Chapter 25 Treasonous Acts

Chapter 25: Utterly Treacherous

Jiang Wang stood up and paced a few steps to stretch his legs. He then simply picked up the small scissors from the candlestick and trimmed the wicks of all the candles in the inner chamber for the third time. After that, he sat back down at the table, bored out of his mind, listening to the howling wind outside the window.

So boring.

For some reason, after he "replaced" Fang Fengshi and stayed behind, the others also trickled out. Only the imperial physician and Ling Shan remained, and then he was sent into the inner chamber.

Under the noble pretext of "monitoring His Majesty's condition."

The situation was this: Xiao Yan lay unconscious on the bed, while he sat idly at the nearby table...

There was practically nothing here that needed monitoring.

After all, Xiao Yan couldn't even move on his own. The most Jiang Wang could do was tuck in the corners of Xiao Yan's quilt...

He had once thought of calling Physician Wang inside. As a doctor, he would naturally be more familiar with the patient's condition. However, Physician Wang, citing his old age and stiff legs, refused to enter for fear of disturbing the Emperor.

As for Ling Shan, although he never strayed far from Xiao Yan, he merely stood guard outside with his arms crossed, unwilling to step into the inner chamber.

Even though Xiao Yan needed no care at the moment, since Jiang Wang was here, he took it upon himself to responsibly check on Xiao Yan's condition every half hour.

He walked to the bedside and carefully studied Xiao Yan's face.

High nose bridge, sharp eyebrows, starry eyes. Even in his injured and ill state, his brows were still tightly furrowed, his lips dry and slightly pale.

Jiang Wang actually found Xiao Yan like this rather good-looking, possessing a kind of sickly, fragile beauty.

But the moment this thought surfaced, he promptly strangled it in its cradle.

What was his status, and what was Xiao Yan's status? How dare he even begin to pass judgment on Xiao Yan!

Xiao Yan, standing above all others, could crush him into the dirt with just a flick of a finger, never to rise again.

And he, a helpless outsider forced to shoulder the blame, now had to act as a caretaker here just for a few measly points. Thinking about it, he was the more pitiful one.

Jiang Wang quickly pushed these messy thoughts aside. He poured a cup of warm water, found a clean cloth, soaked it, and gently wiped Xiao Yan's lips.

Xiao Yan, please get better quickly, Jiang Wang prayed sincerely in his heart.

Hopefully, when you wake up, you'll remember my "hard work" these past few days, and it would be even better if you rewarded me with a heap of gold, silver, and jewels.

*Pop!* A candle spark flashed brightly. Jiang Wang glanced out the window; it was already deep into the night.

"Ah—"

He let out a long yawn, tears moistening his eyelashes.

He was truly worn out.

He had woken up early in the morning and hurried here, and had been here all day. Now, with the night so late, he really wanted to find a place to crash.

But at this moment, he was inside the Emperor's bedchamber. Even if he wanted to sleep, where could he find a spot?

The table was hard and unyielding. Sitting there all afternoon was enough to make his back ache; he dared not imagine what would happen if he slumped over it all night—his bones might just fall apart by morning.

Other than that, there was only one bed left.

The very one Xiao Yan was currently lying on.

Although that bed was large, soft, and luxurious enough to comfortably fit two more people besides Xiao Yan, he couldn't simply sneak into that bed just to sleep.

Never mind whether Physician Wang and Ling Shan from the outer chamber might come in during the night to check on Xiao Yan. Even if Xiao Yan suddenly woke up and found someone lying beside him, startling him, it would probably be enough to charge Jiang Wang with the crime of disturbing the Emperor's peace.

Forget it, forget it. It's just a night's sleep. Not worth it, not worth it.

Then... there was only the footrest by the bed...

Although called a footrest, it was quite different from ordinary ones.

Xiao Yan's footrest was higher and wider, with a soft cushion on top. It was more like a low stool than a footrest.

And since the footrest was right by the bed, even if he couldn't climb onto the bed to sleep, surely he could lean against it while sleeping at night, right?

Jiang Wang nodded in agreement, mentally giving himself a thumbs up.

He considered himself no "Princess and the Pea" type; he could endure one night.

He blew out the extra candles, leaving only one lamp in the corner.

Then he sat down on the footrest, leaned against the bedside, and, overwhelmed by heavy drowsiness, eagerly closed his eyes.

However, after about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Jiang Wang sighed and opened his eyes again.

By the dim lamplight, he looked around the room, then fixed his gaze directly on Xiao Yan.

Jiang Wang quietly got up, placed his hands on the edge of the bed, tiptoed over the unconscious Xiao Yan, and climbed onto the latter's bed.

Not only that, he crawled a few steps further, all the way to the innermost part of the bed.

Then...

He knelt up and, as gently as possible, pulled the topmost thin blanket from the pile of quilts...

Jiang Wang had originally thought that with the charcoal braziers in the hall providing ample warmth, not covering himself wouldn't be a problem. But after all, it was still winter. When he actually tried to sleep, he still felt a bit cold.

His eyes could only land on those extra, unused quilts on the bed.

In the darkness, Jiang Wang held the blanket with one hand and groped his way back with the other.

But then, something seemed to move, brushing against his leg.

He froze in place, too scared to move, terrified that if he turned around, he would see Xiao Yan awake and looking at him.

Jiang Wang waited for a while. It remained as quiet as before; even the air seemed to carry only the sound of his own breathing.

Only then did he slowly turn around, holding his breath, and glance back.

Xiao Yan was still asleep there.

Good, good. He hadn't woken him.

The tension instantly eased, and his rapidly beating heart slowed down. Jiang Wang let out a long sigh of relief.

It must have been his imagination.

