After Being Mistakenly Taken for a Fellow Traveler by Emperor Long Aotian - Chapter 93

Zhou Xun sat in his bedroom, holding the hairpin in his hand.

 

He was a bit disoriented.

 

Did the Emperor place this hairpin here? Did he know that Zhou Xun had put it under his pillow? If it wasn’t for that…

 

Why would he have put the hairpin back under his pillow?

 

Zhou Xun had always thought he had come to terms with things. When he learned that the Emperor never considered him a substitute and wouldn’t fall for him, he had calmed down.

 

He had cherished such a precious thing, and he wouldn’t seek more.

 

He would still like the Emperor very much. This affection was vast like the sky and sea, light and breezy, a tender memory he would smile about years later. A person could bury their love and live a lifetime, as long as the light and warmth in the soil were enough to support them moving forward.

 

But now the Emperor had discovered this hairpin… It was like a ginkgo seed buried in frozen soil, absorbing moisture. The land and winter were oblivious.

 

“What will he think of me?”

 

Zhou Xun suddenly laughed.

 

“I don’t care what he thinks of me,” he murmured.

 

Outside the room, there was a commotion. A young servant, Xiao Duo, rushed in through the door, saying urgently, “Young Master, someone from the palace has come to ask you to go to the palace…”

 

“It seems the Emperor… the Emperor is in trouble! He’s… been poisoned!”

 

“Clang!”

 

The wine cup fell to the floor, and Zhou Xun immediately stood up.

 

“Let’s go,” he said without thinking, quickly donning an outer robe and heading towards the palace. “To the palace!”

 

“I’ll go prepare the carriage…” the servant hastily said. “Eh?! Young Master, you—”

 

The servant’s eyes widened. He watched in astonishment as the scholarly young man bypassed him and took the reins of a horse. Zhou Xun mounted the horse with agility, his headband fluttering in the dusk—

 

He saw the figure in the twilight turn, casting a cold glance at him.

 

“The carriage is too slow. I’m riding.”

 

Then, he watched in disbelief as this seemingly frail scholar held the reins and pressed his feet on the stirrups—

 

Riding swiftly towards the palace!

 

Until the figure disappeared, the servant muttered, “Oh my God, Young Master Zhou… Young Master Zhou can actually ride a horse?”

 

“What poison!” Xiao Li Zi, out of breath, ran over, sweating profusely and looking flustered. “Did I say the Emperor was poisoned? Huh?”

 

Xiao Duo: “This, this…”

 

“Are you responsible for the inaccuracies in the report?!” Xiao Li Zi scolded Xiao Duo, hitting him on the head with his whisk, causing him to yelp in pain. “It’s a drug, a drug…”

 

“But, but what kind of drug?” Xiao Duo asked, bewildered.

 

Xiao Li Zi: …

 

“Drug, you fool!” Xiao Li Zi hit him again with the whisk.

 

He ignored Xiao Duo and urgently said to the guards, “Hurry, go back to the palace and catch up with Young Master Zhou! Don’t let this situation escalate!”

 

Zhou Xun’s horse had a smooth journey. Anxious and like a swift spirit in the dusk, he soon arrived at the palace gates.

 

Dismounting, he was met by several guards, who hurriedly asked, “Young Master Zhou, why have you come to the palace?”

 

Zhou Xun held up his jade token and said coldly, “There’s no time to waste. I need to enter the palace!”

 

Guards: ?!?

 

The guards didn’t know what had happened in the palace. They only knew that Xiao Li Zi had hurriedly left, followed by Young Master Zhou arriving in a rush. Since Zhou Xun had the jade token, they exchanged glances and no longer obstructed him.

 

No riding was allowed inside the palace. As night fell, Zhou Xun carried a lantern and walked quickly. The hem of his robe was lit by the flickering light of the candle, his face was expressionless, but his steps were swift.

 

Now, the Yangxin Palace couldn’t accommodate anyone, so the Emperor was temporarily staying at the Chang Le Palace. Zhou Xun headed towards Chang Le Palace. Soon, he saw the magnificent Chang Le Palace, with lights glowing inside and a few eunuchs anxiously pacing outside.

 

This was quite an unusual sight—however, Zhou Xun was too flustered to notice much. The leading servant, Xiao Dengzi, was startled to see Zhou Xun and said, “Damn, it’s Xiao Li Zi’s doing again!”

 

“How is His Majesty now?” Zhou Xun asked, ignoring the others and going straight to him.

 

“This… this…” Xiao Dengzi’s eyes darted around.

 

He recalled the Emperor’s instructions and said, “His Majesty was poisoned, as you know, Concubine Zhao—no, now it’s Zhao Yue, has…”

 

“Harbored resentment against him.” Zhou Xun said softly, “It’s because of me.”

 

Xiao Dengzi quickly said, “Given Zhao Yue’s status and personality, it’s natural for him to resort to such drastic measures…”

 

Zhou Xun closed his eyes and said, “Enough, it’s useless to say more.”

 

He handed the lantern to the attendant, Green Medicine, and asked Xiao Dengzi, “Have the antidote experts arrived?”

 

Xiao Dengzi was startled by Zhou Xun’s question, his hair standing on end. He awkwardly chuckled and said, “Well, we called several earlier, but all were driven away by His Majesty!”

 

Zhou Xun: “Driven away?”

 

How could the Emperor drive the doctors away?

