Indulging in Carnal Desire
chapter-253

Out of concern for the child, as Chu Jiao went to the Qiu Xi Palace to deliver breakfast the next day and after dutifully handing the meal to Du Xian, she then secretly made a detour to the sideroom of the rear court.

The sideroom’s doors were tightly shut, and not a figure could be seen outside. Upon seeing this, Chu Jiao’s heart dropped down with a loud clunk.

The previous times she came here, the boy was always playing outside or casually lying on the grass, or recklessly climbing the banyan tree as though he loathed being inside the room. This was the reason why Chu Jiao had never stepped foot inside, however, she also didn’t need to think hard to know that it wasn’t such a warm place at all.

She cautiously walked forward and knocked on the door twice, but nobody responded.

“Sixth Prince, are you there?” She waited for a while for a reply, but nobody seemed to answer, “Sixth Prince, forgive this servant for barging in impetuously.”

She forcefully pushed the wooden doors, creating the creaking sounds that were unpleasant to the ear. On the other side of the door, the rays of sunlight did not even seem to pour in as only darkness and coldness remained. Chu Jiao was already bundled up very warmly but still felt a spell of seeping chilliness penetrating her bones. Upon smelling the air, she furrowed her brows and approached the bed, seeing a bundled-up blanket. She heaved a breath of relief since it looked like the boy was currently asleep.

“Sixth Prince? Sixth Prince?” She gently lifted the blanket up, “It’s time to wake up.”

However, soon after, her face turned pale from fright.

The moment she touched the blanket, an ice-piercingly wet sensation hit her skin. This body’s only shabby blanket was actually wet! In such a cold winter, the boy had actually covered himself up with a wet blanket and slept in it throughout the whole freezing night!? Chu Jiao felt both angry yet afraid, quickly tearing the blanket away and dragging the boy away from the damp mattress of the bed.

As for the boy, at this moment, his eyes were tightly shut. His little face was flushed, and he had already lost consciousness long ago.

Chu Jiao touched his forehead with her hand and felt a searing heat.

She immediately got up in alarm and circled around the room in a frenzy. Upon finding a bit of cold water tucked away on the shelf, she quickly took out a small handkerchief from her pocket and wet it before placing it on the child’s burning forehead.

It was only at this moment that she finally had the opportunity to get a clear look of the child’s face.

Though she had already caught a glance of it before, it was still just for a fleeting moment. In fear that the boy would only abase himself later on, Chu Jiao tried her best not to look at his face. Now that she was looking at him at such a close range, the outline of the child’s face was actually very good. His appearance was rather pretty that one could even tell his birth mother was a beauty. However, the right side of his face was filled with wrinkles, making his face hard to look at. Upon closer inspection, one could see light scars and traces that had been left there for several years.

Chu Jiao couldn’t help but frown. She knew that some children could have a problem in their genes, which made them inherit strange diseases, such as aging quicker. However, such symptoms usually manifested themselves throughout the whole body. So, why was it that only half of his face was affected by this? This didn’t seem to be inborn at all…

Moreover, how did these scars come about? After Chu Jiao finished wiping the child’s face with a wet cloth, she sunk deep in thought while undoing his clothes, wanting to lower his overall temperature. But, she discovered that the child’s body, back, and legs, were all covered with scars, both fresh and old! Bruises, burns, and whip marks, each one was a more ghastly sight than the previous! And, on his shoulders were two large gashes with torn skin, clearly received just yesterday as the scab still looked red and fresh!

What kind of disturbed person would harshly abuse a child like this!? Moreover, he was a real prince at that!

Chu Jiao was so angry that her hands started to quiver. She then gently stroked his scars with a ruthless glint in her eye.

She didn’t believe that the master of the Qiu Xi Palace, Consort Rong, was ignorant of this matter at all! If she hadn’t given her tacit approval, this matter wouldn’t have happened in the first place!

