Becoming Puppet Emperor of a Paranoid Eunuch - Chapter 88

Ning Qinghong stood high above, overlooking the numerous white marble steps leading up to the palace hall. Dressed in a dark-colored crane cloak over a scarlet official robe, he gazed casually into the distance. The hem of his robe fluttered lightly in the cool autumn breeze.

 

In his hand was a hollow sleeve stove, which Wu Jing usually used to warm his hands, and he was slowly playing with it. He asked a nearby servant holding hot tea, “How is it?”

 

The servant replied, “Someone from the front hall came to report that Your Majesty is on the way, but they are not sure what has delayed him. He has not arrived yet.”

 

As soon as the servant finished speaking, a noise came from behind.

 

Wu Jing was being led over, shivering slightly from the cold wind, huddled in his fox fur coat. Upon hearing the eunuch beside him say “He has arrived,” Wu Jing instinctively looked up.

 

He saw Ning Qinghong turning slowly to look at him.

 

Ning Qinghong waved his hand, “Come here.”

 

Wu Jing ran over.

 

Ning Qinghong smiled, leaning down and gently asking, “Are you afraid, Wu Wu?” Before he spoke, the surrounding servants had silently withdrawn.

 

Wu Jing shook his head and then nodded, buried in Ning Qinghong’s embrace.

 

Ning Qinghong said, “As the Son of Heaven, Wu Wu must learn some things.” He smiled, “Otherwise, others might think Wu Wu is easy to bully.”

 

Wu Jing was somewhat puzzled, not understanding what he needed to learn and how it related to the ministers who had introduced themselves earlier. He still didn’t understand what was meant by this situation.

 

Moreover, he had not been bullied because of Ning Qinghong’s protection, so what did this have to do with anything?

 

Ning Qinghong asked, “Did Wu Wu remember those people?”

 

Wu Jing nodded hesitantly. He had forgotten some but still remembered a few.

 

“It’s fine. You will get to know them eventually.”

 

“Some of these people have long been in the cabinet, while others are newly promoted, but all of them hold some real power.”

 

“But it is also because of my tacit approval.”

 

“After this encounter, they will not dare to underestimate Wu Wu.” Ning Qinghong said calmly, “Since Wu Wu can read now, you should spend an hour each day with me to review documents, attend court every three days, and attend a small cabinet meeting every seven days.”

 

“You need to listen to some things and not always daydream.”

 

Wu Jing was initially confused, but Ning Qinghong’s sudden statement made him realize that Ning Qinghong was already aware that he tended to doze off or get distracted during these times.

 

He immediately felt embarrassed.

 

He calculated that following this schedule would mean dedicating two hours daily after school to homework, which might extend to 8 PM. Every three days he would need to wake up at 5 AM, and every seven days, he could have a day off because the small cabinet meeting would end around 10 AM.

 

No weekends, waking up at 5 AM, and ending at 8 PM.

 

No way!

 

Wu Jing shook his head vigorously.

 

Ning Qinghong paused, “If Wu Wu finds it tiring, you don’t have to go to the academy. I can teach you.”

 

Wu Jing hesitated and shook his head, “I promised my classmates that we would go together and have fun.”

 

Ning Qinghong smiled, “Then what do you want to do?”

 

Seeing his gentle attitude, Wu Jing gathered his courage, “I just want things to be like before. I don’t want to listen to discussions about court affairs; I don’t understand. You can review documents and attend court.”

 

He began to stutter, “I, I don’t mind that.”

 

What he wanted to say was that he didn’t care who sat on the dragon throne. Whether it was the original owner or himself, they were both clueless about ruling the country. It was better left to those who knew how to handle such matters.

 

Wu Jing mustered his courage, “You handle it; it’s not my responsibility anyway.”

 

Ning Qinghong sighed, “Wu Wu is so generous?”

 

Wu Jing replied seriously, “It’s originally yours.”

 

Ning Qinghong smiled and asked, “What if one day, if I’m not around, what will Wu Wu do?”

 

He spoke lightly, with a calm tone, as if he didn’t care about the underlying meaning of his words.

 

Wu Jing was stunned, “Not around?”

 

Ning Qinghong touched the boy’s ear and neck with his warm hand, soothing him as he rubbed gently, “What I mean is what I say.”

 

Wu Jing felt a bit of pain from the warmth of Ning Qinghong’s touch, though it was supposed to be comforting.

 

The boy trembled slightly, opened his mouth but could not speak a word, staring blankly at Ning Qinghong, who continued to smile and said, “Wu Wu is being spoiled by me.”

 

He held up Wu Jing’s clothing, fiddling with it, “Wearing a rare northern fox fur coat and golden silk.”

 

“If you are not pleased with the food, you will sulk and feel unhappy inside.”

 

“When you sleep at night, you need a thick, soft brocade quilt to stay warm.”

