Chapter 55
That night, Ji Qingzhou slept quite soundly.
In Ji Qingzhou’s mind, there were no longer any barriers between him and Li Zhan. He no longer needed to worry about Li Zhan suspecting him, nor did he need to be anxious about the issue with the child. On the contrary, because of this child, there was now an unspoken bond between the two of them. This, oddly enough, gave Ji Qingzhou a sense of security he had never had before.
After all, if Li Zhan wanted to protect the child, he had to protect him as well.
Li Zhan, however, was in a completely different state. Lying beside Ji Qingzhou, his head was full of chaotic thoughts. Even with the remaining drowsiness brought on by alcohol, he still couldn’t fall asleep.
In the latter half of the night, the young emperor, half-asleep, wriggled out of his arms and began shifting toward Ji Qingzhou. Li Zhan was afraid he might carelessly kick Ji Qingzhou in the stomach, so he gently moved the young emperor to the outer side of the bed and placed a pillow along the edge as a barrier.
But doing so meant he had to shift inward on the bed himself.
And that one shift… drastically reduced the distance between him and Ji Qingzhou.
Ji Qingzhou’s hand rested on top of the blanket, and Li Zhan carefully reached out to lightly touch his fingers, only to feel a chill on the youth’s hand. The early autumn nights in the outskirts of the capital were already quite cold. Li Zhan, worried Ji Qingzhou might catch a chill, quietly moved his arm under the covers.
Just as Li Zhan was about to withdraw his hand, Ji Qingzhou, guided purely by instinct, suddenly latched onto his warm hand. Li Zhan froze. Ji Qingzhou not only grabbed his hand but also pulled on his arm, then rolled over and nestled right up against him.
As Ji Qingzhou’s body pressed fully against him, Li Zhan became acutely aware that the youth was wrapped in a noticeable chill.
The temperature outside the capital wasn’t as warm as inside the palace. The difference between day and night was much more pronounced, and although Xiao Shan and the others had brought bedding, they hadn’t taken this into account. The bedding was suited for palace conditions, so halfway through the night, Ji Qingzhou had started to feel cold.
Li Zhan suddenly remembered that rainy night when they’d been trapped on the road—Ji Qingzhou had caught a chill then too and had curled up in his arms the whole night. Afraid the same thing would happen again, he proactively moved closer and wrapped Ji Qingzhou in his arms.
The sleeping youth, feeling the warmth draw near, instinctively snuggled in closer with satisfaction and continued sleeping peacefully.
That night, Ji Qingzhou slept especially well.
It had been cold in the first half of the night, but fortunately, in the second half, for some reason, a personal heater had materialized in his arms…
It wasn’t until morning that Ji Qingzhou realized—of course, there was no such thing as a free heater falling from the sky.
He looked at the “heater” he had spent the night clinging to—Li Zhan—with a very complicated expression.
Especially since, at that moment, his posture was particularly improper. One leg was practically draped over Li Zhan’s waist, and half his body was lying across Li Zhan. And Li Zhan happened to be experiencing that subtle moment many men faced in the morning. Ji Qingzhou’s position was, quite clearly, entangled with that “subtle moment”…
Ji Qingzhou felt mortified, yet at the same time, he couldn’t help but sigh: How enviable.
After all, it had been over four months since he last experienced that “subtle moment” himself…
The only thing to be thankful for was that Li Zhan hadn’t woken up yet.
Ji Qingzhou carefully tried to move his body away. Afraid of waking Li Zhan, he did so extremely slowly, practically creeping. Fortunately, even though he “crept” for quite a while, and although that subtle part of Li Zhan grew even more… subtle, and his brows faintly furrowed, he didn’t wake up—or at least appeared not to.
Ji Qingzhou let out a silent sigh of relief and cautiously climbed out of bed.
But the moment he looked down at the floor, he gasped in shock…
The young emperor was lying on the ground wrapped in a quilt, only half his head visible outside the covers.
“Your Majesty!” Ji Qingzhou quickly knelt down to check on him. Thankfully, the young emperor’s breathing was even, his body showed no signs of injury, and his limbs felt warm—not cold at all.
Li Zhan, who had been pretending to sleep with furrowed brows, heard the exclamation and reached out to feel beside him. Only then did he realize that the young emperor had somehow rolled off the bed!
“What… how did he fall?” Li Zhan sat up and asked.
Ji Qingzhou glanced at Li Zhan and thought to himself, You were sleeping on the outside—shouldn’t you be the one answering that question? Why ask me?
