An attempt was made on the life of Changlu's monarch right outside the palace, but he was fortunately treated in time and no serious injury was reported.
Under the moonlit sky, Ye Shu walked out of the prison and looked up into the night.
His bloodstained fox fur robe, which he hadn't had time to change, was as white as a wintersweet flower in a blanket of snow, looking appalling.
Ye Shu took a deep breath to quell the bout of nausea in his stomach.
Earlier that day, he had returned to the palace with Jin Wang, and once the imperial physicians had taken care of his arrow wound, he proceeded to the prison with the token that Jin Wang had given him.
Some of the assassins who staged an ambush at the Ye Mansion were killed on thespot by the imperial guards, and some killed themselves upon capture, so only a fewwere eventually taken to prison.
But it was enough.
Ye Shu was escorted by the guards back to Yangxin Hall. Just as he walked in, hecaught sight of Jin Wang leaning lazily on the couch, reading a folding memorial thatwas held in his hands.
Aside from being a little pale, he seemed well spirited.
There was no sign of the man who had nearly lost his life a couple of hours ago.
This man's resilience was truly something to wonder at.
"You're back. Come over here sss—" Seeing Ye Shu come back, Jin Wang tried to sit up but accidentally pulled his wound, making his complexion turn ashen in pain.
He was promptly surrounded by several inner servants who rushed to his aid in fright.
Ye Shu strode over, frowning as he said, "Why don't you go lie in bed?"
"I was waiting for you so we could have our meal." A cushion was padded behind Jin Wang and he could barely hold himself up. He smiled at him. "You're tired. Sit down and rest."
Ye Shu hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'll go take a bath."
He had just come out of prison. That place had not been exposed to sunlight for years, and the dampness, coldness, and the heavy smell of blood still lingered on him. Ye Shu had been in there for several hours, and the smell he now carried was nothing to write home about.
Ye Shu went to bathe and got changed. By the time he returned, several inner servants were in the middle of serving the meals.
Gao Jin helping Jin Wang to some soup.
Jin Wang was injured on his shoulder and could not lift his whole arm until the injury healed.
But as the monarch, he had plenty of people to serve him with meals in his daily life.
Ye Shu took over from Gao Jin and sat down beside Jin Wang with the bowl of soup. "All of you are dismissed."
In the past, the two of them did not need to be served, but today, after all, was a different case. Gao Jin looked at His Majesty's expression and saw that the latter made no objection, so he waved away the inner servants and withdrew from Yangxin Hall.
Ye Shu fed Jin Wang the soup spoonful by spoonful.
It suddenly occurred to him that he used to dislike serving this man.
This was an era when imperial power reigned supreme, and while this one before him was a monarch, he was in a position to acknowledge allegiance and serve the other.
Ye Shu had never been used to, nor did he like, this kind of unequal relationship.
But now it no longer mattered.
His movements were so careful and thorough that Jin Wang couldn't help but laugh. "Tend to yourself and eat. I'm not as weak as you think."
Ignoring him, Ye Shu scooped up another spoonful of soup and blew it out to cool, and then fed it to Jin Wang.
He didn't believe a word this man said.
This was the first time he had seen Jin Wang looking so weak.
At the time the carriage reached the palace, Jin Wang was covered in blood, and his face was whiter than the snow on the eaves, with not a trace of blood.
Just remembering that his appearance could be attributed to himself, Ye Shu's heartache so much he could barely breathe.
Jin Wang asked again, "How did those assassins fare?"
Ye Shu paused in his movements and lowered his eyes. "Didn't the guards come back to report to you?"
"They did," Jin Wang chuckled. "They said your tactics were excellent, and after a little interrogation, you made those people confess the truth."
"Such an exaggeration." Ye Shu shook his head and said, "I have confirmed that those people are not remaining confederates of Minister Ye."
Ye Shu was, after all, still nominally the Minister of the Left.
It might not be so easy to find out the whys and wherefores of those people, but it was not so difficult to find out if they were affiliated with the original owner.
He merely asked a few questions, and those people made numerous errors that led them to admit that they only intended to use the name of Minister Ye to absolve the real employers.
Just who the real employers in question were, however, was currently unknown.
If it were in the past, Ye Shu would have been happy to be cleared of suspicion over the assassination, but today he was somewhat disappointed.
Another potential clue about the original owner had been lost.
