“I’m cold.”
Who was that?
Oh, Skinflint Shen.
“Come here.”
the beautiful youth beckoned.
Su Zhenzhen walked over and saw the slender, fair neck the boy tilted back.
The youth reached out and caught her fingertips.
Su Zhenzhen heard her own heart thumping like a drum.
The young eunuch’s fingertips were slightly cold, like white jade wrapped around an icicle.
“Who is he?”
“I heard it’s Lord Shen.”
[Shen Yanci, that dog.]
Lu Hexu’s brow furrowed.
“Lord Shen accidentally plucked a peony and almost caused big trouble for me.”
[Shen Yanci, that dog.]
“Fortunately, I wasn’t punished in the end.”
[Shen Yanci, that dog.]
[Shen Yanci, that dog.]
[Shen Yanci, that dog.]
Lu Hexu released her hand.
Su Zhenzhen smiled and said, “Alright, let’s start the acupuncture.”
Hmm?
Lu Hexu looked up and saw the long, thin silver needle in Su Zhenzhen’s hand.
His pupils constricted instantly, and his body jerked back, slamming into the wall behind him.
The Little Southern Palace had been in disrepair for years; the wall was covered in mottled dust, which smeared all over the young eunuch.
“Take it away...”
Su Zhenzhen heard the young eunuch’s trembling voice.
She quickly put the silver needle away.
Lu Hexu leaned there, face pale, his falling hair veiling his eyes, which were filled with a bloodshot ferocity.
He wanted to kill someone.
He stood up abruptly, only to be pressed back down by Su Zhenzhen.
The next moment, a candied plum was stuffed into his mouth.
Preserved in honey, it was much sweeter than ordinary candied fruit.
A faint sweetness spread through Lu Hexu’s mouth.
“Don’t be afraid, it’s okay.”
It seemed the little eunuch had not only suffered from bitter medicine but also from silver needles.
What should she do?
If she didn’t use acupuncture, she would have to keep pouring bitter medicine down his throat.
Su Zhenzhen lowered her head to look at the now-quiet Mu Dan.
The youth sat there with his head bowed, his pale left cheek bulging slightly where she had stuffed the honeyed plum.
His hair was so long; it seemed it hadn't been groomed in a long time.
Su Zhenzhen tentatively reached out and lightly brushed the little eunuch’s hair. Seeing no reaction, she used her fingers as a comb to gently tidy it.
Once the sweetness in his mouth completely vanished, Lu Hexu’s emotions finally settled.
The crimson in his eyes slowly faded, and he looked up at the woman standing before him.
Meeting his gaze, the woman felt inexplicably guilty.
Lu Hexu narrowed his eyes.
Su Zhenzhen tried to reach out, but her wrist was suddenly caught.
[Cute, cute, cute! Ahhh, it’s a beautiful boy with twin tails!]
Lu Hexu frowned. He stood up, stood on his tiptoes to grab a lantern hanging under the eaves, and walked to the clear spring.
The quiet spring, reflecting the moonlight, showed him what he looked like now.
His eunuch’s cap had fallen off at some point. His fluffy, messy hair had been smoothed out, parted down the middle, and tied into two pigtails on either side.
The youth was young, his skin was fair, and his features were delicate; he possessed a gender-neutral beauty.
“What is this?”
Oh, right. There were no “twin tails” in ancient times.
“It’s the latest hairstyle. It looks good,” Su Zhenzhen nodded, nodding vigorously, very vigorously.
The little eunuch squinted at her.
Su Zhenzhen felt guilty yet mesmerized.
Every extra glance was a gain.
The beautiful youth raised his hand and yanked off the hair ties, letting his long hair fall. He tossed the ties onto the ground.
“My mistake, my mistake. I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Su Zhenzhen hurried to pick them up and apologize. “How about I let you tie my hair up instead?”
“No.”
“Then... I’ll make you a jar of cherry jam?”
The beautiful youth reluctantly agreed.
Su Zhenzhen breathed a sigh of relief.
He was so easy to coax.
She’d definitely do it again next time.
That night, Su Zhenzhen had a dream.
She dreamed she had returned home. The lame cat was being well cared for by her senior brothers and sisters, and it had grown quite plump.
That’s good, she thought.
Su Zhenzhen crouched down to pick up the lame cat... but failed on the first try.
She used a bit more strength. Once she picked it up, the cat struggled in her arms.
The lame cat had never liked being held.
