Chapter 38.1
Zhong Wan was so scared he started stuttering . “No no no, I-I’ll do it myself…”
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Yu She’s expression was as cold as ice . He stubbornly asked, “Where are your clean undergarments?!”
Zhong Wan noticed that something about Yu She felt off . The other seemed like he was crazy with anger, or perhaps intoxicated . But there wasn’t even a hint of alcohol emanating from his body .
Could it be that he was having a fit again? But nothing had pushed him to this state recently?
Looking at his countenance… It seems like I’m the one to blame .
Zhong Wan wanted Yu She to stop acting improperly, but when faced with Yu She’s gaze, he couldn’t get a single word out .
Zhong Wan pressed his dry lips together slightly and pointed at the drawer off to the side . “In the… first drawer . ”
Yu She stood up, opened the drawer, and paused for a moment . Then, he took out the clean undergarments .
Zhong Wan leaned back against his pillow . He gazed at Yu She who was standing at the foot of the bed . His heart started beating a little faster .
Was Yu She going to… undress him?
No matter how carefully Yu She had personally taken care of him in the past, that had all happened while he was unconscious . Zhong Wan didn’t have any memories regarding it . Now, both of them were wide awake . If he were to allow Yu She to do so…
What if the same thing that had happened last time happened again?
On the other side, Yu She held the thin undergarments in his hands tightly . The angry air surrounding him lessened .
Right now, Yu She’s thoughts became organized . He understood that Zhong Wan didn’t not want to visit him, but that he was sick and physically couldn’t .
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His gaze became slightly gentler . He looked down at the clothes in his hands, and, as if just awakening from a dream, paused . It didn’t seem right to continue, or to stop .
Zhong Wan knew that he had regained his wits upon seeing his gaze . He actually felt a bit regretful regarding this . He coughed . “Alright . Give them to me…”
Yu She furrowed his brows . Ignoring Zhong Wan, he scanned the drawer and took something else out . Zhong Wan couldn’t get a good look at what it was .
Zhong Wan stared at Yu She, nervous . He watched him approach . After a moment of eye contact, Yu She threw the undergarments onto the bed; he was holding something else in his hands . Zhong Wan turned to look at it—it was one of his hair ribbons .
Zhong Wan was lost . Was Yu She going to brush his hair too?
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Itbcu Qjc: “…”
Tbecu Uglcmf Te kjr ageis vfafgwlcfv cba ab rff jcsatlcu lwqgbqfg .
Coafg mbnfglcu tlr fsfr, Te Vtf abbx akb rafqr obgkjgv jcv rja bc atf yfv .
Now blind, Yu She’s movements became much slower . He slightly leaned forward, carefully feeling along the blankets . When his fingertips brushed against the corner of the blanket, he tugged it lower .
There was a different kind of handsomeness associated with a blindfolded Yu She . Zhong Wan’s face became faintly flushed . He cleared his throat and asked in a low voice, “Heir… You can’t see . Aren’t you scared of touching something you shouldn’t?”
Upon hearing this, Yu She halted temporarily . He furrowed his brows and warned, “I won’t if you don’t move around . ”
Zhong Wan leaned back against his pillow . He nodded with difficulty . “Okay . ”
Yu She lifted a hand and tentatively felt Zhong Wan’s shoulder . His fingertips travelled down Zhong Wan’s collar, removing Zhong Wan’s outer garment .
Yu She set the outer garment off to the side and slightly tilted his head, almost as if trying to remember where Zhong Wan’s collar had been .
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Zhong Wan stared at Yu She who was barely two chi away from him . His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down .
Zhong Wan didn’t dare to move at all . He watched as Yu She lifted his hand with covered eyes and undid the first button on the collar .
Zhong Wan couldn’t take it anymore, so closed his eyes too .
But after he did this, his thoughts ran even more wild .
Yu She’s movements were very gentle . Zhong Wan could only hear faint rustling sounds and Yu She’s light breathing… He could also feel Yu She’s slightly cold fingertips .
Zhong Wan furrowed his brows in discomfort . He tried his best to make himself think of a different topic; with clenched teeth, he suddenly thought of something . What came out of his mouth was, “Did you change my clothes like this back then too?”
Zhong Wan felt Yu She freeze .
Zhong Wan was in disbelief . “That was for half a month continuously . You… you have so much self restraint?”
Yu She didn’t answer . He threw Zhong Wan’s sweat-soaked clothes off to the side and covered him up with the blankets . Then, he reached for the clean garments and reached both hands into the blankets .
His actions actually seemed somewhat well-practiced .
Zhong Wan pressed his lips together . He closed his eyes and whispered, “At the time… did I stay still?”
Yu She remained silent once more .
