Chapter 62
The two of them stared at each other for a moment, and Ji Qingzhou’s heart began to beat rapidly.
It felt like something deep inside him had been gently stirred, leaving him unable to return to calm for a long while.
“It’s getting late,” Li Zhan withdrew his hand, his voice tinged with a trace of reluctance.
“Wang Ye… you should go back and rest early,” Ji Qingzhou said.
“Mm.” Li Zhan nodded and stood up, but didn’t leave immediately. He hesitated for a moment before suddenly saying, “Tomorrow… you should move into my sleeping quarters.”
“Huh?” Ji Qingzhou was startled, and his expression grew slightly flustered as though he’d just thought of something.
“It’s getting colder,” Li Zhan continued. “Your place is too far from the bathhouse. It’s inconvenient to go back and forth, and if you catch a chill, it’ll be troublesome.” He added, “My sleeping quarters are spacious. I can move into a side room and won’t disturb your rest.”
Ji Qingzhou instinctively wanted to refuse. After everything that had happened the previous night, his thoughts were still a tangled mess. At the very least, until he sorted things out, he didn’t want their situation to become any more complicated.
But Li Zhan seemed to see right through him and added, “The child is getting bigger now. It’s better to be cautious with everything.”
With Li Zhan saying this much, Ji Qingzhou felt that rejecting him outright would seem petty and evasive. So, he could only nod in agreement.
The next day, Li Zhan had originally intended to have someone help Ji Qingzhou move his belongings over. But Ji Qingzhou didn’t want to attract attention and only let Xiao Shan carry over his daily necessities. According to Ji Qingzhou, he was just going over to sleep. The bed in Li Zhan’s quarters was large, and the bedding would be replaced anyway—there was no need to make a fuss.
Li Zhan knew Ji Qingzhou didn’t want others speculating about their relationship. Even though the people in Yinghui Pavilion were trustworthy, since Ji Qingzhou felt uncomfortable, he respected that and didn’t make a big deal out of it. He even switched out the personal attendants in the sleeping quarters for Xiao Shan and Guo Zi.
But in the end, the matter didn’t stay hidden.
That afternoon, Ji Qingzhou was napping on Li Zhan’s bed when he was unexpectedly caught by Qin Zheng.
Qin Zheng had been outside the palace for the past few days, and Li Zhan hadn’t had a chance to give him a heads-up.
He had come to see Li Zhan, but instead walked into the sleeping quarters and found Ji Qingzhou sleeping soundly on Li Zhan’s bed.
Startled, Ji Qingzhou nearly jumped out of bed when he saw him.
Qin Zheng, on the other hand, gave him a look that said, I get it, and, saying “You go on sleeping,” quietly backed out of the room.
After that disruption, Ji Qingzhou couldn’t fall back asleep and had no choice but to get up.
When he stepped out of the sleeping quarters, he saw Qin Zheng sitting in the outer hall, slowly nibbling on a piece of pastry.
“I heard you went to the post station yesterday,” Qin Zheng said as Ji Qingzhou walked out.
Ji Qingzhou already felt a bit awkward, and hearing Qin Zheng bring up yesterday’s events only made it worse. He quickly said, “I didn’t see anything yesterday… or hear anything…”
Qin Zheng: …
Ji Qingzhou realized as soon as he said it how ridiculous that sounded. He glanced at Qin Zheng, and after a brief silence, both of them broke into laughter at the same time.
That sudden bout of laughter helped dissolve the tension between them. Things no longer felt quite so awkward.
“It’s no big deal that you saw,” Qin Zheng said with a grin. “It’s not like it’s something shameful. Me and Qi Jingchuan—we’re exactly what you think.”
“I… didn’t think anything,” Ji Qingzhou said, looking rather guilty. But then he thought about it—Qin Zheng was being so open. It would seem dishonest to keep pretending. So he asked, “Didn’t you use to hate him?”
“I did,” Qin Zheng replied. “Hated him, but I couldn’t beat him… and after all that fighting, well, it just happened.”
Ji Qingzhou blinked in surprise. Then, noticing a healing bite mark on the corner of Qin Zheng’s mouth, he asked, “He didn’t… force you, did he?”
Ji Qingzhou now remembered that when Qin Zheng had woken up the previous day, he’d been muttering angrily, and Qi Jingchuan had even asked him if it hurt. Could it be… Qi Jingchuan had really forced himself on him?
“What are you thinking?” Qin Zheng quickly said.
