"Are you saying that after you noticed movent outside that night, you followed it to Zhongcui Palace?"
"Yes, I think Consort Qian must have noticed being around you, so I haven’t appeared lately and have been wandering around the capital. Luckily, you left the palace today."
Gu Lan and Wei Chengyuan recounted the events from a few days ago, essentially concluding that Consort Qian had discovered Wei Chengyuan’s activities.
First, her son got beaten, then she found that her beloved man, after losing his mory, suddenly started protecting others. No wonder Consort Qian suddenly went to the Emperor to complain.
However, the Emperor might never know that his Noble Consort was causing trouble for Gu Lan because of her own Yuan.
As for the assassination attempt in collaboration with Qiangrong tonight, Gu Lan didn’t think it was Consort Qian who did it.
After all, she’s just a concubine and wouldn’t be hiding the extra Qiangrong people in the Imperial Palace.
Gu Lan suspiciously looked at Wei Chengyuan and suddenly said, "What if one day you regain your mory and find out you indeed had an affair with Consort Qian—"
Wei Chengyuan’s expression stiffened as he imagined the scene: "Impossible!"
Gu Lan turned to ask Rong Heng, "Brother Hang, do you think Yuan looks like Rong Qijun?" What if it’s actually Wei Chengyuan who made the Emperor unwittingly a father?
Rong Heng cooperatively nodded, "Hmm, a bit."
Wei Chengyuan weakly retorted, "...I’m... I’m just a child." The Second Prince is fifteen, and fifteen years ago, he was still a child! Although... Wei Chengyuan himself doesn’t really rember exactly how old he is, but certainly not thirty.
Leaving Wei Chengyuan to question his own life, Gu Lan said, "Brother Hang, how about we swear brothers again, Yuan, where’s your incense burner?"
Wei Chengyuan replied unhappily, "How would I know? I lost my mory!"
"Without an incense burner, we can swear to the moon as well."
Rong Heng internally refused.
He initially wanted to agree, but for so unknown reason, he felt he would definitely regret swearing brotherhood.
At this point, Rong Heng suddenly lowered his head and looked at his stomach.
Jiu entered with tofu soup that had been cooked for a long ti, "Your Highness, are you feeling particularly hungry? I heard you haven’t had a hot al for days. Without your subordinate, you can’t even survive. So, should your subordinate enter the palace again?"
Rong Heng gritted his teeth and pressed down on his growling stomach, "Sure, this ti you can beco a real eunuch."
He took the tofu soup and glanced at it...
It was dreadful.
This stuff must have been cooked for two hours, right? Is Jiu trying to poison his master?
Jiu said, "Your Highness, didn’t you use to like my cooking?"
Rong Heng silently put the soup bowl down, thinking to himself that he didn’t like it, he was forced to eat it before.
He looked at Gu Lan and whispered, "I’m hungry."
Make peace.
...
The autumn wind brought a fragrance of osmanthus from sowhere, and the moonlight gently washed over, coating the courtyard in a silver glow.
"Gu Lan, did you know that a person can die from hunger?"
Rong Heng lay in Step Lotus Hall, looking up at the stars and the moon, speaking in a very weak voice.
Despite being injured, he had to be carried from Yong’an Street to Young Master Gu’s Dingyuan Marquis Mansion, then watched her slowly prepare ingredients and make a small hot pot.
—Carried by Wei Chengyuan.
Dingyuan Marquis Mansion was quiet; no one disturbed them in the middle of the night.
Upon returning, the old man guarding the gate told Gu Lan that two children had co earlier, and after saying sothing, Gu Changting took a team of household soldiers and rushed out overnight.
It seed those children didn’t run away and did pass on the ssage for her.
Gu Lan asked, "Where are they now?"
"Young Master Changting said it’s a big deal and placed them in a side room in the rear courtyard."
Gu Lan nodded and invited the three of them inside under the old man’s peculiar gaze.
The gatekeeper thought: Young Master’s tastes are indeed diverse...
Returning to Step Lotus Hall, Gu Lan relaxed and went to change clothes first.
Rong Heng was too weak to move, his wound aching, and blood stuck in his throat. He didn’t know if he should spit it out.
Gu Lan was busy next to him, with a copper pot steaming in front of her.
In the pot was Young Master’s secret red oil soup base, with many ingredients waiting to be added, but none were going in.
"Gu Lan..."
Rong Heng lifted his eyelids slightly, seeing Young Master Gu wielding Prince Rui’s Longquan Treasure Sword to slice lamb.
She heard Rong Heng call her and looked up, "What’s up?"
Rong Heng: "...If you just added sothing to the pot, I wouldn’t be so hungry."
Gu Lan, after slicing the at and plating it piece by piece, seriously said, "This is a must-have ritual when eating hot pot! The at and vegetables should go in one by one, or else it would just be a stew!"
Rong Heng: "I think... even a candy would help."
Gu Lan ruthlessly said, "Then go back and eat your tofu soup."
Fifth Young Master Rong felt aggrieved.
Gu Lan checked the ti and shook her head, "Are you three n or not? It’s not even midnight, and you’re falling asleep one by one?"
Rong Heng made a note in his own ntal consultation records:
"——n with kidney deficiency can stay up later."
Finally, the hotpot was ready, and the ingredients were put in the pot.
