WMSG Chapter 36
by VolareAn endless stream of imperial guards poured into the long corridor. Ye Yueshen stood in the corner, and soon he and Gong Xunwu were completely obscured from view.
He thought he should probably have Gong Xunwu keep an eye on the two people in the kitchen, but Gong Xunwu wasn’t even willing to say a word for him. It would be a bit embarrassing to go and ask for help again.
Besides, the imperial guards had stern faces and wouldn’t allow him, the “criminal,” to get close to Gong Xunwu.
Ye Yueshen felt that if the circumstances weren’t so limited, these people would definitely shackle his head and wrists.
Ye Yueshen turned his head away from Gong Xunwu and extended both hands to be tied up by the guards. Ye Yueshen gasped, feeling like his wrists were about to be broken.
The guards led the rope from the front, and Ye Yueshen walked behind. The princes in the small hall all stood under the Under the corridor looking on.
Gong Shengyin’s expression didn’t show any ups and downs, but his hands, hanging by his sides, were clenched into fists. He glanced coldly at the Prince, then continued to gaze at Ye Yueshen, watching him being escorted into a Seating.
Gong Xuyin also watched Ye Yueshen in silence. The Prince had just walked out of the hall, holding his beloved dog, his gaze towards Ye Yueshen filled with resentment.
Ye Yueshen never looked at them from beginning to end, only confirming with his peripheral vision that the Third Prince wasn’t present.
He was directly Possessed into the Imperial Palace, but he wasn’t questioned, nor was he sent to the prison. Instead, he was placed in a small courtyard somewhere in the palace that he didn’t recognize.
The courtyard had a main house and east and west side rooms. It wasn’t too big, but it was still quite spacious for Ye Yueshen to live in alone.
After he entered, someone locked the gate. A eunuch with the air of a manager came to inform him that he wasn’t allowed to leave the gate, but he could move freely within the courtyard.
But this was obviously a nice way of putting it. From the moment Ye Yueshen entered, there were eunuchs watching him. Wherever he went, there were at least two eunuchs closely following behind. But they wouldn’t answer any of Ye Yueshen’s questions, and they wouldn’t even speak in front of him except to warn him.
When he ate, eunuchs would bring the food to him and tell him not to eat anything he obtained by “chance,” and even more so, not to commit suicide by Clothes-poison, lest he implicate the entire Ye family.
The eunuchs wouldn’t leave even when he slept, but would sit or stand beside him, taking shifts to watch him closely without missing a beat.
Ye Yueshen wanted to turn his back to them to avoid their sinister eyes, but as soon as he turned over, someone would immediately go around to the other side and continue watching him.
What he found most unbearable was that when he went to the Vanity to wash or use the toilet, someone would be staring at him face to face.
Ye Yueshen collapsed several times in the oppressive environment of losing all privacy. He gave up bathing every day, gradually lost his appetite, woke up constantly at night, and eventually suffered from insomnia night after night.
He endured two nights, and at breakfast he saw Gong Xuyin disguised as a eunuch.
Gong Xuyin was flustered, and the eunuch with Gong Xuyin took three steps back, leaving Gong Xuyin space to speak.
“Don’t be afraid,” Gong Xuyin said softly, “He’s one of my people. I was really worried about you, so I risked coming to see you, Zherong, how are you?”
Ye Yueshen’s hair was still messy because he had inexplicable aches in his arms and neck this morning, and he didn’t have the strength to tie his hair properly.
He reluctantly nodded, then pinched his thigh under the table with his fingers, barely waking himself up a bit, and listened to Gong Xuyin say, “This matter hasn’t spread outside yet. We and the Imperial Uncle have all sworn before Father Emperor to keep our mouths shut. Now even the Empress Dowager doesn’t know. Father Emperor said that if there’s even a little sound outside the palace, even if he replaces all the servants in our palaces, he’ll find out who has an extra piece of tongue.”
