The Eunuch's Declaration of Loyalty

Chapter 74

"It's getting late, shouldn't we get up?"

"Do not."

Qin Shu tried to move slightly, but Liu Qingtang clung to him tightly again. Looking at Liu Qingtang, who was rubbing her hair all over her chest, Qin Shu sighed helplessly and decided to stay in the warm blankets as she wished.

Once outside the palace, Qing Tang would change completely. At times like this, she would act like a rogue, refusing to listen to anyone. She was even more spoiled than a child, and compared to her godson, he was far more obedient and sensible. However, no matter how willful and capricious she was, Qin Shu found her incredibly adorable.

Over the years, Liu Qingtang has become more and more like a child in private, largely due to Qin Shu's spoiling. Tao Ye and Zhui Yi watched from the beginning, initially hoping that Qin Shu would treat their mistress well, but later they couldn't wait for Qin Shu to show some of the assertiveness he displayed in front of others, and not to always give in to their mistress. Now she's just like that mischievous little boy from when she was a child, even more difficult to take care of than before.

The two women who had taken care of Liu Qingtang since childhood often sighed like this, and later they stopped interfering. Firstly, although Liu Qingtang treated them like sisters, they were always dutiful and naturally understood that they shouldn't interfere too much in their master's affairs; secondly, Chief Steward Qin had spoiled her himself, and he was the one who suffered for it, without saying anything, looking rather foolishly content, so they had even less reason to say anything.

Even when she occasionally returned to the Liu family home, her father would have to frown and give his daughter a stern lecture to prevent her from being spoiled. At these times, Qin Shu could only stand there with Liu Qingtang and listen to the reprimand. Initially, her father naturally didn't have a very friendly attitude towards Qin Shu and didn't want to say much to him.

As a father, seeing his daughter with a certain person, even if he verbally accepted it, there would still be a knot in his heart. However, he was not the kind of unreasonable and heartless person. Seeing how good Qin Shu was to his daughter, even if he was upset, he gradually began to truly regard him as his son-in-law from the bottom of his heart.

Once Father Liu's attitude changed, his treatment of Qin Shu shifted from distant to stern. He had always been like this; aside from his two daughters, who were slightly better, he had the highest expectations of those closest to him, often wearing a cold expression. If one didn't understand, one might truly dislike him because of this attitude—something Xiao Huaixu simply couldn't comprehend. Father Liu himself was aware of this flaw, but he couldn't change it. He was the kind of person who, even if he liked someone, was too embarrassed to express it, so he could only wear a cold expression. In truth, he wanted to get along well with these children more than anyone else.

Liu Qingtang was initially worried that Qin Shu wouldn't understand her father and would be upset by his attitude, but to her surprise, Qin Shu was quite happy and treated her father with even more respect afterward.

"This is probably what people mean by a strict father. His deep love for his son is easily felt. I... have never experienced this, but I feel very envious. Now, it can be considered that one of my wishes has been fulfilled." Qin Shu said this, and as he spoke, he seemed to be recalling something in a daze, with a strange sense of relief on his face.

For all these reasons, Empress Dowager Liu Qingtang, who valued family, and Chief Steward Qin Shu, who cherished this bond, could only bow their heads and listen to the reprimands of their father, the semi-retired Duke Liu. Qin Shu was reprimanded the most, because the Duke Liu felt that his daughter, whom he had painstakingly taught for over a decade, had been spoiled by this fellow in just two years, which was unforgivable. He felt that if he didn't scold him a few times, he would be letting down the effort he had put into raising his mischievous daughter.

The more Liu's father likes to lecture people, the more he likes them. Liu Qingtang knows her father's awkward thoughts and sometimes gets jealous of Qin Shu, saying that her father always scolds him and ignores his daughter, which makes Qin Shu both laugh and cry.

Sometimes when visiting the Yang family, Liu Qingtang was just as unruly. Whenever this happened, Yang Sushu would call Qin Shu to discipline his "Empress Dowager," as if she were helpless against a mischievous child and had to call the child's mother to handle it. Yang Sushu couldn't help but think of this description and then couldn't help but laugh.

