Indulging in Carnal Desire
chapter-254

At night, outside the side chamber of Qiu Xi Palace.

“Heh, do you think we can catch that person?”

“We definitely can. As long as one of us guards the front while the other one guards the back, we can definitely catch that lowly servant who’s been helping this cursed prince!”

”Who do you think would be daring enough to help a prince, who’s even hated by the emperor himself? Does he not want to live a long life?”

“Hehe, won’t we know that after carrying out the plan tonight?”

“That’s true! Hehe. You have to admit, the buns from yesterday were pretty delicious. They were also a lot better than the meals being delivered in the past few days. Fortunately, they didn’t go to the cursed prince’s hands!”

“If you continue taking that cursed person’s food, you’ll die from obesity one day!”

“You say that as if you hadn’t taken part in this scheme! Hmph, it had taken us a lot of effort to enter Qiu Xi Palace. But who knew that we would have to attend to an abandoned prince, and such an ugly one at that too. Aiyo! If I continue to look at that face all day, I’m going to start experiencing nightmares every night!” So what if we eat all his food, in any case, it looks like he’s going to pass away any moment now in that poor condition of his!”

“That’s true. Say, why do you think Her Majesty asked the emperor to spare his life? With how ugly he is, he doesn’t seem like the princely type. He’d be better off leaving together with his mother.”

“Shhhh, don’t bring up the emperor’s name. Do you want to lose your life!”

The winter night’s gusts were bitingly cold. As the night gradually grew deeper, light fog pervaded the air. The crescent moon in the sky was covered by dark clouds, allowing only a dim and hazy light to shine through them.

The two eunuchs freely conversed for a good while, mist spraying out of their mouths but soon came to a stop, merely crouching beside the palace walls and shrinking their heads back to look. A sudden gust blew, and the two simultaneously shivered from the cold.

“Do you think that person will come by today? I’m about to freeze to death.”

“What are you in a hurry for! It’s only hai shi¹Hai shi is between 9-11pm.. Didn’t we only hear a sound when it was almost zi shi²Zi shi is between 11pm-1am?”

“I always feel panicked during this time of night…” Among them, Little Dezi shrank his neck, staring at the foggy road, his ears twitching as he asked his companion in a hushed voice, “Little Lizi, d-did you hear that sound?”

“What sound?” Little Lizi began yelling, “Stop trying to scare yourself!”

“Ch…ild… Chi… My…ch…ild…” The faint voice of a woman echoed seamlessly in the empty palace grounds, its sounds reaching both far and near. The small voice rang intermittently, making it hard for one to hear it clearly.

The two eunuchs exchanged an alarmed look and felt goosebumps rise on their skin immediately. Little Lizi hardened his scalp, “Who’s pretending to be a ghost! Come out now or else we’ll call the imperial bodyguards to arrest you!”

“My child… Ah Chen… Where are you… Mother is coming to get you…” Cautiously following the source of the voice, the two eunuchs slowly raised their stiff necks and saw a lady dressed all in white with black scattered hair standing on top of the palace walls, silently watching at them.

Hearing the name, Little Lizi’s eyes grew wide as his quivering voice revealed his nervousness, “B-Benefactor Meng?”

“My child…” The woman’s voice was quiet, but it seemed to ring beside the two people, “Was it these two slaves who dared harm you to death?”

But, what made Little Dezi and Little Lizi more frightened was that the Sixth Prince Jing Chen, who was supposed to be unconsciously lying in bed, was meekly standing beside the woman in white.

“Yes… It’s them…” His prominent eyes glinted with a mysterious red light amid the darkness, his half-wrinkled and half-handsome face appearing pale and bloodless like that of a cadaver’s, seeming even more demonic under the cloudy moonlight.

“They didn’t give me food to eat nor clothes to wear… Mother… Let’s take them away together…” The child’s voice was ice-cold without the slightest bit of feelings.

“Alright, let’s take them down to the Yellow Springs³Yellow Springs is equivalent to hell in Chinese mythology. to serve my child…”

Upon hearing these words, Little Dezi and Little Lizi suddenly felt as if an invisible object had callously hooked around their necks, they suddenly couldn’t breathe.

Little Dezi was so frightened that his legs started shaking, and a small pool started to slowly form on the ground. Little Lizi also started begging on his knees for forgiveness, his back fully covered in cold sweat, “Benefactor Meng, please have mercy on us! Sixth Prince, please have mercy on us! This slave has committed a sin! This slave knows his wrongs! We beg you to let these slaves keep their lives!”

“Please spare our lives! Benefactor Meng, spare our lives! This slave deserves death! I mean, this slave cannot die. Benefactor Meng, please do not take this slave’s life away. This slave will definitely make offerings to you everyday, we beg you for forgiveness!”

“Hmph,” Still posing as ‘Benefactor Meng,’ Chu Jiao sneered coldly at them, “You lowly second-grade slaves dare to bully my poor son, stealing his food and forcing his life to hang by a thread, Bengong thinks it’s better for you to die rather than to live!”

Little Lizi, who was a little brighter, immediately grasped the point that ‘Benefactor Meng’ deliberately pointed out in her words, “Hanging by a thread? The Sixth Prince hasn’t died!?”

Chu Jiao cackled coldly, “Though my soul has left my body, it hasn’t gone far from this place… Bengong naturally came to retrieve him…”

”Benefactor Meng, please spare our lives! This slave will immediately call for an imperial physician from the infirmary. Your Highness, this slave’s life may not be worth much, but the Sixth Prince could still be saved!” Little Lizi quickly said this, and Little Dezi hurriedly agreed without a second thought. The two of them struggled to find any means to survive, completely devoid of the arrogance they had possessed before.

Chu Jiao felt the young boy hold onto her hand tighter and gently squeezed it back, kneading his hand as if to give him comfort.

“Even if my child didn’t die today, who would know when you wicked servants would harm him again! Why not just enter the netherworld with me in that case…”

The two little eunuchs were so frightened their souls nearly jumped out of their bodies, “We won’t! We won’t! Your Highness, please do not worry. This slave will take good care of the Sixth Prince from now on and would never disobey the rules once more!”

“That’s right! That’s right! If we do, we vow to be struck by lightning!”

Chu Jiao finally relented, “Hmph, I’ll believe you for a while then..”

Little Dezi and Little Lizi suddenly felt a pain from their arms, and upon lowering their heads for a look, bloody gashes appeared on their wrist out of nowhere, “Bengong has taken your blood to keep track of your movements. If you dare harm a single hair of my prince again, Bengong will come look for you and demand your life!”

The two eunuchs felt terrified and alarmed, only daring to kowtow and assure the spirit that they would never commit the same sin ever again. At this, Chu Jiao solemnly waved her hand and allowed the two people to go to the infirmary and bring two imperial physicians back. The two people quickly ran out with their tails between their legs, never even turning their heads to look back.

When the servants had reached far away, Chu Jiao held the boy and happily jumped down the banyan tree.

Just a while ago, they had pulled a complete bluff on the two people by taking advantage of the right time and place.

“Sixth Prince, due to the urgency of the matter, I hope you can forgive me for using your mother’s name without permission.”

Chu Jiao casually took off the white veil from her head and told the boy who was a head shorter than her.

Jing Chen shook his head, “Thank you, Little Dumpling.”

Why would I blame you? You have saved me once again. He said to himself on the inside. Moreover… If my foster mother were as kind and smart as you, how nice would it be.

I wouldn’t have to live such a bitter life.

Looking at the eunuch’s scattered hair under the moonlight, her countenance like captivating jade, Jing Chen suddenly felt a bit regretful.

Little Dumpling… If only you were a girl.

[Completed]