As Shen Qingye, Mu Yang, and the others were soaked to the bone by the torrential rain on their way back, this minor farce finally came to an end.
The tyrant seems to be very busy these days. He's nowhere to be seen in the morning or evening, like a dragon whose tail is nowhere to be seen. If Ji Yan weren't so handsome, she would have almost forgotten what he looks like.
Shen Jiao sighed. She didn't know what was wrong, but her memory had been poor lately. She would forget what she had decided a second ago. Perhaps it was because she had lost too much blood from her nose and damaged her brain?
With the tyrant gone, the good thing is that life is peaceful, but the bad thing is that she has to toss and turn for a long time every night before she can fall asleep. To be honest, it's unbearably hot today.
Outside the window, cicadas chirped and birds sang, one after another.
"One against two." Shen Jiao played her card, then looked up and asked her card-playing partners, "I'm so hot, are you guys hot too?"
The so-called mahjong partners were the two very loyal palace maids on the sedan chair. One was named Xi Su, who was tall and fair-skinned, and the other was named Xining, who was pretty and cute.
Out of sheer boredom, she had to find her own amusement and drew a deck of cards to pass the time.
Xi Su shook her head: "Miss, I'm not hot."
Xi Ning also shook her head: "I'm not hot either, but young lady, I'm going to fight one against three."
Shen Jiao hummed in agreement, "That's right, so I'll bet on one against two."
Xi Ning clutched her nearly empty purse tightly in both hands, on the verge of tears: "But Xi Su is the landlord!"
Shen Jiao panicked: "...Don't cry, don't cry, be careful next time, be careful next time."
Half an hour later, Xi Su produced a pair of three, four, five, seven, and eight, and excitedly shouted, "Does anyone want this? There's only one left!"
Xi Ning's expression was grave: "I can't afford it."
What? You can't afford it? Then I'll take it! Shen Jiao reacted quickly, waving her hand: "Royal Flush."
Xi Su was incredulous. "Miss, I only have one card left."
Shen Jiao said smugly, "I know, that's why it's the royal flush."
Xi Su looked down at her empty purse and couldn't help but cry out, "But girl, Xining was the landlord this time!"
Shen Jiao's expression froze: "..."
Do you believe me if I say it was an accident? Do you believe me if I say you were all so beautiful that I couldn't tell who was who? Do you believe me if I say I was just possessed by a ghost and the person playing the cards wasn't me?
Naturally, Shen Jiao didn't believe it. One of the two girls cried while holding the money bag, saying that three coins were missing, and the other cried while holding the money bag, saying that one tael of silver was missing. Shen Jiao was driven crazy by their crying.
Perhaps deeply influenced by Liang Heng, she couldn't bear to see pretty girls cry. She frantically tried to comfort one girl and another, getting herself into a frenzy. Suddenly, she saw a pile of IOUs in front of her, and wow, she wanted to cry too.
The biggest impact of declining memory is that it leads to losing money when playing cards. So, after playing cards for three days, Shen Jiao not only lost all her savings but also incurred a huge gambling debt.
Moreover, no matter how much she tried to persuade them, even after she had talked herself hoarse, Xi Su and Xi Ning still refused to let her repay the debt in her next life.
Sigh, talking about money really hurts feelings.
A little gambling is harmless, but excessive gambling is harmful. Shen Jiao decided to quit gambling and find some free entertainment, such as chatting with the little divine doctor, discussing poetry and songs. Most importantly, they could also talk about which brothel in the royal city had the prettiest girls and which brothel had the most wanton male prostitutes.
Strangely enough, ever since Ji Yan became so busy that she disappeared, even Liang Heng, who was always full of witty remarks, became unusually busy, carrying a small medicine stove and constantly pounding it from morning till night.
That day, just as Shen Jiao arrived at the door, there was a loud "bang." Liang Heng, with a dark face and messy hair, opened the door, revealing a set of white teeth as he exhaled several smoke rings. "Sister Shen, good afternoon! It's been a day. How have you been? Did you miss me?"
