His Fingertips
The charcoal basin in the small cell had already gone out.
The temperature gradually dropped, and that damp, cold feeling struck again.
Su Zhenzhen squatted on the ground, pretending not to know the little eunuch.
The little eunuch looked at her for a while, then turned sideways and sat on the stool.
The low stool was pressed against a dilapidated table. The cramped cell felt even narrower with an extra person inside.
The glazed lamp was placed on the table, its beautiful glass casting a gentle, warm light.
Lu Hexu placed the paper and pen in his hand onto the table and sat there, resting his jaw on one hand.
Su Zhenzhen slightly turned her head to look outside; she wanted to see if there were any Brocade Guards watching nearby.
"It's a bit cold," the little eunuch tapped the table.
Footsteps were then heard from outside.
A Brocade Guard came in, carried the cold charcoal basin out, and quickly replaced it with a roaring hot one.
The temperature in the dungeon gradually rose, and Su Zhenzhen's shivering body began to warm up.
She didn't dare to meet the little eunuch's eyes, only quietly staring at his shadow in a daze.
Under the glazed lamp, Mu Dan's shadow was cast—a thin layer with beautiful silhouette lines.
He propped his jaw with one hand, perfectly outlining his slender wrist.
I really want to hold his hand.
Su Zhenzhen thought blankly.
"Name," a voice came from his direction.
Su Zhenzhen subconsciously looked up and met the little eunuch's cold gaze.
Human nature, it's just human nature. At a time like this, he had to draw a line with her, otherwise he would be implicated.
"Su Zhenzhen, Zhenzhen as in lush leaves."
After Su Zhenzhen spoke, she heard her own voice choke up a little.
She raised her hand to touch her face, only to realize that she had started crying at some point.
Fine, she was a little sad.
Fine, she was actually quite sad.
Even though she thought in her heart that this was human nature, she was still sad.
The woman squatted there with her head lowered; only the round crown of her head could be seen.
Tiny teardrops fell onto the weeds, dampening a small patch.
A pair of black boots appeared in her blurred vision.
The slightly cold shaft of a writing brush lifted her chin. Su Zhenzhen looked up and saw Mu Dan squatting in front of her.
Having not seen him for a few days, the little eunuch seemed to have lost some weight. His skin was paler, his lips redder, and under the illumination of the glazed lamp, his entire body seemed to be coated in a beautiful jade-like luster.
"What are you crying for?"
He asked.
Su Zhenzhen's eyelashes fluttered, but she didn't speak.
Lu Hexu frowned. He threw away the brush in his hand and used his fingertips to pinch her chin instead.
[It's so cold.]
Lu Hexu's gaze fell on the charcoal basin.
He disliked the heat.
The temperature in this cell was already making him extremely impatient.
[I'm so scared.]
[Hug me.]
Lu Hexu shifted his gaze downward and met the woman's tear-stained eyes.
"Do you want me to hug you?"
Su Zhenzhen's eyes instantly widened. She subconsciously looked outside; it was pitch black, and she couldn't tell if there were any silhouettes.
Her lips trembled as she shook her head, "No."
[Hug me, hug me, hug me, hug me, hug me, hug me.]
Lu Hexu tilted his head to look at her, his thumb sweeping across her wet chin.
It was all her tears—wet, sticky, and warm.
Annoying.
The little eunuch raised his hand, untied his outer robe, and casually draped it over Su Zhenzhen's shoulders.
Wrapped in the robe that carried a cold fragrance, Su Zhenzhen looked stunned. She subconsciously reached out and gripped it tightly, as if grasping at a lifesaver, squeezing so hard her knuckles protruded.
She buried half her face in it. The faint cold fragrance dispelled the dark, rotting smell of the Imperial Prison, gradually calming her heart.
"This time I might really die." Su Zhenzhen kept her head lowered, dipping it as low as possible like a little puppy. Although she didn't make a sound, she looked just like a whimpering, crying little milk dog.
A surge of inexplicable irritation rose in Lu Hexu's heart again.
This charcoal basin is really hot.
"I won't let you die."
Su Zhenzhen forced a smile at the little eunuch. "What can a little eunuch like you do? But just hearing you say that makes me very happy."
"Do you know what crime I committed?"
The young man squatted in front of her, resting his elbows on his knees and propping his cheeks in his palms. "A blood-letting palace maid fed herself poison. The Empress Dowager was poisoned after consuming an elixir refined from her blood."
It was Wang Yin!
Su Zhenzhen's hairs instantly stood on end.
It was the Empress Dowager poisoning incident!
Su Zhenzhen remembered this plotline from the original novel. She heard that a palace maid, in order to avenge her older sister, entered the palace and tried every possible way to become the Empress Dowager's blood bag. She took a little poison every day—not enough to die immediately, but enough that she wouldn't survive in the long run.
In the end, this palace maid died, but the Empress Dowager was only mildly poisoned.
Although the Empress Dowager didn't die, Wang Yin's actions sparked a small uprising among the palace maids.
