Chapter 9

Chapter 9

In the following days, Rong Tang almost lived in his new residence in Yong'an Lane.

He had thought that after returning from the Li residence that day, he would surely faint for two or three days, so he had instructed Shuang Shou to follow Su Huaijing and handle the moving and purchasing matters.

But his body cooperated exceptionally well this time; not only did he not faint, but he also slept until daylight and woke up feeling refreshed, as if reborn.

Rong Tang was very happy. Since that was the case, he decided to personally oversee Su Huaijing’s moving process.

One moment he complained that the bedroom was too delicate, then said the study was too small, and next criticized the short morning glories in the courtyard for their bad symbolism, suggesting they should be uprooted...

This left Shuang Fu and Shuang Shou utterly confused.

The young master had never been so particular about his own courtyard!

In the past two months, who among those serving in Tanghua Courtyard didn’t say that the eldest young master had the heart of a Buddha and was magnanimous?

It seemed that the Wang residence was really about to change. The new groom hadn’t even entered the house and had already captured the heart of the eldest young master.

Shuang Fu and Shuang Shou cautiously looked towards Su Huaijing, evidently already treating him as a second master.

Su Huaijing, feeling helpless and unable to bear it anymore, invited the ever-compliant beauty into the study to read storybooks, while he discussed requirements with the craftsmen outside.

The next day Rong Tang came again.

And he came again on the third day.

Each day he thought he would surely faint the next day, but he never did.

He now developed a new amusement of betting with the system on which day he would faint. The system, regaining some of its old temperament, rolled its eyes and went into hibernation, but Rong Tang, ever the optimist, still visited Yong'an Lane every day.

Everyone in the Wang residence’s courtyard was quiet as mice, afraid that even a slightly louder noise might scare their precious eldest young master to death. With the Queen preparing for the wedding, Rong Tang felt bored being alone.

He liked coming here, to this bustling and noisy place. Even just lying in the study, reading storybooks, and listening to the sounds outside was very comforting.

It reminded him of his high school days when he was taking exams in the classroom while workers were constructing a high-rise across the street.

Noisy, but real.

It was a sense of ease he hadn't felt in a very long, across several lifetimes.

Moreover, the tea at Su Huaijing's place tasted better than anywhere else, clear and slightly bitter, leaving a sweet aftertaste. Rong Tang often found himself drinking a whole pot while reading in the afternoon.

But Su Huaijing didn’t let him drink too much; the next pot of tea didn't have that sweet taste. Rong Tang teased him for hiding the good stuff, to which Su Huaijing responded with a smile, "Brother Tang Tang knows everything I have now is given by you."

Rong Tang immediately fell silent upon hearing this. He discovered that whenever Su Huaijing called him ‘Brother Tang Tang’, he felt like surrendering.

Sadly, Su Huaijing had realized this too, and it never failed to work.

It was quite frustrating.

One day, Rong Tang was again nestled in the new residence in Yong'an Lane, reading storybooks. He had ordered a beauty couch to be moved into the study, and Su Huaijing, after just one glance, did not object.

So now he lay there, cushioned by a soft and thick woolen blanket, covered with a fluffy and light goose down quilt.

Wang Xiuyu’s maternal family was wealthy, and he himself had assets, so he was very willing to spend lavishly on his beloved, to the extent that this bedding set alone could cover an ordinary family's expenses for three years.

Rong Tang lay there, his fingers paused in the middle of a page, fixated on a word in the storybook.

After reflecting for two minutes, he asked the system, "Did Sheng Chengli… has the male protagonist left the Cold Palace?"

Sheng Chengli was the fifth son of Emperor Renshou, born during the years of plotting rebellion. His mother was just a foreign singer on a riverboat in the south, who became pregnant after a night of romance.

According to the author's setting, this child was actually Emperor Renshou’s lucky star. Emperor Renshou was quite superstitious, consulting astrologers for every child's birth.

During the time of the male protagonist's birth, the Ziwei star was exceptionally bright, with purple qi coming from the northern capital and lingering above Emperor Renshou’s mansion for three full days before dissipating.

As this coincided with Emperor Renshou’s plans for rebellion, astrologers interpreted these celestial signs as divine support for the family head, and a true dragon appearing in the world. The former emperor had reigned for many years without heavenly approval, so the purple qi drifted from the north to the mansion, providing immense pseudo-theoretical support for Emperor Renshou’s rebellion.

