The Eunuch's Declaration of Loyalty

Chapter 71

Xiao Huaixu's face was grim, and he hurried forward, not caring where he was. Eunuch Fu, with two junior eunuchs, followed behind, not daring to get too close for fear of incurring the emperor's increasingly unpredictable temper, but also not daring to stray too far, wary of any orders from the emperor. Seeing his master, whom he had served for so long and who seemed to understand his thoughts, unable to even maintain his usual smiling demeanor in public, Eunuch Fu felt a chill run down his spine, wondering what his master had seen in the Cining Palace to cause such uncontrollable anger.

Xiao Huaixu wandered aimlessly for a while, finally managing to regain his composure, though his expression remained unpleasant. He stopped and looked up, only to find himself in the Qingyin Palace where Xuan resided. Remembering the daughter Xuan Ge had given birth to, Xiao Huaixu's face darkened further, and after a long silence, he finally stepped inside.

Every time he came to Qingyin Palace to spend time with Xuan Ge, he did not allow any servants to serve him. Now, when Eunuch Fu saw him arrive, he stood quietly outside waiting, and the servants inside also came out in silence.

Xuan Ge was playing with her daughter who had just finished nursing. Her eyes were fixed on the baby's pursed lips, a few white milk stains still clinging to them. She couldn't resist licking them, then frowned and said, "Not sweet, not tasty." The baby, disturbed by her mother, whimpered and smacked her lips before quickly falling asleep again. Xuan Ge, a first-time mother, watched her daughter sleep with boundless wonder, occasionally holding her little hand and ruffling her baby hair. Seeing her daughter's furrowed brows and whimpering from the disturbance, yet still sleeping soundly without opening her eyes or even crying, a broad smile spread across her face.

Xiao Huaixu entered at that moment and happened to see Xuan Ge smiling happily at the baby girl. That smile was somewhat similar to the smile Liu Qingtang had given to the eunuch earlier. The emotions that had been suppressed rose up again in an instant. Like an enraged lion, Xiao Huaixu strode forward with furious eyes, trying to snatch the baby girl away.

It is said that motherhood makes one strong. Xuan Ge, who didn't care about anything, saw him looking fierce as he was about to grab her daughter. She immediately disregarded her own postpartum condition and stood in front of her daughter, protecting her firmly.

"Get away from me! I'm going to kill this little beast!" Xiao Huaixu seemed to be possessed, his eyes were somewhat confused, and he was staring straight at the sleeping child, as if he was not seeing a newborn child, but an enemy.

Xuan Ge looked up without any politeness and, for the first time, spoke sarcastically, "What are you doing now?"

"You're going to protect him?"

"Of course I will protect my daughter."

"Good! Good! Good!" Xiao Huaixu said "good" three times in a row, his eyes murky and flashing with a fierce light. "Then you can all die together!"

Xuan Ge noticed something was wrong with him and vaguely understood why. It was probably due to the poison in her body, which was weakening him and making him increasingly irritable. Today, he seemed to have suffered some great shock, and he was somewhat delirious. As Xuan Ge thought this, she scanned her surroundings, trying to find something she could use as a weapon.

Unfortunately, Xiao Huaixu was too fast. Xuan Ge had just given birth not long ago, and her body was not flexible enough to keep up with him. She could only turn around and tightly protect her daughter under her body, thinking that even if Xiao Huaixu hit her, she would not let him touch a single finger of her daughter.

Perhaps at first, Xuan Ge was indifferent to the sudden appearance of this baby in her belly, but as her body grew heavier day by day, she could no longer ignore the growing lump of flesh inside her and slowly began to experience the feelings of becoming a mother.

Witnessing the birth of this child with her own eyes, Xuan Ge unconsciously came to regard this child as extremely important. Although her upbringing had taught her to care about few things, at the moment of this child's birth, Xuan Ge suddenly understood that this child was the closest person to her in this world, and probably the only person in the world with whom she shared blood. She was her mother, so she had to protect her well, let her grow up healthily, and not let her suffer the same hardships of displacement and loneliness as her own mother.

Xuan Ge shielded her daughter, her brows furrowed as she waited for Xiao Huaixu to go berserk, but there was no movement behind her. Just as she hesitated whether to turn around, she suddenly heard a soft "thump." Turning around, she saw Xiao Huaixu lying unconscious on the ground, with a man in blue robes holding a bowl standing beside him.

Xuan Ge didn't care whether Xiao Huaixu, who was lying on the ground, was dead or alive, nor did she consider who the strange man standing in front of the bed was. Instead, she was attracted by the bowl and the sweet-smelling liquid inside. The smell was somewhat familiar and had a delicious taste.

Even the sleeping baby girl woke up, sniffed, and looked at the man in blue with her bright, dark eyes just like her mother's. The identical expressions of the two, one big and one small, made the man in blue chuckle. "I promised to bring you a bowl of Thousand-Fragrance Dew. Brewing this was quite laborious, requiring herbs and flowers from different seasons, and spring water and dew from different places. It took me almost a year to brew this, so I brought it to you."

