Yun Qingci reacted quickly and stuffed the wooden pendant into Yuanbao's hand, then took it back and whispered softly: "Thank you, xiao gonggong."
Yuanbao lowered his head, looking a little nervous: "This slave did what he should."
Li Ying had already approached. His gaze fell on the wooden pendant in Yun Qingci's hand, his eyes darkened and he said: "What's the matter?"
Yuanbao took a step back, bowed and said cautiously: "Answering His Majesty, the Lord Empress's pendant fell, and this slave picked it up and returned it. "
Li Ying glanced at him deeply: "You did good. Now leave."
After Yuanbao had left, Li Ying once again looked at the wooden pendant in Yun Qingci's hand and said softly: "Is there anything wrong that you're looking for the Qing Division?"
Yun Qingci didn't want to admit it, but he had to nod and say: "This month's information is about to be delivered. I have to tell them that I am in the Prime Minister's Mansion."
In fact, there was no need to tell them. Everyone knew about Li Ying driving him out of the palace. After Yun Qing had said that, he suddenly felt that this reason was really bad, but he couldn't say 'I was trying to contact the person who was monitoring you', right?
Li Ying didn't expose his blunder. "Shall I send you back?"
"I know the way."
Li Ying corrected his words: "I will accompany you back."
The ghost was hard to get rid of.
Yun Qingci continued to walk, and Li Ying followed slowly, taking the initiative to find a topic: "Was it interesting to go to the ice rink today?"
"Is it considered interesting to return the ear mufflers to Xiao Hou?"
Li Ying was taken aback and said sullenly: "Have you seen the medicine I've left?"
"This subject is not blind yet."
"…have you applied it? "
"It's not time to change the dressing."
So, it was not applied. Li Ying said: "Let's go back, let me apply it for you?"
"I dare not trouble His Majesty."
He was chasing him away with sticks and stones, but Li Ying just looked even more humble: "I don't find it troublesome."
Yun Qingci couldn't help but frown at him.
It was not that Li Ying had never behaved like that. After two years of marriage, Yun Qingci had a cold war with him because of the new concubine who entered the palace. Li Ying stayed in his palace and coaxed him for many days.
That's right, at the beginning, Li Ying knew that a concubine that entered the palace made Yun Qingci unhappy, and he used different tricks every day to make him happy again. He even personally cooked for him once.
Although it ended with half a kitchen burnt and the noble Son of Heaven scalding his arm so bad he still had scars left.
At that time, Yun Qingci felt that Li Ying really liked him, but when he looked back later, he realized that it was just a bitter trick, with the purpose to lower his bottom line.
So, what was Li Ying's purpose this time?
There was too little information for Yun Qingci to analyze.
When he entered the courtyard, Jin Huan quickly went to bring a basin of hot water. The weather was cold, but Yun Qingci loved to be clean and would wash his hands and face every time he came back from the outside.
When Jin Huan walked into the house, Yun Qingci and Li Ying had already taken off their cloaks. The former sat down in front of the basin and waited to be served, while the latter took two steps forward and said, "I'll do it, you can leave."
"?!" Jin Huan opened his eyes wide: "Lord Empress needs to wash his face and change his dressing."
"Okay."
Li Ying accepted the basin of water without hesitation.
Yun Qingci frowned deeper.
That time when the concubine entered the palace was also the last time Li Ying spent a lot of effort to coax him. Later, more and more concubines appeared. Yun Qingci made trouble again, but Li Ying said just a few words of persuasion. Yun Qingci was vicious, and when he was annoyed, he always hurt others and hurt himself, and he didn't watch his words.
Later, Li Ying did not bother to persuade him.
Until this time when he threw Yun Qingci off the bed and drove him out of the palace, without even a word of explanation. It was as if he had already made up his mind to cut him off.
Although it was a previous life, things were supposed to develop this way. Could it be that Li Ying listened to the Empress Dowager's instructions and realized that once Yun Qingci was really abolished, the Yun family would no longer be under his control?
