Chapter 12: Troublesome
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“Surnamed Xiao, how dare you lay a hand on me?! I’ll tell the King, and he’ll tear you apart!”
Yu Zhen returned to hear someone making a ruckus in the bedroom. He was about to enter when Yue Lan held him back.
Yue Lan gave him a meaningful look. “Prime Minister, it’s not appropriate for you to go in now. It’s best not to let Young Master Ning Xiang see you.”
“Why?” Yu Zhen was puzzled. He didn’t instruct Xiao Zipei to deal with the person disturbing his sleep. Why was he acting so eagerly? Doesn’t he understand that acting without orders is unacceptable?
“Young Master Ning Xiang is Lord Xu’s second son, and he’s quite talkative. If he learns about your identity, it’s equivalent to exposing the imprisonment of the Prime Minister of the Liu Country. Yue Lan sees that the Prime Minister is unwilling to reveal his identity and has yielded to King Yan. If you show up now, won’t it be counterproductive?”
Yu Zhen had just stopped in his tracks when he heard a loud noise coming from inside the room, followed by the piercing sound of a sword being unsheathed.
“Zipei!” he growled lowly, a sense of foreboding rising within him, but Yue Lan pulled him behind a red lacquered pillar.
Yue Lan shook her head. “If the Prime Minister goes in now, it will only cause trouble for General Xiao. If he truly blames you, he would have thrown you out long ago.”
“What’s the matter? That guy was causing trouble on my turf!” Yu Zhen fiercely bit into the meat bun he still held in his hand. His usually timid and melancholic demeanor now had a hint of fierceness. “Xiao Pei is my brother. If that guy dared to hurt him, I won’t let him leave this room!”
Yue Lan looked at him with a very surprised expression, as if he said something wrong, but she didn’t refute him.
Yu Zhen sat on the crossbar under the red pillar, gulping down the bun in one bite. He then casually wiped the oil stains on his fingers onto his clothes and habitually stretched his fingers, cracking his knuckles.
King Yan’s bedchamber consisted of three rooms, with the one he occupied being the innermost and most luxurious. Surrounding the palace were planted with purplish-red flowers, large and enchanting, emitting a pleasant fragrance. Under the setting sun, they appeared like flames, truly spectacular.
Yu Zhen knelt with one knee, resting his cheek on his hand, his gaze drifting through the sea of red palace walls. The palace was vast and labyrinthine. He wondered where the end of the imperial city lay.
Suddenly, the room was filled with the sound of hurried footsteps, staggering in his direction. “Hmph, even dared to touch me, it seems he’s tired of living! What an audacious fool.”
Yu Zhen, who was never one to stay put for long, was annoyed to be disturbed from his reverie by the sound. He turned his gaze, cold and mocking, towards the source of the disturbance.
“Prime Minister, don’t.” Yue Lan seemed to sense the sinister motive behind his expression and quickly reminded him, “Let’s go quickly.”
Yu Zhen, not fully understanding the palace etiquette and the consequences of causing a disturbance in King Yan’s bedchamber, was more eager for that jerk to return so he could give him a beating. However, his rationality was instantly shattered by the sight of blood on Young Master Ning Xiang’s hands!
“He really hurt Xiao Pai!” Yu Zhen exclaimed angrily, already darting out from behind the red pillar and striding forward.
He couldn’t bear to watch his brother being bullied, not in his wildest dreams!
The figure moved too quickly for Young Master Ning Xiang to even get a clear look at the person in front of him. Suddenly, a large hand forcefully pushed his head with a loud “bang”, and Young Master Ning Xiang’s head was wedged into the carved window frame!
Fortunately, the window frame was mostly made of paper and delicate carvings, easily breakable with a light push. However, even so, Young Master Ning Xiang remained unconscious, blood streaming from his head.
The guards stationed at the palace were all King Yan’s personal guards, sworn to protect Prime Minister Liu at all costs. They immediately stepped forward to take Young Master Ning Xiang away but dared not hold Yu Zhen accountable. It was only Xiao Zipei who rushed out of the room at the sight.
“How could you lay a hand on Young Master Ning Xiang?!” Xiaozi Pei demanded loudly.
Yu Zhen glanced at the injury on Xiao Zipei’s shoulder, raising an eyebrow. “Even this kind of character can bother you? You truly live up to being a rich kid.”
