Chapter 136: Connection Point
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Before entering the guest room, Liu Zhongming stood at the door and chatted with the imperial physician in a moderate tone. He knew that the person inside was awake and could hear them.
On the second day after he had been moved from the underground to the guest room, Pan He woke up, but he couldn’t fully relax. Even though he was provided with timely food, soup, and medicine, he still kept his nerves tight.
When Liu Zhongming came to visit, Pan He was also curled up in the bed, motionless. He didn’t ask anything, just came to check on him every morning and evening, and occasionally checked his pulse with the physician.
He also prepared pen and ink by the bedside, and no matter how useless it might seem, he always reminded Pan He that if there was anything he needed, he could write it down on paper with the pen.
It worked quickly.
Pan He was already close to his limit of endurance in Liao Guangming’s hands. After coming to the courtyard, he couldn’t withstand such kind and considerate treatment amid continuous screams and cries.
From the pulse under his fingertips, Liu Zhongming could clearly feel that Pan He was like a person frozen stiff and now completely thawed in warm water, with no strength or thought left to move even half a finger.
He asked questions calmly, and could already hear the sound of someone moving on the bed from inside the room.
After the imperial physician left, he stood at the door for a while before slowly entering the room. Before he could approach the bed, Pan He sat up straight, trembling and grabbing the bedsheet, opening his mouth in vain.
Liu Zhongming walked quickly to the bed and sat down on a chair next to it. He covered Pan He’s hand with both hands and asked, “Pan Gonggong, do you feel better today?”
For the first time in the past seven or eight days, Pan He reacted to Liu Zhongming’s words, nodding continuously, looking more like he was trembling.
“Don’t be afraid, Gonggong,” Liu Zhongming used some force in his hand. “This is my private villa. Even if Liao Guangming is daring, he wouldn’t dare to come here to snatch people.”
Pan He’s tense shoulders relaxed, and he tried to make some noise.
“I have told Yu Gonggong about your situation truthfully,” Liu Zhongming sighed lightly. “Yu Gonggong knows your value, but he is distressed by the emperor’s anger and cannot ask for your release directly. He entrusted me to do it for him. Unfortunately, Liao Guangming is on guard and has caused you to suffer.”
As soon as Liao Guangming’s name was mentioned, the fingers held in Liu Zhongming’s hand twitched violently.
“Don’t be afraid, Gonggong. Liao Guangming is now involved in other matters and has left for Luo City. It will probably take four or five days before he returns.”
“Gonggong, please rest and recuperate well here. Although your eyes and throat cannot be cured, your body is intact. Before Liao Guangming returns to the capital, I will secretly send someone to take you out of the city.”
“I have a simple villa in the southern suburbs with natural hot springs that are just right for you to recover. You can live there in the future, and everything regarding food, clothing, and daily necessities will be taken care of. I hope you don’t mind, Gonggong.”
Pan He’s hand trembled for a while and then stopped, his ten fingers tightly intertwined, even more nervous than when he was conscious here, as if he was struggling with something.
Liu Zhongming lightly patted Pan He’s hand and looked at Qu Chenzhou standing at the head of the bed. He spoke only after the latter slightly turned his head, “Gonggong, rest well. I will come again tomorrow.”
Pan He’s fingers suddenly tightened and held his hand tightly, not letting him get up.
“Gonggong, is there something else?” Liu Zhongming asked knowingly.
He knew that Pan He must have something to say.
Just now, he had clearly told them that Liao Guangming would be back in a few days. If they hadn’t been able to send Pan He out of the city before then, what would happen after that?
He was already a seasoned veteran in the court, would Pan He really believe that Liu Zhongming broke into Jinxiu Ying to rescue people just because he was entrusted by a Gonggong?
Was Liu Zhongming a businessman who loved to suffer losses?
But even if Pan He knew that he would be going from the wolf’s den to the tiger’s mouth, what could he do?
Just ask him if he still had the courage to be tortured by Liao Guangming again?
The answer was no.
Liu Zhongming sat down again without saying anything.
