Chapter 22: Physical Examination (End of Chapter)

Chapter 22: Physical Examination (End of Chapter)

After dinner, Lu Changping sat in the pavilion flipping through a book of Northern Guard soldiers. When his interest peaked, he unconsciously neglected the bowl of rock sugar bird's nest on the table.

Ji Yue, seeing her noble consort engrossed in the military book, smiling and nodding from time to time, completely forgetting to drink her tonic, couldn't help but remind her with a hint of resentment:

"My lady, you don't need to go to the battlefield to lead troops tomorrow, so there's no rush to read the book. But this bird's nest won't taste good if it's left out for too long."

Lu Changping sighed, reluctantly put down the book, and leisurely scooped up the bird's nest to eat.

Although there's no war between Southern Chu and the Northern Guard at the moment, the tyrant's covetous heart towards the Northern Guard has never ceased for a day. To think that a marriage alliance could stop the tyrant from attacking Southern Chu is nothing but a fool's dream.

Therefore, learning more now is to ensure the protection of Southern Chu's rivers and mountains in the future.

Seeing Lu Changping looking gloomy, Ji Yue whispered mysteriously into his ear:

"My lady, I have good news. Guess what? The Princess of Changle from the cold palace suddenly fell ill and died this afternoon."

She died so suddenly?

Lady Lu turned her head in surprise upon hearing this, looking at Ji Yue.

Seeing his interest, Ji Yue immediately began to speak enthusiastically:

"It's true. It's said that upon hearing the news, His Majesty didn't even frown, and ordered the corpse to be thrown into the mass burial ground west of the city. Now, those in the court urging His Majesty to appoint the Princess of Changle as Empress are going to be frantic."

Lu Changping frowned, feeling that there was more to it. A fierce woman like Princess Changle couldn't possibly have died from illness. It must have been the tyrant who had her killed.

It seems Xie Xuan Yuan has concluded that last night's mischief was the work of Princess Changle and the Empress Dowager's people...

Although Princess Changle herself was in a rush to die and couldn't be stopped, this calculation indeed makes the tyrant responsible for the death of four fiancées, truly a cursed fate...

Lu Changping shuddered violently at the rumors in the palace about the tyrant intending to make him the next empress.

Could he... unluckily become the tyrant's fifth empress candidate, then gloriously meet his end? Being a consort is already a daily fright; he really doesn't want to go any further!

Unfortunately, it seems the tyrant has indeed set his sights on him.

After nightfall, a messenger from the Zichen Hall brought the tyrant's decree, allowing him to continue staying in the Zichen Hall tonight.

The palace servant didn't elaborate, but how could Lu Changping not understand? Staying in the Zichen Hall obviously meant continuing to sleep on that small, broken bed in the side hall.

Consort Lu, remembering the painful experience of rolling off the bed with a sore waist and legs last night, decisively shook his head and wrote a "leave of absence" note: "Tonight, I am unwell and fear I cannot serve His Majesty."

No sooner had the messenger left than Lu Changping stretched his legs and lay down on the appropriately sized, soft, and comfortable bed in the Yixiao Palace.

He was sleeping well in his own palace; why should he trouble himself under the tyrant's clutches, struggling to survive!

Perhaps because he really didn't sleep well last night, Lu Changping soon fell into a half-dream state upon lying down. In a daze, he heard voices in the courtyard.

One seemed to be a eunuch, whose sharp voice, even lowered, was disturbing enough to prevent rest: "Is the medicine ready? Will it really work?"

Another replied: "Rest assured, Eunuch, once this drug is blown into him, Consort Lu will be completely powerless to resist. Just strip off his clothes, lay him on his bed, make some noise to call His Majesty over, and even with a hundred mouths, he wouldn't be able to explain himself. Not to mention, he's just a mute."

Wait! Whose clothes were they planning to strip?

