Chapter 33
To be honest, Zhao Congyun's hug was not comfortable.
He was too cold, just like the entire Yongshang Palace, with few people around. The jagged bones made it difficult for Yue Mingming to breathe, and only the breath close to his neck was slightly warm.
Yue Mingming didn't know how to warm this person's heart. The hug was completely different from what she had imagined. There was no blushing or heartbeat, only a hollow and bitter feeling.
She reached out her hand, wanting to pat him on the back, but before her hand fell, Zhao Congyun suddenly pushed her away, his voice cold: "You just think I'm a bitch... I won't do that again."
Yue Mingming's hand was still hanging in the air, and he was stunned by the push. He saw Zhao Congyun turned over and turned his back towards him, looking like an irresponsible scumbag.
She hugged someone one second and was kicked out of bed the next. She is probably the most miserable female game protagonist in history!
Yue Mingming was so angry that she laughed. She stretched out her finger and poked Zhao Congyun on the back: "Hey, drink the medicine. After you drink it, I have something to tell you!"
Zhao Congyun's back trembled, and he was silent for a moment. Finally, he couldn't help but prop himself up and reached for the medicine bowl with difficulty.
Yue Mingming noticed that he was struggling to move, so he supported him from behind. Zhao Congyun tried to shake him off awkwardly, but Yue Mingming refused to let go. The two of them were in a stalemate for a moment, and Yue Mingming suddenly felt something heavy in his arms.
He still relied on her.
Yue Mingming supervised him until he finished drinking the medicine, then tiptoed out of bed and checked the food box sent by Meng Xun - there was only a bowl of porridge, a steamed bun, and two plates of vegetarian dishes, which looked unappetizing.
"This is what they give you to eat? There's not even an egg..." Yue Mingming frowned. Zhao Congyun was so picky about food, no wonder he lost so much weight.
"Is this... poisonous?"
She touched her head, trying to find a silver hairpin to stir it. Zhao Congyun couldn't bear to see this and said in a hoarse voice, "They wouldn't dare to poison... The evidence is too obvious."
He paused. "This is enough for me... When lunch is delivered, I'll ask them to add an egg. What else do you want to eat?"
"...I'm not the one who eats it," Yue Mingming said, his eyes widening. "You need to replenish your body...you need to eat meat, eggs, and fruits, so that you can recover faster!"
Zhao Congyun said indifferently, "Do you still regard me as a prince? The days of being honored with wealth and luxury may never come again."
As if the atmosphere wasn't tense enough, he added, "If you care so much about these things... you might as well find someone else."
The smile on Yue Mingming's face disappeared.
She stared at him intently, and Zhao Congyun simply closed his eyes. The next moment, when he reacted, he felt a whiff of sun-kissed scent passing by very close to him.
Zhao Congyun's breathing quickened, his throat rolled, and finally he couldn't resist the temptation and opened his eyes in a huff.
Yue Mingming lay on the bedside, asking with a haunting air, "So you took it upon yourself to transfer me to Li Si... Zhao Congyun, am I your pet? Do you need me to find a new owner?"
"You look down on Li Si, is there anyone else?" Zhao Congyun said unwillingly.
Yue Mingming snorted, "You and Li Pingru are a perfect match! One is a believer in everything he hears, while the other is desperately trying to get himself cuckolded."
Zhao Congyun pursed his lips tightly, enduring it with great difficulty, and finally squeezed out a sentence with difficulty: "Because I can't figure it out..."
He was inherently suspicious, and this hesitation was magnified infinitely when it came to matters related to her, ultimately hurting both himself and others. But he couldn't control it.
Yue Mingming sighed softly, lowered his eyes and thought for two seconds, then looked up at him again: "Okay... then I'll tell you the truth!"
Zhao Congyun's heart suddenly skipped a beat, as if the long-drawn-out trial had finally come to an end.
He couldn't help but rekindle a tiny hope. She risked her life to enter the palace for him. Doesn't this mean something? But another villain in his mind immediately jumped out and coldly reminded him: She just abandoned you the day before, refused to be your princess, and made all your efforts go to waste.
"You say." He said softly.
Yue Mingming: "We've been together for so long, you should have noticed that I'm different, right?"
