Chapter 42 Even if he wakes up and blames her, she can just coax him again...
"I was five years old when I held the gun upside down and stabbed myself."
The main room had its doors and windows tightly closed, and the curtains of the canopy bed in the inner room were drawn, with layers of gauze curtains isolating it from the outside world. A small oil lamp hung from the ceiling, which served as the light source, clearly revealing the scars and satisfying Hua Lang's curiosity.
The first thing he noticed was the scar on Zhan Yunmei's neck. Since it wasn't appropriate for him to open his collar to show it in public, he led her inside.
Zhan Yunmei lowered her head, gently pulled down her collar, took Hua Lang's hand, and placed it on the scar.
Five years old, so far away now, so far that I've forgotten the pain, leaving only faint traces of growth, slightly uneven.
"Did it pierce through?" Hua Lang adjusted his sitting posture, kneeling on both knees beside her waist to avoid letting her bear his weight.
Zhan Yunmei smiled slightly, "Give me a kiss, and I'll tell you."
"Then General, you should just hold it in!"
Zhan Yunmei just smiled, reached to her chest, and untied the ribbon. Hua Lang stepped back a little. There was a whip mark on her chest, which she said was from when she was a child and was scolded for being naughty.
Hua Lang frowned visibly. "Why was he hit in the chest?"
Zhan Yunmei had forgotten a bit, and after thinking for a while, she said, "Back then, my mother's authority wasn't enough, so she couldn't send a little girl like me into the army. I pretended to be a boy for several years, and when we fought, we didn't distinguish between special cases or not."
“Oh…” he nodded slowly.
Overwhelmed by indescribable complexity, Hua Lang was speechless for a moment, and suddenly didn't want to read any further. It wasn't good; it was pointless.
He left her embrace, knelt beside her, and focused on tying the ribbon for Zhan Yunmei, whispering, "I don't want to look anymore."
"real?"
"……Um."
"It won't be so easy to agree to see it next time," she joked, not seriously.
“Fine, I won’t agree,” Hua Lang said, crawling back into bed, turning her back to her, and curling herself up. “I need to take a nap, General, don’t bother me.”
Staring at the bulge, Zhan Yunmei said nothing, took down the small oil lamp, and shook it out.
Lying in the dimly lit curtains, one feels drowsy.
Zhan Yunmei simply lay down, facing outwards. Actually, she was also a little sleepy. For some reason, she didn't want to go to the Beijing garrison or attend the morning court session.
If Helan Wan's family were loyal and took her place, could she leave the capital and return to Beiyuan...?
She lowered her eyelids and pondered quietly.
The emperor seemed to have no reason not to let her go.
It's just missing an opportunity.
It's not that he thinks life in Beiyuan is much better than in the capital, but that place is far from the court and far from the hustle and bustle. Hua Lang should be more relaxed there than here. Last time he entered the palace, he could hardly hide the fear in his heart.
She also considered that she might really need to ask Hua Lang if he was willing. She had never asked for his opinion; everything was decided by her.
Suddenly, a tightness appeared at her waist, and a sensation came from her back; it was Hua Lang burying his face in hers.
Just as Zhan Yunmei was about to turn around and hug him back, he spoke softly first.
"Why...don't you hug me anymore?" Her pitiful grievance was blatant.
Long-term thoughts were put aside, and Zhan Yunmei slowly came back to her senses. She didn't turn around, and deliberately said, "Didn't you tell me not to bother you?"
The room was quiet, but Hua Lang seemed to hear the sound of something breaking.
“That’s not what I meant…” His voice trailed off.
She thought he was going to cry secretly, but she didn't expect him to have grown so bold as to press down on her shoulder and force her towards him.
He sat down, took her hand, and brought it to his lips.
From proactive to surprising.
Zhan Yunmei suppressed the urge to smile, glancing up at Hua Lang. The soft, moist touch of his fingertips made her heart flutter, and she gently pursed her lips.
He carried her down, down.
"Hua Lang, you must not engage in licentious behavior in broad daylight."
Pinch his fingertips, preventing him from moving any further.
“Oh, that’s not what I meant,” he said, his back ramrod straight, his neck completely bent over.
Her hair was all hanging down to one side, covering half of her face and body; on the other side, her face and neck were flushed red.
She wanted to laugh.
I held back and asked him instead, "What do you mean by that?"
