Chapter 195: Coveting Beauty
Lu Yan had never thought that Huo Lang would come to the palace in the afternoon just to give him some Hu Bing. He found it funny, but at the same time, he felt that it was something that Huo Lang would do. He traced the tail of his long eyebrows with his fingertips and asked with interest, "The Regent is rich enough to rival a country. Do you think you can buy me off with just ten Hu Bing?"
Huo Lang gently brushed away Lu Yan's hand, staring at him with a pair of dark eyes. His low voice sounded like a joke, but also contained a bit of seriousness:
"Little Emperor, I have even given you my life, what else do you want?"
The many life-threatening situations and willingness to serve as a minister over the years are enough to prove the many unspoken feelings.
“…”
Lu Yan paused slightly when he heard the words, then turned his head away. Huo Lang's eyes were filled with so much affection that whenever he looked into theirs, he felt as if he were in the abyss. He couldn't breathe, so he whispered to change the subject:
"I heard that the Third Master Wei was shot by a poisoned arrow and is in critical condition. Is he feeling better now?"
Huo Lang slowly turned the ring on his hand. The light and shadow outside the window shone, illuminating a small old scar on his shoulder, as if someone had forcibly cut out a piece of flesh. "It's nothing more than being poisoned by Xiling's golden hook. If you're lucky, you'll live, but if you're unlucky, you'll die. This poison is swift. The rotten flesh must be removed immediately after being shot by an arrow. Otherwise, if you delay, even the Golden Immortal will be unable to save you."
He knew that when Lu Yan was still the crown prince, he had a very good personal relationship with the third son of the Wei family. Unfortunately, the other party was only half alive now. Even if he was lucky enough to survive, he would probably become an mortal enemy. How could such a deep blood feud be easily resolved?
Lu Yan nodded and didn't ask any more questions. He picked up the scattered clothes and dressed Huo Lang himself. He said in a gentle voice as before: "It's getting late. Don't let Wumei find out when you return home."
Huo Lang smiled wryly: "As the chief eunuch, he is more powerful than you, the emperor. Everything must be kept secret from him."
Without saying a word, he held Lu Yan's right hand, and with a quick glance, he found a thin white scar on his wrist, exactly the same as the one he saw at the morning court today. He frowned inwardly, then relaxed.
Maybe it was his illusion...
Lu Yan pretended not to notice Huo Lang's little move, and escorted him to the palace gate with a normal look. Wu Mei, who was guarding outside, more or less noticed some clues. After Huo Lang left, he went straight into the palace and said meaningfully, "Your Majesty and the Regent Prince seem to have been getting along quite closely recently?"
Today the sun is rising, the ice and snow are melting a little, but it is a little colder than usual. Lu Yan suppressed the low cough in his throat and slowly walked to the smoker to warm himself up. His thin figure made him look inexplicably weak: "If you don't like it, you can just hold the regent next time he enters the palace."
Wu Mei naturally didn't dare to hesitate. Zhao Kang was so frightened when he saw Huo Lang that fainting was the least of his worries. He could only let Lu Yan, his substitute, take care of the meeting. His old eyes couldn't hide his viciousness and ruthlessness. "May I ask, sir, what did you talk about when you met with the Prince Regent just now?"
Lu Yan lowered his eyes calmly: "We didn't talk about anything."
Wu Mei obviously didn't believe it: "You two stayed in the hall for a whole hour, didn't you say anything?"
Lu Yan deliberately pondered for a moment: "…The Regent Prince coveted my beauty and said some obscene and flirtatious words. Do you want to hear it, Eunuch?"
Wu Mei's face changed drastically when he heard this: "What did you say?!"
Lu Yan kindly repeated, "He coveted my beauty and flirted with me."
Wu Mei was so angry that he fell backwards. He never thought that Huo Lang, who did nothing in the court, actually had a habit of cutting off sleeves in private. The eunuch's shrill voice was a little out of tune for a moment: "You represent the face of His Majesty, how can you allow a minister to be so frivolous?! Huo Lang is guilty of a thousand deaths!"
However, what Lu Yan said next made Wu Mei immediately lose his temper: "He said that if I don't obey, he will immediately dispatch troops to dethrone me. If I obey him, I will have less trouble in the court in the future. I can't compete with the powerful Regent, so I have no choice but to obey him."