But now wasn’t the time to point fingers. Afraid the young emperor had hurt himself, Ji Qingzhou hurriedly lifted him into his arms and gently shook him. The young emperor’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and he reluctantly opened his eyes, still half-asleep. But the moment he saw Ji Qingzhou, his slight frown vanished, and he beamed brightly.
“Good morning,” the young emperor said cheerfully to Ji Qingzhou.
Seeing that he seemed perfectly fine, Ji Qingzhou finally relaxed—at least halfway.
“Let me see.” Li Zhan reached out and took the young emperor into his arms, checking him over thoroughly. He found no visible injuries.
The young emperor, still groggy, looked confused and hadn’t yet realized that he had woken up on the floor and not the bed.
“Your Majesty, do you feel any discomfort?” Ji Qingzhou asked nervously.
The young emperor shook his head and said, “I had a dream. A bridge suddenly collapsed, and I went plop into the water.”
“Were you scared?” Li Zhan asked.
“The water felt soft and wasn’t cold at all, so I just went back to sleep,” the young emperor replied.
Ji Qingzhou silently thought, Good thing he was wrapped in a quilt when he fell, with a pillow underneath. Plus, the bed wasn’t that high. Otherwise, if he’d really gotten hurt, how would we explain it?
Even though the young emperor seemed unharmed, Ji Qingzhou and Li Zhan still sent someone to summon Tang Shu.
Tang Shu personally examined him and confirmed that the young emperor was completely fine. Only then did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“It’s all my fault… I must’ve rolled over too much in my sleep and pushed His Majesty off the bed,” Ji Qingzhou said with guilt.
Li Zhan looked incredibly awkward and quickly said, “It’s not your fault. It’s mine—I didn’t keep an eye on His Majesty…”
The young emperor looked completely confused and hadn’t really processed what had just happened, but he keenly sensed that Li Zhan’s attitude toward him seemed a bit softer than before—no longer as strict.
So he quickly seized the opportunity and asked, “Then can I spend the whole day with Ji Gonggong today?”
Li Zhan glanced at Ji Qingzhou and replied, “You can, but you mustn’t ask to be carried.”
“Okay!” the young emperor nodded eagerly and then asked, “Then can I sleep with Ji Gonggong again tonight?”
At those words, Li Zhan instinctively looked at Ji Qingzhou. Ji Qingzhou didn’t know that Li Zhan had moved the young emperor to the outer edge of the bed during the night. He simply assumed that he’d been too restless in his sleep and accidentally pushed him off, and now he was feeling terribly guilty. Upon hearing the question, he quickly said, “Your Majesty can sleep here as long as you like—even until we return to the capital, it’s no trouble.”
The young emperor was overjoyed upon hearing this.
Meanwhile, both Ji Qingzhou and Li Zhan were feeling inwardly guilty, their expressions turning quite complicated.
A chief steward of the palace and the Regent sharing a bed with the young emperor—and then accidentally pushing him off in the middle of the night!
If word of this got out, the entire court would be left speechless!
After checking the young emperor’s pulse, Tang Shu went off to the medical tent where the Imperial Physicians were stationed.
Because this was a martial contest between two camps, both military doctors and Imperial Physicians had been dispatched to the scene.
This setup was to ensure that if anyone got injured during the matches or fell ill suddenly, they could be treated promptly. The Imperial Physician Courtyard hadn’t just sent doctors—they’d also brought a significant stock of medicinal herbs. The medicine packets hanging outside the tents were all prepared by the Imperial Physicians.
“Doctor Tang, what brings you here?” Imperial Physician Zhang, who had previously examined Ji Qingzhou, already knew Tang Shu. Upon seeing him arrive, he greeted him warmly.
Tang Shu looked around and said, “Chief Steward Ji suffered a bit of palpitations last night and didn’t sleep well. I didn’t bring many herbs with me, so I came to prepare a dose for him.”
Imperial Physician Zhang was aware of Ji Qingzhou’s pregnancy and immediately had someone bring over the herb inventory. He told Tang Shu, “All the herbs we brought this time are listed here. Doctor Tang, see which ones you need—I’ll personally prepare the medicine for you.”
“Thank you.” Tang Shu took the inventory and scanned it quickly, but his brows soon furrowed.
Some of the herbs he had seen in the sachets outside Ji Qingzhou’s tent weren’t listed in this inventory.
Which meant… the person who prepared the medicine packet and the sachet had brought herbs in privately.
If those herbs hadn’t all been used, they might still be hidden on the perpetrator—or stashed somewhere nearby…
“I’ll take these few.” Tang Shu pointed out a selection of calming and fetal-stabilizing herbs from the list.
