Chapter 22 Mushroom Guard: You recklessly extinguished my earth dragon for two days, and recklessly intensified its fire for five days. Thirteen plates of pastries, seven cups of tea.
After sitting still for almost half an hour, Yao Ruyi felt his bottom go numb, but he still hadn't heard the emperor across from him utter a single word. He leaned back in his chair, drowsy, his head nodding slightly.
"look up."
ah?
Yao Ruyi was momentarily lost in thought, then slowly raised his head. When his gaze met the emperor's, he nervously looked around.
On one side of the table sat Yao Ruyi, dressed neatly in white, sitting upright in a chair. Opposite her was the emperor, wearing a loose robe and with his hair casually draped over his shoulders.
Yao Ruyi glanced around, avoiding the emperor's eyes. It's over! He's been discovered. Pastries, tea, blood…
He has no money and can't pay it back.
"Mushroom spirit?"
"Yes!"
Gu Huizhou: "..."
"Speak properly."
He nodded meekly, "...Yes."
Gu Huizhou exhaled, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Then let's settle the score."
What accounts are we settling?
Yao Ruyi's eyes widened. He had no money!
Even if you buy it on the market, you won't get much money. As a highly poisonous species, the orange-capped mushroom cannot be used as an antidote or added to soups. It's not even worth as much as an ounce of arsenic!
"...I have no money."
"No money?" The man opposite him seemed to find it amusing. "What do you do when you have no money?" He thought for a while. "How about you pay for it?"
What's the difference? He's still in the palace, isn't he? A good deal! "Great!"
Gu Huizhou nodded, "Hmm, let's calculate. You arbitrarily destroyed my earth dragon for two days, and arbitrarily intensified the earth dragon's fire for five days. Thirteen plates of pastries and seven cups of tea."
"Let me think, there is also a green porcelain flowerpot."
"You must serve me in the palace for at least ten years."
Yao Ruyi couldn't believe it, "Your servant, your subject, your subordinate..."
"I."
He raised his eyes cautiously, "Me? Am I supposed to stay in the palace for ten years?"
Actually, ten years is not too bad, there are many scholars and people in the palace. If he takes the imperial examination again after ten years, he will surely pass the exam and enter officialdom.
"Five years is fine too."
A calculating glint flashed in Gu Huizhou's eyes. "You will become my personal bodyguard, and you will only need to listen to me."
"good."
They're so easily fooled.
The agreement was reached between the man and the mushroom, and Gu Huizhou nodded in satisfaction. In front of Yao Ruyi, he took out a dagger from a box under the table and viciously stabbed his palm.
"His Majesty!"
Yao Ruyi was taken aback. What was going on now?
A cup filled with gushing blood was pushed in front of him by the person opposite him. "Drink."
"Give me?"
Gu Huizhou tore off a piece of cloth and held it in his hand. "I will give you a cup of my blood every ten days as payment."
“You don’t need that much,” Yao Ruyi said, dipping her hand in the mixture and putting it in her mouth. “I’m a mushroom, not a worm.”
"..."
"Shut up and go to sleep."
Yao Ruyi followed behind Gu Huizhou step by step. The man's tall figure almost covered him. Yao Ruyi moved behind him with small, quick steps until the man in front stopped, at which point he looked up.
Gu Huizhou frowned. "What are you doing?"
"Healing."
Yao Ruyi yawned. He was extremely sleepy and wanted to heal the emperor's injuries as quickly as possible so he could go to sleep immediately.
How to treat it?
Gu Huizhou narrowed his eyes slightly as he recalled the wounds on his body that had healed without warning.
"so."
Previously, they had always sat on each other, making direct physical contact. Now, standing face to face like this, Yao Ruyi was stunned.
"how?"
The person opposite him looked down at him, his gaze as dark and unfathomable, making Yao Ruyi increasingly nervous. He suddenly realized, "That's it!" He spread his five fingers and pressed them against the emperor's left chest.
It feels really good.
On his first day in the capital, he saw a girl placing her hand on the chest of a man opposite her in front of a restaurant. He remembered that the girl asked him if he wanted to go in and change his clothes.
Gu Huizhou stiffened abruptly. He suppressed the urge to push the person away and raised his hand to look.
The wound is healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, leaving no trace.
The other party smiled smugly, oblivious to the emperor's serious expression.
"Does Your Majesty still have any injuries?"
"You can cure diseases?"