“You said you couldn’t beat him, so I thought…” Ji Qingzhou replied. “I assumed you meant that…”
Qin Zheng looked at Ji Qingzhou for a moment, a teasing smile playing on his lips, and asked, “After you two left the post station yesterday, didn’t you and Wang Ye talk privately about me and Qi Jingchuan?”
“Of course not!” Ji Qingzhou said hurriedly. Though he and Li Zhan had mentioned it briefly, that hardly counted as gossip… right?
Qin Zheng said in mild surprise, “You and Wang Ye… don’t even talk about that kind of stuff in private?”
“What kind of stuff?” Ji Qingzhou asked instinctively.
“You know, man-to-man topics…” Qin Zheng grinned. “Bedroom stuff—you know what I mean.”
Ji Qingzhou’s face flushed immediately, and he replied, “Wang Ye is a proper man. We… wouldn’t talk about that kind of thing.”
“So I’m not a proper man now, huh?” Qin Zheng chuckled and scooted closer to Ji Qingzhou, saying, “If Wang Ye won’t talk to you, I will… I know quite a bit about this stuff. I can share some tips with you.”
Ji Qingzhou instinctively moved away. “That’s not necessary.”
“No need to be shy.” Seeing him embarrassed only made Qin Zheng more eager to tease. With a deliberately mischievous grin, he said, “Wang Ye wasn’t the type to fool around in the past. He probably doesn’t know much about that side of things. And with men… if he’s too inexperienced, the one who suffers will be you.”
Ji Qingzhou glanced at him. Qin Zheng didn’t look the least bit embarrassed, as if they were just chatting about food and drink. Seeing that, Ji Qingzhou’s own awkwardness faded a little. If the person involved didn’t find it awkward, why should he?
“Qi Jingchuan doesn’t have much experience either, right? So you’re the one who got the short end of the stick?” Ji Qingzhou asked.
Qin Zheng blinked, clearly not expecting Ji Qingzhou to turn the tables on him. He quickly said, “How do you know I got the short end? Why not him?”
Ji Qingzhou studied Qin Zheng’s face for a moment without saying anything, but his look said it all.
Caught off guard by Ji Qingzhou’s quick comeback, Qin Zheng’s competitive streak flared. “You just don’t understand. It was mutual. I’ve got more experience than him—he’s all clumsy and awkward…”
Ji Qingzhou said nothing, just gave him a look that clearly said, Really? I don’t buy it.
Under his gaze, Qin Zheng began to waver. “You don’t believe me? How about I bring Qi Jingchuan over and you can ask him yourself!”
“Can you even beat him?” Ji Qingzhou asked calmly.
“I can’t… but what does that have to do with anything?” Qin Zheng retorted. “This isn’t a fistfight. Just because someone’s good at fighting doesn’t mean they’re amazing in bed.”
Ji Qingzhou replied, “You’re the one who said you couldn’t beat him, which is why…”
Qin Zheng completely tripped himself up, buried in the hole he dug, and looked a little deflated.
Honestly, he didn’t have any real competitiveness about this kind of thing—it was Ji Qingzhou who had provoked him into it.
He hadn’t expected someone like Ji Qingzhou, who looked so pure and innocent, to be so sharp-tongued when chatting.
When Li Zhan returned from Fu’an Palace, he saw Qin Zheng walking out of the sleeping quarters looking completely defeated.
“I forgot to tell you…” Li Zhan said. “From now on, if you come looking for me in the sleeping quarters, remember to notify someone first.”
“Yes!” Qin Zheng exaggeratedly pursed his lips, looking like he’d just gotten scolded.
Li Zhan studied him and asked, “What happened?”
“Heh.” Qin Zheng forced a smile. “Nothing. I brought it on myself.”
Li Zhan raised an eyebrow but didn’t press further. Instead, he asked, “Do you want to talk about you and Qi Jingchuan?”
“What’s there to talk about?” Qin Zheng laughed. “He’s a prince from the Liang Kingdom. What, is he going to marry into the Qin family?”
Li Zhan looked at him and asked, “What are you planning to do?”
“I’ve got no plans,” Qin Zheng replied. “I’m just enjoying each day as it comes. Why overthink things?” Then he teased, “What, should I start acting like you—walking around like some tragic romantic hero? I get anxious just looking at you.”
Li Zhan wasn’t offended. He said calmly, “I’m not Qi Jingchuan. And Ji Qingzhou isn’t you.”