Imperial Physician Zhang recognized it as a prescription for calming the nerves and protecting the fetus. Not wanting anyone else to handle it, he personally prepared the herbs for Tang Shu.
A short while later, Tang Shu left the Imperial Physician’s tent. As he did, a shadowy figure slipped into the tent from the corner and lingered near the herb boxes, seemingly trying to confirm which herbs had just been taken.
Half a stick of incense later, the figure quietly exited the tent.
Unbeknownst to them, hidden guards who had been lying in wait immediately followed after them without a trace…
After breakfast, the martial contest between the two camps officially began.
According to custom, Li Zhan had to be present. Ji Qingzhou had originally planned to stay in the tent and feign illness, but when Tang Shu returned and said the bait seemed to have worked, he decided to drop the act and simply brought the young emperor along to the arena.
The event was quite grand. Though it was only the first day, there was a warm-up arena match arranged to build excitement, with the real highlights scheduled for the days to come. But for someone like Ji Qingzhou, who only came to watch the spectacle, the first day’s arena matches were the most entertaining. After that, it would likely lose its charm.
A large stage had been set up at the scene, with viewing stands erected across from it.
The viewing stands were elevated, giving a clear view of everything happening on the stage.
Ji Qingzhou sat beside Li Zhan with the young emperor. The little emperor loved the excitement. He held a few sugar-coated balls in his hand, chewing on them while shouting enthusiastically. No matter who was winning on stage, he would shout randomly to cheer them on.
“Young Master Ji, betting makes watching these matches way more fun.” Princess Qi Jingheng had somehow made her way over, with Qin Zheng in tow.
Ji Qingzhou couldn’t help thinking of how Qin Zheng had behaved when drunk the night before. He found it amusing but didn’t tease him—he simply turned to the princess and said, “Your Highness wishes to place a wager with me?”
Princess Qi Jingheng smiled. “Who do you think will be today’s champion on the arena stage, Young Master Ji?”
Ji Qingzhou wasn’t very familiar with martial contests, but he remembered that today’s format was a round-robin battle—twenty fighters from each camp taking turns to fight. Whoever had the most wins by sundown would be declared the victor. Meanwhile, the individual with the most wins would receive a special prize, regardless of whether their team won overall.
“I think that big guy might win the prize.” Ji Qingzhou pointed to a man on the stage. He looked around twenty, with dark skin and a strong, muscular build.
Qin Zheng glanced at the man and said, “That’s one of my father’s deputy generals. He’s quite fierce.”
Princess Qi Jingheng chuckled and said, “Then I’ll bet on that pale scholar-looking one going up next.”
As soon as she spoke, Qin Zheng frowned and muttered, “Your Highness, it’s not about looks—it’s about skill.”
“Mmm.” Princess Qi Jingheng didn’t even glance at him and kept her eyes on Ji Qingzhou. “If you win, Young Master Ji, I’ll give you a generous gift. But if I win… Wang Ye will owe me a generous gift.”
Ji Qingzhou was taken aback and thought, Why is Wang Ye paying if I lose our bet?
But before he could react, Li Zhan beside him said calmly, “That’s fine.”
“Then it’s settled.” Princess Qi Jingheng smiled.
Ji Qingzhou naturally had no reason to refuse. He thought to himself, This is the kind of win-win gamble you’d be lucky to find even with a lantern!
The arena matches continued until noon.
Surprisingly, the pale scholar-like contestant Princess Qi Jingheng had picked was neck and neck with the deputy general Ji Qingzhou had chosen. The number of wins between them was nearly identical. As a result, the afternoon matches became even more tense.
Unfortunately, they didn’t get to watch the rest of the afternoon’s matches. Dong Dong came over and reported to Li Zhan that the suspect had been found.
Li Zhan got up to leave. Thinking it was Ji Qingzhou’s plan that led to this, he asked if he wanted to come along.
Ji Qingzhou was curious too—he wanted to know who the mastermind was. So he handed the young emperor over to Princess Qi Jingheng and Qin Zheng and went with Li Zhan.
“You guessed right, Young Master Ji. That person really was waiting for Doctor Tang to retrieve the herbs,” Dong Dong said as he led them along. “The herbs they used weren’t from the stock brought by the Imperial Physicians. They’d been hidden in the tent. When they thought the sachets and medicine packets had done their job, they tried to get rid of the evidence—but our hidden guards caught them red-handed.”
“You didn’t find the person behind him?” Ji Qingzhou asked, slightly surprised.
