Chapter 13

This New Year was tasteless, relying entirely on the previously hung red lanterns to maintain the atmosphere. The people who returned from the North Room were exhausted. The wake required people to stay up at night, and the first seven days even more so. They were tormented day and night and were indeed on the verge of collapse. Fortunately, it was only for a few days.

After returning, Ming Yu lay down for a whole day before getting up.

The others were about the same.

When he got up, it was evening and the room was a bit dark. He rubbed his eyes and found that the others were still asleep, so he walked out like a ghost and saw Jingzhe sitting under the corridor.

Ming Yu went over and found that Jingzhe was using the afterglow of the setting sun to... knit... gloves?

"Why are you doing this when you have nothing to do?"

Ming Yu sat down next to Jingzhe.

Jingzhe: "Rong Jiu gave me a gift again. I felt bad, so I asked him what he wanted."

He was working hard with grunts and puffs.

"He wants this?" Ming Yu shook his head with a "tsk tsk". "If it were leather, it would definitely be good. But this knitted one may not be good."

Jingzhe said calmly: "You do as much as you can with the capital you have. I can't afford a good piece of leather, but can't I do my best to buy a suitable one?"

"So you've already hooked up with the procurement guy?" Ming Yu then realized that what Jingzhe was knitting was at most a sample.

"Don't put it so harshly." Jingzhe gave Ming Yu a sideways glance. "But I have indeed made an agreement with Zheng Hong. He can help me buy a piece of leather when he goes out. I have already given him the money, and the rest is for his trouble."

Ming Yu: "Why did you look for Zheng Hong? That kid is obsessed with money, he might just buy you something random."

Jingzhe said gloomily: "Because he is the only one on duty for the past half month."

It was a last resort.

When Jingzhe gave the money to Zheng Hong, he threatened him fiercely. If he dared to pass off inferior goods as good ones, he would castrate him a second time.

Hopefully, for the sake of his precious thing, Zheng Hong would not be blinded by money again.

Ming Yu burst out laughing, waking up the people in the room. He even collapsed on Jingzhe's shoulder, rubbing his eyes. He leaned on Jingzhe's back and said, "I'm telling you, Rong Jiu is looking for you all day long, he must be very fond of you."

Jingzhe stared at the work in his hands and said nonchalantly, "Fond of what? He's just too kind, apologizing over and over again for such a small matter..."

Ming Yu pinched Jingzhe's chin, forcing him to turn his head. A pair of round eyes stared at him: "You say he's kind?"

Jingzhe let him pinch and nodded calmly.

"To apologize three or four times for a small matter, isn't it because he is too kind?"

Ming Yu: "..."

He suspected that Jingzhe's eyes were blind.

After carefully recalling the few meetings they had and what that Rong Jiu looked like, Ming Yu's face changed drastically. He fiercely pinched Jingzhe's face, "Is your bad habit acting up again? You must think he's good-looking, so everything is good, everything is right!"

Jingzhe felt a little guilty and a little short of breath.

He shook his head without confidence. Taking advantage of the moment when Ming Yu was distracted by Wuyou's call, he fled with the speed of lightning!

Ming Yu couldn't even stop him by calling from behind, and he stomped his feet in anger.

Wuyou came out yawning and said slowly, "What are you two arguing about?" He had been sleeping since he came back and was just woken up by Ming Yu's loud laughter.

Ming Yu said through gritted teeth: "Watching a stupid little dog being lured away by meat."

Wuyou knew at once that he was scolding Jingzhe.

"Has Grandpa De not woken up yet?" He decided not to get involved in their pointless argument. "He's so tired, he has to take care of his body."

Ming Yu rubbed his face, "Grandpa De and Nanny Ming probably haven't woken up yet. Anyway, Sanshun and Heye haven't come out."

These young people couldn't take it, and Chen Mingde and Nanny Ming were even worse off. When they came back, they were supported by them and haven't woken up yet.

However, they were wrong about one thing.

Nanny Ming was actually already awake.