 

“I’ll go in and take a look.”

 

Zhou Xun lifted his robe and was about to enter, but Xiao Dengzi tried to speak up, only to be stopped by someone tugging on his sleeve.

 

Xiao Dengzi turned around to see Green Medicine shaking her head at him.

 

“Green Medicine, you…”

 

In the time it took him to say this, Zhou Xun had already pushed open the door to the hall.

 

The Chang Le Palace was filled with a rich fragrance of magnolia. There were only a few lights, and the soft glow illuminated the curtains, filling the room with a warm golden-red light.

 

—This was Zhou Xun’s first time seeing the palace that was originally designated for him by the Emperor.

 

But at this moment, he didn’t have time to admire it. He looked around, searching for the Emperor’s presence.

 

Finally, he approached a room covered by a gauzy curtain.

 

In the room, there was a faint rustling sound. Zhou Xun reached the door and whispered, “Your Majesty?”

 

There was no response.

 

Zhou Xun tried another address, “Xiao Yu?”

 

“……”

 

He heard something being knocked over inside, followed by the Emperor’s voice: “Huh?? Am I hallucinating??? Is this really happening???”

 

Zhou Xun:……

 

Emperor: “Damn it! Rong Haoyu, you filthy, you…”

 

Zhou Xun: ??

 

The good news was that he finally learned the Emperor’s full name; the bad news was that it seemed the Emperor was in some bizarre state of delusion.

 

Zhou Xun closed his eyes and then pulled aside the curtain, saying, “This isn’t an illusion, Rong Haoyu, I’m outside.”

 

Inside:……

 

“Damn it! I knew it was an illusion!” The voice inside seemed to slap itself, sounding anguished. “You didn’t tell him your surname, how would he know your real name?!”

 

Zhou Xun: …You just told me yourself.

 

He didn’t dwell on this with the Emperor and directly asked, “How are you? What happened?”

 

Inside:……

 

Zhou Xun: “If you don’t speak, I’m coming in.”

 

“I, I’m fine!” The voice inside was struggling and pained. The Emperor seemed utterly frightened and ran towards Zhou Xun. “I’m just a bit…”

 

Zhou Xun: ?

 

Emperor: “Poisoned.”

 

Zhou Xun dropped the curtain and immediately said, “I’ll go find a doctor.”

 

As he turned to leave, the Emperor screamed from inside, “Don’t go!”

 

Zhou Xun stopped: “Why?”

 

“Because…”

 

The Emperor, surprisingly, was still emphatic despite his condition: “Learning medicine won’t save a Chinese person!”

 

Zhou Xun:……

 

Emperor: “Lu Xun said that.”

 

The curtain outside fell silent. The Emperor, seemingly exhausted, slumped on a chair, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and tried hard to ignore his discomfort.

 

“How the hell am I supposed to endure this… It’s unbearable…” he mumbled.

 

He tried again to recall various things, like the bald mentor in the unproductive group meeting, his roommate who vomited all over himself after getting drunk, the stern face of his homeroom teacher while sneaking novels during senior year, the ladder that suddenly broke while watching a video from a certain shady website…

 

Emperor: …Can’t deny, it’s pretty pathetic.

 

He closed his eyes, imagining those people dancing around him in a bonfire, feeling his body becoming increasingly calm.

 

“I’m really amazing,” he murmured with a shiver. “I must be the first person in history to defeat some magical drug using my own… my own wisdom.”

 

But this pride didn’t last long.

 

Because it was too quiet in the room.

 

In the oppressive silence, he soon heard.

 

He heard.

 

The faint trembling breath of another person outside the curtain.

 

Emperor:……

 

The Emperor, formerly known as Rong Haoyu, finally painfully grabbed his own bangs.

 

“Damn…” he said with deep anguish. “Everything’s gone to waste…”

 

No number of peering teachers or bald mentors extending his academic life could calm him now. He knew Zhou Xun was right behind the curtain, separated by just a thin gauze—

 

Oh, this gauze was actually specially chosen by Xiao Li Zi. Xiao Li Zi had once wiggled his eyebrows and said that this gauze was of a special texture, with the inside being the bedroom and the outside being the tea room. When the Emperor visited, he could sit in the tea room and look through the gauze. Through the gauze, one could see the vague figure of a beauty waking up from her spring sleep and dressing, perhaps arranging her hair, or lazily reclining on a stool, her clothes partially revealed, also looking out—

 

The Emperor bitterly thought, this is OOC.

 

—But the essence of humanity is fantasy and OOC.

 

And the protagonist of OOC was still outside, adding to this fantasy. He didn’t know that every word he spoke, every perfectly normal word, as long as it carried breath, carried the breath flowing between lips and teeth—

 

Oh, between lips and teeth, the red, candlelit lips—

 

At this moment, was the sharpest poisoned blade.

 

“…That’s not poison.” The voice outside was calm and detached, starkly contrasting with the scene. “It’s that kind of drug, right?”

 

“It’s nothing. I won’t mock you.”

 

Zhou Xun’s intention was likely to calm the Emperor down, to use the most rational tone to ease the Emperor’s embarrassment, and then discuss how to handle the situation—just as he always managed the situation well whenever there was a principled disagreement between them.

 

But what he didn’t know was that in such a scene, the calmer and more detached his voice was—

 

The more it made one want to destroy it, to taint it.

 

—To drag him into it through the gauze curtain.