“There is no one behind him,” Dong Dong replied. “Or rather, the person behind him… is already gone.”
Ji Qingzhou and Li Zhan exchanged a glance. Then Dong Dong lifted the flap of a tent and ushered them inside. When Ji Qingzhou saw who was inside, he immediately understood what Dong Dong meant.
It was the very same doctor from the estate where the Old Wang Ye used to reside!
The person behind this… was the Old Wang Ye.
No wonder he had found the man vaguely familiar when he spotted him outside the tent that day.
Ji Qingzhou had nearly forgotten about this man. If he hadn’t run into him here today, he probably wouldn’t have remembered him for quite some time. Back at the estate, although this doctor had hinted that he was pregnant, he hadn’t stated it outright. Ji Qingzhou had confirmed it himself later, and at the time, his mind had been entirely occupied with how to deal with the child—he had no attention to spare for a mere doctor.
Li Zhan had paid even less attention to him. Back then, when they were at the estate, Li Zhan hadn’t yet known about Ji Qingzhou’s pregnancy.
By the time he found out, the Old Wang Ye had already passed away, and most of the people from the estate had been dismissed by Li Zhan.
This doctor had left the estate even before the Old Wang Ye’s death. Since then, Li Zhan had hardly ever encountered him again and naturally wouldn’t remember that this man had once taken Ji Qingzhou’s pulse.
Who would’ve expected him to reappear at this moment—and in this way?
“Did Imperial Uncle send you?” Li Zhan asked bluntly.
“After I discovered the young master’s pregnancy, I reported it to the Old Wang Ye without concealing anything,” the doctor said. “At first, the Old Wang Ye had no intention of taking it to the extreme. He believed that if Your Highness ended up marrying Young Lady Qiu, then having a child or two outside wouldn’t be a big deal. But he also feared that the marriage with the Qiu family might not go smoothly. That’s why he instructed me to act if an opportunity arose.”
The doctor had previously served at the Imperial Physician Courtyard. After returning from the prince’s residence, he could rejoin the Courtyard according to the usual procedures. This kind of transfer didn’t require Li Zhan’s personal approval—the Courtyard had its own protocols. So the doctor had successfully returned without alerting Li Zhan at all.
“Every physician registered at the Imperial Physician Courtyard knows that any misconduct could implicate their entire family,” Li Zhan said coldly.
“I know my crime is unforgivable. Now that everything has been exposed, I ask only for death,” the doctor said, bowing deeply to Li Zhan. He then turned to Ji Qingzhou and added, “I only beg that Young Master Ji plead with Wang Ye to spare my family. They live peacefully in the northwest and haven’t seen me in years…”
He bowed again to Ji Qingzhou. There was a calmness to him, as if he had long accepted his fate. Though he was clearly afraid, he had no intention of defending himself—his only plea was for his family to be spared.
Ji Qingzhou understood why he was pleading to him. That day at the Prince Residence, though the doctor had reported the pregnancy to the Old Wang Ye out of duty, he had also, out of compassion, subtly warned Ji Qingzhou. Without that hint, Ji Qingzhou might not have discovered the truth in time.
In other words, the doctor’s subtle hint had helped him a great deal.
Self-preservation was human nature. Though the doctor had stood on the opposite side, he had still shown a sliver of kindness.
Ji Qingzhou was willing to acknowledge that small favor…..
“What exactly did the Old Wang Ye tell you to do?” Ji Qingzhou asked.
“He said everything follows the will of Heaven and shouldn’t be forced,” the man replied. “But since he had made a promise to the late emperor, he had to remain loyal. So he instructed me to give it a try, but also told me that if it didn’t succeed, then it was Heaven’s will, and I needn’t persist.”
Ji Qingzhou gave a light chuckle. “So that’s why you deliberately reduced the dosage of those herbs?”
He had been puzzled when Tang Shu first mentioned that the dosage was off. He thought, If the person administering the medicine knew exactly what to use, how could they make such a foolish mistake in the dosage? Now, hearing the doctor’s explanation, it all made sense.
The doctor looked slightly surprised—he hadn’t expected Ji Qingzhou to notice such a detail.
“When I left the northwest years ago, my family was expecting a grandchild,” the doctor said with a sigh. “Later, my son wrote to say the child was born extremely weak, almost didn’t survive, but fortunately pulled through. I’ve studied medicine all my life, devoted to healing others… I never imagined I would one day be tasked with harming an unborn child…”
Ji Qingzhou looked at the doctor before him and couldn’t help but think how pitiful people caught in court politics truly were.