Sitting in the dim room, she looked expressionlessly at Heye kneeling in front of her. Heye was tremblingly massaging her legs. After kneeling for so many days, Nanny Ming's legs were a little weak.

"Heye, you've always been very obedient, right?" Nanny Ming's hand rested on Heye's head. Her voice was gentle, but it made Heye shiver.

She lowered her head even more and said with difficulty: "Nanny, I will definitely listen to you."

Nanny Ming's hand moved to Heye's cheek and lifted her head. In the dim light, Nanny Ming's entire face looked particularly terrifying, stiff and numb, yet she forced a smile. Her face could no longer make such a vivid expression, which made it even more frightening.

Heye was very scared, but she had to force herself not to move.

"Then Nanny wants you to do something. If you do it well, there will be a reward. If you don't..."

Nanny Ming laughed to herself, which was very creepy.

"You've seen Concubine Yao's fate... In this palace, there are too many ways to die silently."

...

Zheng Hong brought Jingzhe a piece of tanned and processed leather, and the quality was very good, feeling particularly smooth to the touch.

When Jingzhe received it, he couldn't help but look at it several times.

Zheng Hong was not happy. He punched Jingzhe on the shoulder and shouted, "Jingzhe, what do you mean by this?"

Jingzhe: "I'm just checking if the sun rose from the west today... You're actually not obsessed with money anymore!"

Zheng Hong was furious, "If you don't want it, give it back to me!"

Jingzhe took a few steps back and blocked him. Zheng Hong was thin and small, so he really couldn't snatch it from Jingzhe. He said angrily, "You're lucky. When I went, I met a hunter who was in a hurry to go home, so I didn't bargain." What's more, this brat Jingzhe had threatened to cut off his lifeline, how could he dare to cheat him?

This honest man was not honest at all when he turned bad. As a fellow eunuch, didn't he know how precious his lifeline was?

Zheng Hong grumbled, was pulled in by Jingzhe for a few sips of hot tea, and then left in a hurry.

He was far away in the North Room, and his connection with Zheng Hong, who was in charge of procurement, was entirely because they had entered the palace in the same year and had been trained together for two or three years.

Zheng Hong was a man who loved money as much as his life and didn't mind making a little extra money within his duties. Usually, if Jingzhe really wanted something, he would secretly ask him to buy it.

It wasn't often, as he was afraid of being discovered.

This time, it was to buy a good piece of leather to make gloves for Rong Jiu, so he sought him out again.

Although you do as much as you can with the capital you have.

But within his ability, Jingzhe also wanted to do his best.

He carried the leather back and passed Heye on the way. Although he didn't see her face, he heard an almost inaudible sob.

Jingzhe subconsciously stopped and saw Heye hurriedly leave through the narrow door.

After returning, Jingzhe first locked up the leather and then found Wuyou: "Has Heye been at Nanny Ming's place often recently?"

Wuyou nodded: "Concubine Yao is dead, so Heye naturally went back. Nanny Ming said she was the most comfortable with her, so she asked her to come."

Jingzhe hesitated: "I think I saw her crying just now."

Wuyou sighed: "After Nanny Ming got sick, her temper has been getting worse day by day..." He lowered his voice, "Even worse than Concubine Yao before."

Jingzhe frowned slightly, a little worried about Heye's condition.

Heye's temperament was a bit proud, similar to Changshou, and she was more focused on climbing up. She cared a lot about her appearance and rarely lost her composure like this.

It was one thing to be burned before, but to be in a trance and crying on the road was a bit serious.

"Don't let your kindness get the better of you and try to help her." Ming Yu popped up from behind them and said seriously, "She looks down on you, and Nanny Ming has tricked you before. You can't get close to either of them."

Wuyou covered Ming Yu's mouth, "Why are you talking so loud?"

Chen Mingde and Nanny Ming didn't get along, so their subordinates were naturally of two factions. But what they thought in their hearts was one thing, at least they couldn't say it so bluntly.

Jingzhe coughed and immediately changed the subject.

"...I heard that at the palace banquet a few days ago, the Empress Dowager wanted His Majesty to select concubines... Is that true?"

