Chapter 113: That Woman (I)

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

Since Long could move, he became more interested in exercise.

What could be more exciting than being able to walk independently?

G.o.d knew how much he suffered those days as a useless man!

When s.h.i.+ came in from outside, he saw Long was exercising there.

s.h.i.+ went over. “Don’t be too tired.”

Long smiled and shook his head. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

s.h.i.+ went over and held Long’s arm.

Long still shook his head. “No need. It’s okay. I can walk by myself.”

s.h.i.+ frowned a little, but he didn’t say anything at last. Instead, he stood by and watched Long walk.

Long exercised for a while and then stopped.

Then, Long wiped the sweat on his forehead with his hands. When he was just about to clean his hands, s.h.i.+ had handed over the wet towel.

Long took it over with a smile. “Qingzhou, you’re always so considerate.”

After Long wiped his hands, s.h.i.+ took the towel back.

Long smiled and was about to say something, but a servant outside said that Lady Rou had arrived.

Long and s.h.i.+ looked at each other in surprise.

One of Lady Rou’s maids died in the well earlier and it was said that that maid committed suicide. After that, Lady Rou had been keeping a low profile and didn’t talk much. She also seldom went to the emperor.

So, it seemed a little strange for her to go there this day.

s.h.i.+ said, “After one of her maids died, she has been keeping a very low profile. Why did she come here today?”

Long touched his chin. “I also think it’s strange.”

“So would you like to meet her?” s.h.i.+ looked at Long and asked.

Long blinked and asked s.h.i.+, “What do you think?”

s.h.i.+ shook his head. “I don’t know. Let’s see what she’s going to say.”

“Well…” Long touched his chest. “Only a few people in the court know that I’m recovering now, but maybe she has been aware of that. Although Qiankun Palace is heavily guarded, the walls have ears… I suspect that everyone who cares about this has known.”

After hearing the words, s.h.i.+ looked more serious.

Long wasn’t that worried. “Don’t worry, Qingzhou. It doesn’t matter whether they know or not. It’s fine.”

s.h.i.+ puckered his lips. “What do you want to do?”

“Let’s just meet her. It won’t matter. Even if this woman really has some ulterior motive, we still need to meet her before knowing that.”

After pondering for a while, s.h.i.+ didn’t say anything against it at last.

However, Long went to bed. He sat there and leaned against the back of the bed.

s.h.i.+ covered Long with the quilt before letting Lady Rou in.

Lady Rou entered.

“Greetings, Your Majesty. Greetings, Your Grace.”

Lady Rou’s voice was gentle, so the emperor liked her a lot in the past.

Lady Shan and Lady Rou were the most favored women by the emperor back then.

It was a pity that Long wasn’t like before anymore and he had chosen s.h.i.+, so the women in the harem had no other choice.

Most importantly, those women didn’t really love Long.

What they loved was just Long’s ident.i.ty and status.

Long didn’t speak. It was s.h.i.+ who spoke first.

“Get up, Lady Rou. His Majesty can sit now, but he can’t speak much.”

“Your Majesty…” Worry and love filled Lady Rou’s eyes immediately. If it were in the past, that emperor would hold that woman in his arms at once. But at present, Long definitely wouldn’t do that.

Long directly ignored Lady Rou, who was gentle and looked at him with concern and love.

s.h.i.+ didn’t like that woman being like that, but he didn’t speak.

Lady Rou rushed to the bed and said sadly, “Your Majesty, my heart aches when I see you like this…”

Long blinked, but still didn’t speak.

s.h.i.+ finally opened his mouth. “Lady Rou, the doctor said that His Majesty should not be too excited now. Please control your emotions so as not to affect him.”

Those words shocked Lady Rou and panic appeared on her face.

“Your Majesty… I’m sorry, I didn’t know that.”

Long blinked and finally said a few words slowly. “It’s alright. You… What’s the matter?”

s.h.i.+ also looked at Lady Rou, who took out a fragrant handkerchief from her pockets and wiped her nose.

The fragrance made Long feel a little uncomfortable instinctively.

s.h.i.+ also frowned. He stared at Lady Rou. “What’s the smell of your handkerchief?”

