When Shen woke up, the sun was already high in the sky outside.
He slowly propped himself up. After sleeping for such a long time, Shen felt as if his whole body was falling apart. His forehead was swollen and he felt a dull pain. After it eased a little, he felt a very dry mouth.
Without waiting for him to raise his hand to signal, a maidservant beside the tent walked to the table and poured a cup of tea, then said in a gentle voice, "Your Highness, please have some."
Shen took it, drank most of it in one breath, and then asked in sign language: "What time is it?"
The maidservant told her the truth.
He felt waves of pain in his lower body, which reminded him of the ridiculous incident last night. He tightly grasped the long pillow beside him, almost tearing the silky material into pieces.
"Last night..." He hesitated and gestured, "How did I get back?"
The maidservant in front of her hurriedly replied, "Last night, a driver from the outer palace carried you back to the palace. You were too drunk at the time and no matter how we called you, you couldn't be awakened, so you had no choice but to be carried into the inner palace by that driver."
"Where is the mistress?" Shen remembered that the groom said she was sick last night.
"When the princess woke up in the morning, she took a look at this courtyard, but she did not step into the bedroom. She asked Wang Chengfeng a few words outside, and then turned around and went back."
Judging from what the maid said, the princess's relapse of her old illness must have been a fabrication made up by the groom to get him out of trouble.
It was true that he and Princess Ping had never been close, and they could only exchange three words throughout the year. When he was 28, he followed the emperor's wishes, performed three letters and six rituals, and had the princess meet him in the palace. With all the fuss, he only got a stranger in name only.
Since getting married, he has never set foot in the main room.
Shen Que felt guilty towards her, so he handed over the housekeeper power to her early in the morning. Whenever she asked, Shen Que would give her whatever she wanted, but he could never be a real couple with her.
The emperor and the empress knew that he had a hidden illness and was not like an ordinary man, but they still forced this marriage on him, simply because he was old enough, and if he did not get married, it would confirm the ridiculous rumors outside.
For the sake of royal dignity, even though he was a prince, he could not have more freedom than the royal favorites in the palace - those civet dogs and birds.
At the same time, Wang Fengde, who was mentioned by the maid just now, suddenly walked into the hall, followed by a little servant boy holding a bowl of sobering soup in his hand.
"Your Highness," Wang Chengfeng said in a voice a few notches higher than that of an ordinary man, and considerately brought the bowl of hangover soup to the bedside, "This is the hangover soup that has just been heated up in the kitchen."
Shen Que had no appetite at the moment, so he waved his hands. Wang Chengfeng beside the couch immediately understood and asked the servant to take the bowl of sobering soup away.
"Call in the driver from last night," Chen Que's eyes flickered, and his hands moved without any warmth, "I will reward him well."
Xie Shiguan was soon led in. It was early winter and snow was about to fall, but he was only wearing a gray-brown coarse cloth shorts. The cuffs of his clothes were loose and white from being starched, which could not hide his shabby air.
Shen dismissed the attendants, and the maid closed the hall door as usual before leaving.
He lowered his eyes to look at the man kneeling at his feet and frowned slightly. No lowly servant would kneel so close to his master when meeting him.
He has no sense of propriety and no rules. He is so bold.
Shen hated him for overstepping the boundaries, and hated him even more for his deliberate violation last night. He had never thought that he... would be bullied by someone of such status.
"Your Highness is here to look for me," the man smiled, his narrow eyes curved, without even a hint of fear in them, "What is it for?"
He was just a lowly groom, yet he dared to look at him in such a joking way. However, Shen refused to lose, and raised his foot to step on his left chest, forcing him to fall backwards: "You carried me back to the palace, which can be regarded as 'protecting the master'. The king asked you to come here, naturally to reward you."
His face was cold as he gestured, without even a hint of warmth. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that he was speaking in a sarcastic way, but the man on the ground looked as if he believed it.
"Your Highness is in trouble, how can I stand by and watch?" Xie Shiguan grabbed the foot that was stepping on his chest with his backhand, and said sincerely, "As for the word 'reward', I really can't bear it."
He held the foot tightly, but Shen couldn't pull it back, nor could he leave it there, so he could only glare at him coldly and said, "Let go!"
Xie Shiguan tilted his head to look at his pair of light-colored soap boots that had been dusted to a shine. There was a sesame-sized spot of mud on the shoe surface at some point, but it was almost unnoticeable if you didn't look carefully.
He suddenly laughed. People looking down from a high position must feel that the quagmire is dirty. However, if they step on it in a rage, not only will their clean clothes and shoes become filthy, but they will also be dragged down with the person trapped in the abyss.
He dreamed of defiled this noble prince and wanted him to perish with him.
Xie Shiguan did not let go, but instead raised his head and stared at his eyes: "Your Highness, why are you so cruel to me? If I hadn't intervened in time last night, I'm afraid that Your Highness would have let those bad guys tear it apart and eat it all."
But Shen was not stupid. When he felt uncomfortable, he guessed that he had fallen into the dirty scheme of the prince's party. They wanted to force him to make a fool of himself in Xuanping Mansion and under the nose of the old marquis, and then use this handle to force him to submit to the prince.
However, no matter how big the scandal was, it was not as shocking as his unknown hidden illness. If those people got a hold of this handle, he would become a fish on the chopping board of others. No matter who came to power in the future, he would probably be terrified and worried all day long.
From the surface, it seemed that it was indeed the inferior driver in front of him who rescued him.