"Since the general has shown me his scars, I must show them to the general." Her voice trembled slightly.
“I won’t look,” she said.
"I've seen it many times already."
Hua Lang heard the sound of shattering again.
I want to cry.
Didn't she like it when he took the initiative? He's already like this, why is she still like this? Bad Zhan Yunmei.
They talk a good game, but how often do they do this kind of thing in broad daylight? Hua Lang couldn't help but think to himself.
If he doesn't want to hug me, he doesn't want to hug me; if he doesn't want to play with me, he doesn't want to play with me. What can I do?
.
In the duty room of the Beijing Garrison, Zhan Yunmei took off her cloak, lit incense, and randomly picked out a batch of official documents from the stacks on the table to read.
He Lanwan was organizing books in front of the bookshelf. After Zhan Yunmei finished her work, she would learn how to summon troops from her.
"General, a message has come from the manor."
The household usually doesn't send people to deliver messages unless there's a specific reason. Besides, there's unlikely to be any urgent matter at home. If there were an urgent matter, it would definitely be related to Hua Lang.
Zhan Yunmei put aside her official duties.
"Yao Shuniang said that someone from the palace came and took away Eunuch Hualang."
Zhan Yunmei was taken aback, then said with a serious expression, "Prepare the horses to enter the palace."
Having other matters to attend to, and unable to attend to them all, I selected a few urgent books and had Helan Wan handle them.
Hua Lang was nowhere to be seen throughout the palace, and even the palace servants claimed they had never seen him before.
"General, should we report this to His Majesty?" Yao Shuniang lifted her skirt and trotted after Zhan Yunmei.
Zhan Yunmei's strides were too large; she could hardly keep up.
The emperor had granted Zhan Yunmei special permission to enter the palace immediately upon issuing an order, without needing to report to the emperor in advance. Normally, she would report according to the rules, but this trip was too rushed, and she broke her own rules.
After the initial panic subsided, Zhan Yunmei gradually regained her composure. Yao Shuniang, unable to stop in time, nearly bumped into Zhan Yunmei.
"Go, inform His Majesty," Zhan Yunmei raised her hand, but as soon as Yao Shuniang left, she grabbed her again, "Who took Hua Lang away?"
"My attendant, Eunuch An."
The moat was swept by a biting wind, and the snow was like blades, scraping so hard that it cracked and stung people's cheeks.
"General Zhan? What brings you here? You could have just said what you needed to say over there. It's windy here, why did you come here..."
The steward bowed and chuckled, following behind Zhan Yunmei.
"Where does He'an live?"
The steward paused, his face showing a puzzled expression.
The fact that the founding generals kept eunuchs from the previous dynasty in their residences was something these eunuchs in the capital had heard about most, after all, it was a very strange matter.
When Zhan Yunmei rushed over, the first thing she did was ask about He'an's residence. He'an was the eunuch closest to the new emperor.
It's hard for the manager not to wonder if she's just tired of one woman and moved on to the next.
He felt that he was different from the men outside the palace. They were old-fashioned and conservative, and even after a year or two, they could not accept the fact that women were in power. But he could.
Since this general is so infatuated with people like them, if Hua Lang can do it, and He An can do it, why can't he...?
By standing on her big tree, one has the chance to ascend to heaven.
“He’s not here, General. If you need anything, come to me,” the steward grinned, subtly moving closer to Zhan Yunmei.
Zhan Yunmei glanced at him, then lifted her cloak to avoid touching him, narrowed her eyes, and said, "Not here? Are you sure?"
Startled by her cold and stern expression, the steward was stunned.
I've never heard of a general being so fierce...
He swallowed hard and nodded stiffly. "I'm sure, he's really not here. Just let me know if you need anything."
As soon as Zhan Yunmei opened her mouth, a piercing scream exploded in a straight room in the moat.
The steward was surprised and glanced at her guiltily.
Zhan Yunmei frowned and strode over.
He ordered the door to be opened, and a tall, thin figure appeared before him. Looking closer, he saw a person lying on the ground, a pool of blood beneath them. Hearing the door open, the person slowly turned around, covered in blood, with blood splattered across most of their face.
"Hua Lang, come here."
He was told to come over, but in fact Zhan Yunmei had already walked forward, raising her sleeve to wipe the blood from Hua Lang's face.
“Let’s go back to the mansion first,” she said.