The man smiled, and Xuan Ge recognized him immediately. It was the man she had spent a night with, the one who had given her a delicious drink. Back then, she had asked for a whole bowl of this size, and he had actually brought it over. Xuan Ge had no idea that this man might be her daughter's father; she simply took the bowl from him and politely said thank you. After taking a small sip herself, she nodded contentedly, then dipped some more into her hand and fed it to her daughter, who was watching intently.

The baby smacked her lips, first letting out two joyful cries, then babbling excitedly. Seeing this, Xuan Ge smiled and fed her some more. In the past, Xuan Ge wouldn't have cared about anyone else while eating, but although her movements were a bit clumsy, the change was very natural.

The mother and daughter shared the delicious drinks, completely ignoring the emperor lying on the ground and the man whose origins were unknown and who had somehow sneaked in.

The man in blue did not leave. Seeing the two of them like this, he squatted down by the bed with great interest, looking at the older one and then at the younger one. He suddenly smiled and said, "This child seems to be mine."

Upon hearing this, Xuan Ge finally gave him a look. Looking closely, it seemed her daughter's nose and mouth really did resemble this man's; in that case, he was probably her father. Xuan Ge thought indifferently, giving a perfunctory "oh." Who cared who the father was? The child was hers, so of course she was hers; that was only natural.

The man didn't seem to care about her attitude. Instead, he watched with great interest as the two of them shared the bowl of Thousand Fragrance Dew, and even poked the baby's little face. Xuan Ge didn't stop him. Instead, she imitated him and poked her daughter's other cheek, exclaiming, "So soft!"

"Indeed, are all babies this soft? It's truly amazing," the man remarked, as he and Xuan Ge thoroughly teased the baby. The baby, poked and pinched by her parents, protested, pouting as if about to cry, but her mother shoved a finger with some delicious syrup, instantly dispelling her discomfort. After sucking on it for a while, she was happy again, and then Xuan Ge and the man continued playing with their daughter. In a way, Xuan Ge, the man, and the baby were truly a family.

“Yes, I haven’t mentioned it yet. My name is Ye Yun, and I am an itinerant doctor,” said Ye Yun, the man in blue, as he half-leaned by the bedside.

"I am Xuan Ge, the Emperor's concubine," Xuan Ge said, pointing to Xiao Huaixu lying on the ground. This gesture seemed to make her realize her predicament; once Xiao Huaixu woke up, she was sure to be in trouble, and she didn't even know if his madness had subsided. Xuan Ge frowned, a troubled expression on her face, but she picked up the bowl, took a sip of the remaining fragrant dew, and then smiled broadly as she fed her daughter. Worrying was useless anyway; she might as well finish the good drink first and figure out what to do when Xiao Huaixu woke up.

Ye Yun looked at her for a while, then suddenly poked Xuan Ge's face just like he had poked his daughter earlier. Under Xuan Ge's questioning gaze, he smiled and said, "Come with me. My master once taught me that a man should be responsible for his actions. Besides, we have a daughter now, and I must raise her well and be a good father." After he finished speaking, he thought for a moment and added, "Although I don't know how to be a father."

“I also want to be a good mother, but I don’t know how,” Xuan Ge answered earnestly, with a sense of shared sorrow. Then she asked, “If I go back with you, will you let me and my child go hungry?”

"No, and if you follow me, you can drink Thousand Fragrance Dew every year."

"Okay, I'll go with you." Xuan Ge agreed without hesitation. She wasn't naive, but she wasn't stupid. Ye Yun could so easily sneak into the palace, and so many good things were readily available to her; she could definitely support her and her child. Her demands weren't high—just enough to avoid hunger, cold, and being beaten. Besides, in this situation, she worried that if she stayed here, she would be killed by the crazed Xiao Huaixu, and she wouldn't be able to protect her daughter. More importantly, she could drink such delicious fragrant dew every year; just thinking about it made her feel happy.

Seeing that Xuan Ge agreed, the man immediately picked up Xuan Ge and her daughter and walked out. "Then let's go home. I haven't been back for a year. I don't know if my seven disciples have finished cleaning the house. Perhaps I should send a message to them to tell them that I want to bring my master's wife and junior sister back for them."

"Wait, Ye Yun, I haven't finished what I promised my benefactor." Xuan Ge, holding her sleeping daughter, nestled in the arms of a man she had only met twice before who wanted to elope, and suddenly remembered something.

Then, while Liu Qingtang was training the fat parrot in Cixi Palace, she received news that the emperor had fallen into a coma in Cixi Palace and that Consort Xuan and the little princess had gone missing. At the same time, she received an unsigned letter that said she owed her a favor and would repay it on a later day.

Author's Note: Su Nian has thrown a landmine! [This is a solo episode for girls, muah! It's all for you this time~]

Without saying anything more, I lit a candle for Xiao Huaixu, who had been lying on the ground for who knows how long.