Zhong Wan did his best to ignore Yu She, trying his best to start a conversation . He stuttered out again, “Then when you wiped me off…”
Zhong Wan heard Yu She impatiently saying by his ear, “Shut up!”
Zhong Wan shut up .
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For a moment, he felt a bit impulsive . Should he purposefully move around? That way, he could make Yu She touch something he shouldn’t…
Nevermind .
Yu She might chop him into bits .
A short period later, Yu She finished changing Zhong Wan’s inner garments . He stood up and sat in a chair off to the side . After, he took off the hair ribbon covering his eyes . He exhaled deeply .
Zhong Wan did his best to act unaffected . “T-Thanks . ”
With a dark expression, Yu She said, “It’s nothing . I’m leaving . ”
Zhong Wan was bewildered . Leaving already?
He was still in a daze, but didn’t forget to say, “Take the pastries on the table with you . ”
Yu She paused . Zhong Wan thought that he had misunderstood, so hurriedly added, “These aren’t the ones you returned last time . I had Congxin make new ones . They’re still… they should still be warm . ”
Yu She’s pupils trembled . He picked up the pastries and left .
By the time everything was over, Zhong Wan still hadn’t figured out why Yu She had made this trip . Yu She’s heart was like a needle at the bottom of the ocean—too difficult to understand .
Zhong Wan’s illness had originally been half cured . The day Yu She came, he broke out in sweat twice, which completely broke his fever . The next day, he recovered entirely .
After returning to health, Zhong Wan started worrying about the pulse record still with Xuan Qiong again .
The pulse record that detailed Princess Royal Anguo had become pregnant in the six month of the forty seventh year of Emperor Taiyu’s rule .
It wouldn’t be difficult leaking out the news that Xuan Qiong was hiding mausoleum servants . After all, those were three living, breathing humans . Xuan Qiong wouldn’t be able to deny anything . The pulse record was different, though . It could be placed anywhere . As long as Xuan Qiong refused to admit anything, nobody would be able to condemn him . The same plan wouldn’t work twice .
After several days, Zhong Wan found one of the people Old Imperial Preceptor Shi had left for him: the Imperial Court Scribe of the previous ruling emperor, Tang Ming .
Tang Ming had once been Old Imperial Preceptor Shi’s student too . Technically, he was Zhong Wan’s shixiong from the same teacher . Only, Tang Ming had already retired for many years . Thus, Zhong Wan hadn’t had a clue that he had such a shixiong .
After doing his research, Zhong Wan finally learned that Tang Ming had been the previous emperor’s Imperial Court Scribe for twelve years . After His Majesty had ascended to the throne, Tang Ming had very conscientiously quit and disappeared from sight .
Tang Ming had no wife or children . He wasn’t in contact with anyone . Finding him took Zhong Wan quite a bit of work . In the end, he still asked Lin Si for help . Finally, he discovered that Tang Ming was currently living out the rest of his years in a manor on the outskirts of the capital .
Zhong Wan didn’t dare to waste any more time . That same day, he left the city . It took half a day of travel for him to reach his destination .
For several consecutive days, Zhong Wan had been greeted with shut doors . He had already prepared himself to be left outside again . Unexpectedly, this time, he was politely invited into Tang Ming’s manor as soon as he announced his name .
Tang Ming himself wasn’t as unsociable or eccentric as Zhong Wan had thought he would be . Instead, he seemed like a content and adjusted recluse . He had already passed sixty this year, but remained very alert . Upon seeing Zhong Wan, he said with a smile, “You must be Guiyuan?”
Zhong Wan hurriedly acknowledged this . He didn’t dare to think of himself as this person’s shidi, so knelt and greeted him as a junior would . Tang Ming helped Zhong Wan up with a smile, then led him inside .
“Teacher mentioned you a few times . I’ve long since wanted to get to know you, but it’s inconvenient for me to appear too often . ” Tang Ming personally prepared tea for Zhong Wan . “Please . ”
Zhong Wan sat with his knees tucked under himself . They exchanged pleasantries .
Tang Ming gently said, “There must be something you want to ask since you’re here to see me?”
Though this was his actual shixiong and also someone Old Imperial Preceptor Shi had left for him, this was only their first meeting . Zhong Wan didn’t dare to completely trust the other . After brief thought, he chose a comparatively unimportant question . “I wanted to ask Shixiong: is Princess Royal Anguo easy to get along with?”
Tang Ming didn’t understand . “Why do you ask that?”
“To be honest,” Zhong Wan started, “I’ve encountered a difficult situation that I can’t resolve by myself . I want to borrow Princess Royal Anguo’s hand . ”
Tang Ming was quiet for a moment . He smiled . “Whether or not she’s easy to get along with depends on the situation . ”