Wen Qingci's face turned red as if blood was about to drip out.
He held his breath, afraid of disturbing Xie Bufeng.
In silence, the senses become extraordinarily sensitive.
His body seemed to be pierced by a weak electric current and he immediately lost his strength.
Wen Qingci subconsciously turned his gaze aimlessly into the darkness.
In contrast to Wen Qingci who hardly dared to move, Xie Bufeng's movements suddenly became unbridled.
Wen Qingci's coat slipped off his shoulders at some point.
While pecking at his forehead, Xie Bufeng gently untied the straps and let them fall.
The moon-white brocade, emitting a faint cold glow, fell from her shoulders in an instant.
Like moonlight melting into the ground.
At this moment, Wen Qingci's coat fell to the ground, his long hair was disheveled, and there was a rare hint of nervousness in his eyes.
Every tiny sound in his ears was infinitely amplified.
Wen Qingci saw that the door of the side hall was slightly closed.
There is a small gap that lets the light in from the courtyard. Someone could push open the door and come in at any time...
Wen Qingci's mind went blank for a moment. At this moment, he clutched the clothes on Xie Bufeng's chest, trying to push him away.
However, his rejection was so light that it could be ignored to Xie Bufeng.
Just when Wen Qingci thought that he would ignore his resistance, Xie Bufeng went against his instinct and slowly loosened the shackles while struggling to adjust his breathing.
After a few seconds of pause, he suddenly buried his face in Wen Qingci's long hair and greedily sniffed the bitter fragrance.
"Go out..." Xie Bufeng said in a muffled voice, suppressing his desire and whispering in Wen Qingci's ear.
Wen Qingci didn't react at first.
Then, he suddenly heard a light laugh. Xie Bufeng's low, suppressed and helpless voice slowly reached Wen Qingci's ears: "My dear, if you don't leave, you are trusting me too much."
Wen Qingci: “…!”
The redness on his face spread throughout his body at this moment.
As an adult, Wen Qingci naturally understood the meaning of Xie Bufeng's words.
He immediately stood up, picked up the medicine box beside him, and was about to go out.
But the next moment, the instinct he had developed from practicing medicine for twenty years made him stop and subconsciously wanted to tell the patient who was poisoned: "Then your majesty..."
Before he could finish his words, Wen Qingci finally woke up from his trance and his brain began to function normally.
I must be possessed by a demon. How can I speak so casually at this moment
After living for so many years, this was the first time Wen Qingci wanted to use the word "stupid" to describe himself.
"No, nothing. I'm leaving now."
Wen Qingci almost fled in panic.
When he was about to walk out of the side hall, Xie Bufeng's voice came again.
"I'll handle it myself."
"Don't worry, my dear."
The echo in the hall blurred Xie Bufeng's tone.
His words sounded somewhat... pathetic to Wen Qingci.
The palace door slowly closed, and everything in the side hall, along with the ambergris, temporarily disappeared from Wen Qingci's world.
Wen Qingci left in a hurry and didn't have time to pick up his coat.
At this time, he was only wearing a thin summer shirt, and the breeze blew, making him feel cold.
Wen Qingci bit her lip and immediately went to the courtyard with the medicine box.
But he was still uneasy until he returned to the house.
Wen Qingci uncontrollably followed Xie Bufeng's last words and thought about how he was going to "solve it himself".
Song Junran had roughly guessed that the fact that Wen Qingci was discovered by Xie Bufeng was most likely related to Eunuch Zhao.
But knowing from his mother's experience how helpless the people in the palace were, he did not make things difficult for Eunuch Zhao, but simply put the blame on Xie Bufeng.
Although there is no blood relationship, Eunuch Zhao is like a maternal uncle to Song Junran.
After the worship in the suburbs, Eunuch Zhao invited the other party to stay in his mansion temporarily.
Song Junran did not refuse either.
"Young Master, try this. It should not be planted near Songxiu Mansion."
Eunuch Zhao took the fruit plate from the servant with a smile and gently placed it on the table.
Song Junran looked down along the direction of his gaze.
A bunch of granulated fruits were placed on the white porcelain plate. After washing, they were crystal clear and shone like amethyst.
Eunuch Zhao was right, he had indeed never seen this thing.
Song Junran picked one up curiously and put it in his hand: "What is this?"
Eunuch Zhao did not answer directly, but said: "Try it first to see how it tastes."