Zhao Congyun: "..."
Yue Mingming said in a reckless tone: "Actually, I come from another world..."
She was afraid of scaring Zhao Congyun, so she didn't dare to directly say that this was a game. She said tactfully, "You can understand it as 'possession'... I borrowed this body, but my soul doesn't belong here. So the way I speak and act is different from you. I also have some skills, such as knowing some martial arts, being able to obtain the 'Resurrection Pill', and finding out a lot of information you don't know..."
Zhao Congyun listened quietly, his face a little paler than before. Yue Mingming understood this to mean... this guy is a coward!
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." She comforted him with a smile.
"So...why on earth?" Zhao Congyun's voice trembled.
Yue Mingming said seriously, "Don't you understand? I don't belong here. I'm going to leave one day! I can't lie to you. If I stay as princess for half a year and then run away, what will you do then?"
Zhao Congyun suddenly laughed: "Is this the 'half-year' period you often mention?"
Yue Mingming nodded, very happy that Zhao Congyun had a clear mind and understood everything immediately.
Zhao Congyun closed his eyes and let out a long breath, half sad and half sighing, "...It's hard for you to make up such a story."
"I said... I won't beg you, nor will I pester you. After you leave tonight, I hope that we... will never see each other again in this life!"
"You don't believe it?" Yue Mingming was not stupid. He could hear strong sarcasm and anger behind his pretended calm words.
Zhao Congyun opened his eyes, his gaze strangely unfocused. "Do you know why my brother locked me up here?"
"This was originally my mother's bedroom. The late emperor named it 'Zhuohua Palace'. Later, their relationship changed, and my mother left the palace in anger, living alone in the Shen Garden. The late emperor, in anger, changed 'Zhuohua' to 'Yongshang', meaning 'forever farewell to Shenshang'."
"If we never meet in this life, we will be as far apart as the Sun and the Sun." He murmured, "They carried their hatred for each other with them until their death, never to see each other again. Yongshang Palace itself is a curse."
"Perhaps I shouldn't have brought you to the ginseng garden... From that day on, the ending was doomed. I thought I could escape the shadow of their relationship, I thought I wouldn't be as suspicious as my brother... But you see, I can't change anything... This is my fate."
A look of dejection flashed across his brows: "I accept my fate."
Yue Mingming never expected that telling the truth would make Zhao Congyun even more discouraged and even give up on himself.
She said anxiously, "Everything I said is true! What do you need to do to make you believe me? Otherwise... I'll show you my abilities... I've never seen the man who delivered the food just now, let alone know him. If you tell me his name, I can tell you a lot of unknown information about him!"
Zhao Congyun smiled tiredly. "Okay... His name is Meng Xun. What do you want to say?"
The tone used was that of coaxing a child.
The gossip about Meng Xun immediately appeared in Yue Mingming's mind, but she suddenly choked.
How could she explain this? How could she convince Zhao Congyun that Meng Xun had stolen a neighbor's chicken as a teenager, had a crush on his teacher's daughter, had an affair after marrying without his wife's knowledge, and had a prostitute perform an abortion for him?
He would only get angrier, mad that she wasn't even bothering to make up a decent lie, but resorted to using these charlatan-like things to fool him.
Yue Mingming has never disliked his system so much!
Zhao Congyun looked at her with great sadness and slowly turned around: "Sorry, I'm tired and want to sleep for a while."
Yue Mingming felt heavy in his heart and breathless. His back was right in front of him, but it seemed as if there were thousands of mountains and rivers between them.
"Well... I'll go out and take a look. I won't go far, just look around the nearby rooms and see if I can find another blanket."
"Hmm." Zhao Congyun groaned without even saying a word of warning.
Yue Mingming walked out in a daze. Before leaving, she said goodbye again unwillingly. This time, Zhao Congyun didn't say anything and seemed to be asleep.
But Yue knew clearly that he hadn't slept at all. She thought sadly, it's over... It's completely screwed.
*
At lunch, Meng Xun brought in an imperial physician from outside.
The deputy commander frowned and quietly reminded: "Mengtou, the emperor has ordered that no one can enter, not even the imperial physician."