Such a thing was also possible.
He knew how patient Li Ying was. In his previous life, he was under the watch of many parties, and Yun Qingci held all the aspects of his life in his hands. Li Ying still endured the humiliation for many years until he collected enough evidence to bring down the Prime Minister's Mansion in one fell swoop.
Then how do you explain that as soon as the Empress Dowager's messenger left, Li Ying arrived to pick him up to go back to the palace?
The wooden basin was placed on the basin rack, and Yun Qingci sat next to it, looking at Li Ying without moving a finger.
Li Ying was proficient in taking care of him. When Yun Qingci had a high fever in the other courtyard when he was little, Li Ying, still the crown prince then, took care of him personally.
He rolled up his cuffs, soaked a soft handkerchief in water, twisted it half dry and sat down to wipe Yun Qingci's face.
Yun Qingci continued to stare at him.
There were many strange things in this matter, but since Li Ying was here, it must be because Yun Qinci still was of some value to him. So, Yun Qingci no longer pretended to be polite with him and said lightly: "Since His Majesty has expelled this subject's close attendants, then His Majesty should take care of it. If I am unhappy, I will hit someone."
His expression was cold, and he didn't mean it as a joke, but Li Ying smiled softly and said, "I know. "
Yun Qingci's complexion was white, with ice muscles and jade bones. He just came from the outside and his face was frozen. When a hot towel was applied, he quickly blushed lightly.
Li Ying patiently soaked the handkerchief in water again and continued to wipe him.
On that nightmare day, cinnabar and snow were frozen together, and the hair of the person who had fallen was also frozen into the deep red. Li Ying laboriously picked up his frozen lover and sat in front of the stove in the Jiangshan Hall to warm him up, carefully moving his muscles and bones for him.
But he didn't get warm at all.
It was clear that he didn't need to get warm, he was already alive like a blazing sun, hot and scorching.
Li Ying kept asking people to add charcoal, almost roasting himself, but the person in his arms was still cold.
In anger, he kicked over the charcoal basin, and the charcoals scattered, some of them burning his dragon robe and some burning his skin, but he seemed to be like Yun Qingci, no longer feeling pain.
The carpet caught fire, and Liu Ziru panicked and ordered someone to put out the fire, and the Jiangshan Hall was a mess. He carried Yun Qingci to the dragon couch. Liu Ziru hurriedly extinguished all the fires in the palace, and the palace attendants behind him picked up the charcoals one by one with tongs. He approached him cautiously: "Your Majesty…"
"Go prepare hot water," he said in a dumb voice, "I want to wipe the Lord Empress's body."
The hot water was stained with blood, one basin after another was changed, and the washing cloth was also stained with blood. He changed one piece after another. He held the person in his arms day and night to warm him, but he'd really become 'ice muscles and jade bones'. There was no blood colour under his skin.
The mist surged in his eyes, his gaze drooping, and his long eyelashes were trembling. The slender hands submerged the handkerchief in the water again. Blue veins were clearly visible on the backs of his hands, protruding even more in the water. He took the handkerchief out again, wrung it dry, and rubbed it from the side of Yun Qingci's face to his neck. "It seems to be a little cold. Should I add some hot water?"
"Okay."
Yun Qingci stared at him.
He suddenly found this kind of Li Ying very interesting. Li Ying was obviously afraid of the Prime Minister's Mansion, but had to come here to please Yun Qingci. Obviously hating Yun Qingci, he had to endure him and chase him pretending to be infatuated and considerate.
Li Ying had been like that in his previous life, too. After Prime Minister Yun knelt down, Li Ying felt threatened. Once Yun Qingci returned to the palace, Li Ying never opposed him again.
He endured the humiliation, kept quiet and didn't show any courage, letting Yun Qingci control him for eight years more. During these years he did not dare to touch any concubine or male pet, and even actively engaged Yun Qingci, fearing that he would go crazy again.