As a man of the world, Song Junran has no habit of pretending to shirk responsibility.
"In that case, I won't be polite."
After saying this, he, who was already curious about the thing in his hand, put the fruit into his mouth, and then slowly exerted force to bite it into pieces.
The sweet and sour fruity aroma filled my mouth in an instant.
After tasting the sweet and sour taste, Song Junran's eyes lit up. He asked the person next to him, "Is this also a specialty of Yongdu?"
"No, no," Eunuch Zhao shook his head and said, "This is a gift from the emperor. In the whole Yongdu, I'm afraid only the palace can eat it now. It can hardly be called a 'specialty'."
It turns out that this thing was given by Xie Bufeng.
Song Junran suddenly felt that the fruit in his mouth was no longer sweet.
After all, having lived in the palace for most of his life, Eunuch Zhao saw the disdain in Song Junran's eyes at a glance.
He finally sighed and got to the point of today.
Eunuch Zhao said softly to the other party: "We know what you are worried about."
"So, Eunuch Zhao is here to act as a lobbyist today?" Song Junran did not give him face, and his words were particularly merciless. "I'm afraid you have already made plans for the worship."
Although his fellow apprentice was good at practicing medicine, he knew almost nothing about the ways of the world... especially love.
How could he be a match for Xie Bufeng
"No, no, no," Eunuch Zhao quickly waved his hand to explain for Xie Bufeng after hearing what the other party said, "Your Highness did not send me here. What I said just now was just what I wanted to say."
"Okay, in that case, I won't keep you in suspense," Song Junran said after taking a sip of cold tea, "Eunuch Zhao may not be familiar with my junior brother, but as someone who grew up with him, I know how stubborn and stubborn he is."
Eunuch Zhao nodded immediately.
"Xie Bufeng is the emperor. If he gets bored, he can always withdraw, but Qingci can't. Besides... you must know better than me how disgusting this palace is."
At this point, Song Junran gritted his teeth and said, "What's more, what he did is totally unlike what ordinary people do!"
The scene in front of the Yinchuan Grand Canal has been deeply engraved in Song Junran's mind and has become a shadow in his life.
Eunuch Zhao shook his head slowly: "… Your Majesty, his ideas are indeed different from those of ordinary people. But this is normal. Your Majesty grew up in the imperial mausoleum and was not bound by etiquette when he was a child. He always follows his heart in everything."
Song Junran didn't say anything.
Having said that, Eunuch Zhao also picked a grape and chewed it carefully.
He slowly closed his eyes and whispered, "In my opinion, Your Majesty has never regarded himself as an emperor in front of Mr. Wen."
Song Junran finally raised his head and looked at Eunuch Zhao: "What do you mean? What does Xie Bufeng think of himself?"
"… In the eyes of His Majesty, I am afraid that I have always been the young man taken in by Mr. Wen in the Imperial Medical Bureau."
In front of Wen Qingci, he seemed to never remember that he possessed tremendous power.
Nor can he be as ruthless as the "Emperor" and be able to withdraw at any time.
"They have been together for so long, and they have been mortal enemies since the beginning." Eunuch Zhao's cloudy dark brown eyes slowly looked at Song Junran, and he asked in a slightly hoarse voice, "Sir, do you think Mr. Wen doesn't know who His Majesty is and how dangerous he is?"
After a moment's silence, Song Junran suddenly smiled, lowered his eyes, picked another grape and put it into his mouth.
Although Xie Bufeng did not let him see Wen Qingci, he was afraid that he would "steal" Wen Qingci out of Taishu Palace like he did in the past.
But the information was not blocked.
Therefore, Song Junran naturally also found out what happened in the Imperial Medical Bureau.
The sweet and sour juice filled my mouth.
Song Junran swallowed it, was silent for a long time, and finally said:
"Life is too short."
“… I haven’t even figured out how to live my own life, so how can I make decisions for others?”
Song Junran threw another grape into his mouth. While chewing slowly, he looked outside the house.
"No one can stop Junior Brother from doing what he wants. If he wants to stay, even if the Great Luo Immortal comes, he can't change his choice." Song Junran paused for a few seconds and changed his tone, "If he doesn't want to stay here, I can definitely take him home, and no one will be able to find him again."
Song Junran's words immediately reminded Eunuch Zhao of Wen Qingci's revenge.
