Wrapped in Chu Qi's warm embrace, Qi Chenli slowly relaxed his body, carefully reached out to hug him back, and gently rested his head on his shoulder.
At this moment, it seemed as if he was the younger brother and Chu Qi was the older brother.
In fact, Chu Qi has experienced several lifetimes, and although she has suppressed her feelings every time, her experience has inevitably made her mentality older. Looking at Qi Chenli, who is not even twenty years old, it is indeed difficult for her to regard him as a brother.
"You have no say in the past, but it's good enough that you love me." Chu Qi held Qi Chenli's body tightly with such force that she almost crushed him. It was this kind of strength that could soothe Qi Chenli's uneasy and guilty heart.
In fact, Qi Chenli's life was not very good. He lived the life of a prince as he was walking on thin ice for the first ten years, and suffered as a hostage in Yan Kingdom for the next five years. If it weren't for Chu Qi, he would have starved to death in the cold winter last night.
Chu Qi stayed in Changqiu Palace for about half a day. Later, Qi Chenli held Chu Qi in his arms and refused to let go for a long time. Finally, he fell asleep.
It was too cold in the Changqiu Palace. His body was weak due to long-term malnutrition and he could not stand the cold. Although he always stayed in bed, he could never get enough sleep.
Today, I was hugged by Chu Qi, and it was rare for me to feel the warmth of Chu Qi's body as a martial artist.
Qi Chenli couldn't bear the heat and the fragrance of his younger brother. He chatted and fell asleep unknowingly.
Chu Qi carried him back into the house, looking at Qi Chenli's thin but still charming face, she thought to herself that this face was indeed too beautiful, no wonder she could use this face to charm Shi Ying so much that she was completely infatuated with him.
…My thoughts drifted away.
Chu Qi left the bedroom and called Xingde over. She took out a light purple bracelet with a white pearl hanging from its sleeve and gave it to him, whispering:
"This bracelet belongs to someone 'inside' the Imperial Kitchen. With this, you can go buy food from the Imperial Kitchen. Do you have any money on you?" she asked at last.
Xingde held the bracelet carefully, holding it firmly in both hands as if it were a priceless treasure. He nodded excitedly and said:
"There are rich people, but even if they have money, they can't buy food on weekdays. It's like wasted money."
Chu Qi looked at the cold environment of Changqiu Palace and the lack of charcoal fire, so she asked again: "How much money do you have? Give me some, and I'll buy you some red radish charcoal."
Chu Qi has now mastered half of the lightness skill. He can fly over eaves and walls, and fly into the sky with his left foot on his right foot. He can also carry some not-too-heavy objects with him. Although he cannot carry people yet, he can carry dozens of kilograms of red charcoal without any problem.
The amount of red radish charcoal purchased in the palace is limited, and the amount purchased depends entirely on the surplus quantity each month.
But it can also be bought outside the palace, but it is difficult for people inside the palace to buy it privately without the approval of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The empress and concubines of high rank could be sent by their natal families, so the concubines who were on good terms with them could also benefit from it.
"Your Highness, where can you buy it?" Xingde asked.
During this short period of time, he spontaneously changed the uncertain "Sir" to "Your Highness", which shows that he was quite active in thinking.
"Of course it's outside the palace." Chu Qi said without hesitation.
Xingde was immediately amazed: "Your Highness can actually go shopping outside the palace? Is it dangerous? Actually... I can hold out with Your Highness for a while. It's okay. You can provide a way for me and Your Highness to buy food, which is already very good."
"It's not dangerous, don't worry."
Chu Qi said.
Although her current martial arts skills are not superb, ordinary people can't catch her. The Jinyiwei in the palace are all good-for-nothings, just like the incompetent Emperor Yanqing.
After hesitating for a moment, Xingde glanced at Qi Chenli's bedroom and saw a small bulge in the room. He wondered whether he should wait for his master to wake up and ask his opinion -
Then he remembered how helpless and confused his master looked in front of the young prince, and he guessed that the young prince would agree to whatever he said. So he did not hesitate, and took out the hidden money and handed a silver note of fifty taels to the young prince.
Qi Chenli was indeed down and out, but his downfall was mainly due to the fact that the people in the harem flattered the powerful and bullied the weak, deliberately treated him harshly, did not give him the monthly allowance he deserved, and did not allow him to buy things for himself, which made him so pitiful.
If he could buy things for himself, the small treasury would definitely be enough for him to live a worry-free life.
As Xingde said, money without a place to spend it is just like waste paper.
Fifty taels of silver notes were almost as much as the sixty-six taels of silver that Chu Qi had paid when she reluctantly spent her points to buy the golden finger. Even here, she discovered that this was just one of the silver notes that Xingde had pulled out from a pile of silver notes.
I can only say that he is worthy of being a prince. Even though he has fallen to this point, he still has a lot of money.
She put the banknotes into her clothes, reminded Xingde to remember to buy food at mealtime, and explained in detail the price of the food and the kickbacks to the imperial chef.
Xingde took note of it carefully and admired the little prince even more. At the same time, he was secretly glad that he had made the right decision to let the little prince come to recognize his relatives.
*
In the afternoon, Chu Qi easily avoided the patrolling Jinyiwei, slipped out of the palace, bought a batch of 30 kilograms of red radish charcoal, and carried it back to Changqiu Palace to give it to Xingde.
Qi Chenli was still in a coma at that time.
After Chu Qi left, Xingde grabbed a handful of charcoal and put it into the charcoal basin that had not been used for a long time and lit the charcoal.
The red charcoal produced almost no smoke, and even less pungent smell. It was placed in an almost closed dormitory with only a few windows open for ventilation. The warmth almost made Xingde cry with excitement.
Finally! He and his master can finally spend a warm winter!
Qi Chenli felt the temperature getting warmer in a daze. He frowned, slowly opened his eyes, and found Xingde sitting on a small stool beside the bed, doing something unknown.
He silently supported himself on his elbows and sat up, wondering, "Xiao Dezi, do you feel that the room has become warmer?"
Xingde turned sideways to reveal the charcoal basin and smiled foolishly: "Your Highness, this is not an illusion."
"Where did the charcoal come from?" Qi Chenli widened his eyes. No wonder it was warm. How could it not be warm with this thing?
"Yes, sizzle..." Xingde sniffed, "The little prince helped buy it."
There was a pot placed above the charcoal basin, which was filled with a lot of water and medicine for treating colds.
Chu Qi discovered that Xingde had a slight cold (however, there is no such thing as a cold in Yanguo for the time being, and it is uniformly called a cold). On the way to buy red charcoal, she also helped buy three days' worth of cold medicine.
Although it is not necessary to take the medicine for three days, she was thinking about the current physical condition of Qi Chenli and Xingde, the master and servant, and it would always be a good idea to prepare more medicine.
Qi Chenli's eyes showed deep shock.
It seems that his younger brother is not an ordinary eunuch. Is it true that, as he said, he is just working under a father-in-law?
Qi Chenli was in a trance for a moment. It seemed that he had found not his brother, but a lifesaver. His survival problem was solved in just one day...
*
Three days later, the eunuch chief stewards were about to start their out-of-the-palace purchasing activities.
Shi Qiang got up early, before daybreak.
She used to wear light makeup, but today she didn't. Instead, she held an eyebrow pencil and used the candlelight to ponder whether to make her willow-leaf eyebrows thicker...
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