The 30th day of the twelfth lunar month is the New Year's Eve.
"Your Majesty," An Fengde took a half step forward and servilely advised, "It is already the end of the evening hour and it is getting late. For the sake of the emperor's health, you should use some first."
The delicacies and food on the table had been reheated, but the emperor on the host seat refused to eat even a single bite. The saint was reluctant to move his chopsticks, so the concubines sitting below him could only smile and starve with him.
Today is New Year's Eve, and the emperor seldom summons them, so the makeup and costumes of these concubines today are carefully designed. They start bathing and burning incense almost before dawn. Some of them, in order to make their waists look slim enough, have not even touched a bite of food up to now.
Who would have thought that coming here happily would end up suffering?
Xie Yizhi held his forehead impatiently and asked, "Has the post been delivered?"
Eunuch An bowed his head quickly and said, "Your Majesty, I delivered it when I got up this morning. I have already delivered several letters in a row."
"Why hasn't the emperor's uncle come yet?" Xie Yizhi looked at him coldly, "Have you sent the sedan chair?"
"Of course, the sedan chair was also sent," An Fengde said, his face covered in cold sweat. He wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve, and a layer of powder fell off his round face like a silver plate. He chose his words carefully, "But I think His Highness Prince Yan was busy with something important, so the invitation could not be delivered to the palace."
Xie Yizhi's expression became uglier: "Today is New Year's Eve, what important matter could he be bothered with? That is the emperor's invitation, how dare the people in his house not accept it!"
Seeing that he was angry, An Fengde had no choice but to bury his head even lower and answered in a whisper, "Precisely because it is an imperial invitation, Your Highness will not come out, so the subordinates naturally dare not go beyond the rules to receive it."
"He did it on purpose," Xie Yizhi's eyes turned red, and he looked like he was about to cry, "He's still angry with me, but I, I didn't do it on purpose."
"Grand Tutor...he is also my teacher," the little emperor murmured, "If I harm him, what good will it bring to me?"
"My uncle and teacher are both gone, and my mother is under house arrest in the palace. He is my only relative, but he still refuses to come..."
At this moment, a female voice suddenly came from the bottom of the table. The voice was as sweet as honey, soft and pleasant to the ear, making people unconsciously turn their heads to look towards the source of the voice.
"Officials..."
The one who spoke was the pregnant Miao Zhaoyi. It was clearly a festive day, but she chose to wear plain clothes. The incident in Nanjing that day caused her father and elder brother to be dismissed from their posts and investigated. Her mother was now under house arrest and she was crying every day.
Although she was a member of the imperial family and pregnant with the emperor's heir, the palace servants did not dare to look down on her openly, but in private, she knew exactly what they were mocking her about.
"I have something to say, but I don't know if I should say it..."
Xie Yizhi glanced at her and said angrily for no reason: "Speak."
"I heard that the Prince Regent has been sleeping and eating with a guard in the palace recently, and they are very affectionate," Miao Zhaoyi said while laughing softly, "They are so inseparable, I guess they will be together on New Year's Eve. How can the Prince Regent have time to accept the official invitation..."
Before she could finish, Xie Yizhi tightly grasped the jade chopsticks on the table, then dropped them and threw them out: "Shut up!"
Half of the jade chopsticks hit the beautiful face of a concubine, leaving a red mark instantly.
But even though her face was injured, she did not dare to scream. She just covered it with her hands, looking aggrieved and about to cry.
Upon hearing the sound, the palace slaves did not dare to raise their heads and fell to their knees.
The delicate concubines at the table were even more shocked by the little emperor's action. Xie Yizhi was not very old, only seventeen years old after the New Year, so these concubines were naturally not much older either.
Seeing the leader suddenly attack, everyone turned pale with fright.
After a while, the emperor suddenly asked, "What's the name of that guard?"
Among all the concubines, Miao Zhaoyi sat closest to him. She and the little emperor were childhood sweethearts and had often played together since they were young. Therefore, she was not afraid of him in her heart. When he asked, she immediately replied, "It seems that her surname is Chen, and her name is something else..."
It was just the name of a lowly servant, so she didn't bother to remember it. So she turned her head and signaled the personal maid behind her to answer.
The maid gave a look and nodded to remind him: "Your Majesty, that man's name is Chen Que, which means "que" in "queuing", and he is a mute."
Xie Yizhi felt a chill in his heart. That mute... How could it be possible? Didn't they say that the mute suddenly defected and fled Beijing in the early spring? He thought Shen Que had already died under the sword of King Yan.