Liu Qingtang's temper grew stronger, while Yang Sushu's temper became gentler. Perhaps it was because she became a mother that she became more and more gentle, yet she also possessed a strong maternal instinct. When dressed as a man, she was truly gentle and refined, and the previous estrangement had melted away considerably.

Many people came to her door to propose marriage to this "gentle and refined" imperial physician, Yang Sushu. There were even young men with homosexual tendencies who, seeing that this fake young master was quite old and had not yet found a wife, mistakenly thought that she shared the same interests and came to test her, which caused Yang Sushu a lot of distress.

Her situation was relatively good, but Liu Qingtang was truly worried about her brother Liu's situation. They weren't in a hurry at all about him and Xi Lan. Xi Lan continued to lead a Liu family army as a man, her demeanor clearly indicating she was going to take over from her father. As for Liu Qingrong, this highly sought-after eligible bachelor in Yujing was always ruthless and self-disciplined, leaving no chance for anyone else. He chased after Xi Lan, acting foolishly, almost making everyone in Yujing know he was gay.

Liu Qingtang said she wouldn't interfere, letting him handle his wife's affairs himself. Compared to her brother, Liu Qingtang felt that her life was truly blissful. Even if they couldn't leave the palace for the time being, it didn't stop them from occasionally going out to relax. For example, right now she could be lazing around in bed with Qin Shu.

Liu Qingtang stretched, loosened her grip on Qin Shu's arms and legs slightly, and stretched them out of the quilt. The room was warm from the stove, and the curtains were drawn, filling the room with heat. After being covered by the quilt and sticking together with Qin Shu for so long, Liu Qingtang felt hot, so she simply stretched her arms and legs out to get some fresh air.

Seeing this, Qin Shu, who had been obediently letting her hold him, skillfully pulled her hands and feet back under the covers. "You'll catch a cold if you stick them out." He did this at least four or five times a night. Because of Liu Qingtang's increasingly casual sleeping posture, Qin Shu had been given a reproachful look by Zhui Yi. After all, even when Liu Qingtang wasn't sleeping with Qin Shu, although she didn't sleep peacefully, her sleeping posture was nowhere near as bad as it was now.

"No, it's so hot, I'm just sticking my feet out to get some fresh air." Liu Qingtang rolled to the side, stuck her feet out again, and deliberately lifted them up and swayed them.

Qin Shu remained expressionless, persistently covering her mischievous feet back up. Every time Liu Qingtang lifted the covers, he would cover them again. Finally, Liu Qingtang gave in, obediently putting her feet under the covers, but her hands would still wander out and playfully rub against Qin Shu's face and head. One moment she suddenly had the idea to force Qin Shu to close his eyes, then lay on top of him to count his eyelashes; the next she would braid both of their hair together into a dozen or so twisted little braids.

After braiding her hair, Liu Qingtang immediately revealed a mischievous smile, slipping her cold hand inside Qin Shu's clothes, giving him goosebumps, and then poking and tickling his waist. Qin Shu never fought back, letting her play to her heart's content. Usually, if he couldn't stand it anymore, he would just move away a little, but now that her hair was braided together, worried that moving it to the side would hurt Liu Qingtang, Qin Shu had no choice but to grab her hand. Seeing that she was still unwilling to give up and wanted to continue teasing him, he simply kissed her, silencing her from further annoyance.

Liu Qingtang laughed as she was kissed, trying to shrink back but refusing to stop. She wriggled and played around on the bed, working up a sweat early in the morning. Finally, she rolled out of bed, still in her undergarments, and ran to the foot of the bed to tickle Qin Shu's soles. Seeing Qin Shu shrink back in ticklishness, she laughed and fell onto the bed, only to be wrapped in the blanket and held in Qin Shu's arms. Unable to break free, she haphazardly kissed and rubbed against Qin Shu's face. When Qin Shu softened and released her, she immediately turned and started teasing him again.

Qin Shu really couldn't do anything with her. He played along with her fooling around in bed for a long time, and only when he heard her stomach growling with hunger did he finally manage to get her to get dressed and get up to eat.

Once other people are around, Liu Qingtang shows no trace of her usual playful antics in front of Qin Shu. She becomes haughty and composed, her behavior befitting an empress dowager. However, she often takes the opportunity to subtly tease Qin Shu when no one is looking. For example, when asked about snacks, she might casually remark, "Last night's were more to my liking," and then give Qin Shu a meaningful smile as she feeds her the previous night.

