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Chapter 186: Numb
Lu Qing came to the window and gently opened it a crack.

A white jade waist badge was handed in from the gap. Lu Qing was stunned when he saw the badge. He opened the window a little and saw a man in black squatting on the narrow window frame outside like a phantom.

The man in black was wearing the uniform of the Chifu Guard, and Lu Qing recognized him.

He was holding the bulge on the outer wall with one hand, so naturally he couldn't salute Lu Qing. He nodded slightly as a gesture to Lu Qing, and used his free hand to pull down his mask a little to make sure Lu Qing could see his appearance, and then hid his face under the black mask again.

It was a strange face, one I had never seen before.

Moreover, this was the first time that someone wearing Chifuwei uniform took the initiative to remove his mask in front of him.

Lu Qing suppressed his doubts in his heart, without showing any expression on his face, and took a mechanical box from the man.

He recognized this thing, so when he saw the strange Chifu Guard holding such a thing in his hand, he guessed what it was.

After handing the things to Lu Qing, the strange Chifu Guard did not delay any longer. He jumped into the night and disappeared in a flash.

Lu Qing looked out the window at the silence that had returned, as if no one had ever been there.

After a moment, he closed the window again, returned to the bunk bed and sat on the edge.

There wasn't even a table in the room of the inn, so he could only sit by the bed and disassemble the mechanism box.

The surface of this clever box looks like a whole piece of wood, and it is difficult to find the seams unless you touch it carefully.

Lu Qing almost didn't need to look, and touched the corner of the box familiarly. His fingers pushed a small wooden stick halfway, revealing a small bulge inside. He then pulled out the bulging piece of wood, and the ingenious box that originally seemed like a whole suddenly fell apart into a pile of small wooden pieces.

A thickly folded piece of paper fell out from inside, along with a silver whistle.

Lu Qing picked up the paper and unfolded it carefully.

There was only a page of reduced-character piano music written on the piece of paper, but there was no song title.

Lu Qing read the music score carefully, and his slightly frowned brows relaxed. He picked up the silver whistle and looked at it for a moment, then carefully put it in his arms together with the music score. He also gathered together the scattered pieces of wood beside the bed and skillfully assembled them into the shape of a single piece of wood.

He put the ingenious box aside, lay down on the bunk bed with his clothes on.

Zhu Yu, who was sleeping soundly beside her, was completely unaware of the Chifu Guard's visit. She was lying on her side, slightly curled up, breathing slowly. It was unknown whether she was dreaming. Her eyelashes were trembling, and she was mumbling something in her throat. She turned over and was silent again.

Lu Qing also turned over and closed his eyes.

Before, he was just unwilling to be a fish on the chopping board, and wanted to fight for a way out for himself. If he failed, he would die.

Now—beside his cheek, Zhu Yu's scattered hair still carried the faint scent of bath beans—he just wanted to win.

Zhu Yu slept very soundly that night. When he woke up early the next morning, it seemed that he had had some pleasant but unclear dream the night before, so he was in an inexplicably good mood.

She gathered the quilt and suddenly felt something resting on her neck and shoulders. She quickly opened her eyes and lowered her head.

It was an arm, and the firm muscles could be felt even through the fabric of the clothes. There was also a hand with long fingers and distinct joints. At this moment, the palm was slightly spread out in a relaxed manner, and the calluses on it could be vaguely seen.

She was very familiar with this callus, which grew on Lu Qing's hand.

There was something heavy around her waist, and she knew without even looking that it was another arm. Zhu Yu's head, which had been a little hazy just now, suddenly became clear.

She didn't know how she should react to appear more natural and less embarrassed.

Although there were clothes and quilts between the two of them, she was still a little uncomfortable with such an intimate posture.

"If Madam wakes up..." Just as she was lying there stiffly on her side, not daring to move, Lu Qing's voice, still slightly sleepy, came from behind her, "My husband's arm... is a little numb."

Zhu Yu quickly sat up. Although his cheeks were slightly red, he still tried to maintain a calm expression.

Lu Qing glanced at Zhu Yu's blushing face and didn't have the heart to tease her. While stretching his numb arm, he took the ingenious box that had been placed there the night before and handed it to her: "Look at what this is."

Zhu Yu reached out to take it, looked down, and thought that Lu Qing was half asleep, but he actually handed him a piece of wood.

But she turned her head to look at Lu Qing, and seeing that his expression didn't seem like he was teasing her, she guessed that the piece of wood had some other secrets.

So she tried pressing here and pushing there, but after several attempts, she still couldn't find the trick.

Lu Qing told her the trick, and Zhu Yu tried it out of curiosity, and it really turned it into a pile of small wooden blocks.

"Where did this thing... come from?" She fiddled with the wooden block in surprise.

Lu Qing didn't answer, but took out the paper from his arms and handed it over.

Zhu Yu looked at the piano score on the paper. Originally, she didn't understand this kind of abbreviated notation. Before, when she was pretending to be sick in the palace, she was bored and Lu Qing specially asked her to teach him.

She tried to read the music score according to the way Lu Qing taught her, and soon found that something was not right.

Not to mention that the fingering part was too complicated for her to understand, just the melody part, Zhu Yu tried to hum it softly, and the tune didn't sound good or not, it just couldn't be called a "song" at all.

She suddenly realized and looked up at Lu Qing: "This is not a music score, it's a letter?"

"Mr. Mo had someone deliver it." Lu Qing nodded.

"Who came up with this idea?" Zhu Yu asked curiously.

"It's been many years." Lu Qing stretched out his hand and used his fingers to smooth Zhu Yu's long hair that was scattered on her shoulders, and skillfully helped her to tie it into a Taoist bun on top of her head. "When he was a child, he was sent to Shanqing Temple because of his poor health.

At that time, I didn’t know anyone outside of Shanqing Temple, let alone people of the same age, and the same was true for him.

So we quickly became familiar with each other. In Shanqing Temple, we would study, practice calligraphy, and do exercises together under the supervision of our master, so we had company.

Later, when he was about to return to the palace, the situation was different.

Master is happy to see us getting along well, but those people in the capital don't want to see us have any friendship.

We used the music scores as codes, forming a tacit understanding. It was difficult for others to know what we wrote, and they just thought we were exchanging piano skills. Over the years, it has indeed escaped the ears of many people."

(End of this chapter)