Soon after breakfast, a servant brought him a decoction.

Perhaps there were some ingredients mixed in to relieve the uneasiness of his body and mind as, after obediently taking it, Ye Shu grew weary and dizzy and soon fell asleep.

It was already afternoon when he woke up again.

Jin Wang was no longer in the hall. Ye Shu had just dressed up when a servant brought him lunch.

Jin Wang’s chief personal attendant, Gao Jin, saluted Ye Shu. “His Majesty has instructed Minister Ye to go to the training field to see His Majesty after lunch.”

“Training field?”

What kind of sick antic was Jin Wang up to now? 

“Why has His Majesty asked me to go there?” Ye Shu asked.

“This humble subject has no idea.”

This man quietly waited to the side after conveying Jin Wang’s words. Ye Shu looked at him and didn’t ask any more questions.

This man had been with Jin Wang for many years; he was his trusted subordinate and even more so a personal attendant.

It was very likely that nothing could be extracted from him.

Ye Shu’s meal was too unpalatable. After filling his stomach hastily, he asked Gao Jin to take him out.

It was only after leaving the hall that he discovered that they weren’t in the capital of the imperial city.

This place was Jin Wang’s summer palace on the outskirts of the city.

This palace was not much smaller than the imperial palace. Ye Shu’s bedchamber was built out onto a lake of considerable size. He followed the attendant around the lakeside promenade, winding around and around for more than ten minutes. Before they reached the training field, he suddenly heard a loud bang.

It was a gunshot.

Ye Shu’s footsteps trailed off, wanting to run away on the spot.

He knew Jin Wang was up to no good!

The chief personal attendant beside him also stopped. “Minister Ye?”

“N-Nothing.” Ye Shu turned a little pale as he shook his head.

Ye Shu entered the training field and saw Jin Wang standing on the high platform in front of him. In Jin Wang’s hand was a dexterous foreign gun made of silver, similar to a handgun, but slightly different.

Bang—

A shot was fired, right in the bull’s-eye.

Jin Wang put down the gun and smiled at Ye Shu. “What are you waiting for, come here.”

Ye Shu stepped forward.

A small table was placed on the high platform. Jin Wang pulled Ye Shu to sit down by the table and a maidservant immediately came up to serve tea.

Jin Wang looked at Ye Shu. “My beloved minister looks in much better spirits.” 

“It is the imperial physician Feng’s magical hand that restores this subject’s health. Thank you for Your Majesty’s concern.” Ye Shu said.

Jin Wang nodded. “Now that my beloved minister has recovered, let us continue with our previous discussion.”

Ye Shu, “……”

It’s not over yet!

Ye Shu’s heart already felt the perilous situation, but his face remained unperturbed, calmly locking eyes with Jin Wang and waiting for his next words.

Jin Wang inclined his head towards the personal attendant beside him.

Soon, footsteps were heard in the distance.

Ye Shu followed the sound and his complexion immediately changed.

At the other end of the training field, more than ten men and women appeared with their hands bound and eyes blindfolded.

Jin Wang’s voice was laced with laughter. “My beloved minister said earlier that everything was planned to draw out the enemy’s spies in the capital – and that was true. Look, haven’t they all been rooted out by Gu?”

Ye Shu’s lips were pursed, vaguely aware of what the other party wanted to do.

Sure enough, Jin Wang continued, “This time my beloved minister has rendered outstanding service. How about Gu gives you a chance to execute them by yourself?”

In the audience, the ten or so spies were driven into the training field.

The personal attendant brought up the gun.

“This gun is made of silver and is a rare specimen. It has not yet been stained with blood since Gu has just gotten it.” Jin Wang propped his chin up as if he was good to go. “Let’s use this one.”

This tyrant…even forcing him to kill.

Ye Shu’s fingers trembled as he looked at the gun in the hand of the personal attendant, and then at the young men and women who were not younger than ten years old at the training field.

Even if they were in the book world, these were also living people……

“What are you still waiting for? Doesn’t Minister Ye want to prove himself to Gu?” Jin Wang got up, took the gun and solemnly placed it in Ye Shu’s hand, his gaze fixed on Ye Shu’s face. “Kill them, and Gu will believe you.”