Curing illness? Yao Ruyi yawned again. How could he possibly cure illness? If he were to intervene, the other person probably wouldn't survive until the imperial physician arrived. "No."
"Um?"
Seeing the other person extend their hand, Mushroom let out an "Oh".
"I will only let the flesh and blood come together, just like mycelium can break and reconnect."
After he finished speaking, he looked at Gu Huizhou in front of him and asked, "Don't you understand yet?" How was he supposed to explain this? Yao Ruyi looked down at her robes and said, "Like this."
"hiss--"
The fabric was suddenly torn in two. Yao Ruyi blinked and gestured for him to look this way.
Gu Huizhou looked over and saw that the other person was holding two pieces of cloth. In the blink of an eye, the fine thread reconnected them and restored them to their original state.
"Do you understand now?"
The other person ignored him and went to bed. Yao Ruyi pouted, thinking that if he didn't understand, he could just tell him directly; it wouldn't make him look down on her.
He turned around too.
"Don't do this kind of thing again."
Yao Ruyi silently turned around and lay back in the teacup. Small is fine, he's not fat, he won't feel cramped.
The next morning, Cui Xiangzhu paced around outside the door for a while before hearing any noise. He hurried inside to attend to his emperor. This was truly wonderful; the emperor's mood was better after a night's rest than in the previous days, finally putting Cui Xiangzhu's mind at ease.
"Your Majesty, don't you think this flowerpot is beautiful?"
The color is similar to the previous celadon fragments, but the porcelain basin is a whole size larger, and the glaze is warm, smooth, and soft.
That does suit the mushroom's personality.
"Um."
Cui Xiangzhu must have some extraordinary abilities to stay by Gu Huizhou's side for so long. He could smell the soil that had fallen last night and tell it was from the area under the plum trees in the Imperial Garden.
The gardener put in a lot of effort for that plum blossom patch; it's said the soil smells even better than the flowers.
"Your Majesty, rest assured, this servant will find a skilled gardener in a moment. He will definitely move these mushrooms over safely."
"No need."
"Huh?" Cui Xiangzhu was taken aback.
"Put it on the table, someone will come and move it."
Cui Xiangzhu nodded with a smile, "Alright, then I'll do as Your Majesty says." A group of eunuchs and palace maids tidied up the Yun Palace. Once everyone had left, Cui Xiangzhu quietly spoke, "Your Majesty, the Fourteenth Prince has already captured the eunuch who let the assassin into the palace last night. Your Majesty, what do you think…?"
"We'll see how it goes."
"yes."
The master and servant got along very well; Cui Xiangzhu could understand what the emperor wanted him to do with just a glance.
But, Your Majesty, why are you always looking down the window...?
"Your Majesty wishes to have the windows repaired? Rest assured, Your Majesty, although the windows in Yun Palace are regularly maintained, I am always afraid that they might startle Your Majesty like the windows in the Imperial Study were damaged last time. I will find them after court..."
His Majesty frowned. "It's not a window."
Cui Xiangzhu glanced at the mushrooms out of the corner of his eye and hurriedly said, "Does Your Majesty wish to display some bonsai? Spring is just around the corner, and many new varieties will surely arrive in the capital. I will bring all those rare and exotic items over for you to see then..."
It's not a bonsai either.
"How about I order someone to dismantle the window and then rebuild it on the wall?"
"Place a soft couch here."
Doesn't His Majesty have a soft couch? Cui Xiangzhu looked to the other side, his mind racing but he still had to answer, "Alright, this servant will have someone move it after court, but is His Majesty not comfortable sleeping on it? Should we change the other one?"
Gu Huizhou adjusted his collar in front of the bronze mirror, his gaze sweeping over his chest where someone had pressed down the previous night. "No need, guards, stop."
The guards are here?!
Cui Xiangzhu was dumbfounded. What kind of guard could share a room with His Majesty? This was outrageous!
He couldn't figure it out even after the court session ended.
Just as he was instructing the eunuchs to move a soft couch, he bumped into the Thirteenth Palace.
"Oh! You're finally back! His Majesty was assassinated last night, and with you gone, only the Fourteenth Prince was left. This old servant was truly uneasy!"
Thirteen's face was serious. "Eunuch Cui, I have already heard about this matter. That dog of a eunuch has been dealt with, and the Imperial Guards' defenses must be strengthened these days. I also trouble you to take care of His Majesty." He glanced back, "What? Is the soft couch in His Majesty's palace uncomfortable?"