Hearing this explosive conversation, Lu Changping couldn't help but abruptly open his eyes, holding his breath to listen closely.

The footsteps grew closer, and Lu Changping's mind also became clearer.

It seems someone is trying to frame him for an illicit affair!

How could this be acceptable? With Xie Xuan Yuan's temperament, if he found out someone dared to cuckold him, he'd surely skin the person alive.

For the sake of his own life, he must not provoke the tyrant, who becomes deadly when enraged.

To preserve his "innocence," Consort Lu stood up and hid by the door, waiting for the culprits to appear.

Indeed, it wasn't long before someone poked a small hole in the paper window, and then narcotic smoke began to seep through the hole into the room.

With a strong foundation in internal skills, holding his breath was not an issue for Consort Lu. He waited quietly by the door for about a quarter of an hour until the two men sneaked in, carrying a long sack.

Without daring to turn on the light, they groped in the darkness towards Consort Lu's bed. However, they found the bed empty.

By the time they realized something was wrong, Lu Changping had already appeared behind them, knocking them out with a chop of his hands. Soon after, the Yixiao Palace became a hubbub of activity...

Some servants lit the lamps while others tied up the intruders, quickly turning them into the shape of rice dumplings.

Opening the sack, Consort Lu found a familiar face inside, unconscious. Cui Yue had been drugged and was sound asleep in the sack.

The marriage envoy from Southern Chu and the tyrant were already at odds. Had the plan of these two to frame him succeeded, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Without hesitation, Consort Lu intended to seek the tyrant to prove his innocence, but before he could leave the palace, the outside became noisy.

Ji Yue ran in panic, saying: "My lady, it's bad. Some people are using the pretext of capturing assassins to search Yixiao Palace. I couldn't stop them; they've already forced their way in."

No sooner had she finished speaking than the palace guards broke through the door.

"Madame Zhang, are you referring to this place?"

A sharp-faced, monkey-cheeked managing madame hurriedly followed behind the guard captain, saying: "Sir, I saw it with my own eyes, it's true. The person who broke into the palace climbed the wall and ran into Lady Consort's Yixiao Palace!"

Without waiting for Lu Changping and the palace staff of Yixiao Palace to intervene, the guards had already opened the grand doors to the sleeping quarters...

"Ah! The Noble Consort actually harbors a man in her private chambers!" The sharp-tongued matron barely caught sight of the three figures on the ground before she screamed out exaggeratedly.

Lu Changping was disgusted by this clumsy act, turned around, grabbed the matron by the collar, and threw her out of the room like an eagle catching a chick.

It must be said, the reason for this palace search was ingeniously conceived. Everyone in the palace knew that offending the Noble Consort was tantamount to offending the tyrant, and thus dared not act recklessly under any circumstances.

But using the excuse of searching for assassins was different. In the Northern Guard Imperial Palace, nothing was more significant than the Emperor's will. To protect the tyrant's safety, even the Noble Consort's palace had to be searched.

Thus, it naturally paved the way to expose the Noble Consort's scandal of "adultery" with an outsider.

Ji Yue was so infuriated she cursed, "Shut your slanderous mouth, these are clearly the conspirators the Noble Consort has just captured!"

Matron Zhang scrambled behind the guards for cover, realizing the people of Yixiao Palace could no longer touch her, she boldly cried out:

"Don't deceive me! Everyone witnessed the Noble Consort's grand wedding day with the Emperor, and one of those men is clearly Lord Cui, the marriage envoy from Southern Chu. Perhaps Lord Cui and the Consort developed feelings on the way here, leading to a secret rendezvous at midnight!"

Her outcry blew the matter out of proportion.

If the people in the Noble Consort's sleeping quarters were strangers, spreading rumors to tarnish her reputation wouldn't be so easy. But now, with the Southern Chu marriage envoy blatantly lying there, proving the Noble Consort's innocence became even more challenging.

