One quarter of the morning.
A dark figure knocked on Shen Que's door. He said nothing, but just stood in front of the door, knocking regularly one after another.
Shen, who was sleeping soundly, was startled by the noise. He reached for the scimitar beside the bed, knocked twice on the edge of the bed, and asked who the person was.
The person outside the door seemed not to understand his response and continued knocking on the door.
Shen Que's heart suddenly started to ring with alarm bells. He turned on the tinder and lit an oil lamp.
Immediately, he slowly stood up holding his usual scimitar and approached the door lightly. Unexpectedly, just as he reached the door, he heard a "creak" and the bolt was pushed open by something.
The door opened a crack, and Shen subconsciously used his body to block it, but the man was incredibly strong and pushed against the edge of the door, forcing him to squeeze in.
Shen Que drew out the scimitar in his hand, and with a "clang" it cut through the darkness and touched the man's neck.
The figure was not afraid either, and smiled: "Chen Que."
It was a very low and hoarse voice, not like someone he knew.
The scimitar he held forward again was half an inch, the sharp blade coldly pressed against the man's neck, but the man remained calm and said, "Put the knife down."
But Shen stared at him and refused to listen.
"Even if you kill me, you won't survive," he said calmly, his eyes curved as if he was still smiling, "I know your secret, Shen, Que."
Shen's heart skipped a beat, remembering the thief who had been peeping on his roof that night.
The man in front of him probably felt that what he said was not clear enough, so he added fuel to the fire: "That night, I saw it clearly. You are a monster that is neither male nor female, right?"
He deliberately emphasized the word "monster" and laughed in a low, malicious voice.
But Shen gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in hatred.
"I left a letter before I came here. If I die for no reason, the prince will definitely find out about you. Do you believe it?"
Shen Que had no choice but to sheath his scimitar, but before he could sheath the scimitar, the man pounced on him, grabbed his neck, and pushed him down on the couch.
Shen was panting, staring fiercely at the ordinary-looking man in front of him. He looked to be in his thirties, with a circle of dark stubble on his chin, which showed that he usually neglected to take care of himself.
In the more than thirteen years he has been in the palace, he has never seen this person.
The man's hand was holding his neck half-loosely, and his thumb was stroking his Adam's apple neither lightly nor heavily. It was not enough to just touch his neck, he even shamelessly pulled at his collar.
Shen was angry and afraid, so he pushed him away, closed his shirt, and hit him hard, obviously furious: "Who are you?"
The man laughed: "Guess."
"Death warriors?" Shen guessed that Prince Yan had a group of death warriors, all of whom were His Highness's eyes hidden in the dark. Even he didn't know where these death warriors were hiding or how many of them there were. He had only encountered them a few times by chance, and they were all masked.
The man did not deny it. He stepped off his boots and squeezed onto his bed. Then he frowned slightly and said, "It's so hard. You have a lot of salary, why don't you put an extra blanket on the bed?"
However, Shen gave him a push, and this time it was not a coquettish gesture like an opera singer, but a real attempt to throw him to the ground.
But the man just leaned slightly to the outside and remained sitting very steadily.
"What on earth do you want to do?!" Shen was anxious. He took a step back and leaned his back against the wall. His hands also moved quickly. "You want money? How much? Tell me."
The man stared at him with interest. Shen was usually a very gentle person and he had never seen him so anxious.
So he also spoke, following his lead, and asked back, "How much do you have?"
But when Shen heard that he was willing to pay for money, he thought that he was a man who could be dismissed with money, and he couldn't help but feel a little relieved. Then he stepped over the man, jumped off the bed in one breath, and pulled out a tattered wooden box from under the bed.
It opened with a "click", and he picked it up and handed it to the man.
The man lowered his eyes and saw only a few small-denomination silver bills and a thin layer of silver ingots inside. Combined with the red-painted wooden box, it looked even more shabby.
"Is this all you've saved?" The man looked unconvinced. "I've never been shortchanged in my monthly salary, and my master also gives me some bonuses during festivals. Where did you spend all that money?"
