Chapter 79 Eating too much cold food caused indigestion; without her, he wouldn't live the rest of his life...
Summer rain comes and goes quickly. Since that torrential rain, the weather has become hotter day by day, and the "big bug" that children glimpsed has become a topic of conversation that is hard to tell whether it is true or not.
Once the Dragon Boat Festival was over, the air in Yanjing became like cotton wool soaked in water, gradually making it hard to breathe. The daytime nights grew longer and the nighttime nights shorter. Standing under the intense sunlight streaming through the windows, the Minister of Revenue was reporting on the summer grain collection.
After he finished speaking, Grand Secretary Wen Ciming spoke slowly: "Your Highness, this year's summer harvest is plentiful, and with the wealth collected from the Qian family, the time is ripe. If we march south now and strike directly at the Japanese pirates' lair, we may be able to wipe out the coastal areas in one fell swoop and eliminate future troubles forever."
Shen Hegui twirled the jade ring on his hand with amusement and said in a low voice, "Luo Jiangsheng needs to guard the southeastern coastal defense and cannot leave. If he wants to lead troops south, he needs to select generals. Since you have this intention, who do you think is suitable in the court?"
Whispers arose instantly, and the officials began to discuss in hushed tones.
Wen Ciming lightly flicked his sleeves and said frankly, "The defense of the southeast coast is as important as Mount Tai and should not be moved lightly. I believe that we should send a steady and knowledgeable military officer from Yanjing south to temporarily replace General Luo in charge of the defense. After the handover of defense is settled, we can then order General Luo to personally lead the elite navy south to strike at the enemy's lair! In this way, we can not only ensure the safety of the coast, but we may also be able to achieve our goal in one battle."
Shen Hegui paused, a half-smile playing on his lips, and said, "Write a memorial, and we'll discuss it at tomorrow's court assembly!"
A thousand-year-old fox, a ten-thousand-year-old tortoise—truly, neither of them is any good.
Glancing at the sun outside the window, Shen Hegui stood up and said, "Go and rest for lunch. We can discuss anything this afternoon."
After saying that, he walked outside.
"Your Highness, we respectfully see you off!"
Passing through corridors and paths, Chen He's heart yearns for home.
I don't know if Lu Wensheng has woken up yet. Three days of absurdity was indeed a bit much. I originally thought that forcibly forming a contract would leave him weak for several months, but unexpectedly he has become much stronger.
Lifting the curtain, he saw that the person he had been longing for was still asleep. Shen Hegui took off his outer garment and carefully pulled the person into his arms.
The familiar fragrance reached her nose, and Lu Wensheng slightly opened her eyes and whispered, "I want to drink water."
She had actually woken up a long time ago, but she just didn't want to move. Her limbs were weak and she felt powerless. Her lower abdomen was cold. She reasonably suspected that she had been sexually exploited by Shen Hegui. Otherwise, how could she feel like this when she was lying down without exerting any effort?
The slender, flexible white tip of the teacup curled up and brought it to her lips, but Lu Wensheng avoided it with disgust, refusing, "Take it away, I can't stand this right now."
Two plus the tail, that makes three. She doesn't know how she got through these past few days. Before applying the medicine, it burned, but after applying it, it felt cool.
The process wasn't unpleasant, it's just... there was just too much of it. Sometimes the swelling was unbearable, and it felt like there were prickles on them.
Shen Hegui patiently switched hands to feed her water, then picked her up and carried her into the bath in the side hall.
Amidst the misty air, he spoke softly, uttering words that struck Lu Wensheng like a bolt from the blue: "Starting this afternoon, I will teach you how to review memorials."
Lu Wensheng: "...?"
Is this something a human being would do? She just finished hard labor and hasn't even recovered before she's made to work again? Even capitalists don't exploit people like Shen Hegui.
The lingering laziness vanished instantly, and the resentment that had accumulated in bed over the past three days erupted in a flash.
Lu Wensheng blurted out without thinking, "Why don't you just kill me and let me reincarnate? We'll see each other in the next life!"
She had thought that once Shen Hegui learned she was a girl, he would make her resign from her official post and persuade her to become his kept woman. She had even prepared a reason for her polite refusal. But instead, he taught her how to review memorials. He was so different! What happened to the feudal prince and future father figure she was promised?!
"How could I bear to let you die?" Shen Hegui's eyes darkened, and he lowered his head to kiss the seal on her chest.
She doesn't want the power that so many people outside dream of. Let me explain.
"I will most likely personally lead the campaign against the Japanese pirates along the coast. At that time, I will have you and Wen Ciming oversee the country together. So you not only need to learn, but you also need to learn quickly. Starting tomorrow, you will not need to go to the Ministry of Rites except for the morning court."