Ye Yueshen weakly nodded. Gong Xuyin couldn’t help but sit down and said to him, “Zherong, I don’t know why, but the matter between you and the Imperial Uncle reached Father Emperor’s ears.”
Seeing the anxious look on Gong Xuyin’s face, his every move was just short of writing “I’m innocent” on his face.
Ye Yueshen’s eyes finally changed a little. That day, the Third Prince had discovered that he had been pulled away by Gong Xunwu, but he hadn’t told Gong Xuyin that this matter was no longer his secret alone.
Gong Xuyin had been tormented for several days, and he had inadvertently revealed his hand in front of Ye Yueshen, that apart from Ye Yueshen and Qi Wang Manor, he alone, an outsider, knew.
Now that something had happened, wasn’t it him who had said it? Could it be Qi Wang? Naturally not.
He had no reason to offend Qi Wang; he couldn’t be quick enough to curry favor with him.
Ye Yueshen reluctantly showed a comforting smile, “Your Highness, I know it wasn’t you.”
“Zherong!” Gong Xuyin grabbed his hand and asked eagerly, “You really think so?”
Ye Yueshen nodded very gently to him, confirming, “I believe you. You wouldn’t say it.”
Gong Xuyin was so moved that he was wholeheartedly loyal. He subconsciously clenched Ye Yueshen’s hand, “I didn’t befriend you in vain. Zherong, do you have anything you want me to pass on to my aunt? Just tell me, you don’t have to worry about anything else.”
Ye Yueshen pondered for a moment and shook his head. “Your Highness, no. I can’t implicate you. Don’t do anything risky for me again.”
Originally, Gong Xuyin only planned to do this one risky thing of disguising himself as a eunuch to see him. He was a very ordinary person, no different from the men and women outside. He liked Ye Yueshen’s face, and above that, he also liked the unique charm of Ye Yueshen that he couldn’t explain.
But it was only limited to instinctively getting close, talking, and taking a few glances. He didn’t dare to actually do anything. Ye Yueshen wasn’t a beauty from the common folk that he had collected to pay tribute to him, but the son of a Princess’s Lady and the Marquis of Zhongshun.
As for simply making friends, he would take smart people as his confidants to be used by him, and stupid people could also be used if they were profitable. He, the Fourth Prince, Gong Xuyin, never sincerely made friends.
At this moment, looking at Ye Yueshen’s Green lower eyelid, Gong Xuyin couldn’t help but want to do something for him, even if it was for this rare trust.
“Zherong,” The emotion in Gong Xuyin’s eyes was genuine. “It’s okay, just tell me.”
Ye Yueshen firmly refused, “No, I will never implicate you. I, Ye Yueshen, still have that much integrity.”
Of course he wouldn’t let Gong Xuyin pass on a message. Ye Yueshen would never suffer the consequences of “blind trust.”
Gong Xuyin wanted to persuade him further, but the eunuch next to him was a little scared and reminded him to leave early, as the shift change was coming soon.
After sending Gong Xuyin away, Ye Yueshen returned to a stagnant life without privacy, tormented and helpless.
On the fifth day, Ye Yueshen couldn’t stand his long hair anymore. He had no choice but to give in and took a bath under the gaze of the eunuchs. As he was about to dry his hair, he met a stranger’s eyes in the mirror. He was startled and couldn’t help but run out with his hair still wet, wearing only his Middle clothing.
He was caught before he even got close to the Moon Gate partition. Ye Yueshen collapsed and cried, but he couldn’t make a sound.
This situation of not having any information input easily makes people collapse. Ye Yueshen even thought about simply admitting to the crime, but in his despair, he came back to his senses. He hadn’t poisoned anyone, so how could he admit to it?
Ye Yueshen was dragged back to the bedroom, and the eunuchs tried to fix him on the chair with ropes, using the simplest and most thick-Brutal way to calm him down.
But Ye Yueshen was extremely uncomfortable from spirit to substance. Even if someone beat him with a board, it would be better than letting him waste away like this.