Given Emperor Renshou’s level of superstition, with such a coincidence, the male protagonist should have been cherished by him all his life, unless later he feared the prophecy referred to the male protagonist instead of himself, which might lead to actions against Sheng Chengli.

But coincidentally, at that time, two concubines in the mansion were pregnant, one being the Jiangnan singer and the other the legitimate daughter of the Marshal, the later Empress Huai of the Xia family.

Thus, the prophecy was 'naturally' directed towards the male protagonist’s younger brother, the Sixth Prince.

Simultaneously, the Xia family manipulated the situation, instructing an astrologer to imply that the Ziwēi star in the northern sky was exceptionally bright, but at the same time, the Qīngyáng star in the southern sky was also flourishing, hinting that a young master from the south in the Wang Mansion, born with a malefic star, would clash with the Ziwēi star.

From then on, Sheng Chengli’s tragic fate for the first half of his life was sealed by a false horoscope right from his birth.

And now, Sheng Chengli is only fifteen years old, two years younger than Su Huaijing.

In his past life, Rong Tang felt pity for his malnourished and emaciated appearance, doing everything to help him escape the Cold Palace; in his previous life, due to some unclear reasons and feeling immense guilt towards the male lead, Rong Tang, having just reincarnated, believed his lack of caution led to the failure of his mission, causing the young protagonist to ultimately not escape the fate of being killed by the antagonist, and thus riskily approached the Princess Duan Yi directly.

But now, Rong Tang felt no guilt towards the male lead, and if there was any, it was towards Su Huaijing.

He recently began to regret, suspecting that his disregard and neglect in his past lives had led to Su Huaijing’s encounter with such detestable plot developments.

The system, seeing this, couldn't help but sigh a cyber breath and replied, [Not yet, Host, have you thought of something?]

Rong Tang remained silent, frowning in recollection.

In his first life, he followed the original plot, helping the male lead escape the Cold Palace because the latter was bullied by other princes in the palace. Rong Tang secretly taught the male lead to play a drama, successfully gaining the Emperor's favor by reminding him of a stunning courtesan he had met on a boat in Jiangnan many years ago.

That person had passed away, and the supposed clash of fate was insignificant before the true dragon Emperor. The Emperor, growing older, thought it over and released the Fifth Prince from the Cold Palace to be taught by the Grand Tutor.

The source of the bullying was interesting, closely related to the Second Prince's accomplishments in court, which led his followers in the palace to become increasingly unruly, forming cliques and eventually storming the Cold Palace.

Last time, Rong Tang was only focused on rescuing Su Huaijing from Qin Pengxuan’s hands, temporarily setting aside unrelated plotlines. But thinking about it now, one of the Second Prince’s accomplishments was the [Rebel Remnants Case].

It was said that five years earlier, a rebellion broke out in the south of the Great Yu. Hundreds of well-trained rebels headed north, killing eight corrupt officials and countless landlords along the way.

The court sent troops to suppress them, but the rebels, skilled in warfare, remained hidden and repeatedly escaped the government forces, until they were near the suburbs of the capital, where they were finally annihilated by 208 men led by the Earl of Wukang, with their heads displayed on the city walls for three months.

In the original plot, these ‘rebels’ were described as the adopted son of the chief of the late Emperor’s imperial guards and the orphans he took in.

Five years ago, the Earl of Wukang eliminated 208 people, but several dozen, including this adopted son, escaped.

Following the original storyline, in less than a month, these ten or so people would be captured, becoming a glorious achievement in the Second Prince's career.

Rong Tang felt a headache coming on as he thought about this.

Rong Tang guessed that the achievements of the Second Prince were actually done by Su Huaijing.

In other words, Su Huaijing had personally sent the loyal son of the former Emperor's right-hand man, who had fought to protect his father, into the hands of Emperor Renshou's son, who had usurped his father's throne.

"So complicated…" Rong Tang's face wrinkled in frustration, burying it into the woolen blanket beneath him, throwing down the storybook in exasperation, and sighing deeply, "This is so annoying!"

Lost in thought with his eyes closed, he didn’t notice someone entering the study, bending down to pick up the storybook, and chuckling lazily, "What infuriating plot has upset our Crown Prince so much?"

Rong Tang was startled, lifting his head to look up at him.

Su Huaijing, holding the storybook in one hand, looked down with his usual smiling eyes, a slight smile on his lips, leaving Rong Tang momentarily stunned.

"My lad is so handsome," he said inwardly to the system, "Do you think if I find him a wife later, a warm family, he might stop thinking about destroying the world?"

