Chapter 99 Just as he was about to kiss those lips, he stopped.
After leaving the dark and gloomy dungeon, Lan Yunzhi leisurely carried the boy along the main road frequented by palace servants.
Nevertheless, no one dared to look directly into the face of the young king.
As for the boy in his arms, even though they were curious, they only dared to whisper among themselves after the boy had gone far away.
Everyone working here knows that this new emperor, who appears to be refined and polite, a true gentleman, is actually quite capricious.
Almost every few days, someone is severely punished for a minor mistake.
Just a couple of days ago, a loose-tongued eunuch was chatting idly by the wall, secretly discussing the new emperor's eccentricities. Of course, he didn't name names, but those who know, know.
Unfortunately, the new emperor happened to see them.
Several bodyguards suddenly appeared and pinned him against the wall.
The tallest and happiest young man walked over, deftly twisted the unfortunate man's head, easily dislocated his jaw, and then pulled out his tongue to examine it closely.
"Your tongue coating is a bit thick, my friend. It's probably due to dampness in your body."
The young man spoke in a friendly manner, then, under the other person's terrified gaze, smiled and took a pair of scissors, waving them in front of his eyes: "Fortunately, I, Ah Liu, also know a little about medicine. Let's try bloodletting first and see how it goes. If that doesn't work, we can just cut it off with the scissors, and then it won't be noticeable."
Ah Liu's tone was light and cheerful, as if he genuinely cared about the other person.
That's exactly what he thought.
To keep the person conscious throughout the bloodletting process, Ah Liu thoughtfully administered anesthesia beforehand.
This way, the person won't faint from the pain while the scissors are being cut.
At the same time, you can clearly hear the crunching sound as the soft flesh in your mouth is cut open.
Not to mention the person involved, even the bystanders kneeling and trembling were made weak in the knees and trembling in the legs by the commotion that made their scalps tingle, fearing that they might become the next unlucky victim if they were not careful.
Time seemed to drag on endlessly amidst the creaking and groaning sounds.
During this time, you could hear Ah Liu muttering apologetically, "I'm sorry, friend, these scissors haven't been used for too long. They're rusty and quite dull. I'll definitely urge them to be more diligent later. I'm sorry to trouble you this time."
"..."
Ah Liu's friend, of course, had his mouth open but couldn't say anything.
Sweat, blood, tears, and snot had soaked through the front of his clothes, and his pants were also mostly wet.
Ah Liu clicked his tongue, seemingly somewhat disgusted: "I'm not saying this to be mean, but friends, you should still pay attention to hygiene. After all, when you're out in the world, your reputation is something you have to earn yourself."
He sighed, then kindly pressed the dislocated jaw back into place before signaling the others to let go.
At this point, the effects of the anesthetic have just worn off.
The guy, whose mouth was full of blood and whose head and face were already soaked with cold sweat, immediately writhed on the ground like a maggot in agony.
He kept making incoherent groans and howls because his tongue had been cut open.
The literal sense of it...
"There's no need to be so happy," Ah Liu kindly comforted him. "It's just a minor ailment, it'll be fine soon enough. There's no need to be so excited. Otherwise, you'll just tire yourself out."
Lan Yunzhi watched the whole thing quietly from the side, without making any attempt to stop it. Instead, she casually told A-Liu to clean up the mess on the ground.
Having said that, he turned and left without looking back, leaving the eunuch, who was writhing and emitting pitiful cries, to be dragged away and never be seen again...
As for what the eunuch said that led to this fate, what exactly did he say?
It's actually very simple.
The man mentioned a coincidence, saying that the current emperor and the top scholar who was implicated by his family and forced into prostitution two years ago bear a striking resemblance.
He had a relative who frequented that place and greatly admired that young master Lan. If it weren't for the notorious playboy from the princess's mansion interfering, they probably would have already gotten together.
The implication was further implied that since the two were so similar, the unknown third prince must have used some underhanded methods to gain a foothold in such a short time...
And then, that was it.
I only heard that not long after, a wealthy family surnamed Wang in the city was robbed by bandits. The male head of the household resisted with great effort but was brutally murdered, and the house was smashed inside and out.
Gold, silver, jewels, and contracts that should have been hidden were scattered all over the ground.
