Ink Blade Chapter 73 (Part 1)
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Extra 6.1 If (Part 2.1)
Half a moment later, in the Zhongqian Hall.
The night outside the hall gate was as dark as ink. The senior maidservant, Qiu Jin, stared in horror at the palace master who strode in, and the familiar figure in the master’s arms.
“Palace Master, this…!”
Without exaggeration, Qiu Jin’s first thought was whether Mo Ren had been killed by the palace master, and perhaps the palace master would order her to burn, chop, and bury the body next.
But Chu Yan ignored her, and with a very anxious face, he said, “Order all the idle people to retreat. No one is allowed to spread the news of tonight, and those who disobey will be put to death!”
“Stoke the fire in the hall, bring hot water, and get a set of cotton quilts.”
Chu Yan quickly stepped through the hall gate, paused, and his complicated gaze fell on the cracked lips of the person in his arms. A few seconds later, he said in a low voice, “…Ask the kitchen if there is any leftover soup or porridge from the evening, stew it well and then bring it.”
Qiu Jin was completely stunned, her first reaction was: How long has it been since the Palace Master spoke so clearly?
In the next moment, the thunderous gaze of the Jiuzhong Palace Master swung over, “Maidservant Qiu, are you deaf?”
Qiu Jin was scared and knelt down on the spot, “This maidservant forgot herself, please bestow punishment Master!”
Chu Yan withdrew his gaze, “…Do your job first.”
The Jiuzhong Palace Master dismissed all kinds of people, and then instructed Qiu Jin to pull open the elegant silk bed curtain, and slowly put the person in his arms on his own bed.
At this moment, he didn’t even dislike the uncleanliness of this servant from the Side Hall, and personally took off the person’s shoes and socks. His expression sank sharply when he saw the pair of feet that were scratched and bleeding everywhere and had frostbite, and then he reached out and wrapped the person in the quilt.
Qiu Jin was frightened and lit the lantern. Over the years, Chu Yan had become more and more unpredictable, and sometimes even acted crazy. She didn’t know what kind of drama was going on tonight, and she didn’t dare to ask rashly, she just kept stealing glances at the palace master’s face and behavior.
“...…”
Chu Yan’s outstretched hand paused in mid-air, still with a gloomy gaze, gently lifting the patient’s withered forehead hair. Under the dim yellow light, Mo Ren closed his eyes and frowned, trembling from time to time, his pale neck drooping, maintaining his hot breath with the rise and fall of his chest.
Chu Yan stared silently for a long time, only feeling strange. The person in front of him was extremely weak, far from the cold and strong black-clothed guard in his memory.
He reached out his fingertips to touch Mo Ren’s forehead, murmuring to himself, “Only driven you away for less than three years, how did you end up like this, you’ve lost all this Master’s face.”
Not knowing whether he heard the long-lost voice in his blurred consciousness, Mo Ren’s face weakly tilted towards Chu Yan, half of his face weakly sinking into the pillow.
The candlelight flickered on his eyebrows, his eyelashes slowly trembling, struggling to wake up but unable to.
Chu Yan also bestowed grace like a gift, lowering his eyes to touch the cheek of the former guard, and said in a low voice, “Without this Master, have you really become a stray dog?”
His voice was even lower, “If you are, if you really know you were wrong…”
As he spoke, his eyes darkened and he closed his thin lips, and the words behind him could not be heard.
The palace master did not allow the other attendants to stay, it was Qiu Jin who personally brought hot water and cotton quilts, and wrung a towel to wipe Mo Ren’s face.
After doing all this, she hesitated for a few breaths, feeling that tonight’s palace master seemed to be really prepared to show mercy on Elder Brother Mo, so she cautiously probed, “Master, Mo Ren’s clothes are dirty and torn and soaked in cold sweat, I’m afraid it will dirty the Master’s bed, can this slave change his clothes for him?”
Chu Yan, sitting on the edge of the bed, was initially silent, just lost in thought, rubbing Mo Ren’s face with his fingertips, and Qiu Jin called him twice before he woke up.
It was unknown what kind of state this palace master was in, he hummed in a low voice, first stretched out his arms to hold Mo Ren’s soft body into his arms, and then freed a hand to untie the ties, actually preparing to change his clothes himself.
Qiu Jin was startled and hurried to replace him. Chu Yan frowned and said, “Didn’t this Master tell you to go to the kitchen and get some warm soup and porridge? You go first.”
After saying that, he lowered his eyes, but his face suddenly changed.
As the thin clothes were stripped off, Mo Ren’s body was exposed under the dim light.
Covered with burns, frostbite, unknown puncture wounds and cuts, and bruises and broken skin everywhere, it was clearly the result of being bullied.
Chu Yan looked at this emaciated and sickly body in disbelief.
“What’s going on!?” When he came back to his senses, the question had already slipped out.
A few steps away, Qiu Jin breathed a sigh of relief.
She originally wanted to use the excuse of changing clothes to let the palace master see what the former Guard Mo had been tortured into, and now things were better than she expected. She deliberately pretended not to understand, and said in a low voice, “This slave is dull, I don’t know what the Palace Master wants to ask…?”
Chu Yan held Mo Ren in his arms in a daze, only feeling dizzy.
“Forget it,” he said hoarsely, “you…you go.”
Qiu Jin bowed low, turned and left.
The hall was empty and lonely, with only the weak breathing of the patient.
Chu Yan gritted his teeth for a long time, then lowered his head, this time his gaze was stuck on those scars and could not move away.
He stiffly changed Mo Ren’s clothes, his chaotic mind could no longer think normally, only feeling absurd.