“Alright, alright, I can’t win against the two of you,” Qin Zheng muttered. Today, he’d been bested repeatedly at Yinghui Pavilion and didn’t have the energy to argue.
“Come with me to the study. I’ve got something for you to take care of,” Li Zhan said.
At that, Qin Zheng quickly sobered and followed him to the study.
Li Zhan instructed Dong Dong to stand guard outside the door. Then he turned to Qin Zheng and said, “A few months ago, when I was returning to the capital, there was an ambush. Do you remember?”
“I do. It was north of Jin County,” Qin Zheng replied.
At the time, Qin Zheng had wanted to investigate, but Li Zhan had too much on his plate in the capital and couldn’t spare the time or manpower, so the matter had been put aside. He’d intended to handle it once things settled down in the capital.
But unexpectedly, several months later, there was another incident in the northern part of Jin County…
“Tu Dayou was escorting Ji Qinghuai back to the capital, but they were ambushed in northern Jin County. Ji Qinghuai was injured and went missing along with Tu Dayou,” Li Zhan said. “I’ve already sent people to search for them, but there’s no news of their whereabouts yet.”
Qin Zheng frowned. “Wang Ye suspects the attackers of Ji Qinghuai and Tu Dayou are the same group who ambushed you before?”
“The exact same location—it can’t be just a coincidence,” Li Zhan replied.
“Since Wang Ye has had previous dealings with them, do you have any guesses about their origins?” Qin Zheng asked.
“They seemed like bandits,” Li Zhan said.
If Li Zhan hadn’t been attacked by that group himself, he would’ve suspected the ambush on Ji Qinghuai was related to matters in the capital. But he had thought through the possibilities repeatedly. Very few people had known about Ji Qinghuai’s return trip. It was impossible anyone had betrayed him.
The most likely explanation was that the attackers were simply a gang of roaming bandits.
“What about the guards traveling with them?” Qin Zheng asked.
“Some were killed, others injured,” Li Zhan replied. “Even I’m still unclear about the full details.”
Qin Zheng quickly asked, “Do you want me to lead troops to eliminate this group of bandits?”
If it were just regular bandits robbing travelers, the matter could be left to the local authorities. But since this group had once wounded Li Zhan and now left Ji Qinghuai’s guards dead or maimed, it was obvious they were a serious threat. It couldn’t be taken lightly.
Qin Zheng came from a family of military officers. Though he held no official military title, he had considerable skill in such matters—this kind of task suited him perfectly.
Li Zhan nodded. “Back then, it was a moment of hesitation on my part that led to this situation. If I had taken the effort to eliminate them earlier, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Wang Ye need not blame yourself. If you had been distracted by that issue back then, things in the capital might’ve been delayed instead,” Qin Zheng said.
Li Zhan gave a slight nod. He knew dwelling on it served no purpose. His greatest concern now was—if something happened to Ji Qinghuai, how would he explain it to Ji Qingzhou?
“I’ll have Dong Dong assign you a team and write you an official order. Once you reach the local authorities, request as many men as you need,” Li Zhan instructed. “Make sure this time they’re wiped out completely—and investigate whether there’s anyone behind them.”
“Yes,” Qin Zheng responded at once.
Li Zhan immediately wrote him a dispatch letter, then carefully explained a few more key points before he felt at ease.
After Ji Qingzhou moved into Yinghui Pavilion, he had been somewhat anxious at first.
But Li Zhan’s attitude toward him remained as usual. Apart from coming in each night to “connect emotionally” with the child, he never crossed any lines.
“Will my brother and Dayou be arriving in the capital tomorrow?” Ji Qingzhou asked Li Zhan that night before bed.
Li Zhan’s eyes flickered slightly. “Mm. Once they arrive, I’ll have them rest for a few days at the estate.”
Ji Qingzhou nodded. He still hadn’t met his elder brother Ji Qinghuai and didn’t even know what he looked like.
But since he and Ji Qinglan had very similar facial features and bone structure, he figured Ji Qinghuai probably didn’t look too different either.
“Do you miss him a lot?” Li Zhan asked.
“Not really,” Ji Qingzhou replied. He didn’t feel much of a bond with this brother he’d never met. Their only connection was probably that one letter from Ji Qinghuai.
Still, blood ties were mysterious things. Just like how he’d easily accepted Ji Qinglan as his younger sister, he supposed when the time came, it wouldn’t be hard for him to accept Ji Qinghuai as his brother either.
“Go to sleep early.” Li Zhan tucked the blanket over Ji Qingzhou, sat by the bed silently for a while, as if there was something on his mind.