The freshly fired gun was still hot. Jin Wang put his palm over the back of Ye Shu’s hand and took it to hold the gun tightly.

The gun was turned and pointed towards the captives in the training field.

The imperial guards escorting the captives from a distance were ordered to release the chains holding the prisoners and exit the training field.

The captives then suddenly began to flee in disarray all over the place.

“No……” Ye Shu’s body began to tremble. “I can’t do it.”

Jin Wang gazed down at him.

“You’re still so soft-hearted,” Slowly, he lifted his hand and brushed away Ye Shu’s hair behind his ear, his voice gentle but cold as he said word by word, “Did you also suffer this much when you sent people to assassinate Gu?”

“Or is it that if you don’t do it yourself, you won’t feel guilty about it.”

“Or could it be that Gu’s life is worthless in your eyes.”

“It wasn’t me…” Ye Shu raised his eyes into the eyes of the birds of prey, his voice trembling, “You still don’t believe me.”

“Right, I don’t believe it.”

Jin Wang let go of Ye Shu and took half a step back.

“Do it.”

There was silence in the training field.

Ye Shu only felt that the gun in his hand weighed a thousand catties, so heavy that he could hardly hold it.

The captives in the training field, realizing there was nowhere to run to, gradually calmed down, leaving only a few shallow whimpers and sobs.

Fear spread silently.

At the same time, a green, fruity wood fragrance spread out.

The smell was much lighter than before, and the mouth-watering sweet and sour taste wafted through the open, quickly permeating through the entire field.

Jin Wang’s complexion was the first to change.

Ye Shu had just gone through his differentiation phase last night. After being marked by a Qianjun, the faith incense should have been temporarily suppressed. Perhaps it was because of all these stimuli today, which caused the faith incense to lose control once more.

The attendants and guards, both men and women, were mediocre, and could not smell the special faith incense of this Kunjun.

But that was not the case with the spies in the training field.

Among them, a number were even Qianjun.

They were blindfolded, but they all faced the direction of the high platform ahead.

The seductive faith incense grew sweet under the tension, and the atmosphere in the training field gradually grew restless.

Only Ye Shu, under extreme tension, didn’t realize what was happening.

Until Jin Wang snatched the gun from his hand, his voice muffled, “That’s enough.”

“You. Come with Gu.”

He casually threw the gun into the hands of the personal attendant and pulled Ye Shu out.

Jin Wang looked at the captives in the training field, his footsteps brisk, quickly pulling Ye Shu back to the palace.

“What are you—” Ye Shu was about to ask when Jin Wang suddenly put his hand behind his back and heavily pressed him against the door.

Ye Shu cringed in pain, looking up into Jin Wang’s indistinct red eyes.

The two’s breathing immediately burned up.

Perhaps it was because of the rush, Ye Shu’s body was getting somewhat feverish, and the small mole next to his earlobe was strangely itchy, wanting……very badly to be touched.

He tilted his head and had just raised his hand to do something when Jin Wang caught his wrist and pressed it hard against his side.

“Don’t move.” Jin Wang’s voice was low and hoarse, with an overwhelming sense of oppression.

No one would be able to stand it if the Kunjun whom they had personally marked released their faith incense in front of outsiders.

Especially someone with Jin Wang’s disposition.

Ye Shu’s shoulders trembled slightly. He didn’t know why he was like this. It was as if the palm that captured his wrist became hot, like a flame burning to his heart. It was as if an unprecedented urge arose in his body, a longing to be touched, a desire for some more intimate action.

And he wanted this man.

It could only be this man.

The unfamiliar sensation made Ye Shu very unsteady, he struggled, but he couldn’t break free, and said impatiently, “J-Jin Wang……”

Jin Wang’s eyes flashed a trace of emotion.

The young man in his arms had moisture in his eyes; his slender and long eyelashes were trembling slightly with a look of fragility and helplessness.

Is that an act, too?

Ever since Ye Shu woke up, Jin Wang had been incessantly probing him, but the more he probed him, the more erratic he became.

