After Being Reborn as the Chief Eunuch Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The youth had acted so decisively that by the time Li Zhan regained his senses, a tingling numbness had already started to spread from the wound on his neck.

The youth’s warm breath mingled with the cool touch of his thin lips, making Li Zhan’s breath hitch. Instinctively, he wanted to push the youth away. But the youth moved quickly, and before Li Zhan could react, he had already turned his head and spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground.

In that moment of hesitation, Li Zhan missed his chance to push him away. When the youth’s lips pressed against his skin once more, Li Zhan completely forgot what he was trying to do. One hand hovered in the air beside him, and he even tilted his chin slightly—subconsciously cooperating with the youth’s attempts to suck out the poison.

After repeating this a few times, the youth finally began to slow down.

“Does it hurt a lot?” the youth asked anxiously, his face filled with worry. “Are you… okay?”

Li Zhan stood there looking slightly rigid, and seeing his expression, the youth’s heart immediately leapt into his throat.

“I’m fine,” Li Zhan replied after a moment, his voice a bit hoarse.

No one dared to delay any further after seeing this, afraid something might go wrong with Li Zhan, so they hurried back to the estate.

Fortunately, there was a guard in the estate who was skilled in medicine. After glancing at the snake Qin Zheng had brought back, he said, “This snake is slightly venomous, but among venomous snakes, it’s one of the least dangerous. A few doses of antidote and it’ll be fine. Nothing serious.” Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

After that, the man went to examine Li Zhan’s wound. Upon inspecting it, he exclaimed in surprise, “Did someone already suck the poison out for His Highness? That was quite thorough!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Zhan couldn’t help but glance over at Ji Qingzhou. The youth was crouched by the doorway, rinsing his mouth with a bowl of water. The sunlight outlined a faint golden glow around his thin figure, making him look as though he had just stepped out of the light itself.

Moments later, the youth took one last mouthful of water, then forcefully spat it into the distance. The spray of water briefly caught the sunlight, forming a small rainbow. That fleeting arc of color brushed lightly yet lingeringly across Li Zhan’s heart, and even after it vanished, its afterimage lingered in his vision…

“What are you staring at?” Qin Zheng followed Li Zhan’s line of sight and, upon seeing the youth crouched at the door, his expression turned teasing. “Did you hear what he said back in the forest?”

Li Zhan glanced at Qin Zheng indifferently and asked, “What did he say?”

“He said that if you were poisoned, he wouldn’t survive either…” Qin Zheng clicked his tongue. “Tsk, tsk…”

Li Zhan didn’t bother responding and instead turned to give Dong Dong a few instructions, telling him to arrange for snake-repelling herbs to be planted throughout the estate, so snakes from the forest wouldn’t wander into the front yard and hurt someone.

What happened today was purely an accident. Normally, before a hunting trip, Li Zhan’s guards would always inspect the woods first. But today had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. On top of that, this was the season when snakes were most active, which was how they’d ended up in this situation.

Thankfully, no real harm was done…

“We’ll be heading back to the palace after midday. What’s your plan?” Li Zhan asked Qin Zheng.

“I’ve thought it through. I’ll go with you to the palace,” Qin Zheng replied.

Li Zhan looked a little surprised and asked, “Weren’t you still hemming and hawing about it yesterday?”

“I’ve figured it out, You’re struggling with every step in court these days—how could I bear not to help you?” Qin Zheng said cheerfully, “Of course, I’m not going just to watch the drama between you and Young Master Ji. Don’t you dare think so poorly of me.”

Li Zhan had no patience for this flimsy excuse and waved him off, then turned to Dong Dong and gave more instructions to prepare the carriage and horses for the return trip.

In the courtyard, Ji Qingzhou was crouched on the ground with the young emperor. One big and one small, the two of them were watching a guard fiddling with the dead snake. The guard opened the snake’s mouth to show them and explained, “These sharp things are its fangs. This kind of snake is only mildly venomous, but if you run into a really poisonous one, just a single bite could be fatal.”

“Now you recognize it, right?” Ji Qingzhou said to the young emperor. “This thing is called a snake. It’s nothing like an earthworm.”

The young emperor nodded, then reached out to touch the snake. The guard was startled and quickly moved to stop him, but Ji Qingzhou said, “It’s fine. Let him touch it. You rarely see something like this in the palace—he might not get another chance.”

Hearing this, the guard looked utterly shocked, thinking to himself that this Young Master Ji was truly extraordinary—he actually let His Majesty play with a snake!

“Do you like it?” Ji Qingzhou asked.

“No,” the young emperor shook his head. “Send it back.”

Ji Qingzhou chuckled. “It’s already dead. Sending it back won’t bring it back to life. Just bury it.”

At his words, the guard picked up the dead snake and left. The young emperor tugged on Ji Qingzhou’s arm and stood up, asking, “What about the rabbit?”

Only then did Ji Qingzhou remember the injured rabbit. They had originally planned to bring it back to treat its wounds and let the young emperor raise it, but because Li Zhan had been bitten by a snake, Ji Qingzhou had gotten distracted and hadn’t paid the rabbit any attention. He had no idea which guard might have picked it up.

