CH 119

An Audience- I Also Didn’t Want to Disturb the Emperor (1)

Outside Feishuang Hall, Liu Kang stood a little farther away. Fearing that the summons inside could not be heard, he had to take a couple of steps around from time to time, paying attention to the movement.

In the room, there were sounds of falling objects. There was also the sound of the wooden couch thudding, and men’s and women’s whispers, sometimes high-pitched, sometimes low. Listening to it would make people blush.

Two of the chamberlains, young and thin-skinned, could not stand outside the room for a while and stammered with a red face, saying, “Eunuch, let’s… let’s stay away, I’m afraid we won’t be summoned… for a while.”

The words fell, and a high-pitched voice rang out, followed by the frequency of a steep increase in moans and tremors.

This time, even Liu Kang’s face was a bit pinched. He rubbed the corner of his forehead with a headache and said breathlessly, “Alright, you two go down. Leave me here to guard.”

The two men looked at each other as if they had been pardoned. They hastily bowed down to thank him, and ran away in haste.

The remaining few people were silent for a moment, and each turned their heads to disperse.

Not long after, the winding path next to the Yaoguang Building, suddenly appeared a figure being supported by a servant, the man walked a little fast, a long distance away can be seen his slightly hobbled gait, until gradually approaching to see the appearance, the chamberlain was astonished.

“Duke of Lu?” Liu Kang was busy to personally welcome him, to show respect, and secondly, to keep him away, so as not to hear the commotion in the hall, embarrassed, “So late, but what is the emergency?”

Duke Wei was supported to stand in the same place, trying to calm down his rapid breathing. He nodded repeatedly and said, “Chief Eunuch, I-I do have an urgent matter to see His Majesty. I wonder if you can, can you give me a notice?”

Liu Kang looked at him in amazement and glanced at the closed door of the hall furtively. Ushering the other away, he asked, “His Majesty is… a little indisposed at the moment, I wonder if it is convenient to reveal a little bit about the urgent matter of Duke Lu?”

Duke Wei wiped the sweat from the corner of his forehead, glanced at the closed door of the hall and a few nervous chamberlains, thinking that His Majesty was indeed indisposed. He did not dare to delay this matter, and thinking about it, he could only come closer, lower his voice, and say, “This matter seems to be related to His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Liu Kang’s face was astonished. He dared not delay the matter and immediately instructed the two chamberlains to accompany the duke while he hurried to the entrance. “Your Majesty, the Duke of Lu is here. There is something important to report.”

At this moment, the movement in the hall had temporarily stopped, but no one answered. After a moment, a rustling sound, then gradually approaching the entrance was the sound of footsteps.

“Let him in.”

Xiao Kezhi’s voice came, still mixed with a few points of not-yet-faded hoarseness.

Liu Kang first gently pushed the door open to see Xiao Kezhi sitting alone in front of the screen, with the Crown Prince Consort nowhere to be seen.

He turned around and gestured at the two chamberlains, then took advantage of the gap when they led Duke Wei in to dash into the hall and put away a few stray pieces of women’s clothing.

“Your Majesty!” Once he entered the hall, Duke Wei did not have the heart to think about why there was a strange aroma in the hall, not to mention Xiao Kezhi’s rumpled clothes. He knelt down and kowtowed, “Today is the first day of the year. I should not have come to disturb you at this time, but it is really important. I do not know what to do, so I came to report to Your Majesty!”

He said up to there but looked at the two chamberlains, and did not rush to speak.

Xiao Kezhi waved his hand and sent several people out, “You few go down, others do not need to move.”

Duke Wei froze and watched the chamberlains go down, thinking there was someone else in the hall. But he hurriedly scanned around and did not see anyone else.

In fact, that “others” meant Chu Ning.

She was currently hiding behind the screen behind Xiao Kezhi, and he was only a few inches away.

She was only clothed in an outer shirt. Although her hair was still bound with a hairpin, most of it had fallen on her shoulder. If Duke Wei took a step to the side, he could find her hiding behind the screen in a mess.

The original Xiao Kezhi told her to stay here without moving, she still felt uncomfortable, afraid that Duke Wei said something she should not hear, but a moment later, she did not think so.

“Uncle, get up. There are no outsiders here. No need to be formal, sit down and talk.” Xiao Kezhi got off the couch, personally helped him up and let him sit on a couch at the bottom.

Duke Wei thanked him repeatedly, wiping his sweat on the other side, “Your Majesty, just now, the lantern party, Guo’er is young and tired quickly, so my wife and I had her go back first, who knows, she walked halfway, but, but ran into the Crown Prince and, and the Zhao woman…”

Xiao Kezhi heard this and frowned, “Uncle, slow down and talk.”

Duke Wei relayed this information as concisely as he could.

Xiao Kezhi listened to it silently, paused for a moment, and asked, “How is Guo’er?”

Duke Wei replied, “The child was frightened before I came. Her mother put her to sleep first, so she should be better by now.”

Xiao Kezhi nodded, then asked, “She heard this and was not found by those two?”

Duke Wei was stunned, thought about it, and said, “No, she said she was waiting for them to leave before she left. It was dark, and she is a skinny child. They probably didn’t see her hiding there.”

“That said, in the end, we can not take this lightly.” Xiao Kezhi stood up, walked two steps down the steps, and said in a deep voice, “These days, have her stay inside so that no one will remind her of this thing, at least until this time has passed.”