But he still quickened his movements as much as possible while trying to be quiet. Like a cat, he carried the blanket back to the bedside, sat down, and peacefully closed his eyes.

Already exhausted to the extreme, and now with the added comfort of the thin blanket, it took only moments before Jiang Wang's breathing became deep and even. No matter how loud the wind howled outside the window, it could not wake him.

Right then, Xiao Yan, who should have been sound asleep, suddenly opened his eyes.

In the darkness, he gently moved his numb leg and glanced at the small figure curled up against the foot of the bed—he looked rather pitiful.

His arm had just been too itchy, and he couldn't help but move a little. He didn't mean to scare Jiang Wang.

Xiao Yan reached out and lightly tapped the bedpost. On the third tap, a shadow drifted in from the outer room, kneeling by the bedside as if in salute.

The shadow clearly had exceptional martial arts skills, as his movements were completely silent.

Xiao Yan whispered a few instructions to the shadow, and then it nodded before drifting out like a ghost.

*

"No!"

Jiang Wang fell from the bedstep to the floor, jolting awake with a cry.

Panting heavily, he patted his chest to calm himself and shot a fearful glance at Xiao Yan, who was still asleep.

He'd had another dream.

But this dream was different from the last one—this time, he was the main character.

He dreamed that he and Xiao Yan were resting on the same bed, and Xiao Yan was even... holding him...

As for him, he hadn't even tried to resist and even seemed really dependent on Xiao Yan.

How could this be?!

In the dream, he was stunned by his own behavior. Just as he was finding this scene unbelievable, the dream suddenly cut to Xiao Yan injured and unconscious.

This was what had happened earlier that day.

He saw himself mopping sweat from Xiao Yan's brow, but then Xiao Yan suddenly woke up. Before he could feel relieved, he saw Xiao Yan take a knife from his side and lunge it straight at him.

Caught off guard, he froze in place, rooted to the spot.

He watched helplessly as the sharp dagger came at him, tried to scream, but his throat seized up.

He struggled and struggled until he finally broke through and shouted—and then he woke up.

Now, kneeling by the bedside and pressing a hand to his racing heart, Jiang Wang felt a wave of anger as he looked at Xiao Yan's peaceful sleeping face.

He had already raised his fist, thinking to use the fact that no one else was there to give Xiao Yan a couple of punches, but he was afraid of waking him and sullenly lowered his fist.

Jiang Wang stood up, holding onto the edge of the bed, and slowly shuffled to the head of the bed on his still-aching legs, glaring fiercely at Xiao Yan's face.

Since he couldn't hit him, surely he could at least curse him a few times while Xiao Yan was unconscious.

So, Jiang Wang brazenly used the emperor's given name.

"Xiao Yan, I've never done anything to you, yet you wanted to kill me! Not even in a dream!"

After saying this, he remembered the scene before the "assassination"—the two of them curled up together.

For some reason, Jiang Wang's bravado instantly vanished. He actually felt a bit shy and stumbled over his words: "Just a second ago, our relationship was... was still pretty good. How could you change your mind so quickly?"

Then he muttered other complaints, finally summing it up with one sentence for Xiao Yan.

"A fickle man, a deceitful ghost!"

With these words vented, Jiang Wang finally managed to shake off the lingering fear in his heart.

Looking outside, it was still early, but he had long lost any desire to go back to sleep.

He folded the thin blanket and quietly placed it back in its original spot, lit a few more candles in the dim corners of the room, and then, as usual, moistened Xiao Yan's lips with a damp cloth.

Jiang Wang took another careful look at Xiao Yan's face. His cheeks were no longer as pale as yesterday, and his lips had gained a bit of color—his complexion had improved quite a bit.

After the earlier anger, he suddenly felt a twinge of guilt toward this face.

After all, that was just an illusory dream. In reality, Xiao Yan hadn't done anything to him, yet he had genuinely cursed him out...

To be more precise, he had cursed out the current emperor...

Whether the emperor was asleep or not, this was an act of treason, and beheading would be considered a light punishment.

Instantly, alarm bells rang in Jiang Wang's mind as he quickly pondered whether there was any way to remedy the situation.

But words spoken were like water spilled—they could never be taken back.

So, he could only hope that Xiao Yan was sleeping so soundly that he hadn't heard any of those "treasonous" words he had just uttered.

Jiang Wang softened his tone and spoke gently, as if hypnotizing someone.

"Your Majesty, you just had a dream. Everything that happened earlier was only in the dream, not real, not real, not real."

Jiang Wang repeated it three times—important things needed repetition.

He remembered reading in some journal that if you speak to someone while they're sleeping, they might blur the memory and mistake it for a dream.

So he quickly repeated it a few more times to Xiao Yan, hoping to subtly deepen the impression.

Once the "spell" was cast, Jiang Wang finally had the energy to tend to his sore limbs and aching back.

He had thought the soft cushion would make the night more comfortable, but it turned out he had overestimated his own endurance.

This was only the first night—how was he going to survive the next two?

He missed his soft bed at the Biwu Pavilion—no, he missed it terribly.

Rubbing his arms, Jiang Wang walked toward the outer room. He needed some air and to call Physician Wang in to change Xiao Yan's dressing.

Little did he know that the moment Jiang Wang stepped out, Xiao Yan opened his eyes.

He had woken up long ago, even earlier than Jiang Wang.

So he had heard every single one of Jiang Wang's "treasonous" words and the subsequent "strange" remarks.

Xiao Yan found it both amusing and exasperating.

So, just because of a dream, he had been cursed out for nothing?

Author's Note:

Xiao Yan: Let's see what else Jiang Wang will do while I pretend to be asleep.