But as a servant in the palace, he knew that his master had been drugged, but he did not send him back home immediately. Instead, he took advantage of the situation and humiliated him... It seemed like he had planned this all along.
"You are a low-ranking driver. Why don't you stay in the front yard to feed the horses and wait?" Chen Que raised his hand coldly. "Why did you appear in the inner courtyard of the Marquis' Mansion for no reason?"
"Your Highness is so cruel. What do you mean by 'without reason'? I have always been concerned about your safety. I would rather risk being chased and beaten than not follow you. How can you not see my loyalty?"
Sensing that Xie Shiguan's hand was slightly loose, Chen immediately withdrew his leg: "If you are really loyal, you should have sent me back to the palace last night, instead of..."
He suddenly paused when he said this. Such a dirty thing, no matter how he described it, it still felt filthy.
However, Xie Shiguan did not even have a trace of regret in his eyes: "But Your Highness was in so much pain last night, just watching you made me so heartbroken, how could I be so cruel as to watch you suffer?"
Seeing that this man refused to repent, Shen did not want to say anything more to him. He walked to the side of the table and picked up the jade pen mountain on the corner of the table. This item was given by the saint, and he had been using it for several years.
"You," Shen Que slowly moved his hands, "come here."
Xie Shiguan stood up readily and in just a moment he was close to Shen Que's side. This man was too tall, half a head taller than him. When he got close, the unique burning and powerful feeling of the middle-aged man almost penetrated through the thin shorts on his body and bullied Shen Que.
As long as he looked into his eyes, Shen Que would inexplicably feel his scalp tingling.
He lowered his head to look at the pen mountain in Shen Que's hand: "Is this the reward that His Highness wants to give me?"
Without waiting for Shen Que's answer, he continued, "It looks like a valuable item, but I come from a poor family and can't read a single word. What do I need this elegant thing for?"
"Just accept whatever the king wants to reward you with," Chen Que said coldly, "When will it be your turn to choose?"
After saying this, he was about to forcefully stuff the jade pen holder into Xie Shiguan's hand. The latter curved his eyes and fiercely pressed his hand and the jade pen holder firmly on the table.
"How dare I be picky? I'm afraid Your Highness doesn't really want to give it to me," he paused for a moment, then whispered into Shen Que's ear, "I guess as long as I reach out to take it, Your Highness will deliberately throw the pen to the ground and break it, and then the waiters guarding outside will rush in and take me down, and you will use an excuse to send me to the Criminal Court and kill me..."
"Am I right, Your Highness?"
Suddenly, everyone saw through his entire thoughts, but Shen was obviously stunned for a moment, and the astonishment on his face had already answered his question.
Xie Shiguan smiled brightly, tightened his grip, and leaned over again to whisper in Chen Que's ear: "I don't want jade, gold, or silver. If I take those treasures, I'm afraid I'll have the life to take them but not the life to spend them."
Shen subconsciously wanted to raise his hand to speak, but the half hand was firmly pressed on the table by the slave, and he couldn't get free no matter what.
"If Your Highness has made up his mind to reward me, why not..." He paused deliberately here, then smiled and said, "Give yourself to me."
Before he could finish, Shen Que suddenly raised his hand and slapped him hard in the face.
Xie Shiguan didn't dodge at all, and was hit unexpectedly, causing his head to turn slightly. He was obviously in pain, but after a long while, Shen didn't see the crazy smile on the corner of his lips fall away.
The man in front of me is probably a complete lunatic.
"It hurts," he heard him ask, "How could you be so cruel?"
Although he said it hurt, the man's eyes were clearly filled with smiles. He moved closer step by step until Shen had no way to avoid him.
He didn't know if it was Shen Que's illusion, but he always felt that something under the shorts was pressing against his waist and abdomen. As Xie Shiguan got closer, the feeling became clearer.
madman……
"Don't you like it?" he asked, "It was clearly it that saved you last night."
After saying that, he pulled Chen Que's other hand and pressed it under his body, even though the mute was glaring at him with such hatred.
Last night's audacious act of insubordination was a pleasure he had paid for with his life. If Shen Que did not have that secret, what he would have been rewarded with now would probably be a cup of poison.
In the past, he always thought that if his prince could look at him more, he would be willing to face the hell, even the sea of fire and the nine springs of hell, with his eyes closed. But now that they have physical contact, he suddenly became more greedy.
It is not enough to want to take this dumb person for yourself, tear him apart and swallow him up.
"The official must be thinking that when this lowly slave returns, he will order someone to pour a cup of poisoned wine into his stomach, so that his intestines will rupture and he will die," Xie Shiguan said slowly, "Besides the poisoned wine, there are of course many other ways to make this powerless and low-ranking groom disappear from the public eye."
He leaned against the mute's temples and rubbed them obsessively: "But have you ever thought about this, sir? This lowly slave knew that he was going to be liquidated, why didn't he abandon the carriage and run away last night, but dared to stay in the palace?"
However, Shen's hands were restrained, so he had to grit his teeth and say, "Mad man."
Xie Shiguan chuckled: "Whatever your Highness says I am, that's what I am."
Then he added another sentence without any context: "Although I am humble, I have an old acquaintance in the governor's mansion."
Shen's heartbeat tightened, and he looked at him hesitantly.
"If I never hear from you again, he will hand the short note I prepared to the governor." Xie Shiguan liked his surprised response. "It's not a pity for me to die, but if the governor gets the news, he will definitely investigate. As long as he finds out that a groom has died in Prince Ping's mansion, it will be solid evidence..."
"Do you want me to tell Your Highness what happened next?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