 

Ning Qinghong continued softly, “If Wu Wu were to return to the past, where you couldn’t eat or dress warmly, and were too cold to sleep well at night, falling sick the next day, you would likely just curl up in a corner without making a sound.” He asked, “What would Wu Wu do then?”

 

“You probably wouldn’t even know where to go to cry.”

 

“You’d hide in a cupboard, and no one would coax you out.”

 

Ning Qinghong raised his finger and gently wiped the tears from the corner of the boy’s eyes, sighing with a smile, “I was just teasing you, why are you crying again?”

 

Crying? 

 

Wu Jing blinked, belatedly realizing that his face was covered with tear stains, chilled by the cold wind, and his eyes were still brimming with tears.

 

He hastily wiped his face, trying to hold back his tears.

 

He had never really understood mental illness, and Ning Qinghong had never shown any signs of weakness in front of him. Even when he was ill, it was only evident in a slight weariness around his eyes.

 

He thought it wasn’t serious.

 

Or rather, Wu Jing had never considered the situation to be so grave. He had lived alone before and had been happy enough, even though he hadn’t always had enough to eat or warm clothes to wear, he had managed to get by.

 

But just as the saying goes, it’s easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. Now, he couldn’t imagine what life would be like without Ning Qinghong.

 

Wu Jing suddenly felt a deep sense of panic, as if something was missing from his heart, and his heartbeat quickened.

 

This emptiness made him feel extremely uncomfortable, to the point that even breathing became difficult, a kind of intense fear and anxiety.

 

Wu Jing couldn’t help but bury his face deeper, clinging tightly to Ning Qinghong, standing on tiptoe and pressing himself closer, tears streaming down his face.

 

Ning Qinghong chuckled and picked him up, gently patting Wu Jing’s back, “What’s wrong? I was just teasing you, no need to cry.”

 

Wu Jing shook his head, sobbing, “You did it on purpose, to scare me.”

 

How could he be so mean?

 

Ning Qinghong comforted him, “But Wu Wu must learn some skills, right?” He said, “No matter if I’m here or not, or what may happen in the future.”

 

“What if Brother’s not here to soothe you, Wu Wu would still need to stand up for yourself.”

 

“Right?”

 

“Is that right?”

 

Wu Jing wiped his tears while shaking his head, “I—I don’t want to fight.” He choked, “I never thought that far, and I don’t want to take things that don’t belong to me.”

 

“I—I just want to eat good food and sleep, sleep well.” He was crying so hard that he almost passed out. After taking a few sniffling breaths, he continued to stammer, “I overheard them saying that if I weren’t foolish, you definitely wouldn’t have let me go. I was scared, so I kept pretending, pretending to be foolish, always, always deceiving you.”

 

“The last time, no, not the last time, the first time I hid in the cabinet, I overheard them saying that they would deal with me in the future.”

 

“I don’t want any of that.”

 

“I won’t, and I don’t understand.”

 

“I’m afraid, I’ll hurt a lot of people.”

 

“But Brother won’t.” He clung to Ning Qinghong, crying so hard that he couldn’t catch his breath. “Brother is very strong.”

 

“Brother, please don’t leave.”

 

Ning Qinghong soothed him softly, “Wuwu is afraid that if Brother leaves, chaos will ensue, and someone will bully you, right?”

 

Wu Jing shook his head, rubbing his tear-soaked cheek against Ning Qinghong’s, shaking his head as he did so. “No, no.”

 

“Brother wants me to be well.”

 

“I want you to be well too.”

 

Ning Qinghong chuckled softly, “Wuwu? Look up.”

 

Wu Jing obediently tilted his face upward.

 

The tears that had streamed down the young man’s face reached his lips. As Ning Qinghong lowered his head to kiss him, Wu Jing obediently parted his lips and teeth, welcoming the kiss, even though he was still crying so hard that he could barely breathe.

 

This kiss was salty with tears yet extraordinarily gentle, as if Ning Qinghong was soothing him with soft words. It took a long time, but Wu Jing’s tears finally began to stop.

 

Because he was feeling so distressed, what would normally happen after kissing for too long didn’t happen this time. He just blinked his wet eyelashes, looking at Ning Qinghong with unease, not even daring to close his eyes.

 

Ning Qinghong used his fingertips to wipe away the tear stains on Wu Jing’s face, “Alright now. Brother did this to prevent any embarrassing rumors about Wuwu in the future and to warn them ahead of time.”

 

Wu Jing couldn’t understand, “What embarrassing rumors?”

 

Ning Qinghong sighed, simplifying his explanation, “It means these people will gossip about Brother and Wuwu behind our backs.”

 

Wu Jing understood this time, “They’ll secretly talk about us?” He wiped his tears, “What, what could they say?”

 

Ning Qinghong held him as they walked into the hall, speaking slowly, “They could say many things.”

 

“For example, they might say that Brother treats Wuwu as his favourite eunuch.”

 

This was far from the truth, but Ning Qinghong deliberately said it to Wu Jing this way.

 

“Always keeping Wuwu by his side.”

 

He chuckled softly as he spoke.