Jin Wang naturally knew what he was thinking, and did not mention the matter. He changed the subject, saying, "Those assassins are well-trained. Most of them are killers who made their living this way in the Jianghu. Such people would never easily betray their employers. It might be easy to find out their weak points, but I'm afraid it'll be hard to pry their mouths open."
"......It won't be that hard actually," Ye Shu said in a low voice.
He looked up to Jin Wang and added, "Give me three more days, and I will get to the bottom of this matter."
Jin Wang, "A-Shu, you don't have to......"
Ye Shu interrupted, "You've already given me your token. There's nothing you can do even if you don't agree. I will most definitely check."
"......"
After a moment of silence, Jin Wang suddenly laughed. "Fool. I have already said it, you are not to blame for what happened today."
Ye Shu was startled, his lips lightly pursed.
Jin Wang raised his uninjured hand and touched the other party's cheek. "I was injured for you, and you feel bad about it, so you want to find out the truth for me, do you not?"
"But to me, those things are far less important than you," Jin Wang said. "A-Shu, in my heart, everything combined is not as important as your safety."
He spoke with such emotion that he made a move to straighten up and hug the man in front of him, when his face stiffened as it implicated his wound.
The atmosphere that had been created was swept away.
"I'm not trying to be brave." Ye Shu didn't pay attention to his movements, rather he said seriously, "Trust me. Just three days. Three days will suffice."
"......" Jin Wang waived his battle with the wound and lay back on the cushion. "Then you must promise me. You must not strain yourself, must not enter into any danger, and must not do anything that could be harmful to your being."
"Mhm, I promise you."
"In three days' time, no matter what the outcome, you must not pursue the matter further."
"Okay."
Jin Wang pondered for a moment. "One more thing..."
"What?"
Jin Wang gritted his teeth as he said in annoyance, "Sit over here. I can't hold you at all."
"......"
Ye Shu's ears grew a little hot as he put down the bowl of soup and leaned over to Jin Wang's side. After some more thought, he simply lowered his head and leaned into Jin Wang's embrace.
He carefully controlled his strength, trying with all possible care not to brush against Jin Wang's wound, and rested his head gently on the latter's shoulder.
"Is this...okay?"
Jin Wang raised his uninjured hand and wrapped it around Ye Shu's waist.
The other party had just bathed and his body still carried a touch of water vapor and the fragrance of fresh soap. Jin Wang sniffed lightly and deliberately said, "Just this?"
Ye Shu looked up at him from below.
Jin Wang averted his eyes and said vaguely, "My wound hurts, so much that I can't even eat—"
Ye Shu moved up and placed a soft kiss on his lips.
The brief kiss parted immediately upon contact, and Ye Shu, somewhat embarrassed, tilted his head and said, "You just want that."
The contact was so quick that Jin Wang could barely feel it. He was at a loss whether to cry or laugh. "Little fool."
Ye Shu, displeased, "I'm obviously coaxing you. Where's the foolishness in that?"
"How can you coax me like that." Jin Wang looked down at him and said in a warm voice, "Bow your head. Let me teach you."
Ye Shu lived up to his words, and even before the three-day deadline, on the afternoon of the second day, he had all the officials who had conspired to commit the assassination imprisoned.
This matter might take a lot of time for others to handle, but Ye Shu was different. Having confirmed that those assassins had nothing to do with the Minister of the Left, it was self-evident who their employers were.
Who they were, how to obtain evidence, and how to catch them were very clearly written in the book.
With the monarch injured, no one thought he would give the task of investigation tohis consort, let alone that the latter would act so swiftly. Before the rebel officials of the faction could react, they had already been uprooted.
Astonishment washed over the imperial court as well as the public.
A doubt they had never thought of surfaced in their minds.
This conduct......was like the Minister Ye of the past.
Ye Shu did not bother about what the imperial court and the public had to say.
He wanted to do much more than this.
On the last day of the three-day deadline, Ye Shu presented a name list to Jin Wang.
"......This is a list of all the court officials who have rebellious intentions, most of which can now be verified. If Your Majesty deems it unconvincing, you can check it yourself when you recover from your injury," Ye Shu said.
Jin Wang merely scanned the names on there and laughed. "You call this dubitable?"
Originally, when Ye Shu proposed to investigate the truth, Jin Wang was still worried that he would be overburdened, who would have imagined......
