"You scared me to death! Scared me to death!"
Xiao Jin Yu tenderly smoothed her wind-tousled hair, "I'm sorry..."
Chu Chu examined Xiao Jin Yu carefully, touching him over and over, confirming that aside from his lingering cold, there was nothing else wrong with him. Only then did she wipe her tears and ask, "Wang Ye, why did you summon me?"
Xiao Jin Yu dismissed the guard who had practically stumbled through the door back to the residence, bringing Chu Chu to a small parlor in the gatehouse. Wu Jiang very tactfully took Chu Chu's bundle and closed the door to stand guard outside.
Having learned from last time, he finally understood - ever since the Imperial Concubine came along, Wang Ye was capable of anything...
Xiao Jin Yu hadn't planned to do anything, merely pulling Chu Chu to sit on his lap, letting down her messy hair, and carefully styling it for her. "Silly girl... running in such a hurry, what if you had fallen..."
Chu Chu pouted aggrievedly, "It's all that messenger's fault for not making things clear. I thought you... what had happened to you."
Xiao Jin Yu lifted a strand of her black hair with his slender fingers, "Matters in the Imperial Examination Hall must not be disclosed before the examination ends. Don't blame the messenger..."
"Then... Wang Ye, why exactly did you summon me?"
Xiao Jin Yu's voice lowered slightly, "Someone died."
"Ah?" Chu Chu immediately turned her head around. Xiao Jin Yu's hand loosened, and the half-styled hair came mostly undone again. Amused and exasperated, he reached out to turn her small head back around. "What's with that 'ah'? Haven't you seen dead people before..."
"Wang Ye, who died?"
Xiao Jin Yu continued restyling her hair while speaking softly, "Three candidates... examinees caught cheating during today's exam. They were temporarily imprisoned in the backyard of the Imperial Examination Hall. During the shift change inspection late tonight, the guards found them hanged from the roof beams."
"Did they hang themselves out of shame? My grandmother said scholars have very thin skin!"
Xiao Jin Yu felt slightly embarrassed - this statement certainly applied to him...
"Grand Tutor Xue examined the bodies. The ligature marks on their necks showed nothing suspicious... but the case files require a coroner's corpse examination report, so I had you summoned."
Xiao Jin Yu hadn't originally wanted her to come. The Imperial Examination Hall was like a prison - watchtowers at all four corners, heavily guarded courtyard, and as the chief examiner, he was restricted everywhere, with every move monitored by the military...
But he missed her too much. Countless times throughout the day, he had inexplicably called out her name, nearly scaring Wu Jiang out of his wits.
"Wang Ye, since I'm here, can I stay?"
Xiao Jin Yu chuckled lightly, "Even if you wanted to leave, you couldn't now..."
"That's wonderful!"
"Keep moving and you'll have to style your own hair."
"Oh..."
☆、90 Crystal Sugar Pork Knuckle (IV)
Xiao Jin Yu carefully finished styling her hair, straightened out the messy knots on her hastily wrapped outer garment one by one, poured a cup of warm tea, and smiled as he watched her gulp it down like an ox drinking water.
He himself didn't know where he found the strength to do all this. Last night his fever had suddenly returned, and by early morning he was coughing so hard it felt like his lungs would come out. In the morning he forced himself to supervise the candidates' entry, but after half an hour in the cold wind, he had to return to lie down. If not for receiving news of these three cheating candidates hanging themselves in their room, he would still be lying in his room now.
But when Chu Chu arrived, watching her cry and smile for him, feeling her real body warmth, Xiao Jin Yu felt as if his illness had immediately improved by more than half.When Xiao Jinyu and Chu Chu emerged from the room, Wu Jiang was momentarily stunned. Over the past few days, Xiao Jinyu's complexion had been alarmingly pale, and no amount of medicine seemed to help. Yet in this short while, a faint blush had returned to his cheeks, accompanied by a subtle smile. For a moment, Wu Jiang began to suspect that his prince had been feigning illness all along, unwilling to take on this assignment.
Or perhaps... his prince was suffering from lovesickness.
Chu Chu pushed Xiao Jinyu's wheelchair while Wu Jiang led the way with their bundle. When the three arrived at the backyard, aside from the guards stationed outside the room where the hanging had occurred, only Xue Rucheng and Wang Xiaohua remained in charge, clearly waiting for Xiao Jinyu to bring the person responsible for wrapping things up.
Xiao Jinyu brought Chu Chu before Xue Rucheng. "Chu Chu, pay your respects to Grand Tutor Xue."
Hearing that this was the man as close to Xiao Jinyu as a father, Chu Chu immediately knelt. "Chu Chu greets Grand Tutor Xue!"
Not expecting an Imperial Concubine to kneel before him so readily, Xue Rucheng hurriedly helped her up. "No need for such formalities... I have long heard of Your Ladyship's esteemed name."
"I've heard of you too! The Prince has mentioned you many times!"
Xue Rucheng curled his lips slightly and cast a meaningful glance at Xiao Jinyu. "His Highness has spoken of nothing but you day and night these past days..."
Watching his pupil's pale face instantly flush red, Xue Rucheng turned with satisfaction to Wang Xiaohua, who was standing stiffly nearby with wide eyes. "Your Ladyship, this is... uh..."
Seeing Xue Rucheng hesitate, Wu Jiang tactfully pointed to the small floral pattern on the cloth bundle. Xue Rucheng studied it thoughtfully for a moment. "Uh... this is General... Floral?"
Wang Xiaohua's face darkened dramatically. He thumped his sword hilt and roared with thunderous force, "General Yunhui!"
"Ah..." Xue Rucheng examined him seriously. "Your name is Wang Floral, correct?"
"Wang Xiaohua!"
"Oh... age is catching up with me."
"Your name is Wang Xiaohua?" Chu Chu blinked her sparkling eyes at the dark-faced general. "That's a wonderful name, truly! Many girls in our town are named Xiaohua—all from good families who married well!"
Wang Xiaohua's dark round face seemed to fade into the night as Xue Rucheng calmly added, "What did I say last night..."
Wang Xiaohua's sword hilt thumped rhythmically as his thick black eyebrows twitched. "Didn't... didn't you say you were bringing a coroner? Where is the coroner?"
Chu Chu lifted her chin and declared clearly, "I am the coroner." Noting Wang Xiaohua's skeptical look, she added, "My whole family are coroners. My grandfather's grandfather was a coroner too."
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