Chapter 31 Dust Covered Face
Having woken up from a nightmare for who knows how many times, Zhu Yuhuan wiped the sweat from his head, took a sip of the warm water handed to him by the palace guard who was on night watch, and then lay back down.
Ever since he learned of Zhu Di's death some time ago and encountered the Crown Princess's punishment of the young eunuch, Zhu Yuhuan often had nightmares. He either dreamed of falling from a high place, or falling into a pool of water and unable to float up. Even after waking up, he still felt like a big stone was pressing on his chest.
Apart from the Crown Princess and Zhu Yuhuan, no one else in the entire Eastern Palace knew about Zhu Di's death, so naturally no one could understand why Zhu Yuhuan was like this.
"Young Master, it's still early. You should sleep a little longer." The palace maid helped Zhu Yuhuan lie down and said soothingly, "Perhaps it's because the weather has been too hot recently that you've had trouble sleeping and are feeling listless. The Crown Princess has already asked Commander Saihazhi for leave on your behalf. You should rest well these few days."
Zhu Yuhuan responded sullenly, turned sideways towards the bed, his thoughts uncontrollably flying to the distance, or more precisely to Zhu Di's side.
From being at a loss when he first heard the news to gradually calming down now, Zhu Yuhuan seems to have more of a feeling of "it's finally here", just like the first time he reads a book and sees a character die, there is almost no sense of reality.
Zhu Yuhuan originally felt that he shouldn't be like this, but when he saw that the Crown Princess, who was also trusted by Zhu Di, was talking and laughing as usual, Zhu Yuhuan swallowed the heavy feeling again.
It seems that the palace is the place that best embodies the saying "people should look forward."
Even Zhu Yuhuan began to doubt whether he had been assimilated by the people in the ancient imperial palace and had become too hard-hearted.
Zhu Yuhuan thought that if he fell asleep, he might fall into a dream again, so he simply closed his eyes and rested. When the sky outside the window became bright, Zhu Yuhuan slowly got up.
The palace maid was shocked to see her getting up so early after the nightmare and asked, "Young Master, why don't you rest a little longer?"
Zhu Yuhuan changed her clothes briefly and said, "I usually wake up around this time, so I can't sleep now. Let me wash up quickly and I'll practice swordplay in the yard." She glanced at the dim sky outside and said, "It looks like it's going to rain?"
The palace attendant responded, "Looking at the sky, it seems like it's going to rain. Maybe it will stop in the afternoon."
Zhu Yuhuan hummed absentmindedly, then walked to the shelf after washing up, picked up the dagger on it, and gently wiped the blade with a handkerchief.
She didn't know when Yang Rong would return to the palace to announce the news... When she thought of the young eunuch still being locked up in the backyard by the Crown Princess, she had a vague foreboding premonition.
Zhu Yuhuan put down the handkerchief in her hand, raised her hand and cut the air with the dagger. Looking at the flash of light, she sighed, put the dagger back into the scabbard, and put it back on the shelf.
As the Crown Princess said, if Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Zhanji knew about this, they would definitely feel resentful towards her... But that young eunuch was there, and even if they didn't know now, they might know in the future... Liu Yongcheng asked that young eunuch to tell her about Zhu Di's death, perhaps with the good intention of helping the Crown Prince's family, but he was undoubtedly putting Zhu Yuhuan on the spot.
Zhu Yuhuan couldn't help but raised his hand and rubbed his temples.
The only way now is to keep this little eunuch by her side, so that she can watch him every day and doesn't have to worry about him accidentally saying something wrong.
The palace servants were quite puzzled when they saw her standing there in a daze. Their young master had always been diligent and self-conscious, either practicing martial arts or studying literature, and almost never wasting time. Why would she suddenly stand in front of the sword rack in a daze?
So the palace maid tentatively asked, "Young Master? Would you like me to help you grind ink and practice calligraphy?"
Zhu Yuhuan came back to his senses, nodded slightly, and said, "Okay."
Normally, Zhu Yuhuan would do things like grinding ink herself, but at the moment her mind was in a mess and she didn't have the energy to do it, so she let the palace maids do it.
The palace maids felt that Zhu Yuhuan seemed a little strange these days, but they did not say much, but just patiently helped her grind the ink.
Zhu Yuhuan tried hard to concentrate on practicing calligraphy, and temporarily forgot what happened in the past few days and the little eunuch who was imprisoned somewhere unknown, and calmed down to practice calligraphy.
Just as lunch was about to begin, a palace servant suddenly rushed in, knelt on the ground, and said, "Young Master, the Emperor has passed away!"
Even though he had known the news for a long time, Zhu Yuhuan's hands still trembled. The palace servant beside him hurriedly reminded him, "Young Master, you should go to the front to find the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess as soon as possible, otherwise you will be disrespectful and get into trouble."
Zhu Yuhuan nodded softly, then quickly walked out of his room and headed straight for the front hall.
Zhu Yuhuan's room was deep in the East Palace, so he naturally learned the news later than others. Therefore, when Zhu Yuhuan arrived, there were already quite a few people in the front hall, such as Concubine Guo and Concubine Li who were by the side of the prince, Zhu Zhanji's brothers and sisters, and the eunuchs and palace servants who were usually responsible for delivering messages. They all suppressed their sobs and sobs.
The prince's eyes were red and he could hardly stand. If he hadn't been protected by the Crown Princess and an eunuch, he would have almost fallen to the ground, muttering words like "Dad" and "Father".
Looking around, Zhu Yuhuan, who had known the news earlier, suddenly lost all emotion. She just curled the corners of her mouth, and then lowered her head and covered her face like the people around her, so as to prevent others from noticing that something was wrong.
Zhu Zhanzhen rubbed his way to Zhu Yuhuan in the crowd, handed her a handkerchief, and whispered, "If you can't cry, use this. My mother's palace maid soaked it in ginger juice. It works every time. I've used it on several of them."
Zhu Yuhuan took the handkerchief and touched her eyes. Sure enough, the spicy smell stimulated her tears. Then she felt relieved and tears fell unconsciously. Her body trembled violently because of crying and she almost couldn't breathe.
She didn't spend much time with Zhu Di, but Zhu Yuhuan could clearly feel the old man's love for her. As long as she wanted to do something, Zhu Di never stopped her. Even though Zhu Yuhuan knew that he had beautified the image of the emperor too much, at least for Zhu Yuhuan, that was the most real love Zhu Di gave her. Without Zhu Di, there would be no one to hold her in his arms, to praise her to others with a smile, and no one would allow her to practice martial arts and archery as she pleased. No matter how much the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess valued her before, she would no longer have any value to Zhu Zhanji and others after Zhu Di was gone.
Even though Zhu Yuhuan knew that he was the only one she could truly rely on, he still had many hopes for Zhu Di, hoping that the old man would live a long life and always protect him...
Today it is that little eunuch, tomorrow it is Hu Shanxiang, and later it will be her... Kings change, queens are deposed and enthroned, the future is uncertain, and she has to bear all the consequences by herself.
Zhu Zhan'an watched Zhu Yuhuan go from expressionless to sobbing, and he knew that Zhu Yuhuan had gotten over that period of helplessness and cried out all the sadness in her heart. He then breathed a sigh of relief, raised his hand and patted Zhu Yuhuan's shoulder, watching her lean on his shoulder unconsciously and cry.
Having grown up in the palace, Zhu Zhanzhen naturally knew that the more intelligent a person was, the more troubled they were. However, such people often kept their thoughts to themselves, as holding them back would only harm their health. He loved his eldest niece very much and didn't want to see her scolded for not being sad enough, nor did he want to see her harm herself by suppressing her sadness.
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