Rong Heng sat up in surprise and found that there were two other heads, Jiu and Wei Chengyuan, rushing forward just like him.
"Eating hotpot is not good for mory recovery, you shouldn’t eat."
He pushed Wei Chengyuan’s head aside.
"Eating hotpot is not good for wound recovery, you shouldn’t eat."
He was driven away by Jiu.
Jiu angrily said, "Your Highness, you are injured too, you know."
Rong Heng was the first to pick up a piece of at and put it in his bowl, saying, "I’m a doctor, mind your own business."
Gu Lan smiled, feeling that watching these three people from ancient tis fighting for at in front of him was more enjoyable than having hotpot himself.
After finally having a proper al after many days, Rong Heng told himself to be more motivated, but his mouth didn’t listen to him.
"Why doesn’t what I make taste like yours?" Rong Heng picked up a piece of tofu cooked in clear broth.
Though it was the sa tofu, Gu Lan’s tasted especially good.
Gu Lan: "You cut the tofu pieces too small. It’s okay, from now on you can eat the tofu I make every day."
Rong Heng: ...
Under the bright moonlight, Gu Lan lifted her eyes to look at Rong Heng in front of her.
He had eaten spicy food, so his lips were stained crimson, and his handso features were covered with a silver frost-like moonlight, but he did not seem cold.
She rembered that night at the Magpie Workshop when Rong Heng’s ears were red, yet he allowed her advances.
Brother Hang’s lips are much softer than tofu.
Tonight, though there was no wine, she felt intoxicated.
She shook her head, trying to suppress the sudden surge of emotions in her heart.
If Brother Hang knew she wanted to kiss him, he might go crazy.
She did want to kiss Rong Heng, but sotis she also wanted to kiss Zijin.
Yes, that’s how it is.
The hotpot went on for a long ti. By the end, Rong Heng’s lips were numb and a thin layer of sweat ford on his nose.
He thought why he ever wanted to push Gu Lan away instead of enjoying the fragrant hotpot and delicious at.
The four people’s conversation had different tones; Gu Lan’s voice was clear, Rong Heng’s cold and deep, Wei Chengyuan’s low-pitched, and Jiu’s hoarse, carried far away with the rising steam in the night.
Until Wei Chengyuan fell asleep sitting on the ground, and the injured Jiu was thrown into the side room by Gu Lan.
Wei Chengyuan, Gu Lan had seen this type of person among so border soldiers, able to fall asleep anywhere, regardless of the harsh environnt.
Gu Lan thought about it, figured his high martial arts wouldn’t let him freeze to death, so she draped a blanket over him and didn’t bother him further.
The long night stretched on, and though clearly exhausted, Rong Heng stubbornly stayed up. After finishing the last piece of at in his bowl, he patted his belly and looked steadily at Gu Lan, seemingly asking: Is there more?
"No more, co on, let’s go to sleep."
Hearing there was no more at, Rong Heng’s composed expression faltered for a mont, then he tried to regain it: "Thank you for the hospitality."
"What were you like as a child? Did you get punished by your mother for not studying seriously?" Gu Lan really liked seeing Rong Heng’s flustered expressions and couldn’t help but ask.
Previously, Jiu had told her about Rong Heng’s mother, and she always imagined what the male lead was like at seven or eight years old.
Rong Heng thought for a mont before answering, "At that ti, Xiao Ning was busy romancing the forr Emperor, didn’t have ti to care for , it was the Third Imperial Brother who taught , but she would sotis comnd too."
From a young age, he was an exceptionally gifted child, so Xiao Ning was particularly reassured. Occasionally, she would check his work and proudly say that he was worthy of being a clever Heng from the Xiao Family.
Young Rong Heng would roll his eyes, thinking he had clearly inherited the intelligence from the Rong Family. Who knows how many good deeds Xiao Ning had done in her past life to have such a perfect son.
So, Brother Hang’s mother, Princess Consort Xiao, was nad Xiao Ning. Gu Lan felt a bit disappointed hearing this.
She had originally fantasized about little Rong Heng reciting poems under the strict watch of his mother consort, much like how she herself was forced to study for exams.
Unexpectedly, the male lead was so cocky even as a child, no wonder he was so boastful now.
Since Rong Heng was injured, Gu Lan helped him to the room he had previously stayed in.
With her body close to Rong Heng, Gu Lan’s steps involuntarily paused for a mont. Despite eating hotpot, Rong Heng slled nice and not at all pungent.
Gu Lan’s voice was slightly hoarse: "Rong Heng, isn’t it a problem that you are not returning to the palace tonight?"
Once they reached the room, Rong Heng silently lay down on the bed, covered himself with the quilt, and closed his eyes: "No problem."
The bed at the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion was very comfortable, and the hotpot Gu Lan made was delicious. Thinking that tomorrow morning, he would wake up to her... cooking, everything he experienced tonight was worth it, and he just wanted to go to sleep quickly.
Gu Lan yawned and, in a low voice, said above Rong Heng’s head: "Then I’m leaving."
"Mm." Rong Heng responded quietly.
Gu Lan blew out the lamp but did not leave.
In the silence of the room, Gu Lan could hear Rong Heng’s steady breathing, and also the pounding of her own heart.
What should she do, she still wanted to kiss Rong Heng.
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