Chapter 196: Mei Wangshu

Chapter 196 Mei Wangshu

"What are you doing?"

In the rain, a voice so familiar it felt like part of his soul reached Sixteen's ears.

Sixteen turned to see His Majesty, wearing imperial robes, standing under the eaves. Rain from the eaves formed a curtain, making him look like a phantom reflected in water. His brows were tightly furrowed, his expression inscrutable, clearly upset.

Why had His Majesty come? Had he taken too long, and His Majesty had grown impatient? It wasn't like this before, perhaps? Sixteen wasn't sure.

Does a person change after becoming emperor? Yes, from a man to the Son of Heaven, it's only natural.

Sixteen's thoughts were jumbled. He should apologize, but the endless rain had washed away his body heat and his reason. He stood there, dazed and utterly bewildered.

The next second, Jia Hongyuan, like a phantom, clicked his tongue, stepped out from under the eaves, and pulled Sixteen inside.

The rain, impartial and relentless, instantly soaked him.

Sixteen shivered, instinctively wanting to protect His Majesty from the rain. Jia Hongyuan's body was weak, but his grip on Sixteen's forearm was like an iron hook. Sixteen's strength was at its limit, and he couldn't break free. The two stumbled into the side hall in an awkward and strange manner.

Jia Hongyuan dragged Sixteen forward a few steps. "Why did you go out into the rain? Is this some kind of guard's duty—"

His voice abruptly stopped as the person behind him suddenly collapsed like a falling mountain. Jia Hongyuan tried to hold him up, but lacked the strength, only managing to slow the fall. Both of them ended up on the ground.

The polished wooden floor was smooth and almost seamless. Their clothes, hair, breath, and the rain all mixed together in a pitiful mess.

Jia Hongyuan reached out to feel Sixteen's body, finding it burning hot. He wanted to call for a doctor, but remembered he had sent all the nearby servants away.

He had planned to wait for Sixteen to clean up and return to the Hall of Heavenly Favor before questioning him calmly. But upon seeing this person, he couldn't hold back and came over himself.

Jia Hongyuan didn't want anyone to know about his questioning of Sixteen. This was a matter between the two of them alone. So before coming, he had all the servants retreat, leaving the area around the side hall of the Hall of Self-Cultivation empty except for them.

Now, it seemed like he had made a mistake. Jia Hongyuan felt an inexplicable annoyance. He hated the feeling of losing control, and now, what was slipping out of control was none other than Sixteen, the most important person.

"I'll go out and call for a doctor."

Jia Hongyuan tried to get up, only to find that most of his sleeve was pinned under Sixteen. He pushed at Sixteen but couldn't move him. Sixteen probably wanted to get up himself, but the commands from his brain to his body resulted in only the slightest movement.

His thoughts were still clear, not wanting His Majesty to worry, he explained hoarsely, "It's just a common secret medicine. The Imperial Hospital has the complete antidote recipe. It's nothing serious."

Jia Hongyuan's expression showed he didn't think it was nothing serious. He tugged at his sleeve and asked, "Why wasn't this mentioned in the secret report? You should have returned immediately."

In just the time it took to say this, Sixteen's consciousness began to blur. He grabbed the other end of Jia Hongyuan's sleeve, looking at him with an expression he would never normally have.

"I... I..."

Sixteen's face was flushed, his pupils dilated. The thin undergarment he wore, soaked by the rain and further disheveled by the fall, was almost nonexistent. The parts that hadn't come undone clung tightly to his body, outlining his beautiful and strong curves.

Jia Hongyuan abruptly turned his head away.

"I..." Sixteen's hand didn't let go, his mouth muttering sentences that only had the first word.

Jia Hongyuan sighed, looked up at the high ceiling, and let out a bitter laugh.

Originally, he had wanted to ask Sixteen why, a few years ago, he had used his name to do something at the palace's artifact workshop, something he had been completely unaware of until the Xie woman presented irrefutable evidence.

But in this situation, what was there to ask?

Jia Hongyuan turned his head back, staring fixedly at Sixteen, who was now completely unresponsive, his expression vacant.

He had placed too much trust in Sixteen, believing that this man would never betray him. As a result, Sixteen knew all his trump cards and methods and could mobilize his forces under his name without any authorization.

If one day Sixteen wanted to kill him, he probably wouldn't even notice until he was struck down.

Jia Hongyuan remembered the feeling of being pierced by a thousand arrows and falling into an abyss when he heard about this. Sixteen had not been completely open with him; he had been hiding things and using his name for his own purposes.

What he specifically did wasn't even important; what mattered was the act of hiding. Once discovered, it would make one wonder if there would be a second, third, or even countless times.

Jia Hongyuan was adept at reading people's intentions. Everything in his view had its own weight and reservation. Living this way was too exhausting, so he left himself a safe haven in the person named Sixteen, where he trusted blindly by instinct to combat the madness and numbness in his heart.

But now, his safe haven was compromised.

Jia Honghan and the noble families were not mere fools. They had long been probing the Crown Prince's vulnerabilities, discovered Sixteen, and uncovered evidence that could shatter the Crown Prince's defenses.

Unfortunately, the Crown Prince's plan was faster and more meticulous. These things couldn't be used in time before Jia Honghan was struck down by Jia Hongyuan's sword. The woman from the Xie Clan stepped forward now, driven by a mindless, vengeful rage.

The mad laughter of the former Consort Jin Wang was like a harbinger of death, stirring a tempest in the Emperor's heart.