Regardless of whether Cui Yue was slandered as coming to commit adultery with the Consort or sneaking into the palace with ill intent, it was Southern Chu and, by extension, Lu Changping who ended up taking the blame...

The incident in Yixiao Palace quickly alerted the tyrant.

When Xie Xuan Yuan arrived at Yixiao Palace, Ji Yue was still passionately arguing back and forth with the sharp-tongued matron on behalf of Lu Changping.

The silent, armored guards had already taken into custody the three individuals found within the sleeping quarters.

Dressed in white, the beautiful Lu stood silently in the courtyard, bathed in moonlight that almost made him seem as if he would leave behind the noisy disputes and ascend back to the lunar palace at any moment.

Xie Xuan Yuan stopped in his tracks, gazing at the person lost in thought in the courtyard, growing increasingly perplexed.

Was the Noble Consort scared witless, or was she truly fearless?

Does she not realize what awaits her if the charge of adultery with a foreign official is proven?

The attendants by Xie Xuan Yuan's side, seeing him halt, immediately brought a chair and a cushion to make it convenient for him to deal with this shocking case in the courtyard.

Zhang, the matron who had been hiding behind the guards and making a fuss, caught a glimpse of the tyrant and immediately silenced her complaints, turning to accuse first:

"Your Majesty, the Noble Consort has been caught meeting with a foreign official in the dead of night, an act witnessed by those present. Please, Your Majesty, see the truth for yourself!"

However, the tyrant merely glanced at her coldly and then indifferently ordered those beside him, "This wretched slave is giving me a headache. Take her away and give her twenty beatings before she speaks again."

Zhang thought she had a sure win but was shocked to find the tyrant didn't play by the rules. Hearing she had to endure twenty lashes before speaking, she immediately burst into tears, begging for mercy on her knees.

Yet, Xie Xuan Yuan remained unmoved, his lips curling into a disdainful smile:

"It's not that I don't give you a chance to expose the Noble Consort. But you must understand, in this palace, if you wish to accuse someone else, you must be prepared to pay a price. I've seen too much of dogs biting dogs. If even this small price is too much to bear, wouldn’t everyone in the palace start biting at those they dislike on a whim?"

Terrified, Zhang trembled and was about to struggle with a few words of defense when she was directly interrupted by the tyrant:

"Of course, you can also choose not to be beaten. But that would mean you admit to slandering the Noble Consort just now. Do you understand the consequences of that?"

"This servant wouldn’t dare!"

Trapped between a rock and a hard place by the tyrant, Zhang, burdened with the Empress Dowager's mission to overthrow the Noble Consort, ultimately knelt with a thud, choosing to endure the beatings.

Amid Zhang's ghostly wails and howls from the beating, Xie Xuan Yuan looked towards Lu, the beauty, with a smirk, "So, you chose not to visit me tonight because you were secretly meeting your lover in the sleeping quarters?"

Lu Changping felt utterly wronged. He had only avoided the tyrant's Zichen Hall to get a good night's sleep, only to end up sleepless and falsely accused of liaising with a foreign official.

He hurriedly shook his head, explaining on paper: "I did not! I stayed in the Yixiao Palace just to sleep well. The couch in Your Majesty's palace is too narrow, I hardly closed my eyes last night..."

After reading his response, Xie Xuan Yuan raised his voice in frustration, "Why didn't you say you couldn't sleep earlier!"

Lu, the beauty, was unjustly scolded, feeling both aggrieved and baffled. What good would saying it earlier have done? Would the tyrant have let him sleep in his own dragon bed if he had spoken up?

Xie Xuan Yuan seemed to realize his overreaction and coughed lightly to change the subject:

"This afternoon, I happened to order a larger bed for the side hall. It seems the Noble Consort is not destined to enjoy it. But no one else is to blame; you only have your own lack of appreciation to blame."

Could the tyrant have changed the couch just for him?