Su Zhenzhen forced it into an embrace and fell onto the bed, smothering it with kisses and affection.
Ahhh, this person is your mama, this person is your mother~
The next moment, she felt the lame cat in her arms grow larger.
Su Zhenzhen looked at the beautiful youth in her arms—the one named Mu Dan, now sporting cat ears—and stared blankly.
What kind of peerless dream was this?
“Su Zhenzhen, Su Zhenzhen...”
Su Zhenzhen was shaken awake.
“The sun is already burning your backside.”
Su Zhenzhen mumbled in her daze, “Is its backside as perky as yours?”
The next moment, her quilt was yanked away, and she sat up with a start.
I’m awake, I’m awake, I’m up.
The one who had come to call her was the Auntie in charge of the Peony Garden.
Su Zhenzhen immediately got up to wash. Her gaze fell on her bedside, where the hair ties she had taken from Mu Dan’s head were lying.
The material looked quite high-quality, not like something an ordinary eunuch would use. Could it be a reward from some master?
She took them with her, planning to return them to her little darling tonight.
Yawning, Su Zhenzhen picked up a lantern and began her patrol of the Peony Garden.
The Empress Dowager’s Peony Banquet was approaching. Nothing could go wrong here, or her head would be on the chopping block.
With a “thud,” someone stumbled, nearly collapsing into the peony bushes.
Ah!
Su Zhenzhen screamed silently, grabbing the person and dragging them aside, successfully saving her peonies and her life.
The life of a working girl really wasn't worth much.
Seeing the peonies unharmed, Su Zhenzhen knelt on the ground, gasping for air, before finally looking down at the person she had caught.
“Wang Yin?”
It was her former-former-former roommate.
“Sister?” Wang Yin looked at her, her voice weak.
Su Zhenzhen noticed that Wang Yin’s face was deathly pale and there were dark circles under her eyes.
“You...” Before Su Zhenzhen could finish, a squad of stern-faced Embroidered Uniform Guards burst into the Peony Garden. Seeing Su Zhenzhen with Wang Yin, their expressions hardened.
“Take them away.”
Take them away? To where?
The Imperial Prison.
The legendary purgatory on earth governed by the Embroidered Uniform Guards. Of those who entered the Imperial Prison, barely one in ten survived.
Su Zhenzhen had only seen it in novels, but now she was experiencing it firsthand.
The place where she was held was extremely cramped, dark, and damp. The floor was covered in a thick layer of straw stained with sticky blood, with snakes, insects, and rats occasionally scurrying across.
Worst of all, someone was being tortured right across from her.
The man, guilty of some unknown crime, had iron hooks driven through his collarbones, which were being slowly pulled.
Under the excruciating pain, the man could no longer make a sound.
Behind him, another person was bound in a standing cage. A wooden yoke weighing dozens of pounds pinned the person down, making it impossible to sit or lie. They would remain there until they died of exhaustion.
Su Zhenzhen backed away until she hit the corner of the cell. She crouched down, trying desperately to think through her current situation.
Those guards were clearly there for Wang Yin. Seeing her with Wang Yin, they assumed she was an accomplice and arrested her too.
What crime had Wang Yin committed?
She wasn't being held in the same cell, clearly to prevent them from aligning their stories.
Su Zhenzhen’s mind was a mess. She tried to breathe deeply to calm herself, but all she inhaled was the stench of rotting corpses.
Ugh.
Su Zhenzhen suppressed the urge to retch and curled herself up even tighter.
The next moment, she heard the rustle of conversation outside, and then someone walked in.
Su Zhenzhen quietly poked her head out and saw a faint glimmer of light shining in from the corridor.
A Jin Yi Wei guard walked in front carrying a lantern, followed by a young eunuch. Though called young, he wasn't exactly so; he looked to be in his thirties.
He wore a cloak over his shoulders and held a bronze hand warmer. Were it not for his eunuch attire, at first glance, he would look like a literary scholar.
Wei Heng heard that the palace maid who poisoned the State Preceptor had been caught, along with an accomplice.
"Eunuch, this way please."
A cell not far from Su Zhenzhen was opened.
She craned her neck, trying to see clearly if the person locked in that cell was Wang Yin.
Unfortunately, the gap was too small. She couldn't squeeze out and could only press against the wall to listen carefully.
The voices over there were too low; she couldn't hear clearly.
After a short while, it seemed to finish over there.
"Eunuch, the accomplice is over here."
That eunuch walked towards her direction.