Shen Jiao: "No, I'm fine. But Brother Liang, how are you?"
Thanks to the brothel girls, she has now successfully risen to the point of being on friendly terms with Liang Heng.
"I'm fine."
As soon as he finished speaking, Liang Heng's smile froze, his vision went black, and he collapsed to the ground. This kind of situation had become commonplace during this period. Shen Jiao calmly picked up two buckets of water and splashed them on him to wake him up.
"Brother Liang, do you know what His Majesty has been busy with lately?"
Liang Heng took the towel she handed him and wiped the water off his face. "I don't know, Sister Chen. You asked me this question yesterday."
Shen Jiao was surprised. "Really? Then let's change the subject. When will His Majesty return?"
"I don't know, but you asked me that question the day before yesterday." Liang Heng wrung out his wet hair. His dark face made it impossible for her to see his expression, but she could sense that he was troubled.
I understand, I understand. How can the emperor's whereabouts be revealed to others so casually? Therefore, her question put the little divine doctor in a very difficult position.
So, Shen Jiao thought she couldn't leave empty-handed, so she borrowed ten taels of silver from Liang Heng and decided to go back and fight Xi Su and Xi Ning for three hundred rounds.
After Shen Jiao left, Liang Heng abandoned his nonchalant attitude and said to the air, "Please inform His Majesty that time is of the essence and we hope that the medicine can be retrieved as soon as possible."
No one answered; only the dense shadows of the trees swayed gently.
...
Although Ji Yan was not in the palace, Shen Jiao's health gradually recovered under the care of the cook's eight meals a day and Liang Heng's various pills. She even showed signs of gaining weight. She pinched the soft flesh around her waist and was thinking about whether she should lose some weight when her stomach suddenly rumbled.
Hmm, how about we eat first? We need to be full to have the energy to lose weight.
Today it was Xi Su's turn to work the night shift, and Shen Jiao invited her to join her for a nighttime stroll through the kitchen.
Just as a plate of fried chicken legs, which she hadn't had in a long time, was served, a cold hand suddenly touched the back of her neck, like a cold and ruthless venomous snake. This all-too-familiar feeling made her spine stiffen.
"Your Majesty!" Shen Jiao turned around, not even realizing how much joy was contained in her address of "Your Majesty".
After a long absence, the tyrant still had the same handsome face. Perhaps it was because the light was not good at night and the shadows were heavy, but he looked a little thinner. His face was still as pale as snow. The moonlight fell down and his hair was translucent, like a fairy who had fallen from the heavens to the mortal world.
Ji Yan asked, "Why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night? What are you doing here?"
Shen Jiao was taken aback. When she saw the chicken leg in her hand, she suddenly realized that she had come to find food late at night. Looking around, she realized that Xi Su had already left sometime earlier.
She adopted a longing expression, like a statue waiting for its husband, and said in a serious but nonsensical tone, "Your Majesty, I am waiting for you."
Ji Yan raised an eyebrow: "What about the fried chicken leg?"
Shen Jiao blinked and smiled brightly: "The sky is waiting for the rain, and the fried chicken leg is waiting for you too."
Ji Yan: "..."
...
Princess Ji probably didn't like this extremely corny love line. Not only did she confiscate her chicken leg with a dark face, but she also wouldn't let her sleep. In the middle of the night, she insisted on dragging this peerless beauty into bed to play Dou Dizhu (a card game).
“Your Majesty, this thing requires three people to play with, so Gouzi can’t do it. If you really want to play, we can call the Little Divine Doctor over.” Shen Jiao patiently explained, pointing to Gouzi, who was forced to sit and doze off in front of the bed.
During this period, not only did she gain weight, but even the dog also got several degrees fatter, looking like a fluffy ball when it sat on the ground.
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