Over a dozen palace maids used for blood-letting set fire to the Xuanji Treasure Hall. The blazing fire burned a few young Daoist priests to death. The Empress Dowager luckily survived, but fearing further mishaps, she anxiously left the palace with the State Preceptor and moved to the imperial mausoleum's temporary palace.
"Is Wang Yin... still alive?"
The little eunuch shook his head with an indifferent expression.
Su Zhenzhen's eyes dimmed. She thought to herself that even if she had remembered back then that the palace maid was Wang Yin and had tried to stop her, Wang Yin still would have recklessly thrown herself into the trap and charged forward.
For Wang Yin, revenge was her only hope for living.
Even knowing she would fail, she would still try.
Su Zhenzhen stayed quiet for a while before slowly saying, "I truly knew nothing about this matter. I was guarding the peonies in the Peony Garden the whole time. That day, Wang Yin suddenly ran in. Seeing that she was about to fall, I grabbed her because I was afraid she would crush my peonies."
After speaking, Su Zhenzhen saw the little eunuch sit at the broken little table and scribble a few strokes.
Just as Su Zhenzhen leaned over to take a look, a flurry of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside.
Wei Heng appeared at the dungeon door and said, "Come out."
Lu Hexu stood up and exited the cell.
Su Zhenzhen leaned there, listening to the two men talk.
It was intermittent and unclear; she could only vaguely hear words like fire and palace maid.
After Wei Heng finished speaking, he hurriedly left again. Before leaving, he tossed a sentence toward Su Zhenzhen's direction, "Interrogate her properly," and hurried off.
After Wang Ji died, Wei Heng took over the position of Chief Eunuch. Now, he had to handle everything from top to bottom. Especially with such a huge incident occurring, his presence was absolutely necessary.
"What happened?" Su Zhenzhen asked, leaning against the cell door.
Lu Hexu leaned against the wall. "The Xuanji Treasure Hall is on fire."
So it really did burn.
The little eunuch suddenly revealed a wicked smile. "Do you think the Empress Dowager will burn to death?"
Su Zhenzhen: ...
"Probably not."
The cell door was actually left open. Was it out of certainty that she couldn't escape, or that she wouldn't dare to escape?
Su Zhenzhen indeed didn't dare to escape.
Her legs were numb from squatting, so she sat on the small stool that Mu Dan had just been sitting on. When she lowered her head, she saw what Mu Dan had drawn on the paper.
A pitiful little dog with tears hanging from its eyes.
Su Zhenzhen: ...
"Does it look like you?" The little eunuch had arrived behind her at some point. He looked thin, but his limbs were slender and long.
He rested one arm on the table, loosely enveloping her from behind.
With his other hand, he bent his knuckles and tapped the crying little dog.
Su Zhenzhen, not to be outdone, grabbed a brush and drew a little cat blob.
It was a bit ugly, but you could just about tell it was a cat.
The little cat blob was placed next to the crying puppy. The cat blob had furrowed brows, looking aloof and unapproachable, yet its tail was hooked around the crying puppy.
"So ugly," the little eunuch said, pointing at the cat blob. "What is this black lump?"
"It's a cat. Does it look like you?"
"Not at all."
"Where doesn't it look like?"
"Nowhere does."
"Well, your dog isn't drawn well either."
"Where doesn't it look like?"
"Nowhere does."
-
When Wei Heng arrived, he heard the childish quarrel coming from inside the prison cell.
He gave a light cough and then stepped in, his gaze subtly flicking towards the paper on the floor.
The cat blob was indeed ugly.
The puppy, however, was drawn remarkably vividly.
"The time has come," Wei Heng spoke.
Su Zhenzhen instinctively reached out and grabbed Mu Dan's hand.
[She's going to die, she's going to die, she's going to die...]
Su Zhenzhen's face turned deathly pale, trembling like a sieve.
Lu Hexu (Mu Dan) looked down at the woman's hand tightly gripping his, his eyes darkening slightly. He turned his head towards Wei Heng and smiled, "Godfather, Zhenzhen is innocent."
Wei Heng's eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.
Godfather!
Su Zhenzhen looked at Mu Dan with shock.
So you really are a eunuch's godson!
Wei Heng clasped his hands behind his back, fingertips trembling slightly. "Since it's been established she's innocent, let her leave with you."
"Thank you, Godfather." Lu Hexu (Mu Dan) maintained a pure smile, walked three steps, and saw Su Zhenzhen still sitting there.
"My... my legs are weak. I can't stand up."
Su Zhenzhen knew she was being pathetic, but she felt not wetting herself from fright was already quite an achievement.
Troublesome.
Lu Hexu (Mu Dan) walked back and extended his hand to her.
Under the glazed light, the young man's hand was like carved white jade, beautiful as a manga character's hand.
Su Zhenzhen reached out, he clasped it, and then led her out by the hand.
The little eunuch walked ahead. On the damp, dark walls of the dungeon, an extremely dim oil lamp burned every meter.
The little eunuch's back, illuminated by the flickering light, imprinted itself into Su Zhenzhen's heart like a flashbulb memory.