Jia Hongyuan cast aside all caution and reason, heedless of the consequences of killing her, and directly ordered her to be strangled with a white silk cord. The guards dragged away the woman, still laughing, and the Hall of Heavenly Purity soon fell silent, but some things could never return to calm.

The Emperor's wrath could result in millions of deaths and rivers of blood.

But when this wrath met its true source, it was like a hot knife through butter, unable to take form.

Sixteen still tightly grasped Jia Hongyuan's wide sleeve. He had lost his reason, leaving only instinct, which allowed his physical abilities to fully manifest. His strength was something Jia Hongyuan, who had been frail since childhood, could not contend with.

Jia Hongyuan frowned. He knew that Sixteen always carried a weapon on him and wanted to find it to cut the sleeve. His hand reached Sixteen's waist, but before he could search further, Sixteen suddenly let out a vague moan.

This sound mixed with the pouring rain outside, sounding like a thunderclap in Jia Hongyuan's ears, and the stiffness instantly spread from his palm to his entire body.

Jia Hongyuan had grown up in the heavily guarded palace, destined to be the future ruler from a young age. No one had ever dared to lead him astray with indecent matters.

After his mother's death, he focused solely on revenge, pouring all his energy into attaining the supreme position. Due to his health, he had never married or kept anyone in his chambers, so while he understood such matters, he was not familiar with them.

Only now did he realize the true effect of the secret drug Sixteen had taken.

A new and entirely different anger arose in Jia Hongyuan's heart. Unfortunately, most of the Chi Clan had been executed, leaving this fury with no outlet.

He looked back at Sixteen's face. Even in this state, Sixteen's long-trained self-control still functioned. Apart from his flushed face and slight trembling of his skin, he did not show much loss of composure.

He gazed at Jia Hongyuan in a daze, very quietly, his hand tightly gripping Jia Hongyuan's sleeve as if it were also an instinct.

Jia Hongyuan leaned closer, observing his eyes. His long, wet black hair hung down, resting on Sixteen's neck and chest, the coolness quickly warming.

"Why are you holding onto me? Sixteen, what are you thinking? Why?"

Jia Hongyuan's heartbeat soon matched Sixteen's intensity. A voice in his heart kept urging him to cross the boundary he had never dared to step over before.

Ask him clearly, draw out the seed of affection in his heart, make it impossible for him to escape...

He trembled and leaned even closer, their breaths mingling, the rise and fall of their chests like murmurs, like spirits wandering in mountain mist, eager to grasp the last fragile vine leading to sunlight.

"Why, Sixteen, tell me, okay?"

"What do I mean to you?"

"Tell me, let me continue to trust you."

He leaned closer and closer, their thin, wet bodies almost touching, trembling as one.

"Sixteen."

"Sixteen..."

"...Mei Wangshu."

Sixteen's vacant eyes flickered slightly, and the next moment, he suddenly used his last bit of strength to lift his head, his parched lips barely lifting to meet the nearest warmth.

Jia Hongyuan's back went rigid as stone, his arm propped on the hard floor slowly lowering.

Sixteen had lost his mind, and so had he.

A thunderclap boomed, and a muffled sound reverberated through the hall, not a cozy spring chamber, but two drowning souls, each trying to save the other, only to be dragged deeper into the abyss.

A gust of wind swept through, lifting the beaded curtains, as the night's relentless rain hastened the ripening of green plums.

...

Sixteen came to, disoriented, unsure of his surroundings or the passage of time.

He lay on the side hall's floor, now draped in a brocade quilt. Outside the window, it was pitch black; the rain must have stopped. Candles flickered in the hall, casting light on Jia Hongyuan, who sat absorbed in thought.

Sixteen's eyes opened silently, his gaze fixed on Jia Hongyuan's strikingly handsome profile.

The Emperor looked troubled, an expression he only wore when ensnared in dire straits.

Shards of memory flashed through Sixteen's mind. Combining the current situation, the sensations in his body, and the effects of the secret drug, his mind raced to a conclusion, and his controlled breathing faltered.

Jia Hongyuan turned abruptly, his dark eyes catching the candlelight, reflecting Sixteen's prone form.

Sixteen's entire frame quivered in silence, a raw ache surged from his core, twisting through his gut and chest, more bewildering than any harsh drill.

He couldn't grasp this feeling, had no time to dissect it, and only yearned to revert to his usual self, to restore order.

Summoning his last reserves of strength, he bolted upright, clutching the brocade quilt, and knelt.

"This servant... has failed in his duties, disrespected Your Majesty, and seeks punishment."

Jia Hongyuan's hand hovered mid-air. He gazed down at Sixteen's bowed head, paused, then chuckled briefly.

"Good, good."

He stepped past Sixteen and exited the side hall, each footfall echoing in Sixteen's tumultuous heart.

Jia Hongyuan emerged to find the palace servants lined up in perfect order. The Emperor had spent half a day in the side hall, leaving the servants anxious yet too fearful to approach without command.

Jia Hongyuan's face was stormy, and the servants, silent as winter cicadas, instinctively split into two lines to trail him.

"Nanny Wu," Jia Hongyuan suddenly spoke.

"Go take care of Sixteen. When he is ready, summon the chief physician from the Imperial Hospital to examine him."

Nanny Wu was slightly taken aback, then heard the new Emperor add in a heavy voice, "Ensure he is well cared for, leave nothing to chance."