Pan He fumbled around the bedside, and Qu Chenzhou squatted down at the bedside with a tray in his hand. He saw Pan He tremblingly grabbing a pen and scribbling randomly because he couldn’t see. After writing for a long time, he stopped for a moment.
Liu Zhongming leaned over and took a look, then confirmed with Qu Chenzhou with his eyes. The paper only had an insignificant “wait” written on it, and he suddenly realized and clapped his hands.
“I have a bad memory. I was only thinking about Gonggong’s health and forgot about something.”
He leaned forward and lowered his voice, whispering a sentence.
“Yu Gonggong asked me to ask you something…”
Liu Zhongming’s palms were sweating. After thinking and working hard for so long, they had only found this one clue. Seeing what Pan He had just laboriously written, he knew that Pan He was still being cautious and hesitant about whether or not to tell him the truth.
If this sentence is asked incorrectly, Pan He will retract back into the hole, and all previous efforts will be in vain. It will be even more difficult to try to pull him out.
“Regarding the two people, are they still alive?”
At this moment, time seemed to stand still, and he and Qu Chenzhou stared at Pan He without blinking, each breath feeling like an unbearable eternity.
It seemed like a very long time had passed before they saw Pan He slowly shake his head.
Even if the worst result was obtained, a heavy stone in Liu Zhongming’s heart finally fell, and he realized that his shirt was soaked with sweat.
The high embankment had collapsed a small section, and it was impossible to hold the rest.
They didn’t dare to ask too much, afraid of revealing any flaws. They only asked the most important questions, and every word was spoken with great caution. By the time they left the room, it was already past noon.
Liu Zhongming took a deep breath and saw Qu Chenzhou staring at him with concern out of the corner of his eye. He couldn’t help but smile.
“Don’t look at me like that. If you keep staring, I’ll take you to the bridal chamber early!”
Qu Chenzhou also curved his lips and turned around to stand in front of him. “Shizi is clearly staring at me.”
“Are you provoking me?” Liu Zhongming leaned his forehead against Qu Chenzhou’s and suddenly picked him up horizontally. “Then let’s go.”
He really went straight to the bedroom, threw Qu Chenzhou into the gauze canopy, undid the buttons, and took off his outer coat and pants. He leaned over and pressed the person onto the pillow, kissing him fiercely.
“Do you really want to?”
“I bet you won’t dare.” Qu Chenzhou slightly turned his head and let Liu Zhongming nibble on his neck and cheek obediently.
“It’s not that I don’t dare,” Liu Zhongming said firmly after biting his lip, “It’s just hard to let go. Good food should always be saved for last.”
The shadow above lifted, and Qu Chenzhou sat up on the edge of the bed, watching as Liu Zhongming shook out and neatly folded his clothes on the table, putting them on one by one.
The joke about the bridal chamber was understood by both of them, but they knew where Liu Zhongming should be now.
“Have you talked to Lord Marquis about Pan He’s matter? What did he say?”
“We have talked,” Liu Zhongming fastened his belt, stretched his arms and replied, “My father said that since I have made up my mind, I should go ahead, and if anything goes wrong, he will clean up the mess for me.”
Qu Chenzhou smiled and he returned the smile. He knew he should not expose Liu Zhongming’s lie.
How could the fate of thousands of people in the Liu family be left to his reckless behavior? This was just an agreement between him and his father- if anything went wrong and posed a potential threat to the Liu family, he would take responsibility for all consequences.
Since his mother had been sent far away to live in the south under the guise of seeking medical treatment, he and his father seemed to have reached an unspoken reconciliation.
His father said he had matured a lot.
The last time his father said this was after his elder brother died, and he moved to the courtyard. However, at that time, his father’s sighs were more frequent, saying that he had gone astray.
It turned out that every time one grew up, it came at a price.
Qu Chenzhou did not say much, standing up to unfold the gauze and straighten Liu Zhongming’s collar and belt.
Liu Zhongming looked down at the red string swaying in front of him and suddenly asked, “Chenzhou, what did you say to my father and uncle when we had that showdown?”
Qu Chenzhou was momentarily stunned and his lifted gaze lowered again in a moment of mutual understanding.
