Chapter 613: Phoenix Trap (1)
There was a lantern lit a little ways down the alley from the imperial gardens.
Royal Princess Duanjia looked anxious. She repeatedly urged the eunuch leading the way to move faster.
The eunuch didn’t dare to disobey her, so he walked faster.
Her maid, Jinxiu, followed with a frown and tried to persuade her, “Princess, it’s better if we report this matter to Princess Wei. If you don’t want to inform her of this, we could report to the Empress Dowager instead.”
The inner palace was rife with treachery, similar to the politics going on in the imperial court. However, Empress Dowager doted on Royal Princess Duanjia very much, and Royal Princess Duanjia often visited to accompany her. Despite this, she hadn’t grown up in the palace, so she had never been exposed to the underhanded tactics that went on around here.
Prince Wei and Princess Wei were as loving as the day they had married, and he had never taken any concubines. Her two brothers spoiled her as well, so she had never experienced the treachery and schemes that went on in most inner courts.
While Royal Princess Duanjia was not as innocent as Jinxiu assumed, it was true that she wasn’t well-versed in circumventing plots or subterfuge.
Regarding Jinxiu’s suggestion of informing her mother or the Empress Dowager about the matter, the princess had obviously thought of this as well, but she immediately ruled against it.
This was purely because the person that had gotten hurt, according to the informant, was none other than He Erlang…
If something happened to He Erlang, she didn’t want her mother or the Empress Dowager to know. If there happened to be any inconvenient situations, then she would surely lose Erlang to some other woman conveniently nearby…
Royal Princess Duanjia had already heard that He Erlang was on duty as one of the royal guard today.
The informant who had come to notify her was someone she had planted in the inner palace, so his words were likely true.
Royal Princess Duanjia quickened her pace even more as she softly said, “There’s no need; I can handle a small matter like this myself. Besides, I’m familiar with the area. Nothing bad will happen.”
Royal Princess Duanjia could be overly stubborn sometimes. As the servant she trusted the most, Jinxiu understood this very well. Therefore, Jinxiu knew that there was no point in trying to stop her anymore. All she could do was sigh and stay close to her mistress. She prayed that the servant had been truthful about the report, and that they weren’t being led by the nose into a trap.
About fifteen minutes later, the servant who held the lantern led Duanjia to a remote palace hall that was some distance away from the imperial gardens.
The hall’s entrance seemed desolated. There wasn’t even a single eunuch or maid guarding the door. It was unknown whether they had been transferred elsewhere or were skiving because of the Thousand Blessings Festival.
The informant pointed at the hall’s entrance, lowered his head, and timidly said, “Royal Princess, Sir He is inside…”
Royal Princess Duanjia looked at the doors with suspicion. Her gaze shifted to the servant before her.
The servant trembled, lowering his head even more. “This… this servant wouldn’t dare lie to you, Royal Princess.”
In the end, Royal Princess Duanjia’s worry had taken over her rationality, so she turned and walked towards the entrance.
She raised her hands and pushed. The doors opened with a long creak.
There was a single oil lamp illuminating the hall, its warm light swaying gently. From where Royal Princess Duanjia stood, she could see that deeper within was a room with a bed inside, its curtains drawn to reveal a man lying on top.
The man was dressed in a guard’s attire, with a broad-looking back and a tall figure. On his waist was a familiar jade token with a blessing for success engraved on it.
Royal Princess Duanjia squinted. This figure looked too familiar! It had to be He Erlang!
While Royal Princess Duanjia was feeling overwhelmed to the point of disbelief, she suddenly heard a short groan behind her. Jinxiu couldn’t even complete the sound; she was quickly cut off, and before Royal Princess Duanjia could react, the doors of the hall slammed shut.
Royal Princess Duanjia’s whole body trembled. She was too shocked to think. She quickly ran back to the door and banged on it with her fist, but no matter how much she screamed, there was no reply from outside.
After recovering from her panic, Duanjia regained a little of her rationality.
Many thoughts flitted through her mind as she tried to think of what to do, but she couldn’t come up with any good ideas, trapped as she was.
She recalled the various methods that Chu Lian had used to save her at Defeng Teahouse. However, her eyes abruptly reddened at the reminder that she didn’t have Chu Lian here with her.
She rubbed away the tears that welled up. Thinking about what she had caught a glimpse of deeper within the hall, she took a deep breath and walked towards the inner room.
The person lying on the bed was definitely He Erlang; she was absolutely certain of it.
Royal Princess Duanjia walked over to the bed. The man was facing away from her, so she tried to carefully turn him over.
There was no reaction. Duanjia tried again.
In the end, she was forced to use all her strength to turn the man over.
Borrowing the dim light from the single lamp in the room, Royal Princess Duanjia managed to confirm that this was indeed House Jing’an’s Second Young Master, He Changjue, after a closer examination.
He Changjue was currently unconscious. There were droplets of sweat on his forehead, and his lips were red. His incredibly manly, rugged face was also a little flushed.
Even though they both liked each other and had seen each other in private a few times, they hadn’t progressed very far. They only maintained a very cordial relationship on the surface and had never taken the next step. They never did anything that was out of the ordinary between friends. A situation like this where they were in a room together with no one else had never happened before, and to add on to that, He Erlang was unconscious…
Royal Princess Duanjia tapped He Changjue on the cheek, but the sleeping He Erlang didn’t show any signs of waking up.
Royal Princess Duanjia frowned. She got up and glanced at the table. All of a sudden, an idea popped up in her head. She poured cold water into a teacup, carried it to the bed, and tossed the contents onto He Changjue’s face.
The bone-piercing chill of the water finally got a reaction out of He Erlang.
He slowly opened his eyes, but they took some time to focus due to the headache he had. His vision was a complete blur.
He swung his head from side to side, then pressed on several acupoints on his body. He rubbed his temples one more time. A few moments later, He Changjue was finally able to see what was in front of him.
Once his vision cleared up, he immediately caught sight of Royal Princess Duanjia who sat beside him.
He Erlang gaped. He stuttered a little as he asked, “Pri.. Princess?”
