Governor’s Illness

iu Deyi got up from the ground and scrambled forward a few steps.
When he was sure he had maintained a safe distance from Xiahou Lian, he turned his head back and spat toward him and Xiahou Lian, saying viciously, “Little bastard, mark this down for me, I’ll definitely make you suffer the consequences!” After saying this, he covered his head and ran off.

Xiahou Lian disagreed and made a “tch” sound.
“Coward.”

Shen Jue knew that in the following days, they might have to eat spoiled food, but he didn’t say anything and called Xiahou Lian, saying, “Let’s go, everyone should be starving.”

Xiahou Lian agreed and followed behind him.
Shen Jue was quiet, and he didn’t know what he was thinking.
He didn’t speak the entire way.
These few days, Xiahou Lian’s vigor had recovered, so he had originally wanted to help Shen Jue share the burden of general affairs.
Today, he had seen that Shen Jue hadn’t returned even though it had been very late, so he had gone out to search for him.
He hadn’t expected that he hadn’t walked many steps before he saw a eunuch pressing Shen Jue against a wall, his hands groping.
He had instantly flown into a rage and, without even thinking, threw a punch toward that damned eunuch’s face.

In this dynasty, male homosexuality prevailed, and Emperor Chengzong and Emperor Muzong were both were both famous cut-sleeves.
The seal-holding eunuchs of the Directorate of Rites at the time had all relied on their abilities to flatter and win their masters’ favors to rise to their positions, turning the laws and discipline of the imperial court into a mess.
If an upper beam wasn’t straight, then the lower ones would become crooked.
The atmosphere in the palace became more and more rotten.
Eunuchs with a little bit of power didn’t get enough women, so they also reached their dirty hands toward men.
The same went for civilians, and male entertainers playing guqin and singing songs was a common sight and delighted the rich and powerful.
The brothel run by Garan also couldn’t do without these singers, and it was said that Qiu-shifu had debuted like this.

It couldn’t be helped for others, but Shen Jue was from a well-known clan, so how could he suffer these kinds of pent-up grievances? Xiahou Lian’s heart ached, yet he was limited by his stupid mouth.
He thought for a long time but couldn’t think of any good words to console Shen Jue.

Xiahou Lian quickened his pace and took the food box in Shen Jue’s hands, and turned his face to the side.
The sun was shining on Shen Jue’s face, coating it with a layer of warm gold.
He was impassive, and his face was, as always, sickly and pale.
Nowadays, his thoughts were becoming more and more unfathomable, and Xiahou Lian was a little muddled.

They stepped through the palace gate, and Shen Jue put down the food box and went inside.
Xiahou Lian sent the meal to the rooms of the crazy noble consorts one by one.
Some of the women were singing and some were embroidering, and only Consort Gao was flailing randomly.
There were clusters of flowers and piles of brocades stuck on her head, making her look like a rooster whose feathers were standing upright.
The old eunuchs had said that recently, Consort Gao was very ill and was even more crazy.
Before, she would sit on the wall and call for the emperor all day long, and now she would go onto the roof tiles and say that she was an unmatched hero.
Xiahou Lian chased after her for a while before getting her to eat her meal obediently.
After finishing his job, he didn’t have time to eat and went inside the room to see Shen Jue first.

He had just entered the room when he saw Shen Jue half-naked and standing next to the washbasin rack.
His body was very good; his skin was jade-white, his muscles were well-balanced, and his skeleton was slender, though he looked slightly thin and weak.
He wasn’t like Xiahou Lian, whose body was covered in scars, as if he had walked through a mountain of sabers and a sea of fire and back.
Shen Jue’s back was facing Xiahou Lian, so Xiahou Lian could only see his disgusted expression in the brass mirror, practically gritting his teeth.
He was holding a wet cloth in his hand and fiercely scrubbing the places on his shoulder and arm where Liu Deyi had touched.
Even though his flesh and Liu Deyi’s hand had been separated by a layer of cloth, Shen Jue seemed to wish he could peel off his skin.

“Stop scrubbing!” Xiahou Lian seized Shen Jue’s cloth and said.

Shen Jue said angrily, “What are you doing!”

“Do you want to lose a layer of skin!”

“It’s none of your business! Get lost!”

Seeing Shen Jue’s face filled with anger, Xiahou Lian felt a lot more at ease.
Before, when he had had an impassive face, Xiahou Lian had been uneasy.

“Don’t move.” Xiahou Lian opened the curio shelf and took out a piece of soap.
He carefully spread foam on Shen Jue’s shoulder and arm, and then used his palms to rub them gently.
Because Xiahou Lian held a saber all year round, his palms were covered in calluses and were very coarse, yet when they touched his arm, they were surprisingly comfortable and fitting.
The bottoms of Shen Jue’s ears instantly became red, and he mumbled, “I already said that it’s none of your business.”