How many of their choices were ever truly their own?
Some were forced by duty… others by fate.
“You want to plead for him?” Li Zhan asked after they left the tent.
Ji Qingzhou sighed. “Even facing death, he’s still thinking about his sickly grandchild… trying to earn some merit for him.”
“Then let him go,” Li Zhan said. “Allow him to return to the northwest and reunite with his family.”
Ji Qingzhou was stunned. He hadn’t expected Li Zhan to agree so readily.
“Don’t you think I’m being… too soft-hearted?” Ji Qingzhou asked.
“If it had been Tang Yi instead of this man, would you have pleaded for him?” Li Zhan asked.
Ji Qingzhou hadn’t expected him to bring up Tang Yi and quickly replied, “Of course not. Tang Yi is someone with ill intentions. Keeping someone like him near His Majesty would only lead to disaster.”
“Exactly.” Li Zhan continued, “If this man truly meant to harm you, would you still be standing here now? My uncle knew long ago that you were carrying my child, yet he never made a move. Back then, I had no idea. If he really wanted to hurt you…” If the Old Wang Ye had truly intended harm, things would have ended very differently.
Now that Li Zhan thought about it, he felt a deep lingering fear.
But it was precisely that fear that made him realize how much leeway the Old Wang Ye had given him—sending someone so soft-hearted for such a task had meant there was barely any intention of success.
Rather than say the man came to harm Ji Qingzhou, it would be more accurate to say he had come to go through the motions for the Old Wang Ye.
And this going through the motions… was nothing more than the fulfillment of a promise to the late emperor.
“So then, what would be the point of killing him and his family? It would only add to the bloodshed,” Li Zhan said. Then he looked at Ji Qingzhou’s belly, his voice softening slightly. “Letting go of someone who harbored no real malice—let’s treat it as a blessing for our child.”
Ji Qingzhou felt a little awkward at the words “our child.” The phrase made one’s mind wander.
But Li Zhan quickly looked away and gave Dong Dong a few quiet instructions.
Hearing them, Ji Qingzhou felt a wave of relief wash over him.
He only hoped that this blessing would truly protect the little one inside him, allowing it to be born safely and peacefully…
“You seem rather happy,” Li Zhan said.
Ji Qingzhou looked at him and replied, “Aren’t you as well, Wang Ye?”
Li Zhan raised an eyebrow but gave no reply.
At that moment, Ji Qingzhou felt as though he saw a glimpse of Li Zhan’s true self behind his usually cold and unreadable expression.
He thought, Maybe Li Zhan dislikes killing more than I assumed.
Otherwise, the first person he would’ve killed after being reborn should’ve been Ji Qingzhou.
After all, according to Li Zhan’s own words, the Ji Qingzhou of the original book had been just as devious as Tang Yi—if not worse.
So why hadn’t Li Zhan killed him?
Ji Qingzhou was filled with curiosity. Someday, if he had the chance, he would definitely ask Li Zhan that question.
By the time they returned to the arena, the matches were nearly finished.
The two on stage were the very ones Ji Qingzhou and Qi Jingheng had each bet on.
“This match will decide the outcome,” Qi Jingheng said to Ji Qingzhou.
Ji Qingzhou, in an excellent mood now that the medicine situation had been resolved, couldn’t resist cheering for the contestant on stage.
The big guy, perhaps hearing his cheer, suddenly made a comeback. Though he had been at a disadvantage moments before, he suddenly surged with energy and flipped the pale, scholarly-looking opponent hard onto the ground.
“Nice move!” Ji Qingzhou couldn’t help exclaiming.
Li Zhan turned and looked at him, a meaningful glint in his eyes.
Right after that, the referee struck the gong and declared the winner of the match. “Congratulations, Young Master Ji,” Qi Jingheng said with a cheerful smile, showing no hint of disappointment over losing the bet.
Ji Qingzhou smiled and replied, “I’ll accept the win gratefully…”
“So happy about it?” Li Zhan asked, eyes still on the man on stage.
Ji Qingzhou quickly said, “Winning or losing isn’t the point—what matters is saving Wang Ye a bit of silver.”
At that, Li Zhan’s expression noticeably softened, and he withdrew his gaze from the arena.
The young emperor seized the moment to tease, “I know… My teacher said this is called being a thrifty and virtuous…”
Ji Qingzhou seemed to guess what the young emperor was about to say and quickly reached out to cover his mouth.
Li Zhan stood quietly nearby, eyes cast downward, but the corners of his lips had lifted ever so slightly.
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