Su Zhenzhen crouched there as the lantern light shone on her face.
Wei Heng's gaze swept over Su Zhenzhen's face. He wore a gentle smile, but his expression paused the moment he looked at her.
Su Zhenzhen swallowed nervously on instinct.
She had already made up her mind: she would answer whatever they asked, hide absolutely nothing, and give them no excuse to torture her.
But the eunuch did not immediately question her. Instead, he leaned in and asked with concern, "The weather is cold, are you freezing?"
Not really. The waves of cold sweat from fright were keeping her quite warm.
Wei Heng bent down and handed his bronze hand warmer through the cell bars. "You might have to stay here for a few more days. Don't let the cold ruin your health."
Su Zhenzhen looked at the eunuch's scholar-like hands holding the bronze warmer. After a moment of thought, she cautiously reached out and took it.
Such a docile attitude clearly increased the other person's favorable impression of her.
Wei Heng gave a slight nod, seemingly offering her a reassuring smile, before turning to leave.
This group came quickly and left just as fast. Su Zhenzhen did not understand their intentions.
She placed the bronze warmer on the table, not daring to touch it.
She knew the Jin Yi Wei were Wei Heng's men. Since Wang Ji hadn't succeeded in seizing power, the person who just arrived must be Wei Heng, the tyrant's most trusted Brush-holding Eunuch, the eunuch who controlled half the imperial court.
The original novel mentioned his disposition: kind-hearted and protective of the common people. Yet, the Jin Yi Wei under his command were the most bloodthirsty. He was an extremely contradictory character.
If you called him good, he directed the Jin Yi Wei to kill without batting an eye.
If you called him evil, he had saved countless lives with his cinnabar brush.
A loving father to the commoners, a King of Hell to corrupt officials, and a grim reaper to hidden spies.
She was going to die again.
She had heard that in their most desperate moments, people would think of the one they missed the most.
Su Zhenzhen couldn't help but think of Mu Dan's pretty little face.
She hadn't even started a romance with him yet.
-
When Wei Heng returned to the bedchamber, his "ancestor" had already come back.
The youth was squatting on the throne, his feet bare as usual.
With his hair loose, he absentmindedly flipped through memorials while reaching out for a drink of water.
He touched the teacup beside him, which contained warm plain water.
Lu Hexu took a sip, frowned, and reached into the clay pot on the side to grab a green apricot.
Who knew where this little ancestor got those green apricots. They were marinated with sugar cubes and soaked in honey water, making them overwhelmingly sweet.
But this ancestor just loved eating them.
"Your Majesty returned quite early today."
Lu Hexu glanced at Wei Heng and said, "She wasn't there."
He? She? It?
Wei Heng smoothly replied, "Perhaps she was delayed by something."
"Hmm."
Lu Hexu nodded and continued eating green apricots until he touched an empty clay pot.
Gone.
He had eaten them all.
Wei Heng brought forward a basin of water and wiped the sugar stains from Lu Hexu's hands.
"Today the Jin Yi Wei caught that palace maid. I heard there was an accomplice too. Both are now locked up in the imperial prison."
Lu Hexu propped his chin on one hand. "Are they dead?"
"They are safely locked up."
Wei Heng put away the handkerchief.
Lu Hexu smiled. "I was asking about the Empress Dowager."
Wei Heng lowered his head. "I heard it was only mild poisoning."
"Oh." Lu Hexu lost interest.
"Your Majesty." Wei Heng hesitated for a moment. "I heard that palace maid also had hidden motives."
Lu Hexu waved his hand. "Handle it as you see fit."
Wei Heng said no more.
-
Su Zhenzhen had been here for three days.
In these three days, she hadn't seen Wang Yin, nor had she seen that eunuch again.
The bronze hand warmer was no longer hot. She had placed it neatly on the only broken table in the dungeon, forming a sharp contrast with the low, dilapidated cell.
To this day, she still didn't know what had happened.
Could Wang Yin also be Shen Yanci's person?
Su Zhenzhen thought it over and over; this was the only possible conclusion.
Suddenly, a few cells away, she heard a bout of vomiting, sounding as if the person was throwing up their heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.
It sounded like Wang Yin.
Su Zhenzhen listened in fear and trembling. Then she saw Jin Yi Wei guards running back and forth over there, eventually bringing over a physician carrying a medicine chest.
Actually, on the first day she was locked up, Su Zhenzhen had seen a physician enter Wang Yin's cell.
Back at the Peony Courtyard, she had seen Wang Yin's face, and it looked extremely awful.