Ji Qingzhou curled up in the blanket, watching him, and asked, “Wang Ye… is something wrong?”
“No matter what happens from now on… I will take good care of you,” Li Zhan said suddenly.
Ji Qingzhou’s heart skipped a beat. Li Zhan’s words sounded too ambiguous—as if he was making a vow for the future. Wasn’t that a roundabout way of confessing? Ji Qingzhou nearly thought Li Zhan was about to lean down and kiss him.
But Li Zhan didn’t. After saying that, he just gave Ji Qingzhou a faint smile and got up to leave for the side chamber.
Ji Qingzhou curled under the blanket, watching his retreating figure. His heartbeat didn’t return to normal until long after.
That night, Ji Qingzhou lay on the same bed Li Zhan had once slept in. The faint scent of wood on the bedding—Li Zhan’s scent—lingered in his nose. Not long after, he drifted off in a haze.
Perhaps because of the incense Li Zhan used in his sleeping quarters, Ji Qingzhou, caught between sleep and wakefulness, kept feeling like Li Zhan was right beside him. But when he woke up in the morning, he found himself alone on the bed. It turned out Li Zhan had indeed slept in the side room last night.
“Qingzhou, are you awake?” Xiao Shan’s voice called from outside the screen.
Ji Qingzhou responded and was about to get up—when he suddenly felt something cool between his legs. Startled, he instinctively reached down to touch his underclothes.
His hand froze.
Ji Qingzhou: !
Impossible! He had to be dreaming!
To confirm it wasn’t just his imagination, he reached down again—and felt a sticky mess on his underpants.
As a grown man, Ji Qingzhou naturally understood what had happened… It was just that he hadn’t experienced anything like this in several months, and it caught him completely off guard. Especially since he had dreamed of Li Zhan last night, and then woke up this morning to find this had happened—it left him feeling more than a little guilty, as if he’d done something wrong.
Wasn’t that medicine supposed to last for half a year?
Even counting it precisely, it hadn’t even been five full months yet—so how could this… happen?
“Qingzhou, are you alright?” Xiao Shan asked worriedly when he noticed how absentminded he looked.
“I… I’m fine,” Ji Qingzhou replied hastily. “Could you get me a pair of pants?”
Hearing this, Xiao Shan went to fetch a pair of pants. Ji Qingzhou took them, but didn’t put them on immediately. Xiao Shan chuckled when he noticed and went off to busy himself elsewhere. Only then did Ji Qingzhou hurriedly change out of his soiled underclothes.
“Give me your clothes, I’ll have someone wash them,” Xiao Shan said when he saw Ji Qingzhou had dressed and gotten up. He stepped forward to take the garments.
But Ji Qingzhou instinctively hid the soiled underpants behind his back and said, “I’ll do it myself…”
Xiao Shan was stunned for a moment, thinking he must have misheard. Not to mention that Ji Qingzhou’s belly was already nearly five months along and washing clothes would be inconvenient—back even when he wasn’t pregnant, as Chief Steward of the Inner Attendant Department, Ji Qingzhou never had to do such things himself.
“You…” Xiao Shan looked at him suspiciously.
Ji Qingzhou flushed red under his gaze and finally said, “It’s just that… the medicine’s effects might’ve worn off.”
“Really?” Xiao Shan’s face lit up with excitement.
He eagerly scooted closer and reached out as if to grab between Ji Qingzhou’s legs. Ji Qingzhou was startled and hurriedly threw his hands up in alarm to block him.
“I just want to check if it’s true!” Xiao Shan said excitedly.
Ji Qingzhou looked completely exasperated. “You think that’s something you can just randomly grab?!”
“Hahahaha,” Xiao Shan laughed cheerfully. “Then you test it yourself and see if it really worked.”
Ji Qingzhou hadn’t expected Xiao Shan to be so thrilled. His face burned bright red.
But Xiao Shan was simply too happy to care about Ji Qingzhou’s embarrassment. He grabbed onto him insistently, determined to confirm it for himself. Ji Qingzhou could understand, though—after all, as an eunuch, most people in Xiao Shan’s position never got to experience the effects of that medicine wearing off.
Even though it wasn’t happening to Xiao Shan personally, he truly was happy for Ji Qingzhou.
Not wanting to ruin Xiao Shan’s joy, Ji Qingzhou’s face flushed as he muttered, “Just… don’t try to touch me anymore. I’ll check for myself.”
