiao Zhen, so soon?
In the original drama, the supporting actress Xie Yushu used Song Jie on the last day of his illness and sent her back to the Pei family. Pei Shilin had also used her to save his brother. The Pei family looked down on her and deliberately prevented her from entering the mansion. On a rainy night, they locked her outside the mansion gate and forbade anyone to open the door for her.
She was penniless and didn't even have a carriage to shelter her from the rain, so she huddled by the back door, soaked to the bone, and cried.
The Fourth Prince, Xiao Zhen, appeared at this moment. He held an umbrella for her, draped a cloak over her shoulders, and said to her with utmost tenderness, "Madam, please come with me to the main gate. I will escort you inside."
In the original drama, Xie Yushu had never been treated so gently before. She once regarded Xiao Zhen as her lifeline and willingly imitated Xie Jianing's posture and appearance to become Xiao Zhen's stand-in.
But how could someone who can be the male lead and kill Song Jie in the finale be genuinely gentle? Xiao Zhen is just a wolf in sheep's clothing, a wolf in sheep's clothing. He "saved" Xie Yushu to find out about Song Jie's illness. He didn't even truly love the female lead, Xie Jianing. Xie Jianing was just a sword he used to deal with Song Jie. He only loved himself and the imperial power.
However, for Xie Yushu now, he is also a pretty good score-farming machine.
"Prime Minister, it seems something has really happened in the palace." Cang Shu reached out and lifted the bed curtains, bowing his head as he presented something to the emperor.
Xie Yushu noticed that it appeared to be a small letter, likely sent by his spies in the palace.
She turned her head to indicate that she wouldn't peek.
Song Jie took it and opened it, and saw a short sentence written on the white paper: "[The Emperor took the elixir and urgently summoned the imperial physician.]"
Something really did happen in the palace.
Song Jie glanced at Xie Yushu, who was pointing his head at him, and said, "Bring Xiao Zhen over."
Xie Yushu said without hesitation, "Then let's call it a day. I'll leave now so as not to delay Prime Minister Song's important business." No refunds for leaving get off work early.
Before she could get up, Song Jie pressed down on her sleeve.
"Let Xiao Zhen answer from outside the door," Song Jie instructed Cang Shu. He then threw the letter into the brazier beside the bed to burn it, and told her, "Don't make a sound in the tent."
Xie Yushu turned to look at him, her brows furrowed, her dissatisfaction undisguised.
“I paid five thousand taels, and not even half an hour has passed.” Looking at her like this, Song Jie was quite certain that if he offered to refund the money, she would definitely deny it.
He just didn't expect Xie Yushu to say, "I will naturally abide by the contract once I have received the money. However, I must first explain that the time you spend talking with the Fourth Prince is also counted within the working hours. If your conversation exceeds one hour, you will need to make up for the corresponding compensation, which will still be calculated at five thousand taels of silver per hour."
Song Jie was amused by her words, "Xie Yushu, I have never seen a woman as good at scheming as you."
"Then you are far too ignorant." Xie Yushu raised an eyebrow and mocked him, his face full of uncompromising aggression.
She shouldn't be playing Jia Ning at this moment, yet Song Jie felt a little dazed. Was this the expression Xie Yushu, the cautious and ingratiating figure, would have? Did Xie Yushu even possess such vivid expressions...?
The barking of dogs outside the door interrupted Song Jie's daze. He pointed at Xie Yushu, but showed no intention of leaving her and stepping out of the bed curtains.
She was so warm, as hot as the blazing sun, that he couldn't deny that the closer he got to her, the more comfortable his frozen body felt.
"The Prime Minister is not available to receive guests, so the Fourth Prince may speak here," Cang Shu's voice came through.
Xie Yushu looked out through the bed curtains and could only vaguely see a slender figure moving on the bamboo curtain.
Then she heard another man's voice outside asking, "Is the Prime Minister feeling any better?"
The voice was completely harmless, like a piece of warm jade landing gently and steadily on satin—it was incredibly deceptive.
Song Jie's voice was very sarcastic: "Did you come here so late at night just to offer a hypocritical greeting?"
He remained gentle and humble as ever, saying, "Although I have important matters to attend to, I am indeed concerned about the Prime Minister's health. I recently acquired a thousand-year-old ginseng and brought it with me today. Please accept it, Prime Minister."
Xie Yushu had to admire Xiao Zhen; he truly was the ultimate winner who survived to the end, able to endure even this.
She was curious about what Xiao Zhen looked like when Song Jie lightly tapped the back of her hand with his finger bone.
She turned her head and saw Song Jie's harsh and dissatisfied face.
The system suddenly chimed: "Host, you have earned 1 point of cuckold value from Song Jie."
ah?
Xie Yushu couldn't understand where Song Jie's feeling of being cuckolded came from.
The system painstakingly analyzed, "According to the data, he did indeed feel 'cuckolded' because you were distracted by looking at other men, perhaps because he felt that you belonged exclusively to him for this one hour?"
Men are really sick.
But Xie Yushu suddenly thought, if she were to provide stand-in services for the male supporting characters of Song Jie, Xiao Zhen, and other female leads at the same time, and they were to develop feelings of being cuckolded by each other, wouldn't she be able to quickly max out her life points and make a fortune?
She was daydreaming again.
Looking at Xie Yushu's obviously distracted face, Song Jie felt inexplicably annoyed. Five thousand taels of silver wasn't for her to peek at other men, nor was it for her to be absent-minded.
He didn't want to be distracted by the face that resembled Jia Ning's, especially by looking at other men, particularly Xiao Zhen.
