Detective Ghost Empress

307 My Queen must be waiting for me

” Here you go,” Zhai Heng handed a small porcelain bottle to Zhai Tianyu as soon as the latter came out of the restroom. He looked at the pale complexion of his brother with those dark under eyes and could not help but ask, ” Was this really necessary?”

Zhai Tianyu did not answer at once instead he first unscrewed the porcelain bottle causing a herbal scent to flood the room only then did he empty the content of the bottle in his mouth and then groaned in relief as the herbal liquid went down his throat.

“Of course it was necessary,” Zhai Tianyu finally answered his brother as he walked over to the couch that was made from bamboo with cushions on top of it and then lay down, his stomach ached a little as he moved but with the antidote in his body, it was no longer churning. ” I cannot let the Ji family play me around like before, they will start thinking that they can do anything because I care for my grandmother and start running amok, not that they are not at the moment but then they will simply become too unrestrained.”

Last night when Zhai Tianyu decided that he was going to attend the Liu family’s funeral rites first, he already knew something like this was going to happen. After all, last week when he attended Liu Fei Fei’s funeral before Ji Xianglan, Ji Yang was very much upset with him. He even mentioned it in court saying that he was losing his touch by favouring one woman over another and creating unrest in the harem.

Zhai Tianyu felt like he was being scolded for no reason at all, he hasn’t even done anything to his concubines or his wife yet and he was already being treated like a douchebag by everyone left and right.

He knew that this time when the ceremony of paying respect to the dead was being held, the Ji family will definitely force him to accompany Ji Yu instead of Liu Hui Ying because they did not want to lose the alliances that they have formed in the court with his favour standing on their side which was why he came up with this small trick of his own.

Zhai Tianyu knew that he will not be able to refuse his grandmother if she was to ask him to accompany Ji Yu first instead of Liu Hui Ying which was why instead of refusing her straightforwardly, he decided that he will refuse her indirectly. He asked Yu Lingyun to bring him a drug that will induce loose bowels along with an antidote and then before going to see the Grand Dowager Empress this morning he applied the drug on his lips.

While he was in the room, he continued to lick his lips in a nervous manner making it look as if he was too anxious but what he was doing throughout was licking the drug until no residue was left on his lips because he knew that if he was to leave even a little drug behind his grandmother will surely found out what he did.

” I just did not expect that the drug Lingyun will find will be this potent, if I did, I would have applied it only a little,” Zhai Tianyu said to his brother as he sat up straight on his couch and rubbed his still aching stomach. Once he was done, he winced lightly and pushed himself off the couch, ” Has Ji Yu left?”

.....

” She is gone,” Zhai Heng replied as he picked up the bottle of antidote and crumpled it with his fingers until nothing but its dust was left behind. He raised his head and then blinked his eyes with a blank look on his face, his face conveying that he was a bit hesitant which was something that Zhai Tianyu caught at once, he raised his head and then tilted his head to the side before he asked with a subtle raise of his brows, ” What is it, elder brother?”

” Don’t you think you did something to let Ji Yu down?” Zhai Heng asked with a small frown, he knew that his brother promised that he will never do something that will let Ji Yu down which was why he couldn’t help but ask Zhai Tianyu about the promise that he once made to Ji Yu.

Zhai Tianyu’s movements paused a little, he rubbed his fingers together and sighed. ” I know what you are trying to say brother but believe me, I am only doing what is right… I cannot pamper Ji Yu unnecessarily without any rhyme or reason, she has to understand that my promise only stands strong unless she has done nothing wrong first but if she has…”

” So you think that she is hiding something as well?” Zhai Heng did not want to suspect Ji Yu, they already have a handful of people whom they could count on if they were to lose Ji Yu as well then whom they can place their trust.

“I don’t know,” Zhai Tianyu honestly replied with his head lowered in concentration. ” I have no idea whether or not she has lied to me or not but you know what brother, I just don’t want to blindly trust anyone anymore …because I am afraid that if I was to find out that Ji Yu was lying to me about something all along then I will lose myself lest the truth comes to light. I do not wish to lose my rationality and do something upsetting towards Ji Yu which is why I will hold back a little from her for her own sake.”

Zhai Tianyu didn’t want to follow the path that his father once followed and bring his reign to an abrupt end like that, even though he did not know the truth —— his eyes flashed with a murderous glint as he remembered the gaze with which Ji Yu looked at him this morning, it was subtle but he could see that she knew something that he did not…and now this vague feeling that Ji Yu was no longer as harmless, gentle and kind as she once was in the past was only getting stronger in his heart!

He pursed his lips and cuffed his sleeves before pulling on a white robe and said to his brother, “Let’s go, my queen must be waiting for me.”