Crisis relief
Tian Qi is currently regretting her decision. She calculated everything, but forgot to think about the Emperor"s feelings. If he gets angry once he finds out she has chickenpox and drives her out of Gan Qing Palace, all the measures she took will be useless.
She decided she must see the Emperor in order to b.u.t.ter him up and show him how loyal she is, so he can give her some time to right her wrongs rather than abandon her.
Sitting all alone in a small room was boring. Tian Qi shrank on the wooden bed, holding a wooden stick, muttered with her eyes closed “The spirit of the heavens is efficient, and the emperor sent me on this trip to change!” She opened her eyes and that was when she saw the man standing outside the window.
“Aiya!!!” Tian Qi was so scared she fell off the bed.
Ji Heng"s face was full of black lines. He asked the physician who led the way to his chamber “Did his brain get burned?”
The physician took this opportunity to complain “Answering Your Majesty,do not let the servant get close to you, he is not taking medicine.”
Ji Heng turned his head and looked at Tian Qi inside her room “What"s wrong with you? Don"t die.”
Tian Qi got up from the floor and she excitedly got to the window. “Your Majesty, the Emperor, it really is you! I"m not dreaming. I must be dreaming since I also dreamt about you yesterday.”
Ji Heng"s face eased. He looked at the person in front of him. The usual white and tender skin grew a lot of spots from the chickenpox. It was terrible. All those spots couldn"t cover his surprise. Ji Heng looked at the stupid look on Tian Qi"s face and frowned. “How come you"re not taking your medicine?”
‘Because I am not sick", Tian Qi thought. She squeezed a few drops of tears and complained “Emperor, this servant does not want the medicine provided, does not dare to eat it… Someone intends to harm me!” In any case, it happened before.
“Who dares to hurt you?” Ji Heng"s words lack his usual confidence.
“This servant does not know. This servant only knows they are saying bad things about me and also wanted to poison me. This servant is not afraid of death, but this servant is afraid I will not be able to serve the Emperor anymore. This servant can"t bear to leave you. This servant wants to serve you all his life!”
Even Sheng AnHuai couldn"t listen to her flamboyant and affectionate speech. Of course, the main reason being that they are said from an ugly mouth. Sheng AnHuai thought the Emperor would be as disgusted as he was, but he looked like his usual.
‘It"s tough being the Emperor", Sheng AnHuai sincerely laments.
“If you"re pretending, then just pretend.” Ji Heng put his hands behind his back indifferently.
“I"m telling the truth, Your Majesty. Please don"t drive me away…” Tian Qi cried loudly. Tears streaked her cheeks and she wiped them with her sleeves.
“Stop!” Ji Heng shouted
Tian Qi"s mind went blank. ‘What happened?"
Ji Heng frowned looking at her sleeves. The fabric was too rough and it scratched her cheeks and her face. He was afraid it would leave scars. This person is too violent with her face, really ignorant.
Without thinking, Ji Heng took out a handkerchief and threw it at Tian Qi. “If you scar your face, I don"t want to see you.”
Tian Qi heard the meaning behind his sentence: as long as she doesn"t have any scarring, she can go back. She was pleasantly surprised. “The Emperor is wise and kind! This slave thanks Your Majesty for your grace!”
Ji Heng seemed to see her shaking her tail again. He looked at her for a bit then told her “Remember to take your medicine. Not taking it will mean you won"t be getting better to serve me.”
Tian Qi looked like she bit something bitter. “This servant shall obey the Emperor"s decree.”
Ji Heng smiled, then turned and left.
‘If I have to take medicine, then I shall take medicine." Tian Qi thought. As long as w.a.n.g Meng is the one preparing it, she has nothing to fear. She is so smart.
If he want to save Tian Qi, how will he achieve it? That is the problem.
Although Ji Heng does not believe in fate and G.o.ds, it doesn"t mean he will not use these to fool others when necessary. But he does not want to disobey his mother, and he knows that discussing the matter with her is useless.
However, he does not want to see Tian Qi dying. Yes, he is very reluctant to let that happen. Ji Heng can"t say this person is good, but he thinks that he is very lively. Besides, RuYi also likes him. If Tian Qi dies, the little guy would be very upset.
It"s impossible for a servant to go against the Empress Dowager. Ji Heng doesn"t even want to think of the result of such action. At the moment, Tian Qi is in An Le Tang and it is best he lives there for a while. He sent one of his servants from Gan Qing Palace to look after him. In the meantime, no danger should befall him.
The next day was a rest day. Originally, n.o.body had to work. Even the officials could enjoy their day at home. However, in the afternoon, Ji Heng was surprised to receive some reports. He thought the officials must be dedicated to their jobs.
Looking over the content, the reports were very similar to each other. Yu s.h.i.+Tai expressed his concern towards the incidents occurring in recent days, where two men ran naked on the streets. If the culprit was simply a madman, no one would care much about it. At most, the people on the street would be talking and laughing at it. But the culprits were bureaucratic children, their parents occupying high positions. This incidents needed investigated.
In short the situation was very serious and had a bad impact.