The system rolled its eyes and didn't respond to his fanciful thoughts, instead 'kindly' reminding, [Are you sure you want your 17-year-old son, who's still young, walking on the edge of becoming a tyrant, to see those dirty things you're reading?]

Rong Tang was startled, his mind short-circuiting momentarily before reacting. He quickly got up on his knees, snatched the storybook from Su Huaijing’s hand, and with lightning speed, flipped the cover down to press it under his knee, threatening fiercely, "Don’t look!"

Su Huaijing was left empty-handed, slightly startled, blinking and turning his puzzled gaze towards Rong Tang with an innocent expression.

This caused Rong Tang’s bluster to deflate significantly, his previously rigid back slowly curving, his voice weakening, "Just… you're not allowed to look."

Su Huaijing was initially not curious. He had just glanced at the book, remembering a few names and scenes without noticing anything particularly anger-inducing. He was about to suggest Rong Tang take a walk if he was tired of reading, as it's not good for the eyes, but this reaction piqued his interest.

Su Huaijing's fingers lightly touched the waist token Rong Tang had requested him to wear since moving day, to prevent local troublemakers from bullying him in the residence.

"Why can't I look?" Su Huaijing asked.

Rong Tang's ears suspiciously reddened, stubbornly retorting, "Things for adults to see, children shouldn’t look at."

Su Huaijing paused, wanting to laugh, but also feeling offended.

His face fell, silent for a while, then slightly hurt, "Brother Tang Tang thinks I'm too young."

Rong Tang: "…?" What?

Su Huaijing, with downcast eyes: "Brother Tang Tang thinks I'm too young yet talks about marrying me, it must be just to humor me."

Rong Tang: "???" What's this!?

Rong Tang was dumbstruck, speechless. The system was already mercilessly mocking him with schadenfreude. Rong Tang hastily tried to correct himself, "I didn’t mean…"

Su Huaijing: "It's okay, you can tell the truth. Brother Tang Tang was just taking pity on me, showing kindness to protect me. It was just my overthinking."

Saying this, he raised his hand to touch the knot of the waist token, ready to take it off and return it to Rong Tang.

Rong Tang's scalp tingled, his body leaning forward, pressing his hand against Su Huaijing’s, blurting out, "I was wrong."

He even knelt on the couch, his apology a perfect example of contrition.

Su Huaijing almost laughed at his antics but still looked down, locking eyes with Rong Tang, "You don’t despise me?"

Rong Tang shook his head firmly: "Not at all!"

"Do you really want to marry me?"

Rong Tang nodded firmly: "Yes, truly!"

"Will you protect me for a lifetime?"

Rong Tang hesitated for a moment. He had said these words to the Princess as well and hadn't thought much of it at the time. But now, hearing them from Su Huaijing's mouth, he was momentarily lost in thought.

This moment of hesitation was caught by Su Huaijing, who chilled in demeanor and continued to untie the knot. Rong Tang quickly said, "I will protect you until death."

He could never betray him in this lifetime; it was because of him that he had the strength to live again.

Su Huaijing was stunned, unable to clearly define his feelings. The hand resting on his was still cold, unaffected by the warming bone powder used these past days.

He disliked hearing Rong Tang speak of 'death,' but he was well aware that whether it was Rong Tang's own body or his future plans, the young Crown Prince was destined to die.

The most he could do for him was to spare his mother when the time came to bloodily cleanse the Ningxuan Wang residence.

Beyond that, Rong Tang’s role in his plans should always remain just a chess piece; he shouldn't feel compassion for a mere pawn.

Yet, he still disliked hearing him so calmly and indifferently talk about 'when I die,' 'after I'm gone,' or 'I don't have many years left.'

It was annoying.

He was the best physician in Dayu, and Rong Tang constantly reminding him of this felt like he was causing a disturbance.

Su Huaijing let go of his hand, and Rong Tang, still apprehensive, tightened the slightly loosened knot and slowly retreated, picking up the goose down quilt to wrap around himself. Seeing that the lad seemed no longer sulky, he deliberately put on a stern face to teach, "Don’t use that to threaten me."

The inexplicable emotion that had risen in Su Huaijing was swiftly suppressed. He smiled softly, pulled a stool to the side of the beauty couch, and sat down: "Then tell me a story."

Outside the window, the spring scenery was pleasant, with homeward-bound sparrows nesting in the newly planted trees in the courtyard. Su Huaijing propped his chin with one hand, lazily lifting a finger, "Just tell me about the storybook you were reading."