“Wuu…” The unconscious child in her arms suddenly stirred in his sleep, “Give them… Give them back to me…”

Chu Jiao attentively lowered her head to listen more closely, “What? Sixth Prince, what are you saying?”

“Give back to me… Dumpling… to… me…”

Chu Jiao listened for a good while before she was finally able to make out what the child was continuously murmuring about.

He was saying, “Give them back to me, Little Dumpling gave those to me.”

Chu Jiao surmised that someone must have snatched the food she had brought him yesterday and that the little child wanted to take it back, so he suffered through getting hit and tortured.

Chu Jiao’s heart soured at the thought, but she couldn’t help but blame herself for this happening. If she had only been more careful, the little boy wouldn’t have developed a fever from the sheer cold! This was all her fault!

She kindly patted the child’s back and comforted, “It’s alright, Sixth Prince. It’s alright. Little Dumpling will give you something to eat next time!”

She desperately hugged the child, taking off her cotton-padded jacket that she wore and wrapping it tightly around the boy. She then profusely rubbed it back and forth against his cold body to start generating warmth. She didn’t dare call for help, because she didn’t have the qualifications to do so. She was nothing but a little eunuch from the Directorate of Palace Delicacies, and if she were to run to the imperial infirmary to look for a physician, that would only inadvertently expose to everyone that Consort Rong’s servants were abusing the Sixth Prince, and she wouldn’t be able to live to see tomorrow’s sun.

Chu Jiao covered the little boy up and carefully laid him on the bed. She had intended to take the wet blanket out to dry and was just about to get up when a small hand pulled her back.

She lowered her head and finally realized that the child had already awakened.

He was half-lying on the bed, the shameful side of his face coincidentally covered under the blanket, only exposing the handsome side of his face. His red eyes were wide open, directly looking at Chu Jiao.

“Li-Little Dumpling…”

Chu Jiao quickly crouched down and held his hand firmly, “I’m here, Sixth Prince. I’m here.”

“I-I’m sorry.” Jing Chen hoarsely said, “It’s better for you… not to come… in the future…”

He whispered this as the light in his eyes slowly grew dim as though he himself wasn’t willing to say this but had no other choice.

In truth, while he was being beaten by those two eunuchs last night, Chu Jiao had just thrown the meal over the wall, and coincidentally, this act was discovered by those two eunuchs.

Even though he didn’t confess the origin of the food no matter how badly he was struck, once those two eunuch had finished torturing him, they even discussed how they would capture the person who sent the food and hand him over to Her Highness to be dealt with accordingly.

As the only person to have ever treated him well, he couldn’t just stand by and watch for her to die in the depths of this palace.

He didn’t want to die. Even if he had to live a bitter life so far, a certain part of his heart told him not to die. And so, he also didn’t want this person to die as well.

Chu Jiao held the boy’s hand with one hand, while the other hand covered his eyes.

The child’s eyelashes quivered slightly under her palm before he finally shut his eyes.

Jing Chen secretly bit his lip. As expected, there was no one in this world who wasn’t afraid of his monstrous eyes.

However, in the next moment, his pupils twitched abruptly under his eyelids.

This little eunuch!

Actually… Actually…

Chu Jiao pressed a gentle kiss on the boy’s quivering eyelids.

“Sixth Prince, please do not think too much. Be good and get some sleep. Once you wake up, everything will be alright.”

Chu Jiao wasn’t merely comforting the child superficially, she actually had a plan in mind. Although she was of humble status and couldn’t touch a hair of Consort Rong, she could still do something in her own way. To repay the little scheme that had happened today, she would first deal with those little bandits first, so that this child could live happier days.

She patted the boy’s shoulder, telling him not to worry before taking the wet blanket away to be dried outside.

The sun was out today, so the blanket should turn dry by night.

Inside the room, after sensing that the person was gone, Jing Chen finally opened his eyes.

He stared at the eunuch’s slender figure through the dusty windows and raised a hand to rub his eyelids with his chapped fingers, a smile cracking open on the corner of his lips.

[Completed]