Following his movements, Lu Wensheng noticed the mark on his chest. She rubbed it with her fingers and asked in confusion, "What is this?"
It looks a bit like a dragon, but isn't Shen Hegui a snake? Did you get the tattoo wrong?
Shen Hegui: "I am the normal me. Now that we have formed a pact, I can tell you everything."
After placing the person on the coiled long tail, Shen Hegui began to gently massage Lu Wensheng's lower abdomen. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the scales hanging on her chest, and Shen Hegui suddenly raised his hand and crushed them to pieces.
"Hey? No!" Lu Wensheng hurriedly stopped her, but only got some powder. She said with dissatisfaction, "Since you gave me the scales, they are mine. How can you dispose of them without my permission!"
Shen Hegui smoothed the stray hairs from her forehead, his eyes smiling: "Your eyes will gradually get better, and you'll be able to see more and more clearly at night without candlelight. Shen Rui is not dead, so it's best not to keep anything related to me. Once things settle down, I'll give you something better."
Lu Wensheng pouted, still feeling a little reluctant.
Shen Hegui lowered his head and gently touched her slightly pursed lips, as light as a feather, and slowly said, "The story I told you in the secret room last time was only half told. Actually, the island wasn't inhabited by humans, but by serpents from another world. My mother said that this world has no spiritual energy, and once the spiritual energy stored in their bodies is exhausted, they will be no different from ordinary people. On the day I was born, my mother couldn't control the little spiritual energy she had left, and it turned into a dragon tail. She was worried that Shen Rui would kill me and her in the name of a demon, so she told him the truth. Who knew that Shen Rui would suddenly become greedy after learning the truth?"
He stroked the seal on Lu Wensheng's chest: "She also said that I am a genius that only appears once every ten thousand years in the clan. I was born with horns and could transform into a dragon at the last moment. Being born with horns means being born with two lives. Unfortunately, my horns were cut off by Shen Rui as soon as I was born. Decades have passed in the blink of an eye. Which emperor would not want to have another life?"
Lu Wensheng stared incredulously at the tail beneath the water's surface. She had thought she was sleeping on a large white snake, but it turned out to be a beautiful, powerful, and tragically large white dragon.
Legend has it that a serpent transforms into a jiao (a type of dragon) after five hundred years, a dragon after a thousand years, a horned dragon after another five hundred years, and an yinglong (another type of dragon) after a thousand years.
Shen Rui cutting off Shen Hegui's horn is tantamount to ruining someone's future. If she were in Shen Hegui's shoes, she would go crazy!
"Your Highness, where are your horns? I'll go and get them back for you!" Lu Wensheng said angrily.
He pulled her into his arms and affectionately rubbed her dark hair: "I don't know the exact location, but it's very likely she's still on the island from back then."
Lu Wensheng asked in confusion, "Why did Shen Rui hide His Highness's horn so far away? Wouldn't it be more convenient to put it in a place that can be retrieved at any time?"
Shen Hegui: "Perhaps that island is special, able to nurture horns separated from living beings very well. Shen Rui secretly cultivated a group of dead servants, and I destroyed their limbs and removed their mouths, just so that they could use the horns, not just when they were on the verge of death, so that they could still be extracted intact."
He paused briefly, then said, "You always asked how I died in my previous life. Now I might as well tell you. After this year, the area north of Yanjing will suffer from a severe drought for years, leaving the land barren and desolate; while the south will be plagued by torrential rains, causing rivers to overflow. For several years, there has been no harvest in either the north or south, and the fields are littered with corpses of the starving. The court is full of incompetent officials who are powerless to save the people from their suffering. To appease the public anger, Shen Rui used a dragon horn as bait to lure me into revealing my true form, placing all the blame on me, and then offering me as a sacrifice in the East Sea. The onlookers devoured my flesh and blood, praising me repeatedly."
Sensing the hatred in his words, Lu Wensheng covered his eyes: "With me here, such a thing will not happen. I will learn to review memorials. Your Highness, just go and take back what belongs to you."
No wonder Shen Hegui has never ascended the throne, and no wonder he said something like urging her to rebel. He has no sense of belonging to this world, and taking over the throne would just be taking on a mess.
With natural disasters and man-made calamities compounding its rotten foundation, the regime is only fit to be overthrown, not saved.
Having achieved his goal, Shen Hegui subtly curled his lips into a smile.
The warm pool water rippled, and as the positions shifted, Shen Hegui suddenly buried himself in Lu Wensheng's neck, murmuring repeatedly as if deeply saddened: "Sheng'er, I was in so much pain and so much hatred back then!"
The tail, barely visible underwater, quietly wrapped around her leg and moved towards her private area, without Lu Wensheng noticing.