Hua Lang slowly came to her senses. Her tightly narrowed eyes relaxed when she saw Zhan Yunmei standing beside her, holding her hand. She nodded slightly and said, "Okay."
The steward was still standing by the moat. When he saw Zhan Yunmei come out, he still tried to go forward, but he was stopped by a female official with an expressionless face as soon as he took a step.
.
“His Majesty was resting in the Chaotian Hall at the time and should not have known about the moat. There was only the chief steward on the other side of the moat at that time. I have already informed His Majesty of your entry into the palace, and His Majesty did not ask any further questions.” Yao Shuniang reported the matter one by one.
"His Majesty knew, but did nothing?" Zhan Yunmei paced back and forth before finally settling back into her seat. "How is He'an?"
"He's still unconscious. The doctor said he probably won't make it."
“Daring to steal the emperor’s private seal and bring people from the General’s Mansion into the palace is a crime deserving of death,” Zhan Yunmei said, stroking her teacup. Her features were clearly reflected in the tea, her expression cold and sharp.
Hua Lang said that he had no choice but to follow the imperial decree into the palace, but he did not expect that he would be taken to the moat instead of seeing the emperor, and that the emperor intended to detain him.
Using Hua Lang to blackmail Zhan Yunmei might be useful, but He An dared to act on his own before the emperor even issued an edict. Eunuchs with too much ambition were favored in the previous dynasty, but not now. The emperor resented anyone who tried to take away her power.
After Hua Lang exposed He An's superficial thoughts, He An took action.
Therefore, it was only natural for Hua Lang to retaliate.
"Is that all?" Zhan Yunmei wrung out the hot water from the towel and wiped Hua Lang's face clean.
His face turned hot and red as the steam hit him.
“…Hmm.” He answered slowly.
Only Hua Lang himself knows the truth.
It's not important that He An knelt before the woman's robes, begging for her mercy; what's important is that he revealed Hua Lang's deepest fear.
Hua Lang has tarnished Zhan Yunmei's reputation.
Inside the palace, Zhan Yunmei was an eccentric with unusual fetishes; outside the palace, more and more people knew of his existence, gradually eroding her outward stature. He became an indelible stain on her.
If you don't mention it, you can pretend you don't know; but if you do, you can't face it.
Hua Lang never expected to act so impulsively, smashing the vase and slashing He An's neck. It was too chaotic at the time, and he couldn't remember He An's condition, but it certainly wasn't good.
Zhan Yunmei touched Hua Lang's face. She could tell that he was holding something back, but he was unwilling to talk about it, so she didn't ask for the time being.
"It's okay, I'm here."
The tea has gone cold.
Yao Shuniang poured another cup of hot tea and handed it to Zhan Yunmei.
“What does He’an matter?” Zhan Yunmei said softly, blowing on the tea, taking a sip, the warm tea soothing and clearing her mind. “Shuniang, bring some medicine powder.”
Main house.
Zhan Yunmei boiled the goat milk, turned her back to Hua Lang, poured the milk, raised her hand to the cup, and gently rubbed her fingertips together.
"Hua Lang, have some water, it will warm your stomach."
Hand it to him.
Hua Lang stared at the milky white liquid in the cup, looked up, blinked, asked nothing, took it, and drank it without hesitation.
As snowstorms blanketed the city, carriages were prepared outside the general's mansion.
Yao Shuniang stood under the carriage, looking up anxiously and said, "General, you gave him too much medicine. My father-in-law probably won't wake up for the next few days. What will we do when he does wake up?"
“Sleep a couple more days, and I’ll be back as soon as I wake up, isn’t that perfect?” Zhan Yunmei said. “Anyway, I can come back, don’t worry.”
"What are you doing in the palace so late?"
"I went to see the emperor and asked for permission to execute him."
She hadn't figured out how to leave the capital, but He'an gave her the opportunity.
Killing one person, covering up another, and losing half of her job—for Zhan Yunmei, this was...perfect.
As for Hua Lang, she felt a little sorry for him, but given his personality, if she didn't come back, he would be scared and awkward for a while. It was better for him to get some rest and sleep peacefully. Even if he woke up and blamed her, she could just coax him.
She was back when I woke up.
When I woke up, everything was fine.
Zhan Yunmei suddenly came to her senses. She hadn't asked for his opinion and had acted on her own. A trace of guilt flashed through her mind.
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