"Okay, okay," Eunuch Zhao was stunned for a moment, then nodded slowly and said, "Young Master is right. Now we just need to give him some time. From what we have seen, His Majesty is very kind to Mr. Wen—"
He paused and suddenly glanced at Song Junran with some uncertainty.
"Okay," Song Junran grabbed a handful of grapes and glanced at Eunuch Zhao with a half-smile, "If you want to say something good for Xie Bufeng, you don't have to beat around the bush."
"He is capable of making you speak well of him willingly..."
Although the eunuchs in the palace dealt with royal nobles all day long, their monthly salary could barely support their lives in Yongdu.
Eunuch Zhao's mansion is located in the suburbs of Beijing. Although it is not large, it has been newly renovated.
This is not something that can be accomplished with his own financial resources.
It's not just Eunuch Zhao's mansion.
Song Junran also found out about this when he suddenly felt like revisiting the place these days.
After he closed down his clinic in Yongdu, it was taken over by Xie Bufeng again.
Xie Bufeng did not touch any of the plants or trees in the clinic.
Instead, it is carefully maintained to keep its original appearance.
Song Junran knew even more... Xie Bufeng was using the imperial power to publicize what Wen Qingci did in Lianhe, and subtly made the world accept it all.
Under the push of the most powerful hands in the world, many people have begun to be curious about the theory of Junior Brother.
This is indeed what Junior Brother desires most.
Xie Bufeng has always taken matters related to Wen Qingci to heart.
As the emperor, he tried everything he could to keep Wen Qingci.
But at the same time, I didn't dare tell him, for fear of disturbing him.
—
"…Why aren't you talking? How's the medicine?"
"Is there something wrong?"
Seeing Wen Qingci staring at the cooked medicine and saying nothing for a long time, the young imperial physician who brought the medicine couldn't help feeling a little nervous.
After he finished speaking, he finally couldn't help but reach out and gently patted Wen Qingci's shoulder.
"… Um?"
Wen Qingci finally came back to his senses.
Due to the veil blocking his view, the imperial physician could not clearly see Wen Qingci's eyes.
He had no choice but to ask again: "You have been staring at the medicine soup without saying anything, but the medicine today is not boiled well?"
"No, I was just distracted... I thought of something else." As he spoke, Wen Qingci took the medicine out of the food box and placed it on a tray beside him.
The sleeves slowly slid down as he moved.
The next second, Wen Qingci and the young imperial physician saw together: his fingertips were tinged with light red.
"Cough cough." Wen Qingci coughed twice and hid his fingers in his sleeves.
"Is it because of His Majesty?" He suddenly came closer and asked curiously.
When he was delivering medicine yesterday, he happened to meet Xie Bufeng.
His Majesty did not wear a wide robe as usual, but a dark robe with narrow sleeves and a round collar.
The off-white, clean wool bracelet stands out against the black clothes.
It's hard to ignore.
The dirty bracelet from the past had a special meaning to Xie Bufeng.
And now, he actually took off the bracelet.
Does this mean that His Majesty no longer simply regards his colleague from Songxiu Mansion as a "stand-in", but has some real feelings for him
There was silence in the ear room.
Wen Qingci's heart was suddenly shaken by a word from someone next to him.
He picked up the tray and nodded for some unknown reason.
The next moment, Wen Qingci froze in place.
Wait a minute! What did I just do
But unlike Wen Qingci, the young imperial physician beside him didn't seem surprised.
"I knew it!" the other party said with a little excitement.
Although this imperial physician had worked with "Imperial Physician Wen Qingci" for a long time, they were only acquaintances.
At that time, in the entire Imperial Medical Bureau, perhaps only Yu Guanlin and Wen Qingci could be barely considered familiar.
But he and this colleague had experienced life and death together!
The balance in his heart naturally leans towards acquaintances.
After discovering this, the imperial physician couldn't help but feel happy for the other party.
But at the same time, he still couldn't help worrying.
He thought for a moment and whispered, "I know His Majesty treats you well, and it's understandable that you like His Majesty. But... as an old man in Taishu Palace, I still have to remind you."
Wen Qingci turned around and looked at the other person with a little confusion.
remind myself
"It is well known to everyone that His Majesty has a deep affection for Doctor Wen. Now that His Majesty has met you, he has shown such kindness to you in just a few days. At first glance, it seems that he is truly in love with you, which is a good thing. But if you think about it carefully, you should calm down." The young doctor obviously regarded Wen Qingci as his own, and he said this from the bottom of his heart.