But Shen thought he thought it was too little, so he put down the box and signed: "These are all I have, if you don't want them?"
The man did not respond and continued to ask: "Didn't you use all the money to support prostitutes?"
Shen looked at him in surprise, and then became angry, not understanding why this man had so many dirty thoughts in his mind.
Seeing his anger, the man seemed very happy, and pursed his lips and said, "If she is not a prostitute, could she be a singer? A singer costs more money than a prostitute. Is your little property enough to buy her a set of headgear?"
He was addicted to alcohol, visited prostitutes, played mahjong and supported actors. He didn't do anything that others loved. He was obviously a very serious person. How could he stand such slander from this person?
But after being angry, Shen gradually calmed down and looked at the person on the bed very seriously: "How much do you want? I will try my best to raise it. Just this time, we will break up."
"Ten thousand taels," the man said, "do you have it?"
Shen Que then realized that the man in front of him was simply playing tricks on him. He became anxious again, stepped forward and grabbed his collar, and gestured angrily with his other hand: "What on earth do you want?"
The man grabbed his vicious wrist and answered irrelevantly: "My name is Lin Xie."
Before Shen Que could react, the man who called himself Lin Xie suddenly fell down, used the force to pull Shen Que into his arms, and whispered in his ear: "I haven't figured out what I want, but I don't care about your money."
As he spoke, he reached his hand into his collar and deliberately rubbed a certain protrusion. Shen couldn't help but tremble, jumped up, and slapped the man in the face.
Lin Xie turned his head away after being slapped, and looked at Chen Que in disbelief.
Shen also glared at him and said in sign language: "You bastard!"
This slap is enough to kill Shen a hundred times.
He flew up, knocked Shen Que down with a few moves, untied his clothes, tied his hands tightly to the head of the bed, then pinched his chin and approached: "You are so brave."
"Believe it or not, I will expose all your affairs to the public. Do you dare to imagine how they will look at you then?"
Shen Que's eyelashes trembled, and he wanted to speak, but unfortunately his hands were tied, so he could only shake his head slightly and look at him pleadingly.
Lin Xie seemed to be pleased by his eyes and he carefully straightened his loose collar. Then, as if suddenly inspiration came to him, he raised his eyebrows and smiled softly.
"I suddenly remember it now," Lin Xie leaned his forehead against his and spoke intimately, "I was looking at it from the tiles that day. It was dark in the room and I couldn't see clearly."
"I'm afraid I've made a mistake, and I've made a mistake with an innocent person like you..."
Shen listened to what he said, but his eyes kept moving down. It was true that he was dull, but he was not stupid!
"This time, I'm going to take a closer look," Lin Xie said with a scoundrelly smile, "But I'm a very good and kind person. If you don't want me to, I won't look at it, okay?"
Shen immediately struggled.
Lin Xie held down his kicking legs with one hand and continued, "Well, if you don't want to, just say one word, 'no', and I will stop immediately."
Shen was unable to move. Even though he tried his best, he could only make two "wuwu" sounds, and two discordant syllables rolled out of his throat.
Seeing his eyes turn red with anger, Lin Xu said helplessly: "Well, since you don't say anything, I will just assume that you agree."
"Hey, Ah Que," Chen Luo put away his spear and called him, "What are you doing all morning?"
Shen was brought back to his senses by his shout, but he was still listless, his mind was full of what happened last night, and he couldn't even concentrate on practicing martial arts in the morning.
"Did you not sleep well last night?" Shen Luo looked at him closely with concern.
But when Shen heard the word "last night", the image of that man reappeared in his mind, that extremely humiliating and shameful memory.
No matter how he struggled later, it was of no use. The man held a lamp, took off his underwear, held his legs, and looked at him inch by inch.
The oil lamp was close, and the man's eyes were also close. He didn't know whether he was afraid of being burned by the fire or afraid of being watched. He was so angry that he started shaking, and his eyes turned red in a cowardly manner.
But facing Chen Luo's concern, he dared not say anything, pursed his lips, and signed: "I had a nightmare at night, woke up, and couldn't sleep."
