According to Chun Lan’s hometown, people have three immortal souls and seven mortal forms. In case someone encountered something evil, that person will lose one soul and three mortal forms. In order to call back the scattered souls, the villagers will carry the victim to the place with the most Yin Qi at midnight between 11 ᴘᴍ and 1 ᴀᴍ. There they will call out the victim's name to bring back the lost souls, while carrying white paper lanterns.
ZiLi, who had not slept well for several days, tried with great difficulty to keep his eyes, which had two dark circles under them, open, to stay focused on the door. Worried that an imaginary enemy would suddenly kick in the door and storm in, brandishing a shining broadsword. He believed that staying awake and hiding under the quilt was the best method to ensure his safety. (Don't believe it, this child is sick and confused!) 1
A few strands of light and relaxing incense rose in spirals from the golden lion incense burner 2 on the shelf in the center of the bedroom. On the opaque white screen with an image of peonies with golden pistils, an orange and yellow candle flame, flickering with a hazy glow, resembled dense ink.
ZiLi's eyelids closed as he looked at the dreamy and ethereal things in front of him. His head slowly fell down, his body slumped and finally he fell asleep on the bed.
After a short while, the door was suddenly pushed open gently. Two beautiful girls entered quietly walking on their toes. They lifted the plain thin silk veil in front of the bed and poked their heads in to look inside.
“The incense has worked, His Highness has fallen asleep,” one of the girls whispered.
“Good. It is currently already evening 3 . We have to get His Highness to the Cold Palace 4 before midnight 5 ,” the other girl whispered back.
Please read His Majesty's Hostage Chapter 10 on Project Bezemwagen :-)
Aren’t these two people Ming Yue and Chun Lan?As soon as they thought ZiLi was properly wrapped in a brocade quilt, they went outside, one carrying ZiLi by his head and the other carrying him by his feet.
The Imperial Palace itself was a heavily guarded place. Patrols of Imperial Bodyguards in small groups of twelve people, were dispersed over intervals of a quarter of an hour and the number of people would be counted and the shift was changed every hour. This was to prevent outsiders from getting mixed in 6 .
But within a hundred secrets, it is inevitable that there will be no flaws. Just like that, there was also a flaw in the tight defense of the Imperial Palace. For example, when the Imperial Bodyguards changed shifts on a certain patrol route, there was a gap of about half a stick of incense 7 between the change.
Ming Yue and Chun Lan, who had discovered this flaw, used this moment to carry ZiLi to the Cold Palace, which had the most Yin Qi in the entire Imperial Palace. The corridors of the palace were deserted, and the two maids who were eager to save ZiLi, cautiously carried their Highness to their destination. It was almost nightfall 8 , the moon had already risen over their heads, which meant they had about an hour to get everything ready.
The two had just arrived at Bai Rui Yuan 9 when they suddenly heard a shout from behind telling them to stop. “Who is there?”
Ming Yue and Chun Lan were both startled and turned around to see who had shouted at them and secretly whispered, “Not good.” It turned out to be a group of patrolling Imperial Bodyguards.
Wasn't there a shift change? How could they have run into them at this time and be caught? What should they do? Just as they were pondering, the Imperial Bodyguards had already arrived in front of them.
“Are you from the palace? What are you carrying in the middle of the night?” asked the Imperial Bodyguard, who had taken the lead, sharply. The other Imperial Bodyguards had already drawn their longswords to cut off their path.
Please read His Majesty's Hostage Chapter 10 on Project Bezemwagen :-)
“We――” Ming Yue and Chun Lan were sweating lightly on their foreheads, not knowing how to dodge the question.Just at that moment, they suddenly heard another sharp voice, panting, saying, “Hey, what the hell is wrong with you two lowly servants? I ordered you to carry Young Master 10 Lian to the east gate, but you are no good, and ran to the west gate. If His Majesty blames you for the delay, not only will your small lowly life cease to exist, but my family will also be killed because of you!”
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound, only to see a fat eunuch running flustered and exasperated on tiptoes, with behind him a small palanquin 11 carried by four people on their shoulders.
When the Imperial Bodyguards heard this, they more or less understood what was going on. This was ‘Bai Rui Yuan’, the place where the newly admitted Concubine Candidates 12 and male attendants lived. From the looks of it, what was wrapped in the quilt should be the male servant who would be sleeping 13 with His Majesty tonight.
The gaze of Imperial Bodyguards drifted subtly to the soft and fragrant jade figure wrapped in the quilt. Inside there had to be a beautiful young man who was not wearing any clothes, but they did not know how beautiful.
Of course they wanted to take a look, but they did not dare to show any desire to peek.
“In that case, we won't delay the eunuch any longer. Let's go.”
Please read His Majesty's Hostage Chapter 10 on Project Bezemwagen :-)
Hearing the words of the head of the Imperial Bodyguards, Ming Yue and Chun Lan's heart had sunk into their throats. It was truly frightening. They had not yet called the souls of Their Highness back, and their souls were about to be scattered.Several servants came over and took away the quilt in their hands and carefully placed it in the soft palanquin.
“Depart,” the eunuch said in a sharp voice, waving his horsetail whisk.
This sound of his voice brought the two back to their senses.
Oh, no. This is ― they want to deliver His Highness to His Majesty to sleep with him?
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