Changshou saw them here and came over, just in time to hear Jingzhe's words. He looked at Jingzhe suspiciously, "You're interested in this too?"

Jingzhe said calmly: "Zheng Hong said it when he came just now."

They all knew who Zheng Hong was.

Changshou raised his eyebrows and clicked his tongue, seeming dissatisfied that he wasn't the first to talk about this. He nodded with little interest, "That's right. Although His Majesty has beauties in the harem, the position of Empress is vacant. The Empress Dowager is anxious, so she wants His Majesty to select concubines. Maybe if he sees more beauties, he will be moved?"

Wuyou: "There are indeed not many concubines in the harem. It's possible that it will really happen. What do you think, Jingzhe?"

Jingzhe brought this up just to distract them and didn't really care, so he said casually: "It should happen."

In fact, Jingzhe did hope that the selection of concubines would be reopened.

He still had task four to do.

Perhaps Jingzhe was indeed lucky recently. Whatever he thought of came true. Before the first month of the year was over, Emperor Jingyuan reopened the selection of concubines according to the Empress Dowager's wishes.

The decree came in a hurry, and the time was set early, in the third month of spring. Therefore, most of the people who could receive the order and come were officials in the court. This matter was handled by the Empress Dowager herself. The daughters of officials of the fifth rank and above in the capital, who were over fifteen years old, could be selected.

The selection of concubines was closely related to the harem. This move attracted a lot of attention.

The Chuxiu Palace was hastily cleaned and redecorated.

Jingzhe was not worried that Concubine Yao's things would be discovered. If she wanted to hide them, she must have hidden them a few years ago. Although he didn't know why she chose the Chuxiu Palace, if they could be found, they would have been found long ago. It would be useless for him to go.

Jingzhe had already made the worst-case scenario.

After all, ever since he encountered this unlucky monster system, he had never had any good luck with his tasks.

On this point, he didn't really believe in his luck.

However, before the third month of spring, Jingzhe had almost finished the gift he was going to give to Rong Jiu.

While making it, Jingzhe also had a hard time.

To make gloves, you had to measure the size of the other person's fingers, otherwise they wouldn't fit.

But from the time he started, Rong Jiu hadn't shown up for a long time.

Jingzhe could only make them a size larger than his own hand.

However, just as he was about to finish, something happened in the North Room again.

Heye was dead.

When Jingzhe heard this news, he couldn't help but lean on the pillar next to him and said in a muffled voice, "...You said before that you wanted to get rid of the bad luck... How did you do it?"

Why had there been so many incidents in the North Room recently?

Wuyou murmured: "We were in the mourning hall for the whole New Year. Even if there was nothing, something would have happened..."

Heye died in her own room.

The treatment for the maids was better. They lived in pairs, with one person on each side of a room.

Heye lived with Handan. In the morning, Handan found Heye lying on her bed and was a little puzzled that she wasn't serving Nanny Ming. When she went to call her, she touched her body and found that it was already cold. And there was black blood flowing from the corner of Heye's mouth. It looked like she had been poisoned.

Suicide by a maid was a capital crime and would also bring disaster to her family. But if she was poisoned... that was a completely different matter.

With poison, it was difficult to immediately distinguish between suicide and homicide. So this matter was reported up.

In the Shoukang Palace, the Empress Dowager was pressing her temples and sighing softly.

At that time, Emperor Jingyuan was sitting in the palace.

Sitting expressionlessly.

The Empress Dowager threw an unknown number of paintings of court ladies on the table and looked at the kneeling maid below with some anger, scolding: "It's the North Room again. A concubine died before, and now a maid has died. How are things being managed!"

She was obviously venting her anger through this matter.

The anger of being ignored by Emperor Jingyuan.

The maid knew this, but she was still a little scared.

Emperor Jingyuan said nonchalantly: "Why is the Empress Dowager angry about this matter? Just leave it to..." He seemed to think for a moment, "Just leave it to Wei Haidong."

"Why bother Commander Wei with such a trivial matter?" the Empress Dowager said, "It's not a big deal."