He has already defected and fled the capital. How could Xie Ling still tolerate such a disloyal servant?
"The mute has returned safely," Xie Yizhi glared at An Fengde angrily, "Why didn't you come and report this to me?"
"This... I don't know either," An Fengde knelt beside him, thinking for a moment, as if he had just remembered, "I did hear that Prince Yan brought someone back to the palace that day, but His Highness hid the person very well. I also thought that perhaps His Highness was in a good mood on the way and brought a southerner back to satisfy his novelty."
His Royal Highness Prince Yan has always been a playboy, and he would get bored with all the bed partners he found after a while. This time he brought back a different one from the south, probably just to try something new, so An Fengde didn't pay much attention to her.
Besides, how could he have the courage to stare at King Yan’s backyard every day?
But at this time, Miao Zhaoyi added fuel to the fire: "Oh, this mute is different from those male lovers. In the past, those male lovers were only summoned to the palace at night. How could they stay for three meals a day with Prince Yan?"
"A mere mute servant can actually eat at the same table with the master. How spoiled is he?"
The man at the top looked worse and worse as he listened. He gritted his teeth and said in hatred, "What on earth did that mute do..."
Speaking of this, Xie Yizi suddenly remembered the prescription that Yu Kongqing handed over in the early spring. At that time, he said with absolute certainty that the dumb was a monster that was both male and female.
He didn't believe such a ridiculous statement at first, and since the mute suddenly defected, he didn't take the matter seriously.
Later, he heard that Yu Kongqing died of illness in the summer. A healthy person suddenly fell ill. Xie Yizi knew without thinking that he must have displeased Xie Shiguan.
He didn't want to offend his uncle, so he didn't dare to annoy him with this nonsense.
Xie Yizhi always felt that Shen Que was Xie Shiguan's personal guard after all. If Shen Que really had a deformity, how could he not know it? Besides, how could King Yan, who couldn't stand ugly things, keep him by his side to continue to serve?
Now that I think about it... this might be true. Xie Shiguan knew it a long time ago, but he still kept this mute.
Why?
Thinking of this, Xie Yizhi frowned unconsciously: "Vile thing!"
Who is the emperor's uncle? This monster must have used some dirty tricks to deceive him and make him lose his mind for a while.
If the emperor is unhappy, the eunuchs won't have a good life, so An Fengde suddenly had an idea and said, "Your Majesty, I have an idea... You might as well give it a try."
Xie Yizhi was not in a good mood towards anyone at the moment, and he just said coldly: "Speak."
"Your Highness, Prince Yan, I think he was just in a momentary mood, and was overwhelmed by the novelty. He is just a mute. I will go out and pick a pretty and obedient one, make her mute with a bowl of raw lacquer, and then teach her a lesson. Then you can grant her into the palace..."
"This gift is given first to ease the relationship," An Fengde said patiently, "Secondly, when His Highness sees a better one, he will naturally not bother with that guard anymore."
Xie Yizi seemed to be thinking about something. It was easy to find the mute, but it was not easy to find the androgynous deformed person... However, what An Fengde said did make some sense. Wasn't the reason why Xie Shiguan fell in love with the mute because of his unusual body?
If there are many people like this, then what is so rare about it?
King Yan really did what he said, and from that night on, no matter how busy he was, they always ate three meals together.
When they had time, Xie Shiguan would order the maids to bring meals to Lan Sheng Courtyard, and the two of them would eat together in that small room.
If the official duties were heavy, His Highness would summon him over at mealtime, and watch him eat while reading official documents. Seeing His Highness so busy, the mute would feel distressed, and it would be easy for him to coax him to feed him.
The deliberate neglect during those days also made Xie Shiguan realize clearly that if he insisted on pulling out the thorn, it would probably end in bloodshed. The mute was so stubborn that he had to coax and deceive him and grind him down step by step.
It will be fine once the thorn is smoothed out.
This was the first time that His Highness had been so patient with someone. He didn't know whether the mute was soft-hearted or not, but His Highness himself was deeply moved by this "infatuation".
However, His Highness's patience is not given in vain. When the mute forgives him from the bottom of his heart, he will get back all the "debts" owed to him.
This day, it was time for feeding again, but His Highness did not come to the Lansheng Courtyard.
Shen was forced by him for these days, and was used to it by now. He changed into an official robe as usual, combed his hair again, and then walked towards King Yan's bedroom.