Wen Qingci subconsciously asked, "How do you know that His Majesty has true feelings for me?"
The more he spoke, the quieter his voice became.
The doctor asked, "Did you also give His Majesty a bracelet?"
"right."
The other party's tone immediately rose, and he clapped his hands at the same time: "That's right! Yesterday I saw that His Majesty changed into a narrow-sleeved robe for the first time. And he wore the bracelet on his sleeve. If this is not intentional showing off, what else could it be?"
So Xie Bufeng changed his clothes for this
Wen Qingci discovered that he was indeed a little slow in dealing with human relationships.
The young colleague's words not only failed to calm Wen Qingci down, but made his cheeks even hotter.
At this point, some of my colleagues became so excited that they forgot to control the volume.
The next second, his voice echoed in the courtyard, and he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
"… Tell me, was my voice a little too loud just now?"
"It is indeed not small."
A low voice came from outside the courtyard.
This time, the person who answered his question was not Wen Qingci, but... Xie Bufeng, who was wearing a black narrow-sleeved robe.
The imperial physician's face turned pale in an instant.
How much did Your Majesty hear just now
Did you only hear the last sentence, or did you hear everything I said
It's over. Your Majesty fell in love with someone else a little too quickly.
But he was absolutely sincere to Doctor Wen and his colleague.
No matter how much he heard, what he said just now was enough to offend His Majesty.
Xie Bufeng had no expression on his face but spoke in a calm tone, which scared the young doctor half to death.
But Wen Qingci saw... a hint of smile in Xie Bufeng's eyes.
The ear room is not big, and after Xie Bufeng came in, the space seemed even more cramped.
The young doctor didn't even dare to breathe.
He grasped the handle of the lunch box, wishing he could bury his face in the ground.
After an unknown amount of time, Xie Bufeng's voice finally rang out again: "Are you standing here to collect the reward?"
His tone was cold and it was obvious that he was not talking to Wen Qingci.
“…Ah!” The young doctor was stunned for a moment and couldn’t help but secretly glance at Xie Bufeng out of the corner of his eye.
The moment he faced the other party, he finally realized that His Majesty did not seem to intend to punish him.
"Yes, yes, I'll take my leave—"
Although he still didn't understand what kind of luck he had, the next moment, the young doctor slipped away and disappeared from Xie Bufeng's sight at the fastest speed.
There were only two people left in the room.
Wen Qingci was just about to take the medicine from the tray and hand it directly to Xie Bufeng, but was interrupted by the other party's action.
Xie Bufeng slowly reached out and took off the veil.
He looked into Wen Qingci's eyes and said in a low voice, "I am indeed showing off."
As the ruler of a country, Xie Bufeng's voice was filled with a bit of willfulness that he would only show in front of Wen Qingci: "If you could give me some more gifts, I would be able to show off more."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and tucked Wen Qingci's long hair behind her ears.
Xie Bufeng's tone was very serious, he was not joking.
Even if he was rich, he still wanted to get something from Wen Qingci.
Xie Bufeng is not lacking anything.
He just wanted to have more connection with Wen Qingci.
Wen Qingci had no idea from beginning to end how much of the conversation between him and the imperial physician Xie Bufeng had heard.
It is even more uncertain whether he heard the discussion about "distraction" at the beginning.
Wen Qingci couldn't help but recall the conversation over and over again in his mind.
He never found the answer.
The only thing that became clear due to recollection was one thing—at that time, I was indeed distracted by Xie Bufeng.
*
Although the front yard of the Imperial Medical Bureau is not crowded with people, there are still many people coming in and out here on weekdays.
No one knew when the scandal between the "doctor from Songxiu Mansion" and the emperor spread throughout Taishu Palace and even the entire Yongdu.
In Huixin Palace, the Queen Mother was sitting behind the desk sipping tea.
There were a few rare guests sitting beside her.
"I heard that Your Majesty was not feeling well, so I specially asked for a Buddha statue from the temple. I came to the palace today just to see Your Majesty..." The person who spoke was the former Concubine Hui.
Although she has become a concubine, she still dresses as brightly as she did in the past, and even has more colors on her body than before. It is obvious that she is living a good life.
Although the official day of enthronement has not yet arrived, the news that Xie Bufeng wants to make Xie Guanzhi the crown prince has already been known to everyone.
