Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Luo Qianyu felt a pang, and now he fully understood. He had pushed his teasing of Wen Yu too far; even a rabbit would bite when provoked.

He just hadn't expected the beauty's retort to be so formidable. This wasn't just a point-blank attack; it was practically whispered directly into his ear, telling him he was delicate and weak.

The Young Marquis had a sudden, stark realization.

Was this implying he was weak? Impotent?!

His palms trembled faintly. What man could bear hearing such a thing? He was, after all, one of the potential male leads, the one on top. Even if his stamina wasn't the best, it was a hundred times stronger than the main male love interest's. How dare Wen Yu throw this in his face?

...

What did this illustrate?

When you're too weak, even flirting with the main male love interest gets you mocked for being incapable.

Although Luo Qianyu harbored no extra thoughts about Wen Yu, and according to the book's progression, while the Young Marquis coveted the beauty's body, he indeed never succeeded in obtaining it.

They hadn't done that sort of thing and never would. So, even if accused of being incapable, the Young Marquis had no way to prove otherwise. But Luo Qianyu's heart was filled with indignation. He couldn't very well go to a brothel and have Wen Yu follow him, could he?

Wasn't there a less outlandish way to prove himself?

...Since he was called precious and delicate, the only way was to become stronger, whether for Wen Yu's sake or for his own future.

His time was already limited, and Wen Yu's words acted like a wake-up call, making this matter urgent.

It's just that Wen Yu was usually like a block of wood. Today, he didn't know what had gotten into him, being so aggressive, almost like a venomous beauty. Something felt off, as if the other had been harboring anger even before Luo Qianyu spoke.

Wen Yu was never one to lose his composure. Thinking about it, there was only one possibility: Could it be that Lou Xian, that scoundrel, had been mouthy and flirted with the main male love interest before leaving?

Wolves were circling, and trouble came from within. They had even triggered his Handsome Guard, making him lash out. They all deserved a beating!

Luo Qianyu pursed his lips, the faint redness at his ears just fading. He was about to speak when he suddenly heard footsteps on the staircase not far away.

The footsteps stopped at the landing, pausing.

Then came the sound of a soft, sharp intake of breath.

At the moment, his and Wen Yu's posture was extremely ambiguous. The beauty was leaning back against the red-lacquered wooden wall, his other wrist gripped and pinned out of view. The Young Marquis leaned in slightly, the two were extremely close, the folding fan had fallen to the ground, and no one had picked it up. It wasn't hard for an onlooker to imagine what was happening. From this angle, it looked like he was forcing himself on the beauty.

The newcomer clearly hadn't expected to stumble upon such a scene and spoke in surprise, "Young Marquis Luo, this is...?"

The voice was reedy and distinctive, somewhat familiar.

Luo Qianyu didn't respond, only putting some distance between himself and Wen Yu. After clearly seeing the newcomer, he slowly said, "Eunuch Wang?"

The man was dressed in a blue-grey python robe, this time not holding a horsetail whisk. He stood at the staircase landing, followed by two eunuchs with lowered eyes.

A sense of foreboding rose in Luo Qianyu's heart. Eunuch Wang, as usual, began with some pleasantries. Luo Qianyu had no intention of lingering and wanted to take Wen Yu back to the manor.

Seeing the young man about to leave, Eunuch Wang's figure remained at the staircase, not making way. He smiled, cupping his hands, "This servant came specifically to find the Young Marquis."

Luo Qianyu: "..."

"Has Your Excellency come on behalf of His Majesty to inquire about my illness?" Luo Qianyu played dumb. "Please convey my gratitude for His Majesty's concern. I've been feeling slightly better these past few days and came out for some air. Now, I must return to take my medicine."

Eunuch Wang narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping over Luo Qianyu's face before he smiled, "His Majesty's oral decree summons you to the palace immediately."

Luo Qianyu's heart sank. "Now?"