Lady Rou was a little confused when she heard the words. “It’s the fragrance of orchid. What’s wrong?”

s.h.i.+ slightly puckered his mouth. “Orchid? This smell seems to be much stronger than orchids.”

Lady Rou was still confused.

Long coughed and said slowly, “You… What’s the matter?”

Hearing this, Lady Rou said immediately, “Your Majesty, my mother is seriously ill. I… Your Majesty, please allow me to go back home to see my mother… for the last time.”

Speaking of that, the tears rolled down Lady Rou’s face.

s.h.i.+ and Long were stunned when they heard that.

Lady Rou cried. “Your Majesty, I know that I’m asking too much… But, I only have one mother in this world… She loves me very much… Now she is seriously ill. My father sent me a message, saying that my mother wanted to see me for the last time. Your Majesty, please…”

Lady Rou began to cry.

Long looked at s.h.i.+.

In fact, in Long’s memory, Lady Rou and Lady Shan could go back home to visit their relatives once or twice a year.

It was because the emperor liked them very much at that time.

So, he approved of them going back home once or twice a year.

However, after Long took a fancy to s.h.i.+, he stopped going to the harem and the concubines who were favored before couldn’t go back home.

The emperor stopped visiting them and they had been out of favor, so how could they have the chance to go back home?

This time, Lady Rou went there and directly asked to go back home to see her mother for the last time… It was really hard for Long to say no.

However, Lady Rou’s father was a senior official of the second rank in the imperial court, who worked in the Ministry of Personnel.

Neither Long nor s.h.i.+ had heard about his wife’s serious illness…

Seeing that Long was looking at him, s.h.i.+ said lightly, “His Majesty and I have known it. You can go back first.”

Hearing the words, Lady Rou looked at Long as a poor girl.

Long felt that it was a bit awkward and he was afraid that there might be something fishy about it. So he looked away and pretended that he didn’t hear anything.

Seeing Long like that, Lady Rou realized that it wouldn’t be of any use even if she kept staying there.

Therefore, Lady Rou said goodbye in tears.

After she left, Long stopped pretending and sat up. He stopped speaking that slowly, either.

“Qingzhou, did you know that her mother is seriously ill?”

s.h.i.+ shook his head. “No.”

“It’s a little strange. Her father is a senior official in the court. If her mother is seriously ill, others must be talking about that now. But even you don’t know that?”

s.h.i.+ fell silent.

“Besides, we have sent Shadow Guardians to watch over the movements of the ministers in the court. Ask the Shadow Guardians who are in charge of that to investigate. See if this is true or not and what is going on in their mansion,” Long said again.

s.h.i.+ nodded. “Right, I also think so.”

Later, s.h.i.+ sent Shadow Guardians to investigate.

About an hour later, Long got the news that Lady Rou’s mother was indeed seriously ill, but she just got ill the previous day.

Lady Rou’s mother was very healthy before and suddenly got ill. Minister Shen, Lady Rou’s father, had invited several famous doctors in the imperial city to check on his wife, but they had been sent out during the two days…

In fact, the Shadow Guardians had reported the matter the previous day.

However, it was s.h.i.+ who was helping Long deal with the affairs in the imperial court these days. He just glanced over the messages from the Shadow Guardians, so he didn’t notice that.

s.h.i.+ went to search the Shadow Guardians’ ma.s.sages and really found it.

After telling that to Long in detail, s.h.i.+ frowned slightly. “Lady Rou’s mother suddenly got ill? What on earth is going on?”

“Well…” Long also suspected that. “It’s so weird… What disease does she suffer?”

“None of the doctors who went there could tell,” s.h.i.+ said.

Long touched his chin. It seemed that it had become his signature gesture when he was thinking about things.

Seeing that Long was thinking, s.h.i.+ sat down on the edge of the bed.

Long thought for a moment and said, “No matter what she was up to, since she wants to go back, just let her go back once. But we need to keep a close eye on her. In addition, send two imperial doctors there to see what’s wrong with her mother.”

s.h.i.+ thought for a moment and then nodded. “Okay, no problem.”