Chen Luo heard that it was a nightmare, so he said: "I have a green sandalwood bracelet that has been blessed. When I get off work, I will send it to you and hang it over the bedside to calm you down."
"No need to bother," Shen smiled bitterly. The Buddhist beads bracelet can drive away evil spirits, but it can't stop the bad guys with evil intentions and guts. "You're not a child. You don't have nightmares a few times a year. Don't be afraid."
Chen Luo gently put his arm around his shoulders from behind, and seeing that he didn't resist, he held him tight: "What's the trouble? I sleep soundly and don't have any dreams all night. You live alone, and the room is cold and lonely. Putting something with Buddha's aura in it will make you feel at ease."
Chen Que's nose was sore, because of the grievance in his heart, and also because of Chen Luo's affection for him. He lost his mother when he was young, and his grandfather sold him cruelly for money to buy wine. No one loved him, and only his senior brother Shen Luo cared about him. Chen Que was really grateful.
He didn't dare to thank him, for fear of being glared at by his senior brother again, so he had to keep it in his heart.
The two walked forward side by side, but suddenly Chen Luo said, "Brother is leaving."
Shen quickly tilted his head: "Where are you going?"
"Xichuan," Chen Luo said, "this summer, the counties of Xichuan suffered from severe drought and many wildfires. The people were living in misery. They have been suffering until this winter. The rice jars in the people's homes are empty, and there is not enough charcoal. Countless people have died of starvation and cold."
He paused, and continued, "At this moment, the common people are also making trouble, forming gangs and colluding with the mountain bandits. The governor of Jiannan and Xichuan is old and may not be able to suppress them. His Highness wants me to be his deputy general and go with Marquis Wu'an to quell the rebellion tomorrow."
Shen didn't even blink, just stared at him.
The battlefield is a place of blind swords and guns. It is so dangerous. This time, the swords are pointed at a group of ordinary people. If they succeed in suppressing the rebellion, they may not be heroes. If they fail to suppress the rebellion, they may even lose their heads.
This was not a good job no matter how you looked at it. Under normal circumstances, Xie Shiguan would not have asked his personal guards to go. This time he ordered Shen Luo, probably because he was angry because Shen Luo wanted to disobey orders last time.
At that time, Shen thought that he might not know, but now after listening to Shen Luo's words, he understood clearly.
It turns out that His Highness knew everything, but was just too lazy to care at the time.
But Shen knew that he had suffered for himself, and he felt extremely guilty, so he decisively said with his hand language: "I will go and ask His Highness to let me go in your place!"
Shen Luo quickly grabbed him and said, "Have you forgotten the beating last time? The flesh on your back has just grown back, have you forgotten the pain?"
But Shen looked at him stubbornly, obviously not going to change his mind.
Chen Luo knew his temper. He seemed gentle and easy to manipulate on weekdays, but once he made up his mind, nothing could change his mind. So he had to put on a cold face and said harsh words: "Who do you think you are? You have served His Highness for more than ten years, so you think your words carry weight and you have the ability? After more than ten years of seeing each other day and night, His Highness wants your life just for a little maid!"
"I made a mistake and disobeyed His Highness' order. I deserve to be punished. I don't need you to bother me."
He lowered his voice and whispered in Shen Que's ear: "His Highness has such a bad temper. If you go and ask for mercy and make him unhappy, neither of us will end up well. Do you know that?"
Shen Luo seemed to be hurt by his words, but he knew that Shen Luo deliberately said these cruel words for his own good.
Shen Luo was right. In His Highness' heart, he meant nothing. Now that His Highness still let him stay by his side, he was already showing mercy. How could he still be qualified to plead for others?
He lowered his head and said sullenly: "Now that you're gone, I don't even have anyone to talk to in this mansion."
"I told Eleven that this kid is outgoing and knows sign language. He will often visit you to entertain you," Chen Luo patted the back of his hand comfortingly, "and he won't be gone for too long. When spring comes, Senior Brother will definitely come back."
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