"Stop talking nonsense, what happened in the palace?" he said impatiently to Xiao Zhen, and reached out to grasp Xie Yushu's index finger through the sleeve of his Taoist robe.
The sticky ointment from his palm stuck to Xie Yushu's sleeve. Xie Yushu instinctively pulled his hand away in disgust, clearly feeling his fingertips break the blister. When he pulled it out, his sleeve was indeed covered in green ointment and red blood.
She frowned and glared at Song Jie, wanting to remind him but unable to do so through his sleeve, when she saw him mouth the words "Add two thousand taels" without making a sound.
Two thousand taels of silver is more than a million yuan. So, it's not impossible to shake hands through sleeves.
Xie Yushu relaxed his brow, shook his wide sleeves, and stretched out his hand from under the sleeves in front of him.
Song Jie was stunned. He didn't expect her to extend her hand to him. What a skillful performance of changing her attitude at the sight of money.
The sleeves of her light blue Taoist robe draped over his knees. In the dim light of the tent, the less clear her face appeared, the more it resembled Jia Ning. He subconsciously raised his hand and slowly took her fingers in his.
But she gently opened it.
Helpless, she reached out from under her sleeve and grabbed his wrist, pointing to his palm and mouthing, "I'm going to stop the bleeding. What are you thinking?"
Song Jie realized what was happening, and his face flushed as if he had been slapped. Yes, what was he thinking? That was Xie Yushu, Xie Yushu who had only stayed after being paid. How could he be so confused as to reach out and grab her hand?
She seemed to be deliberately hurting him, rubbing his broken blisters forcefully.
Song Jie gasped in pain.
She looked up at him, her brow furrowed, and mouthed a complaint, "If you know pain, you should be more careful."
Song Jie pressed his cold chest and stared at those eyes and that face, thinking: Perhaps only a half-dead ghost like him, despised by everyone, would take blame and complaints as concern.
And she portrayed "concern" so convincingly.
She turned to the side to get the burn ointment, causing a breeze to stir the dark blue bed curtains.
※
Outside the bamboo curtain.
Xiao Zhen heard Song Jie hiss and gasp. He looked up in surprise and peered through the bamboo curtain, only to see a faint candlelight.
But he smelled a very peculiar fragrance, like sandalwood mixed with the scent of cosmetics. It was too strange for this cosmetic scent to appear in Song Jie's residence.
Almost all the officials in the court knew that Song Jie had a chronic illness, never got close to women, and didn't even have a maid in his mansion. All the servants from top to bottom were men, except for his mastiff named Panpan, which was female.
How could the scent of perfume suddenly fill Song Jie's room? And in the dead of night?
"My father took the newly refined pills by Master Xuanzhen half an hour ago." Xiao Zhen continued calmly, "A quarter of an hour ago, the imperial physician was suddenly summoned to the palace. He was alone in the Funing Palace tonight, and even the palace servants were not allowed to enter. Until I left the palace, there was no news from the Funing Palace. I suspect that something went wrong after my father took the pills?"
The sound of Song Jie gasping for breath came from inside the room again, as if he was in great pain, followed by an uncontrollable muffled cough.
The bed curtains trembled, and the sound of fabric rubbing together was very clear, one after another, like a caress? Who was caressing Song Jie?
Xiao Zhen glanced at Cang Shu standing in front of the bamboo curtain. Surprisingly, Cang Shu did not rush into the room to see Song Jie as usual.
The only explanation is that the person taking care of Song Jie inside the tent was someone that Cang Shu also trusted.
It's so strange. Song Jie doesn't trust anyone. He doesn't even trust the Imperial Medical Academy. Whenever he's sick, he only asks the old Taoist priest from the Taoist temple where he grew up to treat him.
Over the past few years, Xiao Zhen has not even been able to find out what exactly his chronic illness is.
Even more strangely, Song Jie's coughing gradually stopped amidst the stroking sounds.
Then Xiao Zhen heard Song Jie say in a hoarse voice, "I understand. I will send someone to investigate. Do not act rashly."
Under the silent moonlight, Xiao Zhen wished he could hear every subtle sound in the room. He vaguely heard someone gently "blowing" in Song Jie's voice.
It sounded like someone was blowing on something.
Who was in Song Jie's bedchamber? A woman? Song Jie actually had a woman he trusted? Wasn't he impotent?
Xiao Zhen wanted to hear more clearly, but Song Jie impatiently said again, "Go back to the palace and wait for my instructions. Don't let anyone find out that you left the palace late at night to come to my residence."
Song Jie seemed unusually impatient tonight.
Cangshu said directly to him, "Fourth Prince, I will escort you out of the mansion."
Who is hiding in the house that you're so afraid he'll find out?
Xiao Zhen responded and said meekly with his eyes lowered, "Prime Minister Song, please take good care of yourself."
He turned and left without hesitation. As he passed the side window, Xiao Zhen glanced up and saw a section of a Taoist robe hanging on the floor under the dark blue bed curtains. Underneath the robe were a pair of narrow feet wearing shoes embroidered with jade plum blossoms. One foot was dangling in the air, as if the person was sitting sideways on the bed. Who could be so intimate with Song Jie...?
"Fourth Prince, please." Cang Shu stepped aside, blocking his view, and coldly invited him to leave the mansion.
Xiao Zhen withdrew his gaze, smiled, and followed him out of the mansion.
He got into the carriage and left the street where the Prime Minister's residence was located before he asked the servant to stop the carriage and whispered, "Go and keep watch at the back gate of the Prime Minister's residence."
He wanted to find out exactly who Song Jie was hiding in the mansion.
A note from the author:
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Xie Yushu's bottom line is: see how much more money you offer.
I'm giving out red envelopes today too~ [shy]
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