Although... His Highness has been really good to him recently, so good that sometimes when he looked into his eyes, Shen would always be stunned for a moment. That trance always made him forget who he was for a moment, but after that moment of daze, he would suddenly wake up.
He shouldn't forget his identity...
If he really fell for it, it would only be a momentary pleasure. With his insignificant body, how could he dare to ask for His Highness'...long-lasting love?
After the scorching flames died down, he only wished to have a safe place to live. As for who His Highness would stand with at that time, that was not something he should think about. Even if he really wanted to marry a man as a princess, he should be of equal status to His Highness so that the relationship would last long.
His Highness had even taken off his slave clothes for him, so how could he have the guts to dream of picking the stars in the sky?
It is good enough to be able to look at it from afar and borrow some of its light.
But just as Shen was about to pass through the plum garden, he suddenly caught a glimpse of two people standing under the eaves.
One is His Royal Highness, and the other...
The young man seemed to be a head shorter than Xie Shiguan, with black hair, fair skin, and a pair of affectionate peach blossom eyes beneath his black eyebrows. It seemed that he had applied some light rouge on the corners of his eyes and the light pink color against his porcelain-white skin made him look so handsome and delicate that it was hard to tell whether he was a male or a female.
In the past, His Highness liked bed partners of this kind.
This young man was even more eye-catching than the ones Your Highness had summoned before. He wore a brocade robe and a jade belt, and when he smiled, he had dimples on his cheeks, which were even deeper and more attractive than His.
Such a person, standing together with Your Highness, really seems like a pair made in heaven...a perfect match.
What made Shen Que even more confused was that the man seemed to be using sign language. Was he... also a mute?
After speaking a few words to the imperially appointed maid, Xie Shiguan became impatient. How dare Xie Yizi send such an ugly thing to him?
"Your Highness, it's very cold here," the young man said, moving his hands slowly and using his not very proficient sign language, "Why don't you go in and sit down?"
While speaking, he deliberately stared at Xie Shiguan's chin and smiled shyly, so that the dimples on his cheeks could be revealed in his eyes from time to time.
But the King of Yan did not appreciate it. The more beautifully he smiled, the tighter his brows frowned: "Why are you laughing? Are you sick?"
The young man didn't expect that the first words the prince said to him would be these. A hint of surprise flashed across his eyes unconsciously, and then he pursed his lips, barely maintaining his composure.
He raised his hand and said, "I have admired Your Highness for a long time. I am so happy to meet you this time that I can't help but..."
Listening to this set of clichés, Xie Shiguan became more and more annoyed and turned to leave.
But the young man caught up with him and grabbed his sleeve. In order to keep him, he deliberately opened his collar a little, half revealing his blue breasts.
When Xie Shiguan turned around, he gestured hurriedly: "Your Highness, wait a minute, I have everything that men have, and I also have everything that women have..."
But His Highness showed no mercy to the lady. Seeing him making moves and pulling on her, he got angry and kicked him in the chest: "Stop being an eyesore and get out!"
The young man fell heavily to the ground, shedding a few tears of fear, and begged bitterly: "Please have mercy on me, Your Highness!"
"If I can't stay in the palace, I'll be dead if I go back. I just want a place to stay. I won't fight or rob, Your Highness..."
Xie Shiguan looked down at him. The maid had her clothes half-undone and was leaning on the ground with tears in her eyes. She looked so pitiful. If it had happened in the past, it would not have been a bad idea to play with her.
But now he has the mute, and he knows very well how pedantic the little mute is. The matter of "Lin Xie" is still in his heart. If he continues to be entangled with other people, the mute may never want to be with him in this life.
He had tried to coax the girl for so long but failed, and this maid even dared to pull his sleeve. If that mute heard it, wouldn't all his previous efforts be wasted?
Therefore, His Highness did not have the slightest bit of good expression towards the man on the ground. If he had not felt sorry for the man and the mute, he would have drawn his sword and killed the man.
"Throw him out," Xie Shiguan coldly ordered Eleven beside him, "Throw him far away."
Eleven was a little embarrassed: "But, but Your Highness, this is a gift from the Emperor, what should I do, what should I do..."
"Then send it back to where it came from," Xie Shiguan said here, as if he suddenly remembered something, "Where is Chen Que? Why hasn't he come to eat yet? It's already so late."
The author has something to say:
(To prove his innocence, he performed a high-legged dog pose on the spot.
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