The Wang family was notoriously cruel. That night, chaos ensued. The servants and maids in the mansion burned their slave deeds, and several young concubines, along with their gold, silver, and valuables, fled in the dead of night...
When the news reached the palace, it turned out that the deceased, surnamed Wang, was a relative of the unfortunate man who had recently been accused of having a sharp tongue.
—Is it a coincidence?
What a coincidence!
Having witnessed so many such coincidences, people have gained a deeper understanding of how to regulate their words and actions.
Lan Yunzhi carried the person back to the spacious bedroom without any obstacles.
After gently placing the person on the bed, he also got on the bed and sat on the edge of it.
He gazed intently at the motionless boy with his eyes closed, and after a moment, he suddenly smiled softly.
Then, she slowly lowered her head. As the distance between them closed, Lan Yunzhi noticed that the other person's eyelashes trembled slightly, and it seemed to become more noticeable.
Lan Yunzhi moved closer and closer, and just as he was about to kiss those lips, he stopped.
"You're not going to pretend anymore?"
Lan Yunzhi smiled as she looked at Pipa, who had suddenly opened her eyes.
A flicker of panic crossed the boy's eyes at being caught red-handed, but he quickly regained his composure.
"I just happened to wake up."
Pipa answered in a soft voice, not because she felt guilty—it was just that they were too close, and with each breath they exchanged, it seemed that any tiny movement would be magnified infinitely.
"But what is Your Majesty doing now?" Pipa asked softly, looking directly into the other person's eyes without flinching.
Upon hearing the boy's abrupt change in address, Lan Yunzhi paused for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter.
His chest vibrated slightly when he laughed, and the loose ends of his hair gently fell onto the boy's pillow.
That scent was both familiar and strange...
It seems to carry the marks of past and present lives.
Lan Yunzhi laughed for a while, as if he had laughed enough, but instead of withdrawing his arm from Pipa's side, he raised his hand and pinched the boy's cheek, his fingertip spreading a dark red hue.
"Would you believe me if I said it was just because you had something dirty on your face?"
The young man said with a slight smile.
Pipa also noticed the red stain, remembering that it was the blood from Shen Yun's hand when she had cut her palm and taken the dagger from her bare hands.
At the same time, the words that Chen Yun had said to him in the underground tunnel flashed into his mind.
So it turns out my mother has a name.
Her surname is Yu, and she was once a carefree girl with her own name, family, and friends...
It turns out that she had also dreamed about her future life, and even jokingly named her child early on.
Boy or girl, it doesn't matter... If the accident back then hadn't happened, perhaps that girl named Yu Rou would have really had a child born named Qingzhou, maybe with the surname Yu, maybe with a different surname.
Everything is fine...
But it shouldn't have been him.
If it weren't for his burden, how could my mother have spent her entire life, until her death, unable to leave that foreign village?
Yu Qingzhou...
If Pipa's previous resistance to this name stemmed from the fear of being swallowed up by another person's shadow.
So, when Pipa learned about what happened back then and knew all about her mother's experiences, she found it even more difficult to accept the name that had once embodied Yu Rou's youthful aspirations and beautiful dreams for her future.
He felt he was not good enough for her.
"Why can't you just concentrate?"
A voice suddenly spoke, its words ringing close to his scalp, abruptly pulling Pipa back from his thoughts.
"Why do you always think about other people and other things when you're right in front of me?" The young man sighed helplessly. "You know that if I'm not happy, you'll naturally be unhappy too."
Hearing the other person say that, Pipa's heart skipped a beat.
Is it possible that the Lan Yunzhi he knows would say such strange things?
That uneasy feeling returned, and alarm bells rang in the boy's mind.
In particular, he felt that Lan Yunzhi seemed to move even closer to him as she spoke.
As the other person moved, Pipa clearly felt the entire bed suddenly sink down, and the bed board made a slight creaking sound.
At this moment, Lan Yunzhi spoke again, her beautiful eyes slightly narrowed, and her deliberately suppressed voice seemed to carry a hint of excitement: "Why are you looking at me like that, as if you suddenly don't recognize me?"
He paused slightly, his tone softening as he looked into the boy's eyes: "Or... have you remembered something?"
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