Xiao Shan immediately stared at him with anticipation. Ji Qingzhou said helplessly, “Can you wait outside for a bit?”
“Hahaha, alright.” Xiao Shan knew Ji Qingzhou was shy, so he cheerfully stepped outside to wait.
About the time it took for one stick of incense to burn later, the door to the sleeping chamber opened.
Ji Qingzhou emerged, face serious.
Xiao Shan stared at him nervously. After a moment, Ji Qingzhou lowered his voice and said, “There… there was a reaction.”
“Ah—!” Xiao Shan gasped so hard it sounded like a sob. He was so happy he nearly burst into tears.
Ji Qingzhou was finally beginning to process what had just happened—slowly realizing the full extent of what this meant.
After several months, the effects of the medicine had finally worn off, and Ji Qingzhou’s body was gradually returning to normal.
“I thought the medicine was supposed to last for half a year?” Ji Qingzhou asked, confused. “I haven’t even been taking it for five months yet.”
“The effectiveness of the medicine varies from person to person,” Xiao Shan explained. “Originally, it was taken every six months. But later, because some people’s reactions wore off faster, they changed the interval to every four months.”
Hearing this, Ji Qingzhou suddenly understood. So the effects wearing off now was actually within the expected range.
“I’ll go wash your underpants for you first,” Xiao Shan said, taking the pair Ji Qingzhou had just changed out of.
Ji Qingzhou blushed a little from his teasing tone, but after calming down for a bit, he actually felt quite happy.
Though he had known all along that his body would recover once the medicine wore off, now that the day had finally arrived, Ji Qingzhou couldn’t suppress the excitement bubbling inside him.
“If the Wang Ye knew about this, he’d definitely be overjoyed,” Xiao Shan said.
Ji Qingzhou froze slightly. “Why… would this have anything to do with him?”
“If you don’t believe me, go find the Wang Ye now and see for yourself,” Xiao Shan replied.
“Don’t mess around,” Ji Qingzhou said quickly.
Xiao Shan smiled knowingly. He understood that with how shy Ji Qingzhou was, there was no way he’d tell anyone else about this—let alone tell Li Zhan.
“Sigh…” After hanging up Ji Qingzhou’s washed underclothes to dry, Xiao Shan came back and asked with a grin, “Who did you dream of last night?”
“I didn’t dream of the Wang Ye!” Ji Qingzhou blurted. “I didn’t dream of anyone!”
If it had been any other day, Xiao Shan would never have teased him about something like this. But with what had happened today, he was simply too happy and had forgotten his usual restraint.
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Xiao Shan said casually.
Ji Qingzhou suddenly thought of Xiao Shan and He Man’s relationship, and a question arose in his heart.
In the past, he probably wouldn’t have brought up He Man in conversation with Xiao Shan so casually. But now that he knew they’d be able to reunite before long, he didn’t feel so hesitant anymore.
“You always had the medicine’s effects in your system, right?” Ji Qingzhou asked. “Then how did you and He Man…”
Xiao Shan smiled and said, “The medicine is just a dead thing. People are alive… The medicine suppresses desire, sure, but if you truly like someone, do you really think the medicine can stop that?”
Ji Qingzhou was taken aback by this and suddenly had a moment of clarity.
The medicine might suppress physical desire, but falling for someone didn’t always stem from desire alone. Just like he could become friends with Xiao Shan or Tu Dayou—that fondness between friends was still a kind of affection. If the medicine couldn’t block those kinds of feelings, how could it possibly block another kind?
Besides, every person was different. No medicine could guarantee the same effect on everyone. If that was the case, then it was no surprise that Xiao Shan had fallen for He Man. Ji Qingzhou even began to suspect that Xiao Shan and He Man weren’t the only eunuchs in the palace who had developed secret feelings—others had probably just hidden it better and gone unnoticed.
“Xiao Shan…” Ji Qingzhou turned to look at him and asked, “How did you know… you liked He Man?”
A gentle smile appeared in Xiao Shan’s eyes. “My heart would race every time I saw him—especially when we made eye contact or stood close to each other…”
“That’s all?” Ji Qingzhou asked.
“There’s more…” This time, Xiao Shan looked a little embarrassed. He scratched his head and said, “Once, he suddenly kissed me. I didn’t get mad, and I didn’t blame him. That’s when I knew I liked him.”
Ji Qingzhou: …
So… not getting mad after being kissed meant you were in love?
Love the drama and palace machinations? Buy Ciacia a coffee on Kofi to keep the intrigue brewing.
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