Ahead was the exit, where a hint of dawn's dark blue light fell.
Su Zhenzhen stepped onto the stone stairs, walked out of the imperial prison, and breathed in the freshest morning air outside. Dazed, she kept walking and bumped into the little eunuch's back.
The little eunuch turned around to look at her.
The sun hadn't risen yet. The air held a faint, damp sense of morning dew. The gray-blue sky held the quiet of early morning, with only the sound of birds cutting through the empty air.
Su Zhenzhen looked up at him slightly. "Thank you, Mu Dan."
[Thank you, Mu Dan.]
-
Su Zhenzhen returned to the Peony Courtyard. She sat on the bed, facing the clothes rack where the little eunuch's outer robe hung.
Su Zhenzhen rested her chin in her hands, staring at it blankly, letting out a silly giggle from time to time.
Well, Su Zhenzhen, surviving a great disaster surely brings good fortune later.
She truly hadn't expected Mu Dan's godfather to be Wei Heng.
Did this mean... she had connections now?
Having stayed in the imperial prison for several days, Su Zhenzhen felt she stank.
She took her things to the bathhouse to wash up and overheard the palace maids discussing the day's events.
"I heard that after the Xuanji Hall caught fire, the Empress Dowager rushed to the imperial mausoleum palace with the Grand Astrologer."
"I heard it was arson. Those dozen or so palace maids were taken to the imperial prison by the Imperial Guards. I'm afraid they won't fare well."
According to the original plot, the investigation of the Xuanji Hall fire was led by Wang Ji. Those dozen or so palace maids, including Wang Yin, were executed by lingchi (death by a thousand cuts).
This time, Wei Heng was in charge. Who knew if the outcome would be different?
Forget it, this wasn't something she could control.
After bathing, Su Zhenzhen plucked a few pomelo leaves on her way back and vigorously swept them over herself to ward off bad luck.
-
"Your Majesty, this is the list of those palace maids. They have all been imprisoned in the imperial prison."
Lu Hexu sat on the throne, wearing only a thin under-robe. His gaze swept over the list of palace maids, a gloomy look in his eyes.
"Handle it as you see fit."
Wei Heng was all too familiar with this phrase. As the emperor, Lu Hexu never involved himself in affairs. Any matter brought to him would be dismissed with these four words to Wei Heng.
But now, Wei Heng suddenly began to suspect that his master might have long guessed what he wanted to do.
Wei Heng stood there with lowered eyes, bowing his head respectfully. "Yes, Your Majesty."
-
Su Zhenzhen heard that all those dozen or so palace maids had been executed. Their bodies were transported out of the imperial prison and buried directly in a large pit.
She lamented for a while, then put the matter aside and went to the Little Southern Palace with a basket.
Although the Little Southern Palace lacked human presence, wild fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs grew surprisingly well there.
Su Zhenzhen stood on her tiptoes to pick cherries that were mostly ripe and popped one into her mouth.
So sweet.
She picked a full basket of cherries, washed them with spring water, removed the pits, then started cooking them on a small stove.
Because they easily burned, she didn't dare space out, constantly stirring with a spoon and adding honey and sugar lumps.
When the cherry flesh was thoroughly cooked into cherry jam, Su Zhenzhen sealed it in a clay pot, planning to give it to Mu Dan when they met that evening.
Was just giving a pot of cherry jam too shabby?
Su Zhenzhen remembered the hair ribbon Mu Dan had that she'd lost. No wonder he could afford such a beautiful ribbon—he was Wei Heng's godson.
Night fell, and the little eunuch appeared on time.
Su Zhenzhen handed him the clay pot she had been holding in her arms.
"For you, cherry jam."
"And your clothes, I've washed them clean for you."
Lu Hexu (Mu Dan) wasn't interested in the clothes. He reached out and took the cherry jam, opening it.
A sweet, fruity aroma wafted out.
"Want to try it? There's a bowl here."
Su Zhenzhen took the pot and poured half a bowl of cherry jam into the clean teacup.
The deep red cherry jam sat in the porcelain-white teacup, slowly sliding down the sides.
The young man dipped a finger in, licked it, and his beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, like a proud cat that had tasted something delicious.
Just a bit of cherry jam made him look so blissful.
Su Zhenzhen poured a bowl for herself too. She reached out a finger, imitating Mu Dan, dipped some in, and put it in her mouth.
So sweet.
The flavors of cherry and honey blended together, sweetening her heart.
The young man held the bowl, dipping his fingertips to eat, like a kitten scooping from a can with its paw.
Lick, then dip again.
Red bits of cherry flesh dotted his pale skin like red plum blossoms, all licked away by him.
His slightly moistened lips took on a glossy, cherry-red hue, as if coated with a jelly lip gloss.
The young man lowered his gaze and reached for a wooden spoon to scoop more jam from the pot. Su Zhenzhen grabbed his wrist to stop him. "Don't eat too much, it's too sweet."
[I really want to bite his fingertip.]
The young man slowly turned his head to look at her, meeting Su Zhenzhen's innocent and utterly guileless expression.