Lu Yanyu sighed softly, feeling indescribably sad.
Wu Mei's face had never been so colorful in his life. It was red, black, green, and finally pale. His throat was rolling, as if he had swallowed dog shit. He couldn't swallow it, and it was not good not to swallow it. After a long time, he managed to say: "Traitor, thief, he will be executed sooner or later!"
Wu Mei's hands were shaking with anger, and he didn't notice that when he said this, Lu Yan's eyes flashed with a hint of murderous intent, so fast that no one could catch it: "Tomorrow, the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion will hold a funeral. It is reasonable for Your Majesty to go and see it. Order people to prepare the carriages and horses in advance."
Wu Mei looked solemn and said, "It has been a turbulent time recently, so it is better to stay out of the palace as little as possible."
Lu Yan's hands turned over the stove, as if he was stirring up an invisible storm. His voice was light, but every word was heart-piercing: "The Wei family has fought for Bei Shu for ninety-seven years, and hundreds of men have been injured or killed. They have made contributions to pacifying mountains and seas. Now that both father and son are dead, isn't it worth it for Your Majesty to personally burn a stick of incense? How do you want the people of the world to see this?"
“…”
Wumei stared at Lu Yan, as if trying to see what he was thinking. After a moment, he said, "I will stay by your side. Let Wumu go with you tomorrow. Please remember, you and your majesty share the same fate. Only when your majesty is well can you live."
He put his skinny, old hand into his sleeve and fumbled for a moment, then took out a completely black lacquer box, gently placed it on the table, and bowed, saying, "I will take you back to your bedroom."
There was a dark room in the emperor's bedroom. When Lu Yan was outside, Zhao Kang was inside. When Zhao Kang was outside, he was inside. Although the room was luxuriously decorated and skilled craftsmen were hired to set up vents, it was still difficult to conceal the darkness and dampness.
Because Zhao Kang was weak and sickly, a whole medicine cabinet was set up inside to facilitate the imperial physician to prescribe medicine and consult with patients. The palace maids serving in the room were all illiterate mute slaves, which made the surroundings seem even more ghostly and quiet.
Lu Yan paced slowly in front of the medicine cabinet, holding a small scale in his hand. From time to time, he opened the drawer to grab herbs from inside and weighed them, then asked the mute slave to put them away. He stopped only when he had prepared all sixty-five herbs.
Lu Yan looked at the dumb slave seriously and used skillful sign language to her: [Grind it into powder, extract the honey and make it into pills. It will be used urgently tomorrow, so don't delay.]
In the previous life, the Wei family stayed away from the court and asked to guard the border. Wei Tan suddenly died of illness on his way out of the capital. It was thought that the poison of the golden hook had not been cured. Unfortunately, Lu Yan had not developed an antidote at that time, so he lost his life in vain.
Although all the people in the underground palace were eyebrowless, as time went by, they inevitably divided into close and distant relatives. This dumb slave named Lan Yin had served Lu Yan the longest and they had the closest relationship. Upon hearing this, she nodded slightly and immediately went down to make the medicine.
Seeing her leave, Lu Yan slowly sat down beside the medicine table. He remembered something and took out a small lacquer box from his sleeve. It was the one Wu Mei had given him today. He opened the lid and a pitch-black pill lay quietly inside.
Before the previous emperor passed away, he was worried that Lu Yan was harboring evil intentions, so he poisoned a pig to control him and buried a female pig in Zhao Kang's body. If the latter died, Lu Yan would also die.
The same life dragon attacks once a month. When it attacks, the dragon's body vomits blood continuously. If there is no antidote, it will force the person to vomit all his internal organs and suffer excruciating pain.
In his previous life, Lu Yan secretly researched and developed an antidote for a long time but failed to come up with one. At most, he would split a pill into half and acupuncture the acupuncture points with gold needles to extend his life for two months. In this way, he could secretly save one pill to study the solution.
He didn't know if he could figure it out in his lifetime. He only knew that the Zhao family must die. Otherwise, how could he commemorate the 1,362 lives lost? And how could he make people believe that good and evil would eventually be rewarded?
Lu Yan thought of the bloody incident that year, and slowly closed his eyes. His figure was swallowed by the shadows. At this moment, he no longer had the demeanor of a gentleman, but only the hatred of an evil ghost. He whispered word by word to the air:
"Zhao Qin is dead, there are three left..."