Being aware of the upcoming events sure did save one a lot of trouble.
"Without evidence, each one of them will be summoned again for investigation......You've done really well," Jin Wang leaned on the bed and added, "this list involves numerous officials, and I'm afraid the slightest move from our side may affect everything else."
"These people are untouchable now, so they should be replaced with trustworthy officials as soon as possible, and then a way to eradicate them should be found," Ye Shu said seriously. "The metropolitan examination will be held in two months' time, providing the perfect opportunity to do so."
Jin Wang looked fixedly at him.
Ye Shu felt a little self-conscious by his look. "What is it?"
"Nothing......" Jin Wang collected his eyes.
Ye Shu, in this way, came even closer to what he remembered.
As far back as he could remember, this was the same person who paved the way for him. The certainty and determination with which he acted was so spectacular that it was impossible to look away.
Jin Wang didn't say anything else. He didn't even look closely at the list, but merely tossed it aside casually and had his arm spread.
Ye Shu dutifully moved over to be held by him.
Jin Wang asked, "You didn't sleep at all night last night?"
Ye Shu froze.
Jin Wang's voice went cold, "What did I tell you before? You must not strain yourself, have you forgotten?"
Ye Shu's voice was somewhat muffled as he murmured, "......it was not on purpose."
"I couldn't sleep."
During the past few days, as Jin Wang was bedridden and recuperating, Ye Shu no longer slept in the same bed with him and went back to Yongshou Palace.
Back at Yongshou Palace, it was even more difficult to sleep.
The moment he closed his eyes, he would see Jin Wang before him, covered in blood and pierced by a sharp arrow. Even when he had fallen asleep, he had nightmares and woke up several times a night.
Jin Wang gently caressed his back. "Seems like I need to get better quickly."
Ye Shu said nothing as he rested his head on Jin Wang's shoulder.
Jin Wang suddenly asked, "Would you like to be the supervisor for this year's metropolitan examination?"
The metropolitan examination was conducted once every three years, and the previous instance had been supervised by Minister Ye.
Ye Shu was taken aback.
He understood what was implied by that question.
He was in possession of Jin Wang's token to investigate the truth of the assassination for him, which could not be questioned by anyone else. However, to preside over the metropolitan examination, one must be an important official in the court.
Jin Wang meant to......reinstate his identity.
Jin Wang said, "Don't say you haven't thought about it in this way. The people have witnessed your recent actions. How can you still hope to keep it under wraps?"
"I......" Ye Shu averted his eyes.
This was something he naturally wanted.
If he had been more dispassionate, he would not have chosen to step in and carry out the investigation himself. But these days he was too preoccupied with bringing to justice those who had harmed Jin Wang to care about that.
"Wouldn't it be good to be prime minister, with you and I ruling the world together, assisting each other?"
"But still, I respect your wishes," Jin Wang said. "If you wish to remain my consort, I'm naturally willing."
"You're testing me again," Ye Shu laughed. "If I agree, wouldn't that mean staying in the capital forever?"
Jin Wang casually admitted, "Correct."
Ye Shu broke free from his embrace. "Then I'll think it over."
An inner servant brought in the medicinal decoction, and Ye Shu fed it all to Jin Wang before helping him to lie down.
The medicinal decoction had a soporific effect and Jin Wang soon drifted off to sleep.
Ye Shu tucked him in and sat on the bedside looking at him in a trance.
Jin Wang meant to restore his identity.
Once he regained his identity, he was no longer the favored consort who could only be dependent on the monarch, and their relationship would be more equal and independent.
To rule the world together and to assist each other.
What an enticing choice.
"You're the fool," Ye Shu leaned over the bed and said in a whisper, "if I were a
Cuckoo occupying the magpie's nest, you'd be at a big loss."
He hooked Jin Wang's fingers and gently kneaded and played with them. "But I still want to know the answer."
"Whatever that answer may be, it's time for me to face it myself."
He straightened up and came close to Jin Wang, gazing at the latter's sleeping face, and said softly, "Even if in the end I'm not that person you think I am, I would still......"
He didn't finish the rest of his sentence. He lowered his head to drop a kiss on Jin Wang's lips, got up, and left the bedchamber.
The imperial palanquin was waiting outside. Ye Shu got into it and ordered, "To the Cold Palace."