Chapter 114

Chapter 114

“My lord, the criminal woman confessed. A foreign merchant sold her a bird, claiming that drinking its blood daily would preserve her youth forever.”

Yan Yu knelt on the floor and looked up at the noble man before her.

Though Fusheng Duan’s expression remained indifferent, anger and mockery entered his eyes. “Fine skin cannot conceal stupid bones. Let her taste what Dailuan suffered.”

Yan Yu acknowledged the order. She thought no one would want to drink the woman’s rancid, sour blood. They would have to make the woman drink it herself.

“There is another matter. The barbarians have declared war on the Zhu Kingdom.”

Fusheng was not surprised. The foreign merchant was almost certainly a barbarian. He had been searching for somewhere to vent his rage, and they had delivered themselves to him.

Yet the barbarians were closest to the Zhen Kingdom, and Weiqing Song had been first to notice their unrest. Why challenge the Zhu Kingdom first?

They likely had another purpose.

“Furthermore, the locust plague is spreading rapidly toward the major cities. The insects are strange. Neither flooding nor poison affects them. They can be killed, but their numbers are vast, and no large-scale solution has been found.”

“My lord, as for the emperor’s whereabouts…” Seeing Fusheng’s growing impatience, Yan Yu silently changed the subject.

She was reporting matters according to custom. Those above liked to keep everything under control, but Fusheng would not help govern.

Ultimately, he was only exploiting the Zhu Kingdom. It was one of the three chief culprits in the Qing Kingdom’s destruction. While it remained useful, they would not let it perish, but neither would they allow it to prosper too greatly.

Since Xunlan Liu became emperor, the Zhu Kingdom had rapidly sunk to the bottom among the three kingdoms. Officially, their strength was balanced. In a comparison of emperors alone, however, Xunlan was not even qualified.

“He has been found.” Sensing Yan Yu had finished, Fusheng remained not a moment longer. He left those words and rose.

Yan Yu was accustomed to looking up at his back. Knowing her troublesome son had been found, she finally released the anxiety of recent days.

Whatever else, he was her own son. Even if the Zhu Kingdom fell one day, she would do everything possible to save his life.

——

Fusheng was irritated. War with the barbarians and the emperor’s disappearance had barely moved him, but the locust plague was truly serious.

If commoners suffered disaster, they could not deliver grain. And what did a surge in refugees mean?

It meant palace expenditures on food, clothing, and other necessities would be reduced!

“Your Highness.”

Shengsheng Zhou waited outside. The instant she saw Fusheng return in his palanquin, she called out.

The palanquin was built of golden-thread nanmu. Its body and cushions used precious fabrics with exquisitely ornate patterns.

The entire design and concept had come from Shengsheng.

Then that shameless dog Xunlan stole it and presented it to Fusheng, offering another person’s flowers to win favor. Shengsheng, who had hoped to earn a promotion with the invention, wanted to slap him senseless.

After dismissing everyone, Shengsheng intended to wait until Fusheng finished his tea before speaking. Instead, he set down his cup and unexpectedly asked–

“Do you know locusts?”

Of course Shengsheng knew them. Her first thought was–

*Deep-fried, they’re insanely delicious.*

*Tsk. Why make me crave them? I haven’t eaten any in ages.*

“I heard there is a locust plague and many commoners have been displaced. Is that what Your Highness means?”

Fusheng did not speak. He merely lifted his eyelids and regarded her languidly, every feature displaying perfect beauty.

Shengsheng had grown accustomed to his recent habit of saying only half a thought, as though constipated in conversation.
When she saw him merely staring at her, inspiration suddenly struck.

She walked over and willingly stretched her slender neck out before him. Lowering her eyes to look at him, Shengsheng Zhou said, “Go ahead and smell me, Your Highness. There’s no scent.”

Forget the fake dog–this time, even after seeing a real one, she had not so much as touched it.

*Would Your Esteemed Elderliness hurry up already? I have a favor to ask.*

Looking at the woman within arm’s reach, Fusheng Duan arched a brow and wondered whether she had been using her brain less and less lately.

In the past, she had fought tooth and nail and figured out solutions to everything herself. Had she recently grown a little too dependent on him?

If Shengsheng could hear his thoughts, she would probably have scoffed and thought, *You think I let you kiss and grope me for free?*

By the time Shengsheng realized what that warm, slick thing against her neck was, she had already leaped away on reflex.

Clutching her neck, she stared at the man before her. The tip of his tongue had already withdrawn from sight, and her eyes widened into perfect circles.

Even she, a certified pervert, found that perverted.

This man… had actually licked her?!

“Your Highness, I only just returned and haven’t had time to bathe yet,” she said in a trembling voice, very deliberately.

Fusheng: “…”

He did not mind… probably.

Come to think of it, Shengsheng had always wanted to ask this question. Before, her lowly status had made her too wary to say it aloud, but now she wanted an answer.

“Your Highness, what exactly are you and I now?”

For the first time before Fusheng, she did not refer to herself as “this servant.” Tentatively, boldly, she used “I.”

Yet Fusheng seemed utterly unconcerned. He countered, “And what do you think we are?”

That genuinely stumped Shengsheng. Her life was a heap of disasters, and she had never had the time to think carefully about it. Yet she and Fusheng did not seem to be dating, either. They simply hugged, cuddled, and kissed often. Defining that relationship was surprisingly difficult.

So she weighed her words with care. “Trying something new?”

At his disdainful scoff, she promptly changed her answer and lowered her voice further. “Then it can’t possibly be… that you have feelings for me, can it?”

The teasing vanished from Fusheng’s eyes, though he still answered with a question. “Why can’t it?”

Shengsheng’s gaze drifted. Truthfully, the idea had crossed her mind, but at the same time it seemed utterly inconceivable.

Why her? She had served Fusheng for five years without so much as a ripple of ambiguity between them. They should have been the sort to know each other all their lives yet remain strangers at heart, so how had he suddenly come to feel that way about her…?

Hearing her thoughts, Fusheng’s lips curved faintly.

She even knew an idiom like “strangers at heart despite a lifetime together” now. Progress.

“Your Highness, this servant doesn’t understand,” she admitted honestly.

She had never seemed reluctant while they kissed, yet the moment they tried to put their relationship into words, she claimed she did not understand.

Tsk. That did seem a little scummy.

Fusheng beckoned to her. Instead of the fury Shengsheng had expected, his expression suggested he had anticipated this answer long ago.

“If you don’t understand, then learn.” His voice ended on its distinctive husky note.

Shengsheng was pulled into his arms and abruptly found herself close to his exquisitely beautiful face. Her heart seemed to skip a beat.

Damn it. She had to admit that after so many years, not only had she not grown tired of it, that face somehow looked better by the day.

After all, Fusheng had still been young when they first met. His features had not yet fully matured then.

As the years passed, that face had grown ever more bewitching, like wine sealed away for ages slowly beginning to release its intoxicating fragrance.