With a flick of his fingertips, a streak of hidden force flew out and knocked down the golden dragon ornament on the corner of the table exactly.
On the ninth day of the first lunar month, Duke Wei Han of Zhenguo and his eldest son Wei Xuan were buried. The funeral was conducted quietly, but attracted condolences from all officials. The imperial city was shrouded in mourning, and tens of thousands of people spontaneously came to see them off. It was an extremely mournful and honorable event.
No one noticed that a carriage with a gorgeous canopy was quietly parked at a corner of the mansion gate. The servant waited until most of the guests had left before lifting a corner of the curtain and saying respectfully to the inside: "Master, you may go in."
There were many people around today, so it was inconvenient to make a big show. Lu Yan was dressed in plain clothes and did not attract much attention. He got up and stepped out of the carriage. Under the protection of his servants, he walked through the streets and prepared to enter the palace to pay his respects. The old servant who called out the names at the door saw this and before he could say anything, he was pushed aside by the guards in the palace, covering his mouth.
The Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion was considered a prominent family in the capital, but the interior of the mansion was not luxurious and could only be described as simple and elegant. In the past, Lu Yan, as Zhao Kang's substitute, often walked around the palace to study. He met Wei Tan, who was still the prince's companion, and they became close friends. Unfortunately, after he ascended the throne, he went to guard a place far away outside the Great Wall. Later, all the members of the family died, and he was unable to see Wei Tan until his death.
Banknotes were flying in the sky like falling snow, and cries were heard one after another. Suddenly, people realized that the Wei family that had guarded Beishu for ninety-seven years had really declined.
It is said that a country will perish after a hundred years. If this is true, the remaining life of Beishu will probably be no more than three years.
Mrs. Wei was dressed in mourning, and stood at one side of the mourning hall with her daughter Wei Shu to thank the guests. Next to them stood a pale-faced man with a handsome face. He held his abdomen tightly with his right hand, and lowered his head from time to time to endure a cough from his lungs. His face could not hide the pain. It was Wei Tan, who was still ill.
Lu Yan's consciousness paused as he stepped forward.
"What are you doing here?!"
Wei Shu suddenly caught a glimpse of a white figure standing outside the mourning hall. Her eyes widened and she almost cried. She rushed forward but was stopped by the guards a meter away. She said hatefully, "How dare you come here after you have ruined my family like this! Don't you dream of the soldiers who died in vain outside Guiyan Pass looking for you to take their lives when you wake up in the middle of the night? ! ! Get out! Get out! Don't you allow me to dirty my home!"
She was only fifteen years old, and had three older brothers. She was raised as a spoiled child and had a fearless personality. Lu Yan often came to the mansion to play chess with Wei Tan. When Wei Shu was young, she would tie her hair into two buns and pull his sleeves, calling him brother. She liked Lu Yan more than Wei Tan, and always sided with him in big and small matters, which made Wei Tan very jealous.
Lord Wei was loyal to his emperor and patriotic, and was well-versed in martial arts. He often watched him and Wei Tan practice swordplay with a smile, and gave them instructions. At that time, Mrs. Wei was not as angry and resolute as she was when she stormed the palace gate that night. She liked to wear her casual clothes and cook sweet cakes for them.
The eldest son Wei Xuan and the second son Wei Hong also regarded him as their own younger brother and treated him the same as Wei Tan.
Lu Yan closed his eyes, and suddenly felt that everything had changed. After a moment, he said softly, "Fourth Miss, I came here today just to burn some incense for Master Wei and the eldest son."
Wei Shu pointed outside the door and cried, "They can't bear it! Get out!"
Huo Lang also came in a low profile today. Although he usually didn't get along well with the Wei family, he respected the loyalty of the family in his heart. He waited until everyone had left before coming to pay his respects in plain clothes. However, he never expected to see the lawless girl from the Wei family pointing at Lu Yan's nose and scolding him as soon as he entered the door. He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and said in a cold tone:
"It's snowing and cold today, but Miss Wei is still so angry."
Unexpectedly, Wei Shu glared at him fiercely, pointed at the door and cursed: "You are not a good person either! Get out with him!"
Huo Lang: “…”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com