FID – Chapter 1062

Chapter 1062: I Never Considered You a Man

While Liu Yusheng was worrying, the man was quietly slipping back toward the Imperial Household Department from the vicinity of the Palace of Longevity.

From somewhere atop the beam, seeing the man actually return, Xue Qinglian was delighted. “Every day I’ve been covering your shift. Retribution finally caught up, huh? See? It’s not that payback doesn’t come, it’s just not time yet. Heaven always deals with troublemakers. Since you’re back, stand your post properly. I’m going to sleep.”

He absolutely refused to ask Feng Qingbai why he had come back early. He had a strong feeling that if he asked, even if he didn’t have to cover the shift tonight, he still wouldn’t get any sleep.

Was he someone who would torment himself like that?

He turned over and prepared to slip away.

“Someone is monitoring Shengsheng.”

“Fuck! You didn’t have to tell me right now! Couldn’t you wait until I had a good night’s sleep and tell me tomorrow? I swear I believe you’re a good person!” He even managed to tell such a blatant lie. Could the man not let him off just this once?

“Someone may already suspect her identity. We can’t contact her directly anymore. Go find that person you’re supposed to be guarding. From here on, we’ll need her help.” The man completely ignored his loud protest and finished what he needed to say.

Xue Qinglian clenched his fists. He really wanted to punch him.

Then he thought of what would happen afterward and held back.

“The palace is huge. How am I supposed to know where to look?” He tried to slack off—this excuse was all he had. “You’ve seen what she looks like now. Your Highness, you’re the one with miraculous abilities. Why don’t you go find her?”

“If I punch you right now, do you think Xue Honglian would come out?”

“……”

“The only one here who would suspect Shengsheng’s identity is Shan Lai. With how well she understands us, once she confirms who Shengsheng is, she’ll immediately know the rest of us are here too. Do you want to prepare in advance, or wait to be caught in one sweep?”

“…” Xue Qinglian clenched his fists and cursed under his breath. “Fine, I’ll go find her for you!”

It wasn’t that Feng Qingbai had persuaded him. He just wanted to avoid even more trouble.

Anyone who knew him knew exactly how lazy he was, but even to be lazier, one still had to pay a price.

Before going to look for her, he muttered, “Say if I just kill Shan Lai right now, would it still be in time?”

“If she’s already suspicious, do you think she wouldn’t have prepared for that? The moment she dies, we’ll be exposed immediately.” Feng Qingbai gave him a cool look. “Where’s your brain? Has it degenerated along with your limbs?”

Xue Qinglian grinned. “Just you wait. One day I’ll poison you to death.”

The man treated his words like a fart and kicked him on the backside. “Find her quickly before she starts suspecting the Imperial Household Department.”

Xue Qinglian rolled his eyes in a very unrefined way and slunk off.

Next time, he needed to think up a new threat. The I’ll poison you to death line had been used so much that nobody believed it anymore.

In the past few days, Qian Yi’s life had been a living hell.

Every day, her heart felt like it was being clawed at by a cat.

After returning to the palace, she and Xue Honglian were forced apart. Confined to the logistics department of the Imperial Household Department, she couldn’t even go find him, leaving her anxious and frustrated.

If she didn’t stay with Xue Honglian, he would be lonely.

After finishing the last pot of water in the small kitchen, she waited until the water was carried away before leaving.

She sat down casually on the stone steps in the corridor, resting her chin in her hands as she gazed at the moon, sighing.

“I wonder how he’s doing now.”

Was he leaning against a pillar, asleep again during his night watch?

Unfortunately, she couldn’t accompany him like she had that one night.

If only she were a junior steward herself, then she could move freely around the Imperial Household Department. Unlike the lowest-ranking servants, who couldn’t even step past the threshold without orders, she would be able to be near him.

Hiss… she had to figure something out. She couldn’t keep going like this.

“How can I get on the deputy steward’s good side?” She tapped her cheek with her finger, frowning in thought. “How to get on his good side… I don’t have money, and I don’t have treasures… I have nothing…”

Thinking about it carefully, in a place where you needed material wealth to curry favor, she had absolutely no leverage because she didn’t own a single thing.

This is driving me crazy!

“Why don’t you just try currying favor with the old eunuch?”

“That old eunuch is half-dead, and his temper is getting worse. Trying to please him is just asking for death—” Qian Yi suddenly turned her head, and when she saw the man leaning against the pillar behind her with his arms crossed, her face lit up. “Xue Qinglian! You came to see me?!”

“I’m Honglian.”

“No, you’re Qinglian. Honglian isn’t so talkative and wouldn’t take the initiative to speak to me.”

Xue Qinglian’s face twitched. This little girl was pretty clever.

Seeing him, she was so excited that she practically jumped onto him, draping herself over his arm.

When she moved, she couldn’t pull herself free. Xue Qinglian pressed a black line to his forehead. “Don’t you know the difference between men and women? Why do you just hang on to a man like that?”

“Who’s hanging on to someone all the time? I just hung on your arm once. Besides, what’s our relationship? We’re friends! Can our relationship be like that with anyone else?”

“So you don’t have any other friends?”

“That’s not it—I have friends all over the world! It’s just that I don’t treat you as a man.”

“……”

So she had no sexual or gender-based reservations toward Xue Qinglian.

If it weren’t for completing the mission, he really didn’t want to speak to this fool again. It made him feel like he had as little intelligence as she did.

He simply grabbed her and said, “Let’s go somewhere else to talk.”

“Alright, alright!” The girl smiled brightly, clutching his arm with both hands. “How long have you been looking for me? You always find me so fast! Did you already know I was here working as a fire tender? Why didn’t you come sooner? Do you know what I’ve been going through these past few days? It’s been absolute hell. I was so worried about you! …”

Blah-blah-blah. Xue Qinglian couldn’t help it—he pressed her mute point.

Just like flipping a switch, the world went quiet.

No wonder back when she fell off the cliff, Honglian had also pressed her mute point—he now fully understood how it felt.

He carried her to a corner where no one was paying attention. Ignoring her glaring eyes, Xue Qinglian said, “Listen carefully. I need your help. Now’s the time for you to show your talent—we can’t do it without you.”

The words can’t do it without you immediately made her eyes widen and curve into crescents. She nodded—then nodded again.

Her expression said clearly: I’ll do whatever you need me to.

Xue Qinglian’s lips curved in an amused smile. This fool didn’t even know what she was being asked to do, yet she readily agreed.

“You trust me that much? Aren’t you afraid I’ll betray you?”

The girl nodded, then nodded again, and even reached out to pat his shoulder—I know you won’t. I trust your character.

Xue Qinglian’s smile grew even more charming. Truly, admirable courage.

“Tomorrow, find a reasonable excuse to go to the Palace of Longevity and relay our news to Qian Mei. But no one can notice that you’re delivering a message. Can you do that?”

The girl’s eyes widened.

“There are spies watching from the shadows. If you say anything outright, our disguise and infiltration into the palace will be exposed. This is where your acting skills come in.”

She nodded and thumped her chest—Got it. Leave it to me!