Xiahou Lian looked sideways at him.
“Be content, I rush to serve you, yet you’re making a face toward me.
Usually when I wash myself, I’m not even this diligent.” In this life, Xiahou Lian had never been very diligent when taking baths.
It was as if he was wiping the most precious blue and white porcelain, afraid that he would touch or knead it and break it, and it was only missing being waxed.

He didn’t know how it had happened.
He only felt that this person Shen Jue, by nature, should be respected and worshiped.
He had such good looks and he was full of poetry knowledge, who could compare with him? He should be an official who waited for the emperor to appear in the court in the early morning and whose name went down in history, and even if he didn’t seek to provide shade for his descendants, he could still get into the imperial court.
The heavens were playing tricks.
Now, he had become a eunuch, his fame had become running water, his descendants had become bubbles, and he was also ravaged by filthy people like Si Xi and Liu Deyi.
How could this make one not hurt and hate?

The heavens’ will was difficult to violate.
If the heavens wanted you to fall into a mire, even if you grew wings of gold, the heavens would likewise melt it.

Xiahou Lian held back the anguish that arose in his heart and wetted a face cloth, wiping the foam on Shen Jue’s arm clean.
The fine and dense foam dissolved into the cloth, revealing smooth skin underneath.
The soap had been mixed with osmanthus perfume, making his arm have a faintly discernible fragrance of osmanthus, which smelled very pleasant.

“All right, it’s clean!”

Shen Jue turned his head and said in a low voice, “On my face, too.”

Xiahou Lian agreed and wetted the soap, rubbing it gently on his face and then using his fingertips to knead gently.

A strange feeling arose in Shen Jue’s heart, as if a feather was tickling his heart, making it itchy.
He wanted to push Xiahou Lian’s hands aside, but he was also reluctant to, and just as he was conflicted back and forth, Xiahou Lian had already finished helping him clean.
Xiahou Lian withdrew his hands, and when he threw the face cloth into the basin, Shen Jue actually had a type of feeling of being lost.

It wasn’t that there was no one who treated him well in the palace.
However, there were precautions hidden in his heart, and he had built tall walls.
He was respectful and courteous toward everyone as if they were guests, seemingly separated by a layer.
When he suffered bitterness and suffered hardship, he could only swallow it into his stomach.
He was used to enduring it, so this was nothing.
However, upon facing Xiahou Lian, he would relax at once.

How nice, he thought.
He was like a stray dog that didn’t have a home to return to, and he had been walking in the boundless and lush world, walking until his fur was dirty and his claws were broken, when suddenly, he had found a shed that was a shelter from the wind and rain.
From now on, no matter how many beatings he received outside, how many sins he suffered, at least there was a place he could rest at.

However, he seemed to have thought too wishfully, as this shed was clearly a little drafty——Xiahou Lian had originally wanted to put the soap back into the curio shelf, but with a fumble, it fell to the ground and became stained with dust.

Shen Jue’s face was a little dark.
“I only have this one piece.” He disliked the soap in the palace, which had a weird smell.
He had saved two months’ worth of salary and asked someone to bring this osmanthus soap in from outside the palace.

Xiahou Lian apologized repeatedly, cleaned the soap up, and put it back to its original spot.
Shen Jue looked gloomily at the osmanthus soap that had suffered a calamity and thought, Forget it, I’d better throw it away.

Xiahou Lian carried the washbasin outside to pour out the water.
Just as he was about to open the door, Shen Jue’s voice suddenly sounded from behind him.

“Xiahou Lian, I don’t need your pity.”

This brat, he was determined to save face.
Xiahou Lian said helplessly, “I don’t pity you.”

Shen Jue didn’t say anything, so Xiahou Lian thought that he was fine.
He put his hand on the door and was just about to pull it open, but the front of his robes were suddenly tugged from behind.
Xiahou Lian turned and saw Shen Jue’s lowered eyes, his loose hair covering half of his face so that Xiahou Lian could only see the corners of his eyes that were red.

“What is it?” Xiahou Lian was unable to stand people crying the most, especially Shen Jue, and he was thrown into a panic immediately.

“You’re not allowed to leave,” Shen Jue suddenly moved close to and hugged Xiahou Lian tightly, “Xiahou Lian, I won’t allow you to leave!” Shen Jue’s voice sounded next to his ear, and Xiahou Lian heard that almost imperceptible trembling and fear.

Yeah, he had forgotten that Shen Jue had always had the personality of being determined to save face.
No matter how scared his heart was, how pained, he would still have to struggle to keep his back straight and to still have his tattered reputation.
In Xie Manor he had been like this as a little young master who no one cared for, and in the imperial palace he was also like this as a servant who was trampled upon by many people.
He had always had his own pride.

Xiahou Lian was silent for a long time, silent to the point that Shen Jue felt his blood was going to grow cold.
Finally, Xiahou Lian sighed deeply, carried the basin with one hand, and freed his right hand to stroke Shen Jue’s back.
He said softly, “Okay, I won’t leave.”