“I’ll ask someone about it later,” Ji Qingzhou said to the young emperor.

The young emperor nodded, covering his mouth as he yawned.

He had gotten too excited during their time in the forest, and now he was starting to feel sleepy. Kids might be full of energy, but they still needed naps. Since it wasn’t lunchtime yet, Ji Qingzhou brought him back to let him catch up on some rest.

Not long after the young emperor fell asleep, there was a knock at the door. Ji Qingzhou tiptoed over and opened it—only to see Li Zhan standing there with a tray in hand. On the tray was a bowl of medicinal soup.

“This is for you,” Li Zhan said.

Ji Qingzhou looked at the bowl in confusion and asked, “Did I… do something wrong?”

Li Zhan paused, a flicker of puzzlement crossing his eyes, before explaining, “It’s an antidote. I had them prepare a bowl for you as well.”

“But I wasn’t bitten…” Ji Qingzhou began to say, but upon seeing that Li Zhan was staring at him intently, he trailed off, picked up the bowl, and drank it all in one go.

Only after Ji Qingzhou finished drinking did Li Zhan say, “Next time something like this happens, don’t try to play the hero. That snake wasn’t very venomous, but if it had been worse, you wouldn’t have saved me—you would’ve been poisoned yourself.”

“But I saw your wound wasn’t even turning black. I figured it wouldn’t be fatal,” the youth grinned sheepishly.

“You knew it wasn’t serious, and yet you still…” Li Zhan stopped mid-sentence. Realizing what he was about to say, his expression turned awkward.

Ji Qingzhou hadn’t meant to brag—after all, the snake had been thrown from his own hands. But his explanation unintentionally gave the wrong impression: that he had knowingly taken advantage of Li Zhan by sucking the poison out. Ji Qingzhou didn’t think anything of it, but Li Zhan, following the train of thought, quickly cut himself off.

“After we return to the palace…” Li Zhan began, his face tinged with hesitation.

“What about after we return to the palace?” Ji Qingzhou asked, puzzled.

“Never mind. Let’s talk about it then,” Li Zhan said.

Ji Qingzhou didn’t press him further, but he couldn’t help feeling that the regent was acting strangely today. He wondered if there was still a bit of residual poison in him—why else would his gaze be wandering and his speech so uncertain?

That day’s lunch turned out to be unusually lively, with everyone gathering in the front hall.

The young emperor, likely still drowsy from his nap, leaned against Ji Qingzhou looking listless the whole time.

Qin Zheng, however, was especially energetic. He gestured animatedly as he said, “Wang Ye really got tripped up today. Not only did a snake hit him, it even got a bite in… I’m not saying you bit him, I mean the snake… hahaha.”

Ji Qingzhou raised an eyebrow but said nothing, focusing instead on picking fish bones out for the young emperor.

Qin Zheng remained in high spirits, continuing, “I’m not exaggerating when I say he used to always come in first during hunts. You can ask around—none of the sons of military families in the capital who’ve competed with him have ever beaten him.”

“Heh.” Ji Qingzhou let out a dry laugh, confused why Qin Zheng was working so hard to hype up the regent.

Besides, didn’t he know well enough how dangerous the regent really was? Cold-hearted, ruthless, and capable of killing without blinking—no one in the capital could match him…

Ji Qingzhou remembered vividly how the original book had described the regent sentencing him to a brutal punishment. The details had been terrifyingly vivid. Even now, just thinking about it made his skin crawl. That was why, when he first entered the palace, he had gone to great lengths to avoid the man.

“You don’t believe me?” Qin Zheng turned to Li Zhan and said, “He doesn’t believe me. You tell him—what was with you today? From the moment we entered the forest… no, actually, even when we got up this morning, you seemed out of it. If not, how could you have fallen for a snake ambush?”

Li Zhan was clearly irritated by Qin Zheng’s chatter but kept glancing at the young emperor. At that moment, the boy was still nibbling at the fish Ji Qingzhou had deboned for him. The sweet-and-sour fish was now half eaten by Qin Zheng and half by the young emperor, with almost nothing left…

“Eat more meat,” Li Zhan said, picking a piece from another dish and placing it in the young emperor’s bowl.

The young emperor opened his mouth and ate it. After chewing, he turned to Ji Qingzhou and said, “It’s good. You try a bite too.”

“Tsk tsk…” Qin Zheng sighed dramatically. “Your Majesty really knows how to take care of people. Young Master Ji, I’ll help you—try this rabbit meat.”

Ji Qingzhou froze and looked at Qin Zheng. “What meat?”

“Rabbit meat,” Qin Zheng replied. “The one Wang Ye caught today.”

Ji Qingzhou: …

Li Zhan: …

The young emperor, who had just taken another bite, suddenly looked up at Qin Zheng. After a brief pause, he turned to look at the plate of rabbit meat again. His lips trembled—and then he burst into tears with a loud wail.

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