She gently patted Shen Hegui's broad shoulders and comforted him, "From now on, I will take you through sweet days. As long as there is more sweetness than bitterness, you will gain strength, overcome difficulties, and move towards peace. Even if you are not human, you must look forward while you are alive!"
She was focused on comforting him when a sudden feeling of fullness washed over her from underwater. Startled, she grabbed Shen Hegui's hair tightly, exclaiming incredulously, "You...you're not human! You bastard!"
Little Flower fell into the scalding wetness, her long tail turning into legs. Shen Hegui pushed hard and then raised his hand to wipe away the tears that welled up in her eyes.
He whispered affectionately, "I haven't tried using the human form yet. The human form should be finished soon. Considering our upcoming brief separation, please indulge me a little, okay? Sheng'er, you are the only one I have in this world."
Her slender fingers sank into his broad shoulders, and in her dazed and dizzy state, Lu Wensheng vaguely thought that she had returned to her youth.
When she first met her adoptive father, she couldn't actually swim. Pirates, who fought against nature and against others, always valued simplicity and directness. So she was simply thrown into the vast ocean, her only safety measure a thick hemp rope.
The sea was rough and the waves were high. Seawater rushed into my mouth and nose, robbing me of my breath. Each time I surfaced, I could only snatch a small, short, and precious breath of air.
The capricious waves repeatedly tossed her up and swallowed her, and after each crash, she could hear her own broken breaths.
In her hazy consciousness, she felt as if the rough hemp rope from years ago was still binding her waist. She reached out to grab it, but touched a burning hot forearm. The question that had been building up for hours burst out of her mouth. She said haltingly, "Your Highness, why did you feel warm to the touch when you were alive?"
With a slight reduction in force and without changing anything else, Shen Hegui carried the person directly to the short couch on the right side, suppressing his impulse to explain, "It can also be cold. If you like it cold, I can adjust it right now."
Lu Wensheng said in a trembling voice, "No, this is good. Eating too much cold food will cause indigestion!"
Upon hearing her description, Shen Hegui couldn't help but chuckle softly a few times. He murmured, "What should I do? I really, really like you!"
What an interesting description!
Her eyebrows, her voice, her personality—they were all perfectly suited to his tastes. If he didn't have her for the rest of his life, he wouldn't want to live at all!
To make them look more human, candles were lit inside the Zhaowu Hall during the day.
The candle wax dripped continuously down the straight candle body, gradually turning into a murky, opaque trail.
As time passed, new heat flowed over the old, and the heat from inside the hall began to permeate the air with a faint floral fragrance.
Lu Wensheng has a keen sense of smell and can't stand the smell, so he started clamoring to go back to the main hall.
Shen Hegui would naturally comply with her wishes, but not immediately. Instead, he would wait until she suddenly tensed up, curled up, and was unable to relax, her whole body drenched in sweat.
*
The sixth day of the fifth lunar month is auspicious for all activities, and there are no taboos.
Grand Secretary Wen Ciming's memorial advising them to directly attack the Japanese pirates' lair caused a great uproar.
The civil and military officials argued from the sixth day of the month to the fourteenth, but made no progress whatsoever.
The fifteenth of May is the day of the grand court assembly, where officials of all ranks in Yanjing gather at the Fengtian Hall.
Lu Wensheng was still constantly surrounded by compliments.
"Is Lord Lu's leg feeling any better? How could he have fallen while copying laws in the palace?"
Lu Wensheng forced a perfect smile and described it in an abstract way: "I saw a big snake, tripped over it, my legs went weak, and I knelt on the ground. There was no one around to help me up, so I knelt for a while."
Shen Hegui quietly walked behind the screen and stopped, beginning to listen to Lu Wensheng's serious-sounding nonsense.
Upon hearing this, Zhan Xingxiu stepped forward and said with concern, "I have some medicinal oil at home, a family recipe passed down through generations. I'll bring you some tomorrow morning."
“Okay!” Lu Wensheng replied.
Upon hearing this, Wen Ciming raised an eyebrow and stepped forward, asking, "How serious is it?"
Lu Wensheng cupped his hands in thanks: "It's alright, as long as I don't kneel tonight, I'll be fine in a few days!"
Luo Wenqing interjected, "How could there be snakes in the Imperial Palace? Did they bite you?"
Lu Wensheng replied abstractly, "To be frank, His Majesty's treasury was always empty during his reign and had fallen into disrepair over the years. There must have been a hole in the palace wall that allowed it to crawl in. The snake did bite me, but it wasn't poisonous and was very docile. It just occasionally had a big appetite, which I couldn't handle."
Wen Ciming's expression changed slightly, and he couldn't help but start to scrutinize Lu Wensheng.
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Author's Note: [Please][Please][Please][Please][Please][Please][Please]
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