Su Zhenzhen stretched her neck, trying to get a clear look at Wang Yin's situation.
Before the physician came out, that head eunuch from last time arrived again.
His footsteps were somewhat hurried as he rushed into the cell. A long while later, he came out together with the physician.
The physician shook his head.
Generally speaking, everyone understood the weight of a doctor shaking his head. It practically meant giving the patient whatever they wanted to eat for their final meal.
It seemed Wang Yin wasn't going to make it.
So people really could die at any moment.
Su Zhenzhen lowered her head and heard footsteps approaching her.
She looked up and saw that eunuch.
He reached through the bars and touched her forehead. Behind him was the physician. "Take a look at her too."
The dungeon door was opened for the first time, aside from meal deliveries.
The physician pushed the door open, entered, and squatted beside Su Zhenzhen to check her pulse.
"There are no physical problems, just a bit of shock."
Wei Heng nodded, his gaze falling on the bronze hand warmer on the table.
"Add a charcoal basin."
This was the first time Su Zhenzhen learned that hidden spies received pretty good treatment after being caught.
She wasn't severely tortured, nor was she fed once every three days. Instead, she got three meals a day, and the food was even better than what she ate at the Peony Courtyard.
The eunuch ordered someone to add a charcoal basin for her, and the small dungeon instantly warmed up.
Su Zhenzhen crouched by the charcoal basin to warm her hands. Her face was illuminated by the firelight, yet her heart still felt very cold.
Wei Heng looked at the palace maid's pale face. He wanted to comfort her, but realizing he couldn't even guarantee she would survive safely, he simply kept quiet.
Wei Heng turned and was about to leave when his footsteps paused.
He lifted the hem of his robe and saw a hair ribbon on the ground. It looked very familiar.
"Is this yours?"
Wei Heng picked up the hair ribbon and asked Su Zhenzhen.
Su Zhenzhen shook her head in panic.
She couldn't let Mu Dan get dragged into this.
Wei Heng glanced at her, said nothing, and turned to leave.
-
Wei Heng returned to the bedchamber. Lu Hexu was standing by the window, staring at the moon.
"Your Majesty didn't go out?"
"She came back."
"Back again? Could you not find the person?"
Lu Hexu glanced at Wei Heng, his brow bone lowered, revealing a hostile aura.
Wei Heng took a few steps back and stood there bowing. "If Your Majesty finds it boring, why not accompany this servant to the Imperial Prison for a look?"
"I am not going."
Lu Hexu turned and sat on the throne, reaching out to touch the clay pot again, only to find it empty.
The impatience and irritation on the young man's face were clearly visible.
Wei Heng stepped forward. "Interestingly enough, a hairband was found next to a palace maid in the Imperial Prison today. It seems very similar to the one Your Majesty frequently uses." As he spoke, Wei Heng took the hairband from the hidden pocket of his wide sleeve and placed it on the desk.
Lu Hexu lowered his eyes to stare at the hairband, then shifted his gaze back to Wei Heng.
Wei Heng stood there with his head bowed.
-
Today was the fourth day, as Su Zhenzhen calculated by her three daily meals.
She didn't know how much longer she had to live.
Footsteps sounded from outside. A glazed lantern led the way, its light so bright that it made her squint.
It should be very late now, shouldn't it? Why come at this hour? Had her time to die finally arrived?
Su Zhenzhen braced herself and saw Wei Heng appear in front of her cell.
Behind him followed a young eunuch with red lips and white teeth; even the filthy Imperial Prison could not conceal his beauty.
Su Zhenzhen instantly thought of that hairband.
Her heart beat like a drum.
"Interrogate her." Wei Heng left the young eunuch behind.
The cell door closed.
Su Zhenzhen squatted on the ground, looking up at the young eunuch standing before her, holding a brush and a case file.
Her lips trembled as she tried hard to hold back her tears.
Lu Hexu leaned over to look at her.
The glazed lantern had been left here, illuminating the small dungeon cell brightly.
Only the two of them were left here.
Lu Hexu tilted his head to look at her, seeing her red-rimmed eyes and the tears threatening to fall.
He frowned slightly, raised his hand, and stroked the top of her head.
The brief touch seemed to flip a switch on Su Zhenzhen's fragility.
But she couldn't. She couldn't drag Mu Dan into this.
The woman, with a pale face and furrowed brows, swatted his hand away. "Don't touch me."
[I am cold, hug me.]