Since they were visiting the Yufo Temple to worship Buddha, Liu Qingtang spent the day listening to the abbot's sermons, and then spent the rest of the time wandering around the camellia garden with Qin Shu. The camellia garden looked even more beautiful during the day, and even though Liu Qingtang didn't particularly like camellias, she couldn't help but show her appreciation. This camellia garden wasn't just about camellias; it also incorporated bamboo, artificial mountains, and other elements to create various small scenes featuring camellias. Some camellias were meticulously pruned, while others were allowed to grow freely, possessing a unique wild charm. There were also quite a few large camellias like the ones they had seen on their first night, some as tall as two people, their branches broken by the weight of their overlapping blossoms, forcing someone to pick some.

When Liu Qingtang was in high spirits, she even sat on the wooden ladder and personally cut a few branches for Qin Shu to put in a vase. In the following days, when the flowers were blooming better and better, she even took paper and pen and stayed in the camellia garden to draw dozens of small landscape pictures of camellias of different shapes and varieties, which she then bound into a book and gave to Qin Shu.

Liu Qingtang and Qin Shu were having a good time at the Bathing Buddha Temple, but Xiao Huaixu in the palace was in very poor health. His body had only recently deteriorated and shouldn't have been in serious trouble so quickly, but he was preoccupied with his own thoughts and it took him half a month to recover. He had seriously damaged his health, and to make matters worse, trouble broke out in his already turbulent harem.

After Xuan Ge disappeared, Xiao Huaixu fell ill for more than half a month, not entering the harem nor allowing his concubines to attend to him. Seeing that the Empress Dowager's absence had significantly reduced her influence over the ambitious concubines, and with Xuan Ge's apparent death—a favored concubine—and few in Xiao Huaixu's harem willing to be ignored, all plotting to replace her, everyone was eager to seize the emperor's favor during his recovery from a serious illness.

There are plenty of impatient men, and those women are all somewhat cunning. What's worse, they aren't necessarily all smart. One of them even thought of drugging the emperor so that she could be the first to receive his favor.

Xiao Huaixu rarely visited the inner palace, and who knew that a concubine would dare to drug him? That potent drug only worsened his slightly improving condition, making him look even more listless. The sight of his sickly appearance alarmed the Grand Secretary. Xiao Huaixu, his expression contorted with rage, ordered the concubine who had secretly drugged him to be punished. Then, when the Grand Secretary tried to summon the imperial physician, he waved his hand to stop him. "Find an experienced doctor outside the palace," he said. "The imperial physicians mostly downplay the severity of the illness. Their whitewashing is surely the Empress Dowager's idea. Now, I want to hear the truth."

Then Xiao Huaixu received the old doctor's prediction that he wouldn't live more than three years. In fact, in the old doctor's view, the emperor was too violent, and such a person was most likely to hurt himself and others. If he didn't change, he might not even be able to survive a year.

The old doctor was detained to prevent him from leaking the news. Xiao Huaixu leaned against the bed, his face full of resentment, the darkness in his eyes making even the Grand Secretary Wang feel a chill. The emperor was still very young, and they all thought they had plenty of time to change the situation in the court, but now, it seemed their power was waning. Even Grand Secretary Wang, who was constantly hampered in court, couldn't help but show a look of defeat upon hearing this news.

Xiao Huaixu saw this, picked up the medicine bowl from the bedside and smashed it, causing a bloody gash on the Prime Minister Wang's forehead. The Prime Minister Wang was startled and knelt down tremblingly, saying, "Your Majesty, please calm down. This old minister will immediately go and find a famous doctor. Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, and you will surely be healthy and well."

Xiao Huaixu remained silent, clutching his aching chest, his gaze fixed on an unknown place. After a long while, he managed a resolute smile. "Since I won't live much longer, what is there to worry about? But even in death, I will take them with me."

Author's Note: The Ming Dynasty threw a landmine! [Thanks to the girl who threw the landmine, muah!~]

Did you feel Fu Huazi's loneliness like snow after reading the last paragraph? _(:3∠)_