Concubine Hui has always been flexible and resilient, and now her words are full of genuine concern and respect.
The Queen Mother believed that Concubine Hui was definitely not pretending.
Xie Guanzhi has not yet been canonized, and Concubine Hui is probably the person in the world who is most worried that Xie Bufeng might suddenly encounter an accident.
Xie Guanzhi, who came to Taishu Palace with her, also nodded.
However, his purpose is slightly different from that of his mother.
Xie Guanzhi had heard many stories about Xie Bufeng and the doctor.
He believed that since Xie Bufeng could create so many rumors, there must be nothing serious wrong with his health.
Therefore, Xie Guanzhi went to the palace this time more to see who the doctor was.
Thinking of this, Xie Guanzhi's expression suddenly turned a little ugly.
It’s only been over a year since Wen Qing committed suicide, and Xie Bufeng has actually fallen in love with someone else
Was his previous affection all just an act
When Xie Guanzhi thought of this, he felt that Wen Qing was not worthy of resigning.
Hearing what Concubine Hui said, the Queen Mother paused and slowly placed the teacup on the table.
Her expression was a little bit weird.
Unlike Xie Guanzhi and his mother who were unaware of the situation, the empress dowager had already guessed who the doctor was and intuitively felt that the emperor's "illness" was definitely not ordinary.
It was for this reason that she never went to visit Xie Bufeng who was "sick".
Xie Fuyin, who was sitting next to the Queen Mother and eating preserved fruit, tugged at her sleeve and said, "Mother, I want to go see my brother, too."
The Queen Mother suddenly sighed softly.
Xie Bufeng was too crazy to bring the empty coffin back to Yongdu.
She was worried that Xie Bufeng would do something even crazier that would affect the country, and she was also afraid that he would use his power to dig out the location of the Divine Doctor Valley.
After much deliberation, he had no choice but to tell Xie Bufeng about Eunuch Zhao's affairs.
But this still cannot hide her selfishness as a relative.
The Queen Mother always felt guilty about Wen Qingci.
The guilt was like an ant, gnawing at her heart day by day and making her unable to sleep or eat.
"Mother?" Seeing that the Queen Mother didn't speak, Xie Fuyin gently pulled her sleeve again.
"Okay," the Queen Mother gently took Xie Fuyin's hand, lowered her head and smiled at her, "Let's go see His Majesty."
At the same time, he clenched the palm of his other hand.
Although Xie Bufeng is the Queen Mother's biological son, there is an unbridgeable gap of thirteen years between the two.
The Queen Mother could not guarantee whether she really understood Xie Bufeng.
Although there were no rumors in the palace, she had witnessed with her own eyes how crazy Xie Bufeng was, so she couldn't help but feel a little worried...
I wonder if Your Majesty will do anything bad to Wen Qingci
If this is really the case, I will find a way to make Xie Bufeng stop even if it costs me my life.
The Queen Mother bit her lip and made up her mind.
"Good!" Unlike the empress dowager who was worried, Xie Fuyin's eyes lit up.
A few days ago, her mother didn't allow her to disturb her brother, and she hadn't seen the rabbit from the Imperial Medical Bureau for a long time.
Children don’t really understand what it means to be sick.
After learning that she could go to Xie Bufeng's place, she was happy to see her brother, but also looked forward to feeding the rabbit with her own hands.
"Sister Ming Liu," Xie Fuyin took the Queen Mother's hand and turned to Ming Liu and said, "Can you prepare some hay for me?"
Xie Guanzhi is the future crown prince, and when he meets Xie Bufeng, he will have something important to discuss.
The most important thing is, if Xie Bufeng really did something to Wen Qingci, then Xie Fuyin shouldn’t have seen it…
For fear that Xie Fuyin would disturb everyone's conversation, it would be better to let her go to the yard to look for the rabbit.
The Queen Mother turned to Ming Liu and nodded: "Prepare some for His Highness."
"Yes. Her Majesty the Queen Mother."
The palace road leading to the Imperial Medical Bureau has never been so busy.
As the sun set, dozens of palace lanterns gradually lit up, transforming into a long fire dragon that lit up the evening.
After a stick of incense.
The eunuch's sharp voice pierced the silence of the Imperial Medical Bureau, and his words were clearly heard by everyone, including Wen Qingci: "The Empress Dowager has arrived, Prince Heng has arrived, and Concubine Hui has arrived—"
(End of this chapter)