"Speaking of which, the Imperial Household Department's techniques haven't improved much over the years. In his letter, Eleven mentioned that there are skilled craftsmen in the South who are unparalleled in their ability to polish wood."
Cui Xiangzhu quickly waved his hand, "What are you saying, sir? His Majesty said this is for the guards to stay in."
"Guards, stay here?" Thirteen was taken aback. How come he didn't know that His Majesty had prepared soft couches for them in the Cloud Palace?
"Don't overthink it, Thirteenth Master. It's definitely not for you."
Cui Xiangzhu looked distressed. He still hadn't seen who this "guard" was, that he could get His Majesty to add an extra soft couch in the Cloud Palace, right across from the dragon bed!
He's called a guard, but how could he not understand his true identity?
"Your Excellency is busy, this old servant will deliver it to His Majesty immediately."
Thirteen pursed his lips and remained silent, watching Cui Xiangzhu lead a group of people towards the Cloud Palace.
Remaining silent.
He and the Fourteenth Prince were not guards; they hid in dark corners all day long. They must be cockroaches of the Cloud Palace.
Seeing that the group of people ahead was about to arrive after turning the corner, Thirteen gripped the letter in his hand tightly, quickened his pace, and hurried back to report the letter.
In the Cloud Palace, directly opposite the dragon bed, stood a soft couch made of golden nanmu wood, covered with embroidered brocade, its surface so smooth to the touch it felt like being submerged in water. Yao Ruyi kept touching it, his eyes sparkling.
"Your Majesty, will I be sleeping here from now on?"
A low flower stand was placed on one side of the chaise longue, much lower than the window, so it couldn't get any light. A flowerpot made of soft white jade was placed steadily on the top of the stand.
"Hmm, from now on you will be responsible for my safety." The emperor continued to play with the agate in his hand. "If there is an assassin, kill him."
Yao Ruyi was taken aback. The person who came to assassinate the emperor should indeed be killed, but if he were to do it, a conflict flashed across his fair face. "I can poison him unconscious."
"And then wait for me to come and kill you?"
Yao Ruyi was speechless and turned away without saying a word.
"Please pack all your clothes tomorrow morning."
Yao Ruyi had just been fiddling with a few clothes on the soft couch, the same ones that Thirteen and Fourteen were wearing. He touched them and didn't like them, asking in a muffled voice, "Why?"
"Before spring arrives, I will go to Yun Temple outside the city to observe a vegetarian diet for three days."
So he had to go too. Yao Ruyi understood; now he was the emperor's personal bodyguard. Wherever the emperor went, he had to go. "Can't I just wear what I'm wearing?"
He crumpled the brocade quilt in his hands, then turned to meet the man's gaze. Gu Huizhou's eyes were complex, as if he were clearly asking, "What do you think?"
He lowered his head reluctantly and said, "Yes."
After all, it was the Emperor's order, and Yao Ruyi felt she had to obey it.
A soft creaking sound came from the door, "Squeak—"
Yun Dian's servant slowly entered, "Your Majesty, it was sent from outside the capital."
Thirteen stepped forward and handed the letter to Gu Huizhou, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed another person in the Cloud Palace, sitting on the soft couch that Cui Xiangzhu had just brought. "Your Majesty, this is—"
Only one word came to his mind—fair-skinned young man.
"I am His Majesty's personal bodyguard, protecting His Majesty's safety."
Thirteen stared wide-eyed, then turned and knelt down. "Your Majesty! Although Thirteen and Fourteen are only mortals, we will do our utmost to protect Your Majesty! We are aware of what happened yesterday. Your Majesty, rest assured, such a situation will never happen again!"
His thirteen words were spoken with resounding force, and his expression was extremely serious.
Gu Huizhou snorted coldly, "Hmm, go ahead." His voice was extremely impatient.
Thirteen took the letter back and said, "This subordinate takes his leave."
The door was closed, and Yao Ruyi imitated her, saying, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will definitely ensure Your Majesty's safety for the next five years."
"Seven years."
Seven years?
The emperor, who was leaning against the dragon bed, suddenly sat up straight, a smile playing on his lips as he looked at Yao Ruyi. "I suddenly remembered that you also broke the window of the Imperial Study."
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Cockroach: a type of cockroach.
[Heart] Starting from the 16th, there will be daily updates, and there will be no more breaks in updates.
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