Liu Zhongming didn’t need an answer and asked softly, “It was Huai Wang, wasn’t it?”
Their agreement wasn’t due yet, but he already knew.
If it were in the past, he never would have imagined being able to face his older brother’s matter so calmly one day.
“Yes,” Qu Chenzhou didn’t hide anything from him, “Did the Shizi find out anything?”
“I didn’t find out anything, I just guessed it.”
In fact, when Qu Chenzhou started secretly investigating Huai Wang, Liu Zhongming gradually became aware of the surreptitious and silent way of doing things that was characteristic of Huai Wang.
If Qu Chenzhou hadn’t pointed it out to him, he would never have thought that it was the seemingly humble and non-contentious Huai Wang.
“Back then, all three Wangyes’ were not in the capital, and I also investigated where they went. Huai Wang was the furthest from Dingling Hill at the time. Why would it be him?” he asked.
“I only know the result, not the reason,” Qu Chenzhou rested his head on Liu Zhongming’s chest, “He said it himself.”
Liu Zhongming remembered the strange power that Qu Chenzhou had mentioned before, but he didn’t dare to imagine what kind of price he would have to pay for asking such a question face-to-face.
“It’s all in the past, don’t be afraid,” he hugged him, his chin lightly rubbing against the smooth black hair, “My father gave me some news a few days ago, and he also sent someone over there, so I guess you must have told him something.”
“What news?”
“He said there was a village forty miles away from Dingling Hill, and a family disappeared there a few days before and after my brother’s death. The official road that my brother took back to the capital passed near that village.”
“What about the government?”
“The villagers were scattered and not living nearby, so there was no victim to report. The government only made a hasty investigation and left it at that.”
“Does the Shizi suspect that family?”
Qu Chenzhou suddenly looked up, and the two of them locked eyes with the name on their tongues.
“Zhou Huaishan.”
The biological father of Huai Wang, the missing Zhou Huaishan.
But they all knew that there was no way to find him. Neither of them had ever seen Zhou Huaishan, and even those villagers probably couldn’t describe what he looked like six years later.
“Shizi,” after a while, Qu Chenzhou slowly spoke, “do I have a chance to see Consort Yu?”
He knew that, given his current status, it was difficult. He had caused such a scene at the Spring Festival banquet and had not even had a chance to look at Concubine Liu.
“Don’t worry,” reassured Liu Zhongming. “I’ll find a safe opportunity. As for Dingling Hill, I’ll send someone to investigate again. The only person that Huai Wang wants is Zhou Huaishan, and the others, he would have to see die or the corpse.”
At this point, they could only wait.
Qu Chenzhou had already tidied up Lui Zhongming’s official robes to the point where they could not be any smoother, and he did not want to waste any more time. He softly asked, “Can you come back before the palace gates close?”
Before Lui Zhongming could respond, he answered himself, “I should be able to come back.”
“I’m already so old, and the palace can’t accommodate me for too long. We’ll just chat for a bit, and I’ll definitely come back soon.”
Liu Zhongming tightened his arm around him, and the slender waist fit perfectly in his hand.
“But don’t wait up for me. Get some rest early. If the Emperor needs me to set out and find someone immediately, even if I don’t come back, I’ll send someone to deliver a message to you.”
Though standing on tiptoe, Qu Chenzhou did not go for the lips that were so close at hand. He lazily squinted his eyes and extended his moist tongue, flicking it once, and then again.
Liu Zhongming willingly took the bait, grabbing onto his waist and wishing he could just lift him up and kiss him until they melted into one.
They were walking a fine line, and their lips touching was the most moving conversation between them.
Liu Zhongming knew how to nourish his little fox, how to suck out his soul, and how to watch as the watery glass eyes became unfocused and hazy.
But he still had his own responsibilities. The collar was already prepared for him, and he needed to crawl over and let someone put it on him.
And then he dragged all the things that bound him into ruins.
Someone was waiting for him at the finish line, arms open to embrace him.
He will certainly destroy everything in his path.
Author’s note: Every time there is growth, there is a cost.
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