Lu Changping felt a rare sense of gratitude, yet any warmth was lost once filtered through Xie Xuan Yuan's harsh words.

He intended to show a friendly smile to the tyrant, but perhaps due to the lack of genuine feeling, it resulted in only a slight upward curl of his lips.

Xie Xuan Yuan, not expecting this reaction, confirmed it by gently pinching Lu's cheek, "What were you just smiling at? Don't get me wrong. Changing the bed was just a whim, not for you!"

The tyrant's justified and serious tone somehow sounded to Lu Changping like protesting too much.

He wanted to continue teasing the tyrant, but at that moment, Zhang, who had just endured twenty solid beatings, was supported back, forcing him to withdraw his hand regretfully.

Zhang was half-dead from the beatings, yet her zeal to slander others hadn't diminished in the slightest.

She adamantly accused the Noble Consort and Cui Yue of having an affair and, seeing Xie Xuan Yuan's disbelief, boldly volunteered to examine the Noble Consort herself.

Lu Changping could hardly believe his ears upon hearing this absurd and unreasonable request.

Not to mention that he was disguised as a woman, and undergoing the examination would reveal his secret. Even if he were truly female, he would never accept such an insult.

Having dealt with the concubines and princesses in the palace for half her life, Zhang was betting that the Noble Consort, with his noble birth, would never submit to such humiliation, hence her deliberate suggestion of a "physical examination."

As long as Lu Changping refused to allow the examination, there would be no concrete evidence to prove his innocence.

Then, with rumors rampant in the palace and the emperor's proud and suspicious nature, how could he continue to favor a concubine tarnished by others?

Lu Changping was clearly aware of this too.

Fearing his disguise would be uncovered and that the tyrant might indeed start to doubt him, his complexion inevitably paled.

Unaware courtiers and guards saw the change in the Noble Consort, and gradually, they too began to look at him with suspicion...

Seeing the situation turning unfavorable, Lu Changping's brows furrowed tightly, and his palms began to sweat.

Suddenly, someone grabbed his hand and forcefully dragged him towards the inner hall of Yixiao Palace.

The next moment, the tyrant's voice reached his ears, still as arrogantly annoying as ever:

"The Noble Consort belongs to me, and if there's to be an examination, it shall be I who conducts it. Should the Noble Consort prove innocent, I shall turn all who doubted him into human swine."

With the examination to be conducted by the tyrant himself, wouldn't he die even quicker?

Realizing this, Lu Changping, in desperation, grabbed the tyrant's other hand, using his height advantage to step forward and block his path.

By then, Xie Xuan Yuan had already pulled him into the inner hall, unable to stop in time, and crashed into Lu, the beauty, accidentally touching his flat chest.

Before he could even process the touch, he hastily retreated several steps, his neck and cheeks flushing as red as a cooked shrimp.

The tyrant coughed lightly, saying, "You... don't rush, let go of me first, I will surely seek justice for you."

Lu Changping thought he would rather the tyrant not be so eager to vindicate him!

After pondering, he wrote on the palm of the other's hand: "Does Your Majesty truly wish to test my body…"

The touch of the beauty's slender fingers occasionally brushing over Xie Yuan's palm was ticklish and warm, making even the untouched areas of his chest feel as though a warm current flowed through them.

Xie Yuan didn't wait for Lu Changping to finish his question, pulling him close and declaring, "Your body can only be examined by me."

After saying this, he took a deep breath and abruptly sealed Lu Meiren's lips with his own.

The author has a message:

Apologies for the delay, the pressure of end-of-term deadlines has been a bit much, prepared for today and will try to update more. Thank you for waiting.

Dear angels, this novel will start charging from chapter 19 onwards, so hurry and read! Early followers enjoy, latecomers shed tears.

Continuing to send red packets to commenting angels, there will be a lottery for subscribers, and a massive update of ten thousand words tomorrow or the day after, thanks for your support! I'll keep working hard!