He still didn’t feel like it, even though multiple pieces of evidence had confirmed that it was this man.

How could it be this fuzzy.

Why would he betray him?

Jin Wang had been a ruler for many years and had always understood the value in executing one as a warning to the hundred, but only this man……

It was he who held him all night in the wintry Cold Palace to keep him warm; it was he who would rather suffer a beating to get a bowl of warm soup for him; and it was he who knelt outside the imperial hospital for three days and nights to ask the imperial physician to save his life.

This was also the same man who, in his differentiation phase, crashed into his embrace and whispered a plea to save him.

When all was said and done, he still…couldn’t let him go.

Jin Wang leaned closer, puffing his breath on Ye Shu’s ear, bringing with it the rich, strong scent of distilled spirits of his faith incense, causing the body in his arms to tremble. “Ye Qian, Gu will ask you once and for all.”

“……You really didn’t betray Gu?”

He is a Kunjun. There was no way a Kunjun could lie under the faith incense of the Qianjun that had marked him.

Ye Shu’s consciousness was in a bewildering confusion. He watched as Jin Wang’s line of sight gradually grew lax. With dampened eyelashes, he answered, “……No.”

“Wasn’t me……”

“Really wasn’t me……”

Jin Wang heaved a long sigh of relief.

So be it, whether he was lying or not, he will believe him for now.

Keep him alive. He can always find out.

Even if it turns out to be his doing… It’s not like there’s nothing he can do.

What could a Kunjun who didn’t even know he was marked do?

Jin Wang held Ye Shu’s nape, his fingertips gently brushing over the small cinnabar mole and then bowing his head to kiss it. The faith incense immediately eased up a lot.

Being appeased, Ye Shu’s tense body gradually relaxed and his head tilted, leaning against Jin Wang’s shoulder.

Jin Wang picked him up and walked quickly into the inner chamber, placing him on the bed.

“You just know how to bully people,” Ye Shu, with his eyes closed, murmured in a low voice, as if he had already lost consciousness. “Fatuous ruler…”

Jin Wang, “……”

—

By the time Ye Shu woke up again, it was already almost dark.

The monarch’s bed was moderately soft and very comfortable, but sleeping for nearly a full day still gave him some backache.

Ye Shu stretched and sat up, meeting a handsome face.

Jin Wang was sitting on the bedside, holding a folding memorial sealed for review. Seeing him awake, he turned his head to him and quirked the corner of his mouth. “My beloved minister is awake.”

“……What are you doing here?”

Jin Wang asked, “My beloved minister doesn’t remember what happened earlier?”

Ye Shu really didn’t remember.

He only remembered that Jin Wang suddenly brought him back from the training field to his bedchamber, during which he seemed to have continued to interrogate him a few times.

After that… How did he pass out?

Ye Shu pondered for a long time and suddenly realized. “You drugged me?!”

“……”

The more Ye Shu thought about it, the more he found it credible, and then inquired, “There must have been something odd about those dishes I had for lunch. W-What did you do to me?”

Jin Wang almost laughed at him as he pressed the space between his eyebrows. “Right, Gu drugged you.”

“It was a secret drug that was newly developed in the palace. After taking it, you can only tell the truth and are incapable of telling lies.”

“Wanna know what you said?”

Jin Wang tossed the folding memorial to the small table beside him and leaned down, looking at Ye Shu condescendingly.

Ye Shu gulped and asked with force composure, “W-What d-did I-I say?”

Jin Wang picked up a strand of his hair and seemed to smile. “You cursed Gu for being a fatuous ruler 43 times, a dog emperor 37 times, and 25 times……”

Hearing this, Ye Shu turned pale and asked in a trembling voice, “…25 times, w-what?”

“This bitch hole Jin Wang.”

Author’s Note:

This really is a sweet and fluffy story without any poisonous spots, believe me.

PS: The spies don’t destroy their glands because this world doesn’t have such advanced surgery. They have suppressants, but they can’t take them in advance lest they’re caught. [Don’t ask for logic, ask if the plot requires it orz]