In his previous life, he had been punished by being locked in the storage room, but he was only discovered after being forgotten for two whole days. At that time, his only feelings were hunger and numbness.
But now it was different. He had a family. At the thought of his family running around for him, worried and scared, he couldn’t feign composure in this oppressive atmosphere.
The eunuchs didn’t dare to really hurt him and used cloth strips to tie his hands and feet, but he bit through his lip.
Such a big commotion would naturally reach the ears of those who should know.
When Gong Xunwu arrived, he saw Ye Yueshen slumped in a hardwood chair, his hands and feet bound, a wad of handkerchief stuffed in his mouth, and blood on his lips and chin.
In just five days, that Ye Yueshen who dared to argue with him and dared to exchange the poisoned dumplings with him had lost all his vitality and courage, leaving only a weak and pale shell.
Gong Xunwu suppressed the shock and pain in his heart and slowly walked up, placing the food box he had personally brought on the nearby How high, suppressing his tone as he asked, “Now that you’re a prisoner, who is sending you food, Liu Qingying?”
Ye Yueshen’s mind was in a chaotic state. Now, seeing Gong Xunwu, he only felt resentment. In addition, the original emotional relationship took precedence, and he didn’t hear the jealousy in Gong Xunwu’s words at all.
He thought that Gong Xunwu was simply using others as examples to attack him as an ungrateful person.
Ye Yueshen had no fighting spirit and only wanted to show weakness to get Gong Xunwu to let him go. He only slowly lifted his eyelids to take a look, then Droop down his gaze weakly.
Gong Xunwu felt as if his heart was being tightly grasped by a hand, and his breathing was imperceptibly disturbed. He bent down, untied the cloth strips on Ye Yueshen’s body, and threw the handkerchief from his mouth on the ground.
The wound on Ye Yueshen’s bitten lip was very obvious. Gong Xunwu’s fingertip approached it, very close but not touching, and his fingers moved down to wipe away the blood on his chin.
But the blood had already dried a little, leaving a slight trace. At this moment, Gong Xunwu felt as if the heart he was holding was being pinched again.
He pulled Ye Yueshen, chair and all, to the How high, opened the food box, took out the food inside, and then sat down next to Ye Yueshen.
“What are you doing?” Gong Xunwu asked him.
Ye Yueshen didn’t speak.
“Have they Abusive-treat you?”
Ye Yueshen still didn’t speak.
Gong Xunwu stared at him, as if facing a spoiled child who knew he was in the right. He couldn’t beat him, and scolding him was useless.
“Shaou.” Gong Xunwu’s gaze was still fixed on Ye Yueshen’s face. “Go arrest the guards on duty.” He stared at the change in Ye Yueshen’s eyes and said slowly, with enough speed for Ye Yueshen to react, “Execute them immediately.”
Ye Yueshen’s eyes flickered, and he looked at Gong Xunwu, “They didn’t Abuse me.”
Shaou stood at the door and quickly realized that this was being said for Ye Yueshen’s benefit, so he answered loudly, “Yes!”
Ye Yueshen took a quick breath, “Don’t!”
Shaou pretended to accept the order and leave, and Ye Yueshen stood up to chase after him, but Gong Xunwu only untied the cloth strips on his hands, and the ones on his calves were still there, tightly pressed against the chair legs.
He lost his balance and fell forward, and Gong Xunwu caught him in his arms. He felt like he was being played with, and he couldn’t even muster the strength to hit someone.
Gong Xunwu let him hit him and faintly ordered Shaou, “Young Master Yue said not to kill.”
Seeing Ye Yueshen’s reaction, Shaou was also worried and quickly responded loudly, “Yes! This lowly one is back!”
Gong Xunwu held the back of Ye Yueshen’s head and pressed it against his chest, stroking his back, until the person gradually calmed down, and then he affectionately kissed him on the forehead.
After a while, Ye Yueshen whispered, “How’s my family?”