Eunuch Wang smiled, "This servant happened to see the Young Marquis enjoying tea at the tavern. It would seem your health is no longer an issue. The previous times you claimed illness, His Majesty was considerate. But today—" He finished, "Since the Young Marquis can go out for leisure, you should also be able to have an audience with His Majesty."

"..."

Luo Qianyu was speechless.

The first time he left the manor after recovering from his illness, and he was caught red-handed. It was said Emperor Sheng Yuan was intimately aware of all his officials' affairs. He'd heard the Imperial Guards could even report how many times an official relieved themselves the previous night. At the time, he thought it absurd, but now he was thoroughly convinced.

Even an idle wastrel like him was included in this surveillance?

Eunuch Wang didn't know what the Young Marquis was thinking. He merely stepped aside slightly, making a gesture of "please," and said leisurely, "Young Marquis, shall we?"

Knowing he couldn't avoid it today, despite a thousand reasons to refuse in his heart, Luo Qianyu still boarded the carriage to the palace.

For this outing, finding a crowd bothersome, he had only brought the coachman and Wen Yu. Luo Qianyu sat sprawled on one side of the carriage compartment. Recalling Wen Yu's earlier words, the more he thought, the angrier he became. He was delicate? He was incapable?

After pondering for a while, the Young Marquis removed the thick silk cushion beneath him and lifted his robe. He had soft knee warmers prepared, not for the audience but for ordinary warmth.

He took off both knee warmers and threw them into Wen Yu's lap.

After an unknown length of time, when the carriage slowly stopped, they had, to his surprise, already arrived at the Xihua Gate. Guards and other non-essential personnel could proceed no further.

Luo Qianyu didn't want to speak to Wen Yu now. Without even looking at him, he got out of the carriage, giving him the cold shoulder, and followed the guiding eunuch inside.

This was his first time entering the palace since transmigrating.

What kind of place was the imperial palace? The center of power and politics. Countless people would give their right arm to get in, while others were trapped in its whirlpool, unable to escape. As a family member of an idle official who hadn't yet participated in the imperial examinations and wasn't involved in politics, the Young Marquis, whose core had long been replaced, couldn't help but feel apprehensive.

The person he was about to meet could, with one word, bring glory to his family or, with another, condemn it to eternal ruin. The new emperor had been on the throne for three years, and his style of governance was unfathomable. Whether this audience would bring fortune or disaster was entirely unknown.

Passing by the Hall of Supreme Harmony, led by the eunuch towards the Imperial Study, the Young Marquis silently calculated in his heart while discreetly observing the distant palace buildings. As he approached the latticed doors, his heart tightened.

A eunuch went inside to announce him. Luo Qianyu waited with lowered eyes, only hearing a voice say, "Summon him."

Luo Qianyu's heart jolted. He entered the hall door, knelt, and performed the kowtow, "Your Majesty."

As soon as he lowered his head to kneel, a faint scent of ambergris drifted into his nostrils. Luo Qianyu didn't dare look up, his eyelashes trembling slightly. He didn't get a clear look at the *Da Xi* Son of Heaven seated behind the desk.

However, after waiting for a long while, he didn't hear the words "Rise."

With his vision limited, his hearing became more sensitive. Rustling sounds came from the direction of the head desk. The Young Marquis realized it was the sound of His Majesty reviewing memorials.

Luo Qianyu shifted his feet slightly, maintaining his posture, forced to continue waiting.

Several months had passed since he arrived here. Apart from being punished by Luo Zhenchuan to kneel in the ancestral hall for causing trouble, Luo Qianyu, relying on his noble status as the Young Marquis, had lived a carefree and comfortable life. Others knelt to him; he had practically never knelt himself.

Back in the ancestral hall, there were soft cushions on the prayer mats and knee pads embroidered by his mother. With no one watching, he could slack off, so it hadn't felt like much.

Now, beneath his knees was cold, hard stone. Time passed second by second. At first, it was unbearably hard and tough, then came intense soreness. Later, it gradually numbed; from the knees down, he had lost all sensation.

...

How long had it been?

Luo Qianyu's hands, braced against the floor, trembled slightly. He noticed the patch of sunlight on the floor by the distant window fading—the sun was no longer as bright.

