readsfreenovel Chapter 139: The Lonely Palace
Chapter 139: The Lonely Palace
When Qiao Shinian finished washing and dressing and went out to look for Mu Qingchen, she saw the empty palace. She suddenly realized the problem she had ignored for so long: "Why can't I see anyone in the palace?"
Qiao Shinian turned to look at Yingzhu, a little curious: "Logically speaking, shouldn't there be soldiers patrolling the palace and servants cleaning?"
“The prince doesn’t like the presence of irrelevant people in the mansion, so every day before dawn, there will be servants specially kept outside to come in and clean the mansion, and when the sky gets light, those people must all leave.
There are only five idle people in the mansion now, and two in the kitchen..."
"Stop, don't say anymore. I don't want to know." Qiao Shinian looked at Yingzhu who was explaining the structure of the palace to her seriously, and waved his hand quickly, "It's useless for you to say it, and it's useless for me to know it, so let's not talk about it."
Yingzhu frowned slightly and looked at Qiao Shinian and asked, "Miss, don't you want to live in our palace?"
The memory of the death suddenly attacked Qiao Shinian. She was embarrassed and could only wave her hands: "I can't afford it, I dare not live here."
"But the prince has already ordered us to clean up the yard for you." Yingzhu quickly covered her mouth and looked at Qiao Shinian pleadingly: "Miss, please pretend that you know nothing, okay? The prince hasn't asked us to tell you yet. If he finds out, I'm afraid I'll never see you again."
Qiao Shinian's eyes widened. She paused for a long moment and asked, "You are his people. Is he... so bloodthirsty?"
"Ah? No, what I meant by not being able to see you is that the prince will transfer me to do something else, and I will no longer have such a boring and easy job as a maid in the prince's mansion." Yingzhu pouted slightly and pleaded, "Whether I can see you in the future depends entirely on you."
"Oh, I see!" Qiao Shinian smiled, "Don't worry, you and I know these things."
"Yes, yes." Yingzhu nodded repeatedly, "If possible, can you say a few good words for me in front of the prince in the future? My prince treats you differently from others, so he will definitely listen to you. After all, my prince doesn't have many close friends.
On weekdays, he would just stay in the palace and be in a daze, or sit in the study for a whole day, or play chess with himself. When he went out to do something, he would finish it at a very fast speed, and then hurried back to the palace and stay indoors. Occasionally, he would practice boxing and kicking with Qingyu and others, but Qingyu and others were no match for the prince.
The prince often suffers from insomnia at night, so he would dance with swords by the lake. Seeing him alone, I felt really sad. In the past, the young marquis would come back to accompany the prince, talk to him, and tell him interesting things about the capital.
Alas, now, the prince is even more pitiful. "
After Yingzhu finished her sigh, she seemed to have thought of something and winked at Qiao Shinian: "Miss, you can't tell the prince about this. These are just our feelings for him as servants. They are our opinions about us crossing the line and losing our status. He can't know about it."
Looking at Yingzhu with such a huge contrast, Qiao Shinian initially thought that Yingzhu was a mature, reliable and cold type, but he didn't expect that she was such an active person.
"Well, don't worry, I won't tell." Qiao Shinian nodded, and his image of Mu Qingchen's character was further deepened in his mind.
Looking at Yingzhu holding a lantern and leading the way in front, Qiao Shinian looked at the silent palace in the night, the sound of the wind blowing and the chirping of insects were so clearly audible.
"Mu Qingchen?" Qiao Shinian looked at the man in crescent-white clothes who looked particularly lonely in the moonlight. She didn't know if it was because of what Yingzhu had just said, but she felt that he seemed much lonelier sitting there than she thought.
Hearing Qiao Shinian's call, Mu Qingchen turned around and looked up at her. Seeing her disheveled hair, he felt that he should not like it, but for some reason, he felt that it seemed very normal for her.
"Why don't you smoke-dry your hair?" Seeing her sitting opposite him, he could see that her hair was not completely dry.
"You're not going to say that I'll have a headache when I get old, are you?" Qiao Shinian joked, and then answered his question: "It's too hot, I can't stand it. It's usually like this for both of us. As long as the top of the head is almost dry, the bottom can be left to dry naturally. Anyway, it's hot now, so it dries quickly."
Mu Qingchen nodded and said, "Wen Jiu should already know that you are not going back tonight, so just stay here peacefully."
"Oh, okay. Where is that scholar?" Qiao Shinian was not used to her current attire. Although the clothes fit her well, she didn't wear the underwear she was used to wearing inside, and there was some air leakage underneath, which she was really not used to.
So after she finished taking a shower, she insisted on washing her underwear and shorts by hand and hanging them up before I felt relieved to come out.
Although it was the same when she and Wen Jiu were fleeing, after returning to the capital and their conditions improved, she never felt like she was running naked like she does now.
Mu Qingchen looked at Yingzhu who was standing behind Qiao Shinian and said, "Go tell Qingyu to bring the person over."
"Yes."
Seeing the person in front of him pulling at her skirt from time to time, he frowned and said, "But the clothes don't fit?"
"No!" Qiao Shinian realized that his tone was wrong, and he couldn't help but close his legs together again, and smiled awkwardly: "It's my own problem, not the clothes."
"But are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?" Mu Qingchen had already stood up and walked in front of Qiao Shinian. He stretched out his head to touch her forehead. After finding that there was nothing wrong, he realized that his behavior just now was inappropriate. He slightly squeezed the hand that was touching Qiao Shinian's forehead and apologized, "I am rude."
"Nothing." Qiao Shinian shook his head. "I just finished taking a bath and drank the ginger soup prepared by Yingzhu. Also, it's quite hot today, so I won't get sick or catch a cold."
When Mu Qingchen heard words he didn't understand, he wanted to ask, but he nodded silently and sat down. Looking at Qiao Shinian who was sitting upright without any movement, he couldn't help but clench his fists again.
It seemed that the behavior just now made Qiao Shinian feel uncomfortable, and he couldn't help but feel annoyed at his own rude behavior.
After the scholar was brought up, Mu Qingchen finally came out of his self-examination mood. He had no idea that Qiao Shinian didn't move because she had found the most suitable posture to alleviate the discomfort caused by not having familiar underwear.
"Thank you, young lady, for saving my life!" As soon as he saw Qiao Shinian, the scholar immediately bowed to express his gratitude.
He had already changed into a blue-gray suit. Seeing Qiao Shinian's disheveled hair but still showing her elegance, he couldn't help but blush, recalling the scene when she rescued him to the shore.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but blush, and said in a halting voice: "I... I have no way to repay you now, but from now on... I will definitely work harder than before and will definitely repay... the girl for saving my life."
Qiao Shinian rolled his eyes, and without caring about anything else, he walked up and kicked the scholar on the shoulder, then grabbed his collar and said, "If you want to die, just find a place where there is no one. Why did you have to jump into the river? And you even caused an innocent girl to fall into the river! You want to drag someone else to be buried with you when you die! You are totally inhumane!"
The scholar was stunned. He stared at Qiao Shinian blankly. His nostrils were filled with the scent of a woman after bathing. There was a buzzing sound in his head. He tried to retreat in a panic, but was held back by Qiao Shinian and could not move.
"Miss, you misunderstood. I didn't look for anyone to be buried with me. It was just an accident."
"Oh? I want to hear what the accident was. No one could stop you if you wanted to die, but you insisted on dragging that innocent child with you to die with you!"