Xiao Zipei’s face turned cold as ice as he held his not-so-serious shoulder injury, calmly stating, “My affairs don’t concern you. As long as you refrain from doing anything foolish, I won’t be bothered by him either.” He lowered his voice, not out of fear of being heard by Young Master Ning Xiang but more to mask his underlying anger.
Yu Zhen shrugged indifferently, stretching lazily. “Anyway, there are laws in the country and rules in the family, as the saying goes. He shouldn’t have barged into the king’s chamber in the first place, so what can he really do to me? Don’t worry, I won’t kill him.”
Zipei remained silent, his handsome face always carrying a sense of gravity. Yu Zhen was used to it by now, rarely wasting time on other people’s expressions.
“Prime Minister, is your wound still hurting?” Yue Lan followed closely behind Yu Zhen as they entered the chamber.
At the mention of his injury, Yu Zhen’s veins seemed to bulge, as if the incident on the bed was replaying in his mind. He forced a gentle expression and patted Yue Lan’s head. “Good girl, go and fetch King Yan for me. I still need to properly thank him for this injury.” Yue Lan didn’t notice the terrifying and grasping glint in Yu Zhen’s eyes as she lowered her head under his massaging hands. “Yes, I’ll go right away.”
“Tsk… You go ahead! I need to apply some medicine.” Yu Zhen rubbed his sore back, feeling the ache in his spine almost preventing him from standing upright. It was more uncomfortable than carrying heavy iron plates and running laps back in the day. As he walked towards the bed, he spat out, “Yan Tenghua! Watch how I deal with you later.”
Picking up the small bottle of medicine prepared on the bed, Liu Yu Zhen gritted his teeth as he applied it to his wounds. Pain was something familiar to him, and now it only intensified his anger.
After applying the medicine, Yue Lan still hadn’t returned. Liu Yu Zhen played with the ornaments on the bed, smelled the fragrance in the room, and grew tired of waiting, feeling sleepiness creeping back over him.
After what felt like an eternity, he still hadn’t fallen asleep. With one leg resting on the bed and leaning against the bed railing, he suddenly saw Yue Lan burst in through the door.
“Prime Minister! General Xiao, General Xiao has been summoned by King Yan.”
“Oh? Instead of coming to me, why did he go to Xiao Pei?” Yu Zhen stood up abruptly. “I’m going too!”
“It’s not what you think,” Yue Lan clarified. “I heard that King Yan is currently at Young Master Ning Xiang’s Peace Pavillion. Summoning General Xiao at this time might be to reprimand Young Master Ning Xiang for getting injured!” Yue Lan hurriedly pushed Yu Zhen back onto the bed. “Prime Minister, lie down quickly. Don’t let King Yan know the truth about this matter.”
Yu Zhen listened in confusion, struggling to understand what Yue Lanwas saying. Finally grasping her words, it seemed that he had injured someone named Young Master Ning Xiang, and now Xiao Pei was being sent as a replacement. He didn’t realize that hitting someone in the palace could be so unreasonable. He could just explain himself; it was Young Master Ning Xiang who had intruded into the bedroom. What was wrong with defending himself? “Why shouldn’t he know what I did? Am I supposed to let Xiao Pei take the blame?! Let go!”
Yue Lan was startled and quickly released his hand. She had never seen the Prime Minister lose his temper like this. He seemed unusually unreasonable lately.
“But Prime Minister, you can’t leave the palace now. How will you go to Peace Pavilion”
Yu Zhen paused, pondering for a moment. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and his eyes lit up. “How did you get out?”
“I am a palace maid, it seems that King Yan didn’t prohibit Yue Lan from coming and going, so the guards didn’t stop me.”
Yu Zhen hesitated for a moment before saying, “In that case, Yue Lan, help me with makeup! Find me a set of palace maid clothes.”
“What?”Yue Lan exclaimed, staring at Yu Zhen in shock, as if he had made a joke. “Prime Minister, how can you lower your status and wear palace maid clothes?”
Yu Zhen turned and walked to the dressing table, casually picking up the golden-horned comb. Catching sight of the bronze mirror on the table, he couldn’t help but bring his face close to examine it closely. The appearance of the Prime Minister Liu Yu Zhen didn’t quite resemble his own. With his complexion as smooth as water and delicate features that seemed as if they had been sculpted, it was far from the rugged countenance of a veteran who spent his days on the battlefield. “Move it! Don’t make me repeat myself.”
Huge shoutout to @denkoumaru on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
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