Chapter 29 - Your Majesty, what incense do you use? (1/2)

Xue Yuan wanted to go directly and kill Chu Wei, who had been provoking him, with the inkstone. However, if he beat Chu Wei to death, he feared that the young Emperor would be really angry.

The young Emperor getting angry wasn’t scary. Xue Yuan dared to do anything as long as he could survive and keep breathing. He could bear the young Emperor’s means of punishment, no matter the torture or ordeal he might be put through.

The only thing he couldn’t endure was repressing his own anger.

However, Xue Yuan, who didn’t fear anything, didn’t want to see the young Emperor’s angry look directed at him. The young Emperor had given him a bad look many times, and, at first, he didn’t care. But now Xue Yuan couldn’t stop thinking, how come even that thing gets a happy look from the Emperor?

He walked all the way to the Hanlin Academy while thinking about why the young Emperor wouldn’t smile at him.

If he smiled at him, he wouldn’t just wash the horses, even sweeping horse manure daily wouldn’t be a problem. If he gave him a better look, it wouldn’t be impossible for Xue Yuan to spend an entire day underwater.

The more he couldn’t get it, the more he wanted it. Xue Yuan was very bitter, and couldn’t endure being discriminated against. The more the young Emperor treated him so coldly, the more he punished him, the more Xue Yuan desired to see him smile at him.

So very bitter.1

When Xue Yuan arrived at the Hanlin Academy with the two inkstones, Chu Wei and Kong Yilin, who were the ones being rewarded by the Emperor, hurriedly walked out, and they saw him first.

Kong Yilin didn’t know Xue Yuan, but Chu Wei’s face became cold as soon as he spotted him, and he didn’t even bother to mask the expression of disgust on his face.

“And who would you be?” Kong Yilin asked, stepping forward with his hands folded in a salute.

Xue Yuan showed a cordial smile. “Are you the one His Highness mentioned? Scholar Kong?”

”

”

Kong Yilin nodded and lowered his eyes, his gaze landing on the carved wooden box in Xue Yuan’s hand.

Chu Wei stepped forward with no expression on his face, his hands cupped as well. “I’m sorry to have troubled you making you complete this errand, Official Xue.”

“How could it be any trouble to help the Emperor?” Xue Yuan replied, with a fake smile. “Every official should do just that.”

Kong Yilin didn’t seem to notice anything wrong between them. “Official Xue, I wonder, what has His Highness rewarded us with?”

Xue Yuan threw the two wooden boxes into his arms. “Inkstones.”

Kong Yilin smiled. “Many thanks to His Highness for the reward.”

Chu Wei glanced at the wooden box in Kong Yilin’s hand and smiled.

In Xue Yuan’s eyes, this smile was evidence of Chu Wei’s desire for the Emperor. Xue Yuan smiled, gave Chu Wei a cold look, and then turned around to leave, full of killing intent. Chu Wei gave him an equally disgusted glance towards his back. Both looked repulsed.

When Xue Yuan walked to the Emperor’s palace, his expression was still ugly.

As he walked to the bedroom with a calm face, the ‘great gift’ that Xue Yuan was carrying in his arms suddenly jumped out and ran away quickly.

Xue Yuan was caught off guard, and he furiously gave chase in the direction his ‘great gift’ had run off to, his eyebrows set.

The maid waiting in the hall felt something soft at her feet. When she looked down, her complexion suddenly changed and she screamed.

The little thing by her feet was frightened by the scream and floundered in a panic. One by one, all the maids in the palace turned pale and began to shake with fright, their formation all messed up.

Tian Fusheng called out, “What are you all screaming about?”

A lady of the court cried and said, “Chief Eunuch, there’s a mouse here!”

Where would people who served in the palace, especially those serving the Emperor directly, have ever seen such a thing?

Gu Yuanbai continued to eat his dinner calmly and ordered the guards to catch the mouse. Most girls were afraid of such things. If the mouse wasn’t caught, some would cry.

The guards ran around in a rush, and the entire hall was boiling in chaos. Gu Yuanbai suddenly heard a small squeak. He paused, put down his chopsticks, and looked under the table, running into a pair of small, black bean-like eyes.

“Little one,” Gu Yuanbai stretched out his hand and laughed. “You sure know how to hide.”

No one in the hall dared to come searching towards the Emperor.

The little mouse, covered in gray fur, sniffed at Gu Yuanbai’s hands. Probably because of the scent of the food in his hands, it kept sniffing and crawled onto Gu Yuanbai’s hands.

Gu Yuanbai lifted his hand and stroked the little one’s fur. Its fur was bright and smooth, and the chubby soft body made it seem like a domestic pet.

Tian Fusheng spotted the thing in the Emperor’s hand and physically jumped. “Your Majesty!”

When the guards looking for the mouse looked up, they were also startled. The guard captain hurriedly took two steps forward and said anxiously, “Your Majesty! This official will catch the thing!”

“No need.” Gu Yuanbai placed the little mouse on the table and took a piece of meat with his chopsticks, placing it in front of the mouse. After watching the little mouse nibble the piece of meat, he leisurely slid his fingertips along the little mouse’s fur. “It’s just a small thing, it feels nice to pet.”

Tian Fusheng saw that the mouse didn’t seem like it would bite anyone, so he straightened out the servants in the palace. The maids wiped away the tears on their faces, suppressed their fear, and went back to their positions with a disciplined attitude.

Xue Yuan walked in while he was eating. As soon as he came in, he saw the mouse eating meat on the table. His eyelid twitched. So here it was.

Gu Yuanbai saw him come in. “Did you deliver the items?”

Xue Yuan said, “Yes.”

Gu Yuanbai also wanted to ask him if he had taken a fancy for Chu Wei, but then he thought better of it and decided he couldn’t be bothered to ask, so he nodded lazily and asked him to stand to the side.

However, Xue Yuan didn’t move and instead said, “Your Highness, this little pet is something I raised.”

After hearing these words, Gu Yuanbai paused for a moment and looked up at him. “Official Xue, you raised it?”

Xue Yuan nodded. “This official thought that the little ingrate might feel lonely in the palace, so I brought a small pet to give it company.”

Little ingrate? Gu Yuanbai was surprised. “Who’s the little ingrate?”