Yun Qingci was very cautious. It took Li Ying almost seven years to make him hand over the Qing Division completely. At that time, Yun Qingci was sure Li Ying was absolutely loyal.
The fact was that Li Ying had indeed never touched anyone except Yun Qingci, but his ambition was already burning like a prairie fire, eventually engulfing everyone, Yun Qingci included.
Yun Qingci often thought that Li Ying must have hated him. Being the emperor, he had never enjoyed the freedom of the emperor. Not only could he not go to the Linxing Palace to accompany a beauty, but he also had to regularly have public displays of affection towards the person he hated the most – because Yun Qingci liked to be intimate with him.
What Yun Qingci demanded was nothing but his wholeheartedness, and as long as Li Ying followed him, he would take care of Li Ying's mood and would not interfere with any political decisions. He always believed that it was Li Ying's country.
But now…
Since Li Ying's temperament changed so much because he was afraid of the Prime Minister's Mansion, it was good to make him afraid.
If he hated Yun Qingci, then let him hate even more.
Yun Qingci tilted his head, catching Li Ying's hand between his cheek and his slender neck.
Li Ying suddenly raised his eyes.
His soft cheek rubbed back and forth on the back of Li Ying's hand, and Yun Qingci's eyes flowed like water: "Your Majesty comes every day. Do you really want to take me back to the palace? "
Li Ying restrained the urge to touch him, and said quietly: "Naturally."
"It's not that I won't go back," Yun Qingci said slowly: "But you drove me out. If I just go back humbly like this, I'll feel wronged."
"I know," Li Ying answered quickly. He looked at Yun Qingci, his heart beating like a drum, and he solemnly said, "In two days at most, I will definitely give you an explanation."
Yun Qingci tilted his head, his delicate beauty making him look like a seductive fairy. "Really?"
"Really." Li Ying raised his thumb, but as soon as his fingertips touched Yun Qingci's cheek, Yun Qingci straightened his neck, put his hands in front of him and said, "Wipe my hands, too."
Yun Qingci suddenly ceased to be indifferent, and Li Ying was caught off guard a little. He took a hand towel and wiped Yun Qingci's fingers. The rough cloth wiped his soft palms. Yun Qingci's expression remained unchanged, he looked at Li Ying with a well-behaved expression.
He seemed to regain his trust wholeheartedly.
But something wasn't right.
Yun Qingci looked like a lazy cat, watching a good show with relish.
Li Ying narrowed his eyes slightly, wiped Yun Qingci's fingers carefully and said, "Do you want to change the dressing now?"
"Does Your Majesty want to change the dressing for me?"
"I can't ask for more."
"Okay," Yun Qingci said, "Jin Huan, bring the medicine box."
Since Li Ying wanted to play affectionate tricks with him, Yun Qingci would accompany him to the end.
He would accept all the gifts given to him, but this time he would only accept them, and he would never give anything back.
The gauze was removed layer by layer, and the crimson scar looked particularly shocking on the jade-colored wrist. Li Ying's fingers trembled slightly. Without saying a word, he picked up a clean handkerchief and wiped off the residue of the ointment on the edges of the wound.
Then he took the shallow vial and applied the medicine carefully.
Li Ying's acting skills were as good as ever, Yun Qingci thought, and suddenly kicked him heavily, biting his lip and saying in an angry tone: "It hurts."
Li Ying paused slightly.
Of course, Yun Qingci had kicked him before, but he would never kick him for this kind of thing.
Yun Qingci would cherish Li Ying's kindness to him carefully, not wanting to ruin a moment of it.
Li Ying didn't say anything, but his movements grew lighter. He took the gauze and re-wrapped it around Yun Qingci's wrist, and suddenly he was kicked again, even heavier.
Yun Qing said angrily: "Be lighter. "
My Noble Majesty Emperor Li, in this life, I would like to see how long you can endure me for the sake of your ambitions.