But Emperor Jingyuan had already stood up and left after saying, "Let's do it this way."

The Empress Dowager's hands trembled with anger. The painting of the court lady was already crumpled in her hand, but she still gritted her teeth in hatred. The nanny next to her saw this and quickly went forward to comfort her, afraid that the Empress Dowager would faint from anger.

"A child that is not your own will never be of use, no matter how long you raise them!" the Empress Dowager said hatefully, "Forget it, is everything arranged?"

"Everything has been arranged." The nanny bowed. "According to the time, they should be arriving in the capital soon and will be in time for the selection of concubines."

The Empress Dowager's expression improved, and she glanced coldly in the direction where Emperor Jingyuan had left.

Sooner or later...

She would make him fall from the throne!

...

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Chen Mingde coughed while holding a snuff bottle.

"Let them investigate."

Sanshun heard this and obediently retreated.

Just now, a group of people came to the North Room, saying that they were here to investigate the cause of Heye's death. Nanny Ming said she was bedridden and sick, so this matter could only fall on Chen Mingde.

Logically, he should show up.

But before showing up, Chen Mingde sat in the room and sniffed the snuff bottle for a while before sighing.

The white hair on his temples seemed to be even more than before.

When he put on his hat and pushed the door open, the dazzling light outside made Chen Mingde close his eyes involuntarily.

When his ears were closed, his hearing would become sharper.

"...Jiu, why are you here?"

"To handle official business."

Why did this voice sound so familiar?

"Are you here to investigate Heye's matter?"

"Yes."

"...This way..."

Chen Mingde's heart was pulled hard, as if by some strange force, and he couldn't breathe. He suddenly opened his eyes, and his cloudy eyes scanned around, finally landing on a tall guard.

Jingzhe was standing next to him, talking to him with a smile.

And that person...

Chen Mingde first squinted, then his eyes widened, so wide that they looked like they were about to fall out, ferocious and terrifying. He staggered and grabbed the door panel, hearing his heart pounding wildly.

That's...

That's...

The tall guard turned his head, revealing a beautiful and handsome face. He glanced at him lightly, like a bone-chilling frost. Chen Mingde's hands and feet went numb, and he sat down on the ground, mumbling and unable to speak.

How, how is that possible?

He would never forget that face, but it was also precisely impossible for it to appear here!

Jingzhe peeked out from behind Rong Jiu and was surprised to find that Chen Mingde was being helped up by a guard. He subconsciously took two steps forward, but then he heard Rong Jiu speak, "Jingzhe."

His indifferent voice had a hint of amusement, and his lips curled up slightly.

"Where's my gift?"

Jingzhe suddenly turned back and pulled his sleeve, whispering, "How can you say this in front of your superior?"

He remembered that when he entered the door just now, Rong Jiu was following behind someone else.

He hurriedly pushed Rong Jiu away from Chen Mingde and his superior. His movements were so swift that he actually made Rong Jiu stumble.

After hiding inside, Jingzhe's eyes curved, as if he was smiling: "I remember, it's almost done." He gestured, and then said with some worry, "But you haven't been here for a while, so I don't know the size of your palm. I'll measure it later. If it's small, I can still take it apart..."

His voice was soft, like a tickle.

Tickling the listener's heart.

Rong Jiu raised an eyebrow: "You don't remember the size?"

He held out his hand.

Jingzhe looked at the big hands and was very confused: "How would I remember?"

Rong Jiu's fingers curled up, and he casually supported Jingzhe's lower back: "Then I remembered wrong."

Jingzhe was stunned for a moment, then suddenly reacted, and his ears turned red. He ran out like a frightened puppy, stood at a distance, and glared at Rong Jiu in embarrassment and anger.

Who would remember the size at such a flustered and shameful time!

Didn't we agree to forget and not mention it again?

Damn it!

Author's note:

Chen Mingde: No, impossible, I must be old and my eyes are dim. How could the emperor, who is busy with a myriad of state affairs, appear here! It's not like he has nothing to do!

Rong Jiu: I'm free.