Meng Xun sighed, "Of course I know... but you've also seen the prince's condition. If this goes on any longer, I'm really afraid something might happen!"
He leaned close to the deputy commander's ear and said, "The prince and the emperor are brothers after all. If anything happens to this person inside and the emperor regrets it, we will be held responsible... Failure to provide adequate care, failure to report knowledge, and harsh treatment of the royal family. If any of these crimes are punished, our lives will be at stake."
The deputy commander's expression was stern: "I understand! Thank you, Mr. Meng, for your advice!"
Meng Xun smiled and said, "Okay, I know you are the most disciplined. After this matter is settled in a few days, I will ask for a reward for you. I will not treat my brother unfairly!" After that, he took the imperial physician and entered the Yongshang Palace openly.
If the deputy commander had looked more closely at that time, he would have discovered that this "imperial physician" had an even breath and light steps, and was obviously a martial artist with good kung fu skills.
When they were far away, Meng Xun whispered to the "imperial physician," "Did you see that man just now? Don't leave him alive later."
The "Imperial Physician" nodded coldly, and the two walked into the hall.
Zhao Congyun was full of thoughts and slept very lightly. He was awakened by the slightest noise outside.
He glanced at the sky and guessed that it was time for the Qilin Guard to deliver lunch, but Yue Mingming had not returned yet!
The footsteps were getting closer, and Zhao Congyun's heart was suddenly in suspense, fearing that Yue Mingming would do something reckless. He forced himself to stand up, gathered his thoughts, and was just thinking about how to quickly get rid of the person when a sudden noise came from a room deep in the hall.
The sound is not loud, but it is deadly enough!
Not only did he hear it, but Meng Xun and the others also heard it!
The footsteps stopped abruptly, and the hall fell into an extremely quiet state, revealing an oppressive tension. Suddenly, footsteps were heard again, but no longer in the direction of Zhao Congyun, but moving towards the source of the noise.
Zhao Congyun staggered and chased after him.
This is the innermost side hall of Yongshang Palace. There is a huge screen in front of the door, which blocks out the sunlight completely. Meng Xun stuck his head out to look inside. The room was pitch black and he couldn't even see the furnishings clearly.
He vaguely remembered that there was a room in Yongshang Palace that had been banned by the previous emperor, and he wondered if it was the one in front of him.
"...Prince? Are you in there?" Meng Xun tried to greet him and at the same time winked at the "imperial physician". The two of them went in from both sides of the screen, one on the left and one on the right.
The room was filled with old things piled up in a haphazard manner, making it seem a bit cramped. An entire wall was covered with old books, a heavy carved wooden chest, and a dressing table was placed awkwardly in the corner. The dusty curtains around it were like spider webs, blocking most of the view.
Meng Xun drew the sword from his waist, passed through the layers of curtains, and carefully searched for Zhao Congyun's shadow.
Nothing. It was as if the noise had never occurred.
Meng Xun almost thought he was hallucinating. He couldn't understand why Zhao Congyun appeared in this room... Could it be that he guessed what he was planning and hid in advance?
Meng Xun squinted his eyes and looked around, finally landing on a carved wooden box with a copper lock. It wasn't that the box was too small to hide someone...
He made a gesture, and the two men surrounded the box. Sure enough, the lock was opened, and the lid of the box was half-closed, revealing a deep gap.
"Meng Xun!"
At this moment, a low shout suddenly sounded from behind.
Meng Xun shuddered with fear and hurriedly turned around, knife in hand. A slender figure suddenly appeared behind them, its face sickly, its dark eyes like frost, as it stared coldly at the knife in his hand.
"Who taught you to use a knife in Yongshang Palace! Put it away!" Zhao Congyun said in a sharp voice.
Meng Xun licked his lips but didn't move. The "imperial physician" beside him raised his hand and tore off a section of the curtain, chuckling softly, "No need for a knife... He hanged himself out of fear of punishmentâisn't that a perfect excuse?"
Meng Xun's expression relaxed, he sheathed his sword, and said with a smile, "At this point, Your Majesty, please stop being so arrogant!"
Murderous intent surged in that smile, and with unconcealable pride and cruelty, Meng Xun calmly instructed his companions:
"Let's do it."
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