Ji Heng couldn"t understand why the three guys had to choose the most prosperous LongChang Street, two of them specially selecting to go on the weekend. There is a limit to how stupid one can be and breaking that limit makes people want to kill you. The three ministers perform their job very well, and their children are taught by them.
Ji Heng"s mood was sour. He just finished reading the first report, when the second one was just as bad. This time it was about a rumour and he needed to find a way to punish the crime soon.
The contents of the three reports are almost the same, and Ji Heng suspects that the three people worked together. They all say their sons are innocent are are asking him to punish the culprit. It all seems to suggest this matter has something to do with Zheng YuanFu"s youngest son, who is also involved with Ning w.a.n.g and the man he keeps.
Ji Heng was completely shocked by the words “Ning w.a.n.g” and “kept man”. A kept man? He looked at the reports for a long time.
Currently, there are a lot of h.o.m.os.e.xual men, so n.o.body thinks it"s unusual for Ning w.a.n.g to raise a beautiful little boy. However, Ji Zheng is Ji Heng"s little brother and is only sixteen(16) years old, and doesn"t even have a wife. What happens if he goes further down this road? This problem is a headache.
And, if he were to be honest, Ji Heng is fisgusted by the idea of men sleeping with men. No, extremely disgusting.
Ji Heng decides to talk to Ah Zheng. One"s older brother is like a father figure. Although the relations.h.i.+p between the two brothers was once in a crisis because of traitors within the palace, he feels he still has a say in his younger brother"s private life. They"re related by blood, he can"t watch him as he blindly follows this road.
Taking the initiative to breach the subject, Ji Heng sends him two beautiful women. Ning w.a.n.gFu"s butler took both women to Ji Zheng"s bed, smiling and saying “Rebelling is useless; this is the Emperor"s decree.”
Ji Zheng exhibited a non-violent and uncooperative att.i.tude. In the evening, the two beauties slept in one room, whilst he slept in his own room. The very next day, he returned them to the palace.
Sheng AnHuai was amazed seeing this. Even if you"re the Emperor"s younger brother, you shouldn"t dare to return the things he sent.
Ji Heng udnerstood that, since he dared to return the beauties, it must mean he wasn"t moved by them. This knowledge only made him sad.
Whilst the Emperor was worrying about his younger brother, the Empress Dowager couldn"t hold back anymore, and suggested that Ji Heng deals with Tian Qi. She also appeared to have made a major discovery – she asked him to go to a Taoist priest to explain that, although she is very distressed over this, the eunuch has to go.
Ji Zheng looked at the Taoist priest as if looking at a swindler, thinking that, since the Empress Dowager tried to scam him, zhen can do the same.
The next day he invited to the palace the most famous Taoist priest in the Capital and they talked for a long time. In fact, Taoism covers a broad area of discussion, and Ji Heng doesn"t like people trying to deceive others with ghosts. Hence he only talked to the white-bearded man about theory.
Recently, the Empress Dowager has been obsessed with the supernatural. Hearing that a famous Taoist priest was in the palace, she really wanted to meet him so Ji Heng led the priest to the Ci Ning Palace.
The Empress Dowager confessed her sorrows to the priest and even provided Tian Qi"s ba zi (her date and time of birth). The old priest said “One aspect of her fate brings the end to ordinary people, whilst the other side brings advantages.”
“What advantages?”
“This person"s character is gold, gold water. Provided that she meets a master who"s character is the running, clear water, she may be able to turn disadvantages in profits. It all depends on the master"s ba zi.”
As soon as she heard this, the Empress Dowager came back to G.o.d, precisely because Ji Heng is his master and his character is clear water. She immediately gave the priest his ba zi and asked him to calculate their fate.
The old priest a.n.a.lysed the characters for a long time, and finally heaved a long sigh.
“What are the results?” the Empress Dowager asked nervously.
“I have lived for many years, but this is the first time I have seen characters that are thid compatible.”
The Empress Dowager was very happy to hear this. As she turned to face her son, she advised Ji Heng to use the servant and never drive him away.
Meanwhile, Ji Heng was speechless. He never expected that such troublesome matter can be settled this easily. Sure enough, using a Taoist priest was the best solution to scam his mother.
The Taoist priest realised that Ji Heng took his words as nonsense and was a bit dissatisfied. “Your Majesty, everything this poor Taoist has said is true.”
“En, you will be rewarded.” Ji Heng was indifferent, clearly nor trusting him.
Understanding this, the old Taoist priest was hurt. The Emperor and the Empress Dowager rewarded him handsomely, so he left the palace with a small sack. As he walked out of the palace, the Taoist thought ‘I will not discuss the issue of predestined fate since you don"t believe me."
On the second day of the crisis, Tian Qi"s chickenpox was healed and she returned to work. As soon as she arrived to Gan Qing Palace she shed tears of grat.i.tude, and said a lot of sweet words to Ji Heng. Since he was in a good mood, Ji Heng forgave all her noise and listened to her tell her story anew.
This mess has finally been solved. Ji Heng can finally breath a sigh of relief.
Next, he has to personally interfere with his brother"s love life.