It had likely been more than two hours.

Luo Qianyu suspected the emperor had forgotten his existence.

He began to wonder. Why summon him for an immediate audience, only to leave him waiting afterward? Luo Qianyu inwardly groaned, already suspecting the reason. The emperor was probably punishing him on purpose. Was it because of Director Li? Or his repeated failures to respond to summons? Or perhaps this Young Marquis had secretly committed some other offense...

Lost in these chaotic thoughts, the rustling from the imperial desk suddenly ceased.

Instead, that person stood up.

Though he didn’t approach, the scent of ambergris grew more distinct. The Young Marquis pressed his lips together, silently shifting his withdrawn foot back into place, his heartbeat quickening.

“Why did you not come the previous times I summoned you?”

The voice was lazy and dissolute, low in tone, bearing no resemblance to elegance or grace. Yet it seemed to strike directly upon taut nerves, instinctively stirring fear.

...The emperor had spoken.

Luo Qianyu lowered his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly, and replied softly, “Your subject unfortunately caught a chill and has only recently begun to recover after recuperating. I failed to respond to the summons in time. I beg Your Majesty’s forgiveness.”

“Are you saying it was merely a chill?”

Luo Qianyu nodded. “Yes.”

“Wang Quanxi returned from your residence a few days ago and said the pulse of Marquis Luo’s heir did not resemble an ordinary chill, but rather seemed like poisoning.” Emperor Sheng Yuan’s voice betrayed neither joy nor anger as he continued, “Do you have any insight into this?”

That damned Eunuch Wang had truly sold him out!

A simple chill was one thing, but if this talk of poisoning were taken seriously—something even his father didn’t know about—the investigation would no longer involve him alone. Everyone who went to Cold Mountain Temple that night would likely be scrutinized one by one: Liu Cixue disguised as a woman, the unnamed person ordered to abduct the beauty, his fourth younger brother Luo Shifu...

And Wen Yu.

He knew that the emperor, as the buy-stock gong with the most screen time in the original novel, would inevitably encounter the protagonist shou sooner or later. Whether due to irresistible forces or plot-driven circumstances, he was the one poisoned that night, and Wen Yu’s involvement was also to save him.

The beauty shou could be coveted by the emperor for any reason, but it absolutely must not be because of him.

“In reply to Your Majesty, there is no such matter.” Luo Qianyu pressed his lips together, feigning confusion. “Your subject has never been poisoned. The imperial physician also examined me—it was merely an ordinary chill.”

After he spoke, the hall fell silent for a moment.

“Although Wang Quanxi is not proficient in medicine, he is not one to boast. Without absolute certainty, how would he dare make such an assertion to me?”

The emperor seemed to look down at him, his tone unchanged, even calm. Yet the words that followed made the Young Marquis shudder all over. “In that case, it means Wang Quanxi deliberately committed the crime of deceiving the emperor. Guards! Bring that old servant here to confront the Young Marquis in this hall.”

Luo Qianyu was greatly alarmed and forced to lift his head. “...Your Majesty!”

When his gaze met the emperor’s, what stunned Luo Qianyu, aside from his appearance, were those eyes.

In this era, unusual eye colors were not uncommon, but he had never imagined that beneath jet-black hair—the emperor of Da Xi would have red pupils.

The original novel had indeed described Emperor Sheng Yuan’s appearance more than once: young and handsome, yet utterly mad. He wasn’t a tyrant in the true sense, yet he managed to make everyone fear him—a character full of contradictions, difficult to visualize while reading.

Now, seeing him in person, those eyes became the finishing touch. Like flames, or as if steeped in boiling blood, the sense of madness was even stronger, aligning more closely with the image of the emperor in his mind.

“I will give you one more chance.”

The hall was so quiet one could hear a pin drop. Several eunuchs kept their heads bowed, not daring to breathe loudly. Cold sweat trickled from Luo Qianyu’s temples, and he felt as if needles were pricking his back.

“Where did you go in recent days?”